Packaging - ***
It's a box.  A big box. There's some graphics and text on the exterior, although it's not too in depth.  The interior foam packing keeps the various pieces away from each other, and quite safe. This kind of package won't win awards, but it's still nice to get the contents safely at your doorstep.

Sculpting - ***1/2
One of the reasons this gun is expensive is that it's made of metal - yep, metal, not resin, polyresin, PVC or any other plastic material. Sideshow produced a Samaritan prop replica from the first film as well, and it retailed at jus $300. But that gun was not metal.  One of the complaints often heard was that it was too light, and didn't feel 'realistic'.

That's not going to be a complaint here. The metal makes this a very heavy weapon, and it's not just the gun that's metal.  The cap on the grip is as well, and the leather wrap hanging off is real too.

The only material that's not 'real' here is the grip itself.  Originally Sideshow had announed it would be wood, but changed their minds after they got into the manufacturing process. They went with a wood grain painted plastic instead, but if you don't know that, you could easily be fooled.

The sculpt on the gun is excellent, looking not just like the on screen gun, but like a gun that really works as well.  Obviously it doesn't, and in fact there is no sort of mechanism between the trigger and hammer.  You can pull the trigger and it moves, but it doesn't bring the hammer back. You can also bring the hammer back and let it snap forward, single action style, but neither of these actions will turn the chamber.

The chamber does spin, but freely, whether it's open or not.  To open the gun, you push down on a lever on the right side. Remember, Hellboy handles ths gun with his left hand, so this placement would correspond correctly to his thumb.

The actual chambers are a little too big for the shells...or the shells are a little too small. There's a lot of slop and movement when you spin the cylinder, and you really have to be careful when it's open, because the shells can easily drop out even at a slight tilt.

There are some aspects of the sculpt though that are a little too soft to me. There's several areas where there's etching or cut lines in the metal, and they aren't quite as deep or sharp as they'd be on an actual gun. Also, there are sections of the gun that would normally be individual pieces, assembled on the real deal, but here they are cast as one larger piece.  The sculpt doesn't do quite as good of a job as it could of making those areas appear to be separate and distinct.

Paint - ***
The paint work is solid, but not quite as good as the sculpt and build. They've used silver paint to provide the wear on what would be the bluing. It doesn't look too bad from a distance, but up close and in person it's fairly obvious as paint.

They also did a good job on the wood grain handle, but there's a fair amount of slop around the silver logo. At this price, it would have been nice to see this as an actual inlay, instead of part of the sculpted handle.

Accessories - Exclusive ***1/2; Regular ***
Usuall a prop replica doesn't have 'accessories', but this one includes several.

First, there's the display base, which is made up of three parts.  There's the very bottom, with holes for the bullets to stand in front. It has two long pegs that the back half of the display attaches to. This base is beautifully sculpted, with wonderful rock-like detail.

The back half has the BPRD symbol etched deeply in the simulated rock. There's also two holes in this back drop for two additional pegs, on which you rest the gun.  These pegs have a rubber coating over the braces, which will ensure they don't damage the replica. All these pieces fit together well, and the sculpting on the rocky surface is designed to look like the Right Hand of Doom. I positioned the back post through the trigger guard, but you could just as easily position it behind the guard.  It didn't feel as sturdy there to me, but you may prefer the way it looks.

The back also has a soft velvet-like material covering it, with two holes in case you want to hang the gun on the wall, rather than placing the back on the simulated stone base.

Fun Factor - *1/2
You might not think 'fun' when you think prop replica, but one aspect of any good prop replica is the ability to use it for cosplay. While it certainly looks better than you need for a cosplay weapon, and the all metal gun would hold up to some abuse, I wouldn't recommend trying to carry this thing around with you at a Con. The gun weighs about 10 pounds, and that's going to get pretty tiring over the course of a day.

Value - *1/2
I love this thing, but I have to tell you - $400 is a LOT of green. You can buy a real gun for that kind of money, although it won't fire bullets quite this large...or that glow.

At $250, this would have felt like a good deal...at $300, it's getting iffy.  At $400, I'm questioning my sanity.

Things To Watch Out For - 
The shells don't fit too tightly in the chamber, so whe you open it up, it's easy to drop them, particularly the heavy metal versions.

Overall - ***
If you have plenty of cash on hand, and money is no object, then it's unlikely that you'll have too many compliaints.

But I have to admit that the price tag on this one is high, and while I like it...I don't like it quite as much at this kind of tag. There's a lot of cool here, including those nifty light up tracer rounds, and the beautifully sculpted base. But this isn't a particularly limited collectible will over 2000 of these guns produced in total, and I think it's going to be tough to sell them out in this current economy. You may find that watching ebay for a little while might turn up a deal.

Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Accessories - Exclusive ***1/2; Regular ***
Fun Factor - *1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall -  ***

Where to Buy -
There are several options with my sponsors:

- the regular and exclusive are both $400 at Sideshow, and the exclusive is available on second chance!

- Dark Shadow Collectibles has the regular at $360.

- CornerStoreComics has the regular in stock for $360.

- Alter Ego Comics has the regular in stock for $400.

- for the UK collectors, Forbidden Planet has it at 229 GBP.

- you can search ebay using the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.

Related Links -
I've covered lots of Hellboy items:

- there's the 3 3/4" line of action figures from Mezco, the SDCC exclusive Hellboy that is also in that scale, as well as their 18" HB II figure.

- Mezco released series 1 of their movie figures, which are covered in two guest reviews, one here and one here.

- I ran two 'retro reviews of the old Hellboy movie line - one for Hellboy, and one for Sammael.

- Gentle Giant did some animated versions, including one included in the most recent release of the movies, and there was also a guest review by Poe Ghostal of the first DVD release of Hellboy. I looked at the regular release animated figures as well.

- I also have guest reviews of some of the comic based figures, including Kreigaffe #10, Lobster Johnson, and the old Graphitti Designs version.

- I have my own reviews of the comic based battle damaged Hellboy and 18" version, the stylized Extreme Hellboy, the movie 8" line  (including the Nazi Kroenen in the second series), the 18" version, and even some Mez-itz.

- also movie based, Sideshow has done several 12" figures, including Abe Sapien, Nazi Kroenen, regular Kroenen, and regular Hellboy.

- for those into mini-busts, there's also this version that came with the release of the DVD.

Discussion:
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