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Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy, Inc. (www.sideshowtoy.com) |
Well, it took a while, but I've finally got the whole Hellboy gang together.
...Okay, that's a lie. This review lacks the Sideshow web-store exclusive Hellboy variant, with a new face sculpt (and cigar!) and a limited edition of 666. Yeah, I'm kicking myself for missing that one. But since I've finally managed to assemble the rest of the figures, it seemed like a good idea to cover them all together (and clear some of my review backlog) with ASM's first-ever Giant Massive Hellboy Multi-Mega-Omni-Review!
Hellboy. He's the gritty supernatural hero with the goofy name. Star of some pretty darned awesome comics, Hellboy made his way to the big screen this past summer. If you didn't see it in theaters, go rent it. Fun flick.
Several companies obtained licenses to make toys and other items based on the Hellboy movie. Mezco Toyz produced a great line of action figures and several large rotocast figurines. Sideshow released a set of 1/6th-scale figures and a number of high-end collectibles, including a 1/4-scale posed Hellboy, several statues and movie prop replicas in various scales. We'll be reviewing those 1/6th-scale figures here today.
Reviewing five different figures (even if three of them are the same guy) in the usual ASM format might make things a little muddled, so each figure gets its own section this time around. Don't forget to check out the photo galleries:
Hellboy
Nice, dark, iconic packaging. The front flap of the black box features a
shadowy Hellboy superimposed over the B.P.R.D. (the clandestine organization
that the character works for) logo, with spooky steam swirling in the
background. This was the main marketing image for the film, and it was a good
choice here. Ron Perlman, Hellboy's actor, gets a credit at the top - and in
fact, if you go by the package text, the figure's official name is "Ron
Perlman as Hellboy". Perlman did a great job in the movie, so it's nice to see
him get his due here.
Photos of the figure are scattered around the box top and sides. The back features a full-body picture of the figure, a close-up of movie-Hellboy's face in the background, and a few representative shots from the movie. There's also a cross-sell for the Abe and standard Kroenen figures, plus a small block of text with some background on Hellboy and his various weapons in the fight against evil. Inside the front flap, you'll find a silhouetted shot of Hellboy, the acting credits for the movie and some additional film-specific story text. I've got to admit, I miss the over-the-top copy from Sideshow's Monty Python boxes, but the more minimalist approach taken here is appropriate for Hellboy's tone.
A little assembly is needed once you've gotten the figure out of the box.
Hellboy's tail is packaged separately, and it's a bit of a pain to attach
to his backside. It plugs in (courtesy of a convenient gap in his trousers)
with a pair of rubber pegs, and once you've gotten the tail connected, I
wouldn't recommend trying to remove it again.
Hellboy's a huge guy in both the comics and the movie. Sideshow has tried to capture that in the figure, with decent but imperfect results. Most of the figure is the standard 12" Sideshow body, which is articulated as all get-out but tends toward the skinny side. To offset the lack of mass, they've given him a larger and more muscular torso, which fills out the figure's upper body but loses a couple of points of articulation in the stomach and neck. Hellboy's still left looking pretty scrawny, though, especially when you take off his baggy coat. I'm not sure whether it would have worked better to add some padding under the clothes; it might have made the figure appear more muscular, or it might have made Hellboy look like all those helpings of "pamcakes" had finally caught up with him.
What bothers me more than Hellboy's size is the looseness of his limbs. Since
the character has red skin, the figure's body has been molded in red, and I
suspect that the tolerances are a bit off from the skintone-colored plastic
that Sideshow normally uses. The unfortunate result is that Hellboy's
shoulders and hips are much looser than usual, especially the right arm with
its heavy oversized hand. Don't get the impression that the figure is a total
floppy mess, though, as it can still hold and retain most poses if you're
careful moving it.
Hellboy's outfit is pretty solid. He's wearing his classic ensemble from the film, featuring a nice black shirt with red stitching, leather-like pants with good detail (including a tiny button at the top), and a belt loaded with pouches. He also has a sculpted fingerless glove on his left hand and thick-soled butt-stompin' boots. Over all of this he wears a shiny "pleather" trenchcoat with a black lining.
The coat is removable and looks great, complete with functional straps and even more teensy buttons. It's even got a printed B.P.R.D. patch sewn onto one shoulder. The only problem is that, thanks to the somewhat stiff material, it's tricky to get the coat's high collar to fold down properly.
Hellboy's belt is both the strong and weak point of his outfit. The look and detailing of the belt as a whole are great. It's totally functional and made from a dark brown leather-like fabric that looks quite good, but the holes punched through for the working buckle make the material pretty fragile in spots (mine came with a small nick, but Sideshow customer service was kind enough to replace it with a perfect one). It might have been better here to lose a little of the realism for greater durability.
The buckle is silver-painted plastic with a silver and red B.P.R.D. logo in the center. The plastic is quite thin in places, but flexible enough that it shouldn't break from normal handling and the occasional belt adjustment. There are three plastic pouches arranged around the belt. They don't open, but they can be positioned wherever you like and they're sculpted and painted well (I especially like the detail of the curled flap edges), with a dark wash to bring out the details. There's also a holster for Hellboy's Samaritan pistol, made of soft plastic with a peg-and-hole system to hold it closed.
My favorite part of the belt is the set of "lucky charms" - just like in the movie, Hellboy carries a small sampling of (non-removable) religious icons to help him ward off the forces of evil in his day to day work. The most prominent items are a crucifix and a set of rosary beads, but there's an additional tiny loop of beads as well - and yes, the beads are all separate, strung together on a thin copper wire. The icons are painted a rusty reddish-brown, with a wash that makes them look nice and antique. Be especially careful with the crucifix, as it's made of stiff and quite thin plastic.
What do babies like? Babies like iron. Hellboy comes with an additional accessory to complement the religious paraphernalia: his lucky horseshoe. Painted and sculpted to look like old, worn iron, it can hook around his belt wherever you feel like sticking it.
As previously mentioned, Hellboy's got some serious bootage on him. His soles add about half an inch to his height, helping him to stand a little taller than the other figures in the line. He doesn't exactly tower over them, but the size difference is noticeable. The black boots feature the usual great Sideshow sculpting, with a faint drybrush effect for wear and tear. They've even brushed the treaded soles to make them look worn down. It's the little touches like these that I love so much about Sideshow's figures.
Hellboy's left hand is sculpted wearing a heavy-duty fingerless glove. It's well sculpted, with creases, stitching and an embossed B.P.R.D. symbol, and the paint is spot-on with several shades of brown and a wash, right down to the dirty fingernails. The hand is posed to hold Hellboy's pistol, and the fingers are flexible enough that you won't have any trouble getting it to fit.
Hellboy's lower right arm is what's affectionately known as the Right Hand of Doom. His giant stone hand is the literal key that unlocks the prison of a host of Lovecraftian monstrosities, and all sorts of demons and ne'er-do-wells want to use it to unleash Armageddon on the world. The Right Hand rotates at the forearm and has a limited ball-joint at the wrist. It's not quite as poseable as it could be, but it does the job. The hand is permanently closed in a fist, perfect for punching out baddies of all shapes and sizes. Just like in the movie, it's covered in arcane carvings and pitted and scarred from battle. The Right Hand is painted the same dark red (more on that shortly) as Hellboy's skin, with a black wash to emphasize the cracks and crannies. It looks good overall, but the sculpt is perhaps a smidge softer than I would have liked; I'm pretty sure that the arm in the film had sharper definition on the inscriptions. Alas, the rune-like scars in Hellboy's upper arm and shoulder haven't been reproduced on the figure. Of course, they'd be out of sight beneath the shirt anyway, but it would have been a nice bonus.
Hellboy's face is sculpted in a tooth-gritting sneer, straight from the movie scene where he aims his gun at Kroenen. It's a fine expression, but it would have been nice if one of the two Hellboy face variants had been a little more neutral. The sculpt offers a good likeness of Perlman's prosthetics-covered face, and the hair and muttonchops are decent if a little low-detail. Hellboy's samurai-style ponytail is a separate, softer piece of plastic that should make it nice and durable. The horn stubs on his forehead seem a little off; like the stone arm, the details just aren't quite sharp enough, and they look more gently sanded down than harshly ground flat.
I'm not sure how I feel about the paint that Sideshow has chosen to use for Hellboy's face. It's a bit shiny and definitely not as light as the character's skin in the movie, and there's a heavy black wash that makes it look even darker still. It's a gritty, graphic-novel look, and while it's not bad in and of itself, it's not entirely true to the film. On the bright side, all of the paint lines are perfect, and the eyes and accurately Chiclet-like teeth stand out nicely from the rest of the face.
Hellboy's tail is nifty. It's got the proper ridge running down the top, and the tiny bumps and skin patterns, emphasized by a dark wash, are spot-on. The tail is flexible with a bendy wire inside, and while the material is too thick to bend at the top of the tail, the lower two thirds pose quite nicely. The downside is that, like all bendies, there are a few small but necessary holes in the tail (all on the left side) to allow it to flex without cracking.
And what would a good supernatural brawler be without his trusty gun?
Hellboy's Samaritan pistol is an amazing accessory, virtually a prop replica
in its own right. It fits perfectly in his hand or holster, and unlike the
stone hand and horns, the details are sharp and clear. The body of the gun
looks like metal, the handle looks like wood, and there's even a twisted
leathery strap attached to the base, just like in the film.
But that's not all! The Samaritan actually opens, not just on a hinge, but with a separately jointed thumb-catch that has to be depressed to unlock the barrel. Once the barrel is swung down, the rotating ammunition cartridge is removable - as are the four tiny golden bullets in the chambers! The piece is absolutely fantastic.
Hellboy also includes the standard Sideshow 1/6th-scale figure stand, featuring the movie logo on the base. As always, it's a solid stand and a nice bit of added value, although the figure's booster heels and tail make it a little tricky to clip him in.
So what's the final verdict? Hellboy has his ups and downs - and they're steeper curves than most - but on the whole he feels like a pretty good value to me. A bigger body with tighter joints and a lighter skin color would have been ideal, but the great details, high-quality outfit and terrific Samaritan mini-prop definitely balance the scales. I dig.
Hellboy | Abe Sapien | Kroenen | Final Battle Kroenen | Nazi Kroenen
You can see all our pictures of Hellboy in our Gallery!