Hot Toys Resident Evil 5 Jill Valentine!!!

[Biojex]

I get a bit frustrated every time someone attempts to defend the head sculpt on the grounds that the character in question is a digital creation or from a video game. First of all, this isn't a video game from the freaking 80's. Secondly, this figure is supposedly meant to replicate a very particular look for Jill in Resident Evil 5, which is a game that features very realistic visuals and near photoreal character renders. Thirdly, Jill's appearance since the RE remake is based on model Julia Voth, so Jill as we've known her for the past decade or so has a real-life counterpart in terms of likeness.

We should expect the sculptor to take into consideration all of the above. He may have done amazing work elsewhere, but going by what I can see of his work in this hobby, I have to say I'm not impressed.

If the wesker figure turned out looking like Vanilla Ice, would you be okay with that?

Good lord don't even speak such evils.

I agree with your other points.

 

[SVC]

I think the sculpt they gave us, although bland, is far more attractive than the character in game.

Then why are they making her as a figure in the first place? It's like a Steve Buscemi sculptor wanting to fix his eyes. And chin. And ending up using random male models for reference so the dude can finally look decent. I don't care whether a figure is hot at or not, I want it to look like the character it's supposed to represent.

 

[artofwar]

I was as frustated as you guys. I'm now trying to move on. At least the final product is better than the proto.

 

[plasmid303]

I was as frustated as you guys. I'm now trying to move on. At least the final product is better than the proto.

Yeah I feel bad about saying only negative things about it since the first in-hand pics started showing up. Time to move on since there's nothing that'll change at this point.

She looks nice next to the rest of the cast. I want to swap out her arms for double jointed ones. I wonder if that'll be difficult.

 

[gunm]

I get a bit frustrated every time someone attempts to defend the head sculpt on the grounds that the character in question is a digital creation or from a video game. First of all, this isn't a video game from the freaking 80's. Secondly, this figure is supposedly meant to replicate a very particular look for Jill in Resident Evil 5, which is a game that features very realistic visuals and near photoreal character renders. Thirdly, Jill's appearance since the RE remake is based on model Julia Voth, so Jill as we've known her for the past decade or so has a real-life counterpart in terms of likeness.

We should expect the sculptor to take into consideration all of the above. He may have done amazing work elsewhere, but going by what I can see of his work in this hobby, I have to say I'm not impressed.

If the wesker figure turned out looking like Vanilla Ice, would you be okay with that?

I respectfully don't agree with any of that (for one thing, while the graphics in RE5 are very good, the character models do not and are not meant to look exactly like the real life VAs/models that they are based on, and along those lines, the figure is not meant to be "Julia Voth as Jill Valentine" either), but I do agree that it is time to move on.

 

[plasmid303]

I respectfully don't agree with any of that (for one thing, while the graphics in RE5 are very good, the character models do not and are not meant to look exactly like the real life VAs/models that they are based on, and along those lines, the figure is not meant to be "Julia Voth as Jill Valentine" either), but I do agree that it is time to move on.

I'm not going to argue with you on this even though I think your perspective on this is completely ridiculous.

Edit: To be more polite, I will add that I do respect your opinion, ridiculous though it may be.

 

[CCat313]

Are people forgetting that the model Jill is based on isn't letting her likeness be used to make the figure? As far as the hs is concerned, it bears some resemblence but isn't, and is understandable. Plus, it's not an ugly hs. She's still a pretty looking girl.

People might say "Well, this is supposed to be Jill based on Julie Voth and that's what I want, if not then it's just a waste" and that's cool, but I don't take that attitude. If I did, I'd be missing out on a lot of stuff because I'd be too stingy on likenesses being 100% or something.

Could the hs be better? Maybe, but it still says 'Jill' to me, and that's all that matters.

 

[Penn]

Then why are they making her as a figure in the first place? It's like a Steve Buscemi sculptor wanting to fix his eyes. And chin. And ending up using random male models for reference so the dude can finally look decent. I don't care whether a figure is hot at or not, I want it to look like the character it's supposed to represent.

Absolutely. The idea that HT 'fixed' her face is just risible. The very idea is discredit to the team at Capcom that spent months creating the 3d model. It's also a discredit to HT other headsculpts.

We should expect the sculptor to take into consideration all of the above. He may have done amazing work elsewhere, but going by what I can see of his work in this hobby, I have to say I'm not impressed.

If anything you would have thought that a mathematically based three dimensional model would be easier to measure against a 1:6 headsculpt to ensure it's likeness.

Obviously we are all aware that we need to be careful about any comments directed at particular artists. There could be any number of reasons why this headsculpt turned out this way that could be completely out of the sculptors hands so to speak.
For the product, the responsibilty lies with HT, and at the very least the last two RE5 female headsculpts, I find are unsatisfactory compared to what we know of HT other work.

Good lord don't even speak such evils.

Vanilla Ice and Albert Wesker. There's a youtube video in that somewhere...

 

[Dug]

Since when was it confirmed that Julia Voth (or her agency) did not allow her likeness to be used? I thought that was just a possible excuse for the shoddy HS that someone came up with...

Seeing as Hot Toys are supposed to be basing these figures specifically on just RE5 it should damn well look like the model from that particular game. It doesn't matter whether you, the sculptor or anyone else thinks that she should be prettier or slimmer or whatever, that's how she looks in the game and that's how the figure should look.

Of course, if it turns out they were not able to use Julia's likeness then that changes things completely, if that was indeed the case (which I doubt) then Hot Toys did a reasonable job of making it look kind of like Julia but not quite.

The HS in the final product definitely looks better than the proto but imo the entire is figure is well below Hot Toy's usual standard.
Crushingly disappointing but what can you do?

 

[Biojex]

Since when was it confirmed that Julia Voth (or her agency) did not allow her likeness to be used? I thought that was just a possible excuse for the shoddy HS that someone came up with...

Seeing as Hot Toys are supposed to be basing these figures specifically on just RE5 it should damn well look like the model from that particular game. It doesn't matter whether you, the sculptor or anyone else thinks that she should be prettier or slimmer or whatever, that's how she looks in the game and that's how the figure should look.

Of course, if it turns out they were not able to use Julia's likeness then that changes things completely, if that was indeed the case (which I doubt) then Hot Toys did a reasonable job of making it look kind of like Julia but not quite.

The HS in the final product definitely looks better than the proto but imo the entire is figure is well below Hot Toy's usual standard.
Crushingly disappointing but what can you do?

Buy it...which is what I'm gonna do

 

[Penn]

Seeing as Hot Toys are supposed to be basing these figures specifically on just RE5 it should damn well look like the model from that particular game. It doesn't matter whether you, the sculptor or anyone else thinks that she should be prettier or slimmer or whatever, that's how she looks in the game and that's how the figure should look.

Absolutely.

Buy it...which is what I'm gonna do

Oooh, need to be careful about that, everytime you glance over at the figure's face, you feel a pang of pain through your system, of what could have been, nay, should have been, until finally you pick up a blunt object... If one is so inclined of course.

 

[Darth_Fatso]

Since when was it confirmed that Julia Voth (or her agency) did not allow her likeness to be used? I thought that was just a possible excuse for the shoddy HS that someone came up with...

Seeing as Hot Toys are supposed to be basing these figures specifically on just RE5 it should damn well look like the model from that particular game. It doesn't matter whether you, the sculptor or anyone else thinks that she should be prettier or slimmer or whatever, that's how she looks in the game and that's how the figure should look.

Of course, if it turns out they were not able to use Julia's likeness then that changes things completely, if that was indeed the case (which I doubt) then Hot Toys did a reasonable job of making it look kind of like Julia but not quite.

The HS in the final product definitely looks better than the proto but imo the entire is figure is well below Hot Toy's usual standard.
Crushingly disappointing but what can you do?

Yeah myself and a few other guys suggested one reason why the likeness was off is because HT MAY have had a problem with using Voth's likeness but it was pure speculation. Anyways I agree with everything you said.

 

[vareika]

This looks OK

This looks off

Possibly we can talk angle and lighting, but that does not change the fact that the HS is unlike Jill. That's my opinion.

 

[plasmid303]

Obviously we are all aware that we need to be careful about any comments directed at particular artists. There could be any number of reasons why this headsculpt turned out this way that could be completely out of the sculptors hands so to speak.
For the product, the responsibilty lies with HT, and at the very least the last two RE5 female headsculpts, I find are unsatisfactory compared to what we know of HT other work.

.

The problem in speculating those mysterious other reasons why the headsculpt turned out the way it did is that HT isn't transparent during their development. They've no doubt heard of the many complaints about the Jill headsculpt on their Facebook page and on hobby forums such as this, and they chose not to respond in any way. HT's actions, or lack thereof leaves some people with no choice but to critique the sculptor along with his/her hiring company.

I understand that in this situation we're left with speculations and conjecture, which is how we end up with posts like this:

Are people forgetting that the model Jill is based on isn't letting her likeness be used to make the figure? As far as the hs is concerned, it bears some resemblence but isn't, and is understandable. Plus, it's not an ugly hs. She's still a pretty looking girl.

CCat313, can you confirm with a solid source to back up your claim that Julia Voth's likeness rights weren't obtained or couldn't be obtained? Talking about likeness rights is a fuzzy discussion because we don't know the details of Voth's contract with Capcom. Why would it be difficult to obtain those likeness rights from either Voth or Capcom? To that end, is it coincidence that the Sheva figure from HT looks nothing like the actress that provided her face and voice for the character in the game? Is that do to likeness rights issues too?

 

[ironwez20]

When i get her the first thing im doing is taking that stupid hat off her. No offense to people who like the hat. But imo she looks like a ***** with it on. No offence to anybody who is.

 

[Darth_Fatso]

When i get her the first thing im doing is taking that stupid hat off her. No offense to people who like the hat. But imo she looks like a ***** with it on. No offence to anybody who is.

But but.. lebsos are awesome. You mean you don't plan to display Jill in a foursome with Sheva, BW and Abigail Whistler?

 

[ironwez20]

Yea thier awesome but im afriad to say the d word. Lol i wouldnt know how to do that plus everybody who came in my room would think im some sex crazed lunatic lol.

 

[Kaijuboy]

The problem is that HTs FANS are inconsistent.

1/2 of you are like; "The left freckle on the back of her right ear is 1.2mm off! UNACCEPTABLE!!! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS!!!1!!1" (such as RE figs)

While the other 1/2 are like: "Its completely off, and different than any ref material, but I really like this BETTER than the real thing! Artistic interpretation is great!" (such as the Predators figures)

HOW do we really expect HT to change, when they get mixed signals from their fanbase, AND everyone ends up buying the figures anyway?

The question I ask to you all is this. ALL of HTs figures have been inaccurate to varying degrees, so why does this always start up a Sh**storm of discussion EVERY time a new HT figure is *SHOCK! GASP!* inaccurate?

Live, Deal, Move on... But you guys wont, you'll STILL buy the figure, b*tch about it some more and wonder why HT never changes...

If I were HT, I would never listen to these boards either...

 

[Predator vs. Alien]

When i get her the first thing im doing is taking that stupid hat off her. No offense to people who like the hat. But imo she looks like a ***** with it on. No offence to anybody who is.

QFT

I hate to say it, but you're 100% correct on the above.

But couldn't the hat be lined with something on the inside, to make it look better??

 

[plasmid303]

The problem is that HTs FANS are inconsistent.

1/2 of you are like; "The left freckle on the back of her right ear is 1.2mm off! UNACCEPTABLE!!! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS!!!1!!1" (such as RE figs)

While the other 1/2 are like: "Its completely off, and different than any ref material, but I really like this BETTER than the real thing! Artistic interpretation is great!" (such as the Predators figures)

HOW do we really expect HT to change, when they get mixed signals from their fanbase, AND everyone ends up buying the figures anyway?

The question I ask to you all is this. ALL of HTs figures have been inaccurate to varying degrees, so why does this always start up a Sh**storm of discussion EVERY time a new HT figure is *SHOCK! GASP!* inaccurate?

Live, Deal, Move on... But you guys wont, you'll STILL buy the figure, b*tch about it some more and wonder why HT never changes...

If I were HT, I would never listen to these boards either...

Well, if everyone agreed on something, this thread, this entire forum, heck the internet would be a fairly boring place. You bring up some good (if exaggerated) examples of fan reactions, but the common string between all of it is that they all agree that the head sculpt doesn't look anything like Jill Valentine from RE5. HT has built their reputation on the accuracy of their sculpts as well as technical proficiency in related aspects of 1/6 figures.

You're right in saying that most, if not all HT figures are inaccurate by varying degrees, and as such the fan reactions and temperament of a discussion about any particular figure release would reflect the degree of inaccuracy. Logically, if a figure looks close to its onscreen counterpart, then the discussion is quieter. If it is inaccurate to a great degree, then there is a ____storm, as you put it.

They still buy the figure(s) because either there aren't better alternatives available or the rest of the figure is so good (outfit, body, accessories) that it softens the sting of an inaccurate head sculpt.