My Arthur arrived a bit early, so that was nice.
But I gotta say I'm rather disappointed with the final product, now that I have it in-hand. I've noticed in all the pictures, the hat sits high on the head, and the chest seemed rather big, I figured it was just bad futzing, but now that I have it in-hand ... nope, that's the way it is.
I understand there was already a discussion about how Rockstar placed his hat higher on his head during cutscenes and all that, but I don't agree with the decision to mimic that. Having it sit there as is, it looks goofy, sitting so high on his head. The high-hat look might look better in cutscenes, but in real life, looking at the entirety of the figure, the hat is too high on the head, in proportion to the entire look. I keep on looking at the figure and want to push the hat further down on his head, but I can't.
And he's got this thick upper body that's out of proportion with the lower half. He's got this V-shaped torso, like a body builder, not like a strongman. I think it's because the shoulders are actual ball-shaped joints, and not the oval-shaped joints that allow the arms to rest more easily at the sides. The chest restricts the shoulder movement. It's bad enough when clothing restricts articulation, but when the body itself restricts articulation, that's even worse. I took the jacket off to try and see if I could figure out how to make the shoulder joints work, and articulate them like I wanted, but now I dread putting the jacket back on because it was such a tight fit. And then even getting the jacket off didn't solve the problem
One of the hammers has come loose off the shotgun. I can peg it back into place, but it falls out with the slightest touch.
The panel on the side of the rifle fell off, so then the lever was loose and it eventually fell off. So I had to take the panel off and see how the lever attached to the internal mechanism to get it to fit securely so it wasn't loose. But I'm sure the panel will fall off again, and I have to repeat that whole process.
The lantern mechanism is extremely temperamental. It sort of lights up, not brightly, and not when I tighten it, it briefly lights up as I screw it in. But when it's fully tightened, it doesn't light up.
A boot spur was broken in the package. The actual spur itself was loose in the package. Same with the deputy star. At this point I'm not sure if I'm missing any accessories, but with the empty spots in the trays, and things jostling around, I can't be certain.
I feel like this whole figure is an example of "not seeing the forest for the trees". The hair sculpts are the closest thing I've seen to Hot Toys style, the crisp mold and that shimmering paint, the details on the boots, the wood grain on the guns. It really is packed with detail. But everything is so fragile that I'm afraid to handle it. Pieces have already broken off before I even took it out of the package. The body is detailed and muscular but the whole of it doesn't look right. He's got big ball-shaped shoulders that inhibit articulation and don't look like a realistic human being.
The thing about Hot Toys is ... these sorts of things don't happen. When I open a Hot Toys figure, there's not broken or loose accessories loose in the box. Things aren't falling off the figure. The tolerances on the hair/head is so tight that the paint dried on the head and is chipped just removing the hair. I read the instructions, about how you pry the hair apart to slip it back on the head, so you don't break the strands. This isn't that, the paint has dried and 'glued' itself to the hair, so when you pull the hair off, it pulls the paint off the headsculpt.
At this point, I'm worried about John Marston. If this was a character I actually wanted and cared about, I'd be a lot more disappointed.
The articulation of the body has to be addressed for the next figure. I've spent last night and this morning trying to futz with this thing, and I absolutely cannot get the shoulders/chest how I want it to look. I keep wanting to push the shoulders down to get a natural-looking slope and it just won't happen. And the more I futz with the figure, that's when parts are breaking or falling off.
Had I bought this from a retailer stateside I would probably ask for a straight-up return to get my money back, like I did with BBTS and the Asmus Gandalf, that figure was a mess. I'm hoping that KGHobby will at least be able to replace the accessories that have broken or fall apart.
Do wish the pants had more even weathering rather than just knees. Overall I love this!
