I am a Hulk addict.
From vintage sunglasses to Premium Format Statues, my collection room bleeds purple and green. As one of Marvel’s perennial A-listers, there has never been a great shortage of Hulk product, and with the recent Avengers explosion, everyone’s favorite Jade Giant is seemingly everywhere. When Hot Toys announced the inclusion of the Hulk in their Avengers line, I knew I had to make choice. I could continue my path of Hulk obsession by secretly buying all the figures, lunchboxes and smash fists I wanted, or I could drop $300+ dollars on one figure, thereby outing myself to my wife and fulfilling my destiny to sleep in the garage. I opted for the former and relegated the beautiful Hot Toys figure to permanent grail status, never once breathing a word of its existence. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened last year’s birthday present from my wife to discover a printed preorder slip from Sideshow Collectibles. She wouldn’t know Hot Toys from a Hot Pocket, so how she pulled this one off — I’ll never know.
It’s been eight longs months, so was it worth the wait?
In short, yes. Yes it was.
Hulk comes packaged in a large and completely collector-friendly box. There is no outer sleeve or magnetic enclosures like some of Hot Toys’ releases, but the design is simple and well done. The figure itself is packed in a sturdy foam with a plastic shell overlay to keep him safe and sound. I only own a few Hot Toys figures, but they’ve all been rife with accessories. This, unfortunately, is not the case with Hulk as he’s only packed with two extra open hands. An additional item or two (perhaps something Banner related) would have been nice, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker. The sheer size of this figure makes you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. The figure itself is a full 18 inches tall, but photos really don’t convey just how massive he is
Early photographs were no doubt impressive, but there was something off in the head sculpt. Hot Toys apparently went back to the drawing board and gave us this new (and much improved) sculpt. As has come to be expected from this company, the detailing and paint apps are flawless. A variation of the PERS (parallel eyeball rolling system) has been used, and you can access it by removing the top of the Hulk’s head, which is secured safely with magnets. This variation is probably my biggest gripe with the figure. Rather than use one knob to simultaneously control both eyes, they’ve chosen to utilize two separate controls which allow the user to adjust each eye individually. The problem is that you have to take great care to avoid the dreaded googly-eye look.
The Hulk’s body has the same high level of craftsmanship that you see in the head sculpt. The veins, skin texture, and ripped cloth pants are all pretty much perfect. As Hot Toys is very much concerned with aesthetics, the base body (which seems to be all new) is covered in an overlay to hide unsightly joints, which can be limiting to articulation. The skin itself looks fantastic, but it does tend to bunch up unnaturally on the inner elbow when flexed. I do love how the skin stretches when the head and neck are moved. The shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows all have ratcheted joints, which I personally love on a figure this size. Whether it’s true or not, it makes me feel more confident that the figure will be able to hold its pose for an extended period. The head and neck offer a great range of motion, and while there is no ab-crunch, the waist allows you the bend the torso side to side as well as front to back. My one wish was that they would find a way to incorporate a bicep swivel, as it adds so much to poseability. Hot Toys has included an instruction sheet for the figure’s articulation capabilities so that you’ll be aware of its limitations.
The alternate open hands attach to a ball joint in the wrist and are constructed with a wire frame to allow for finger posing. The fingers actually work and can be posed at each individual joint, as opposed to some of the bendy hands we’ve seen with other large scale figures (e.g. DC Direct’s 13-inch line). They do have the “bendy holes” that is commonplace with this design, but it’s not very noticeable once posed.
It’s almost cliché at this point to say that Hot Toys continues to set the bar in 1:6 scale collectibles, but with the Hulk, that’s exactly what they’ve done. While not as poseable as some of their other offerings, Hulk still retains the same unbelievable quality in terms of sculpt, paint, and engineering. Add in the fact that he’s pretty reasonably priced considering the size, and I do believe you have yourself a winner.
