I’m continuing my look at Hasbro’s Overwatch figures with Ana in her Shrike gear and Soldier: 76. Again, I would like to just say a quick disclaimer: Matt don’t know Overwatch. I just bought a bunch of toys that looked darn cool on the shelf so let’s take a look and Ana and Soldier: 76!
These two come in the same kind of stylish packaging we saw with Pharah and Mercy, just with updated graphics and character information. I usually don’t even look at character bios on these things because I’m usually buying stuff I know something about, so I appreciate the info, sparse as it is.
The set comes with the two figures, extra hands for both characters, a large rifle for Soldier: 76 with a removeable rocket launch blast effect, a sniper rifle with muzzle flash for Ana, and a pistol for Ana.
Soldier: 76’s rifle is a nice, solid plastic with a good amount of paint detail. The rocket launch blast effect plugs in securely to the bottom of gun and I think it’s a really fun looking accessory.
I kind of wish Pharah had a similiar missile launching effect for her shoulder rockets.
The rocket effect can be seperated into two pieces, but it doesn’t seem to be meant to work with the gun that way.
The issue I have with the gun, is I can’t quite get the figure’s hand to go within the guard around the handle, so he doesn’t hold it as securely as I’d like.
Ana’s sniper rifle is also a pretty solid plastic with fewer paint hits. She holds her weapon more securely than Soldier:76 and can effect a decent sniping pose, but the elbow articulation does limit it somewhat.
Getting the gun in a two-handed pose honestly was more trouble than it should be. I found I could get the trigger finger fit well and as I tried to add the left hand supporting the gun, it popped the trigger hand off the grip.
The blast effect slides over the rifle muzzle easily and stays on securely. The effect itself is a pretty soft plastic, so it was slightly bent in the package.
Ana’s pistol is a nice little gun that I like a lot. Soldier: 76 is sculpted with pistol in his holster, but that’s not removeable. I’m not certain if that’s an essential feature of the character, but I find sculpted in guns on figures super annoying.
The fists for Soldier: 76 swap out, though I had to apply a bit of force to make it happen, while Ana’s open hands swap out very easily and stay in securely.
The sculpts on these two are fantastic and match the anime aesthetic of the character designs from what I’ve seen perfectly. They both have a very bold graphic style that’s very eye catching.
One thing I find interesting is that this version of Ana is not her regular appearance. There are a bunch of different skins that change the character’s appearance in the game, so I wonder how they choose which one to make into a figure. I do think this one is pretty darn cool with the robotic face mask.
The proportions are exaggerated as per the game’s style, so that’s something to consider if you are thinking about buying these figures for custom fodder.
The trench coat piece can come off, but the figure does look a little odd without it. The bomb strap is also removeable.
The articulation is very nice, but a little frustrating at certain parts. They both have:
- Swivel/hinge wrists, neck, shoulders, hips and ankles
- Double hinged knees
- Swivel thighs
- Ball and socket upper torso
- Single hinged lower torso
Ana has swivel/hinge and Soldier: 76 has double hinged elbows and butterfly hinged pecs. I think Ana would have benefited greatly from double hinges on the elbows to help get that classic sniper pose.
I also would have preferred an up/down hinge for the gun hands on both of these figures that have an in/out hinge. Soldier: 76’s ankles do not have much forward range of motion, so that does negatively effect action poses for him.
I do really like how soft the plastic is for Ana’s coat, hood and belt. They are separate pieces and allow for full movement. I’m impressed because that design could have easily been a super stiff poser.
Paint is good on these two. I like the metallic paint on the armor pieces and the detail looks sharp without a lot of bleed.
Overall, I like these figures quite a bit and they are inspiring me to look more into the game. They are fun to pose for the most part (sniper pose frustrations aside) and a couple of articulation upgrades would put them over the top.
