While I played a little Dungeons and Dragons as a teenager, my formative exposure to D&D was probably the cartoon, the LJN figures, and the wonderfully evocative advertising artwork for the game expansions that were often found within the comic books of my youth. Coincidentally, I happened to have read a couple of Drizzt origin stories a few years ago, so I was excited to see he was picked as the debut character for a six inch scale, super articulated D&D figure line. Let’s take a look!
The packaging definitely has that SDCC-style premium feel to it with a foil embossed slip cover that features some lovely art of Drizzt and Guenhwyvar in action and a sort of woodblock etching style framing artwork that depicts some things from Drizzt’s origin. Under the slip cover there is a nice big window showing off all the great stuff that comes with the figures and the back has a great action scene showing D&G fighting a dragon.
In addition to the two figures, the set comes with a lot of accessories including:
- A 20 sided die
- Two swords
- Four hands (two grip, one left open and one right fist)
- Two flame effects
- Two heads
- Two hair pieces
- A small statue of Guenhwyvar
- A necklace
The 20 sided die is a little larger than the die I remember from my roleplaying game days, and isn’t really useful for the figure, but it has a neat sparkly finish to it and is a nice tribute to the origins of this line.
The small statue of Guenhwyvar is painted in a glossy black and fits in Drizzt’s open hand. In the story, Guenhwyvar is a magical creature summoned using a small onyx figurine, so it is pretty cool they included this.
I honestly couldn’t remember the significance of the unicorn pendant necklace, but a fellow Fwoosher pointed out that it is a symbol of Drizzt’s goddess, Mielikki. It fits well around the neck when the cloak isn’t on. You can put the cloak over the necklace and it will completely cover it, or you can pull the necklace out and hang over the top of the cloak collar. I prefer to just leave it off as the hair and cloak interaction can get pretty bunched up as it is.
The swords are unique pieces and I believe they correspond with a couple of magic swords in The Crystal Shard Trilogy of books (Twinkle and Icingdeath). One has a blue crystal (Twinkle) and the other has a bit of a dragon head design on the pommel (Icingdeath) and both have unique scabbards that are attached to Drizzt’s belt with soft plastic straps. The straps allow the swords to move around a bit and get out of the way of posing. Both swords have nice metallic paint and hold their shape well, and though the edges have that toy safety bluntness to them, they look pretty cool.
The translucent purple flame effects are pretty neat and slide over the sword blades easily and stay on securely. They make the swords a bit heavier, but the grips still hold the weapons well. These pieces remind me a lot of some of the energy effects we see in the Power Rangers line from Hasbro, though I think these are the most effective version of that idea I’ve seen. I’m not sure what power they are indicating, but I’ve only read a small percentage of Drizzt stories, so I’m sure I just missed it. He does have the ability to cast a Faerie fire, so maybe these effects are meant to represent that.
I really like that Drizzt comes with more hands than just the weapon grips and the open hand works nicely for gesturing and spell casting. I just appreciate having options other than the grip hands. The grip hands are pretty tight, but that comes in handy when wielding the swords with the heavier flame attachments.
One of my favorite features in this set is that not only is there an alternate portrait, but there is alternate hair pieces you can swap between the portraits. The hair swaps pretty easily, you just have to navigate the tendrils of hair around the pointy elf ears, and has pegs that plug into holes in the head. It works surprisingly well and adds a nice variety to the looks you can accomplish.
Guenhwyvar features some really nice muscle and fur sculpting and is one of the better super-articulated animal figures I’ve bought. The articulation is pretty great and I like how the ball and socket in the head, neck, and mid-torso allows the big cat to curve its body to the side. The shoulder and hips swivel, but the shoulders have a slight outward hinge to them. I do wish those hinged outward a bit more. I like how the swivel/hinges on the elbows and knees allow you to stabilize the poses better and the articulation jaw is a lot of fun
There is a bit of purple over-spray on Guenhwyvar that I don’t think hurts the figure, but I would have been fine without it. I really love paint work they did on the eye as it has some nice dimension to it.
Sculpting on Drizzt is also great. The amount of detail packed into that armor sculpting is exceptional and he has the right proportional build for a warrior without straying into super-heroic exaggeration. While I normally would prefer a neutral portrait, I like the options here for Drizzt. I have been reading the Crystal Shard Trilogy recently and the sheer number of times Drizzt smirks in that series, makes me think they made the right choice.
The cape is a separate piece that hangs over the shoulders. It can be removed when you pop the head off.
Drizzt stands at about 6 and 1/4 inches, so he’s more on the Star Wars Black and G.I. Joe Classified end of the six inch scale. He’s a little small to fit in with the Mythic Legions elves, but I like how he works with the orcs and goblins and other monsters.
The Articulation is similar to the G.I. Joe Classified figures with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles
- Ball and socket neck, head, and waist
- Hinged mid-torso, upper neck, and butterfly hinged pecs
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Swivel thighs and biceps
The articulation moves pretty well and the shoulder armor is attached to his bicep and soft enough to allow for full shoulder movement. The butterfly hinges aren’t especially needed for this character since he’s not gripping his weapons with two hands, but I still appreciate the flexibility it allows. The cape is a hindrance to head movement since the hair actually goes under the collared hood and you basically get twist action only. The waist is a bit weird since the belt and armored skirt piece is glued to the upper body, the waist moves below the soft plastic belt. It’s a little unusual, but the soft plastic skirt does get out of the way of movement.
Paint is very good on this figure. The gold detail on the armor is sharp and they did a nice job highlighting a lot of the straps and rings on the armor with silver. I think Drizzt’s skin color is a little lighter than I tend to think of him, but the paint detail is otherwise very nice on the two portraits. There is a slight purple wash on the hair that helps bring out the detail there.
Overall I am really pleased with this set and hope that Hasbro continues to make more figures from Dungeons & Dragons in this style. Both figures are a ton of fun to pose and play with and the potential for characters and creatures from the Dungeons & Dragons universe is limitless. Hasbro has been pretty quiet about the future prospects since the initial announcement, so I would love to hear more soon. Drizzt and Guenhwyvar are still available at Hasbro Pulse.
I know this is a bit late to say, but I really like the photo with Drizzt fighting the Nargacuga MonsterArts figure, not a crossover I knew I needed.
MORE ANIMAL TWO PACKS!
I live oversea so with extra delivery cost the price would go way up to scalper price. Amazon got foreign free delivery recently so I mostly buy there if the item’s available.
Hasbro Pulse still has them in stock, it’s how I got mine 🙂
This figure looks fantastic, and firmly cements my strong desire for Hasbro to get the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Tried to find this on amazon but only has “Husbro” version with scalper prices..
It’s the GOLDEN AGE of action figures. Young people have no idea how bleak it was, in the before times.
They have taken actual disposable trash (the toys and junk food entertainment of our youths) and turned them into miniature, mass-produced little works of art. Hasbro has taken HUNDREDS of at-bats with some of their characters (Vader, Prime, Spidey) and we old timers paid for them all – happily, because each iteration improved on the last.
Well, you folks today are at (or nearish) the apex/endpoint of toy evolution. Today would be a great day to be a brand new collector – you will almost certainly have a shot at almost anything you’d ever want, done close to “perfect.”
Anyway dude, what a rad set.
I hope this line doesn’t die off like the Overwatch Ultimates line, there’s a lot of cool things they could do with D&D since they own the property
The panther is a masterpiece of “$20″ engineering. I have 3 already and sold the Drizzts for $20. The articulation is SUPERB! I want to buy more. I would have liked more hip and shoulder movement, but, they are still posable enough to get a lot of great physical expressions. Whether you care about D&D or not, I don’t, the panther is an amazing figure to have for almost any collection because its look is adaptable. I have them paired with me MOTU ORIGINS. They look great with Marvel legends obviously. The 7” scale stuff, like TMNT/MOTU Super7, work okay, but the panthers are starting to look a little small at that scale. The articulation on BATTLE CAT is crap comparatively. It could have been amazing. I might have some of the “kitties” customized to look like a battle cat and panthor. The kitties are smaller than battle cat but still big enough to look oversized with the origins figures. I CAN’T WAIT for them to come out with more panthers of other colors and if we are really blessed, MORE ANIMAL FIGURES WITH LOTS OF ARTICULATION!!!!!!
I just want the Kitty.
This is a great figure of a character that I wanted in figure form for years. I’m glad to finally have him.
I’ve literally no nostalgia for D&D, but a cool figure is cool nonetheless. I’m glad I splurged and ordered him when first available.
Those hair swaps mean they can accessorize more figures in more ways, too!
I’m keen to see where this line goes and if the new accessory types make their way into other lines.
Twinkle and Icingdeath are both frost enchanted swords, I believe. While I do love the effects on the swords, they do seem a bit off for frost effects. Maybe that’s just me.
The lack of information on this “line” is concerning. I really like the looks of this character and I love the D&D lore, but I don’t want a one off character. I would have already bought this if they had said anything about future figures.
His scale is interesting… D&D elves are slightly smaller than humans, so will human figures be bigger in this line or will they all follow Drizzt?
Would love to get to the point of more Forgotten Realms lines.