Altair, one of the great Hashshashin and main protagonist of the game Assassin's Creed. NECA has added him to the ranks of Lara Croft, Hitman and Kratos in their Player Select line. The figure, like the game, has been heralded by some as the Best of 2007. Others however disagree and feel it's overrated.Let's take a look.
The figure itself sports a fairly solid sculpt. The head sculpt isn't bad, some say it looks like Orlando Bloom and if that's the case then it honestly looks more like him than any of their attempts from their Pirates of the Caribbean lines. It's reasonably game accurate and that's what matters. There's is a decent amount of detailing that went into the armor and ultimately this is a much more accurate depiction of Altair than the First4Figures statue that came with the game. The hood isn't as natural looking as it could be. Hasbro's recent Dr. Doom figure has a much more natural look to the hood with the flow and sizing. NECA's is a bit large and the point on the front of the hood isn't as sharp as it should be.
The missing ring finger on his left hand is a nice touch. The assassin's blade that slides down where the finger should be could be more flush to the hand. The assassin's blade is so far away from the hand that it seems like the ring finger is simply missing from the figure instead of it being part of the character design that allow Altair to covertly extend his blade and it taking the place of the missing finger, allowing him to deal a swift, killing blow when he makes a fist and attacks his target. I'd gladly have taken one less point of articulation to get that a more flush fit. The main problem that many will have with the figure isn't the sculpt. It's the paint applications. The figure sports a lot of white paint with grey washes to highlight the details in the sculpt. This isn't a problem until you get to the arms and on all of the ones I've seen in person the arms are much darker than the rest of the figure. Yes, the arms aren't part of the same garment as the all-white tunic. However, the in-game model and the promotion art show that while the undergarment is darker than the tunic, the difference is almost negligible.
Some people will be put off by the dark wash over the skin tone. The one's I've seen in person are a bit excessive in this area and it just lacks the polish of your standard McFarlane skin tone. The shading used for the five o'clock shadow and the mustache area are a bit much. That's nitpicking, however.
We finally come to articulation, which honestly is better than average but not as mind-blowing as you would expect given the articulation count. What NECA calls a ball-joint hip doesn't give you the range of motion you'd expect from other ball hipped figures like Marvel Legends. First, the clothing restricts the range of motion and second, it's a ball-hinge joint that's pegged into the crotch and not the hip. The arms have a decent range of motion and can help in posing however the sculpt limits that range to a slight bend. If you wanted to fully bend the elbows, this isn't the figure for you.
The most useful point of articulation in my opinion isn't a ball-joint wrist or head. It's the ball-joint waist which allows for a wider range of poses than you'd expect. All-in-all, the joints are fairly tight and the wrists are some of the best they've done and a major improvement over the first and second releases of Kratos. The ankles are also fairly tight but they do feel like they will loosen up significantly over time so this is one area to watch.
Accessories, as usual, are plentiful. Unfortunately, they look like they got the short of the stick when it comes to paint. The sword, dagger, alternate hand and 4 throwing knives are great additions to any figure's arsenal. They're decently accurate, but that's about where it ends. They're made of very brittle plastic, which should be able to support a more detailed sculpt but as usual the accessory sculpts are soft and plain. The paint on the accessories is also fairly dull with a mix of a soft silver and excessive blackwashing that leads to spots all over the sword, assassin's blade and dagger. There's no base, but unless the ankles loosen as I mentioned earlier there shouldn't be a problem getting him to stand without one.
Taking all of this into consideration he's a worthwhile figure. He can get into a few pretty fantastic poses and he's more than reasonably accurate for the price.
Best Figure of 2007? No. A solid 4 out of 5? Absolutely.
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