Review – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Ezio Auditore “The Mentor”

I’m just not having the greatest luck with NECA action figures. I bought this Assassin’s Creed Ezio action figure (Amazon.com search*) because the design looked awesome and I’ve been told several times now that NECA action figures are better than I’ve experienced. Well, I’ve struck out again because this just isn’t anywhere near as cool of a toy as it should be.

Awesome Sculpt

The Ezio action figure’s problems are most definitely not in the sculpting. This toy looks fabulous with lots of sculpted details and soft plastic accessories overlaying the basic figure that give the design a lot of depth. From the wonderful face sculpt to all of the folds in the fabric this sculpt truly is great and is as perfect as any other 7-inch action figure I’ve bought this year. And the medieval costuming really suits the soft plastic pieces; that cowl pulled over Ezio’s is a nice touch and it barely restricts the neck movement.

Nice Paint

The paint, while splotchy here and there (the beard is a bit ragged), is generally quite nice with decent enough detail work over the dark plastic. The dry brushwork on the fur over the left shoulder and the trim on the cowl are some of my favorite details, and it looks like the armored forearms even have a bit of a wash over them to bring out all of those sculpted ridges and the gorgeous pattern. It’s not the greatest action figure paintwork that we’ve ever seen, but it’s up in the top 10% or so in terms of quality. Masterful isn’t the wrong word to describe the paint in comparison to other mass market action figures.

Articulation

So if the sculpt and paint are excellent, you may ask, why is this figure disappointing? Well, as I keep experiencing with NECA it’s the articulation where things start to go wrong. And it’s not in the number of points of articulation — 38! — but with how some of the joints work. Or, this time, fail to work.

Above is a shot of the toy’s left arm. That rocker shoulder combined with a ball-hinge that is followed by a swivel should be fantastic — the right arm has excellent motion and isn’t too restricted by the soft plastic shoulder armor — but something has fused the swivel so the elbow hinge only allows the arm to swing in and out toward the body. Try as hard as I can I just cannot swivel the arm around so that the elbow swings naturally, meaning that Ezio’s forever stuck with this awkward, zombie-like arm that dangles dead at his side.

And as soon as I encountered that one fused joint the other articulation choices started to nag at me. A loose ab crunch, those ball-hinge hips that never quite work the way they should, and a toe hinge that doesn’t have enough strength to hold the figure’s weight all started really bothering me as I played with Ezio. And as my first Assassin’s Creed action figure (Amazon.com search*), and latest attempt at getting into NECA’s work, I needed this toy to blow me away and not leave me disappointed.

Unfortunately, Ezio is a fantastic sculpt that is harmed by a fused joint.

Accessories

And once the joint soured me on the toy the accessories felt like less than useful pieces. I love how the blades retract from the forearm armor, but that left-hand blade is in the way when “concealed” and Ezio’s extra left hand never did look right with the blade tip always poking out. The sword is okay, the dagger sheathed at his belt (which can be removed and held) is truly fantastic, and the crossbow (not shown, because by this point I was tired of the toy) is adequate. If those wrist weapons could slide deeper into the armor I’d be a lot happier with both of them.

Closing Thoughts

My very first Assassin’s Creed action figure (Amazon.com search*) and, most likely, my last. It is a shame that NECA seems to be a company I keep having problems with because I love the sculpts and look of their toys. I just seem to keep buying action figures with joints that are fused, loose, or just not all that useful.

Ezio will go on display with my other game-related action figures. I just hope that the loose ab crunch doesn’t cause the toy to topple over and bring other toys down with it.

Philip Reed is being unfair to the toy, to NECA, and to everyone who reads this review. But it is hard to write a subjective review when you keep running across toys from a company with the same basic problem.