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Moderator
Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: San Diego
Posts: 10,334
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I've been putting off any review of this piece since I don't want to come across like a downer. But at the end of the day, mine does have a small chip on one of the right forearm spikes (which I only noticed after posting the pics – it’s such a tiny chip in person). Blizzard said they have no exchanges available, and I can only return it. They told me I have 90 days, so I’m thinking about it, but I'm probably going to be returning it.
It’s a really nice piece overall, and I’m sure those that don’t own any other Arthas statue, and especially those that got this one for 50% off, no doubt will be very happy. The base is really nice/great design. The quality is good, except for a few things. The fit, pegs, magnets, all superb, as usual for Blizzard, as is the packaging.
These are my complaints:
First, the scale. He’s oversized for 1/5 and almost, but not quite 1/4. For me personally this is a big negative, because he looks weird with the other Blizzard 1/5 pieces (Thrall looks small, for example), which was my display goal here, since I have the 1/4 Catfish Studios piece displayed with my 1/4 Sylvanas piece from Lin Studios. I didn’t want two 1/4 Arthas statues.
Second, while the paint is well done, again, like is typical for Blizzard IME, it’s just a bland overall scheme. I get it, he’s not a colorful character, but without any ice on the base for contrast, the entire statue just looks frosted all over. At least the dark blue in the cape and loin cloth help. The gold trim on all his armor looks pretty good in pics, but to my eye, at least, is barely noticeable in person.
Third, the cape design. While the shape/flow and texture detail are great, the thickness and bottom edge lack of detail is bad. Again, I get it, they want to minimize breakage of a giant sculpted cape during shipping. But the design suffers for this.
Fourth, the plastic parts. I’m usually all for using less breakable material for smaller parts, but the very flimsy plastic they chose, and for some pretty big parts to be honest, is disappointing.
Fifth, and this is by far the biggest fail for me, the pose/design with Frostmourne jutting out taking up an extra 10-12 inches of space. Even if you have the room, which I do as he would be displayed on the top of a cabinet, it’s so unnecessary, and just looks weird. I feel like Blizzard also thought it looked weird, so they randomly added the jutting out sword and ax from the base to try to (unsuccessfully) balance out Frostmourne. With the bodies in the base sculpted so tight to the shape of the overall base, the jutting weapons are just another failed design decision for me. And to top it all off, Frostmourne being front and center the way it is, they probably should have made it out of metal. Again, I’m not one that usually cares about this, but when you use flimsy plastic and the mold isn’t great, so it has uneven areas making it actually look like plastic, it’s not OK for me.
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