Review : General Hux
Star Wars Black Series (Hasbro)
Wave/Series : Figure #13 (Phase 3 Wave 4)
Released : Jan 2016 in US / June 2016 in UK
Price : £22.99
As we know Wave 4 was delayed into the UK for what ever reason, and that has caused a massive demand for the two new figures in the wave - Asty, and the one we have here, General Hux.
Hux is a #13 in the Phase 3 red packaging and comes packed with his pistol. Unlike most, the grey lined artwork in the bottom right corner of the box is a pretty poor likeness for Hux. But his black outfit does look striking against that red insert of the Phase 3 packaging.
Round the box there is a very short paragraph about Hux, replicated in 3 other languages below the English version.
Out of the box and Hux stands a touch over 6 inch. The head sculpt is where your attention is drawn, and to be brutally honest itis particularly poor. It bears very little resemblance to Domhnall Gleeson, and is almost just a generic human head. There is zero paint applications other than the eyes. The lips are left flesh colour and there is no wash or variation to bring out what little definition there is in the head sculpt around say the ears or under the noses.
The hair is also a very unnatural orange and is one colour only - no depth, no definition. There is then insult to injury when the neck is a different skin tone to the head and is flaking paint straight out of the box. I guess the head was cast in a skin coloured plastic and the neck is then painted over the black of the rest of the body.
The First Order cap is OK and sits naturally enough on the head with the First Order decal front and centre. The factory strikes again here with a big splodge of that orange hair paint on the top of my hat.
Once your past the head, the rest of the figure is pretty nice. Considering this is a black coat over a black uniform it is sculpted with enough detail including pockets on the coats and a texture on the tunic. There are neat silver bands on the left sleeve and a crisp First Order decal on the left shoulder.
Under the coat and on top of the tunic is a black belt, with a silver buckle - but Hasbro have chosen not to paint the red detail on the rest of the belt as it's hidden by the coat.The legs again are a slightly different shade of black and then end in very high gloss jack boots.
The coat can be removed if you wish. This looks "ok" although the perfectionist in me is put off by the arms not quite matching that tunic - but Hasbro have attempted to blend the two with some lines on the shoulders that blend into the tunic. A perfect solution, in the spirit of how the Black Series was launched in 2014, would have been for alternative arms - but we seem to be well beyond that type of variation in our Black Series figures.
Articulation is standard for a Black Series figure. Watch the ball jointed head because of that paint flaking - I wouldn't move the head much at all. Shoulders and elbows work as usual with the shoulders withdrawing under the coat when raised the 90 degrees out to the side. The rotation on the 90 degree elbow joint is the key point on the whole figure - allowing Hux to be posed with his hands behind his back
The legs are held back by the coat and then the bottom of the tunic, so although the hips are jointed there isn't much you can do. Splits in the side of the tunic and the back of the coat do stop a complete lock of the legs and with the double jointed knees this can allow for at least a wider stance and a small degree of "action" posing although that is not really what Hux is about and most collectors will have him hands behind his back leading the First Order troops.
General Hux's weapon is the same as First Order Tie Pilots and is cast in black plastic with silver trims down either side. It fits best into the right hand, but can go into the left if needed. There is no holster under the coat to hold the gun when not in use - an artistic licence I wouldn't have minded if Hasbro had added considering the gun itself was never seen on screen and is an artistic addition in itself.
It is clear now that any Human characters in the Black Series line will receive very little "love". While Aliens and Armoured figures continue to be executed reasonably well, having these key human characters look not much better than their 5 POA 3.75" counter-part will start to damage the line. Having waited so long for Hux, it is a disappointment I can only just give him a 2 out of 5.
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