“Well, I mean that for nearly three thousand years man has been searching for the lost ark. It's not something to be taken lightly. No one knows its secrets. It's like nothing you've ever gone after before.”
The first two-pack in Hasbro’s Indiana Jones Adventure Series was taken from Raiders of the Lost Ark and saw another release for Rene Belloq, this time in his suit and Panama hat from the Cairo scenes, along with a new figure of Marcus Brody. The set was released in late August 2023 and was exclusively sold via Amazon and the Fan Channel retailers. The box followed the same design principles as the single releases with a sand colour scheme and vibrant Indiana Jones logo. As the set contained two characters, the two side spines were turned over to character artwork. and the contents were displayed on the rear of the box.
Marcus Brody is a new character in the Indiana Jones Adventure Series with the figure based on the early scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark as he and Indy detail the Ark of the Covenant to the US intelligence officers. While the character is new, the figure is a direct re-use of the Professor Indiana Jones with the same soft plastic jacket and waistcoat. The suit parts are all cast in a deep blue colour with no further paint application, not even the sculpted buttons. The neck section is new, replacing the bow tie with a burgundy tie that is set at a slight angle as per Brody’s slightly unkempt look from the movie.
The Denholm Elliott head sculpt is a good likeness but seems to lack the usual quality of facial print technology, with a finish to the eyes, eyebrows and lips more akin to the older painted execution.. The skin tone is a bit too pale and pasty, more noticeable when Marcus is displayed alongside other characters. The hands are directly translated from the Professor Indy figure - and therefore the original Raiders Indy - and that gives Marcus a right trigger hand, even though now weapons are included - nor should they be when you consider the role Marcus plays in Raiders and the wider Indy movies.
What we do get is an apple accessory, which I had assumed would be re-used from the Marvel Legends He Who Remains figure - but is in fact a new smaller cast piece. It can sit into either hand with relative ease. The other accessory is much more impressive - a scaled reference book for the Lost Ark complete with clasped locks and the ability to be opened onto the specific page seen in the movie with a replication of the illustration and the execution of text - although it is too small to be legible.
Marcus brings the same articulation count as was found on the Indy figures, 19 points in total. These are all pinless and engineered around the cut of the clothing, with further joints at the waist and shoulders underneath the softer elements of the plastic - this includes a pair of butterfly shoulders which do add a wider range of motion, not that Marcus really needs much outside holding his apple or carrying the book.
The second figure is a new version of Rene Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark, this time in his white suit and hat and as seen in the Cairo scenes, during the Tanis dig, and to the ‘Ark Showdown’ towards the end of the film where he calls Indy’s bluff over destroying the Ark. The figure is a hybrid of the original Belloq -taking the legs and feet from this figure - and the Major Toht figure from whom it borrows the arms and most likely the plain torso, over which is placed a new soft rubber jacket and a new neck piece and tie. Like Marcus, all of Belloq’s suit parts are cast in the base colour - but Belloq does get painted suit jacket buttons. Paint is also applied to the belt and the two-tone shoes. There is also paint decor on the grey of the tie and the grey stripe of Belloq’s hat. In the movie, Belloq is wearing a striped shirt but the figure's shirt has been left plain - probably sensible considering how the stripes would translate at 6-inch scale.
The head sculpt is pretty much the same as the Ceremonial release, with the headdress removed and the hat added in its place - the hat is not removable. While Brody was too pasty in his complexion, Belloq has a glossy tanned complexion. And like Brody, the facial features while a good likeness to actor Paul Freeman, the facial decor is certainly less advanced than that being used on the Star Wars and Marvel ranges. The hair colour choice is also off, with a two-tone grey used on this figure - while the original Belloq had a more accurate greying brown finish which is more screen-accurate.
Belloq has a single accessory, a submachine gun which is cast in grey plastic with limited detail and zero paintwork. The context of the weapon is from the ‘Ark Showdown’ scenes towards the end of Raiders and while it is missing its strap, it is otherwise a decent enough replication albeit missing crisper details that we have seen on weapons in some of the other Hasbro collector lines. Belloq has a right trigger hand to hold the weapon and can then hold the forward grip with his left hand. The pinless Articulation is 17 points in total, with Belloq missing out on the Butterfly shoulder joints although these do not hinder the way he wields the machine gun.
It is worth noting at this point that Belloq's gun may arrive with a badly bent barrel out of the box due to how it is being packed - it happened with mine, and I have seen it on others on the internet - but this can be straightened by putting it in hot water for a minute or two then shaping it straight and setting the shape in the fridge.
When we bring Marcus and Belloq together there is a scaling issue with this set thanks to the original base bodies. With Brody using the Indy body, he is considerably taller and ‘buffer’ than Belloq. Thankfully the two didn’t share scenes in Raiders so you can pose them apart and once separated and integrated with the other Raiders figures the size difference is not as noticeable.
Hasbro has already gone deep on the Indy range and the inclusion within a year of characters like Marcus Brody and a second variant for Belloq is welcomed - even if we offset these with multiple Indy figures. While the character choice is pleasing, putting them together in the same set is slightly underwhelming when you consider that suited characters often struggle to sell, pitting Belloq with a bedraggled Indy with Rocket Launcher would certainly have made a more dynamic ‘Ark Showdown’ pack, with Marcus perhaps being moved to a single release either within a Build-an-Artifact wave - or as an exclusive. As it stands, the pack may struggle to sell as quickly as some of the other Indy releases - hampered further by a £56.99 price tag on Hasbro Pulse while two individual figures total just £49.98 when bought separately. Putting all of this aside, the figures themselves work well enough without being exceptional. I have no issue with the part re-use, although the scaling of Marcus is a touch frustrating when they could have used the Toht body for a smaller frame.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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