“Okey-Dokey, Dr. Jones! Hold on to your potatoes!”
Short Round is the only other character released so far for The Temple of Doom within Hasbro’s Indiana Jones Adventure Series, the other two being two variations of Indy. Short Round is packed in the windowless square box with the Indy travel map design and sandy base colour scheme. The figure is depicted on the front and back with an illustration of the character on one side spine, and a checklist of the included Build-an-Artificact on the other. Inside the box, Short Round is enclosed in the waxy paper bags with the accessories in a second back at the other side of the inner cardboard tray.
Short Round is a brand new figure, with Hasbro obviously intending to give us a figure that covers all the definitive looks of the character through his travels with Indy in The Temple of Doom. The figure arrives donned in the first soft goods of the line, Short Round's blue coat as worn in the Shanghai escape scenes and the plane ride and arrival into India. Like most soft goods, the tailoring is out of scale and the look is not quite right and reminiscent of late 90’s action figures with this type of clothing. Under the coat, we have Short Round in his plain brown trousers, buttoned jacket, and white vest seen throughout the rest of the movie. Each part is cast in its base colour and there are no obvious paint apps at all, nor any weathering which we did get on the corresponding Temple of Doom Indy.
The likeness to 12-year-old Ke Huy Quan from 1984 is good without being anything special. The paintwork is rudimentary on the facial details reverting almost to hand-painted eyes, eyebrows, and mouth with no features as such that would be enhanced by photo decor.
Short Round has two hat options within the set, the first being his iconic New York Giants white baseball cap with blue stripes and peak. This is removable and fits snugly on the figure's head without looking oversized. It can also fit on backwards, but the shaping here is off so it doesn’t look as fitted. We also then get a removable version of Indy’s Fedora. This is sized for Short Round so is actually smaller than the hats on the Indy figures, but is produced in the same way with a rubbery plastic finish and painted central band. Like the baseball cap, this fits snugly on Short Round’s head while also looking too big for him as per the scene in the movie. It also works well as an accessory for more scene-specific displays where you can have Short Round passing Indy his hat after breaking him from his hypnotic spell.
Next on the list for Short Round are a dagger and a Voodoo doll, as used in the movie by Maharaja Zalim Singh. The two pieces have basic details and paint apps considering their size and can be held in either hand although in reality, they have no specific link to Short Round other than the fight he has with the other child towards the end of the scenes as they escape from the mines.
The final accessory is arguably the best, another flaming torch for the line but very different from that included with Professor Indy from The Last Crusade. It is made up of a brown shaft with darker brown trim and a translucent orange/yellow flame piece. While it can fit into Short Round’s hands, the shaft is quite wide so it will stretch the softer plastic of the hands over time - like many Indy figures to date, alternative hands here would have been preferred but are not included.
Articulation is reduced considering Short Round’s stature, and we have a total of 17 points of articulation, These are all pinless as per the rest of the range, and where possible designed into and around the outfit. Short Round poses well enough with the majority of accessories including some more dynamic posing such as running with the help of a display stand.
Considering that The Temple of Doom range is currently limited to just three figures and a build-an-artifact, I am grateful that Short Round has made it as a figure in lieu of so many other characters who might have been chosen ahead of him in terms of looks or visual presence and popularity. In reality, once announced Short Round outsold every other figure in the wave if pre-orders were anything to go off validating Hasbro’s decision.
The figure we get has plenty of options for display, although the soft goods coat doesn’t really work and will likely go in a 'spares box' for most collectors, with the flaming torch particularly good fun as are the two removable cats. The beauty of the figure is perhaps brought out fully when posed with either of the two Temple of Doom Indy figures, depicting their relationship for the movie in action figure form.
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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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