Indiana Jones (KotCS)

It's sad, but true.  With the DVD release, I finally got to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."  It's not that I didn't want to see it in a theater, we just had a busy summer.  Overall, I didn't think it was a bad film.  Maybe two places that I thought it could have been improved.  I think most folks need to realize the resolution of all of these stories isn't the main part of the films, the journey to get there is.

Alright, enough about the film, let's get to the review.  I thought since I checked out the DVD last night, I'd review the main Crystal Skull Indy today.  This is the jungle adventuring Indy.  Why does he wear that leather jacket in the hottest places on earth?

Compared to the the Temple Trap Indy, this figure actually looks a bit like Harrison Ford.  Especially with his hat off.  The look seems to be somewhat a cross between the older and younger Indys.  I don't' think his face looks as aged as the real Mr. Ford's did in the film.  But, the main clue is in the multi layered hair colors.   The head sculpt actually reminds me of the scene in Temple of Doom where he's eating with the village elders.  There's a bit of shadowing for the beard and the hair is good attempt to represent Ford's graying.   The only nit I have about the head is the eyebrows are just a tad thick, but not so horribly they detract.

The rest of the figure is pretty much the standard Indy we've come to expect.  Without having all the other IJ's, I can't tell you how much is re-use and how much is new.  Brown jacket and tan pants.  Overall, not a bad job. 

One thing that has impressed me with the Indy figures, for the most part, is the way the knee articulation is blended in to the pants sculpt.  I think most of the line's knees look better than the average Star Wars figures. 

Speaking of legs, this Indy's pants seem a tad on the dark side.  However, in the film I never got a real good sense of what color they were.  They were either in shadows or diffuse light most of the time. 

I really like the fact this guy got the sculpted non-functional holster.  I just think with the size gun he has, this looks a lot more realistic.  I'm actually surprised Hasbro didn't try to pull of a quick draw action feature like the vintage figure.  The other side of the belt has a small hook on it for his whip.  It would've been nice to have a small coil sculpted whip to fit on it.  The outstretched one can't really be coiled to look right. 

My favorite  bit of his costume or accessory is his bag.  The detail and look are perfect.  It's a far cry better than the vintage one.  One slight note about it.  My Indy came with the bag packed over his jacket (bottom picture).  I didn't like this look.  So I carefully removed his "jacket" and placed the bag underneath as seen in the top picture.  In the top picture, you can also see that the whip hook on the belt moves over his other belt buck as the holster moves to the side.

The rest of Indy's accesories are a bit of a let down.  It's not that there not accurate.  They're just a bit oversized.  His hat, whip, and gun all suffer from this. 

The whip tends to hold it's package pose.  This actually lets you pose Indy with it in kind of a mid swing that is alright.  It just is a bit thick when compared with the scale of the figure.

Any time you make a hat or helmet for a figure in this scale, one of two things seem to happen.  The head gear looks oversize or the head looks too small.  In this case we got an oversize fedora.  The gun still looks a size too big, as mention in the Temple Trap review.

Indy's last accessory is swappable left hand holding the crystal skull.  I find it hard to believe that you could hold that thing one handed like that.  It matches the look in the film though, partially achieve by the translucent material used.  After seeing the film, I'm kind of shocked Hasbro didn't try to put a left over magnet from SW Episode 2 in it.

This Indy comes with my least favorite out of all of the relics.  It is the "Eye of the Peacock."  Apparently, a large diamond from the Young Indiana Jones series.  I thought it was the diamond from "Temple of Doom," until I saw it's little sticker.  The color of mine looks yellow, the clarity is poor, and the cut where the mold tree was attached is visible.  Overall, a clear piece of junk that seem more at place in Barbie's jewelry box than anything related to Indiana Jones.