I knew nothing about Horizon Forbidden West, but when I started seeing previews of this character, I had to have one. Generally speaking, I like to get at least one figure from a company that’s launching a new six-inch scale super-articulated line, or to see a company that’s really stepped up their game in terms of articulation and sculpting. In my opinion, Aloy represents a step up from Spin Master, as she is the beginning of a new line of super-articulated action figures based on the Playstation games called The Shapes Collection, and I ordered one from Amazon. Let’s meet Aloy!
The packaging is quite sophisticated, with some character art and 3D renderings of the characters on the outer sleeve. It has a Playstation-branded vibe to it, like you’d see on their games and the like.
There’s more game art on the inside of the slider, which opens up to reveal the figures and accessories inside. It has a premium feel and the presentation feels very SDCC exclusive. It makes me wonder if this isn’t a planned premiere product from SDCC, since the other figures we’ve seen aren’t quite as luxurious.
The figure comes with a ton of items, including a bow, loose arrows, quiver, spear, four sets of hands (grip, bow grip, fist, grip, and open), and six panels.
The hands give you the options you need for a variety of poses and allow her to use her accessories well. They pop out easily and stay there. The grips are a softer plastic, so getting the accessory in your hand is a bit cumbersome at times, but they hold well. I particularly like the bows that are held in specific hands, as they work well with the bow and make the arrow-shooting pose generally less annoying than for archer characters with real strings on their bows. The detail on the bow is incredible, with a mostly white base and lots of little embellishments such as feathers.
The bow has a white elastic string, and the bow shooter is designed to hold the string and the nock of the arrow. There is also a small groove on the bow near the figure that holds it in the center and you can lock the arrow into it.
The quiver is inserted into a hole in the skirt and rotates from that point. Happily, it stayed in place very securely and didn’t fall off once while I was posing. The loose arrows are obviously larger than the ones engraved in the quiver, so I can understand why it wouldn’t work, but I wish I could store the loose arrows in the quiver.
The detail of the spear is similar to that of the bow, with feather decoration and many small details. It looks like there’s some kind of wire in the handle, and there’s a lot of clean paint on the whole thing.
Both the bow and the spear have small holes through which nails can be inserted into the figures’ backs. The bow has a hole that goes straight through it, whereas the hole in the spear doesn’t go all the way through it, so I’m thinking maybe they originally designed them to be stacked on the same peg, but it wasn’t long enough on my build. You could use one peg at a time to store weapons, but I could also put them all in there by sandwiching the bow between the spear and back and under the hinged hair.
Finally, the faceplate is a super fun option with a variety of expressions and decorations. My favorites are probably the three without any extra face paint, just freckles, as they provide some variety to the type of photography vignette I love. The goofy face is perfect for bow shooting since she actually has a bit of a side gaze. I kind of wish the neutral, shocked, and smiling faces didn’t have face paint so they could work in the same scene but with different face paint neatly. The face is swapped onto some pegs on the head and attached securely. I do wish they were slightly recessed under the hairline for a cleaner look and make the plates around the hairline less noticeable. I did notice that a few times I posed with one askew and it showed a very noticeable gap at the jawline, so that might be a bit of a nuisance.
The sculpt of this figure is very cute. I looked at some photos of the character models online and I think they did a great job translating this extremely detailed costume into a figure with multiple textures and extremely crisp detail.
The clarity is very impressive. Series like G.I. Joe and Marvel Legends have a lot of the usual POA, but they also add some fun twists and refine the usual expressions through smart engineering choices. The character designs have some potential flaws, such as fur shoulder caps, lots of hair, large skirts, and furry boots, which could negatively impact articulation, but they work around them in smart ways.
The skirt is sectioned, allowing legs to stick out through the gaps. There are also things hanging from the belt, such as a rope, a quiver and a pouch for cloth, all of which can be rotated out of the way or positioned correctly depending on the posture. Underneath the furry boot, there’s a ball joint and a cavity that allows the boot to swivel and tilt, and there’s enough room carved out of that furry boot that the ankle can hinge forward. The fur shoulder holster is a soft plastic piece that attaches to the back but opens up in the front so that the arms can move more freely around it.
Finally, the large amount of hair that hangs over the shoulders is divided into five ball-jointed sections that can be moved around and allow for more range of head movement than a character with all hair would normally have. This can be a bit fiddly, and one of the hair strands does pop out a few times, but it’s also fun to figure out and try to get the hair pieces to work together in different positions. I was shocked at how well this character looked up, and as far as I could tell, she only had ball joints in her neck. Aloy has:
- Rotate/hinge shoulders, wrists, elbows, hips and ankles.
- Ball head, lower neck, mid torso, hair and under boots
- Hinged toes, lower torso crunches, and butterfly pecs
- Double hinge knee
- Rotate thighs, biceps and waistband
The only thing that doesn’t work for me is that she doesn’t have elbows, but the arms are really small, so I can understand that might be an aesthetic requirement.
The paint is also very good, with very nice facial patterns and lots of tiny paint separations for all the costume and accessory details. The furry parts of the costume received some washing and dry brushing, and the hair color was changed, bringing out all the great sculpted details.
Aloy is about 5 and 3/4 inches tall and looks more like a true 6 inch scale like the Black Series rather than the 6 and a half inches of the Legends and GI Joe assortments. I saw her fighting some crazy tech monsters in the game, but I didn’t think I had anything similar, so she was more of a Dino Warrior on my shelf. I could see her working with The Black Series or some Dungeons and Dragons figures, like the Hasbro movie figures.
Overall, I’m very impressed with this figure and looking forward to Spin Master’s next product. Aloy is more expensive than other figures they’ve announced ($49.99), and does appear to have more accessories than the regular line. The price tag is almost import-level cost, and while the articulation is better than many American series, the figure definitely feels more like a domestic figure than an imported figure in terms of plastic feel. I almost don’t want to like it as much as I do because I think the cost is a bit high. I don’t know, all those panels and paint would make this figure more expensive to produce. I don’t like it. I don’t agree, but I accept it.
