The Grand Moff has arrived in the northeast....
The portrait and the paint apps are nothing short of amazing. The hair, which some folks are calling out as too brown, actually looks pretty good to me. The skin texturing is great.
Now, the not-so-hot in my book
(I'm already flinching for the blasting I'll likely get here)
While the uniform is cut and fitted well, it has a couple of drawbacks that are distracting to me. First off, having the figure in such a crisp tailored outfit that arrives crammed in the tray with the outfit ending up with puckers and creases that can't be simply futzed out is a real drag. All of the wrinkles and creases really take away from the sharp clean look one would expect the character to feature. I haven't seen one "in-hand" shot that doesn't show the tunic puckered and creased in the middle or having other crumpled areas of the outfit. The commanding officer of the Death Star should not look like he slept in his uniform!
The other issue is those sleeves - they cannot be pulled and positioned in such a way to achieve that signature "crossed-arm" look featured on the box. The arms don't look natural that way, and having the joints show is the least of it- this is a figure after all, with articulation - not a statue. But having an illustration on the package call out the pose makes it even more frustrating. I'll land on another look for him on display, it's just a little odd to call attention to something that is looking more like some photoshop trickery than an actual photo of the figure.
Alright-enough about that. The boots are really effective here- a nice step up from the ANH Han that featured a similar boot. These are much more successful without that ankle-crease.
Now I know I've just been ragging away here on this figure - so let me at least say- I'm glad to have it-I'm glad HT produced this long-sought after villain of the original film. Tarkin is one of the classic SW characters I've been waiting to see produced as a high-end sixth-scale figure since Sideshow (and then Hot Toys) started producing for the license. Expectations were high, and for the most part, this figure meets them. Overall it's a decent figure, with a powerful portrait. If anyone has any futzing tips they'd like to share, I'd love to hear them.
Here's my take of that signature pose...
