Great review as always - agreed on the sculpt. Great quality and great paint app, but they botched the likeness for me. Quality of the clothes and stuff is superb though as always.

Out of interest, given you say you get them free for review, do you keep these figures or do you have to return them to Hot Toys after the review?

 

Generally, all the stuff I review - bought or provided - ends up in the collection.

 

Hey Michael, do you have a warehouse to keep all the toys over the years? Will you be in that Syfy show?

 

I do have a barn - but I don't expect to be on any intervention show any time soon.

 

Nice figure, but looks nothing like Penelope.

 

Good review. The only reason I wanted this figure is because of Penelope Cruz's sculpt, now that you said that the likeness is off, this makes my decision much easier. The price also forced me to turn away.

Since Michael mentioned in his review how he tries to finish movies without walking away, I hope HT does Johnny Depp from Dark Shadows. I just watched it last night and it was one of the rare movies that I finished without being distracted by anything.

 

Good review. The only reason I wanted this figure is because of Penelope Cruz's sculpt, now that you said that the likeness is off, this makes my decision much easier.

My pet theory is that HT celebrity likenesses have come so far that for a new one aiming to be even better, they actually must choose between pushing in the direction of specific celebrity resemblance, or in the <opposite> direction to become a completely realistic human in skin textures etc but possibly weakening the precise celebrity image.

Most of us wdn't look like ourselves if we were mathematically reduced to a perfect 1/6. The points of likeness would seem off. HT have come to the point where they allow absolutely no exaggeration or caricature and that may be how you get things like this, where you'd swear you're looking at a picture of some actual flesh & blood person, but you'd never mistake it for a photo of Penelope Cruz specifically. My 2 cents.

__________________
The guidance counselor was surprised: "I didn't even know career aptitude tests had a Super-Villain category."

 

I haven't seen Dark Shadows yet, but I plan on it! Good to hear it's worth watching.

 

Nice though she is, only a diehard POTC fan would bother spending that much. I think true HT fans should vote with their wallets and not open them till the price is less than $100.

Never gonna happen I know, but....

CHEERS!

 

I'd say this: the tattoo on her chest: It's is not meant as "wear and age"... but your copy has it rub-off..

 

It's unlikely to be 'rub off' - that would require handling. It's quite possible that the ink absorption varies from figure to figure, however, especially with the rubbery skin. To me, it looks more realistic as a tat.

 

Don't factory workers "handle it"... Not ink per say... but stencil/decal...

Anyways conclusion was made by recalling this pic I saw.

 

Great review, thanks! might even pick her up.

 

okay, $175 shipped for this.

good deal?

almost all her pirate stuff is useless to me but the cheapest on the part-out for the pieces i want comes to about $160 (and that's for a body, head, boots, and hands). for the extra $15, she'd be complete.

i'm just not crazy about the body ~ that's what's stumping me on this one.

thoughts?

 

okay, $175 shipped for this.

From where?

 

ssc. it's on sale and they have a promotional coupon.

 

I think it's pretty good deal, but only if you're a POTC fan. The costume is quite elaborate, and well done.

 

yeah, she's a very nicely done figure ~ seems a shame to strip her just to stick her in a cop uniform, but i do like the sculpt and need a body....

erg. if she just wasn't so piratey.

: o p

 

I wouldn't buy the whole set just for parts in this case--not worth it to me.

 

right now i agree with you ~ i bought black widow because i can re-purpose everything about her and i like the body style.

angelica is a tougher call since no matter how i slice it, she's going to end up costing me ~ even if i want to buy just parts. unless she continues to drop in price (the unforeseeable future!). but while the set is holding or even dropping down, the head is going up. $79 now on ebay and still a couple of hours left on the auction.

beh.

 

Penelope Cruz is easily the most gorgeous actress there is of this generation, and the HS by HT is way off unfortunately. Don’t get me wrong. It’s still good looking, but it’s just not Penelope. I guess female HS is really tricky to do, especially the pretty ones.

 

i don't really care about penelope (though i think the sculpt looks like her). either way, it's a nice headsculpt and i want a renee for my batman collection and she fits the bill.

definitely a dearth of good female headsculpts. i might take a chance on the knock-off. and yet $42 and the hope of a better female body might only come out marginally less than the $175 i could spend now.

what a conundrum.

 

I got mine from my local retailer last December for $ 119. The reason I picked it up because it was on sale and I wanted to get the Penelope sculpt. Most reviews tell that it does not look Penelope. To this I say that when I googled Penelope's pictures to compare my HT figure, to be honest, there were pictures of the actress that I would have not recognized if not for the Penelope Cruz tag line in the pictures. Meaning to say, Penelope is a pretty actress but her features are hard to identify. If I saw her on the streets, I'll admire her but will probably not recognized her unless I hear her accent or see the paparazzis following her.

At $ 175, it's still to much for ME since Angelica is only a one time character in the POTC films. Just my two cents.

 

Thanks for the review. I missed it when it first came out.

I like everything about this figure except the headsculpt. If I am dropping that many clams on an exclusive figure, it should look like the person it is meant to be, especially a movie figure/character. It's a nice sculpt, but not nearly close enough for me to rush out and buy.

I saw this in hand the other day, at a local shop, and that sealed it for me. I was on the fence, and was wondering about buying it, but now I am in no rush at all.

 

When I showed the sculpt to friends most of the said she reminds me of Penelope Cruz...only one said definitely Penelope rather they said the Chick from the last Pirate movie...but I knew who they meant....so the likeness is some what there. But I will be the first to admit not the best likeness I have seen of an actress, but as a female sculpt I love it, right now it is my favorite. just my 10 cents....if I could have afforded it I would have bought the box set, but I couldn't so I bought the head sculpt for 50 and all things considered it is worth it to me.

 

it looks plenty penelope enough to me. i don't know what you guys are seeing, but then i ain't picky about her either.

might just end up taking a chance on the knock off head ~ especially since i spent all my money on extra black widow bodies. and she doesn't need to look like penelope, so if she's just a nice headsculpt i'd be satisfied.

 

it looks plenty penelope enough to me. i don't know what you guys are seeing, but then i ain't picky about her either.

might just end up taking a chance on the knock off head ~ especially since i spent all my money on extra black widow bodies. and she doesn't need to look like penelope, so if she's just a nice headsculpt i'd be satisfied.

did you by chance get those from Toy Anxiety? On the Penelope since I knew before hand who the sculpt was I can't really judge on the likeness....I had asked myself do I see Penelope because it does look like Penelope, or do I see Penelope because I know who it is suppose to be. I feel the best judge or people who don't know before hand who it is suppose to be. regardless I think it is a great sculpt.

 

hahahaha ~ i'm probably just not that picky. i know it's supposed to be penelope and it looks like penelope to me. i honestly don't spend much time looking at penelope. if it's chris helmsworth or gary oldman or someone like that, i might be inclined to be more critical.

and yeah, i got the bodies from toy anxiety ~ just after you and gunm posted to look there.

thanks!

: D

 

You're welcome...after telling you that, I went to watch a movie came back and every Thor sculpt was gone. ruined my night..I went to bed bummed out. Monkey Depot don't know when or if they or getting anymore and I haven't called Toy Anxiety....I guess if you snooze you loose!