Quick Buying Options : Get on the waitlist for the reg. at Sideshow, check Amazon, , or Ebay as usual.

When you’re looking at a brutal character like Kratos, you need a killer pose. If he were in a straight museum pose, he wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting. Kratos needs to look like he’s ready to rip the head off of the nearest God. Let me tell you guys, this pulls it off. Stepping on a broken pillar, muscles tensed, Blades of Chaos at the ready? Awesome. An in-action pose would’ve been great as well but I bet they’re saving that for an upcoming diorama piece.

Switching this from a Premium Format was probably a good idea, though I imagine that had more to do with licensing. The only areas that could’ve been fabric are the leather and ripped skirt areas and I bet it wouldn’t have come off as well as the sculpted elements. The size difference (1/5th instead of 1/4th) is a valid complaint but you do save a few bucks and since Kratos isn’t part of a series (unlike say, the X-Men comiquettes/PFs) there’s no real scale issue. Since my wallet gets brutalized by statues like Gods get brutalized by Kratos, I’m alright with the change.

The detail work is exceptional throughout the statue. Everything is incredibly well textured and looks worn through countless battles. Check out the high-res shots, which are significantly larger than the real thing, you’ll see what I mean. It’s been a bit since I played the games but it all looks accurate and pretty damn awesome to me. Even the little bits like the fabric peaking out just past the armour in select areas, it’s a total homerun. I’m sure any statue fan would appreciate the effort put into the sculpting all around. Especially on the musculature, for a dude that’s wearing as little clothing as this one is, you really need to have great sculpting there.

Just look at that face, you can’t ask for much more from a Kratos statue. The likeness is exactly how I wanted it. You can also see plenty of paint details in this shot. Some people had their Kratos’ come considerably less worn, mine seems to have far more dirt on him than most. I’m not sure if this was a paint flaw or not. You can however see other paint flaws over the statue, the shading is a little half-assed in select areas. Especially along the back, there’s some seriously poor white mixing, which results in blobs of white paint that haven’t been spread properly at all. I’ve heard some other people had similar issues though it is possible to get one painted well. Such a shame, since the props have such fantastic paintjobs.

The exclusive was a little underwhelming, there are certainly more visually interesting weapons they could’ve picked. That said, they’re well sculpted and painted just fine, just not my style. If you like them more than the Blades of Chaos, great!

4.5/5. They did a great job and if this happened to be the only Kratos statue ever released, I’d be more than ok with that. I *was* going to deduct another half point, making it a 4/5, due to the paint issues. However, there are people that have received better looking versions and I’m asking Sideshow for a replacement. With that in mind, inspect your statue when you receive it!

Buying Options : Get on the waitlist for the reg. at Sideshow, check Amazon, , or Ebay as usual.

Starcraft 2

The first wave of figures for this line was on display but photos were not permitted. The prototypes shown, included a Protoss, Space Marine and Terran Soldier (not heavily armored). The company has stated that these will be dynamically posed figures with very limited articulation like the World of Warcraft but the Space Marine on display seemed articulated and was not in a dynamic pose. DC stated that the articulation will very from one figure to another but had no specific details to share regarding which figures will be more articulated than others.

Killzone 2

There was only concept art shown for 2 soldier figures from the game but no photography was allowed. No additional information was revealed regarding this toy line.

Mass Effect

Although no images or prototypes were shown, DC Unlimited announced that the second series of Mass Effect will be released in December and will include Miranda, Legion, Mordin and Garrus.

World of Warcraft

The 7th series of figures (available October 2010) was on display at DC’s booth and included Worgen Spy Garm Whitefang, Orc Rogue Garona, and Human Palladin Judge Malthred. Series 3 of Prenium Figures (available October 2010) was also on display and consisted of Troll Hunter Taz’ Dingo and Orc Warrior Garrosh Hellscream. There was also a prototype of the Deluxe Collector figure Arthis Menethil which will be released in November.

Ratchet and Clank

Series 2 of rathet and Clank figure will include Ratchet in Holo Armor, Azimuth, Rusty Pete and The Smuggler (available November 2010)

God of War 3

Only weeks away from this highly anticipated release of the game, DC Direct has announced that they will be producing God of War 3 figures. Prototypes of Kratos and Zeus were on display but no photography was allowed. The figures were dynamically posed but with extremely limited articulation. The first series of figures will be available in November and will consist of Kratos, Hades, Zeus and a fourth character which cannot be revealed yet.

…the kratos figure has been a difficult piece to develop, and the release date is very much to be determined. We have determined that the figure will be a fully sculpted maquette in approximately 1:5 scale, and are working now to complete the prototype for licensor approval. If that all goes well, we may be able to offer a pre-order opportunity in early 2010.

I was really looking forward to a 1/4 scale Premium Format, real clothing on this piece would look incredible.

Here’s Kratos in his armoured form. He comes with a giant sword, which is awkward to pose given his limited articulation. I decided to pose him holding the sword, because an action pose sure wasn’t happening. The angry face is a nice touch.

The detail on both the Kratos figures is really good. While I’m not entirely sold on the paintjob for the normal Kratos figure, the armoured one looks spot on.

As much as the limited articulation is a little annoying, the joints don’t stand out in an unappealing way, which is a total plus. The worst part of these figures? The absolutely garbage stand. I don’t know why they even bothered to include it, because it doesn’t help stabilize them whatsoever, and on the armoured figure, it’s so loose you can’t even lift him without the stand falling.

Accessory wise, it’s fairly limited, but they really nailed which accessories to include. The original figure has both of the Blades of Chaos, and a bloody Medusa head, which has just the perfect amount of gore. The armoured figure has an alternate colour scheme for the Blades of Chaos (I can’t remember the in-game name of that particular colour) as well as the giant sword.

Gotta say, pretty happy with these. Not happy that NECA dropped the ball on the rest of the line, but oh well! If you’re a God of War fan, your best bet is one of these two figures, both of them, or the large size (12 or 18 inch, I can’t remember) version of Kratos that was also created by NECA. There’s a few custom kits of Kratos available, but they can be rather tricky to track down.

Overall, 4/5.

Buying Options : If you’re lucky, you can find these in comic shops still. Otherwise, off to Ebay it is.