My childhood was full of
swords. Okay, so most of them were just sticks I found on the ground,
but some were works of art and possibly deadly. Occasionally, I imagined
myself fighting dragons or running through insurance salesmen, which is
why I’m so pleased with Dragon Battlin’ Shrek.
The face has had the most
due care and attention paid to it. His face is sculpted into a weird
half smile, his left eyebrow inclined, and some teeth showing. The paint
is applied expertly, recreating exactly how he looks after fighting the
dragon in the movie. (It’s scorched.) The rest of the sculpt is good,
but kind of limits what you can have Shrek doing. His right arm is bent
at the elbow and that’s what you’re stuck with. Articulation is
located at the thighs, shoulders, wrists (limited by his gauntlets), and
neck. Shrek’s ears are also articulated in that they can be
repositioned slightly and actually plunged into his head. This
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feature
allows the helmet to fit on his head. The helmet doesn’t
"snap" into place but the grooves and inside the helmet help a
little in keeping it secured, but it’s still loose on his head. The
helmet can have its lower and upper "jaw" moved. Be careful
though because it’s very easy to pop them off and lose them. The sword
Shrek is packaged with is slightly taller than him and looks really good
when fitted into his right hand. (You can’t put it in his left.) The
two technical flaws that I found was that the fingernails on his right
hand weren’t painted off-white but glossed over with green. And the
leg stance makes it a little tricky to stand. He’s not totally stable
either and falls over easily.
Playability is on the
high side since he comes with a sword. Any figure that comes with a
honkin’ sword is going to be, and should be, played with. The sword
stays in Shrek’s hand firmly – it actually takes some effort to put
it in and take it out of his hand. A problem with the sword is that it
can be bent or otherwise misshapen quite easily. Regardless, of this
fact and the threat of losing the helmet, Dragon Battlin’ Shrek is a
toy to play with. Just imagine the kind of scenarios you can enact with
Dark Ages Spawn or Edward Scissorhands (that easily pulls apart in the
middle). Or make shish kabobs with his sword. During our rigorous play
testing here at the Armchair Empire, one of his shoulder pads was nearly
ripped off. They are stuck into his vest and if enough force is applied
they can be ripped out. At the very least the vest (which is made of
that plastic/rubber stuff McFarlane likes so much) will tear. I’d
still recommend playing with Shrek.