Hong Kong Phooey - Action Figure Reviews

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Series

Hanna Barbera, 1

Craftsmanship

7.5 / 10

- It broke right out of the package

- Perfect sculpt

- Great poses

- Great paint application

Playability

5.0 / 10

- The action feature is cool and very fitting

- Not much can be done besides the action feature

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Hong Kong Phooey

by McFarlane Toys

hong kong phooey

I never thought I would see the day where McFarlane would make figures based off of classic Hanna Barbera cartoon characters, but live and learn. This is certainly a very different approach to the type of figures McFarlane would usually make. Well, I for one am very glad he did because I have always wanted a

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figure of one of my favorite Hanna Barbera classic characters; the great Hong Kong Phooey, the number one super guy.

Hong Kong Phooey has an excellent sculpt and with his pose (he’s about to do his famous Hong Kong Phooey kick and chop) McFarlane perfectly captures the likeness of the classic crime fighting dog.

Now how far would Hong Kong Phooey get

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in his crime fighting career without his faithful cat companion, Spot, always covering Phooey’s back? Spot is always cleaning up after Phooey’s clumsy mistakes and in a lot of ways, he is the real hero, but nobody seems to realize it. Anyhow, McFarlane perfectly captures Spot’s likeness with an off balance looking pose, which is suitable for the character.

Finally, there is the criminal, and interestingly enough, McFarlane decided to have his foot attach to a spring which is a part of the base. It’s a little tricky getting the criminal’s foot in, but, overall, it is a welcome feature because he tilts back as if he is losing his balance and about to fall. Why would he be falling, you ask? Well this is where the cool action feature comes in. There is a switch that is a part of the base and when pushed down, Hong Kong Phooey simultaneously performs a Hong Kong Phooey chop and kick. This famous Hong Kong Phooey chop and kick move is a force to be reckoned with. While the toy does not have much in terms of playability (the figure cannot really do anything besides this one single action), it is still more than what people might expect from McFarlane nowadays.

While this is a great figure, it is not a perfect figure. The sculpts are bloody excellent, so does the problem lie with the paint application? No, but more on the paint later. When I received my Hong Kong Phooey in the mail, one of his arms was detached from the figure. Once I took him out of the packaging, his body completely fell apart. I had to superglue him back together and thankfully managed to maintain the action feature. I am not sure if I just got a freak figure from the factory, but you might want to consider taking a closer look at the figure before buying. Another disappointing aspect is the scale of the figure. I guess this is fair for the price since you are technically getting three figures for the price of one, but just do not expect Hong Kong Phooey to fit in with your 6” figure lines. I am not sure why you would try to fit a kung fu cartoon talking dog with your Marvel Legends figures anyways.

Paint application does not suffer, even when McFarlane is working with an approximate 4” scale, rather than his usual 6” for figures. There is no bleeding on any of the figures and the color tones are nice and bright which gives off a cartoon feel. There is nothing to nitpick or complain about here.

Phooey does not come with any accessories other than the essential base (unless you count Spot as an accessory). It would have been nice if he came with his trusty Hong Kong book of kung fu. Even if it was just an accessory that could just lie there on the ground would have been great.

All in all, fans of old school cartoons and Hong Kong Phooey fans will definitely not want to miss out on this. It perfectly complements the Hong Kong Phooey DVD set that recently came out during the summer.

- J'Tonello

(December 28, 2006)