Prince Arthas, Death Knight (WarCraft) - Action Figure Reviews

Series: WarCraft, 1

Craftsmanship: 8.0 / 10

- Good game likeness, but face is just good enough

- Decent articulation

- Great armor sculpt

- Fits right in with the rest of the WarCraft figures

Playability: 8.0 / 10

- Bendy sword won’t snap

- Cape is not removable but gets in the way sometimes

- Durable enough to play with the other WarCraft figures

- Action Figure: Furion Stormrage (WarCraft III)

- Action Figure: Tichondrius the Darkner, Dread Lord (WarCraft)

- Review: WarCraft III (PC)

- Review: WarCraft III - The Frozen Throne (PC)

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Prince Arthas, Death Knight (WarCraft) by Toycom

I just love the names that Blizzard comes up with for the characters they create. I suppose it’s the way they attach the profession of the character at the end of the name – like Jake Bullet, Private Investigator or Jesus Christ, Superstar or Big

Advertisement

Fingers Malone, Bone Crusher. It also makes me want to say their names like a wrestling announcer. Prince Arthas, Death Knight continues the Blizzard tradition, and Toycom scores some more points with another WarCraft figure.

Arthas stands just over 6” tall and does a good job of snagging the game likeness. However, I’m not

Advertisement

completely sold on the head sculpt. The hair is fine but he face is only just good enough. I say this mostly because his mug is featured prominently on the cover of WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne, which provides a great close-up. The expression is too neutral and too close to Fabio of “I can’t believe it’s not butter” fame or Canada’s Prime Minister Chretien to really grab me. Other than the head, the sculpting is very solid, especially the shoulder pads (with a big skull on the right shoulder) and the great big sword. The details and texture give his armor a certain level of realism.

Stability is always a concern for those of us with shelves packed with action figures. There’s nothing quite as annoying as an unstable figure bringing down the whole works in a domino effect, but that’s not something you need to worry about with Arthas. The cape pretty much eliminates the chances of Arthas falling over or being knocked down.

Articulation is pretty good, even considering his fairly obtrusive cape and shoulder armor. There are 13 points of articulation. (With the review figure, I managed to snap off his left leg – a little too much glue on the joint – so after a tricky repair, I have 12 points of articulation.) This means he is quite poseable, upping his display factor. He fits right in with the other WarCraft figures.

As you can probably imagine, there’s not a lot of playability once you’ve broken Arthas unless you want to create some particularly graphic dioramas. That being said, he is actually playable and there’s been an effort to make him so. His sword is made out of bendable plastic. Further to that, most of the points on his armor are all soft rubber making impalement and impromptu acupuncture less likely. 6” seems to be an industry standard, so Arthas has much potential with other figures (including the other WarCraft figures). As for the issue of durability… well, my review is someone clouded thanks to his left leg snapping off at the hip before I had a chance really play with him. The ball-jointed shoulders and hips might be susceptible to breakage under rough play.

Overall, Prince Arthas, Death Knight is a good WarCraft figure. How much action he’ll see depends on your habits, but you shouldn’t be disappointed with your purchase if you’re into display and need to round out your collection.

- Omni
(September 7, 2003)