Robin Hood and Little John walkin’ through the forest, laughin’ back and forth at what the other’n has to say. Reminiscin’, this-n-thattin’, havin’ such a good time, Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day.
The second series of Disney ULTIMATES! are here, and we finally have our dashing hero to combat the whims of the scourge of Nottingham himself, the jibberin’-jabberin’ phony king of England. Robin Hood is undoubtably one of my favorite Disney movies, so getting real action figures of some of the most notable characters for the first time (for me) has been pretty fun. Prince John (and Sir Hiss) kicked it off in series one, but now Robin Hood comes to help balance the tide between good and evil, and he is bringing a lot of stuff with him.
The Disney ULTIMATES! were a little slow to get rolling, but we are starting to see what the future looks like, and it is diverse. This Robin Hood release is one of the most packed ULTIMATES! offerings to date. There is so much here in terms of accessories and swap outs. It is crazy because this figure can be displayed in both the classic Robin Hood look, as well as the “spindly-legged stork from Devonshire” disguised he employed during the archery contest. The crazy thing is that this figure is one torso away from being TWO figures the could be displayed at one time.
As it stands, though – both looks are quite accurate, and to my surprise, I actually like the stork look better simply because it is pulled off so well. The torso splits at the belt and the crouched upper legs plug right into the torso and the stilt feet. Add the soft good tunic, feather arms (those plug right into the wrist sockets), quiver and alternate head, and you are good to go.
I was expecting the balancing to be difficult, but it isn’t nearly as tough as I thought. You just have to find the sweet spot and once the legs are in place, you can find a variety of poses, even shooting the arrow to win that Golden Arrow prize (also included). The feather “fingers” do a great job of holding both the bow and arrow, even when drawn. I have hear people online struggling to balance this look, but it has not been difficult, I think the trick is just knowing where the center of gravity is and then you should be fine.
All that said, because I know me, I will more than likely be displaying this figure in the iconic Robin Hood look, and that is okay because it is fun, too. The two portraits are very expressive, particularly the one with the arrow through the hat (that’s not a candle on a cake). The hands are bit of another story and the first of two issues. The “C-grip” hands are mostly useless due to the grips being too wide. Robin cannot hold the bow or much of anything else included with them.
The other two hands are better – the arrow holding/draw back hand is GREAT in that it grips the feathers on the arrow tightly and you can hold the bow string back with it at the same time. The other hand grips the bow, and it DOES work, but you have to heat the hand slightly first. It is made of a pretty rigid plastic so it does not give, but if you heat it with a hair dryer, insert the bow, then allow the plastic to cool, the grip works just fine.
The other nitpick spot is with the standard quiver – it just does not fit and is too loose. The strap is the same as the stork quiver and while that work well to accommodate the soft goods, here it just hangs too loose, and unless you use some blue tack or other method, it just doesn’t work. It is a shame because, other than the quiver and the hands, everything else is realized quite well with Robin Hood.
I have been reading that some people who have gotten Robin already have mentioned loose joints, but that is not the case with this particular figure at all. I am sure some things will vary from figure to figure, but if most of them are like this one, I think people will be happy. Well, at least as happy as some collectors will allow themselves to be. Also, stylistically Robin fits in well with Prince John, so there is most certainly consistency among them in finish and, for the most part, scale.
I like this figure, and it is another nice entry into the Disney ULTIMATES! collection. If you are a Robin Hood fan, I think you will like this, and you can still get him at BBTS. I am REALLY hoping we continue to see characters from this movie because I need Little John, Marian, Friar Tuck, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and many more at this point.
*Thanks to Super7 for sending this figure along for a feature.
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