Hero Collector. They make stuff. Specifically they make collectibles in all shapes and sizes. Battlestar Galactica, The Expanse, Star Trek, DC Comics and more. But now they’re dipping their toes into the world of horror with the aptly named “Horror Collection” figurines, based on some of the most iconic characters from horror franchises old and new.
Wave 1 consists of Pennywise (IT – 2019), Pennywise (IT – 1990), Stripe (Gremlins), Annabelle (Annabelle Comes Home), Valak (The Nun), and The Crooked Man (The Conjuring 2). Each figure comes in rather nice packaging decorated with the logo of their particular franchise and a picture of the figurine. The back of each box has some further information about the figurine as well as a brief synopsis of their particular movie franchise. Each of the boxes has a minimum of excess plastic or ties, each clearly displayed so that they can be enjoyed in all their twisted glory without removing them from their packaging.
READ MORE: Scalextric DeLorean – Back to the Future Part II – Toy Review
Hero Collector states that each figurine is hand-painted, sculpted in metallic resin at 1:16 scale, roughly 4-5 inches (10-12cm) in height. It should be noted that not all of them claim to be “metallic” resin on the box. Valak and Annabelle both simply say they’re sculpted with resin. It’s not clear what the real difference is, the metallic resin ones don’t appear radically different in appearance than the others so this may be down simply to the marketing blurb on the box rather than any real difference.
So what are they actually like? Are they worth the $24.95/£19.99 asking price? Initial impressions would suggest that they might be a hard sell at that price point. Personally, I’d be looking more at $20/£15 for these, going by the quality of the ones we’ve been supplied for review. We have four of the six, missing Spike and the 1990 Pennywise.
READ MORE: Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures – ‘Lost Warriors’ – Audio Drama Review
Of the ones we have here, the 2019 Pennywise is definitely the nicest in terms of design and paint, especially when compared to the promo images on the Hero Collector website. The design is pretty damn accurate, the paint is mostly well done, although his face paint is a little wonky on one side. There’s a nice level of detail in his features, and you’re certainly not going to mistake him for anything else.
The Crooked Man is another really good figurine, though he’s quite different compared to the version that’s displayed on the website. The pinstriping of his suit is nowhere near as pronounced, and the red paint they’ve used on him is a darker shade. His teeth are nowhere near as detailed as they are in the promo images; here it’s just a blob of white paint, with no real detailing, which is a shame. There’s also not as much detail in his umbrella, but all in all he’s still a really nice looking figurine who will look very nice sat on a shelf. It’s just a shame he’s not as nice as the promotional images would suggest.
READ MORE: Puppet Killer – Film Review
Annabelle, posed here sitting innocently in her chair like she’s not about to get up and ruin your entire life, also suffers from somewhat dodgy paint detailing on her face. It looks like they’ve tried to accentuate her cheekbones but it hasn’t quite worked, and instead has left this particular figurine looking like she smeared her eyeliner really badly. The rest, however, is actually even better than the website images, with far more detailing in the paint applied to her dress and some more detailing in her hair which looks genuinely good.
Valak is by far the weakest of the four, in part because she’s just a big chunk of black plastic. There’s only so much you can do with a character who walks around in all black robes, after all. The robes are nicely done, with some nice white trim details around the edges, but the face paint here is by far the worst of the four. It looks like it was printed on, but not quite lined up in the right places. It bears only a passing resemblance to the image on the website and is, I suspect, one for hardcore fans of The Nun only.
In terms of competition, Hero Collector are entering a very crowded market when it comes to horror collectibles. Take Pennywise, for instance. Right around the same price you can find actual poseable action figures from The Noble Collection, Mego, and more that have similar sculpting and detail, but offer more in terms of usability.
All in all, these are nice figures, and ones that will appeal to both modern and classic horror fans alike, but at this price point I think they might be a difficult sell.
The Horror Collection figurines are available now from Hero Collector.
