Jay's Toy Shelf : McFarlane Toys Zuko Book One: Water Unhelmeted

Avatar the Last Airbender is one of my favourite shows of all time. I have watched it from beginning to end at least 10 times, and have never stopped enjoying the great world-building, dialogue, and analogies to real-life societal issues. The "magic" system of bending is great, and they really explore what it is to be able to use those abilities creatively in the show. All the main characters build and develop throughout the 3 seasons, and there's a lot of other great lore out there in comics and the next story, The Legend of Korra. I've been hesitant in buying this line for a few reasons, most of which are that the sculpts end up being pretty sloppy and the poseability of the figures isn't generally very good.

Diamond Select has nearly the whole line of main characters, but a really limited range in their joints. McFarlane got the license and made a whole wack of 5" line figures. I was posed to buy them, but after some reviews saw they also suffered from the same issue. The 5" line is also far more complete at this point, with several iterations of Zuko, Aang, and one of Katara, Iroh, Ozai, Azula, Sokka and even some creatures at a decent size like Appa and the Komodo rhino. In the end, I decided to see how far McFarlane's 7" line goes, as I figured they'd scale better than a 5" line. I have three so far I'll be reviewing: Aang, Zuko and Sokka. I have mixed feelings about the figures. They are pretty good overall representations, but the facial expression doesn't always hit me dead-on as the characters' own. The articulation is generally pretty good, and here McFarlane can get away with less paint because it's based on an animated show. That said, these are definitely "McFarlanized" because the textures are in the clothing and uniforms where they don't need to be.

Zuko is the exiled prince of the Fire Nation, the colonizer nation of the show who has taken over most of the Four nations in the absence of the Avatar. He begins Season 1 as an angsty teen who travels on his ship with his Uncle Iroh, searching for the Avatar to capture as a way to regain his honour and return to his abusive father's good graces. He experiences the most radical change in the show, going from the obsessive antagonist to being confused about his destiny, to realizing he's better off redeeming himself and his nation from the terrible things they've done.

This Zuko is pretty good! They did a great job of all the wrinkles, armour, and colours and his facial expression is definitely the shouty type he regularly had in Book One: Water. The accessories aren't bad either, though a little basic. Overall I'd say a very solid release! I didn't see or manage to pick up the gold version of this, which has Zuko's helmeted head (non-removable?) and some other things.

Sculpt/Paint: 3/3 These are a good fit for McFarlane since they don't love lots of paint, shading or details outside of their sculpts themselves. The reds, mauves and browns work pretty well. I wish the gold details were a bit brighter, as they show up more in a brighter yellow tone in the show, but that's a nitpicky detail.

Articulation: 3/3 (30 points) This is pretty much the same story as any McFarlane 7" offering, pretty good range in the double knees and elbows, as well as the neck peg. The ankles and wrists can work but require some fiddling, and the hips go wide even though the rubbery bottom piece interferes a bit. His shoulders have a lot of range given he's got shoulder pads and the waist region barely offers swivel or crunch but there have been worse in this line.

Accessories: 1/1 The figure comes with two fire daggers that are pretty good, and a flame-punching effect you can wrap around his arm/hand. These are pretty good though I wish A) They were painted somewhere to accent different fire colours rather than a plain translucent orange and B) They had actually given him a punching hand. He also comes with the typical stand with Avatar The Last Airbender printed on it. **Edit** Apparently there is a Season 1 Zuko with no screaming face that does have a fist hand and a different effect.

Fun Factor: 2/3 I like him, but for reasons I can't put my finger on, he's just not a top-shelf figure, and neither are the others I've bought in this line. Mystery!

Verdict: 9/10 I like the addition of Zuko in a very specific costume at the start of the show, and this figure does that look well. He's got the attitude, the angst, and the fire required for his season 1 appearance. He's great! Avatar fans who aren't fans of the 5" line by Diamond Select or McFarlane can start picking up this one (let's hope it continues). He doesn't quite have the range of motion I'd love an Avatar character to have, and looking at the others I may not get that with this line or any. I think if Mafex or SH Figuarts made this line, they'd have enough poseability and flair to pull off a really good line of Avatar characters. This will do for now, and I hope they do at least make Katara, Iroh and Toph in this line. I would also ask for a 7" Seasson 3 Zuko OR Blue Spirit Zuko, which might be fun.