Welcome to my review of the Sonic the Hedgehog - City Escape figure (Item #184589) from First 4 Figures! This is my first time ever writing a review, but I'll be as thorough and concise as much as I can. I'll be starting this out with an introduction of sorts, but you're more than welcome to skip that portion by scrolling down. The pictures themselves will be posted under Spoilers since they're rather big and I used Imgur to post them. Please feel free to share your feedback and opinions on this review! I'd love to write more in the future, so I'd love to learn how to get better at it.
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Introduction
First 4 Figures has been known for publishing figures from various video game (and even some anime) franchises, including some for Sonic the Hedgehog. I've always thought that they looked nice and well-made, and have thus wanted one for a very long while. However, there's something that needs to be said: F4F tends to sell limited numbers, and they're not cheap. I'm not someone who can buy figures whenever they'd like, and as a result, I had never gotten my hands on a product of their's—not until now, at least.
Although it isn't bought directly from F4F's website, I did manage to find a listing on eBay for the City Escape figure based off of Sonic Generations (they even took pictures of it themselves rather than use stock pictures, which is something that I appreciate with any listing posted online). I bid $200 on it, and I ended up winning the auction! Within five days (three if you want to start from the shipping date), I had received this figure that I would've never thought I'd be able to have.
However, that leaves a question: were the expectations I had for the product up to par with the actual result? To answer this, I'd like to look into the different aspects of this figure and review each one. I'll be separating this review by the following parts: Boxing and Packaging, Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic, and the Base. I'll be going into things such as design and painting, and give my likes and critiques about this figure.
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Boxing and Packaging:
Upon arrival, it's very obvious that this isn't a regular box for a typical figure. In fact, it's quite big. Not only that, but it's very colorful, with the design of it taking after the UI of the menus and loading screens of Sonic Generations. I absolutely love the designs for them, so seeing them implemented on the box was a nice touch.
Some dents in a corner or two of the box were found, but thankfully it wasn't anything too extreme. Considering that someone had bought this before I did, I didn't expect the box to be in the most perfect condition.
I was foolish enough to not take pictures prior to opening the box itself, but I can say that the packaging was decent. Air-cushioning packs were used along the side of the boxes, and a lot of packing paper was used to cover the rest of the area. I did, thankfully, manage to get a picture of the packaging that held all the parts together. For the most part, everything is well-put together and in-tact. However, something looks off, though I'll be going into detail about it in a little bit. In the meanwhile, let's see if you can find it for yourself.
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Modern Sonic
Now that we've looked at the boxing and packaging, it's time we check out both Sonics and see what they've got! I'll be starting off with Modern since he has very few issues and because he's my favorite version.
From far away, he looks nice! His facial expression may look a little weird up close, but it's nothing too distracting, in my opinion. The artist really captured Sonic's cocky personality and his love for adventure.
While he looks almost perfect from far away, you will see some—albeit minor—flaws when looking up close. His arms, before the hands are attached to them, have the most noticeable paint flaws. The arms and the rods(?) where his hands go have got some blue paint on him, though it's much more minor on the arms. Thankfully, it's almost unnoticeable once you insert his hand pieces.
Aside from that, the most he had was a bit of dust that had collected up, which I managed to clean off. Overall, I absolutely love this part of the figure the most. The artist really captured his personality and attitude, and there's very little issues when looking at it from far away. Some painting issues are apparent, but they're minor and don't cause a lot of distraction.
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Classic Sonic
While Modern Sonic had little to no issues, the same can't be said for Classic. Remember when I said that something looked off when looking at the inside packaging? Here's the thing: whether due to packaging issues, shipping issues, or accidental mishandling on my part, part of his skateboard broke off. I'm currently in the process of having this fixed, but in the meanwhile, it's going to look like this.
Not only that, but he has a paint flaw that is more noticeable compared to what Modern Sonic had. On the top of his head, it looks like either the painter missed a spot or paint came off. Aside from this, thankfully, any other paint flaws he had were minor and barely noticeable.
As for the positives, I do have a bit to share. I love the charming, adorable, even smug facial expression that he has. Although the skateboard did break, I can't deny that the design of it is charming as hell; it feels very simple yet cool!
Overall, I wish Classic Sonic was handled a bit better. While his character was captured well, he does having some glaring paint flaws, and I do wish that part of the skateboard hadn't broken off. However, I don't want to blame the person who sold me this, since it could've either been a result of a shipping mishap or something I did while opening it.
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The Base
I love the look of the base that Modern and Classic Sonic are set on. I love the multiple, intricate details, such as the texture of the road, the trick jump panel, and the sparks that fly behind them.
Paint-wise, everything looks pretty fine. The only issue I have is the paint done on the front of the trick jump panel. It looks like the painter didn't reach a spot on it, leaving it looking like it was unpainted. Like many of the other flaws, however, I don't find this to be a huge, glaring issue when looking at it from afar.
Overall, this base is quite nice! Again, I love the details that were emulated, and any paint flaws that it had aren't bothersome unless you're looking up close.
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Overall Thoughts and A Final Rating
Despite the issues that this figure has, I can't deny that I love it to pieces. Sure, it didn't reach my expectations in every aspect, but the figure as a whole is really cool. There's so many intricate details and references to the game it came from, and both versions of Sonic were excellently captured and created when making the figure. I highly recommend anyone who's a Sonic fan to get this. I'll be updating this article once I get the skateboard fixed, but in the meantime, here's a picture of them in their semi-final form:
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
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