Review : Ant-Man (Civil War) 1:1 Statue (miniaturised), King Arts

Review : Ant-Man 1:1 scale figurine King Arts Wave/Series : N/A Released : 2016

Price : Import (range from £12 - £18)

King Arts are a Chinese company who were formed in 2013 and took on a Marvel Licence for sales in the Far East, specialising in more high end product - including 1:9 scale die-cast Iron Man figures as well as 1:1 props.

One of their more interesting ranges of recent months is their 1:1 scale Ant-Man range. And when we say 1:1 we do of course mean when Ant-Man is miniaturised.

These figurines are non articulated, and only available in the Far East - although there are a number of channels you can use to import these into the US or UK.

The figure we are taking a look at here is the updated Ant-Man from Captain America Civil War.

Ant-Man arrives in a square window 4 inch by 3 inch box which is predominantly black, with the Civil War logo in a rich red in the top left corner under which is the white text "Ant-Man Statue". There is a clear window, through which you can see the statue and around this is a cut out of Ant-Man from Civil War in an action pose. The King Arts crown logo sits in the bottom left and the code FFS006 to the bottom right - I believe this is a catalogue code.

The two sides repeat the Civil War Logo and under this is an image of Ant-Man on Anthony. This is an odd choice of image as this is obviously not from Civil War, nor is it a very clear picture. It seems to be a hangover from their original mini Ant-Man statue. The back is all text, with a silver holographic Marvel badge.

Once the box is open you get the standard cardboard background you will find on most boxed figures. There is then an inner and outer plastic tray with the figure sandwiched in the middle. The sandwich effect does mean the figure is not too clear when viewed in the box, it makes the figure look blurred and undefined. This may cause frustration for MIB collectors.

The statue is Ant-Man posed on top of what looks like a circular stone plinth, and the whole thing stands 6.5cm in height. The Ant-Man is really nice, certainly crisper in paint and sculpt than the similar sized mini figurine that was packed with the 2015 Ant-Man figure from Diamond Select. I was a little surprised at how light the figure was. He is also quite flexible, but I assume at this stage the harder the plastic the more susceptible the figure is to damage.

Considering the scale the paint is really neat, with discernible clean lines painted between each red and black panel of the outfit. The sculpt is recognisable instantly as the updated Civil War Ant-Man. As a figurine he is obviously devoid of any articulation, so is pre-posed.

Moving down to the stand, and this isn't bad in itself - I just feel it was a poor choice from King Arts. The original two figures of this size were posed on relevant props like a bullet or a bolt, but this is just a plinth and doesn't sell the fact that this is meant to be a miniaturised Ant-Man. I also don't like the big logo emblazoned over the front. Surely a better choice would have been to do this Ant-Man posed on the head of Hawkeye's arrow, or even on some internal circuitry from Iron Man?

There is a bonus though in that Ant-Man can be removed from this stand. This newly liberated Ant-Man stands 1 1/2 inches high (40mm) and you can then employ your own imagination on how to display him. He won't stand on his own but is light enough to stick down with a small amount of glue or blutac. If you do want to replace him back on his plinth, then this is simply a case of dropping the two holes on his feet onto the tiny pegs provided.

This mini Ant-Man is nothing more than a bit of fun, and considering the relatively cheap price is a decent enough display piece for Marvel collectors. I am going to have mine causing mischief around the bottom of the Marvel Select MCU collection - and to see how he will look here is the figure alongside the 7 inch Marvel Select counter-part.

The base does feel like a let down, especially after the first release's bullet base, but the fact he can be removed does save it slightly. The figurine for me is a 4 out of 5 considering the price, packaging, sculpt and paint job.

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