For a while I steered clear of the Marvel Select Chituari from Avengers Assemble. Having found one loose in a local store, and at just £7, I decided to take it home and have a decent look at it. The Chitauri came in Avengers packaging, along with Hawkeye, Mk6 Iron Man and Hulk. He is packed with a railing piece that connects up to the accompanying version that comes with Hawkeye. Aside from the scenery, the Chitauri comes with no other accessories. Once out of the box the Chitauri stands a good 7 1/2" high, which gives him a good 1/2 inch on the majority of the Avengers figures and gives him a bit on menace. The sculpt is average on this figure, but it all feels a little too soft and needs more definition and detail. The head is about the best bit, but you can see from the mouth plate it is too under defined. The armour, for want of a better word, goes down the chest into a larger piece around the waist and groin area. The arms and chest are muscled, but again too soft, and the hands don't get much better but are sculpted with the 2 thumbs and a plate across the rear of the hand. There are more amour plates down the legs and the sculpt finishes up with the large 3 toed feet - perhaps too large for my liking? Paint can be summed up by "too light". If you look at the Chitauri in the movie and then particularly the Hot Toys figures the Select version is too pale. He needs to be a few shades darker across the skin tone. The paint apps are pretty decent in terms neatness and there is an attempt to detail the armour and skin areas with washes. There are a few detailed bits of purple with virtually no bleed that sometimes happens on the more detailed areas. Articulation on the Chitauri starts with the usual ball jointed head - and in this case with nothing to foul it the head moves easily 360 degrees round and also up and down quite a way. the shoulders are jointed and can go back and forth and 90 degrees out to the side. The elbow is jointed and on a swivel, as is the wrist - this allows for a nice range of movement in the arms. There is a torso joint but no waist articulation. Hips are jointed and on a swivel and the knees are simply jointed. There is an ankle joint which may or may not be a rocker joint, but any movement is blocked by the armour. The accessory piece isn't up too much as it cannot be used as a stand, as the Chitauri wont fit in the gap behind the railings. It is also painted much differently to the corresponding piece with Hawkeye, which just looks odd when they are joined up,. The Chitauri is essentially a good start towards a great figure, but doesnt go far enough. I would like to see someone much more talented than I give the figure a new paint job and see if the sculpt can be brought out - or if the soft sculpt is just inherent on the figure. The other issue I have with the figure is the lack of any weaponry. The Chitauri were armed to the teeth, and sticking in an arm gun or the staff would have helped move the figure along - stick in an alternative unmasked head, or leader head, and Select could have shipped a few more and Select collectors could have done a bit more army building. As you can see from the gallery below, despite the flaws with the figure I have still gone out and bought a second. And I have also purchased some loose Gears of War weapons that I am painting up to go with the Chitauri. The Chitauri are now deployed flanking Loki As a background figure, it is good enough, but was capable of so much more and I don't think this hits DST's usual high standards. 2 out of 5 for me.
