After a long time searching, I picked up my first Mezco Hellboy figure earlier this year at a local Toy Fair. I was blown away by the detail of what was essentially a 10 year old figure (read the review above this one) and so added a couple of eBay searches for figures in the same line to compliment Red. Princess Nuala, from Hellboy II : The Golden Army, pops up quite regularly on the secondary market and a loose version caught my eye recently at a few quid and I jumped in. With the figure now in hand, I must say that it is chalk and cheese compared to my first Hellboy figure. Let's walk through the review and then I will sum up my thoughts. My version was of course loose, but on her release in 2008 she came packed on a pretty impressive deep red card and blister pack (see gallery below). Within the box was a number of accessories - a book, a scroll and a golden pendant/icon. Once you get Nuala in hand you get the first inkling that something is wrong. She is so light and the reason for that is evident when you turn her over and discover the entire body (neck downwards) is one solid hollow piece, similar to those bath toys you get in the £1 shop. At first I went to check I hadn't bought a bootleg, but no this is how Mezco put her out. Nuala stands at 6 3/4" tall which is pretty accurate to her stature in the movie. The sculpt isn't perfect but nor is it a complete disaster. The head is pretty striking from distance - but once you get close up it has none of the detail that was included in the actresses make up in the film. The hair is OK, but doesn't hang naturally against the shoulders, it just kinds of floats wierdly. The dress has some detail - but no-where nearly enough to offset the short cuts taken on the body. Paint is pretty poor. The neck seems completely unpainted for example and the skin is one tone only. The eyes are very heavily lined in black and what could have been some nice gold detail on the dress is lost under a flat bronze colour. There is no washes to speak off and the only positive really is the blending of the light blue to the darker colour on her elbows. Articulation is pretty much a shoulder joint, a head ball joint and swivel wrists - I make that just a poor 5 points of articulation. Scoring wise, this is the lowest figure we have covered (to date) in the archives and I was torn between giving this nothing, and the 1 star I have finally decided on giving Nuala. As a background piece she will be OK, but she certainly has no star quality for any Hellboy collection and I now understand why she is so cheap on the secondary market when the other figures like Wink, Rasputin and Abe Sapien are climbing in price.
