In October 2018 it was announced that McFarlane Toys had agreed a licencing deal with HBO to produce action figures from their hit series Game of Thrones. The first wave of figures arrived on store shelves in the Spring of 2019 and were made up of characters from the final season of the show - Daenerys Targaryen, The Night King, Arya Stark and Jon Snow.
Packaging 3/5
In a world of window box collectors figures, McFarlane have gone with a more traditional blister box. This has the benefit of taking up less shelf space, but for collectors it is a boxed or loose one shot deal as the pack has to be cut to get the figure out and there is no option for it to go back in.
The backing card, sandwiched between the blister, is red trimmed with a gold backdrop. The character name sits to the side of the figure and next to his is an image of the Iron Throne and what I originally thought was some cool character background text - turns out it is a multi-lingual language warning that the series is not for children, so therefore neither are the figures. Bit of a waste and this might have been best served on the back of the box.
The back of the box is also very odd as it is on its side. You have to turn it 90 degrees to see the other figures in the line on a pale backdrop.
Paint & Sculpt 5+/5
Packaging aside, and the Night King is absolutely stunning. The sculpt is top notch and a fantastic likeness to the Night King from season 8 perfectly capturing that disinterested look he carries in most scenes. Brilliant!
The paint is just as good with a blue skin tone further enhanced with lighter dry-brushing as well as some darker washes, particularly shading the unnatural piercing blue eyes.
The costume is a dark grey gunmetal armoured affair with a softer plastic skirt area. Like the skin tone this has a number of layers of paint on top of the base coat with a finished look that does make the armour look both worn and snow weathered.
The figure is made at 6 inch scale, an inch shorter than the usual McFarlane figures. The genius move in this scale choice is that the figure is a good match to the previously released Funko 6 inch Game of Thrones figures - and side by side they look very similar.
Accessories 2/5
The Night King is armed with two weapons. The first is an ice sword/spear, a large brown handle section with flayed tassel pieces and topped with a translucent ice blade. As far as I can remember the Night King didn't really wield a weapon like this - and while it is similar, it is not the same as the spear that took down the dragon Viserion.
The second weapon is the curved blade that the Night King does use in Season 8. This also has a light brown handle with sculpted tassel and a curved translucent blade.
Both weapons are a little soft in the sculpt, the tassels for example are very undefined and splodgy. The painting on these is also poor and while the ice blades are well done - the weapons look like they are from a much cheaper line of toys vs the hugely impressive figure that wields them.
They do fit neatly into either hand of the Night King and he can also achieve some two handed poses with them. There is no rear sheath for him to sheath the sword which would have been a nice touch.
The figure also comes with a stand, and it good to see McFarlane have used the circular Star Trek type base and not the clunky ones they had been putting with their Color Top figures. The stand has one peg which lines up with a single hole in the Night Kings right foot. The fit is tight and the stand holds the figure well. There is a very crisp white Game of Thrones logo on the stand.
Articulation 3/5
Our Night King weighs in with 16 points of articulation
Head : neck peg swivel
Body : waist swivel
Arms : shoulder pinned pivot, bicep swivel, single jointed elbow, pivot wrist
Legs : hip pinned pivot, single jointed knee, ankle rocker
The joints are not quite as crisp or mobile as say a Hasbro or Mattel figure. They use a pinned peg option on most joints, which does leave the peg visible either side of the joint.
The head and waist simply rotate, there is no other movement. Arms are much better and have a full range of motion at the shoulder, but the single elbows mean there is some restriction to action poses with or without the weapons.
The legs can get some wider stances and can bend at the knee, but the skirt makes most poses outside neutral stances difficult. The ankle rockers are quite wide ranging, but they are quite loose and without the stand the Night King is prone to toppling forward, especially as the hips are also loose - even on the stand he does start to do a Michael Jackson lean after a while.
Summary
I have not seen a better looking figure in 6 inch scale for some time, the finish on the Night King is absolutely top notch and as the pictures below show he looks brilliant.
Sadly the articulation and accessories don't quite match up, and I am not overly impressed with the packaging choice especially when the market in the main is moving to a window box - the line would look awesome packed like the Fortnite figures for example.
Balancing out the 5+ looks with the average articulation and accessories, I score the Night King a 4 out of 5 and for me he is certainly the standout from the first wave of GoT from McFarlane.
