ASSASSIN'S CREED SERIES ONE - Connor New York Outfit

Here's one of the main characters in the popular video game franchise known as Assassin's Creed . Connor , which is his adopted name, is dressed in an 18th century New York styled outfit. If you go visit any of your local Walgreens stores, you can purchase Connor or any character from the franchise for around thirteen to fourteen bucks. Not only do you get the action figure, but also his cool weapons as accessories and an access code that allows you to unlock exclusive in game content . The game the code is referring to  is is Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag . However this Connor figure is based on a design from Assassin's Creed III .

The ship you see in the above pic is one of the items the code gives you access to . The two images below are scanned images of the actual code and the items it'll retrieve for you.

If you can not see where the url location is to input the code, I'll display it for you. It's http://www.acinitiates.com/promotions/ . After reaching here you input the code shown above. Now on to the actual action figure itself before this review starts to feel more like a video game review instead of an action figure review. Below is a pic of the back of the packaging .

If you look closely on the back you'll see that this particular Connor figure in this review is an exclusive. When you remove Connor from the packaging, you'll discover that he's a little over five inches tall and comes with five accessories.

Of the five accessories the one that I like the best is the bow. I think the other four accessories just look cool but the bow looks cool and is cool . What I mean by this is that the bow actually has an action feature. You can pull the string back and it will spring like a real string on a real bow. I think this is very neat as the pic below illustrates the feature.

As you can see Connor can hold the string back as if he's about to shoot an arrow. Speaking of arrows , a few of them are sculpted into his arrow holster in the back, as they are non removable .

Connor's hood is also non removable, however you can still see his eyes if you look underneath the hood.

                                              FINAL  THOUGHTS
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - These versions of Assassin's Creed figures have the same type of articulation as the Walking Dead figures. The ball riveted joints are there. My only disappointment in the articulation is that the hood somewhat restricts Connor's head movement just a bit. Other than that everything else is just fine.
( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY - You may have to adjust Connor's legs a little to get him to stand properly without falling . Spreading his feet further apart is a good way to balance him.
( 3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS FIGURE ? The bow , the guns look nice, ball riveted joints .
( 4 ) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THIS FIGURE ? The hood is non removable . It actually feels like it is glued to his head .
( 5 ) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE THE FIGURE ? Make the hood removable . Have actual arrows to go with his bow and not sculpted arrows in a holster.
( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE - On a scale of one to ten I give this figure an 8.5 . Not because of flaws, but because I think there are several things that could have made this figure a lot better than what it is. More height, this figure I feel would be cooler if he was six inches instead of five. Make the hood removable, so that collectors will have the luxury of displaying Connor with or without it . Also so that we can fit the hood onto other figures. Also I think he should have came with some arrows that can fit into his bow. Also the neck / head articulation is too tight as he can only turn his head left and right and barely up and down .
( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Overall I like this version of Connor despite the fact that I feel like the figure could have been better. For those of you that like to crossover action figures, these Assassin's Creed figures fit in well with the Walking Dead figures . Since they are in the same height scale and made by the same company,  McFarlane Toys . Also if you're a fan of the Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag video game , then you may want to purchase all of these figures in this series, not just Connor , so that you can have access to all those extra items that the codes that come with the figures provide .

Mortal Kombat Deception Baraka figure by Jazwares

I can't remember where I purchased this Baraka figure from but I've had it for a while now. He is in the 6" scale, made of very hard plastic, and is very well articulated, except that his head might pop off if you pull it too far back but you can easily put it back on. As you can see in the pics, the sword tip is chipped off a little bit, but don't worry. This is just "my Baraka action figure" and not all of them. I don't know or recall how this happened but it ticked me off when I saw that chipped up sword attachment. Instead of buying another Baraka I just stuck with the one I already have. Also you have the options of inserting the blades into his arm sockets or not if you want.Other than the disappointment of the right blade chipping I am pleased with the figure itself.

The swords/blades are kind of soft and almost rubbery. I too was hoping that they were made out of very hard plastic but Jazwares did the right thing making the swords softer for children collectors, even if it disappoints us adult collectors. You got to give credit to Jazwares, safety first. Although the swords/blades are not super soft, they do have some hardness to them, just maybe not hard enough.As you can see on the back of the packaging Scorpian,Sub-Zero, and Raiden were also available in this wave. 

One of the things I like best about Baraka is that you can display him in a huge variety of fight poses. As the following pics illustrate.

To see more of Baraka facing this female character named Kabuki, you can visit Action Figure Imagery . The pics are in the Fight Gallery fight# 17. As you can see he can be displayed in stabbing poses, lunging forward poses, swinging/slashing poses, etc. 

FINAL  THOUGHTS

(1) ARTICULATION - The figure is very well articulated and you can easily tell just by seeing all the ball joints in the pics. No up and down movement for the head.

(2) STANDABILITY - You may have to bend his knees just a little to get him to stand properly without falling. I had to bend my figure's knees just a little.

(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT BARAKA? The variety of fight poses he can be displayed in thanks to the excellent articulation. 

(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT BARAKA? The swords not being made out of hard enough plastic and the head movement is almost restricted with the exception of left/right movement.

(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO MAKE BARAKA BETTER ? Harder swords. Even though I've decided to cope with it I still don't like my figure's right blade being chipped. 

(6) GRADING SCALE - On a scale of 1-10 I give Baraka an 8.9. The minuses are for the swords being somewhat brittle and the limited head movement. Other than these flaws he is an excellent figure.

(7) FINAL ANALYSIS - Overall Baraka is a nice addition to add to your video game villain collection. If you love to pose figures in fight poses or battle stances, then Baraka fits this description perfectly. A very neat figure for a very popular video game franchise.