The Spirit looks good when considering the sum of his parts, but upon closer inspection, some areas of this sculpt are a little off. He has a great general style, which is just due to the cool modernized Frank Miller design, and the sculpt does a pretty good job of delivering that. The only areas that break up this sleek look are his shoulders, where the gap between the coat piece and his arms is too big, making it look like his arms start about 1/4" lower than his shoulders. It's hard to make this kind of coat look good at the shoulders, but this was an especially poor job of lining them up, although it may vary from figure to figure. I also can't get into the fact that his coat is significantly longer on one side than the other. I understand that this is the flap that goes under the other side, but it's still way too long to look natural. Moving away from these profile problems, the Spirit is super detailed. You'll see wrinkles, textures, pockets, straps, buttons, stitching, and everything else that you'd find on the real thing. Mezco did a fantastic job nailing down every detail imaginable with this figure and his accessories. The cat is in a realistic pose, the crowbar is just the right size, and the manhole cover is detailed and just really nice looking. He has a spare set of hands, giving him two open hands and two fisted hands, and they are also well sculpted. I appreciate that you're given a choice for each side whether you want them closed or open. His necktie is blowing into the wind, much like you'll see on any promotional image for the movie; it's a nice visual effect that makes the figure just that little bit more attractive. Sadly his face is just the opposite. I don't really know the actor too well, but form the pictures I've seen, this isn't much of a likeness. Maybe if I had seen the movie I could offer a stronger judgment here. This figure has a left jawbone way bigger than his right, even coming out at a sort of odd angle. It's an ugly face sculpt with a super neutral expression that doesn't seem to fit the style of the rest of the figure. His eyes seem a little large, but at least the mask is sculpted on instead of just painted. Thankfully the hat pulls your attention away from the face, because it looks so awesome. While definitely not Will Eisner's classic verison of the Spirit, this sculpt does have some strong points as well as some weak ones.

Sculpt Score: 7 / 10

 There isn't a whole lot to say about the Spirit's paint. It's very simple because he's almost completely black. He's molded in black almost across the board with very subtle details painted in. There is a little silver on his belt, back, and wrists to represent metal buckles. There is also some painted black that is shiny to contrast with the matte black of the rest of his costume, and it does add some much needed visual diversity. Of course the real splash of color here is Denny's bright red tie which pops out on the figure just like in the film. It's a great stylish element that saves an otherwise drab scheme. The red is very vibrant and cleanly applied. His face is a light skin tone that looks a little dirty on my figure, particularly around the neck area. His mask is crisp and matches up to the sculpt lines quite tightly. His eyes are painted well, as are his lips, so that helps combat the poor head sculpt. In a place that a lot of companies skimp, Mezco absolutely knocked the paint on the accessories out of the park. Starting with the cat, it has a nice base color with subtle stripes added in, and a fade to white under its belly. It has a really cleanly applied little pink nose and pair of cat eyes too; this is my favorite accessories of the year so far, and number 2 and 3 are up next. Both the Spirit's crowbar and the manhole cover have some great textured painting happening, making them not only look respectively metallic, but worn and weathered too. The manhole cover is perfect on both sides, distinct across them too. Though the character's paint is decidedly simple, the accessories more than make up for it, despite the lacking options to make this paint stand out. 

Paint Score: 9 / 10

 This toy has a decent amount of articulation. Although not as elaborate as Mezco's Hellboy II figures, the Spirit has following points: hinges at the ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows; swivels at the ankles, thigh, bicep, waist, and wrists; ball style joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips (the hips are DCUC styled with a swivel/hinge combination that functions as a ball equivalent). All of the articulation survived the initial test and nothing has broken yet. It's such a comforting feeling to open a figure and not deal with a limb falling off at the joint. All of the joints are tight too, meaning he's going to hold the positions you put him in and accessories will stay in his hands (he's actually holding the manhole cover in the picture below: no tricks). His big problem is that a lot of the points are pretty limited in their range of motion, especially his shoulders. Due to the way the shoulder articulation works, coupled with the restriction of his coat, you're not going to get much movement out of those babies. It's almost impossible to get his arms horizontal out to the side or out in front. His legs are held pack just a little by his coat, but it's not terrible, and the ankle hinges are virtually useless with the sculpt of his pants limiting them. One last complaint is how ugly his hip articulation looks. It is set way too low on his frame, so when his legs are angled out, it looks like he is just bending at the top of his thigh, not out from the hip. He has enough articulation to make posing fun and play possible, but there are admittedly some issues that should've been worked out first.   

Articulation Score: 7 / 10

 

 From what I understand, the movie this figure was based on was anything but fun. I know for a fact that the comics he's sort of based on are very fun, and thankfully this toy follows the path of the latter. He has an articulation model that can be a little frustrating with some of the points, but for the most part it offers a nice range of options for posing and to play. His design is dark without being evil and will suck a lot of people in visually. I think he looks fantastic on the shelf, and if you're in agreement there, then this figure will be especially fun for you. Mezco didn't skimp on the accessories and it really pays off here. Having swappable hands is really cool and including the crowbar is even better. It's a cool weapon that fits well in his hand and could come in handy for a number of characters. The manhole cover is equally nice and would look pretty awesome in just about any street scene, or as pictured above, in Denny's hand (I really like that photo). This toy is honestly a lot more fun than I was expecting, I'm glad that I picked it up. 

Fun Score: 9 / 10

 This figure will range in price from about $15 to $20 at the upper limit. While not a super cheap deal by any means, after some consideration, this isn't a terrible price. He's almost exactly 7 inches tall by my measure and has some heft to his figure too. He doesn't feel cheap in your hands because of his solid plastic and great textures. As far as durability is concerned, his arms are easy to pop off at the bicep, but they reinsert just as quickly; everything else feels very solid. Nothing was broken or missing, and he does include 3 great accessories as well as two alternate hands. That's a lot of extra stuff to include and since they're so good, it really helps improve the perception of value. He's packaged in a nice cardback with good images and an attractive design, although it's angled and may be fairly annoying to store in package. I can't say that this was an unbelievable deal, but it was definitely a fair one, and I'd buy him again without a second thought. You should measure value by how much you enjoy the figure, and I think he's going to be enjoyable for quite a while to come.  

Value Score: 10 / 10 

Summary

 7 - Cool, sleek, and stylish modern design translated well, loads of intricate details, some ugly issues with coat tail and shoulders, face is pretty bad, the accessories are all really great.

 9 - The design doesn't lend itself to awesome paint, but it's good despite the limited style options, clean applications, crisp face paint, amazing looking accessories.

 7 - Nice tight working articulation, fun to pose and play with decent number of points, some movement confined joints, terrible looking hip function.

 9 - Some frustrating articulation, good for play or display, lots of accessories, great appealing design. 

 10  - Everything you need: a nice package, unbroken figure, boatload of accessories, high production values, but still relatively pricey. 

Overall Score: 85 / 100 - This is a Great Toy

I was surprised at just how much I ended up liking this figure because he's just a lot of fun and felt like a great deal even if he isn't perfect in the technical regards of sculpt and paint. 

P.S. This could be the figure I'm giving away this month, just leave a comment for a chance to win (if it's the one).

-The Articulated One