One of Sony’s biggest successes on the Playstation 2 that came out their own house has to have been the God of War series. Following in the footsteps of an unlikely hero (if he ever is one), you battled ancient gods and had sex with handmaids. Every girl wanted to be with him and every boy wanted to be him. Yes, I’m talking about none other then Kratos himself.
Back in 2009, Sony and Sideshow Collectibles announced that they were teaming up and creating a line of Premium Formats and diorama’s of the God of War series. That was such amazing news and fans from all over the world expressed their happiness on the forums. But it wouldn’t last… Soon after the original announcement, Sideshow came back from the Premium Format promise they made in this video and decided to make it an 1/5th Maquette. Eventually, his scale range somewhere between 1/5th and 1/6th. And if that didn’t upset the fans enough, we’ve yet to see any other God of War statue yet!
We also were among those that voiced their disappointment about the scale and media change but since there isn’t any nice GoW merchandise around (of the characters) we decided to wait and see what Sideshow would deliver. And luckily for them, we liked what we saw even though we didn’t like the scale since it wouldn’t fit with any other statue (Snowday wasn’t released or even rumored then). So we pre-ordered the exclusive on July 13 2010 at 18:44 (or 6:44PM GMT+1) and we mustn’t have been the only ones to really like him since he was sold out pretty fast (in about half a day if I remember correctly)… And that even with the edition size set to TBD. That makes it even weirder that they haven’t continued this line. Ah well, the quirks of Sideshow Collectibles I guess.
First things first, this statue is pretty bad-ass and extremely well made. It’s one of those statues from SSC glory days that didn’t really had any problems apart from some weird choices. Like the exclusive swithout part. Why not Medusa’s head? Or better (?) yet, the Nemean Cestus. Yeah, those lion shaped gauntlets would have been awesome. Anyhow, any of those would have looked better than those ugly, plastic looking, Claws of Hades. Yeah, that’s the sole thing that makes the exclusive different from the regular edition: those darn Claws of Hades. And they even don’t look like those in the game. They were purple-ish in the game. I want purple claws and not ugly dark metal ones that just don’t look right. I don’t think I’ll ever display him with those claws but maybe I’ll commission a hand holding Medusa’s head. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Another weird choice, but one that does kind of works visually at least, are his boots. First, when it was going to be a PF, he had regular ones but they changed it into the Boots of Hermes. But that’s not the weird part. He’s holding the Blades of Athena and wearing the Boots of Hermes and standing on the top of Olympus. When it should have been: He’s holding the Blades of Athena Exile and wearing the Boots of Hermes and standing on the top of Olympus. When Sideshow commented on this they said, and I quote:
The decisions regarding Kratos’ choice of weaponry had more to do with aesthetics than anything else – and no changes are planned. (from Ask Sideshow)
The boots and the swords, that I can life with. But not with those Claws. Anyhow, nothing got changed and I’m happy to have him even though I’ll never display the Claws. And for the record, Sideshow did change things after a while but none for the better. You can see the difference in the last pictures of the gallery.
But, for what it’s worth, the rest of details on this statue are amazing and for a part I’m happy that they didn’t go for the mixed media. I don’t know if they would have gotten his skirt (hehe) right with cloth like they achieved with resin now. The one part that irritates me the most on this statue is his armor, the Golden Fleece armlet. It’s painted in glistering gold and it looks too light of color and just plain cheap. I preferred if they had chosen for a better gold finish and then toned it down a bit as if it was worn through some place that doesn’t see the light of the sun.
Another thing that bothered me before I got him in hand was his skin tone but luckily, it isn’t bad when you see him in person. The paint has enough variation to keep it interesting and the visible veins are a nice touch. Also a lot of people complained about his scar but that also is fine in person.
I believe that the only problems with this statue was the red paint on his body with some people. It showed trough or something like that? Oh, also a lot of them had magnets in the hands that weren’t strong enough. That’s also the case for our Claws but luckily, our Blades don’t have that issue.
Meh. I still like the statue, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t one of my favorites. Mostly still because of the scale. But in the end, I don’t really regret buying him, mostly for the simple fact that the games were awesome and there aren’t any licensed statues out there but this one. And I like having statues of games I liked.
If you’re planning on buying this one, good luck, since it’s gotten rare even on Ebay. If you’re not planning on ever displaying him with the Claws of Hades, just get the regular. It’s more affordable and the Claws really don’t add that extra touch.
Item reviewed: God of War: Kratos
Type: Resin
Manufacturer: Sideshow Collectibles
Variations: regular (without the switch-out hands holding the Claws of Hades)
Rarity: Both getting hard too find and rather expensive. Last two exclusives that were sold on Ebay went for 400-500euro (500-650USD). 550 (ex) and 1500 (reg) made worldwide.
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