Hades.DC.Brick BTAS Phantasm (Patreon)

Okay I couldn’t help it! Here’s one more BTAS fig! Only this time it’s from a third and well experienced designer like Hades!

This is another slick looking fig that fully thrives on its custom elements! That hooded cape piece is so good looking with the curl around the sides of the fig and the scraggly tattering! It’s a great looking element that really is the linchpin for the entire fig and uh… it is also its biggest hindrance!

Let's talk about it!

There is virtually no poseability to this fig because of that cape/hood/shoulder covering combo. There's no way to sugar coat it. Ya can’t raise the arms, ya can’t really bend the legs back, and you certainly can’t turn the head… so with that in mind… what a bummer!

But if you’re the type of collector that's looking for static shelf warmers, than this is the perfect for you because it sure does look cool standing there all stiff.

But given the fact you can't really pose the fig, it does makes me wonder if Hades printed the minifig elements with the lack of posing in mind...? What I mean by this is the print production for the legs are... interesting. They suffer from what I’ve been referring to as the LifeBrick Spider-Man Dilemma, where the upper inside of the legs are either blank or have no print that shows terribly when posing.

Sometimes it's not a big deal if the print is a close match to the underlying plastic (or if you’re a black-belt photoshop master like I am) but if you're not, then it’s a pain in the bat-butt!

As for the other bits of print, well there’s not much (and is this case, that’s a good thing!) Very committed to the source material. Those side torso waistline prints feel a little redundant though…

But wait! We gotta talk about the claw!

The claw is a bit too white for me. I wish it was a little more silver like in the film; an almost a chrome-like shiny metal. But here, there's more of an ivory pearly shine to it that’s… fine. But it’s not perfectly screen accurate. It fit's well in the arm socket, but again you can't pose this fig worth a damn and the claw doesn't rotate when fully attached due to it's length.

As for the Andrea Beaumont head and hair, that’s practically perfect (well minus the color)! Again the minimalist print and shaping really works for me here! But it coulda been a little more red!

Oh, and as a custom minifig reviewer that (generally) doesn't like colored eyes, the design aesthetic that Hades was going for here works really well. I like it in a weird way. And I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think it’s because most of the time when minifigs have colored eyes, it’s an indication of a superpower like heat vision or powering up or something… but I like this! It’s strange and alluring, which sorta matches the idea of the character :)

But still… at the end of the day, my opinions are mixed. The lack of printing on the legs really is a bummer when there is so little print to admire.

As for the posing. Give the fig a fabric cloth and wow… it still looks great! I think I might even like this look a little better tbh…

All in all, I’m really impressed with the fig! Really nicely done here! While the fig may be pricey for what you get and don't get here, at $70 it’s production quality is still quite good.