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I have to think that there will come a time when receiving a new Vitruvian HACKS figure isn’t such a special occasion.  Sometime, maybe a few years down the road, after I own a few series of figures, it’ll just be kind of “oh, cool, a new HACKS shipment”.

For now, though?  Not so much.  At this point, the arrival of a new HACKS action figure is something to be celebrated and something to get very excited for, even when it’s an exclusive item that is little more than a repainted version of an existing figure.

In truth, though, the New Jersey Collectors’ Con Ultimate Spartan figure is more than just a repainted figure, especially so early in the line’s life.  He comes with a wealth of different accessories, some of which have not been seen yet, as well as a new head sculpt, which looks to be the same head that’s coming with Leonidas, though I’m not 100% certain of that yet.

For the most part, the Ultimate Spartan is the same base figure as the standard release Spartan with the excellent sculpting and articulation we’ve already gotten used to with other figures.  He has fantastic range of motion in his elbows and knees, and I just love the number of different dynamic poses he can get into, just like the other figures.  I find that I don’t mind the fact that he closely resembles other Spartans, as it makes it a bit easier to troop build and add some variety to your Spartan legions.

I really like the Leonidas head sculpt with the longer, bushier beard and pretty distinctive look on his face.  I would encourage Boss Fight to find a way to maybe get more spare heads out in accessory packs, because once Leonidas is released, I would think you might want to differentiate the ground troops a little bit more.  The Blanks will be a good start, but I know I’m not a big fan of eye painting.

The Ultimate Spartan paint deco is pretty fantastic as well.  Covered from head to toe in realistic mud/blood spatter he looks like a trooper that has been through the worst that battle has to offer.  His skin tone is a bit darker than the other Spartan as well, which is a nice addition to the figure.  The spatter detail work is absolutely fantastic with different layers of color differences that really make the figure stand out look exciting.  I love that detail work, and although I only bought a single standard Spartan Warrior, I made sure to get a couple of the Ultimates, as it makes sense to me that the ground troops would be the ones that got themselves a little dirtied up.

ACCESSORIES

Aside from the addition of the really nice spatter detail, the Ultimate Spartan comes with a ton of accessories, many of which we have not yet seen before.  Several different swords, the familiar scabbard and spear, four different helmets, two axes, two different shields, plus the armor and leather skirt that the standard Spartans come with.  All of these different accessories really encourage army building as you can deck out a bunch of Spartans with a bunch of different accessories to really build out your Spartan army and have them look different.  Each weapon fits seamlessly into the Spartan’s hand, with the exception of the shields, but that is a known issue at this point with that handle at the end.

Right now the recommendation is to remove the hand at the wrist, slip the shield handle on, then plug the hand back in.

As an exclusive to the New Jersey Collectors Con, the Ultimate Spartan is a pretty fantastic addition to an already robust line of Vitruvian HACKS figures.  I remain ecstatic every time I get a new figure in the mail, and find a lot to love about pretty much every one of them.  I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the box art for the Ultimate Spartan as well.  It really is fantastic.  Very dramatic and really fun, a nice presentation for the NJCC exclusive.

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