Zartan - Hall of Heroes (Figure 9 of 10)

Okay. I loved the initial Anniversary release of Zartan. Lots of folks didn't. I can understand why lots of folks didn't, but I thought it was a really cool new take on the familiar character. But, considering the theme of the line at the time seemed to be an homage to the vintage look, Zartan certainly deserved the same treatment.

When the Hall of Heroes roster was announced, the fact that Zartan was on it meant good things for the fandom. Everyone figured we would finally get the "real" Zartan we all wanted. Of course at the time, we didn't realize another "real" Zartan would be coming out in the regular single-carded line, but the important thing is, everyone now has the true homage to the '84 Master of Disguise.

Now, considering we already have a very nice single carded Zartan, what is the motivation to get this one? Well...honestly...not much. This Zartan is much the same as the single carded version, with the main exception being the painted "weathering" on this Zartan's armor, and silver painted boots. Truth be told, it is a very nice little detail and does edge this figure above the regular single carded version, though I'm not sure it's enough of a change to warrant an entire second purchase.

And this is exactly what was kind of "wrong" about the Hall of Heroes. Most fans envisioned it as a be-all, end-all "fix job" for a bunch of figures that were released in the line that needed to be retooled and re-released. The only problem is, by the time the Hall of Heroes figures arrived, the figures they were supposed to fix had already been fixed (and in some cases fixed better) so we ended up with just a really pretty gold-foil carded series of 10 figures that didn't give us a whole lot more bang for our buck.

That's not the say the Hall of Heroes figures aren't good. By and large, they are. But they're not new or different, they're much of the same as we've add (often with just very minor added details) which made it tough to rationalize the prices. Zartan looks good in his brown pants, his armored plating, and he is a great tribute to the original. His articulation is nice...he does come across a bit skinny with Gung Ho's torso, but he really is a nice update. Just a nice update that was already nicely updated a few months prior to this initial release.

This version of Zartan comes with just about as many accessories as he might need. He's got the great calf-mounted knife, which I absolutely love, as well as the rifle that came with the initial release. The familiar Zartan pistol is also included along with the backpack and trio of masks that was released previously.

Now, one interesting tidbit is the battle stand. Apparently some Zartan's come with Cobra stands, and others come with Joe stands, I would imagine as a little inside joke to Zartan's "Master of Disguise" status. I can dig it, even if it doesn't flow real well with the rest of the assortment.

Like the rest of the Hall of Heroes, Zartan is a great figure that suffers a bit from the fact that the best parts had already been done in previous figures, which lessens the impact of this figure. Still, the ceremonial presentation and the displayability of the figures cannot be argued. Overall, a good addition to the Hall of Heroes line, even if rendered at least somewhat unnecessary by the previous version.

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