My extensive knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons begins and ends with the cartoon series and a few of the earlier games from the 80s. That didn’t stop me from being excited about the first entry in the Forgotten Realms line Drizzt and Guenhwyvar when Hasbro debuted them at Pulse Con. Course I don’t need much convincing for a well done figure that has a cool panther sidekick.
Let’s see if this initial offering from Forgotten Realms is worthy of remembering.
Packaging: Hasbro sets the bar for the line high with this amazing foil packaging. It’s a silver foil and catches the light brilliantly with panthers, spiders and castles along the front with an illustration of Drizzt and Guenhwyvar springing into action.
The rear features another foil setup with Drizzt and Guenhwyvar battling an ice dragon. This outer packaging slips off and to reveal an inner section with all black foil showing the figures and accessories in a nice wide window.
This is definitely a line that Hasbro should include some text/bios as a little write-up might further sell the line for newcomers unfamiliar with the property. Now this one is probably the special packaging to introduce the line so there’s a chance the main figures do explain the characters when they’re on shelves at retail.
Likeness: There’s more than enough reference materials on Drizzt to get a decent idea of his likeness. But just like comic books it seems every artist adds their own wrinkles to their takes on him. It seems like Hasbro’s sculptors came up with a design that incorporates all of his major elements with the layered armor.
His cloak keeps the layered theme going with a fur lined collar. Sometimes this kind of trim looks too static and flat, but the sculpt helps give the impression that this is nice and warm. The hood is a bit too high and creates a hard plastic shell that doesn’t allow for much neck movement.
For the head sculpt we’ve got two options — the default action head with flowing hair and an intense expression or the more serene peaceful one. The calm head sculpt has almost too much personality as I’m reading it like Drizzt is annoyed or mildly amused with something. His mouth is curling up in a bit of a smirk that skews a bit more sinister than heroic.
There’s no indication in the packaging of a bonus feature — swappable hair. They switch out easily and plug in to two holes at the top and back of the heads. Naturally, I realized this long after my first shot with him. Switching the windblown hair onto the neutral head surprisingly changes up the attitude.
Drizzt’s armor is amazing. There’s so much detail crammed into it from the etchings and gold straps on the gauntlets , the texturing in the tunic, the layout of the sheaths, the edging of the lower portion of the tunic and the knee and shin pads. The effort here is incredible and an encouraging sign for the future of the line.
If every figure looks this good, I’m going to struggle to avoid being a completionist with the Forgotten Realms line. I’ll just be doing a deep dive on the lore with each new figure.
Guenhwyvar naturally doesn’t have as much cool detail. She’s a panther spirit that can come out on to the physical plane for 12 hours at a time. This sculpt is a great example of maintaining the imposing presence and impressively functional articulation.
You don’t have to be told she’s a panther and the sculpt captures that sleekness while still looking very powerful. Guenhwyvar’s head sculpt looks like she’s sizing someone up and doesn’t trust them very much at all.
Paint: Drizzt is a drow and his skin is defined as black. If it were just a tad darker shade of purple the white hair would pop more. His lavender eyes are correct, which is important since most of his kin have red eyes.
This version of Drizzt is from the video game Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, where his skin is this light purple so it’s not inaccurate.
There’s some slop with the white fur and the cape. The fur could probably use a wash to dirty it up a bit and not look as pristine as his hair.
For the many complex areas with the armor, his outfit is remarkably clean. There’s some intricate details in the sculpt that like the silver buckles on the chest piece and of course all of the gold trim on the padding. This is how you make a good first impression on a new line.
Guenhwyvar again is a bit less involved, but Hasbro did give her some purple highlighting so she’s not a flat black. It’s a nice effect and a smart move to help show off the work on the fur. The mouth has some slop with white overspray from the teeth.
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Scale: At this point, Drizzt sets the tone for the scale. He’s ideally suited to match well with Funko’s old sic-inch scaled Game of Thrones figures and some of the orcs from Toy Biz’s Lord of the Rings figures fit in well enough.
In the various images of the duo that I stumbled across, Guenhwyvar is typically portrayed a little bigger and right around Drizzt’s waist.
Articulation: I already mentioned the restrictions with Drizzt’s hood shell. The shoulder pads don’t hinder the back and forth movement of the shoulder areas nearly as much as I assumed. He’s got strong elbows and knees. I did miss the waist joint as it would have been useful for pivoting poses.
Mine seemed to have weaker ankles or the weight of the cape had him somewhat top heavy and fall prone unless I found the precise sweet standing spot. The cape does help with some posing and the soft material used for the sheathes ensures that they don’t become problematic either.
Drizzit has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- biceps(with swivel)
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge (up and down)
- torso
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Guenhwyvar features a surprising amount of articulation. I wish the hind legs would spread out further to provide a better base for leaping poses, but the segmented approach for movement really allows her to hit some dynamic poses.
Guenhwyvar has:
- head
- neck
- jaw
- torso
- hip
- thigh
- knee
- ankle
- tail
Accessories: Drizzt has a good amount of accessories.
He comes with both of his swords —Icingdeath and Twinkle.
Icingdeath has the blue dragon(?) hilt and lining in the blade. Both have unique hilts and hint at their special abilities.
To aid in posing he’s got an alternate right fist and a grasping left hand presumably to aid in holding the next accessory.
He also has the Figurine of Wondrous Power, which lets him summon Guenhwyvar. It’s a very figurine at that scale.
I couldn’t find info on his necklace, but I’d love to know its purpose for inclusion D&D heads.
Drizzt also has six cards and an oversized Dale d20. It’s cast in a pearlescent blue and black making for a very cool effect.
Worth it? This set is $40. Factoring in the deluxe packaging, the highly complex sculpt — for both figures — and the above average accessories (including the hair variants) that’s a fair price.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Like the Snake Eyes figure that kicked off the GI Joe Classified Series, Drizzt and Guenhwyvar set high expectations for the rest of the line and are certainly cool enough figures to entice collectors that until now weren’t even in to the franchise.
Where to get it? You can still order this set from Hasbro Pulse.
**Special thanks to Hasbro for sending along a review sample**
