Overwatch may have come out more than three years ago, but with a steady flow of characters, maps, events, and of course the esports league, the game has really commandeered a life of its own. Blizzard’s characters are unique and beloved by fans, which means that toys, apparel, and other consumer products sporting the likenesses of the game’s heroes are just as popular as the game itself. We managed to get our hands on some of the latest exclusive Overwatch figures to see if these are simple cash grabs or high-quality pieces that respect the source material.
The headliner of the package was the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Reinhardt Bundeswehr figure. He is part of the Overwatch Ultimates collection, a series of high-quality figures by Hasbro. This Reinhardt figure stands a mighty eight inches tall, and is in a costume variant of the standard Overwatch Ultimates Reinhardt. This time, he comes without his helmet, showing off that glorious old man face and snowy white hair he’s got underneath. Hasbro’s attention to detail, particularly in the finer details like facial features, is stunning among this collection, and Bundeswehr Reinhardt is no different. Just look at that mug.
Now, I hesitate to call this a statue or even just a figure, because there’s an impressive range of articulation and motion that I didn’t expect it to have. It’s quite definitively an action figure, and while many will want to keep the exclusive figure boxed up, they’d be missing out on a lot of really cool little details that they aren’t going to see that way.
First you can pose Reinhardt like seen in the box, smashing the hammer down as he performs his ultimate. This SDCC exclusive version comes with a golden colored hammer and a small impact piece that you can place on the ground to convey the action of Reinhardt striking.
Even if you don’t keep him in the box, you may want to keep the packaging as it creates a pretty cool diorama environment that further gives Reinhardt’s ultimate a lot of visual force. The artwork is also a direct callout of the skin he is wearing, the Bundeswehr skin, which recalls his history within the German armed forces. I’m personally not a huge fan of camo designs overall, and this is one of my least favorite Reinhardt skins, but with it’s importance to his background, I understand why this skin was chosen. The intricate armor designs also camouflage (heh) the camo design, so it’s not gaudy or overstated, and being able to see old man Reinhardt’s face is a good trade off anyway. That said, that’s entirely personal preference, and is not any kind of indication of the quality of the piece.
One of the things that people who leave him in the packaging will miss is his shield, one of his signature abilities within the game that helps him be a tank for the team. The figure comes with a massive translucent shield that can attach into Reinhardt’s arm, but it seems like kind of an odd choice for the action figure. Mostly, the plastic isn’t really see through enough to be able to recognize what’s on the other side, which means there’s no really good way to display Reinhardt with the shield. I mean, do I really just want this on my shelf?
Keep in mind here too that he is backlit by a window. If you put him on a dark shelf, it simply looks like you’ve got a tupperware cover turned sideways with some shadowy thing behind it (I literally have a microwave cover that is made out of the exact same blue plastic). It’s a cool idea in theory, but I don’t think its execution warrants the shield’s inclusion in the box. It will just end up an unused piece of plastic that I’ll toss into some box somewhere and then wonder what it is in ten years. That’s the benefit of options though, right? Maybe some Reinhardt mains will love it, but for me, I’ll be sticking to the hammer.
All in all, Hasbro’s Overwatch Ultimates Reinhardt Bundeswehr figure is anything but a cash grab. You may not be able to get your hands on this one anymore, but keep an eye on this series. They all manage to communicate the tiniest nuances of these characters, and if an exclusive variant pops up for one of your favorite skins from the game, you’ll want to do what you can to grab one, as they are unique, detailed, and come with exclusive features that the standard variants don’t. Reinhardt proves he’s far more than just a recolor.
Cute But Deadly
Cute But Deadly also has a license for Overwatch figures of a different kind, focusing on specific cute renditions of the characters in their own unique style with big heads and tiny bodies (similar to how Funko POP!s have their specific style). First up is the Transcendence Zenyatta, another figure that was exclusive to San Diego Comic-Con this year. This golden figure is a tiny little statue painted in reflective gold (you can see my reflection in his head there).
He comes with a little base to make it look like he is floating, while a translucent backing plate gives him his transcendence aura from his ultimate. He’s decidedly smaller than Rein, measuring only about two inches at most. The quality shiny finish and backing plate set it leagues above the standard Cute But Deadly Zenyatta figure. If you are going to display this, I would recommend putting it somewhere where at least some light can filter behind it, to really get the full effect. Of course, many people may just opt to leave it in the box as well. If you want to do that, you should have gotten two.
Finally, we got the Blizzard exclusive Cute But Deadly D.Va Nano Cola with Meka variant. This is a simple recoloring of the standard D.Va with Meka figure, using her Nano Cola skin from the game. While it did first debut at SDCC 2019, you’ll be able to pick this one up on the Blizzard Store later this year, so don’t worry about having missed out if you’re a D.Va main.
For this figure, you can either display the Meka by itself, or with D.Va sitting on top. This is a bit larger than the standard mini Cute But Deadly figures, but has no points of articulation. It is just designed to be a display piece. The coloring and paint job are very well done, so you know you are paying for a quality piece if you are D.Va fan.
If you’d like to see additional pictures of the figures and the packaging, check out my Twitter thread:
Pretty sweet care package of exclusive #Overwatch figures from @Blizzard_Ent. Will have a write up on @PSLifeStyle soon looking at the quality and features of each, but early impressions are great.@dyani is excited to give them spots on her desk at work! pic.twitter.com/0ydbSClv8d
— Chandler Wood (@FinchStrife) July 26, 2019
Blizzard has really locked in some quality creators when it comes to licensed Overwatch merch, and it makes sure that the exclusives are unique enough to catch your interest instead of just being easy recolors. Hasbro particularly has an attention to detail on the Overwatch Ultimates series of action figures that is nearly unrivaled on figures at that price point. Considering there are some other games with high-quality statues coming out for over $1000, we’re quite lucky to get this kind of quality for something that is far more affordable for the rest of us, even if making it out to Comic-Con to actually get one might not quite be possible.
Overwatch figures provided by Activision Blizzard. For more information, please read our Review Policy.
