XENK

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: GOLDEN ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0096: Today’s figure has been on my pending review list for almost an entire year.

I’m a relatively new convert to the whole D&D thing, having only gotten into in late 2018…which is I guess a few years now, isn’t it?  Look, time’s been a cacophony since 2020.  Anyway, the point is that my very first D&D character was a guy called Maxwell Hold, the self-dubbed “Paladin of the People.”  I grew to have quite an attachment to that character, and the Paladin class in general, so I’ve also got an attachment to portrayals of paladins in other media.  So, it’s no surprise that my favorite part of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was Regé-Jean Page’s Paladin Xenk.  Though only part of the main party for one “session” of the movie’s story, he was a ton of fun.  And he also got a figure, which I of course bought.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Xenk was released in the third assortment of Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons: Golden Archive line, which served as their central tie-in to the movie last year.  Xenk was released alongside Doric and a re-pack of Edgin, in a set that was, effectively, a Hasbro Pulse exclusive, since the line was sadly dropped by most retailers after the first round.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The figure is, honestly, a little smaller than I was expecting.  Golden Archive seems to be more like Black Series for scaling, if not maybe a touch smaller.  Like, it’s not awful, but it does hinder cross compatibility a bit.  The articulation scheme is an interesting mix of different styles.  I found it particularly prone to sticking joints, but they did at least all free up on my copy.  I was surprised by the lack of any rocker-style motion on the ankles, as that’s become a fairly standard joint for the scale.  It makes posing him quite limited, and is not helped by the hips being further restricted by the “skirt.”  Xenk’s sculpt is a totally unique one.  It’s decent enough.  The head’s got a solid likeness of Page.  The body, especially the armored parts, are a bit on the soft side in terms of detailing.  That said, the proportions are decent, and the layout of the parts of the outfit works pretty well too.  The color work on this figure is a little more basic than I’d expected.  There’s a lot more chunks of unpainted plastic than I’d expected.  He also seems a little brighter in color than he seemed in the movie, but that may just be a selective lighting thing.  The work on the face is at least pretty impressive, down to the little mark on his forehead.  Xenk’s only accessory was his sword.  It’s very light for what the figure cost.  At least throw in his dagger from the movie, maybe?  Or some extra hands?  Something?  Not helping matters is that my figure’s sword broke about 10 seconds after I removed it from the package.  Not a lot of fun there.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The D&D movie hit theatres at a bad time for me to make it out to a theatre, so I waited until streaming for it.  Which, of course, lined up perfectly with this figure’s release, so I ordered him shortly after finishing the movie.  I was thrilled to get him, and then I opened him…and the sword broke…and I lost momentum.  I’ve been repairing the sword for the better part of a year, trying for a fix that would stick.  I finally got it to a good enough spot to at least get the photos, and here we are.  The core figure isn’t bad.  He’s not thrilling, but he does what he needs to.  Were it not for the broken sword, I think I’d have liked him a lot more.  Still, he’s at least cool on the shelf, and he’s a fun paladin figure.