Head Sculpt: Another very realistic looking "battle weary" face. The bags under the eyes are so pronounced, it makes the face look so real. The shading under the eyes is a little darker then the other parts of the face, adding to the overall realism of the face. The blond hair on the head sculpt looks allot more like real blond hair. The texture and finish of the hair (combed back) looks like the real thing. Again, as stated in the last few reviews I've done on Dragon figures, the flesh tone shading on the face has improved 100% over older head sculpts. Dragon has really been putting out some outstanding head sculpts throughout late 2002 to present. I think the great head sculpts that BBI has been releasing, forced Dragon to relook the quality and realism of their head sculpts. They are finally realizing that a soldier's face, more times then often, are something other then a young, smiling face. I'm glad they finally came to their senses. I can honestly say that I am nothing but satisfied with the head sculpt on Lothar. If you don't buy the boxed set, I would still advise getting the nude figure just for the head sculpt. Grade: 10.0 (A+/Perfect).
Articulation/Body: Again, same type "Neo" body that has been the body of chice for Dragon for the past two years+. The big plus for this set is it includes the newer passive hands set. So you have two sets of hands in all. The newer hands are very nice. The only bad part is they have that slight shiney "plastic" look to them. Someday they may come to their senses and give us flat flesh tone hands like SideShow provides with their figures. I'm sure if we keep bugging Dragon they will do it. They do listen to the customers (it is very evident from all of the good changes that have come on all their figures as of late). I may have to drop them an e-mail to suggest same.
Grade: 9.8 (A+).
Uniform/Field Gear
Uniform: The uniform, including the spring pattern pea dot camo scheme on the tunic, are of very durable and sturdy construction. The pants that come on this figure are very detailed. I compared the pants reproduced by Dragon to a photo of the real pants and all the buttons that are represented on these pants are identical as far as proper placement and button design are concerned. The shirt isn't too bad either. There are few loose strings here and there, but not half as bad as the modern military figure uniforms Dragon puts out. Now, as far as the camo tunic, they did an outstanding job giving it the "field worn" look. It looks like something that has been worn outside for a prolonged period of time. It has the appearance of being faded from sun exposure. What makes this tunic different is you can put the shoulder rank taps on yourself (or leave them off if you prefer). The shoulder rank tabs are secure to the tunic by a small nut and bolt. A very unique method, not seen by any other company. The boots with gators are done very nice. They look like they have seen some action in the field (worn look). They look a little more worn then the pair that came on "Hakon". Also, included in this set are the field mitts with firing finger. Very nicely done, but are hard to get over the hands. I think it is best to leave these tucked under the field belt. I think they did a top notch job on the entire uniform (slight minus for the mitts). Grade: 9.9 (A+).
Field Gear: The Y-strap that comes with this figure is the tan material type with the metal ring. This Y-strap configuration is the best that Dragon makes (my opinion). The plastic, black in color Y-strap is alright, but they look cheaper and don't have the actual metal ring in the middle (molded ring design on plastic Y-strap, then painted silver). The field belt on this figure has been modified. The belt is made out of a thick leather type material that is much more tolerent to pulling and stretching. At the end of the belt is a silver metal clip that attaches to the back of the SS belt buckle. A good idea that more then likely will not be liked by the majority of Dragon figure collectors. The configuration works just fine, due to the thicker material used on the belt. If the belt was done by BBI or SideShow we might have a quality control issue (the leather belts they use are usually too thin a material, that rips very easily). I think Dragon sat back and annotated these shortcomings from these other companies, further creating this superior version. The M42 helmet is made of metal and has the newer leather type chin strap. The helmet is done very nice, to include a very detailed liner on the inside. The helmet is rather heavy, even more so then BBI's version. I understand BBI was the first 1/6th scale figure company to make metal helmets, but I think Dragon's version is more detailed, without the metal cast mold line on the helmet (BBI helmets suffer from this). The MP44 ammo pouch is material type that was first released with "Ansgar". The only issue I have with this ammo pouch are the belt loops on the back. They are a little too narrow for the belt. I had a hell of time sliding the belt thru the loops.
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