Hot Toys Maria Hill figure review – Avengers: Age of Ultron MMS 305

When Nick Fury has a problem, he goes to his right hand woman. If Maria Hill can’t get the job done, then he calls in The Avengers.

As important as getting variants of the numerous looks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are, Hot Toys has shown a welcome willingness to tackle some of the more important supporting characters. We’ve already gotten Agent Coulson and Pepper Potts. Now we’ve got the next most important second tier player in Hill.

It’s a longshot, but I’m pulling for Thor’s Erik Selvig next to complete all the principal characters from The Avengers. It is one of my favorite movies after all. For now, let’s break down Maria Hill and see if this supporting character shines during her moment in the spotlight. Bonus points for you if you got the Robin Sparkles nod.

Packaging: Hill comes in the Avengers: Age of Ultron packaging. It’s a little busier than the initial Avengers style, but features Hill in her trademark stoic pose. The packaging probably could be more exciting, but there’s a certain distinguished look that works for this line.

Ditch the cover sleeve to somewhat make out Hill in the tray. Hot Toys has deserved its reputation for quality otherwise I’d be worried about not being able to make out any of the figure and accessory details. There’s no capes or fabric pieces to worry about navigating through tiny holes here.

The little plastic wrappings around the boots and hands were much easier to remove here than some others. That’s a good thing as I hate cutting them off and potentially risk damaging the figure.

Likeness: The sculpt matches up very strongly to Cobie Smulders’ tough as nails character. As always, I prefer a neutral expression and the figure strongly captures Hill’s essence. The likeness is tremendous per the norm for Hot Toys. You could swap out the S.H.I.E.L.D. and still recognize this as Maria Hill.

I don’t know all the various body types at Hot Toys’ disposal, but the slender base used works perfectly for Hill.

Paint: Hot Toys didn’t have to go too elaborate with the paint job here. Hill isn’t the glam makeup type, which probably makes for a greater challenge.  But this is where Hot Toys continues to blow the competition out.

The paintwork is so exquisitely done that it resembles human skin. There’s some nice deviations in the color so it’s not one flat color. Hill’s eyebrows, lashes and lips are exceptional.

Scale: I didn’t necessarily think Hot Toys would be so accurate on this category, but Hill fits in properly with her S.H.I.E.L.D. allies. That’s most evident posing Hill next to Black Widow. Smulders is 5’8″ compared to Scarlett Johansson’s 5’3″ so it’s nice to see Hot Toys taking note to those details.

Outfit: Hill is wearing the finest in S.H.I.E.L.D.  gear. Hawkeye and Black Widow sport S.H.I.E.L.D. outfits in the first film, but this is Hot Toys’ first crack at a dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. costume. The outfit is fairly simplistic in the front, but it’s the back where the design gets a bit more intricate.

To allow for it to be functional, the zipper is a tad too large, but any smaller and you’d have a hard time moving it up and down. The S.H.I.E.L.D. logo patches on both arms are affixed with a quality adhesive. No worries about them eventually peeling off.

The boots look sharp, but they’re thick and rigid. Like the Nick Fury figure, that limits some of the movement and makes standing tricky at times.

Articulation: The outfit is just tight enough to restrict some movement, specifically the bottom half. Seated poses will be tricky and a kneeling aiming pose is pretty much out of the question. So side kick poses won’t be an option. I did appreciate Maria can reach her gun while in the holster as well as cross her arms.

Accessories: Hill isn’t stacked in this category like some other characters, but she has the necessary elements for a supporting character. Hill gets three sets of hands with fists, relaxed palms and a pistol holding right hand and transceiver handheld left hand.

Hill comes with the standard SHIELD pistol, headset and handheld transceiver we’ve seen on Coulson and Nick Fury and a figure stand. Outside of another gun I’m not sure what else Hot Toys could have added here.

Worth it? Despite the lean accessories, Hill gets the average $220 price. That’s higher than I’d like considering what we’re getting. Hill was sold as a Toy Fair 2015 exclusive so Hot Toys’ production run might have been smaller than most figures.

Where to get it? Hill just went on the waitlist, but from experience that doesn’t mean you can’t still get her. If you don’t want to play the waiting game, you can grab her from eBay. I’ve got a feeling her value will steadily increase since we likely won’t have multiple Hill figures.

 

Rating: 8 out of 10

Hill isn’t going to be front and center of anyone’s Avengers display, but with Fury and Coulson, we’ve got the makings of a nice S.H.I.E.L.D. subsection. I’d love to see Hot Toys tackle some of the figures from Agents of SHIELD to further add to the ranks.

I’m behind on my Hot Toys reviews, but on the Avengers front, you can check out reviews of the AOU Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Vision. For Hot Toys in general, I’ve recently done Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo & Chewbacca.

Hill is listed on Sideshow’s Wait List, but if you act fast there’s still a solid chance you can get her: Marvel Maria Hill Marvel Sixth Scale Figure