Review date: 10/11/2004
Revised: 12/26/2004

Manufacturer: Sideshow Collectibles

Released: 2004

Availability: NORMAL

Type: Replica

 
 
Personal Story:
I already got my hands on the Samaritan from Sideshow so I was interested in the Right Hand of Doom to pair up both collectibles. I wasn't able to afford the 1/1 scale version so this was a good alternative. I preordered it after thinking about it. The price wasn't bad at all.
 
Introduction:
This prop replica was made by Sideshow Collectibles. The hand is based on the Right Hand of Doom from the comic book/movie, Hellboy. It was made in 1/4 scale. Limited to 1,000 pieces worldwide.
 

Sculpt:
The look of the hand is nicely realized in the three dimensional form. Sideshow managed to create the same look as the hand from the movie. The hand is in a neutral pose so you can see the palm and back of the hand. All the little cracks and engravings were quite accurate. I can't really give you a good indication if Sideshow got all the cracks and engravings perfectly since it was so hard to see the close-up of the hand in the movie. Sorry if that's all I'm going to say about the sculpt since it's next to impossible to compare this to the source material. Here's something, the box says this was made from polystone but it's incredibly light compared to the gun. All the weight is from the lowest section of the base. Hmmm...

Moving down, the base is fairly well sculpted too. The stone is rough and looks like stone. I can't really give you any other analysis of it. The BPRD emblem on the front is very nice. It's smooth and there's no weird warping which indicates a good sculpt. The last section of the base has the "Hellboy" title engraved into it. It's okay. It looks a little warped and doesn't have the same solid look as the emblem. The whole base is decent but there's nothing wildly imaginative about it.

As you can see, I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm for this "replica" since there were too many things missing that disappointed me. I was expecting something more (just like with the Samaritan). First of all, since this is a replica, you'd expect more functions. The fingers cannot be bent or moved into any other positions. If you want to create a fist or make it do "the finger", you're out of luck. The sculpt for the hand is a little too smooth compared to the source. All the cracks and edges were rounded off which bugged me. The rounded look makes it look a little too much like a toy. I'm guessing this is a result of the paint. Another problem is the inability to rotate the hand on the base. If you want to display the palm of the hand with the emblem on the front, you're out of luck. I'm not really sure what Sideshow was thinking, but that really irked me.

I'm not really sure why Sideshow called this a replica. It's more in line with a sculpture or a statue. A replica should have a lot of the same functions as a real piece. There's nothing you can really do with it. It's basically one solid piece.
 

Paint:
The paint job is alright. The colors match the look of the source material pretty well. There's a black wash over the dark red. All the grays and blacks end up in the cracks to accentuate the old cracked look. The gray and black for the rocky part of the base is pretty good too. The emblem's paint job is quite clean and well done. Overall, the colors work quite well.

One problem I had was the paint rounded off all the edges of the hand too much. The hand is much more rocky-looking and the paint simply covered all of that up. Shame. The same can be said for the gray rocky base. One part had too much gray which killed off the illusion of being real rock. If Sideshow had used a thinner coat, I think we would've seen a much more realistic Right Hand of Doom. I'm also not a fan of the gloss they used. The hand's supposed to be dry looking and the gloss simply takes that away. It's not so bad from a distance, but once you get close, the hand looks shiny. Not good.

Another major complaint is the way the "Hellboy" title was painted on the base. They tried to give it an illusion of depth so they painted the top part of the letters and the lower part red. While it may seem good, the execution was poor. The paint was a bit too thick and the parts of it like the line in the middle of the "B" letter had a glob of paint. I think they should've just made it a metal plate or something so we wouldn't have that problem. Oh well.

 
Overall: B-
While the sculpt is nice and looks good, some of the final decisions like the glossy paint, rounded edges and painted text really ruined an otherwise good sculpture. The lack of functions like moving fingers or the inability to rotate the hand on the base was really disappointing. The piece still looks good on display, but Sideshow could've done a better job with it. But, if you already own the 1/4 scale Samaritan already, it's worth getting so you can display them together.
 

Where can I find this?
 It was originally found only at Sideshow's site but started popping up across a wide range of places that sell collectibles. You should be able to find it quite easily as of the revised review date.
 
Other Images:


The box. Very cool design. They have very clear photos of the hand all around the box which is nice. I would've liked to see the actual hand inside the box instead.

 


The back of the hand. Nice details with the cracks and engravings. The glossy paint annoyed me.

 


The base. Sloppy paint job with the text...

 


The palm of the hand.

 
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