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FigurePrints Xbox Live Avatar Figure Review
Ricardo Trejo
Since Nintendo debuted the Mii’s, personalized digital characters customizable to a player’s look, everyone else in the industry has been trying to copy their success. In the case of Microsoft, their Avatar series has done quite a good job at laying out more options in customization, thus giving player a real sense of unique self. That being said, what else would a dedicated gamer with a nice display shelf or workdesk want besides a figurine version of their virtual Xbox Avatar?
Our Impressions
To begin, looking good is the only criteria any figure of any sort needs to fit, since without it there’s not much point to a toy that has no practicaly no value in it besides its appearance; the better they appear the better you feel about the money you spent. So what happens during the rarest of occasions when you unbox a new toy and as soon as you lay your eyes on it you can’t stand but possibly throw up? Well, that’s kinda the feeling we got when we received our Xbox Live Avatar Figure from Figureprints.com
From the get go, there wasn’t much of a flashy box or special packaging that the figure came in. Nope, just a small white piece of cardboard that housed our mini-Xbox avatar. Once let loose the first thing that caught our eye was the hard and bumpy surface. While most figures nowadays relish in their smooth, resin and plastic touch and appearance, this FigurePrints model doesn’t even try to replicate that. Though that’s not to say that it’s completely off the mark in its presentation.
Standing atop an unnecessary Xbox Live disc that spells out your gamertag, the figure measures out to a good 5” inches which is a little small.
The pose, which is set to the one you chose online when ordering it, is actually done very well — the usual animations and expressions the Avatar’s display on your Xbox dashboard and supported games truly come alive when frozen forever in time.
The unit is one big cast, there are no separate parts and the entire figure, including its clothes are all made out of the same mold — which actually is a part of FigurePrints method of crafting their figures. There’s actually a segment from the television show “How It’s Made” that went into detail on how the company uses a Z Corp 3D printer to render 3D images and then carve out the figures from thinly spaced layers of powder; the entire process can be seen — HERE.
Overall
Price: $50
Where to buy: FigurePrints
The concept is genius, however while they are a decent physical representation of your digital Xbox Live Avatar, for the $50 price tag it’s a little steep, especially due to the small 5” inch size and lack of familiarity with the style in which FigurePrints crafts its models — its exterior doesn’t look smooth or even give the feeling that it was preciously designed and made. We’re not trying to bag on the company at all, but you could seriously find a better quality Transformers figurine for $10 at your local Wal-Mart.
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