[BarbaraGordon]

Street Date: Officially 2019-10-30
MSRP: $25
Price I Paid: $20
Scale: 7-inch (or 1/10)

The MSRP for McFarlane's single-release Fortnite action figures was $25. Most of them are officially "sold out", though some retailers may have lingering stock. (A few have appreciated considerably on the secondary market.) Walmart.com still has Havoc for MSRP or less.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/McFarlane...gure/298605748

----------

There's been a general lack of villains in McFarlane's DC Multiverse action figure line, so I've been buying the company's Fortnite figures to use as villains. I decided to review one of the Fortnite figures because this line is basically the "foundation" for McFarlane's current action figure design. The first Fortnite figures were released in late 2018. The articulation system has persisted through later lines such as My Hero Academia, Mortal Kombat, The Witcher, and DC. Even packaging details can be found in subsequent licenses. For example, there is a base stand under a plastic shell glued to a cardboard tray, and the figure plus accessories are stored in a plastic tray. The Fortnite action figure boxes are the same width as DC figures with BAF pieces, though they're shorter. (They look square-ish but are 9-inches x 7.5-inches x 2.5 inches.)

The single-release Fortnite figures had three accessories each -- a "harvest" tool (which looks like an axe or melee weapon to people unfamiliar with the game), a gun, and a "back bling" / backpack. (I think the only exception is the Walgreens Exclusive Glow in the Dark Skull Trooper, which comes with just a "harvest" tool.) Havoc's gun is based on the French FAMAS assault rifle. The left hand has a trigger finger. The gun handle can be forced into the right hand, but the trigger area has to sit above the fingers. The backpack has a peg which fits into a hole in the figure's back.

The base stand is a raised platform, and the pegs are larger than the pegs on base stands for subsequent action figure lines. Havoc stands about 7.1-inches tall.

Many of the Fortnite figures are fully masked, so you can buy multiples of the same ones to build teams or armies without even finding alternate heads. Havoc in particular looks like he's wearing a military uniform, so I bought a few to make a special ops team. I'm glad that I did in part because almost all of them had different defective parts. Having multiples meant that I could give all the bad parts to one figure. This also allowed me to look at the figure's "skeleton". (Beginning with Post #3, the pictures are of my "kitbashed" copy.)

In the past, many McFarlane action figures were criticized for lacking articulation, with some people calling them poseable statues. The Fortnite system is clearly a response to market concerns, with even the packaging announcing that there are "22 MOVING PARTS". Havoc has a lot of freedom of movement, though the upper torso can't really bend forward (a characteristic still shared by many McFarlane figures). The head and lower torso can rotate 360 degrees. The toes can even bend/point downwards a little, not just upwards. The diaper has large, deep cuts, so the legs can be lifted forward a little better than is usual with later action figure lines. However, this also means that you can see the hip joints clearly in certain positions.

Problems I encountered:
-- One figure's head has way too much movement. The hole in the head is too shallow, or the neck peg is too long. Either way, the head basically falls off as soon as you try to move it.
-- One figure's neck piece has a bottom hole that's slightly too wide, so it just falls off the body when you try to move it.
-- One figure's right arm fell off when I tried to move it. It turns out that the arm peg was bent / warped straight out of the factory.
-- One figure's right shoulder socket is too wide, so it can't really hold onto any arm pegs (not even ones that weren't damaged).
-- One figure has a messed up entire left leg. The left hip joint is too loose. The left knee pad is heavily scuffed. The ankle joint was not molded with enough plastic, so the foot just falls off if you try to move it.
-- One figure's right leg has excess black paint right under the thigh strap.

As I mentioned earlier, I combined all these defective parts into one figure. This way, I don't have pesky problems spread across my set of Havocs. The left arm and diaper are fine, and I suppose I can salvage other smaller parts as needed.

The last McFarlane Fortnite was Peely Bone in September 2021. I think it's safe to say that McFarlane's license ended after 3 years, though I wish the company and Epic Games could agree to release more re-paints/variants. The business suit used for the Wild Card and Inferno characters would be great in additional colors.

Areas of concern:
-- I think this is a good action figure, and I'm glad that I've been able to get a few of these for MSRP or less. However, you should definitely check all the different parts right away if you intend to pose/play with the figure rather than keep it mint-in-box.

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

[BarbaraGordon]

Several of the Fortnite figures were re-paints with slightly different heads or accessories.

Cuddle Team Leader and Fireworks Team Leader


Raptor and Havoc


It looks like McFarlane planned one more re-paint of the Raptor/Havoc body, Frostbite:


Jonesy, Warpaint, Skull Trooper, Rex, Overtaker, Plastic Patroller






Omega and Carbide


Wild Card and Inferno


Rhino and Jackal


Frost Wing and Lava Wing (They're "gliders" in the game.)