HUDSON

Exactly a year ago NECA launched theyr Gargoyles line with a pretty difficult to find Goliath. A year later we are getting the fifth figure of the collection:Hudson. Wether this is a fast shipping method or slow i am not sure, i mean in the same amount of time they only released 3 Universal Monsters but this figures are really...really big and not cheap soo i am glad they are coming slow.

Hudson was one of the most important characters in the serires being the guide of Goliath and to a certain moment, Demona too and he always keep his status of warrior and confident of the Gargoyles clan tough at the same time taking a very pasive rool in front of the TV. This is why i am surprised NECA has released him before the young characters tough i am surprised they released Bronx soo fast as well.

Hudson is a little bit smaller than Goliath/Thailog but not much and despite his looks, he is also ligther as well and unlike Demona he can stand on his own perfectly!! His feet are huge as well as his tail is incrediblly thick and strong making him perfectly capable of stand with those huge open wings.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, wrists, legs, knes, ankles, half feet, tail and both wings. Despite all this double joint and ball joints, he is not as articulated as the rest tough....his long hair and beard keep his head movement at minimum as well as his shoulder armour stop s a lot of his arms movement. His big stomach also limits a lot the waist movement tough he is not the most agile of the characters.

All other joints and articulations works perfectly fine as well as the super effective vendy tail and those noisy and hard as rock ratched joints on his wings. I am finally getting used to them and the wing span is, of course, pretty huge and take an awfull lot of space on the shelf.

The sculpt is soo nice..it recreates the character design perfectly, the shape of his nose, the fangs, the deep stare, his beard length and shape....but of couse they add realistic details to it like the sculpted nails and scar under his eye or the veins on his feet. He is the most dressed character tough, with a .....shirt? Or half shirt thats totally open in the back side but the wrinkles in the sides give the effect that the material is strecthing around his torso pretty naturally and everything with a soft leather texture.

His pants have a totally different texture tough, much more rough as well as the lointcloth on his waist, this in particular looks pretty old and almost ready to thorn apart. The shoulder armor as well as wrisst armor have also a very crudemetalic texture full of battle scars.

The wings are also full of holes and cuts that makes it evident this are totally different sculpt than Goliath´s wings.

The paint also complenet very nicelly the old look of Hudson since the brown color palette is pretty pale, the opposite to Goliath or Demona vibrant colors. The brown skin color is really smoth and the nails on the claws have a darker and weet tone that makes them stand out. The back of his wings have this orange pearly look while the front of the wings have a washed away brown tone.

The armour have a dark blue and silver metalic paint mixed with blacks to make the texture stand out (i think McFarlane is the only one who cant use metalic paint at this point...)and the dark tones on his shirt, loint clothe and pants follow his muscle structure soo the wrinkles follow a natural patthern. I specially like the pants paint tough , specially in the sides with all the stitching, the material looks.....well, ancient, really medieval.

The head is perfect, with his little painted fangs, deep eye bags, the scar and the yellow eye and orange pupil. His hair have some brush stroke or silver that makes it shines with the ligth tough not soo much. 

His accesoryes are two extra pair of hands and one more hand (???) aside of the closed fist: a pair claws shaped hands for attack poses, a close hand to hold his sword and another palm to hold the blade of the sword and an extra hand to hold his sword...again....i am puzzled why they added two hands for the sword since they look 90% the same. All hands can be changed pretty easy.

He also have an exra head with a roaring expression and looks magnifiscent, the open mouth full of fangs and the tongue and palate are independent sculpts and carefully painted as well as the white eyes that shine pretty good above the dark eyebags. While the head exchange is not as difficult as i was expecting, the wings make everything soo tricky and sometimes they pop out his head constantlly.

His other accesory is his sword, a thick sword with a very rough look tough with added details from NECA: Some celtic carvings on the blade as well as a lot of cuts. I am pretty sure this blade cant cut too well since it looks - like everyhting here- pretty ancient, like a relic. Also it can fit perfectly on his belt, something totally new since n the animation the sword just dissapeare at will but here he can hing it on his waist and it dosnt get on the way of his arms.

And thats it....nothing more, Hudson is really lacking on accesorys compared to the other characters soo far (specially Demona and Thailog), i know he mostly use only his sword for battle but i wich they added a remote control or a small TV since ask for a couch would be too much.

Since he has almost no accesorys would have beena good chance to...well....add his folded wings, rigth? RIGTH NECA????

But oh well, the quality of this guy is really sky high in sculpt and paint (and on his box too...that box art is soo magnifiscent) i just wish they added more items in here since he is basically as armed as the Kenner Hudson. Tough despite of that, he is much more fun than Demona, he can stand on his own for starters....and is soo sturdy and is soo easy to give him a cool pose for the shelf (finding enough space is a totally different devacle tough). And i am just glad i have another Christmas with Gargoyles, just like when i was a kid.