Variant Play Arts Kai Hawkman

I have been busy reading away at the ongoing Hawkworld series (just finished up Annual #2 this morning, which for an Armageddon 2001 crossover was better than it really deserved to be), marveling at how much Pre-Crisis stuff Ostrander and company have managed to work into this decidedly (and doggedly) Post-Crisis series.  But here's an intermezzo, in the form of a high end Japanese Hawkman toy which decidedly more well-off Hawkfans than I can now drop some cash on.

Play Arts Kai is one of several super poseable, and very pricey, Japanese toy lines going a the moment.  Produced by Enix, these guys first made waves here in the States among non-tokusatsu fans for their Man Of Steel toys, featuring Superman, General Zod, and Faora.  They would later release more PAK figures for DC heroes, and I came across four more DC related Play Arts Kai figures this morning while heading over to my import toy website of choice, HLJ.com.  And wouldn't you know, among the lineup is Hawkman!  Here is the official description:

The mighty Hawkman joins the Variant Play Arts Kai lineup! With majestic metallic wings and armor, Hawkman is ready to defend against evil! Fully posable (including the wings, of course) and accessorized with a knife, axe, mace and four extra interchangeable hands, Hawkman stands almost 30cm tall!  Add this iconic hero to your collection now!

The Winged Wonder is suitable beefy in his PAK rendition, as expected.  The design itself is a sort of hodge-podge of various eras of the character/  His half-armor immediately calls to mind the New 52 Savage Hawkman look, but the metal wings make me think of Hawkworld and Volume 3, as does the 3 pronged claw.  The weapons -- an axe, a mace, and a knife -- fall somewhere in between Philip Tan's organic looking weapons and Joe Bennett's more ornate designs.  I like the accessory array, with the swappable hands to give Katar some options for how he wants to tear into his enemies.  The helmet is totally out there, looking more like a manga or video game design than anything from the comics.  Overall it is a striking look and a unique amongst the multitude of different appearances which Hawkman has had over the years.

Also included in the new wave are Darkseid, Aquaman, and Cyborg.  As of my writing this, only Hawkman and Darkseid were currently available at HLJ, the other two being on Order Stop (meaning that they are not taking any more preorders at this time).  As much as I would love to add this figure to my collection, I have sworn off high end import toys because they come out with far too much regularity and too much awesomeness for me to afford. And at 10200 yen (or about $97) before shipping, PAK Hawkman is way out of my range.

Still, a cool figure and a cool design, so for those of you who might never have seen this figure otherwise, I hope you dig this new Hawkman figure.  

Image: Variant Play Arts Kai Hawkman, 2014, image obtained from HLJ.com.