I was having a hard time getting a couple of pictures of Hunter that I wanted. I finally took advantage of the sunny day today to get them all done, so this is the last doll in my Tri-Castle-On series. Hunter is the undisputed winner in the archery part of the Tri-Castle-On competition.
Here's Hunter full-length, and a close-up of his face. His stand leaves marks in his faux leather top, so I undid part of the Velcro in back, and pulled the back of the top around the stand. Hunter's pants are a fairly heavy weight denim weave.
Hunter has a purple hood, which can be pulled up. I think it makes him look sharp! It has a slit in the bottom back, though, like Cerise's hoods do, even though Hunter doesn't have long hair to go through it.
He's also wearing very sturdy boots.
His outfit is very similar to what he wears in the Tri-Castle-On webisode, and also in the Heartstruck webisode, when he unintentionally causes havoc after coming upon Cupid's bow and arrows. In the webisodes, he has sleeves and more detail to his trousers, but making a three pack affordable involved some cuts, I guess.
Like his cartoon version, Hunter does come with a nice arm guard. The vinyl version is even more detailed than the cartoon one, although it's only one color.
There's only one *small* problem: Hunter's arm guard should be worn on the arm that is *not* pulling the bowstring! In this case, when Hunter releases an arrow, the arm guard should be where it can protect the released bowstring, or the arrow in flight, from grazing Hunter's arm. It's even more important for sleeveless Hunter to have that protection. But our guy is wearing his arm guard on his *right* arm, meaning he should be pulling the bow string with his *left* hand. Honestly, I'm rather surprised that the animators messed this up, not once, but twice. Since doll Hunter's arm guard is sculpted to fit his right hand and arm, we'll say doll Hunter is left-handed, and let it go at that.
Of course, Hunter has to come with his bow and arrows. Hunter can actually wear his quiver; I was afraid it wasn't going to fit. These are all nice pieces, except his "cluster" of molded arrows has a slight curve in it. That might be deliberate?
I'm especially glad to have Hunter in my collection. I already have the Hunter that came with Ashlynn Ella, but that doll's hair is slightly greasy, and it could be hard to clean up without messing up the flocking on his head. If getting the oiliness out of his hair is even possible! Tri-Castle-On Hunter's hair is just super gelled. If I manage to get some practice re-rooting some doll heads next year, I could give my first Hunter new hair, and maybe even make him a different character.
So this is the end of my Tri-Castle-On reviews! In the end, I'm happy with all of the dolls and most of the accessories, which is great! What do you think of Hunter compared to Lizzi and Cerise?
I love Hunter the most of all set. I hope to find him some day. I would be even more happy if at least one of arrows would be separated.But you can't have everything I think. :)
ReplyDeleteNo, I suppose if they made an arrow separate, little kids would promptly lose it. I hope you find Hunter some day where you are!
DeleteI'm sure they would lose them, but even as a kid I would have wanted loose arrows. The Brave Merida dolls come with loose arrows, so it's not out of the question. I would have wanted to be able to shoot them!
DeleteNow I'm picturing mini-Tam running around the house shooting arrows. :) Supposedly Mattel quit giving EAH dolls rings because mothers complained about how easy they were to use, so that's my guess with the arrow thing. My second guess is that they had to keep these dolls somewhat budget, so the price of the entire set wouldn't be too outrageous, so no single arrow. I'm sure enterprising little kids will find some way to have arrows to shoot. :)
DeleteNever heard of Hunter of Tri-Castle-On, so always interesting to see your reviews and pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Serenata. I'm glad that you liked the review.
DeleteGreat review! I do have the original Hunter from the Ella 2 pack so even if he were on sale, I probably wouldn't get this version. He has lots of details but I'm not digging his clothing.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I don't think this Hunter's clothes are that great either. I'm mostly glad I have him to replace greasy-hair Hunter.
DeleteI am impressed that it looks like they've put as much effort into Hunter as the girls. All the boy dolls I've ever had have had kind of half-hearted design like they were created as an afterthought. This one's done well though.
ReplyDeleteEAH did pretty well with their boy dolls, until the whole line started going down hill. It would be nice to see more attention paid to boy dolls.
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