To my surprise, roughly an entire year passed between waves for Super7’s Disney Ultimates! line of action figures. That seemed to be a common occurrence in 2023 for the company as the same happened with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At any rate, this was a line I was really excited for when it was announced as there isn’t a lot out there for Disney collectors who primarily like action figures. Wave One ended up being a mixed bag. The sculpts of Mickey, Pinocchio, and Prince John were there, but the paint was lacking and the quality was iffy. Wave Two was worse, though the only figure I bought was Robin Hood and I was not happy with it. I was so dissatisfied that I dropped my preorder for the Big Bad Wolf, but I had to keep one: Stitch. In my house, Stitch is pretty popular. I don’t consider him a classic Disney character, even though he and Lilo are now old enough to drink, but he’s certainly beloved by many. Now that he’s here, I’m happy to say he’s much better than Robin Hood, but is he worth $55?
Stitch comes in the same Ultimates! packaging as the rest of the line. It’s been tailored to his movie and it looks nice, though the outer, shipper, box has been dropped. The slipcovers are going to be dropped as well, but this wave still has them. Stitch stands at around 3.75″ to the top of his head. Given that Ultimates! are 1:10 scale, this seems about right for Stitch. He’s the lone representative for his film though so figuring out where to put him might make the scaling seem weird. He’s a lot bigger than Mickey, not because of his height, but the chunk. He’s got some weight to him and it’s mostly found in his head. He’s going on my Disney shelf regardless, so he’s just going to have to fit in no matter what.
As for the sculpt itself, Stitch looks like, well, Stitch! He’s mostly blue plastic, but the painted details that are present look fine. The head is really well done and captures that dog meets koala design that seemed to drive the character’s looks. This is Stitch’s standard form once on Earth, so he only has the four limbs and no antennae. The head looks so good from a sculpt and paint perspective that it makes the body of the figure look cheap by comparison. There, the blue plastic is dominant and there’s some frayed seems on the sides of the figure that could be trimmed with a fine blade. The paint on the chest is mostly fine, but it’s kind of driving me a little nuts that it’s impossible to line-up the sides of the light blue portion on the upper torso with the same on the lower half. The overall feel of the figure is a bit mixed. He has a nice weight, but the lightness of the body feels cheap. It’s been the same story with the rest of the line. It looks fine, but does it feel like a premium collectible? No, not really.
Super7 hopes to make up for that with accessories and Stitch has a ton of those. He had a lot of looks in the film, and Super7 selected a few to focus on. The standard head features a smile and looks fine, but he also has a similar one with a plunger stuck to his noggin. It’s cute, but not one I’ll ever use. He also has a portrait with his ears curled back and his tongue stuck up his nose. It’s a great visual in the movie and it’s executed really well here. He also has an optional right hand that’s holding a snow cone, and if you don’t like the disgusting origins of this tongue head, you can make him look like he’s licking the snow cone instead.
Stitch’s other heads are intended for more of a costumed look. There’s one with a chef’s toque that’s on a neutral expression. It pairs with optional oven mitt hands and a massive cake which was shown in the film’s epilogue. The cake is just a brick of plastic even bigger than Stitch. It looks fine, but certainly feels a bit excessive. The other head features a polka-dotted bathing suit top over his ears and squinting eyes. It’s to be paired with a soft goods and fully wired cape to recreate Stitch’s “Batman” outfit from the end of the film. The cape just affixes via two tabs on the cape where the wire runs through. It’s not super secure, but it seems to work. This is probably my favorite look for the character and it’s a lot of fun to have in figure form.
Stitch also has a couple of additional toys to make use of. There’s a set of sunglasses which fit on the standard head just fine. You can put them on the other heads too, but they’re intended for the standard one. He also has his laser gun with the carrot jabbed into the end. It has a hand molded onto it so it’s technically an optional hand just like the snow cone. It’s pretty heavy though and getting Stich to stand while holding it is pretty tough. The carrot also isn’t removable which is an odd choice. Perhaps it was mandated by Disney? I kind of doubt it, but I’m not ruling it out.
That’s a healthy spread of accessories, but given what was there to work with in the movie I’m sure everyone and their mother will have something they wish was included instead. The plunger head and the whole baker look is definitely one I could have done without. I’d trade both for an Elvis outfit without question. His book or Lilo’s doll would have been nice, or something indicating his “Badness” level. I don’t think Super7 necessarily did wrong here (okay, maybe I personally think the big plastic cake is pretty stupid), it’s just the reality of being able to only fit so much into the box. If the figure does well, I could certainly see them doing more versions like an Experiment 626 with extra arms or a Halloween edition where he’s in his Dracula costume.
The Ultimates! line is rarely celebrated for its articulation, and with Stitch that is about as true as ever. This is a figure that can’t do a whole lot. The head is just on a big ball joint so you get range in all directions, but not a lot up or down. Getting the heads off is mostly easy, but some of the extra ones are tough to get on, though do-able without heat. At least the lack of a ball-hinged joint means this one should be plenty durable. Some of the heads (like the tongue one) feature articulated ears on ball hinges while others are pretty stationary. They’re all softer plastic which is nice for when you’re trying to get one seated. The shoulders are ball-hinged, and have good range going out to the side. Rotation is fine. The elbows are hinged pegs as well and they rotate, but the hinge barely moves. The left arm on mine is really stubborn too. The hands rotate and feature a horizontal hinge. In the torso, is a diaphragm joint, but it’s poorly implemented. It feels like it’s binding when rotating and I find I have to push down hard to get it to swivel properly. There’s virtually no forward and back. The hips go out to the side a touch and swivel forward and back, but are otherwise just there for him to stand. You won’t be posing these legs, and the ankles just swivel.
Stitch is basically capable of just standing there and modeling his props. He can’t convincingly stand on all fours which is disappointing. He can sit like a human, but not like a dog which he does a lot in the movie. You’re likely to just pick a look for him and hope he stands on your shelf. He can be a challenge to do so because there just isn’t much to work with. I have him doing a Batman pose on my shelf right now, but I’m just waiting for a shelf dive. Thankfully, if one takes place he should land harmlessly on my couch.
Stitch basically turned out as expected. The solicitation images do a solid job of representing what’s in the box and there weren’t any dramatic changes to the figure like we saw with Wave One. It just comes back to the question of is this figure worth the $55 asking price? Objectively speaking, probably not. This line has a tendency to hit clearance (recently, some GI Joe Ultimates! were priced as low as 12 bucks) and until that changes it’s basically impossible to recommend paying full price. The only reason to do so is if you want it now, or you want to show your support for the line with your wallet so that it keeps going. And that’s a question that’s impossible to answer right now. The most recent Disney Ultimates! wave (based on The Rescuers) was cancelled due to lack of orders. Wave Four is The Nightmare Before Christmas and is tentatively scheduled to arrive in the spring. Presently, there is no other open preorder for the line and information about its future has been cloudy at best. It’s very possible it’s headed for the chopping block, and that only matters in the context of this review for people hoping to pair Stitch with more characters from the film. If you don’t want your Lilo & Stitch Ultimates! collection to be one and done with Stitch then this probably isn’t for you. If you don’t care about getting anyone else from the film, then your decision should be a lot easier. I’m largely happy with how this figure looks and the display options available and I would even go so far as to say it’s my favorite in the line so far. Do with that what you will.
Here’s some more Disney Ultimates! reviews you can check out:
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