Kratos: God of War (Play Arts Kai)

Looks like someone here's messing around with Hades' barbecue grill! You guys care to give him a face cloth? Interestingly, this character doesn't really exist in ancient Greek mythology. There is a demigod though by the name of Cratos but this dude doesn't closely resemble the Kratos that we know from the game. However, Sony did pick up a perfect name for this ill-willed walking time bomb. Kratos is a Greek word for power. The word- "democracy" comes from two Greek words- demos (people) and kratos (power). Whether the people power in democracy is true or not, one thing about Kratos is that he literally defines the true meaning of power. And honestly, it's actually quite liberating to play a character that can slay gods.

Play Arts Kai Kratos (by Square Enix)

And about the "Hades' barbecue grill" thingy, I meant to point out the paint job on Kratos' face. I think it is a little excessive on their part that they covered his entire forehead and cheeks with some gray and black paint to the point where you'll barely recognize him. I don't think this is helping with the contrast on his face at all, and this is my only complain with this figure.

The paint job on his upper and lower body is phenomenal. I like how the blending of light and shadow came together between his rippling muscles along with his tattoos. On his right arm, he wears this Golden Fleece Armor that is very well sculpted and painted, and again, having these dark colours around the corners to make it look alive. Most impressive of all is the sculpt and paint on the belt and tunic that are high on details and artistry. Furthermore, Kratos' Blades of Chaos looks like a fiery lava with the application of red and orange.

Ignoring the paint job on his face, the face sculpt is actually pretty game-accurate but I'd rather praise the NECA version Kratos for its angrier and more vengeful look. The length of his arms, legs and torso are well balanced and proportioned along with the size of his muscles. Molded around his wrists are chains made of hard plastic that tries to mimic these real metal chains that link the forearms with his weapons.

Like every Play Arts figures, Kratos has a ton of articulation. His head can move up and down, and rotates 360, and he got this neck joint under his collar bone that lets him bend his neck all the way down. With that Fleece Armor molded unto his entire right arm, it is not possible for this arm to be raised sidewards yet both arms got swivel to the biceps, ball-hinged elbows, ball-hinged wrists that flex and rotate, and armpit joints that lets you thrust his arms forward.

Moving on to his torso, he got diaphragm swivel and waist swivel hidden underneath that tunic. Kratos' got ball-jointed hips and the Play Arts Kai double-jointed knees, which you've probably seen in my Solid Snake review. His ankles can move up and down, rotate 360, and got these little ankle pivots.

















The features and accessories he comes with includes 2 pairs of interchangeable hands which you can have either the gripping hands for his weapons or the half-opened hands for choking his enemies or gouging the eyeball of a Cyclops. Also, he comes with another pair of weapons that he used in God of War 3 called, the "Claws of Hades." Both Kratos' weapons can go with these metallic chains that you can hook under his wrists. With this 1.5 inch plastic rod, you can have him carry his weapons around his back while have him carry his other weapons with his hands.

Kratos stands about 9.2 inches tall, and it just looks weird to see him standing almost as tall and as big as the Play Arts Dante. Usually, this is the problem you get from the Play Arts line- these guys don't care much about proper scaling especially with game characters that are not related to the same company. But against the average Marvel Select figures, this guy just towers over them like they're little children.

Nevertheless, I would totally recommend this action figure if you're someone like me who is a big fan of the God of War games, and the godslayer himself! This action figure is something you might want to treasure.