When I found out that the Raving Toy Maniac still had Seventh Kingdom figures in their store last month, I snagged Raavia and the Shield of Draumm for because they were here and cheap and I'm what you call an easy mark. The hippo figure from 2008 is an astonishingly good figure even five years later, proving both that it was ahead of its time and that the industry's unfortunate reliance on China has meant things are getting really expensive. Raavia (named for the site which sold her) is in some respects more impressive, and in other, more accurate respects less so. She's more articulated than your average DC Universe Classics or Marvel Legends figure, and similar in size to the ladies of Masters of the Universe Classics and significantly skinnier.
The Four Horsemen cleverly adapted a 6 1/2-inch human woman body and popped on a furry head with new body paint and tweaked arms, and presto - it's a red tiger! They also gave her new feet and a few other details, but the figure is basically a heavily modified Queen Alluxundra and priced to move. The figure's overall quality is slightly higher than her mass-market cousins in that she has double-jointed elbows and knees, and is skinny enough to get some pretty slick poses out of them. She lacks the bend-and-swivel fists of Ramathorr and his ilk, but that's not a feature generally expected on these figures as of late.
Her paint job is exceptional - stirpes cover her body, as do gold and purple markings on her body. Earrings are carefully painted, and her eyes are sharp and green. A few of the stripes on the back aren't perfectly aligned on my sample, but that's OK - usually the back is where figures lose their cool anyway. The figure has painted paw pads on her feet, and her claws are also decorated on her hands. There are a few pieces of yellow plastic exposed when you move some of her joints, but it's nothing you don't see on most normal figures at similar price points.
Be careful with her accessories. The Horsemen have used very rigid plastic for her (and other figures') gear that feels like it will snap if you look at it funny, and other forum postings and reviews confirm this. As I write this I haven't had a problem yet, but this goes to show you why Mattel and Hasbro give their gear a little more flexibility - you don't want these breaking on you. Her hands grip them tightly, and the hands may be too small for some other scaled accessories. I found she had no real problems holding Queen Marlena's sword, though. Her accessories look great, with the spear being slightly bent and I don't feel comfortable enough to try to bend it back into shape. I don't trust it to not snap on me.
Like with some of their other figures, she has a backpack for weapons storage. Due to how fragile the weapons feel, I advise against using it and advise displaying her with a doll stand clamped around her waist to avoid any accidents or breakage. The figure itself feels plenty durable, though, I'm just very worried about her gear. Her foot pegs are sized similarly to Masters of the Universe Classics.
I'm an unapologetic fan of animal-based toys, but there's definitely a strange sliding scale where things go from cute (Battle Beasts) to realistic (the Shield of Draumm) to eerily, um, furverted let's say. Raavia fits into the latter category. While I was immediately taken with the Ramathorr and elephant bodies the Horsemen cranked out, I didn't buy any of these guys until 2013 and I have to say that I don't feel as compelled to chase down Raavia's sisters - which include more cats, mutants, and humans. With her ab-crunch waist joint and about 24 points of articulation she's dressed to impress, and a welcome addition to any 6-inchish scale action figure collection - but she will look malnourished next to Adora, Netossa, and friends. This figure has yet to sell through, and her sisters from the line were marked down at some outlets, and a few are also still available. It's odd given the hardcore action figure audience, but it may show that 400 may be too many for a figure line, despite its pedigree, if there's no marketing or license involved. Sad.
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