written by Juice / photos by Juice

Time for us to review our first CE from the good old U S of A. The US is not known for LE/CE/SE's, but is trying to change that by releasing collectible gift sets, such as this Hellboy Collectible DVD Gift Set which we're showcasing here in our review.

We'll priced for it's size, we get a boxed set that includes clear acrylic windows for showcasing the included Hellboy bust. Nicely set in a foam protective shell that is colored and shaped by stone, the set does look nice sitting on your shelf. With two large clear windows, and a third small, circular window adorned with the Hellboy logo, you can see the bust and the DVD case without even opening the box. Box construction is of a thicker, heavier stock paper, with thin acrylic as the windows. Nothing fantastic, but it gets the job done and has a nice print job on it, with some screen caps and a red stone image that serves as the background for the box.

Opening the box, looking straight down into it, you see that the bust takes up 3/4 of the box, leaving a slot for the DVD case. The DVD case houses 3 slimpacks and a small book that is excerpts from the diary of Rasputin. The box is a nice, reflective red, with great artwork. The three slimpacks are also quite stylish, featuring Hellboy, Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien. Rasputins diary is especially nice, with a heavy, rough paper as the cover which is weathered to appear like it's old leather. The book has a cloth tassle as a place holder, which is deep purple. The pages are all marked, with rough edges and great looking drawings and writings in a language unknown. Great job to the designers for attempting to recreate an old book and still keep the gift sets total price down.

Next comes the largest and best part of the gift set, the Hellboy bust. Heavy, stylish, colorful, and incredibly detailed, this alone would typically be worth the price of the set itself. Personally, I don't care for busts, but I was pleasantly suprised at this one. Set nicely into the faux stone setting, it looks nice even before it's taken out of the box. I keep it in the box, but it holds it's own as a showpiece. Two thumbs up for this bust!





Overall, this is a solid R1 set. It's safe in construction, retails at a low price, and looks good not only on your should, but can fit in with your collectibles if you collect busts and figures. As I mentioned before, even though I'm not a big fan of busts, and don't care for movie figures, I really enjoy this set.

- Juice's Verdict -

- Build Quality: 8 -

Although the box isn't made out of the greatest materials (heavy stock paper, thin acrylic), the high quality bust ups this score. Solid, heavy, detailed, and well painted, it shines in this set.

- Content and Extras: 8 -

Again, this set only contains 2 extras, Rasputins diary and the Hellboy bust, but the score gets a boost from the well thought out design of the diary, and the quality and low price of the bust.

- Overall Rating: 8 -

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