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Sculpting - **1/2
Let's face it - you probably aren't buying this figure for the head
sculpt. They've put a fairly generic head on this body, that serves the
basic purpose but isn't particularly realistic or impressive.
The
best work is in the eyes and brow, where the serious expression looks
great. The hair lacks detail, almost reaching Ken doll levels of
softness. He's wearing a ponytail by the way, which might be something
you need for that next custom - or something that just won't work.
While
I wish the hair was a bit more realistic, I do think that the basic
head sculpt is better than the paint application is showing us.
The hands are a little large,
but do work well with the accessories and with most poses.
Paint - **1/2
Nope, you aren't really buying this guy for the paint job either. I
suspect that the underlying sculpt would be a bit better with a higher
end paint job.
Here,
the hairline is rather sloppy, and the lips are atrocious. The eyes and
eye brows aren't bad, but they are basic quality for a figure in this
price range.
Articulation - ***1/2
I like the body quite a bit, called the Omega design. Actually, I
believe this body was originally developed by Sea International, but
Triad redesigned it with new ankles, wrists and neck joints.
The
ball jointed neck is down at the torso, with the head and neck sculpted
as one. It is another of those unique neck joints, so a simple swap
with a Hot Toys head isn't going to work. It works well though,
allowing for tilting, leaning and turning.
If
you buy a Omega body for customizing, they do come with a neck post
similar to the TrueType however, so swapping heads on a regular
Omega should be pretty easy.
The rest of the body
is very HT like, although not quite as good. The new ankles are just
like the TrueType, and work extremely well. The wrists are great as
well, but some of the other joints - like the ball jointed shoulders -
could use a little better range of movement. Still, the Omega is a
decent TrueType substitute, with a realistic hang and tight joints.
Accessories - ***
There's a fairly decent number of accessories, although not quite as
many as you might expect for an undercover agent.
He
does have the required shades, done in a high tech silver and black.
They are sculpted to fit very close to his face, but are a little
toy-ish in sculpt. I was considering popping them on my Jack Bauer, but
they just don't look like something he'd wear.
There's also the
necessary semi-automatic handgun, with a moving slide action. The slide
is not spring loaded, so you can easily move it back and it stays in
position, perfect for a cocking pose.
There's two clips for
the gun as well. One can go in it of course, and the other can be
placed in its appropriate spot on his shoulder harness.
Speaking
of the harness, it's made from real leather, and has easily adjustable
straps. The gun goes under the left arm, while up to two clips can be
stored under the right. The flaps are a little tricky to work with, and
utilize the old style hole/peg closure that can tear if you don't take
care. The gun and clips do fit in their respective places nicely
though, and the flaps can be closed with a little effort.
You
might be thinking about using this harness for Jack too, but I think it
might be a bit too large, even with the adjustable straps. The body on
Indigo is very broad through the shoulders, much like a TrueType.
There's
also a Teflon/Kevlar armor style flak vest, which fits over his head
and wraps around his midsection with velcro straps. It looks good,
although the plastic 'teflon' armor in front is a little thick.
He doesn't come with any
additional hands, which was a bit of a
disappointment, since his right is sculpted to hold the weapon, and
really doesn't look too good in any other pose.
Interestingly enough, he does
not come with any sort of display stand. He certainly doesn't need one,
but it's become so common in the current sixth scale market to include
one, that there might be an expectation that's not being met here. I
didn't miss the stand, but others may.
Outfit - ***1/2
The longer I played around
with this figure, posing and shooting it, the more I liked the
outfit.
It's
tailored to fit the Omega body well, and the materials and stitching
are very high quality. The suit and pants have real pockets and
properly sized buttons, and the coat even has a high quality lining.
The pinstriping is well done,
and gives the suit a bit more classs, even if pin stripes haven't been
'in' for awhile.
The pants use velcro at the
zipper rather than any snap, and this avoids any odd bumps or weird
lumps.
The
white shirt is, well, a white shirt. The collar is slightly better to
scale than some recent versions we've seen, and it's tailored for the
wide shoulders of the Omega. It fits a TT body well too, but it's worth
noting that the sleeves are sewn shut. There's no snap or velcro at the
wrists, so to put it on or remove it, you need to remove the hands.
This is very easy of course, and in fact, I like that these are sewn
tighter to the wrists. It means that when you put the jacket on over
the shirt, the sleeves are less likely to ride up the arms and bunch up
around the elbows.
The belt is real leather, thick,
and with an
actual buckle that works great. This is certainly a belt that could be
swapped on to your Jack Bauer.
The shoes are real leather too,
with hard soles. These real leather uppers are shiny and soft, and have
actual laces that tie. However, since the leather is soft, you can
remove and put on the shoes without untying them.
I really like
the shoes in person. In photos, there's something odd about the shape
of the sole and how it bends up in the center, but in person these look
much more realistic than the average shoe sculpt.
That leaves us
with the tie. I didn't like this tie at first, since the knot looks
square. But after playing with it a bit, and realizing how much I could
adjust it, I started to appreciate the simple design.
You see,
it's just a thin piece of material wrapped over an elastic band, and
then held in place with a small circle of the same material. The knot
looks square because there is no knot, just the material draped over
the elastic. After I futzed with it awhile, I really liked the simple
design. The material is a little thin though, allowing the white of the
shirt to show through in certain light, and it does tend to stick out
from the body like every tie in this scale. I need to make a tiny wire
tie hook to hold this thing in place.
Fun Factor - ***
While this guy is too expensive for most kids, they'd still have fun
with it. The accessories are generally sturdy, although the gun harness
is a little delicate. Even at a higher price point, he makes a great
bad guy for kid's into sixth scale figures, and who's dad is Donald
Trump.
Value - **
This isn't a licensed product, so you don't expect it to be too
expensive, but the clothing, body and accesories are what drive the
price up.
These
figures make nice background characters to sixth scale dioramas, and
the costumes and accessories can work with other licensed characters.
Suits from Triad can cost as much as $40 on their own, so the price tag
isn't too surprising...but it's still ten or fifteen bucks to much to
get an average value here.
Things To Watch Out For
-
Not a thing. The figure is sturdy, the clothing is well made, and none
of the accessories was prone to damage. I would take a little care with
the flaps on the holster, but they should handle basic use.
Overall - ***
I'm not really feeling the head sculpt or the paint job (those lips
drive me nuts), but the body, outfit and accessories are all great for
various custom jobs.
The
final photo on the left shows the Bruce Wayne head from Hot Toys on a
TrueType body wearing the Agent Indigo suit. After futzing with the
shoulders a bit, I think it works quite well. Oh, the head on the Bruce
Wayne is too small, but that's not the suit's problem. Remember, that's
a Hot Toys TT body in the photo, and that head would look too small on
their own body no matter what suit he's wearing. I think that if I do a
soaking of the suit, and iron the shirt and tie, that the fit should
end up pretty good on the TT body. Or conversely, I may see if I can
find a way to get a spare neck post for Indigo's Omega body, and swap
Bruce's head.
Score Recap:
Packaging - **
Sculpting - **1/2
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
Your best bet is direct from Triad,
or you can search
ebay for a deal.
Related
Links -
I checked out the hubbalicious female
Otaku body from Triad awhile back.
Discussion:
Want to chat about this review? Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be
discussing it!
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