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Packaging - Cylon ***1/2; Apollo ***
Whether you like the boxes are not will depend on a couple things - do you
like Sideshows, and do you like a 'star' (and I'm using the term a little
loosely here) endorsing product.
Both boxes are very much like Sideshows, although the are slightly taller
and wider. They make good use of both the back and the fifth panel, with
lots of text and background info. The boxes are collector friendly, much
like Sideshow's, if you don't mind putting a few twisties back.
I dropped the score on the Apollo box slightly though, because of a rather
silly product endorsement by Richard Hatch on the fifth panel.
Ugh. You may not find it as cloyingly cute as I did.
Sculpting - ***
If you were expecting high end sculpts, you'll be slightly
disappointed. Neither figure is awful, but the lack the extra details
and close match that you expect in higher end sixth scale figures.
The Cylon is my favorite of the two, but has a handful of issues.
There are a few burrs left on the chromed parts, where they were detached from
the tree, and that ruins the realism. A few of the parts seem off scale
as well, particularly the neck/back pack. It's much narrower and smaller
than I remember, but probably caused issues with allowing the head to move.
There's also a weird proportion issue with the Cylon that doesn't seem
there - or seem as obvious - with Apollo. The Cylon's forearms seem far
too long for his body, and it's a combination of actually being long, and
having the black and chromed pieces on them, making them appear even longer.
Otherwise, the detail work is good, and the sculpt of the helmet is a
highlight. The hands are designed to hold the guns, and both work well.
Apollo suffers a bit from generic 80's guy look, but it's closer to Hatch
than I first thought. Compare it to the shot from the front of the box,
and you'll see what I mean. His hands are sculpted to hold the
accessories, and work well.
Overall scale fits in well with the slightly taller Sideshow or Dragon
figures. These are a little bigger than Hasbro G.I. Joes and 12" o
Star Wars, but that's not such a bad deal with certain characters like Luke or
Palpatine. Cylons were supposed to be tall anyway!
Paint/Chrome - ***
The paint ops and chrome plating are both neat and clean, with very few
issues. They aren't stupendous, or a standout, but they do the job well
with what's here.
The paint ops are mainly on Apollo's face, and while his skin tone seems a
little off, it's consistent and matches his hands well. The eyes and
lips are painted cleanly, and he doesn't suffer from lipstick syndrome.
The hair line is perfect, and the hair is a consistent brown.
Overall, it's a good job, but not surprising.
The chrome plating on the Cylon is his major application, and it's
consistent on most items. I already complained about the burrs as part
of the sculpting category, so I won't rehash that. There's some
scratching on some of the chromed parts, but in general it seems to be holding
up well.
There are some paint ops though including the silver of his boots and his
red 'eye'. Both are clean, and the silver is consistent, which is always
tough to manage with that color, especially over black.
Articulation - ***1/2
I would have guessed these as Sideshow bodies, if not for the extra long
forearms on the Cylon. They have all the expected articulation that has
become the standard for sixth scale figures, but the ball jointed neck on both
has very little range of movement.
The joints were tight on both of mine, and I had no trouble getting them to
stand, or hold unique poses. These shouldn't be shelf divers, even in
awkward stances.
Accessories - ***
Each figure comes with a display stand, once again very similar to Sideshow,
with the Battlestar Galactica logo on the base. They look fine, but you
really won't need them for either figure - thankfully.
Apollo comes with his blaster that fits perfectly in the holster, a helmet
for flying around in the Viper, and the BG version of a tricorder. The
accessories fit nicely in his hands, and all of them sport good if not super
detailed sculpts.
The helmet has very good paint ops and a nice
sculpt. It fits his head loosely, which isn't a bad thing since you
wouldn't want to damage his paint job when you're putting it on or taking it
off.
The Cylon comes with three weapons, a rifle, short sword (or big knife,
depending on your point of view), and a pistol. Now you know why the
humans had such a tough time against these guys - they were always out gunned.
He has no holster though, so he either has to hold both guns, or leave one
behind. The sword fits in a peg hole on his belt, rather than in a
sheath, which is a little odd. It's also WAY too small, since these were
actually swords on the show, not big toothpicks.
Outfit - Cylon ***1/2; Apollo ***
Both outfits are fairly intricate, but there's enough cost cutting going on to
keep this score from hitting the high notes.
Apollo has his pants, shirt, jacket, two belts, and boots. The boot
sculpt looks good, and the pants fit inside nicely. The pants and shirt
are well tailored, but the jacket is too large, especially the oversized
shoulder pads. Yes, he had pads up there, but they weren't bigger than
his head!
The tailoring on the jacket isn't perfect, but it looks great
otherwise. The clasps and collar insignia have nice detail, and the
jacket is made from a soft, high quality material. If it wasn't for
those shoulder pads, it would have been perfect.
As I mentioned, he has two belts. One for his gold thingamabobies
(they all had them, and as I recall they were ammo) and his holster, the other
just for his pants. The smaller belt for his pants doesn't stay buckled
very well, but that's a small nit. The recorder has a clasp on the back
so it can also be attached to a belt for easy storage.
BTW, I didn't count the gold whatchamacallit as accessories, but rather
part of his outfit, because that just seemed to make more sense.
The Cylon has a great outfit, consisting of his black body stocking, a
bunch of chrome armor attached with velcro, several pieces of rubber armor,
boots, and his belt of chrome pouches. His pouches or packs don't cover
his belt buckle though, which I think is incorrect.
I've beat the chrome to death by now, but I did want to mention that I had
to re-glue a number of the pouches to the belt. Don't be surprised if
they start falling off on you, and watch for it so you don't lose any of them.
The velcro works better than I had anticipated, but you'll have to play
with the chest piece a bit to get it in just the right spot. The thigh
armor is black, but a matte black. The thigh armor on the show was quite
shiny, sometimes even looking like a black chrome. It's not a major
issue, but enough to mention.
His other major costume error is the lack of any skirt. I'm not sure
why they excluded it, since I don't remember any Cylon that didn't have it in
back, but it is the most obvious issue the outfit has.
Fun Factor - ***
The Cylon will fit in with any collection of robots/villains, but Apollo
isn't quite as universal. Still, both have great articulation, nice
violent accessories, and seem capable of holding up to basic play. Kid's
can have some decent fun with them, but they're likely to be drawn to the
Cylon more than poor old Apollo.
Value - **1/2
At $30, these are about the right price. Anything more though and
you're dropping below average in this category.
Things to watch out for -
Don't be surprised if you have to glue the silver packs back on the Cylon's
belt, but be careful when you do to avoid getting excess glue on the belt, and
sticking it to the rubber rib wrap.
Overall - ***
The best description I heard of these figures was from a collector on the
Sideshow boards - he said these were in between Hasbro and Sideshow, just like
the price indicates. The articulation and costumes are certainly better
than the $20 Hasbro figures, but the quality of the outfits, sculpt and
accessories aren't up to the $40 Sideshow (or bbi or Dragon) level yet.
A light up eye on the Cylon would have been the icing on the cake, but I
can imagine that it was cost prohibitive. Neither of these figures is perfect,
but most fans will still be pleased. I'm looking forward to Adama in
particular, especially if they capture Greene's appearance better than Apollo.
Of these two, the Cylon is the winner, and almost eeked his way up another
half star.
SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***
Sculpt - Cylon ***; Apollo **1/2
Paint - Apollo ***; Cylon **1/2
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - Apollo ***; Cylon ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
I've seen the silver Cylons at a local Media Play, for around $35.
Online options include:
- Time and
Space Toys has them for $40 each, with the pre-orders up for the next two
in the series at $38.
Related Links:
As usual, here's a few other links of interest:
- Majestic Studios link of
course, to see past and future product plans.
- here's a guest review of the gold Tower
exclusive Cylon.
- here's a guest review of the Viper and
Raider vehicles from Joyride Studios.
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