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Packaging - *
Don't get nervous - this score won't mean jack in my overall. The
boots come in a small plastic bag, shipped in a USPS box. Nothing
special, but that's no surprise and I actually think a very wise decision for
a small manufacturer selling direct.
Design - ****
The boots look very much like the usual high top military boots worn by lots
of branches of the service for all kinds of countries. Hey, they even
look like black versions of your dad's old work boots. They can be used
with a wide variety of figures, from WWII to modern SWAT.
The are designed to look exactly like real boots, with metal grommets,
leather soles with metal studs, and itty bitty stitching.
They come with the long laces wrapped around the uppers (as you can see in
the first two photos), but unwrap the laces and you'll see your work is cut
out for you. I'd lace them up as far as you possibly can before putting
them on the foot, because once you do, lacing them gets that much harder.
I'd also suggest holding the grommet in front of a very bright light source
to make it easier to see exactly where to thread the lace. It took me a
half hour to lace the boots up, and you can see my final version was a tad
sloppy on the right foot. I'm a notoriously impatient person though, so
you may find it less frustrating than I did.
These are scaled for a sixth scale male figure, and a large one at
that. Put them on a Dragon, Hot Toys or bbi male, and they'd be just
about right, but if you're buying them for Sarah, like I did, I have to warn
you - they're too big. Oh, they're about a million times nicer in
quality than the awful boots she comes from (and I've included a comparison
photo of the two), but they look pretty clunky on her. You can hide it
with certain poses, and the slightly big head sort of offsets the slightly big
feet, kind of like an Irish Setter puppy. But it's not a perfect fit by
any stretch of the imagination.
Quality - ****
These are some of the nicest boots I've ever seen. The quality is
through the roof, from the leather uppers and tongue, to the metal studs in
the leather soles. The uppers are tightly glued to the leather soles,
and the stitching on the boots showed no signs of giving way, even when I was
forcing the boot over the foot and pants.
Because they're too big for Sarah, she actually has more trouble standing
up in these than she does in her smaller, cheaper boots. It's a tad
annoying, especially since once you get these babies on and all laced up, you
ain't taking them off.
But if a larger male foot was stuffed in there, there would be less
trouble. I bought this for a smaller female, but I'm not deducting
points since that's not who it was designed for.
Value - **
Nope, these aren't cheap. They're mighty expensive, actually. Then
again, these are amazing quality, so while they are high, you won't feel
ripped off when you see them in person.
Things to Watch Out For -
Take your time lacing them up (and have a little more patience than me), and
you'll get an excellent result. I used a small clear rubber band on each
pant leg, and looped it around the bottom of the foot to keep it in place as I
put the boot on. It also kept the boot from getting too pushed out at
the top by a bunched up pant leg.
Overall - ***1/2
If I were grading this on it's applicability with Sarah, it would lose another
star. The boots are too big for her, even though the quality is just amazing.
But the boots weren't designed for Sarah, but rather for folks looking to
customize and improve male sixth scale figures. For that purpose,
they're outstanding. Oh, they'll hit the wallet hard, but you're getting
some amazing quality for the scratch.
Score Recap:
Packaging - *
Design - ****
Quality - ****
Value - **
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy -
Hit the New
Line site to pick them up!
Related Links -
Since I picked these up for Sarah, you might want to check out her
review to see more of the before boots.
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