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King of Boxing - Final Round (Mike Tyson)
Storm Toys
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Let's give a hearty welcome to
a new guest reviewer, Arinjoy Mitra - take it away, Arinjoy!
Heartiest thanks to Michael for giving me this opportunity. This is a
great time to mention that the DX01 Joker review in this site got me
into the 1/6 world I am in now. Thanks again Michael.
“Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you
can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you
can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you.
If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer
coming across the lawn.” – Mike Tyson
Throughout his career, Tyson became well known for his ferocious and
intimidating boxing style as well as his controversial behavior both
inside and outside the ring. Tyson is considered to have been one of
the best heavyweight boxers of all time. He can be considered the one
to give Boxing the ferocious look that we know of.
Storm toys decided to make a collectible resembling the King of Boxing
(Dream come true for Tyson fans like me) and named it….. Well you
guessed “The king of Boxing”. The version I am reviewing today is the
second one, called The King Of Boxing Final Round.
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Packaging
- ***
The
King of Boxing comes in a very basic shoe box design package. Very
simple yet very collector friendly. On the outside you see the pictures
of the actual product and not the actual person; it doesn’t surprise me
considering that this is not a licenced product. The whole black design
does appeal to me as it looks classy and mean at the same time. One you
open the box you see a foam layer. Under it is the king, wearing boxing
shorts (and black underpants underneath) showing of his years of
training on his iron packed body, bare footed and bare chested.
Alongside him you have the additional head and 3 additional hands.
Under this one there’s another foam layer containing the formal suit,
two pairs of shoes and the boxing gloves. All keeps really safe (until
the customs guy starts playing with your stuff, like they did to mine I
guess). All and all really good packaging for a smaller and newer
company but could have been better.
Sculpting - ****
This
is an unlicensed product, which means this can be anybody. This can be
Denzel Washington, Ronnie Coleman or Will Smith, who knows. But I am
giving this sculpt full points considering that he looks like the
actual King of Boxing , Mike Tyson. There are two sculpts, with two
different expressions, and both outstanding. One has an intense look,
very soon to be ferocious, and the other looks like the lighter side of
Tyson, the one we saw in Hangover etc. The sculpts look as real as they
can with the inmost details like the smallest of skin pores on his
forehead and the stitch marks on his temple are masterfully replicated.
Stormtoys do not mention the names of their sculptors anywhere in the
box etc, but I salute them for the sculpts.
Paint
- ****
If Stormtoys
is giving us these start up products with this kind of a paint
application, the future for this company is very bright. The skin tone
on the heads and the body is even and really looks like an afro
American skin type. I had a little apprehensions with the eyes of the
prototype as they were flat white, but the actual product is way too
human with the right amount of shine in them. There is no seem in the
hair line but the slight colour of hair makes the shaved head look
shaved and not just marble clean bald. The eyebrows and the moustache
(on the angry head) are sharply done. The tattoos over the body are
very well made with the actual greenish tattoo colour. All very real
and believable.
Articulation
- ***
So what do you expect from a company which is as small as to
produce only 200 pieces worldwide. A good head sculpt to market their
product, an out of the shelf Afro American muscle body, descent
clothing and some good accessories. Well, that’s not storm toys. They
have done this before with KOB and they have done this again with KOB
final round, a newly sculpted body based on the timeline of the product
each time, this time it seems to be based on Mike Tyson in around 2005.
It
is really hard to expect a company this new to produce a different body
to represent the same character at different times of his life. This
body has all new peg designs (which mostly and unfortunately are
incompatible with most of the 1/6 figures, except the head) and if I
have counted correctly, its 20 points of articulation. The hand peg is
a part of the forearm and is made of softer rubber like the rest of the
body, which means, you cannot take out the peg. So in case you break
it, cut it, damage it in any ways, then say your happiness goodbye. The
foot pegs have a different kind of head on the end which attaches to
the legs, but a compatible head towards the shoes/feet. The body is
made of a high quality PVC Resin (as per Stormtoys), so it’s soft as
the Leonidas body, but not the same material. The elbows are single
jointed but are a lot more bendable than the HT T800 body, even though
KOB also has muscle arms. The knees are again single joints but that
makes them look cleaner than a truetype, and that is actually required
for a boxer who might be posed wearing Shorts. The shoulders move front
back and sideways. The waist can twist but no AB crunches possible. The
hand pegs start at a little higher than the wrists, like the older
Enterbay BL bodies. The hands also have an additional joint just
between the fingers and the wrist. The neck is ball jointed. The muscle
texture and definition are amazing. I really hope Stormtoys come up
with more compatible bodies in the future. I am deducting half a point
just for the compatibility factor.
Accessories
- *
If
you want to call the additional smiling head and the boxing gloves as
accessories, then that’s your call, but they are a bit too few for a
$220 figure. I have already spoken of the head sculpts; the gloves are
well sculpted but would have loved to see EVERLAST written on them. But
again…… unlicensed figure. But c’mon, that’s it…. Not even a stand. I
would have at least expected a championship belt.
Outfit
- ****
Like I said,
he comes wearing boxing shorts with underpants. The underpants are
black with shiny and broad elastic at the waist. The boxing shorts are
really nice, made of shiny and synthetic fibre stuff. It looks as close
to real as possible. He comes with two pair of shoes, one resembling
Everlast leather boxing shoes, and the other are formal black shoes
with black socks intact.
Now there’s the formal Suit. I am really
amazed to see the suit. It is Huge, a comfort fit for the big Tyson
body. It looks really crisp and expensive with super sharp stitching
and ironing. All the pockets are working and the blazer inner lining
very well done. He also has a black shirt which is again made of a very
nice fabric and looks great. I have added a pic to compare the size of
Tyson blazer to that of HT Bruce lee in suit. I am for sure going to
display him in his Suit.
Value
- ***1/2
It
is expensive, no doubt. But what makes a collectible a Limited Edition
Collectible is to know that its just 200 worldwide, so only 200 or less
guys have it around the world. What a feeling. I gave it an additional
star for this.
Fun
Factor - ***
For a
collector my age and a Mike Tyson fan, this is just great for display.
Yeah, display is what means fun to us now days , and may be a little
bit of playing… Ahem… posing. Don’t give it to anyone to play, as this
is one 200 that you’ve got and this can be proved with the Certificate
you get. (Yes, you do get a limited edition certificate (Mine are
number 24 and 24 out of 200).
Things To Watch Out For -
Take really good care of the figure, once damaged, there no more available.
Overall-
*** 1/2
Great in all
aspects like sculpt, paint, body, clothing, value except of the
accessories. Everything is done with exceptional quality making me
hungry for more from Stormtoys. 
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Arinjoy Mitra.
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