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Sculpting - ***1/2
This guy is an army builder, pure and simple. As such, he doesn't have
the most defined or unique face, but what he's got is certainly
serviceable. And his mother loved him anyway.
In
fact, with a little squinting and just the right light, he could look
like just about any standard Hollywood leading man. My first thought
was Ben Affleck, but your mileage may vary.
The best sculpting
features are reserved for the uniform and accessories, where there's a
ton of great detail. Considering the scale, they've done an excellent
job all around.
He stands great on his own of
course, and the
sculpted hands, while a smidge large, work excellent with all the
accessories. He's just a Zhu Zhu hamster's hair under 4" tall.
Paint - ***
Mass market figures = mass market paint. It's not atrocious, but
there's not much here. Most of the accessories are merely cast in a
solid color, most often black, and the few details that are here (his
eyes and eyebrows, hair, camo) are decent but not exceptional.
Articulation - ***1/2
Joes have almost always been well articulated, no matter the scale, and
the movie based line is no exception.
The
true ball jointed neck has a limited range of movement, but you can get
a little tilt out of it if you try hard enough. I had better luck with
Shipwreck, so I suspect this is a figure by figure situation.
The
pin/disc style ball jointed shoulders, elbows and ankles work quite
well, and there are even two cut waist joints, one above and one below
the belt. There's also cut wrists, a ball chest joint, double pin
knees, and the traditional post ball joints at the hips. Just like
Gramma, he has metal pins in his hips.
All these joints make him
extremely poseable and tons of fun. I do wish that there was some sort
of cut joint included on the thighs or in the hips to allow for
rotational leg movement. If the knee could be posed outward from the
plane of the body, it would open up the natural flow of wider stances,
but it's a minor quibble.
Accessories - ****
Wowza! Now this is a well equipped soldier.
Let's
start with the weapons - all four of them. There's a large rifle with
attached light and scope (his renowned 820?), a smaller Uzi-style
automatic pistol, and even smaller pistol with what appears to be a
silencer, and a fourth medium sized pistol that has a round canister in
back. It looks like it would fire either very large shells or small
canisters.
All the weapons can fit neatly
in the sculpted hands, and he's a force to be reckoned with when he's
packing this heat.
The
hats weren't going to be outdone by the guns though. Yes, hats. Or
headgear in general, as the case may be. There's his floppy camo hat,
as well as a riot control style helmet with plastic visor, a full gas
mask (things can get pretty nasty in the Pit Tank on chili night), and
a black hard shell full head helmet and mask. All of these pop on and
off his head easily, and while a couple (like the floppy hat) look
oversized on his tiny head, they're exactly the kind of accessory that
really adds to the play and fun value of this figure.
Just to add a little spice to
the headgear, there's also a monocular style lens on some straps that
fits over the floppy hat.
There's
also two vests. These can be put on and removed by popping off the head
and opening a snap on the left side. One vest is a more traditional
equipment carrier, with lots of sculpted pouches and a sadly
non-removable small handgun. The other looks like a cross between a
traditional flak jacket and a more modern bomb squad vest. Clearly the
latter is intended to protect against heavier artillery than the usual
small caliber rounds.
There's also a shield that he
can hold in
his left hand, with a small opening for him to peer through, or be shot
through, depending on the marksmanship of his opponent.
As if
that's not enough, there's also a heavily outfitted fully sculpted
single piece back pack. This can be attached to him with a post that
inserts into a small hole on his back. Thanks to small holes in the
vests, he can wear this while wearing either of them.
Finally,
yes finally, there's the dog tag shaped display stand. It has the
character name emblazoned on the front lip, and can even be worn by
kids as a G.I. Joe dog tag. How cool is that?
One of the nicer
features of the figure overall are the details in the accessories. The
eyes on the gas mask are clear plastic, not merely empty holes, the
visor on the riot helmet flips up and down, and even his belt (along
with the bottom of his shirt) can easily be unsnapped and removed. It's
these kind of little details that elevate a good figure to great when
it comes to the overall impression.
Fun Factor - ****
Fun? Oh yea. From the earliest days of action figures when the 12" Joes
defined the term, this line has always been a great toy first, anything
else second. The ROC series and this figure continue that tradition.
Value - ****
Like I said, I paid five bucks for this guy. With how many accessories?
13? Wow. Even at $6 or $7, he's a much better value than any other
licensed line in this scale right now.
Things to Watch Out For -
Not much. I suspect that if you pop the vests on and off enough times,
the little posts that hold them together will get worn out, but that's
just the nature of play.
Overall - ****
While he might not have the most detailed paint ops in the history of
action figures, and the sculpt may be a little generic, but this is one
terrific action figure overall. He's an excellent army builder, and by
coning with a plethora of guns, head gear and vests, you can mix and
match a whole slew of them and not have any two look exactly alike.
I
get what all the hoopla is about with this figure, and he's on my short
list now for best of the year in this scale. With and amazing array of
goodies, great articulation, and a whole lot of potential for fun, he's
one of the better true toys I've seen this year. And all at bargain
basement prices!
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ****
Overall - ****
Where to Buy -
Check your local retailers, including Target and Toys R Us.
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