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21st Century German NCO |
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Recently, Target put their 21st Century British Paratroopers on
sale. As it turns out, ALL their boxed 21st Century figures are on
sale, including the brand new German NCO figure, which I picked up for
only $13.90. I have also seen the 82nd Airborne, and have heard that
the new Operation Market Garden figures can be found if you're diligent.
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The perfect villain for your D-Day dioramas, the German Infantry NCO is
also available at Toys R Us stores, but you'll be paying full retail of
$29.99.
Packaging - **1/2
As always, excellent artwork adorns the fold of the box. The only
downsides to the packaging is that you have to destroy the inside card
stock to remove the accessories, and they still don't have any
instructions. Come on, 21st Century - putting all this gear on is a
real chore! I finally gave up trying to find a way to get the rolled
up poncho attached to his back as shown in the pictures. Any clues?
Sculpting - ***
Some folks don't like the head sculpts of the Ultimate Soldier figures -
too 'zombie' like. I disagree, and this is another fine
example. The snarl gives you the impression he's in charge and not
happy about something. But you're farewarned - if you don't like
their usual work, this one is no exception.
Articulation - *** 1/2
He'd get **** if this was the new, more articulated body, but it's
not. Still, the original can strike an awful lot of interesting
poses.
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Accessories - ***1/2
For the first time, nothing fell apart when I removed it from the
package. I don't know if their QC process is improving, or if I just
got lucky. There are a couple parts though that are waaay too
fragile, and they do still need to improve the quality of the
plastic. As is usual for 21st Century, you get a ton of accessories,
and the detail is extremely good. Dragon is really giving them a run
for their money, but with 21st Century toys available at much lower prices
- you can't beat $13.90 - they are still a terrific bargain.
Uniform - ***
Terrific detail on the cloth uniform, particularly the coat. I'm not
a big fan of the camouflage colors, but history is history, and the
accuracy is very important. One improvement would have been better
glue application on the cloth over the helmet. Mine is coming loose
in quite a few spots on the interior of the helmet.
Overall - ***
I'm still very pleased with the product coming out of 21st Century, and
are really looking forward to several of their releases for later this
year. With Dragon in the $35-$40 range for their military figures,
21st Century needs to keep their price point down around $25. $30 is
too much for me to pay for one of these figures, but when you can find
them on sale like this, it's just too terrific of a buy to pass up.
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Figure from the collection of
Michael Crawford.
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