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10-31-2012, 12:01 PM | #1 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 2,161
|
Not near as flattering as the Dreadnok review, but here is the BBTS exclusive Slaugher's Mauraders set. More pics and thoughts in lnk below http://www.zedsjoesite.com/review/ma...mauraders.html So while this is an attempt to clean up the less than spectacular first try at Flacon from a comic pack way back when it fails on a ton of levels I have not noticed anyone mentioning on other reviews of the figure. First off let's look at this figure from pure esthetics. Just look at him for a minute and see if you spot something that stuck out to me 3 seconds after he escaped the package. Did you see it, ok well look at the torso, then the draping whatever and then the sleeves. So is wearing a jacket with sleeves rolled up to his biceps? It could be a shirt but untucked like that for a soldier I kind of doubt it (unless he was a battle damaged figure). Plus those shoulder pads seem to imply jacket as well. It's a weird look to say the least. I'm sure someone can make a justification for it but it really bugged me when I looked at him. Another buggy choice for me was the color pallet. I mean that is one really bright green. I think just a few shades darker and I would be fine with it, but as it stands it's too close to "Lime green" for me to work with. Now something kind of related to the palette but not directly is the blue with red ascot. There is something about that combination that makes me think British SAS and not Real American Hero. Granted in recent years that ARAH distinction is less distinct, but I hope you get where I'm going here. So is there any good to the figure, yes. I love the mold (minus the rolled up sleeves) and it could work for a great many things. The harness is simple yet effective. I think something to either darken or break up the torso would work wonders here. The head sculpt is 100 times better than the first Falcon and the removable hat is a nice touch. OK so here is the first figure I am cutting a star off of for not being necessary. There are some improvements to the figure from the original but they are not drastic nor necessary. The basic change is that they added Airtight's arms and thighs to the mix. Ok so now he has more wrinkles in his pants and sleeves, big whoop. Another big issue I had with this mold when it first hit was the huge tank on the front, I mean it's drastically oversized. Somewhat smaller I would have been pretty cool with it. So now he has a new camouflage pattern rather than the red. I admit it's a better choice than the old Slaughters Marauders weird camo but at the same time it's kind of odd. I mean are we planning on fighting fires in the woods? If you really think about it red is camouflage in fire. In all seriousness I kind of prefer the red. Now, I'm not one of those fans who gripe "A firefighter isn't cool/necessary in a military toy line." I always kind of felt like Barbeque was cool, I mean he has a big honking axe that you can use to split Viper's skulls. I re-outfitted him a bit just to have a gun, but really I have always felt he works on a ton of levels (practically, accessories, just plain fun). To Hades with what others say, I like Barbeque, I just don't feel we needed another one. I figure I'll get some heat for this one because so many have gushed over this verso because he has "more realistic camouflage." So I am going to rub against the grain and point out that there is a ton of lost detail here. The big pads on the forearms, the holsters and such on the legs had to be ignored to get that camo pattern and as such robs the overall look of the figure of what made the original great. The brown of the vest is not a flattering color (even though it harks back to the original SM colors. To me this is a lesson in just cause it can doesn't mean it should. It appears they have painted the lower legs for some inexplicable reason. I just think it's weird that this specific detail has pretty much gone without a major color add for so long and now we feel this is the detail to bring out, really. I actually like the gun a bit better just because it's more stable and I think it should have been an extra for the first release. But of course what Hasbro did here was cheap out and only included a rifle BASED off the first releases rifle. They didn't even bother with a knife for his hip sheath. While all the arguments on the cutbacks in accessories continue (and I really still don't understand how cutting accessories and articulation raise the prices almost $3, that's another story I guess), the fact remains that the accessories POC Low Light was packed with turned a good figure into a great figure. I mean we have kind of begrudgingly accepted the fewer accessories in most cases but it really shines through on a figure like this where we HAD a great release with great accessories. Such is life I guess. So while I did find Quick Kick TRU Exclusive I was never able to track down Spirit. As such this figure probably seems a lot more fresh to me than Barbeque and Low Light. It also appears they have tried to do something different with this version of Spirit compared to the last. While it seems to be an improvement (I won;t say for certain since I never found the first one) there is still the issue of that expression Of course there is that dumbfounded leer. It's not as bad as the TRU version which was down right creepy but it's still there. I can live with it though but I have to admit that Alexx's repeated jokes have me laughing every time I look at this figure. Besides the knife he comes with the arrow gun he had with his 25th version. I always though the arrow gun was kind of cool if not unusual even as far back as the original Spirit's release. It's not my favorite accessory but I have seen worse in the line so I can live with it. Also it is the version that has a removable clip so there is that nice addition. Again not sue why Hasbro didn't spring for the backpack too, cheapskates. |
10-31-2012, 12:10 PM | #2 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 2,161
|
Back in the day when I first saw Slaughter's Renegades I kind of got excited. In my mind I had this idea that the Renegades were a foil to the Dreadnoks. I mean there were three original members and they all had some toughness to them. I had this hope that the Renegades would be it's own sub-group with just as impressive of a roster as the Dreadnoks. Well that never happened and the Renegades ended up being somewhat lost to obscurity for several years. Mercer was the only guy to get a Version 2 but oddly the file card changed his name. Fans have gone to great lengths to explain this from saying that his original file name was an alias to claiming the name "Mercer" was a title rather than a code name. Most didn't seem to concerned with the other two (except me who thought they rounded out the team perfectly).
So now finally we have Modern version of the figures. How do they measure up-OH BOY, here we go again. First, anyone notice that he got Road Pig's sword, I mean what is Road Pig doing with a sword, really. Up front I will state for the record, I really wanted to like this figure. I dig Taurus and loved his version 1 a great deal. What happened? Well that is a very good question. I think the BIG issue here is parts choice. The arms are half POC Recondo and half ROC Night Adder but they don't complement each other well at all. They look exaggerated and out of proportion. Some like this mild "Popeye" look but I have to say I don't like it too much. However that is mild when we talk about the legs. Yojoe.com reports that the upper legs are Comic pack Ace and the lower are ROC Wild Bill. However when I look at the figures it looks to me to be the other way around (or maybe the whole leg is Wild Bill's, hard to tell). The real fact here is that the two do not go together well. It's very hard to get Taurus to stand up straight as a result and in most static poses he has to lean forward just to stand (Look at the group shot). At first I thought this might be just mine but a buddy of mine confirmed the parts simply do not go together. In addition he appears to believe he is Wild Bill with two six shooters. That wouldn't be so bad if there was some reason for it, but really WTF. Of course I had to grab his sword from Road Pig which really the Sword just screams Taurus. It's hard for me to imagine that meeting where they said "No, that works better with Road Pig, really." Then there is that mug. So I uncharacteristically read a review on this set a while back and the reviewer was bragging about the holsters-WHAT!? Now they said the thigh holster fit suggly, when I tried to use the thigh holster the too small six shooter fell out when I moved Taurus around. As you can see above, the chest holster really, really sucks. And yes I saw this same reviewer talk pics that lessened the affect with angles, like no one will ever notice. But one thing that has stuck out to me more than anything that I have not seen any reviewer say is the fact that the chest peice is the exact same one from Zanzibar in the Dreadnok pack. So my first thought was "How did anyone miss this?' BTW, the solution for Zanzibar doesn't work with those six shooters. The gun won't fit in any other way than the way it is above. Essentially you either knock him in the face all the time or you have a non-functional holster (which I think I could live with the non-functional part honestly). Really, it's not a huge deal that they recycled a part but I found if funny no one mentioned the same part in two packs. Of course there is the whole "Bull" thing too. Of course I bet someone thought "Hey, Taurus is the sign of the bull in astrology" but of course no one thought of the fact of what it might mean otherwise, if you don't know I will just let you figure it out on your own, this is a family show. Thus, I am sticking to Taurus. Of course one of the best aspects of him is the file card in which he impressed GI Joe brass by breaking 2 x 4's with his face LOL. You can't make this stuff up. Alexx did a great joke on this and really that makes the character very redeemable even if the fig is less than stellar. So he only comes with a gun and a football The gun kind of harks back to his original figure and the football of course relates to the fact he was "too mean for football." Not sure why he would want to keep playing if he was kicked out for being to mean but there you go. When I saw the football on thought came to my mind: Yep, that's his offensive weaponry. In all seriousness, he cannot hold his gun properly at all so really this is his only offensive weapon when you get down to it. The mold used here is a strange mix with Bazooka providing the upper portions combined with the legs of Shadow Tracker. Surprisingly it kind of works minus the huge flaws on Bazooka. I said it along time ago, the big issue with this torso is the way they painted it, and that same problem shows up again with Red Dog. The number gets cut in two with any sort of swivel and really detracts from the figure. Nevermnd the HUGE man boobs issue this type of mold creates. I remember way back when trying to explain to a guy how the torso joint kept disrupting lines of form. His response was something akin to the waste joint screwing up lines, I said what lines and he responded the lines on the figure. Clearly he had no clue what I was talking about. Unfortunately when you add something like a number to this type of articulation that has to be broken in the center it really disrupts the form lines of the body and that is still true with Red Dog as it was with Bazooka. Some think it's not a huge deal but to me it sticks out and really disrupts an otherwise good figure Personally I think they should have gone with Taurus's torso for this one. Suits the original mold better and frees up Taurus for a more appropriate mold IMO. So before I go any further I have to speak on Hasbro's renaming practices. Really changing Mercer's name to Mercenary? I mean what part of Mercer's character ever fit that role? I know they labeled him such in his second release but really he never really was a mercenary in the normal sense of the world so changing his name to that was pretty lame. Plus who the hell really is after the name "Mercer" it's only part of a word. Can't be because someone copywrited Mercenary since that's his name. Just a lame thing to do Hasbro. Otherwise-GREAT JOB ON THIS ONE! Mercer is probably the most popular of the Renegades probably because he had a separate single packed figure a few years after his first release. I think part of that popularity stems from him being an ex-Viper which is something that has confounded me over the years. How exactly does being an ex-Viper qualify one for "bad-arse" status? I mean aren't those the Storm Troopers of GI Joe that get shot so that the big guys can fight another day? I suppose we should celebrate the fact he did so well for a bit of cannon fodder. I just hope Slaughter gave him some targeting lessons before sending him out on the feild. Yes, I kid. So he doesn't quite look like Kurt Russell as much as his original figure but he still fits the part well. He has those gangly biceps that I kind of hate but that is really my one minor knock on the figure. He seems to be a bit smaller in stature than both Taurus and Red Dog which actually works for him. The vest is very reminiscent of the first version as are the reuse of the Viper parts. This is much better than that unmask able Viper from a few years ago with the repaint head. I've had a pinch of trouble with the knife and the sheath but nothing so major I would write home about it. He gets a Viper gun which is kind of questionable given the track record but I suppose it works. He has a silenced pistol like his original did but thankfully he isn't shafted with just that weapon this time. In fact he appears to be the one with the most weapons by the way they are set in the package. Also he has that nifty viper tattoo with a circle slash through it on the arm, interesting to say the least. So no contest, Mercer is the darling of this set despite being misnamed and a few minor flaws. Really this set is a huge let down after the great Dreadnoks set but also does contain a few essential characters that one may have missed or some that may never see the light of day again. It's a tough call, I like the set overall but it has some glairing flaws along with it. I suppose in the end it's up to the individual. My opinion is I wouldn't pass on it but I wouldn't spend that much if you you cold avoid it. These sets are notorious for clearance so we need to keep that in mind as well (That's how I got my winter ops set). |
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