INTRO
Happy New Years!
I’d hoped to get this review together before the holidays, but well.. the holidays got in the way. So instead, we’re closing out 2016 with it!
It’s been a long wait since the last time we saw another Devil Toys WOO figure. Their last full release from their World of Order line of figure, Secret Master (which we reviewed) came out way back in June of 2015! In early 2016 they released a cool looking, unarticulated war wolf figure to play companion to the Secret master but we havn’t had a proper 1/6 figure to add to the WOO ranks in almost a year and a half!
Devil Toys must have sensed my anticipation because they were kind enough to send over this sample of their limited edition follow up, the Heavy Weapon Specialist.
I opened up the figure the second he was delivered and my brief, first impression was really positive. It’s time to put him under the review microscope and see if that impression holds up!
BOX
Of all the smaller toy companies I’ve reviewed, Devil Toys has some of the highest quality boxes I’ve seen. From the actual materials used to make the boxes to the quality of the print colors to the overall art and design.
If you like to display your boxes with your toys, then you’ve got a solid option here.Their design and print quality are on par with even some of the nicer stuff out of ThreeZero and 3A.
I’d say they rival the likes of Hot Toys in terms of protecting your figures. The inner packaging is a nice soft foam core that is cut specifically to size and keeps the figure and all his accessories safe and sound. Well done!
WHAT YOU GET
You get a decent load out with your Heavy Weapon Specialist (or HWS, as I’ll be abbreviating it as from here on out). For weapons, you get a side arm and a rocket launcher that can be held or strapped to his back. So you don’t go into battle empty handed, you get a few missiles for the launcher as well. To add a little “D” to his offense, he also comes with a small shield that can be held one handed.
You also get a couple hand options, a gun hand and an open grip hand.
THE SKINNY
If Secret Master was the high-tech warrior with military-grad gear, with his basic street clothes, HWS looks more like he belongs to a rebel group or terrorist organization.
Devil Toys previous release, Secret Master featured robotic arms, two robotic head sculpts, military-style gear with plated knee pads as well as a plethora of various armaments to outfit him with. By comparison, HWS is pretty straight forward. He still features the rad, futuristic-style sculpted head/helmet but instead of a military uniform he’s wearing a long, grey/green, fur collared jacket, a black tee shirt and cargo pants.
Other than a leg strap/holster that holds something (hint, it doesn’t hold his gun) and a tiny red box, with what looks like a volume knob.. that’s the extent of his uniform.
I really like the sculpt, paint and weathering on his helmet. It’s got a nice bulky look to it and to me, fits the “I have a rocket launcher” feel of the character really well. It’s also different enough from Secret Master’s design to set them apart clearly.
One aspect I wasn’t aware of upon seeing the promo photos is that the front of the helmet actually flips up to reveal the man behind the mask.. or at least his piercing blue eyes under a full face mask.
At first I was like.. “Oh, this is cool” but then.. something started to seem off about it.
His face sculpt looks a little too big for the helmet to my eye. It could be the completely flat edge of the jaw line, makes it look improbable that his head could really squeeze into that helmet.. or it could be the way the visor only flips up halfway…
I think it’s a pretty cool feature to have, but something doesn’t look quite right to me so I prefer the closed visor look much more.
As stated before, his clothing is pretty simple. His shirt features a cool stenciled logo on it and a small black armband… but they lack any sort of weathering. Actually, weathering is something sorely missing from all of his clothing. While his helmet, shield and gear all look like they’ve been to battle a few times… his clothes came fresh from the dry cleaners.. a few spots, stains and snags would have gone a long way to give him a much more realistic vibe.
Moving onto his gear. I really like his side arm. It’s essentially a square with a hole through the middle of it. A square doughnut of death. It’s a nice clean design and fits him really well. I do wish it came with some sort of holster. As is, he’s either holding it or it’s on the ground.. which is a little bit of a let-down considering he has some sort of strappy/holstery thing on his leg that serves no obvious purpose other than being a strappy/holstery thing.
His jacket has a couple small loops on his back that are useful. For example, the small shield he comes with can be held there if you need his hands free for other acts of violence.
The shield itself is fantastic looking. Honestly, some of the best weathering I’ve seen on a any 1/6 scale figure. A great stencil of the same animal skull logo he sports on his shirt…. followed by a ton of very realistically painted bit of rust, scratches and bullet holes.
I’d say it’s a tad on the dinky side.. size-wise.. and due to the thin handle, he can’t seem to grip it super tight.. but once you get him posed up with it, it does look cool.
The main event, accessories-wise, has to be his rocket launcher. This is a really nice looking weapon. Devil Toys did a great job on the design and sculpt of it.
It has a nifty little feature where you can extend the back tube of the launcher, or extract it, and strap it over his back when not in use. HWS also gets a couple rockets you can swap out to your hearts content. I’m not sure if it’s their official use, but you can carry a spare or two of the rockets on his back using those same back of the jacket loops I mentioned earlier. Apologies that I wasn’t able to get a photo of that, as I thought of it JUST NOW while writing this review.
The last thing I’ll cover before I wrap this up is his articulation. On the surface, it’s great! His clothing and gear are all light enough that none of it prevents him from moving around or doing anything within the limits of the articulated base body underneath.
That said, this figure’s joints are some of the loosest of any figure I’ve ever owned. He can stand.. he can pose.. but it’s a struggle against gravity to get him to even hold his launcher up for more than a few moments. Even his pistol started to slump when kept posed with it extended for more than a few minutes. It’s like his arm was getting tired. I’d get him set up like I’d want… and by the time I’d get to my camera shutter, he would have started slouching or drooping down.
That’s also why there’s no photos of him “firing” his rocket launcher. I literally couldn’t get him to hold it out in a level firing position. No matter what I did, the nose of the launcher would be pointing at the floor seconds after setting him up.
It’s a darn shame, given that the launcher puts the entire “heavy weapon” in the “heavy weapon specialist”.
WRAP IT UP
Devil Toys Secret Master was a surprise hit for me when released in 2015. They really knocked it out of the park from the accessories to the design, sculpt and paint of the figure. I had very few complaints and was (and still am) eagerly waiting for their teased follow up figure, “Perfect Master”.
(You can read our Secret Master Review here..)
Unfortunately, their Heavy Weapon Specialist figure doesn’t quite bring the quality of their previous release. He has some nice aspects and overall, while maybe a bit simplistic, he’s a pretty stylish looking dude… but the super loose joints and lack of any sort of wear and tear on his clothing really hurts him for me.
HWS was a limited release from Devil Toys and that may play into why some of the spit-shine seemed to be missing from him. It’s like someone took a cool head and some high quality, realistic accessories off an awesome figure, put them on an old floppy body and then dressed him in some nice quality, but far too clean, fresh off the shelf clothes on him. He’s just a little hard to get excited about because he feels unpolished and/or unfinished.
It might be a challenge for you if you are interested in hunting this guy down, I believe the majority of their stock was available only during the recent ToySoul event in Hong Kong (Dec 16-18, 2016) If they release any more down the line, I’l be sure to post it on our facebook page and update this review with the info.
Devil Toys have released a very nice looking figure, even if it stumbles in a few important areas. He may not have ended up being my favorite figure of the year, but the parts I liked were of the kind of quality I’ve come to expect from them. I still have a lot of faith in Devil Toys and have no doubt Perfect Master will be the follow up to the Secret Master we’re waiting for.
Pros :
– Great looking helmet sculpt with cool flip-up visor feature
– Cool looking shield with amazing weathering and paint effects
– Very nicely designed/painted weapons
– Stylish overall design
Cons :
– Very loose, flimsy body, unable to hold weight of rocket launcher
– No holster for side arm
– Far too clean. Zero weathering on anything other than hard surface elements (helmet, shield, weapons, etc) Feels unfinished
Thanks to George Chu and Devil Toys for sending us this guy to review! I look forward to more from you guys! Please follow them on their facebook page to stay updated on their future releases! You won’t want to miss them.
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