Review 3A WWR EMGY Caesar

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Knives

This review was suppose to go up right before Comic Con. Unfortunately I ran into a few snags when attempting to use my iPad to post it on the way to San Diego. Apologies!

– Knives

INTRO

Fact: 3A’s release of the WWR Caesars was one of the/my most anticipated toy releases of the year. I wasted no time grabbing an EMGY when he dropped on Bambaland. I’d would have liked to snagged another color-way as well but what my parents told me when I was a child unfortunately still holds true. “Money does not grow on trees.”

Fact: A few months later, I purchased the awesome looking 003 which came as part of the Father and Son two pack. I was stoked.

Fact: I received my Father and Son two pack in the mail and was absolutely over the moon with excitement to get home and open up the massive box. I smiled at the thought of basking in what was sure to be some bright red form of toy geek nirvana.

Fact: Watching the clock at work because you can’t wait for 5pm to roll around only makes time move slower. Avoid clocks when anxious.

Fact: I finally opened the two pack and was incredibly underwhelmed, let down and saddened when I did. (review here) Good feeling gone. Hope for mankind lost.

Fact: I put off opening my EMGY for over 3 days as the weight of disappointment that close together would surely cause me to burn my collection and by proxy, my house, to the ground.

Fact: The wife would not be pleased by this. I advise to avoid fire under distress.

Fact: I finally opened my EMGY Caesar.

Fact: I smiled.. more than once.

Fact: I’m writing this review at 7:00am in the morning at the top quarter portion of a six hour flight, in a crowded cabin and next to a screaming baby.

PACKAGING

A color coded slip cover is the first thing you’ll see when opening up your Caesar. For EMGY, you get some stark yellow design elements and a dash of logos to balance things out.

Slips are nice, but a little boring. Underneath it, we get to the good stuff. A printed image of a super cool Ashley Wood painting. The painting itself features the dome topped Gravedigger. It’d been cool if Ash did a unique piece for each color-way, but being as there were close to 50 different ones (ed note: exaggeration) I can’t fault them for simplifying it.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Obviously, you get a giant yellow (EMGY) bot, along with his huge rifle, side arm and knife. You also get a little catalog of the ghosts of 3A past, aka toys you can’t get anymore less you brave the treacherous after market sea. You also get a pretty awesome WWR comic as part of the deal.

The comic is pretty short, and save for a few select panels and some really nice paintings on the last few pages.. it’s relatively light on exciting content. But it tells a little WWR story which has an actual beginning, middle and end (take that Popbot!). WWR is something many like myself have been asking for more of since Ashley put out the World War Robot collection several years back, and just like so much of what the man does, the result has me clamoring for more.

THE BREAKDOWN

This is a first for Rad Toy Review. I’m basically reviewing the same exact toy as I did a few weeks back with the 003 from the Father and Son two pack. There are some immediate, obvious contrasts of course, one is red, the other yellow, but at their core, they’re the same thing.

So what’s a fellah to do? How do I write a new perspective to something I JUST wrote? Well, as it happens, the clothes do indeed make the man. On some accounts, the machine.
Emgy might as well be an entirely all new toy as the differences between the two, if only aesthetic, feel truly immense.

Let’s being shall we? I went with the EMGY color-way not out of any particular love for yellow, but because I’m fortunate to have both an EMGY Grunt and EMGY Dropcloth. The three should look smashing together on display. (hint: they do)

The WWR Caesars are all part of 3A’s LUX line. This is intended to mean that, for a price, we get a higher quality, more refined and all around better collectible. My vocal reaction to the claim upon first unleashing 003 to the world was this giant, disappointed “meh”. EMGY on the other hand, holy crab cakes! Look at this sexy beast!

3A did some really good things with the paint job on this big fellah. The layers of weathering we’ve come to expect from them is all here with streaks and smears, sponged dirt and splatters. Take a closer look and you’ll see some of the stuff that calls back to the 3A of yesteryear.

We have silver metal popping out from underneath his yellow coat, edges worn by harsh conditions and the elements. There’s small flecks of red here and there, subtly offsetting the dominate dirty yellow. I haven’t seen toy “metal” look this metal in a long, long time! Say what you will about the design, Caesar is painted up very,very nice.

Big guns. That’s been sort of a theme of late with the big bots I’ve reviewed. Zaku had an absolutely massive beast of a gun and while not quite as huge, Caesar’s isn’t too shabby either. EMGY C is one of the select Caesars to get the newly designed smart rifle. Other’s came packed with the same rifle that previously came with WWR Armstrong’s.

How well designed this new smart rifle is, like so much else in life, is completely objective and probably up to your personal tastes. I think it’s pretty great. It’s heavy, hard edges and bulky barrel look tough. The removable clip, scope and color coordinated bits add some interest. It’s an all new look for WWR and projects as though it’d pack a heavy punch. Something which seems well suited for a Caesar.

Standard issue with all stripes of Caesar is their harmonic knife and trusty side arm. I loved on the knife a bit in my 003 review and I stand by said loving here. The knife is a sick piece of kit. Of course EMGY’s has yellow accents to ensure no one picks it up by mistake and runs off with it.

The side arm looks great as well. Color coordinated and with a trigger guard that actually fits Big C’s fingers. Something that shouldn’t even be review worthy, but as 3A can be pretty dyslexic about whether or not the weapons they give their characters actually fit or not, it seems worth mentioning. It also helps when posing him Solid Snake style with blade and pistol at the ready.

Shields. The EGMY crew has an abundance of them and they are in many ways, synonymous with the color-way. While all the Caesars sport a shoulder shield of some kind, I thought it was fitting they gave EMGY two.

This is where I must address what is basically my only real complaint about Caesar.. EMGY Caesar that is. The weight of the shields on his arms are too much for the balljoints at his shoulders. This could be an isolated thing and I just lucked out with one of whom’s BOTH arms flop around needlessly at his sides. I say that, because I don’t recall having the issue with 003. Maybe he warped some in the heat during shipment or maybe he slipped past 3A’s QC. Whatever the case may be, it sucks to get a new toy and immediately have an issue on your hands. I’ll say this here, 3A’s Customer Service is some of the best out there. They’ve helped me out countless times in the past with all sorts of little issues ranging from scuffed paint to broken weapons. Even replaced things I broke myself! But to fix this, I’d have to ship Big C back to them. That’s not cheap nor is it something I want to deal with.

Instead, I went for a bottle of super glue and slowly built up a fine layer around the joint until I got it tight enough to hold the poses I needed him to.

Speaking of pose. You can get quite a bit out of the big guy. He’s the most articulated bot out right now from 3A. His size does inhibit how spryly you’ll be able to move him around, but with some patience and little work you can squeeze a ton out of him.

The skirt draped around EMGY will be familiar to anyone who’s owned a dropcloth. All the pros and cons of the waist high moo moo are included as well. The biggest negative being the bags, sheath and holster are all held on by little cloth tabs tucked into it’s waist band. More likely than not, the second you take your Caesar out of his package a few of them will already be untucked and the bags will be hanging loosely. I miss the good ol’ days when bags had loops on the back and a belt strung through them to keep them solidly in place.
I’ve been dealing with this small annoyance since day one of collecting 3A. I’ve learned to accept it, but it still irks me the slightest bit. A little tip: If you pull your straps through and get enough slack you can simply tie them together for sound keeping.

FINAL WORD

Night and day. Red and yellow. That’s how different the 003 and EMGY Caesars are. 003 was a mountain of plastic disappointment, looking cheaper than it should have and frankly, dull. My EMGY Caesar however, is the bee’s knees. The killer paint app, the double shields, the tough flat head, the newly designed smart rifle, a harmonic knife and the ample articulation make for a really fun and impressive bot.

I want to pose this guy.. move his arms around into exciting poses with that awesome canon/rifle/broomstick. Get him sneaking up behind a grunt with blade drawn for the kill. Lots of cool, exciting and fun ideas pop up just looking at this guy sitting here.

There in lies the rub. I know I’ll probably never bother.
Once he’s set up on my shelf, he’ll most likely stay exactly however he sits from now until I absolutely HAVE to move him. The fun of grabbing a toy to mess around with during a moment of downtime isn’t really an option. He’s just too big and cumbersome to easily toss around. A crowded shelf of carefully placed toys doesn’t help.

It shouldn’t matter to me. I’m technically a grown up.

EMGY Caesar is awesome. Figures like this are why I collect 3A. Loose shoulder joints aside, I’m completely satisfied with how they produced this guy. I guess what I’m starting to see with my own collection is that I just don’t NEED any more big bots. They become permanent fixtures and eat up a ton of space.

So even though I have this new toy that I want to kiss and hug and call George, it’s probably the last 1/6 scale giant robot that I’ll be adding to my collection.

Of course giant robots are what got me into 3A in the first place.

Giant robots are cool.

Like really, REALLY cool…

Sigh… I have no will power.

PROS:

Fantastic attention to detail from paint/weathering to articulation and accessories
All new bits and pieces head to toe
Epic big bot with great articulation. High kicks galore!
Huge shields, huge gun, huge bot = huge awesome
EMGY looks baller when paired up with his crew

CONS:

Shields are heavy and may cause issues when posing the arms
3A still uses little tucked straps which fail to keep bags/sheaths/holsters tight and where they’re supposed to be. The 14th century called and wants their buckle-less straps back!

Review 3A’s SDCC 2011 Action Portable Boba Fett (prototype)

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Knives

INTRO

I’d say it’s pretty darn fitting that the day before we leave for SDCC 2012 that we post something awesomely amazing from SDCC 2011. Courtesy my buddy Eric Gant, who very well may be the single luckiest toy collector in the entire world, we’re bringing you something truly special.

Last year, Ashley Wood and his scrappy little toy company 3A made a small handful of one-of-a-kind Star Wars figures in a bold attempt to get Lucas and his ilk to pay attention. Two of those figures were classic white Storm Troopers while one was the ever so awesome and fan favorite, Boba Fett.

Via some dark wisardry, Eric is now in possessinon of that very same Boba Fett. The only one in the world. I’ll let him tell you in his own words how.

We here at RtR are very proud to be able to exclusively share with you Eric’s in depth review of the one and only, 3A Action Portable Boba Fett.

I hope you enjoy!

Knives

*most pictures taken by Eric. Some pulled from 3A’s forum

What’s up fellow toy fans; this is Eric.

Check it out: I dig threeA.

I also dig Star Wars.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that these two universes would ever collide. But then, at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, I witnessed a sight that outright rocked my world: 1:12 scale prototypes of Star Wars figures, produced by threeA!

Ashley Wood: The man behind the threeA + Star Wars concept

There were three figures on display, each pulling in the passing fans like the Death Star’s tractor beam: A pristine-white Stormtrooper, a dirty, weathered Stormtrooper, and one of the most iconic of all Star Wars figures- the Legendary bounty hunter BOBA FETT. Each figure was presented on a blistered card-back that harkened back to the vintage Kenner figures produced back in the 70’s, complete with the old-school Star Wars header & glamor-shot capturing the characters in a kick-ass pose.

Unfortunately, these figures were not for sale. As it turns out, threeA toys was showing the figures in a bid to gain licensing rights to produce the things. Rumor has it that Hasbro & Lucasfilm said “No-Go” to making them in the United States, so Takara was approached in an attempt to release them in the Asia market . This story ends with a huge kick to the nuts:

The deal fell through.

A few months after their debut, one of the figures was offered up by threeA as first prize in a contest held on the official online forum. Up for grabs: The threeA Action Portable Boba Fett prototype! As you can imagine, there were a ton of entries, all equally incredible. Being the Star Wars fan that I am, I threw my hat into the ring as well. I gave it my best shot, but didn’t really expect anything to come of it. But when all was said and done, I was shocked to discover that I’d actually won!

Today, I’m going to attempt to share my love of this figure with a brief review of packaging, paint application, articulation, construction, and accessories. Please excuse me if the pictures are a little lame; I’m still only a yellow belt when it comes to photography.

PACKAGING

All I can say is “Perfect.” The thing that fuels my collecting habit is nostalgia. When a toy is just right, it opens a door to the magic and wonder I felt as a kid. The packaging on this thing takes me right back to my introduction to Star Wars collecting, and with good reason: Its a spot-on homage to the original Star Wars figure packaging. Boba came on a blistered card featuring the famous Star Wars logo, with a huge photo of the Mando himself dominating the card. Of course, since this figure is in 6-inch scale, the card is considerably larger than the cards used for the 3.75 inch Star Wars figures. The cardback is matte black, with the Star Wars and threeA logos sharing space on the bottom. Accompanying them is a disclaimer: “Not licensed, not for resale, sample only.

“The icing on the cake: Ashley Wood, co-founder of threeA, personalized the card with a sketch of one of his trademark characters, Bamba Lad, on the back. On the front, he signed the card, “Best regards from 3A,” along with some simple instructions:

“Open Me.”

And so I did.

THE BREAKDOWN

Paint Application

If I had to pick one area in which threeA consistently beats down all competition, it would be paint application. From my first glimpse of threeA’s WWRp Dirty Deeds Bertie, I’ve been regularly blown away by the painstaking attention to detail that goes into finishing the figures. It doesn’t matter how large a figure’s production run is. Each piece looks as though it was lovingly hand-painted by a master craftsman. Boba Fett is no exception.

Back in 1977, Star Wars blew the collective minds of the movie going audience by showing something that had never been seen before: A sci-fi space opera that actually looked real. One of the keys to making the Star Wars universe look believable was the ‘run-down’ or ‘used’ look everything had. The ships, weapons, costumes, EVERYTHING was weathered, rusted, and broken-in. Boba Fett exemplifies the Used Universe look. Because if that, he’s the perfect canvas for threeA to work its magic on.

Nearly every detail on this figure is painted and weathered to make it mirror the onscreen appearance of Boba Fett. From the hints of chrome gleaming through the scars marring the matte green finish of his helmet to the sun-bleached yellow of his shoulder pads, everything on this figure screams “Real.” It looks as though two techniques are employed to achieve this look: actual paint layering and chipping, and splatters of painted-on rust. These techniques work best on the helmet, shoulder pads, knee pads, and backpack. On the chest & clavicle armor, this technique is accented by the application of miniscule splotches of ochre-yellow to create the effect of paint-fading.

I kinda dig it!

Construction

This figure uses the same base-body used by all of threeA’s 1:12 scale male figures. The “Action Portable” body is a milestone in small-scale action figures: It has the same articulation as the 12-inch figures produced by threeA, which themselves rival the bodies used by 12-inch figure producers like Hot Toys and Sideshow.

Action Portable Blanc DePlume body showcasing the AP design

The base body features ball jointed hips, joined immediately by a swivel at the upper thigh. Knees are double-jointed, allowing the body to achieve human-like poses. The pelvis, waist, and chest are 3 separate parts, allowing more mobility.

There’s a rotating joint at the waist that is similar to the O-ring joint used by old GI Joe and Mego figures, but uses a spring mechanism to hold the parts together instead of the rubber O-ring. A similar joint is used between the abdomen & upper torso. Together, this set-up allows the figure to twist, bend, and rotate in ways no human ever could.
There is also an ingenious swivel & swing joint at each shoulder, which allows the arms to pivot forward and back, along with a ball joint with a cut above the biceps, double jointed elbows, and ball-jointed wrists.

But enough about the body-construction. What makes this thing special is the covering! To turn the base Action Portable body into Boba Fett, threeA constructed a number of new pieces. Starting off, to capture the look of the actual Boba Fett costume, the wizards at threeA took the direct approach: They constructed a miniature replica of the actual Boba Fett costume. This puppy is sewn together using scaled-down stitches, capturing the look of the suit without the clunky, toy-looking stitch work found in 8-inch Mego style figures.

The suit is made up of several layers. There’s the main jumpsuit, which covers the figure from ankle to neck and extends down to his wrists. Over that is a short-sleeved vest that covers the torso. This piece has a large armor piece on the back which supports the jetpack,
and two pieces of shoulder armor.

It’s topped off by a single piece of armor that covers the upper clavicle area. The upper body is finished off by the chest armor, which is actually made up of four separate pieces that fit together puzzle-like over the chest.

Let’s move to the extremities. Each knee is protected by knee-armor consisting of a molded piece strapped to the leg by a short length of elastic/fabric cording.

The arms terminate in Boba’s patented wrist-armor. Each piece fits over the forearm of the jumpsuit, and has all of the weapons & gizmos faithfully replicated in 1/12 scale.

The helmet is something special. Instead of a single, solid piece of material, the helmet is hollow, and fits over a featureless head.

The feet are perfect replicas of Boba Fett’s boots, right down to the two little spikes protruding from the toes. Simply incredible!

As mentioned before, the Boba Fett uses the same base-body used on all of threeA’s other Action Portable figures. But where they stand at 6 inches tall, Boba comes in at about 6.25 inches. The reason for this is largely due to the way the boots fit on the ankles. So far, we’ve seen two different methods of attaching feet to the AP body: The AP Tomorrow King figures have sneakers which join with the ankle via a pair of tiny double-sided ball-joints. This provides a wide range of motion. The AP DePlume figures get rid of the ball joint and instead feature sculpted boots that fit directly over the ankle stub. Boba Fett’s boots are a hybrid of these two techniques. A ball joint is used, but instead of being double sided, it consists of a single ball protruding from the top of the boot. This slips into the ankle peg, giving the boots a wider range of motion than the DePlume boots, while also increasing the figure’s height by almost a quarter of an inch.

AP Hatchery vs. Boba height comparison

The other factor contributing to the figure’s height is the helmet. This, along with the boost added by the new boot joint, makes the Boba Fett stand taller than the other Action Portable figures. If we were to scale him up to 1:1 scale, Boba Fett would stand around 6 foot-three.

AP Hatchery with a Boba-Boot Height-Boost

Articulation

With the AP Boba Fett, the faithfulness to the design of the costume and armor is a double-edged sword. It looks freaking INCREDIBLE.

I’ve owned a variaty of 12-inch Boba Fett figures, going back to the first 12-inch figures made by Kenner. Most can’t hold a candle to the AP Boba. Even though its only 6 inches tall, this thing beats most of those bigger figures hands-down when it comes to looks.

The layers of clothing and armor pieces also appear to somewhat limit the figure’s range of motion. I say “appear” because I haven’t worked up the courage to push this thing to the limits yet.

When posing this thing, a voice in my head is always shouting a warning: “Careful; or you’ll break it!”
Because of that, I have to admit that I’m a bit timid when it comes to putting this thing into different poses. But in the grand scheme of things, any limitations in range of motion are far outweighed by the aesthetics of the thing. And it still has more articulation than any 4-inch Boba Fett produced by Kenner or Hasbro, ever.
Accessories

I’m not going to include the removable wrist-guards, knee armor, or uniform in this category. It’s what makes the character who he is. With that in mind, the figure comes with the only accessory that it needs: A handy-dandy blaster!

As with every other aspect of this figure, the blaster is a screen-accurate replica of what Boba carries around in the movies. It appears to be held in place by a tiny dab of glue on the thumb, most likely to keep it in his hand while different prospective license granters passed it around & drooled over it. It would be easy to pry it loose, but I haven’t bothered yet. It’s right where it belongs.

BOTTOM LINE

I feel incredibly fortunate to have this thing. Not only is it my favorite threeA piece, it’s my favorite Star Wars piece. Hell; it’s the favorite piece in my entire collection, period.

Sitting down to fiddle around with this thing brings to mind a famous quote from Return Of The Jedi: “It’s a trap!” What I mean by that is once I start, I find it difficult to pull away and get on with my day. On the card, just looking at it is like being a kid again, and seeing that Millennium Falcon sitting under the tree on Christmas morning.

Out of the package, playing around with the figure is equal parts joy and terror: Joy at the sheer coolness of the thing, and terror at knowing that if something breaks, there’s no way to get a replacement.

Overall, there’s only one downside: The knowledge that for now, there won’t be any other 6-inch Star Wars figures made by threeA.
Thanks for checking out my review. If you’d like to hear a recording of my initial impressions upon first opening the figure, along with some discussion about it with some friends of mine, please check out the threeA radio Podcast, episode 31.
Here’s a link: http://threearadio.podbean.com/2012/07/07/episode-31-the-circle-is-nowcomplete/
-Eric

Eric didn’t do pro’s and con’s, so I made some for him.

Pros:

It’s the only Boba Fett made by 3A in the WORLD
It’s the most articulated and detailed 1/12 Boba Fett in the WORLD
It’s incredibly produced and accurately designed.
Again, It’s the only Boba Fett made by 3A in the WORLD

Cons:

Lucas and his boys didn’t immediately hand over the license to 3A, no questions asked
No one except for Eric and his children’s children will ever be able to hold and play with this Boba Fett
The world is a darker place without these in each and every home
Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

Thanks again Eric, and remember if you ever get tired of the overwhelming burden of owning the single most incredible 1/12 Star Wars action figure in existence.. he always has a home at Rad Toy Review 🙂 Thanks man!

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Review 3A’s ZAKU Gundam Inspiration Model

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Knives

INTRO

Living in Hawaii has it’s perks. With fantastic weather, beaches and outdoor activities galore it’s one of, if not the best places I’ve lived. The one thing I’ve yet to find here however, is a decent comic book shop. One of my favorites is in Columbia, SC where I lived around 2002/2003 with a good friend and fellow comic book geek. Since it was Columbia, SC and not Hawaii we’d pass the time by frequently hitting up what was then the coolest comic book shop we’d ever known. The large portion of the comic shop held true to it’s name and had thousands of comics. A small strip of wall space was dedicated to Japanese imported obscure anime action figures and an over abundance of old yellowed Spawn toys that nobody collects anymore. They also had a baffleing array of Gundam Model kits.

My buddy and I had been eyeballing them for some time. Both of us had vague memories of watching the anime as kids and the models themselves looked amazingly intricate. One weekend we caved and decided to get the most expensive kit we could find. At the time it was $85.

To make a long story short, we spent the next 3 weeks, in our spare time, putting that beast together. Thus starting a chain of more trips to the comic shop, more expensive kits bought and more spare time over the course of many weeks tied up in deciphering the kanji instructions and piecing the giants together.

We loved it.

That year or so period of time of my life is pretty much the total sum of my knowledge of Gundam. So please don’t read this review in hopes for some trumpet blowing, alarm ringing guardian of Gundam lore, because I’m not that guy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that guy. Read on if you want to know what we thought about this 3A/Ashley Wood wink/pinch/nudge at the essence of Bandai’s Gundam Zaku.. if only in name.

Now where’d I put my monocle?

PACKAGING

Coming to us in the biggest package I’ve received via post in a long while, Zaku arrived with some lovely box art on front. The sides and back are basically blank white with only a few small titles and logos dotted around.

I was a little miffed that part of my box was crushed by some gorilla (or blind monkey) who works for the Postal Service. Thankfully nothing was harmed inside.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Even though all the bots you get from 3A are incased in a plastic clam shell, for some unknown reason seeing Zaku in his kinda took me back. Like seeing Han in carbonite. He’s such a big dude!

Zaku’s free! Dang he’s bulky. He’s pretty much one piece save two bags hooked to his sides.

His weapons of choice include an absolutely massive (and awesome) rifle..

and a large (yet skinny) battle axe.

You also get one of the largest posters I’ve seen come packed in with a 3A figure. As you can see here, my dog Murphy is feeling a little oppressed by how much space it’s taking up on his couch.

THE BREAKDOWN

I honestly didn’t know where to start with this guy. Everything on him takes a little time to move around and pose simply due to his overall heft. Posing him with his (again, HUGE) rifle is a bit of a feat because length wise, it’s practically bigger than he is.

That’s what.. she said?

And wouldn’t you know it? The first thing I attempt to move greets me with a “crack“.

Yes, it appears that the supposed “moveable” part of the joint was actually more fixed in place than the “un-moveable” part. Thankfully it was only a flesh wound and took just a tiny bit of glue to patch and get back on track. On to brighter things.

The one thing I do know about Bandais age old design of Zaku is that he has a somewhat iconic “mono-eye”. Ashley Wood tossed that out the window to the chagrin of those that chagrin that sort of thing (note: Please know that I’m not knocking the reaction. If someone decided to do something like give Optimus Prime some terrible paint job with purple and orange flames going down the front of his truck cab or gave him an actual mouth, I’d be.. huh? What’s that you say? Michael Bay.. yeah, I’ve heard of him.. HE DID WHAT??”)

So yes, the mono eye is gone and we’re left with what I’d call a pretty typical 3A-esque head sculpt. Gas mask inspired with two round eyes and tubes flowing out it. It’s tiny too when you compare it to the rest of the body. I think it looks cool that way. If one thing is clear about the design of Zaku, it’s all about exaggerated proportions.

Despite my first attempt at wiggling it around ending with a temporarily broken (and expensive) toy, I really love the shield Zaku has mounted on his person. That thing looks seriously heavy with the massive bolts on the outside and thick hard edges. 3A could have been lazy and left the inside portion clean and simple. Instead, they took the time to sculpt some really nice lines, paint some contrast details and weather it up.

Both the chest and back have hoses running over them and the affect is really cool looking. Zaku has layers of detail to him that I haven’t seen on other 3A bots. There’s a lot of interest pretty much anywhere you look.

I really love the back pack. It doesn’t come off to my knowledge, but has enough mass to it to look believably integral to the rest of Zaku’s design that you’d probably want to keep it on all the time anyway.

Sparring for the spot of MOST exaggerated body part would be the fingers. They’re extremely long, thin and spidery. My wife called them “creepy.” From some early shots of them, I thought they needed to be beefed up to fit the rest of Zaku’s massive form, but now that I’ve had him a few days, I think they work really well. If I had one complaint it’d be that the thumb is the exact same size/piece as the rest of the fingers, which just looks odd when you spread all his phalanges out wide. On a possitve note, they’re awesome for “I’m-a-gonna-gitch-ah” gestures.

I love the way the arms and legs are designed with bulk overlapping layers that give you that feeling that there’s more “machine” underneath the exposed shell. The left shoulder’s armored “pad” is almost as awesome as the larger shield. It’s also slightly articulated. You can really tell 3A took their time with this guy, getting all the angles and curves to coexist just right. Once again, everything looks heavy like any self respecting war machine should.

Speaking of war, lets get back to that BA gun Zaku leisurely strolls about with. The whole deal is made up of 3 parts. The gun body, a extra long clip and side grip. I thought making the side grip left/right swappable was a nice touch. Lefty’s and righty’s can join hands in mutual celebration with this guy.

The gun itself is beautifully sculpted. Coupled with the overall bulk of Zaku’s frame, it really gives the sense that it’s capable of unleashing all varieties of hell on his enemies.

I have mixed feelings about Big Z’s axe. On one hand, the blade is cool and having him hold it in a sort of neutral guard duty like pose looks dangerous enough. The problem arises when you try to get him to take a swing with it. The handle of the axe is a series of cylinders. Zaku’s fingers are long and spindley and can wrap around the handle easily. However, it’s difficult for him to get a firm grip on it since there are no edges to run into his flat fingers. While I could get it to stay occasionally, at most angles I put his arm/axe at, the weight of the blade would immediately cause the axe to swing down with gravity. Had there been some sort of flat surface on the hilt to wedge against the grip of his fingers, this wouldn’t be an issue. I found a place to “sheath” the axe between some of the tubes on his back that I think works really well, which is most likely the way I’ll display him.

As for articulation, Zaku is up there with 3A’s finest. Just about anywhere you’d expect a ball or swivel joint to be, there is one. Even with the heavy shields on his shoulders, you’re able to extend his arms out quite far and get some nice dramatic motion out of him. The only surprise was the lack of any sort of forward/back waist joint. I’d assume this is the result of the heavy layering of details on his torso that I was praising a few paragraphs earlier. Giveth and taketh away.

Zaku is relatively decal free. He has a few dotted around his massive body, but he’s a lot more “plain” than I’m used to from 3A. Most of the interest comes from his dynamic proportions and layered sculpt. What’s there is cool, however. I’m unsure of what nods, if any, his decals hold for long time Gundam fans. Fill me in if you know!

I’ve mentioned how big Zaku a few times this review. He is big. I was surprised to find that my EMGY Caesar is actually a little taller than him. Regardless of that technicality, Zaku appears more massive than any other 3A bot in my collection, even my Heavy Bramble. He also has a more solid feel than other bots in that scale. For 3A, he’s quite heavy. Here’s a quick shot so you can get an idea of scale.

So what chinks in this massive bot’s armor did I find? To be honest, I really had to work at finding some anything negative. I did keep coming back to his head. There was something there that was bothering me but I was having difficultly placing what it was. I like the double eyes and tiny sized noggin. The hoses running from the sides down his back. It wasn’t until I started going over the rest of the fantastic details sculpted into his arms, legs and torso that it hit me. There’s zero details around the base of his head/neck. It’s smooth, flat and looks like a part someone accidentally skipped over. If it was covered up by other pieces that’d be one thing, but other than the two hoses draped around the area, it’s completely visible. There’s no transition between shoulder, scrawny neck and tiny head head. With so much careful detail sculpted everywhere else, the lack of any at all in such a large area really stands out and to me, looks unfinished.

FINAL WORD

Most of what I’ve said about Zaku has been pretty positive. Guess what? Most of what I THINK about Zaku is positive! I genuinely really like him. His exaggerated proportions are going to be up to personal taste. Some will hate them, while some (like myself) will love them. I’m sure my lack of history with mainstream Gundam lore probably plays heavily into my arms wide open approach to this guy. But come on, even the nay sayers out there have to admit that it’s really cool to get a 3A toy that doesn’t feel kit-bashed or has all it’s pieces borrowed from previous toys. While he screams designed by Ashley Wood and there are definitely a few familiar touches, head to toe Zaku is pretty much all new! Yay new! Who’s with me?

This is 3A’s first released 3rd party licensed figure after ABC Warrior’s Mongrol. If they can keep the quality of their licensed figures up to this caliber, you and I are in for some treats down the road.

Pros:

Fantastic sculpt and layered details
Massive bot with practically all new parts head to toe
Impressively articulated
Ridiculously huge gun. This is a good thing.
Exaggerated proportions. I give ’em the thumbs up.
Figure has a good weight to him. Looks and feels solid.
Nice use of sparse decals and excellent weathering.
Love the shoulder shield and pauldron

Cons:

Mine broke immediately. It was an easy fix, but I stand by the concept that I should never have to fix new things I paid good money for, including toys. Use more glue or whatever on fragile, moveable bits 3A. Build those parts to last.
Axe design is cool, but Zaku can’t hold it very well given how smooth and round it is.
No forward back torso/waist articulation
No sculpted or decal details top of shoulder to base of neck. Looks odd/unfinished.

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Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Knives

Happy 4th of July, America and welcome everyone from all over! Once again we tapped into the incomparable photography skill of Expathos. You might recall that he contributed the very FIRST Rad Toy Review Wallpaper of the Week back in January so we think it’s a real privilege to have him send us some more of his shots to post. Yes, I said shotS… plural. 🙂

Being that it’s America’s b’day we decided to run with the closest red, white and blue image we currently have at our disposal. Though I’m sure it wasn’t Ex’s initial intent, we thought his shot of hatchery kitty would do the trick perfectly.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Once again, thanks for reading and partaking in our shenanigans week after week. Also, another massive thanks to Expathos for lending us his talents.

click on your desired screen resolution to download!

Kitty by Expathos 1024×768

Kitty by Expathos 1280×800

Kitty by Expathos 1920×1200

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If you’d like to contribute to Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week and have your name go down in history, drop us a line at radtoyreview@gmail.com with your idea and/or image sample.