review 3A WWRp JEA Heavy Bramble

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Knives

INTRO

It’s not often that I’m able to point my finger at previous review we’ve posted and say that the one you’re currently reading (enthralled with?) will be essentially a retread of the former. Yes, it’s 3A WWRp JEA time again. The on-going saga of collecting the JEA colorway at 1/12th scale continues with the just released, retail WWRp JEA Heavy Bramble.

You might detect a few notes here from my previous review of the WWRp JEA MK3 Bertie. Many of the same things I admired and critiqued on that bot are essentially the same sort registered here. If you’ve yet to read it, I suggest you give it a gander after you’ve consumed this tasty meal. If you’ve had it before, then perhaps you’d enjoy a quick revisit.

So while there may be a few woodsy.. perhaps smokey hints that leap off the back of the palette a few moments after you’ve finished a sip. Fear not, there are differences below…

or perhaps just a few finer details.

PACKAGING

Ah yes. It’s good to see the likes of AW paints once again being the focus of a 3A toy’s boxart. WWRp Heavy Bramble features an image of the Bramble Gravedigger, I assume a few moments pre-rocket release, the icons/graphics are minimal, the painting prominent. Definitely worthy of shelf display.

On the back we get a nice quick background story about the Mk3 Bramble. While we’ve seen slivers of story here and there on various 3A packs, this is the first time I’ve seen one that features a bots proposed “specs”. Size, weight, height, it’s all here. It’s pretty cool in a geeky (aka, me) kind of way.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Your Heavy Bramble will come packed tidy with 4 bags and a massive rocket launcher of sorts known as the Aunty Jack 4 Way RPD. I think of it as 3A’s BFG.

THE BREAKDOWN

It’d be really super crazy easy for me to go down the path of drawing comparisons between little WWRp Heavy Bramble and big WWR Heavy Bramble. I could fill this page with how amazingly close to the two are in terms of paint, weathering, articulation, presence… etc. On and on I could go until you’ve found yourself reading an exhaustive comparison of each bot’s pinky surface texture. I firmly believe that nobody wants that.

So I’m going to try not to do that gentle reader, because you deserve more. I’ll sum it up real quick and say that yes, indeed 1/6 and 1/12 HBs are practically identical twins, albeit with one wot’s been shrunken by some sort of wonderous toy shrink ray. The bags might be a shade or three lighter on the WWRp version. but beyond that… twinsies!

Instead, I’d like to focus on the WWRp Heavy Bramble and how he relates and compares to the other bots in the WWRp world. The JEA colorway and otherwise.

Out of the box and at first rub, Mr. HB looks really good. The familiar greens, tans and icons that any JEA fan would appreciate are all here. I’m still amazed at how much detail 3A can squeeze onto their smaller figures. Especially when it’s based off a larger version and manages to remains faithful to it down to the tiny drips of “oil” running off an exhaust. I’m almost convinced that they reverse engineer everything. Simply design a robot for the small scale only to release the giant version first with the sole goal of really impressing us all later. Flecs of rust, soot and oil remind you that you’re looking at a machine.. a machine that’s been places and seen some things.

I love Heavy B’s proportions. The original bramble is one of my favorite toys out of 3A with it’s barrel chest (literally.. a barrel)and has always in my mind been the “muscle” of the squad. The HB takes that idea and runs with it. Just look at those gorilla arms. He makes poor Mk2 look absolutely anorexic by comparison. If I had one complaint with the design it’d be the extended exposed wrist joint. It functions as a tremendous boon when holding the launcher, but aesthetically it does look a little out of place.

Articulation on a Heavy Bramble is essentially the same as it was on the standard MK2 Bramble. The larger shoulders/arms do seem to have a slightly more limited allotment for shoulder movement, but I doubt it’s anything you’d notice or mind if you’re already a fan of the MK2. Other than that the head turns, waist twists, knees bend and fingers open/close. If you were able to get there with the Mk2, you shouldn’t have any issue doing so with the MK3 as well.

Of note is that all the joints (fingers included) on my Heavy Bramble were perfect. Not too tight, not too loose. Each had just the right amount of resistence so I can twist and turn him into whatever pose allowed and he’ll stay put. The fingers don’t flop around like loose erector set pieces, the arms or legs don’t feel as though they may snap in twain while bending them. It could be complete blind luck mine turned out this well, but I’ll take it. However, if by chance there’s a setting on the dremel tool or whatever piece of machinery 3A uses to engineer toy joints.. I’d like to whole heatedly request that they WRITE IT DOWN!

The addition of MK3’s thicker arms makes a lot of sense given the size of the RPD he’s equipped with.

It’s huge. Massive even. End to end, almost twice the size of HB himself. I love the design of it with it’s flaps and scope. It’s a bit limiting how Heavy B can hold the launcher. Apparently Rothchild only designed these guys as rightys. The scope is stuck firm and fast on the weapon’s left side, meaning HB has to hold it with his right hand if he wants to hit his target. It’d been cool if the scope snapped on and off so you could move things around a bit more freely, but regardless the HB + launcher is an impressive and imposing sight.

Complaint time.

The side bags are just as annoying as they’ve ever been. I’m probably alone but I’m just not a fan. I’ve always liked the idea of bots sporting bags and you may think they’re the best thing since sliced bread. Just don’t be surprised to find that once again they fly off at the smallest bump as though possessed by a silent robot sack focused banshee. At this point in the evolution of robots/warfare and the men, women and children who play with them, there HAS to be a better way to adhere these things to robots. Bring back the bertie belts! Those did the job with grande gusto! I know, I know.. adding belts at this juncture when the original 2 year old design didn’t have them would be some kind of toy design heresy. But I’d happily forgive that by chalking it up as an “upgrade”.

Also, the bag straps are all over the place. Untidy to say the least. That is all.

Throwing HB up with the rest of the JEA crew looks great. The cohesive colors and icons speckled throughout the gang looks really nice together. Heavy fits right in while not getting lost in the sea of greens. It could be that massive launcher he’s holding allowing him to stand out, but I’ll let him take the credit

HB’s design elements seem to borrow the most from the MK2 JEA Bramble and the JEA Large Martin. The general overall color scheme is basically swiped from MK2 while many of the updated icons are taken from LM. It’s a good blend I think to tie the squad in a bit more. Thankfully the tones are just right and not like the out of place (though individually cool) blue dominate JEA Armstrong. If having your bots match is important to you, the JEA Heavy Bramble shouldn’t dissapoint ya.

So other than the bags, a criticism arguably based off preference than on true unbiased observation, what other problems/errors/missteps/unforutnates did I find with Mr JEA HB? Well I’ll tell you.

I found two.

As a long time 3A collector my fondest memories go back to some if their earliest bots. These of course are the MK2 Brambles and the MK2 Berties. Not only were they brand new, never before seen highly articulated robots sporting awesome firepower and an intriguing background story, they were painted and detailed with such astonishing care and finesse. The first Bertie I held in my hands was Dirty Deeds. An all black bot with a few simple white icons on him. deceptively uncomplicated. But when you really looked at him the various layers of paint and weathering begin to pop out. As the different shades of bronze and silver rust along with the careful placement of painted wear and tear reveal themselves, you begin to realize that there’s nothing simple about this all black bot at all. In fact, it’s a masterpiece.

Perhaps that’s comparing apples to oranges. A bit too abstract. I’ll go another route. The obvious one. Bramble to Bramble. While they look great together, putting them side by side will no doubt show you very clearly why your brand new MK3 Heavy Bramble is and will always be inferior to your old, dusty, out of date MK2 Bramble. Big arms be damned.

Just look at the scratches of silver metal peaking through on the various ridges and edges on the MK2. Places where the Bramble had obviously scratched itself against something heavy, which took paint as it’s prize. It catches the light and breaks up the muck of oil and drab. To me it’s the one last crucial piece of the puzzle that sells the idea that this is a “metal” robot I’m looking at. The Heavy Bramble doesn’t have that. Without that small touch, the little breaks to his specular profile, he’s plastic. Really cool looking plastic, but plastic all the same.

I’ve noticed this on the last several 3A bots I’ve collected and I can’t understand why they felt it no longer necessary to apply that level of detail to their new bots. It’s as though 3A ran out of silver paint.

I understand they’re getting bigger as a company and the demand for 3A toys is unfathomably greater than it was when the MK2 was released, but hire another detail guy (gal) or two and please bring it back 3A!

My only other quibble with this miniaturized robotic giant isn’t a fault of him being WWRp, but fault of the original’s execution which this scale happens to mirror.

Those blasted launcher flaps.

If by some miracle 3A could have found it in their collective hearts to update the launcher to include HINGED launcher flaps, singing birds would have herald their greatness to the heavens, the sky would have turned a pure Bob Ross blue and Apollo would have lifted his skirt.

I might have even cried giant man tears of joy.

But alas, they did not so I did not. None of that stuff happened because they decided to leave them sticking out, thin and gorilla glued. Once more you will have to worry about how you lay the launcher down, placing it hanging over a ledge or if you fancy yourself a brave sou,l standing up right and balanced on end. You must examine daily the very grip of your Heavy Bramble to ensure that it be firm and true so the launcher does not fall foul from it’s fickle grasp.

Because if it DOES, you will without the slightest hint of question have a broken, busted, shattered launcher on your hands. You might as well buy a small tube of super glue the next time your at Walgreens just in case.

Oh, and keep it close.

FINAL SUMMARY

The MK3 WWRp Heavy Bramble is another fine addition to my JEA Squad. I was actually a bit more excited about getting him than I was my MK3 Bertie a few months ago. I just love that classic ol’ Bramble design. If you collect JEA or one of the other WWRp colorways offered by this retail run, I’d recommend scooping up one or two. Even if you don’t, their a steal right now and some great designs to choose from. There’s even some region specific variants for UK, USA and Asia that are only available if you live in the respective area.. or have that thing called internet and can type the word “ebay”. They’re available now at just about all the sexy cool online toy stores. Grab them while you can!

A few 3A purist may discount my claim that the paint on the HB lacks the refinement of the original MK2’s and assume that I’m simply trying to find something to complain about or critique. On the other hand, those who gather speed off 3A’s missteps will probably applaud and take my comments about the paint app to mean the Heavy MK3 “sucks”. Neither are true. Despite my lust for a return of 3A perfection and the few wanted improvements I’ve noted, these guys are really great toys.

I firmly believe that 3A is still delivering above and beyond 99% of anything else out there.. I’d just like to see them nudged back to 100%.

Pros:

Another great addition to the JEA squad or the WWRp collector’s shelf in general
Great articulation and perfect (at least on mine) joints.
Very nice paint that practically mirrors his big brother
Colors match the JEA squad flawlessly
Huge launcher is BA

Cons:

When side by side with MK2 Bramble, the lack of some of the finer attention to details in the paint application on the Heavy are really noticeable
Flaps on the launcher are still glued on and fragile.

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Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Knives

Last week we took a little hiatus from churning out update thanks to some unforeseen life things. Those things are now behind us and we’re happy to herald in our return to form with a new Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week!

Those who know me know that I’ve never been a massive fan of 3A’s MK2 Square. I do however, have a soft spot for the Deimos colorway. I also dig good photography. I think my buddy Wooly combined those things wonderfully in todays Wallpaper. He captured the mischievous lil guy perfectly!

It has me wondering, “Just what IS he up to?”.

The square, that is… not Wooly. Though now that I’ve mentioned it, I sort of do wonder what he’s up to as well. 🙂

Thanks to Mike for his contribution!

Enjoy!

click on your desired screen resolution to download!

MW1024x768

MW1280x800

MW1920x1200

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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 as someone who’s image is a wallpaper on a (awesome) website drop us a line at radtoyreview@gmail.com with your idea and/or image sample.

REVIEW 3A JUNGLE VET

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Knives

INTRO

It”s been ages, but finally the dreary dull period of nothingness has come to a sharp and abrupt end. Today, the long cold chain of having exactly zero boxes labeled “3A” sitting at my doorstep has finally been broken. Jungle Vet from 3A’s retail assortment of Adventure Kartel toys has arrived.

Purchasing the full retail run of these guys would be a great start to just about anyone’s 3A collection, however Rad Toy Review was only able to snag one. We’ve been holding our breath since then in hopes our choice was indeed a wise one.

Early opinions from other collectors seemed extremely polarizing as well as fairly consistent. Of the the AK gang, the overwhelmingly positive praise seems predominantly aimed towards Jungle Vet (whew!) and Pneumbra. The lukewarm, comfy room temperature praise to Tommy Red, Lil Shadow and Johnson. While an apparent and almost unanimous negative panning has marred the arrival of the otherwise beloved Hooded Zombs.

Alas, this is NOT a review about Zombs or anything else other than Jungle Vet. So lets get to that.

First let me say that the photos that accompany this review were taken on the first official RtR “field trip”. A field trip to Pearl Harbor. While it’s not the jungle, the seemingly military background of JV lent itself to what we hoped would be an fun and interesting shoot.

It turned out to be both those things as well as a little… surprising.

PACKAGING

Ed’s note: My Jungle Vet came from Sideshow Collectibles in a brown Sideshow shipping box. The JV box itself was not shrink wrapped. Don’t be alarmed if your’s shows up the same way as apparently that’s how most of these were shipped out from 3A. It’s normal.

Much like the retail release figure’s afore mentioned opinion polarization, the packaging for them shares the same mark. Unlike the epic paintings that usually grace 3A boxes, we’re left with a simple graphic depicting Jungle Vet. Astute observers might notice that all 3A did was take the initial preview photos of the various AK figures and then toss some vector artwork over it. I think it fits pretty well with this line. It’s lends itself to animation, it’s playful, clean and gets the job done. I’m cool with a little variety in my boxes, but I also know for a fact there are those who feel a little shortchanged with the lack of a true Ashley Wood painting.

On the back you get a little preview of the rest of the collection you can hunt down at your favorite retailer (providing they sell 3A toys) and the Adventure Kartel slogan, “The Adventure continues with you!”

WHAT’S INCLUDED

The Adventure Kartel series proper has always come with a poster with a comic on the back giving us a tiny slice of the AK story. Sadly, the retail gang did not get the same treatment. Tis a small thing, but given Adventure Kartel’s track record for including one, I feel the absence is note worthy. It’s also little odd to me because paying retail for these figures is a good deal more expensive than what a similar offering that included posters in the past go for on 3A’s own Bambaland website.

So what do you get? Well, really what you paid for. Jungle Vet himself sporting a gaggle of bags and his (or rather Bleak’s) trusty side arm.

THE BREAKDOWN

As mentioned above, for this shoot we decided to take Jungle Vet to Pearl Harbor and see what sort of trouble he could get into. A grown man with a group of camera wielding ladies carrying a doll (cough* action figure!) around a historical site which also happens to be a functioning military base, garners more than the occasional stare and sideways glance.

Pearl Harbor has some pretty strict rules about what you are allowed to bring in with you. Bags of any kind are on the list. So how does one smuggle a 1:6 scale action figure into such a locked down establishment?

Like so. Shhhhhh…

So we waltz into the memorial and then take a bus over to the Battleship Missouri Memorial. For those that don’t know, it’s a massive battleship, the last one built by the United States. She was used heavily during World War II and provided fire support during Desert Storm back in ’91. She’s a beauty and a beast.

Once we got on deck and I started to play around with JV, the first thing I notice is probably the first thing you’ll notice. His hands rock! They’re so much fun to pose. The fingers are firm but not tight and I didn’t once worry about any of them snapping off. I know, I know.. they’re basically ripped off an 1:12 armstrong and shoved onto an Ankou body, but fun is fun I say.

I also love the fact that the hands are different colors. It’s as though Ol’ Jungle Vet has seen a few scraps in his time and has required some maintenance over the years. I’ve always had a soft spot for robots that look hobbled together from various tossed away bits. I’m not sure if an Ankou is 100% robot or a man-bot.. or whatever.. but the fond leaning remains.

The paint and weathering on JV are nicely done. His dome is overly rusty with pops of crusty blue paint peaking through. The yellow ring around his eye ties in nicely with his left yellow hand. His right red fist has three black fingers further supporting the “hobbled” together patch work he might have had while on the battlefield.

I’m definitely a fan of the new hooded boiler suit as it just about doubles the different looks you can go for when setting him up on your shelf. The hood itself has an underwire around the brim so you can shape it some, though the suit rests fairly high overall and despite my efforts he always seemed to wind up with one form or another of pointy hat syndrome.

The camouflage on his boiler is the best 3A have done so far. Unlike the more hand painted flecks that appear on Jung De Plume, Pathfinder Ono Oya or the Jungle Grunt, Jungle Vet’s seems to be an actual camo pattern that’s simply part of the fabric. Across JV’s chest is two white “v” marks that call back to military badges and symbolism. The weathering for the boiler suit is what we’ve all seen before, faded and mostly dusty with a few heavier stained touches here and there.

Of course underneath it all is a standard issue white 3A shirt. I understand branding is important, but I really would like to understand how everyone from all walks of 3A toy life has managed to score one of these Ts. Are they the GAP of 3A land? Also, if all the toys have them, why can’t we? Where’s our 3A logo T-shirts? Anyway, it’s there in case you need it, but I preferred the look of keeping his suit zipped.

Again, the hands are just so much fun. I never really warmed to the original Ankou. I’ve had several in the past and have long since sold or traded them off. The mono eye is cool/funny, but I found the clamps too be somewhat restrictive to the character overall. I had a few laughs displaying my old creepy grinning Ankou using his clamps to try and lift Cherry Shadow’s skirt.. but beyond that I never really found a use for them that resonated with me. Others may have had much greater success and wouldn’t trade off their old Ankous for anything but take my word on it.

Jungle Vet is waaaay better than they are.

Jungle Vet as character feels more sneaky than dangerous. There’s something goofy about the Ankou design that keeps you from taking one seriously. I really like that about them. JV continues the feeling of playfulness and in fact might enhance it with the added (and personally much applauded) digits.

So yes, the hands are awesome and the gun JV comes with is awesome. Unfortunately for us, they weren’t made for each other and that’s less than awesome. JV’s gun is originally from Bleak Mission who’s hands are sculpted to fit the hand cannon. Despite JV’s awesome dexterous digits, he’s not as fortunate. He can hold the weapon, but he can’t fire it. As is often times the case when things are retrofitted after the fact.. they don’t technically work together.

Jungle V’s fingers are simply too fat for the trigger gaurd, or the trigger gaurd is too small for Jungle V’s fingers. It’s a small thing but it does add a little more fuel to my one criticism of Jungle Vet and that is the fact that he’s basically the result of company level kit bashing.

Even if you take into consideration the added hood on the boiler suit, there’s really nothing “new” about him. The body is the same old 3A body, the head and boots are from an Ankou, the boiler suit is from Zombs, and his hands are from either a 1:12th Armstrong or a Bramble. The bags and t-shirt are from countless other 3A figs and the gun is from Bleak.

I can’t decide if the fact that so many existing parts were used to build this guy should bother me, or if I should just marvel at how well it all works together.. AGAIN to create a seemingly unique new figure to play with.

This is about the part of the photo shoot where we were interrupted.. or rather, we interrupt others. As we move down the deck of the Missouri, we suddenly and unexpectedly ran into..

Rihanna. “Heyaaah.”

Without thinking it through I waved at her with a toy in my hand. She politely smiled and waved back.

It turns out, the day we chose to do our photoshoot also happen to be the day that some of the stars of the movie “Battleship” would be aboard to do some interviews and DVD extra’s shooting. We continued our own shoot and made a quick pit stop by where they were setting up to film to see what we could see.

As they walked pass, I don’t think anyone “got” why a grown man was holding a toy, posing and taking pictures of it. I can’t blame them.

Taylor Kitsch didn’t get it.

Brooklyn Decker gave us the stink eye…

Alexander Skarsgard kept looking over at as with an almost visible “?” above his head.

(editors note: Alex turns out to be a really nice guy. He came over later, shook our hands and took some pictures. I should have had him hold Jungle Vet for one.. but that’d been a little “Dance monkey! Dance!” I think.)

Anyway.. back to the review.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Jungle Vet is a bunch of different bits and pieces of 3A toys cobbled together and sold to us like something brand new. I’d call it snake oil if it didn’t work so totally well together. 3A is already known for putting out high quality, dynamic and highly articulated toys. What we have here is one of the best elements of the WWRp line of bots combined with the flexibility and articulation of the 1:6 human figure line. You’ll be able to squeeze more poses and gestures out of JV than any other figure currently in your collection. That in itself, makes him feel all new. Yes, his gun SHOULD have fit his hand. Though honestly, this is something I’ve learned to accept from 3A. My WWRp Warbots fingers can’t fit his guns and they were MADE for each other. Blind Cowboy’s hands are sculpted to fit his yet they’re a tad big and his grip is a little fickle. I’m not sure why this is, but for whatever reason, 3A’s “gun to fit hand perfectly” ratio is just not very good. Yet I can almost promise you it won’t detract from your enjoyment of this guy.

I enjoyed taking Jungle Vet to the Pearl Harbor memorial and posing him in various locations while snapping pictures like a fiend in front of various tourist and sailors. Despite wagging him raggedly like a goon at Rihanna as she walked by I think the shoot went really well and may be our best yet!

Opinions may be scattered on the quality of the Retail Adventure Kartel collection. Some have said it’s left a bad taste in their mouth and are even questioning whether or not they’ll continue to collect 3A. (Suuuure.. ) But I can assure you that Jungle Vet will live up and perhaps even surpass your expectations. It’s the most fun I’ve had with a toy this year hands down. Seek him out, try not to pay the flipper price and add him to your collection. Should you buy? Yes!

Pros:

The hands make the man/machine. Adds a ton to your poses and to his overall character.
The paint and weathering is up to snuff and sure to please.
New camouflage is better quality than in the past. Looks to be an ACTUAL pattern instead of a haphazardly painted one.
My favorite take away from the original Ankou the googley eye, is still fun to play with and good for a laugh
He’s a near perfect 3A kitbash

Cons:

He’s a near perfect 3A kitbash
Boxart might turn purist off
Unlike bambaland released Adventure Kartel Figures, no poster or extras are included with the retail released AK

Yeah.. Rihanna didn’t get it either..

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Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Knives

3A’s ReVenture is now behind us. Some very fortunate fans had the opportunity to score some pretty killer exclusive toys, sold in sets and limited to one per. A very small and extremely crazily lucky few were able to score ALL the exclusives they wanted. One such luck-miester is today’s wallpaper contributor, Kaiserfrog19. Featuring all 4 of the ReVenture exclusive Tomorrow King Old Gaurds. I couldn’t be more jealous!

This is the 3rd wallpaper set that Kaiserfrog has sent us and once again it’s stellar. Big thanks also to the HK Legion and those who shared their images for giving us all an inside glimpse of ReVenture 2012!

Enjoy!

click on your desired screen resolution to download!