REVIEW 3A Square Bomb

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Knives

Today is a special day for me because today my wife has taken over and written her first toy review! Not only did she do the write-up, but she shot all the photos as well. I’ll add a few of my own thoughts here and there as well to spice things up, but the majority of the following is all her!

Also at the end of this review is Rad Toy Review’s very first unboxing YouTube video! We’re still working out the kinks but it’s a good start and we’re excited to see where it takes us!

– Knives

INTRO

Hi all! Knives’ wife (sometimes called The Red Lady) here. I didn’t think it was possible for toys to take over any more of husband’s life until this website came along. To my chagrin, it immediately proved my theory wrong. I mean, really, who writes over 4,000 words about a toy? I don’t think he ever even wrote that much for school assignments! I feel if I have any hope of spending time with him ever again, I’m going to have to get involved with this toy business occasionally. So here I am! He’s asked me to share my perspective for this review, as a non-collector and “outsider” of sorts. While I won’t pretend to understand his relentless drive to collect toys and subsequent obsession with them, as a creative type, I do think some look pretty cool, so I’ll do my best to be fair and not let my personal feelings of abandonment color my words 😉 On to Mr. Square Bomb!

PACKAGING

The box he comes in is…well, it’s a box. Garden variety corrugated cardboard, white on the outside, brown on the inside. Other than the (comparatively rather large) threeA logo, the artwork is all black, white and orange. It’s simple, but kind of a neat look. I don’t really get the word bubble on the side, though. I guess it’s supposed to be what the square thinks, but it’s way too serious to come out of that goofy face.

K – The only thing I’d like to add about the packaging is actually about the brown shipping box it comes in. On the side clearly reads the words “SQUARE BOMB”. Yes, 3A has sent us all bombs in the mail. Prominently labeled as such. I wonder how many (if any) of these were held up in customs because of it.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Just the toy. Unless you’re super creative, and then I guess you could maybe do something with the plastic shell pieces?

THE BREAKDOWN

I’m going to ‘fess up here and admit that while I regularly give Knives a hard time about his “Ash” obsession, I actually really like some of Ashley Wood’s art (I could happily live without the scantily clad women with weird looking feet) and think a lot of his toys are pretty neat looking. The squares are definitely my favorite. Simple, but they have personality and are pretty cute. And before you go thinking I’m all girly and I just like cutesy things, know this – when the zombie apocalypse comes, I’m the one in this household that knows how to handle a weapon.

Ahem. Now that we have that cleared right up…

This square is a little different than the others, mostly because he’s carrying a giant bomb on his noggin. I’m not sure how he intends to use it, given that he lacks arms, but it’s there. His face is a little different than the other squares too. He still has that bucktooth thing going on, but his lip is far less curled out. I know he’s supposed to be the “crazy” one, on account of the word “unstable” printed on his face in giant block letters (subtle, no?), but he actually looks a little less crazy than the normal squares because of the lip. He’s also got one pretty sweet eyebrow over his left eye. He seems very sneaky to me!

I’m really impressed with how much articulation he has for a toy with so few appendages. Knives tells me it’s about the same as the other squares, but I guess this is the first time I really played with one. You can twist the base that the legs attach to all the way around, rotate and twist the top of the legs around a ball joint and even twist his feet back and forth a bit. Unfortunately, with so many options and his top-heavy nature, it was a little difficult to get him to actually stand up while photographing.

One of the things I think is so cool about these toys is the interesting paint jobs. The weathering and detail are (normally) great. This guy looks like he’s had dirty water running down him along with the normal weathering detail on the edges. There’s also some reddish splatter in there that breaks things up nicely.

Given that I’m usually such a fan of the paint though, I’ve gotta say I think they really phoned it in on the bomb. It’s a random assortment of red, brown and silver splatters that don’t make any sense to me, and are applied in a really lazy manner. There’s about four smudge marks around the main body of the bomb, with each color right on top of the other in the exact same spot, and anywhere with a dip is completely free of paint.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall I like this little guy. He’s got personality. It was pretty easy to come up with a little back story for him while taking pictures. If you don’t look too close, the paint job looks nice. The only other issue I had with him is that it’s pretty unclear how the bomb is attached. The belly of the bomb just kinda squares out, sitting flush to the top of his head. I feel like this was a missed opportunity for cool detail that would sell the whole bomb thing a little better.

Well, thanks for sticking around long enough to read the thoughts of the uninitiated! It’s been fun. I’m sure I’ll start to miss Knives again soon and have to come back for another!

K – Personally, I wasn’t too excited about square bomb when I ordered him. I ordered him based on the single fact that I love the MK1 Square. It’s a 3A/Ashley Wood classic. I was intrigued by the new face but the bomb didn’t look very “realized” in the teaser shots. I had my hand firmly on the trap door when he arrived only to be surprised by his “personality”. The new face won me over right away. Also, as my wife mentioned, the paint and weathering is well done. Perhaps just as important, not OVER done. There’s a good balance of dirty and clean and some nice attention to details around the edges and corners of the square’s body. It’s not the best I’ve seen 3A do, but it’s pretty darn good. I’ll agree with my wife that the bomb did lack some of the finer paint details of the square, but it didn’t bother me as much as it did her.

I think the thing I like about this guy the most is that he’s a one-off. One character with a unique face and a singular idea behind him. That could all change tomorrow and 3A could release a dozen different colorways of the bomb toting psycho, but for now he’s unique and I love that.

I do wish the bomb had some straps around it, or maybe some hoses running from it into the square’s body to make it a little more cohesive. This is 3A. They do straps and belts and hoses and bags like it’s their job.. because IT IS their job! It just looks like it’s stuck on with no basis of how or why. Some simple accessory connecting the two would have gone a long way I think.

Other than that I’d like to echo my wife’s feelings and say that overall I like this little guy. Thanks sweetie for putting this all together for me! You’re the best!

Pros:

wonderful new “troubled/sneaky” face
nice overall paint application
A unique character based off one of 3A’s most classic (and one of my favorite) toy designs

Cons:

The general execution of the bomb, from the way it’s painted to the way it’s attached looks less than inspired

Check out the first ever Rad Toy Review unboxing video!

Help us improve this site by letting us know what you think! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated!

A Quick look at 3A’s Retail Adventure Kartel figures

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Knives

Finally filling peoples homes and shelves all across the world is 3A’s Adventure Kartel Retail series. As one might assume, this host of figures are 3A retail exclusives. The bad news piece of that being that all of us with 3AA memberships and like to see them put to use had/will have to dump a good bit of extra change to snag one or several of them. The good news is, if you missed out and see one below you like, you have a pretty good chance at hunting him or her down fairly easily at your favorite online comic/toy shop.

Of the set, Jungle Vet is the only one we currently have coming our way. A review of course will follow his arrival but for now please enjoy the pics below!

A big thank to threeA forum member scummonkey for contributing the pics from his collection of the entire gang for our site. He’s way nicer than his name sounds! 🙂

Let us know how we’re doing! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay updated!

Wednesday’s Wallpaper of the Week

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Knives

Today’s wallpaper is one of my favorites yet! The photographer who goes by the mysterious name of The Red Lady has captured the compelling blend of innocence and twisted circuitry that is the 3A Square. I can only imagine that she took to photographing this troubled toy as well as she might have to cooking delicious cajun food.. with ease, grace and an inherent know how derived from generations of family influence.

I must confess. I am probably a little biased. Today’s wallpaper is from my wife.

The WWR and WWRp squares have always been her favorite of 3A’s toys. She’s also a graphic designer and photographer herself. When this grand opportunity arrived for her to shoot some shots of the little bugger, she jumped at it.

OK, I asked her politely and she said she’d do it if I cleaned the kitchen.

Well the kitchen is clean and the photos are shot. We hope you enjoy!

click on your desired screen resolution to download!

Square Bomb by The Red Lady 1024x768

Square Bomb by The Red Lady 1280x800

Square Bomb by The Red Lady 1920x1200

Bonus iPhone wallpaper!

Square Bomb by The Red Lady iPhone

See ya next week!

Let us know how we’re doing! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay updated!

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 website (which is also awesome) drop us a line at radtoyreview@gmail.com with your idea and/or image sample.

REVIEW Play Arts Kai Arkham Asylum Joker

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Knives

INTRO

Batman has been staring down at me from the mid shelf of my bookcase for a few days now. An unblinking crow, never wavering and ever diligent. I cannot escape his gaze. I try to pretend otherwise but I know what, or rather, WHO he’s looking for.. watching for.

It’s my fault really. I was the one who let him out of his cage. The cardboard and plastic semblance of Arkham Asylum. Only held together by a few pieces of scotch tape and a prayer. Yet enough for a time.

He arrived to me out of necessity more than luxury. I take some solace in the idea that Batman must know this. It’s said that to have good you must have evil. To see the darkness, you must know the light. To understand true joy you must experience personal tragedy.

To have Batman, you must have..

the Joker.

PACKAGING

Joker’s plastic prison was much the same as Batman’s, only a good deal thinner. I found it a tad ironic that Joker’s box probably killed at least one less tree than Batman’s. If you read our Batman review you have a good idea of what to expect this time around. All in all it’s about the same sequins-decked ballroom gown minus a few inches at the waist. You cut a thin piece of tape at the top tab and Joker slides out in a plastic tray sans fuss. Marvelous!

WHAT’S INCLUDED

As much as I would have enjoyed seeing it, Joker did NOT include a 3 foot long gun with a “BANG” flag hanging out of the end of it. From another era I suppose. Instead, Joker comes with a hand canon that’d possibly make Robocop jealous. He also comes with comically delightful wind-up chomping teeth that you can open and close.. though cannot wind-up. Like Batman, he too comes with an extra pair of hands to hold his gadgets and gift you with a wider array of pose options.

THE BREAKDOWN

Out of the pack, Joker looks absolutely fantastic! The pin stripe on his dapper attire is sculpted in, his evil/mischievous grin spot on and check out his shoes! His strapped shoes must have cost him a small fortune at the “clothes you can’t buy in this century” shop. They’re shiny too. I love ’em!

Joker’s visage is right in line with the villain whose eye you dotted in Arkham Asylum. As with Batman, Play Arts Kai obviously took care to accurately capture the game version of the character right down to the pointy chin. He looks great.

As much as I truly love how the Joker looks, I’d be wrong not to mention the incredibly apparent shoulder joints. Unlike Batman, whose cape does well to hide whatever shenanigans his shoulders are getting into, Joker’s shoulders are giant seams bordering on holes. With some modest finessing you can somewhat hide them, but in almost any pose you put him in they’ll be readily apparent. This will bother some more than others.

Let me repeat the stuff I said earlier about Joker looking great. There are so many great things here in the sculpt, the paint application, the little details like the dead flower pinned to his lapel and the gold chain hanging from his pocket. The purple suit he’s sporting even has tails. TAILS, MAN!

With so much praise feeding into this garden, what possible detractors could I rummage up ? Well, honestly?

Joker isn’t “fun”.

Or at least as fun as you’d like him to be. That might sound a little harsh, but I assure you that I’d like nothing more than to claim otherwise. I feel like I managed to pull off some pretty tight and dramatic poses with Joker but it was a downright chore to do so.

The first thing I do when writing and photographing a toy for review is stand the figure up in a neutral pose. Turns out, Joker does not easily come to terms with this idea. He’s a bit of a chore to get standing up on his own. While Bats has the advantage of his long pointy cape to give him an extra dash of “prop,” Joker is free ball’n. His feet are so slender, his legs sculpted into a natural bend that’s so extreme, that possibly even more so than Batman, gravity is his worst enemy.

Obviously, I eventually did get him standing.

The thing is, I don’t necessarily consider the difficultly in balancing him that massive an issue. I take it as a challenge like one might when balancing an egg filled spoon in one’s mouth and carrying it across a beer stained dorm room. Heck, some collectors only display their figures with stands, sometimes showcased in dramatic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sort of dioramas only possibly with one.

That being said, lack of balance is certainly not a perk either.

What gets me is a combination of issues. The real issue I found lies with his aforementioned tiny shoulder joints. Beyond being very obvious and sorta screwing up the otherwise killer aesthetic of the Joker, they don’t hold up to play very well either.

A conservative estimate of 7 out of 10 poses I attempted to put Joker into saw one or both of his arms popping out of joint. I’d just get him balanced, standing upright like a proper homo sapien should, only to fumble while fine-tuning his arms and they’d come right off. The only recourse was to pick him up, pop his arms back into the joint and start over again. Maybe Batman cheated. Maybe the added advantage of his cape giving him balance as well as hiding the unsightly shoulder joint, possibly even assisting in keeping the joint in place, has white washed my view of what this toy should be!

But I can’t erase the past. All I know is what I’ve experienced and what I’ve experienced was that I had a blast posing up and playing with Batman, shoulder rotation limitations and all. On the other hand, I felt like I was trying to balance two fragile finicky toothpicks while messing with the Joker.

sigh…

Despite this, with some work you can get Joker to hold some pretty impressive poses. The arcs of his sculpt really look great when they successfully hold ground. I even managed to get him to balance on one leg. If there is one thing Play Arts Kai did absolutely right with this toy, it’s infuse in it a dramatic sense of movement.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I wanted to love this toy. The Joker has been my favorite comic book villain since I was a wee boy. To this day, my ears perk up when I hear about a new Batman or Joker action figure coming around. Batman was my very first Play Arts Kai toy and I’m really happy to have him in my collection. Sure, he had a few things I’d like to see improved upon, but I had a lot of fun playing with him. With Joker I had a ton of expectations and a few body blows of reality once in hand.

Maybe my Joker is the exception and yours won’t have the same finicky shoulder joints that pop out every five seconds. I think he looks great, even with the very exposed shoulder joints that kind of jack up his silhouette. As a colleague of mine once said, “I’m not trying to pretend my toys aren’t toys.” What it really boils down to is the functionality and whether or not it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the toy to you.

All that being said, I still hold to the idea that you can’t have one without the other. What are you going to do, just buy Batman? Think about how lonely he’ll be. It’s natural to have both. If you have Bats, you darn well NEED Joker.