*REVIEW* MOTU Fisto

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INTRO

So after years of waiting.. (aka,WEEKS) Mr. Postman finally delivered Mr. Fisto. Being a newbie to collecting the “newish” Masters of the Universe Classics line I feel like I hit the jackpot with my timing.  I had just ordered He-Man (review here) and Battle Cat when I saw that Fisto’s scheduled drop day was a few short days away. As a kid, Fisto was my favorite MotU character so I didn’t hesitate to mark my calendar and set my many alarms. For me, the drop rang in at 6:00am, not a relatively early time but early enough to be annoying to have to function on a level higher than a heavily sedated Malamute. My iPhone was in hand at 5.57. By 5:59 I was in a Mattel sanctioned waiting room. Fisto was in my cart and purchased by 6:15 and soon I was back to dreaming of unicorns and gummy bears.

My first mattycollector.com preorder was a success. I thought it was a pretty painless affair though following up on their forums I found that quite a few people begrudgingly missed out on him. I received a notice he was shipping the very next day on Feb 16th . Ages have passed (seriously, are they sending these out via colicing horse and buggy?) and he’s finally here. So now the cliche’ question I hope to answer, was he worth the wait?

PACKAGING

Fisto came in the same style pack as He-Man did. Classic Masters of the Universe logo splashed on a bubble topped card. I like the way these look as they’re a nice call back to the days of years past, but bubble cards in general are something I’m always at odds with. I much prefer a box style pack or even sliding bubble packs where you can cut a few thin pieces of tape that allow you to easily slide the bubble off without destroying the card. It’s the never ending conundrum for the toy collector. I just don’t think it has to be that way.

The back shows some other figures to put on your “want list” and of course, Fisto’s backstory. I love that the story art is a throwback to the old school comics that used to come packed in with the original figures. I wish they still did that, it’d be awesome to have a mini series continuing the saga. I’m sure printing cost is a huge factor in why they don’t.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

When I was a kid, I’d almost always misplace the extra accessory that my toys came with. I’m happy to report that Fisto comes with plenty of  extra things to lose. You get a removable belt, a purple sword that just like the original toy of old, is the same sword that comes with Tri-clops, an extra MASSIVE sword from an older unreleased prototype and an extra crown bearing head.

THE BREAKDOWN

Man, Fisto rocks. In what could have been the shortest review ever, I’ll go ahead and expound on that statement. Right off, I’m blown away by the fantastic sculpt (courtesy of the ever impressive Four Horsemen). Fisto looks grizzled, but not haggard, ready to fight, but not menacing. The details in his beard and face such as the frown lines between his eyes are spot on. While I liked the way He-Man turned out, Fisto’s face came out a lot more realistic and believable. I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen someone somewhere who looks like just like him, sans giant metal fist.

One of the cool details that some may not notice right away is that his right bicep is actually sculpted larger than his left. There’s even a bulging vein to accentuate the strength and effort it takes for him to swing that ginormous steel fist around.

Speaking of the fist, it looks perfect. A few gold accent colors on the knuckles break up the silver  nicely and of course the sculpt is impeccable. I used to pop the old Fisto’s fist off and pretend he could shoot it at bad guys like Thor throwing his hammer, but I’m not sure that’s possible here. I’m not doing very much “pretending to shoot at bad guys” these days, plus I didn’t want to risk breaking my shiny new toy so I can’t verify this one way or the other. Side note: It’s amazing how easy it is for one to at once make claims of maturity and then completely disintegrate said claim in the same sentence. Moving on.

You get a bunch of options with Fisto in how you want to display him.  My favorite way being with his giant sword  sheathed in the molded loop on his back, while he holds the smaller sword in his hand. Throw the very nicely detailed belt on and he’s ready to go.

The most obvious change is a quick swap of the heads. While both heads share several of the same deets, I’d give the edge to the original. The crown looks cool on the secondary, but the paint on his face looks a little bit flat compared to the first. Personal preference here definitely applies.

Fisto is just as articulated as He-Man was and also shares the same limitations I mentioned in that review. The only real difference being his massive fist which pivots at his forearm. You get a pretty good range of motion out of him overall. His vest piece, when combined with the belt does limit some of his waist/torso articulation. It’s nothing terrible, but it does prevent his full range of motion.

I think one of my favorite details on Fisto is actually on his belt. On the back of it is a small book and pouch. They are not removable, but add so much character to the figure. Seeing them had me wondering what they were all about. Does Fisto keep a diary? It’s kind of a shame they’re on his back, because there’s nothing aesthetically pleasing about the big flat circular fastener they’re next to.

In the picture above you might notice that giant sheath/loop that you use to hold Fisto’s massive sword. While I think it’s a great feature, I wish they would have figured out a way to also allow for the smaller sword to be held there as well. Like the extra head, if you decide you’d like to have him holding the Cloud Strifian blade, you basically have to find some place to store it. You can sort of hook the hilt of the purple blade on the edge of the loop, but it doesn’t hold up to much posing or when viewing it from the back. Sit and forget and it’s a serviceable solution.

Another really cool touch is the tiny iron fist sculpted on the end of the massive sword’s hilt.  The sword itself is a little too anime for my taste, but sheathed with that fist sticking up in the air is straight up beast.

Overall, the paint application on Fisto is really superb. Small details abound on his face, armor, fist, belt, swords.. the subtle goodness is everywhere. Like He-Man, the shading on the skin gradates to support the sculpted form beneath. I really like that Mattel doesn’t just give us flat “muscle bound” plastic and call it a day. They do seem to care how these toys are made.

Alas, as with all things in life, Fisto is not perfect. The most garish of these blemishes comes in the form of his smooth silver painted midriff, painfully viewable once you remove his armor. I just don’t get the reasoning for this. Was Mattel concerned about Fist’s armor coming across like a belly shirt or something? If you pose him in a certain stretched manner, I imagine if not for the silver coating there might have been a belly button peaking out but come on, this just looks silly. On top of the silver paint, it’s completely smooth as there’s also no sculpting to speak of either.

There are exactly two other small things that keeps my main man, Fisto from being perfectly executed. First, the paint detail on his chest piece does not carry on from front to back. For whatever reason (ran out of paint?) it ceases at the armor split. Yes it’s on his back, but believe it or not these are objects that we can turn and twist at will. It’s not really hidden. We can still see it. The second thing is more of a defect in my particular toy and may not carry on to yours. His sword hand has some mashed digits, as though they were pinched in a machine or clipped by nail clippers. It’s a small thing, possibly caused by during manufacturing but it still puts a bit of tarnish on his otherwise gold star. I wouldn’t have even mentioned it but so far I’m 3 for 3 on my MotU figures arriving with defects. All minor, but no less annoying when the cost and wait period is as high as it is.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So regular head, belt, and chest armor on, big sword sheathed on his back, purple sword at the ready in his left hand and giant fist held menacingly so.. this is how Fisto shalt be presented in my house. My short time with MotU Classics has already been really rewarding so far. I’m really digging these figures! Fisto continues to reign as my favorite figure from this toyline. A few small issues keep him from being the perfect MotU figure in my eyes. Mattel’s odd design choice in going with smooth silver at his midriff and the lack of the otherwise fantastic paint details carrying on throughout the character might cause you a small amount of emo, but I can promise that you’ll get over it.

Fisto looks great and he comes with a bunch of fun things to mess around with (and hopefully not lose in the process). So to answer my cliche’ question of “is he worth the wait?” let me emphatically say…

Yup.

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THE WORKSHOP – DIY 1/6 machete by Paul Benson

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Today you’re going to learn from my main man Paul Benson how to fashion a made from scratch machete for your wee plastic army. Break out your tiny tools and follow along!

– Knives

THAT’S NOT A KNIFE, THIS IS A KNIFE.
Missed out on the ThreeA Jungler Ranger Grunt and then regretted having done so ever since, so I have kitbashed my own.  Although the camouflaged kit I have used tends to suggest temperature forest rather than tropical jungle.  I thought he still needed a machete to aid  movement through heavy vegetation, ground clearance, cutting wood for fires etc.

The design I went for is similar in design and size to the British Army Bushcraft machete.
The materials I used were 3mm sheet balsa, 1mm sheet styrene and 3mm Grosgrain and linen cloth.  The paints were a Humbrol acrylic aerosol spray, Games Workshop acrylic paints and a MIG weathering powder.
To make the machete the outline was drawn on a piece of sheet balsa and cut out with a sharp scalpel.  It was then shaped with a scalpel and then with sandpaper.  An edge to the blade was made with fine emery paper.  The blade was then painted with super glue to harden the surface several times.  Sand it down again to get a very smooth surface. The hand end of the machete was then used as a stencil to draw two grips onto 1mm styrene sheet.  Cut them out and glue in place.  “Screw” holes were drilled with a scalpel blade.  To give the impression of wood grain I scratched the styrene handles with a scalpel blade point.
To make a sheath of the correct shape and size, I used the machete as a stencil to draw out the form on styrene sheet. The shape was then cut out with scissors.  I’d never suggest that I’m very good at sewing.  Buttons tend to be my limit. So assembly of the sheath was not done with finely sewn lines, I used super glue!! Use what you’re comfortable with.
The first step was to cover the styrene shape I had made.  The fine linen material I used was wrapped round completely with a slight overlap and then cut.  A few dabs of glue here to hold it fast.  Where straight lines were needed, the linen was painted with super glue which hardened it and made it very easy to cut clean.  Games Workshop super glue is superb for this job, as the pot it is in comes with a small brush.  The back of the sheath won’t be very neat, but no one should see it anyway. A second piece of linen was used as the front of the sheath and again glued around the back as neatly as possible.  To create an edge to the sheath where the machete would go in, the linen was folded over and glued inside. The top part of the sheath was painted with super glue and cut neatly.  A short loop of Grosgrain was looped through one half of a 1/6 side release and glued behind. At this point you can clean it up by cutting any loose threads.
The webbing body strap was 3mm Grosgrain cut generously (it would be cut to the correct length later once on the figure) and looped through the other half of the side release.  The sheath could just have easily been attached to the loop webbing on the figure.
The machete was then sprayed with Humbrol matt black acrylic aerosol paint.  When dry the blade was dry brushed with Games Workshop boltgun metal acrylic paint. Unfortunately I was too vigorous and knocked of a little of the blade at the end. The handle was painted with GW scorched brown and when dry further dry brushed with scorched brown mixed GW skull white. The webbing strap and sheath were painted with GW catachan green acrylic paint mixed with a little GW chaos black. It was then dry brushed with catachan green mixed with skull white.  To highlight the weave on the webbing and sheath, they were both finally dry brushed very lightly with skull white by itself.  To dirty up the sheath dry mud MIG weathering powder was mixed with a little GW skull white and dabbed onto the sheath, this would match what I had done to the clothing of the kitbashed grunt I had made the machete for.  To add a little bit of rust to the machete I used GW dark flesh lightly dabbed on with a small piece of natural sponge.  The technique is all about trial and error, for example I dabbed the piece of sponge (around 4cm by 4cm cut from a bigger sponge) into the paint and then dabbed it onto paper.  When I got a random pattern of small randomly shaped marks I was happy with, I applied the sponge to machete blade.  Where I need more marks I rotated the sponge and dabbed again.  I did the same technique on the sheath to add a little visual interest, although rust from the machete blade may well have got onto the sheath anyway.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of The Workshop. Thanks Paul putting together for us. Now get out there and customize something!

We’d love to hear from you and check out what kind of customs you’re working on! Send us a shot of your latest custom work with a brief discription to radtoyreview@gmail.com. 

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Until next time!


Contest announcement – follow us on Facebook to participate

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*First Look* Wondercon Exclusive Star Wars Shock Trooper Two Pack ArtFx+ Statue by Kotobukiya

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INTRO

Can statues be toys? I’ve been asking myself that question since my early days of collecting, particularly when McFarlane toys started to systematically eliminate articulation with each new update of their Spawn figure series. The line blurred further as I began to delve into collecting comic book-based statues to crowd my office with. They’re awesome to look at but you can’t play with or pose them.

As an adult collector, I still enjoy posing and “playing” with my toys, although certainly on a different level (I’d like to think) than when I was 10. As a 3D character artist, I really appreciate and enjoy looking at high quality sculpted characters, searching for that hidden detail that sets the whole piece off. So what do you get when you combine a little bit of toy and a little bit of statue?  I think you’d get something along the lines of what ARTFX and Kotobukiya have put together with their ARTFX+ Statue series.

Today I’m excited to have the opportunity to review the 2012 Wondercon Exclusive Star Wars Shock Trooper Two Pack. These 1/10th scale figures are limited to only 1000 pieces and now available for preorder ONLY through Action Figure Express.

PACKAGING

The Shock Troopers are packed up in a classic black-dominated box befitting the Empire. A small “limited edition” sticker on the front informs you that you’ve just gotten something only available in finite figures.”Star Wars” embellishes several of the sides so there’s little question what you’re getting into. The front and back features the Shock Troopers themselves posed up in a few of their available configurations. On the back, a few paragraphs give you a little back story on these elite security soldiers and fills you in on some of the things that make ARTFX+ figures unique.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Once you crack her open, you’ll find all your goodies cased in a plastic prison tray. It’s a pretty daunting amount of individual odds and ends. You have your two base Shock Trooper bodies, ten extra arms, four extra legs, two DC-15S carbines, two DC-15A blaster rifles and two magnetic bases. Each one is individually packed in little plastic sleeves. You could probably watch the entire Star Wars collection including the 1978 Holiday Special (slight exaggeration) by the time you got them all unwrapped, but the pile of stuff you have left over once you do should get you pretty excited to start piecing together what kind of options you have in front of you.

THE BREAKDOWN

I really didn’t know what to expect when I started to rummage around with this set. I’ve been a fan of Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo line for awhile now as well as a (almost-goes-without-saying-because-I’m-an-adult-toy-collector-running-a-website-about-toys) huge fan of Star Wars. I’ve had countless Star Wars toys and Koto’s Bishoujo statues are of course pvc plastic statues. I’ve never had a difficult time telling them apart. But I’ve never had a statue that’s not quite a toy but not quite not-a-toy either. The only thing I knew to do was to jump right in.

There’s a little instruction paper included with the set that shows the default stance for the troopers. It details how the arms for that stance have hands that swivel at the wrist to help you better get the pose just right. At the bottom of the page it also gives you a handful of reference poses to point you in the right direction with the other pieces. After that, you’re pretty much on your own. Like so often is the case, I skipped the directions my first go and just got right into mixing and matching pieces to see for myself what would and would not work.

First, let me just say that I really like the magnetic bases. It’s such a simple but great idea that makes moving these guys around into various positions so much easier. No worries for balancing them or one toppling over once you get them arranged like you want. The base will hold them nice and secure.

How the pieces fit together is pretty self explanatory. Peg goes into hole. You can’t jam a left arm into a right’s spot just as you can’t have your Trooper sporting legs for arms. The joints fit nice and snug with very little wiggle room for error. I found everything to be fitted very exact with hands meeting the rifles soundly as expected.

Aside from letting you switch out different limbs, each Shock Trooper’s head is on a ball joint and can be rotated side to side/front to back. Coupled with a twist joint at their waist, this adds further flexibility to your setup.

One thing you’ll notice if you start blindly placing pieces as I did, is that not all configurations are created equal. While I found one or two variances that looked alright to me, you pretty much can’t stray too far from the options shown in the instruction paper. This isn’t a bad thing at all as the poses given are dynamic and “tell a story”, it’s simply the intent of the design. But if you went in blind, it’ll take you a few minutes to sort it out. Lesson learned: Read instructions.

So after playing with these guys for about an hour, I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on what arrangement I think looks best and a pretty solid grasp on ARTFX’s interchangeable limbs system. But what about everything else?  Are these guys well made? Are they worth the cost of admission? Are they cool?

I was pleasantly surprised with the nice solid feel of these figures. I’d compare them to high-end models minus having to worry about glueing your fingers together or delicate pieces snapping off. The sculpt itself is clean and accurate to the character design. Details like the wrinkles in the cloth under their armor add a few nice subtle touches.

Individually sculpted, yet already attached, pieces for the elbow/knee pads, hand/shoulder guards and belts gives them a convincing layered look.

The paint application, being mostly red and black accents on white plastic is pretty straight forward. These guys must have just had their armor dry cleaned or never seen a second of battle because there isn’t a speck of dirt or grime on either of them. Because of their incredibly clean look, there really isn’t a ton to discuss except to say that what’s here is done well. The bold red is a good deal glossier than the white, particularly in the boots. Whether this was by design or simply the result of paint vs plastic, it definitely adds to the overall look.

FINAL WORD

I’m a child of the 80’s and thus have always been a much bigger fan of the original Star Wars trilogy than anything related to the franchise that’s come along since. But I admit, prequel or otherwise, I really like these guys. I can imagine how great they’d look with a few other Clone Troopers and maybe a Jedi or three. Once I got my head away from the “toys or not toys” thought bubble, I started to really enjoy the simplicity and exactness of their design.

I’m happy with the way I’ve set my little crew up. I will probably leave them that way for a couple of months, after which I’ll swap a few things out and be good to go for another few. ARTFX+ Statues are all about giving you a bunch of fun options and basically letting you squeeze a little play and interaction out of what would otherwise be a couple of static figures.

If you fancy yourself a Star Wars fan, whether or not you’ve ever experienced Kotobukiya/ARTFX+ Statues, I highly recommend giving this Limited Edition Shock Trooper 2-pack a look. Though I must caution that if you pick it up, you might want to clean some space off  your shelf because I highly doubt it’ll be your last.

I can see a slippery slope a mile away. You’ve been warned.

A big thanks to Kotobukiya for providing us with this set to preview. 

Make sure to hit up Kotobukiya’s Facebook page to stay updated on all their upcoming releases! If you’re interested in preordering this exclusive set, head on over to Action Figure Express and they’ll take care of that for you lickity split!

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Thanks for reading!

GALLERY