City Strike Duke & Friends
Recently, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra (ROC) toys went on sale here in the Philippines and I decided to pick up a few. The 45% discount was too good to pass up so I got the first ROC Snake Eyes, Paris Pursuit Storm Shadow (PP Storm Shadow), and City Strike Duke (CS Duke). I’d seen these three warming the pegs for quite some time and at Php 300 each, I figured it was time to get them before people started clearing them out, leaving me with only Cover Girls, Vipers, and Zartans.
City Stirke Duke is one of those unlucky figures seems to have come out at the wrong time. Seeing as how he’s part of the wave that includes City Strike Snake Eyes people kind of glided over him when they saw him on the pegs. Here’s what I imagine went on at local toy stores when wave 5 hit the shelves:
So I might be exaggerating a bit. I did however say something along similar lines to several reps on my failed searches for CS Snake Eyes, and I’m sure some of you did as well. I only took the time to look at CS Duke when the Christmas Sales were in full swing and it became apparent that if I ever wanted a CS Snake Eyes, I’d have to pay some scalper on eBay my right testicle for it.
Once I did pause, CS Duke didn’t look so sucky. He’s got a pretty good arsenal of his own and doesn’t look all that bad. He still suffers from Melonheadinitis, but it’s not as pronounced as my other Duke figure from the Rescue Mission set. The sculpt is sort of the reactive armor uniform, but with pants. Bright blue pants. It’s weird looking, but it really does grow on you.
His accessories are a rifle, a sub-machine gun, a knife, a pistol, a sword with a scabbard that plugs into the hole in his back, and a belt. The belt is pretty useless. They didn’t even think to put a sheath for the knife or a holster for the gun. You can tuck them in there, but it’s not the same thing is it? The rest of the gear you’ve seen with other figures, but like all GI Joe toys, that never really matters. It’s all good and it all looks pretty nice.
Articulation is very good. A lot of the ROC toys enjoy the double knee joints and stomach joints that allow them to do proper kneeling positions. Coupled with the great ankle ball/hinge joint and his hasbro elbows and hip ball/sockets, you’ve got near Marvel Legends poseability here.
Which makes this figure that much more fun to play with.
The first release of Snake Eyes was another I’d passed on, mostly due to those ugly molded lips. Whoever thought they should add those to the design should be given a stern talking to. Really? Lips? It’s as bad as Schumacher’s nipples on the Batsuit.
Accessory wise, he doesn’t have a whole lot. The standard Snake Eyes uzi, a backpack, and a sword. whoopdeedoo. There’s also that stupidly huge gun, but do we really need to get into that again? What’s irritating is that he has two runners for swords on his backpack… only one sword. duh, Hasbro. Most likely the peice is a leftover from another toy, I guess. he’s also got some horrible webgear with a sculpted holster and gun. Would have been nice if we had gotten a useable pistol.
The Paris Pursuit Storm Shadow is probably one you’ve already seen reviews about. I agree with most of the points on those. It’s a nice toy, but not all that well executed. The head doesn’t look too much like the actor, but that’s a given at this scale. Also the Storm Shadow in the Paris scene looks nothing like this, but it’s a action figure so a guy in a suit would probably have been boring for the kiddies.
Oh, well.
His accessories are a lot better than Snake Eyes’. He’s got a pair of swords, a pair of sais, a pistol AND a holster, plus a ridiculously big gun and ridiculously big suction cup. Both of the latter went right into my never-seen-again-box.
What I really had fun with after I opened these three figures was mixing and matching their heads. So I don’t have a City Strike Snake Eyes. I’ll make one (but with bright blue pants). Ever wonder what Duke would look like in Snake Eyes’ armor? Or Storm Shadow’s suit?
Hell, I even took off John Connor’s head and gave it a permanent home on Duke’s body. I think it makes old melon head look loads better.
Play Arts Kai Star Ocean Figures
The Play Arts (PA) line of toys recently came under the Square Enix umbrella. With the merge came a big jump in the number of licences that PA had to utilize. Before, we were pretty much stuck with characters from the various Final Fantasy installments. And Dragon Quest, but who really wanted those? When I wrote that preview article on the upcoming FF XIII figures I said how this was a line that had only a few waves a year. I was wrong.
Since Square Enix took over, we’ve gotten wave after wave of new product, including Final Fantasy IX, Full Metal Alchemist, and Kingdom Hearts. If you do a search on the BigBadToystore site, you’ll find a whole mess of new figures slated to come out in 2010. There’s the aforementioned series 1 of the Final Fantasy XIII figures, series 2 of the same with 3 brand new characters, and 2 gestalts (Shiva and Odin) that will transform from humanoid mode to combine into vehicles for the figures. They’re HUGE and look as detailed as the Daytona Hardy and still look as articulated as the regular figures.
Awesome.
Unfortunately, this flood of plastic is a severe drain on the wallet, which is why I’ve really got to pick and choose the ones I really want. It’s hard going since PA has been so consistent with the quality of their sculpting and manufacture. I mean have you seen that Alphonse Elric figure? That thing is a work of art! Since I’m so in love with the gestalt designs, I’ll be saving my money to get those two figures to put next to my Cloud and Fenrir, I passed on the Alchemist and Kingdom Hearts figures. But when I saw these two figures at Best Toys in VMall, Greenhills I couldn’t resist.
Star Ocean is another franchise owned by Square Enix. It was originally released waaaay back in 1998. Remember when the Playstation was still the rage? I didn’t think so. Gosh I’m old. The graphics for this old school RPG weren’t anything to spank a rabbit over, but damn if it wasn’t a lot of fun. When I first got the PSP versions last year, I couldn’t stop playing, even if the unskippable cutscenes made it a chore to wade through the game a second time. Totally gave me 8-bit flashbacks to The Legend of Zelda.
The Last Hope (the installment these figures are based on) was released early in 2009 on the Xbox 360. The PS3 version should be coming out next month. It’s really more of a prequel (damn you George Lucas) and doesn’t feature anyone from the first parts. Since I haven’t played it, I can only tell you that “Edge Maveerick” (that is such a stupid name) is the impulsive captain of the SRF-003 Calnus and Reimi Saionji is one of his childhood friends that serves on the same boat.
The toys of the two characters come in the standard Play Arts box. It hasn’t changed much since Square Enix took over, with a few shots of the figure and accesories and one of the other toy in the series. The graphics are minimal and the packaging is mostly functional. It’s got a huge window up front that allows you to get a clear view of the toy itself, and all the parts.
I’ll start with Edge since he was the one I saw more of leading up to the time I purchased the set.
The character design of the video game is typical of the Japanese Sci Fi I’m familiar with; loud colors, broken lines, vaguely future-tech looking details. Sort of like a Jeepney. He’colored in white and weirdly effeminate pastels, but it’s a nice change from the unending black and gray of the FF VII Advent Children figures.
The sculpt looks pretty accurate from various screenshots I’ve seen of the character, and the sculpt is fantastic. There isn’t any painted-on detail here, it’s all 3D, sculpted work. The level of work put into these toys is really something.
The plastic is also great, with some nice transluscent look. It’s soft, but sturdy, and I’m crossing my fingers that it won’t go the way of my FF X-2 YiRiPa figures and start to break over time.
He comes with a few accessories. First he has an extra head.
Unlike the FF VII AC figures that were meant to look more realistic, these tend more toward their anime roots. It’s obvious in the design of Edge’s spare head. He’s made to look as if he’s screaming/howling/shouting and looks just as cartoony as anything on Japanese TV. There is an articulation problem with the head (the hair keeps him from looking up), but it’s not a big one. It’s easy to pop on and off to exchange them, though you’ll want to be careful to do so with care, since the post could conceivably break.
He also comes with an excellent looking sword and a rather ridiculously oversized scabbard. The scabbard looked extremely silly to me at first, but it really does grow on you you. I’m sure they explained in the game why he needed this thing (there’s probably some containment field or storage battery or some such). The thing is made of ABS plastic and slots right into his belt. It’s a nice little change from huge-blade-hanging-from-the-back-man.
Reimi Saionji has the same in build/design quality, sharing the same kind of general theme and hi-tech details. She sports a more cartoonish face than any of the other PA females I own, though, which is kind of a turn off. It’s odd that she’s also a tiny bit taller than the others as well. I guess Square Enix decided that their figures should be a tiny bit better than the old ones so decided to up the scale a smidge. It’s not really that noticeable unless she’s right up against one of the others.
Instead of a sword, she comes with her bow. It’s a sci fi version of the compound bow you see hunters and sportsmen using (or if you’re old enough, Rambo). Again it’s made of ABS plastic (even the string) so it’s tough, but feels fragile. I keep thinking I’m going to break that string if I store it in anything but a metal box. I would have prefered that they use actual string and included a few arrows or something. She doesn’t even have another head like Edge.
As I’ve said in previous reviews, I think that PA is really in the lead when it comes to female figures. They’ve found this perfect balance between sculpt and articulation, and unlike the big two, they’re always improving. The Ashe figure was a huge improvement on the FVII figures, and these sport some of the same things that made that toy so excellent, plus a few new ones.
For one, they have elbow joints that allow their arms to go past the 45 degree point. It’s not a double hinge joint, but hell, it’s almost as good, not to mention a hell of a lot sturdier.
The knees as well share that same extra range, making for very satisfying articulation. Unfortunately, due to his skirt, Edge’s leg movement is severly limited. The skirt is made up of a dense, soft plastic that doesn’t really bend. This blocks his hips. I don’t think there was much they could have done here, but it does annoy.
Reimi fares better since her “skirts” are articulated and you can move the pieces out of the way of her thighs.
I can’t recommend these toys for everyone. I got my Star Ocean set for Php3,800 (about $85) at Best Toys. Make no mistake, these figures are not for the Buy One Take One crowd. The level of detail and quality of the design, not to mention relatively low runs and the fact that they are imports, make these prohibitively expensive for many collectors. Shops don’t often carry many. I’ve only seen Edge twice in Greenhills, and the Reimi I bought was the only one I’ve seen locally.
However, if you’re a fan of Japanese video games and have about Php2000 to spare, take a look at the new Play Arts line up. Several of the toy stores in Greenhills have the new Final Fantasy figures for pre-order, and you can still find the older toys at Best. It’s not advisable to be a completist of the Play Arts Kai line, but with the new products Square Enix has in store for 2010, you’re definitely going to want to cherry pick a few good ones.
Over at Articulated Discussion, there’s a great interview by Dr. Nightmare with two “scalpers” about their practices and motivations. It’s a great read. I’ve been posting there as well, figured I might as well make some content out of it and hit those two birds.
I’ve noted that scalping’s become a big thing in the Philippines too, mostly because of the proliferation of big malls with pre-release announcements and a growing collectors community. It’s pretty easy for people to go online and get news about hot items and when they’ll be released here. To make matters worse, toys go on sale relatively quickly here, with huge discounts on some very good figures, sometimes ones that were delayed in the States (like the Nemesis wave of Marvel Legends). This allows regular eBayers to buy up figures in staggering numbers on the cheap, wait until demand is high, and re-sell them at insanely big mark ups.
Fortunately, toy stores and distributors are learning that the collector community (who are the ones who do a lot of the promoting of these items) is frustrated by these practices and have implemented some steps to help. Things like limiting of one hard to find item per customer and staggering the shelving of new items help ward off opportunistic hoarders. In addition, stores that are selling scalped items often get called on it and lose potential patrons when their names begin popping up on local toy collectors’ forums. Scalpers are having a hard time making all those trips to the stores pay off.
Many of the younger collectors I meet have that mentality that scalpers are the reason for everything that’s wrong with life, and go out of their way to vocalize their hate, posting pictures and calling for boycotts. It’s a waste of energy, folks. After a few years in the hobby, you learn that there are ways to maximize your chances of scoring items. For the most part, getting what you want is just like everything else, you gotta work at it.
Because the Philippine market is still largely brick and mortar stores rather than online sites, it’ll be more than just staking out online auctions and sniping at the last second. There’s a fair amount of walking involved. Walking and waiting.
Many toys are big hits when they’re first released and have a HUGE demand. They fly off shelves like you wouldn’t believe. For a month or two, that toy is very hard to find. Scalpers start selling off these hard-to-find items at 200%-400% the suggested price. But then Hasbro goes and ships out more assortments and the toys flood the market, allowing collectors to get them at their liesure. This happened with the recent Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen line. How many of you paid a ton of money for that Ice Cream Truck?
However, the restock thing works only part of the time, and only on something like Transformers where popularity of the line almost gaurantees re-stocks in future case assortments. Keep in mind that it’s also only good for areas like Metro Manila where demand is high. Just like in the States, if you live in rural areas where Toy Stores get maybe 1 box of new toys a week, you’re shit out of luck.
Here in the PI, I make it a point to try and use every chance I get to look for things I’m targeting, since you really never know which will pan out. I check the stores whenever I have time, mostly the ones closest to me and on my way to work. When I’m in other areas, I drop by local stores and check things out as well, though I don’t try to go out of my way. I’m also a member of several local groups that let’s people know what’s coming out. You can talk to sales reps about case assortments, deliveries, stocks, or if any other branches have the items you’re looking for. Events, product launches, and conventions are a big part of the hunt, too.
If I REALLY want a toy, and have exhausted all the methods above, or I judge from responses on the boards that it’ll be a hassle to try and find this particlar item myself, then I’ll consider paying the premium to get it from a scalper or a specialty store.
And there’s another issue. What about the specialty store? Owners of these small shops would also be considered scalpers by some of the definitions laid down by the anti-scalper squad. They buy toys on the cheap and re-sell them for profit. For example, I sold my G1 Metroplex for Php 1000 (about $20) to one and later saw it being sold for about 4 times as much. Was this wrong of the owner?
I don’t think so. For one, I didn’t have the means to find a buyer for it as I don’t use eBay, nor did I have the means to complete the few missing parts. The owner of the store had both, as well as walk-in traffic to his store. The same argument could be made for scalpers as well. Many people don’t have the access or time to find these toys. Scalpers do.
Would I love it if there were no scalpers and both production runs and distribution of toys were perfect, making sure everyone got the toys they wanted? Yes, of course. But I realize that’s highly unlikely in the real world.
I also realized that I’m more annoyed by people flooding our “What’s Available” boards, complaining about scalpers than I am with the scalpers themselves.
Transformers Universe
Bruticus Maximus & Superion
I’m sure that by this time Transformers fans will have already read reviews of these two sets, but since I just got these a few weeks ago, I’m going to subject you to another one.
When these two sets were released locally at retail shops, I didn’t really want to bother with them. With a tag of Php2,200, I felt they wouldn’t be a good value considering how much I was turned off by their design. I’d been looking at reviews online by the various dudes I follow and those clear Energon weapons killed it for me.
If you’re not aware, the set is a re-color (more of a G1 homage than the original) of a set released during the Transformers: Energon sub-line, where all the figures came with some funky weapons that were cast in transluscent neon colors. I’m sure the gimmick made sense at the time (since I was not following the shows, I can’t tell you the reasoning) and there was some precedent (Prime and Megatron fought with an energon axe and mace respectively), but I found it a little silly. The fact that many of the weapons were oversized when you used them for the robot forms was pretty aggravating.
For this particular set, the designers also used these guns as hands and feet for the combined robot. This annoys me no end since the attachments aren’t suited to the task at all. Frankly, they look ridiculous. There are some great custom kits made by FansProject that addresses this successfully, but more on that later.
That being said, these sets recently hit the bargain bin with a HUGE discount. At Php800 (you heard right), these two boxes start looking incredibly spectacular.
I’ll start with Bruticus.
Like most Generation One combiners, Bruticus was composed of 5 bots; a Leader (Onslaught, who became a mobile artillery platform) and 4 smaller comrades. They were Brawl (tank), Blast Off (space shuttle), Swindle (jeep), and Vortex (helicopter). The first toy version stayed true to this scheme. This version does not.
You’ll see from the pic that Blast Off is now an artillery platform just like Brawl,and that Swindle now shares the same mold as Vortex. Re-colors within re-colors. Along with the weapons-as-appendages, this was the reason I didn’t pick these up the first time. There’s only so much I’m willing to shell out for repaints. Even their guns are identical except for slight differences in the shade of orange used. Luckily, a 65% discount will allow one to forgive a lot of things.
Good news is, the molds they use for both the pairs (helicopters and artillery trucks) are fairly good examples of the line. Excellent articulation (with plenty of ball joints), good looking robot and vehicle modes, pegs to store their weapons in both, and realistic color themes. With the readily distinguishable colors, it’s easy to tell the apart.
Onslaught isn’t so great, though. If you’ve seen the G1 toy (or the Ruination re-color or the Encore release, or the half-dozen or so other versions), then you’ll realize how bad-ass the original Onslaught was. Those two barrels popping out over his head, the huge rifle, the bulky man-bot pecs and shoulders… (ahem). That got away from me for a second.
He also had this great truck bed in the back which allowed him to carry one of the other bots. This was an excellent feature that would have been appreciate here. His vehicle mode in this version is kind of wimpy looking. Sure he’s got that rack of missles up there, but it’s not the same as the big, long, shiny gun (I’ll stop now, I swear).
If you own the newer Ultra Class mold that turns into a police troop transport, then you realize how badly this is NOT Onslaught. That one is huge and imposing, with a well integrated transformation. This one is small, ugly, and what the hell? Why can you see his head through the side of the truck?
According to the instructions, here’s how you’re supposed to put him together:
However, I hate using this set up. I’m all for unsymmetric design, but this just doesn’t look thought out at all. Unlike the Scramble City designs (G1 combiners), Bruticus’ parts aren’t really suited to being switched around. Once you’ve played around with the big bot, you’ll realize that the way they show him on the box is awful.
Switching the helicopters to the shoulders and the tanks to the knees though will improve him quite a bit. The “feet” and “hands” will at least match, and the guns from Vortex and Swindle at least LOOK like a 5-fingered open palm.
Like I said, Fansproject has a great kit called the “Explorer” coming up that fixes many of these problems. You still won’t get a proper Swindle, but they’re giving you a great looking Blast Off. Check out the link to see the prototypes. Frankly, I can’t wait for this to arrive. These guys are the best out there, and now they’re making their own changeable robots. I wish Hasbro would just pirate them already.
Superion is little different. Again, 5 bots (Silverbolt, Air Raid, Fireflight, Skydive, and Slingshot). Again one leader hub and 2 pairs of re-colors. This time they’re all jets.
I prefer Skydive’s/Fireflight’s mold, a modified A10 warthog because… well because it’s a warthog. The A10 is the second bad ass looking jet next to the F4 Phantom in my book. I’m not entirely sure what the other two are supposed to be based off, and it doesn’t really matter.
The Robot designs are pretty good though.
Again, I can’t stand Silverbolt, the leader. Not only do both his robot and alt mode suck (kibble in vehicle mode, tons of empty space in robot), There seems to be a problem when he combines. There’s a small post that is supposed to hold his torso up when he’s a super robo, and… it doesn’t. Hence, my combined bot is always sort of hunched back.
Again I’ve taken the liberty of switching the parts from what it says to do in the instructions. It’s “supposed” to look like this:
Which is idiotic since the extra thickness of Air Raid means he can’t stand right unless he’s crouching. How do you loom over other bots if you’ve always gotta crouch?
Superion Maximus also has a Fansproject kit, and one that’s already available. They had limited stocks at local specialty stores for about Php2.5k or less depending on how well you know the owner, but these days, they’re pretty scarce and go for about Php3000 and up. Another good reason to rejoice in the fact that the robot itself can be had for only Php800.
So worth it?
Hell, yes. Didn’t you hear me say Php800? That’s the price of one Deluxe Class Transformer (there will come a time when the Transformer toy will become the unit of measure for everything, mark my words).
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
Slangards
I may give you a half-way serious answer.
