If I didn’t know higher, I’d assume the Saurozoic Warriors figures have been based mostly on a ’90s syndicated cartoon that had two seasons of 65 episodes every and a determine line 35 characters deep. The designs seize that TMNT period, late ’80s, early ’90s cartoon vibe completely for me whereas additionally being contemporary and new. Let’s check out the Raptor Samurai, Sokudo Legion!
The field artwork is essential for a brand new line like this to promote the characters and the story and the wonderful action-pose artwork of the Sokudo Legion warrior leaping by the air makes him appear even cooler. I really like the story line information we get and it’s fascinating as a result of we be taught these are supposed to be a military of Samurai Raptors. Ooh. Don’t tempt me to get two extra of those! One completely would wish a watch patch. I additionally simply actually just like the dino pores and skin texture that makes up the backdrop for all of the graphic components on the field and the emblem itself is admittedly cool.
The determine comes with two swords, a gun, and a removeable helm. The gun is described within the field textual content as a shuriken launcher and I might completely see the hypothetical ’90s model of those toys having a disk launching characteristic. The Launcher is all pink with a really cool silver techy insert that type of jogs my memory of a slide deck. Earlier than I learn the field, I used to be considering laser gun and a Cyclops optic blast would match nice within the barrel slot. I feel it might use possibly yet one more colour break like including black or purple to the tubes on the launcher.
The 2 swords are barely completely different sizes and match securely into sheathes that may be connected to loops within the determine’s belt. I really like how securely they keep on the loops, however I used to be additionally to get plenty of motion round them. Largely, I similar to the best way they appear on there. There’s a cool issue there for me with the very conventional samurai look.
The helmet suits a on the top in a selected method, however you’ll be able to knock it off pretty simply when messing with the determine. Not an enormous deal, however I did have to seek out the factor a number of occasions on the bottom. I really like the design, the best way the raptor claws are built-in into the standard samurai helm design is perfection.
Sculpting is rad on this man. There’s nonetheless a way of strong energy and weight even with the extra spindly raptor legs. His pores and skin has nice dino-texture and the face itself is filled with character with an amazing mixture of cartoon exaggeration and practical element. I really like that the armor bits all have some fascinating texture and the Shredder-like spikes are excellent for a Samurai Raptor.
Articulation may be very good too and makes use of plenty of swivel/hinge joints to nice impact, however I do have some nitpicks together with the highlights. The ball and sockets are a lot more practical in vary of movement than say a Hasbro determine, it type of makes me retroactively mad at the remainder of my assortment. I used to be actually impressed at how excessive and low the determine can look and the vary of that jaw opening as effectively. I do want the elbows had a bit greater than 90 levels of bend and a few of the swivels within the legs are just a little looser than I’d like, however I used to be nonetheless in a position to stability him on his skinny, segmented legs.
The shoulder pads did initially get in the best way of lifting the arms all the best way out for a t-pose and appeared way more built-in into the arm sculpting than I’d have thought at first look. The shoulder and forearm armor seems to be like completely different components as a result of they’re, however on my determine they have been type of caught on there just like the paint wasn’t fully dry or interacted with the armor components to stay it on there good. As soon as I loosened the armor up with some warmth, there was extra vary of movement and I used to be in a position to orient the forearm guards to a extra Shredder-like place. There was additionally what I feel was a producing error on my determine. The suitable wrist seems to be to be sculpted to hinge in/out, however the disc was injected into the determine to hinge up/down. You’ll be able to barely see it when the hand is on, and it nonetheless strikes fairly effectively, so it’s not a difficulty apart from being barely complicated at first. I do want there was some butterfly motion to the shoulders so I might hit a two-handed sword pose extra simply.
The determine has the next articulation:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, further dog-leg section, wrists, and ankles.
- Ball and socket waist, decrease neck, and higher neck
- Hinged jaw
The paint is strong. Often I like just a little extra washes and drybrushing on my figures, however I don’t assume that’s the aesthetic they’re going for right here, so the strong colour blocks and clear element work for me. There’s a good fade transition between the inexperienced and pink components of the face and there’s a good yellow tan to the enamel and gloss to the within of the mouth.
Often I’m fairly caught in my six inch-ish scale and don’t enterprise exterior of that fairly often. I’m glad I did this time to get began on a enjoyable, distinctive line. We frequently complain in our grownup toy gathering world of being uninterested in the identical IP and wanting one thing new whereas shopping for our seventieth Spider-Man determine, so I’m glad I put my cash the place my mouth is and tried this new line. It’s plenty of enjoyable on it’s personal, however I might see it working in properly for a MOTU origins or TMNT villain.
The determine is $29.99 and is obtainable on BBTS now. The worth is just a little increased than comparable mass-market figures, however Boss Combat is a smaller firm making smaller runs of figures, so I anticipate that type of pricing. There are additionally a few wave one figures up on BBTS for a reduced worth for those who needed to present the road a attempt together with the two guys I present combating the Samurai Raptor within the above pics.
