B I O – H A Z A R D O U S

I really like this toy. Really. It was worth every bit that I paid for it. That being said, I got it for $75 off Amazon. My normal source of toys, BBTS.com, was sold out of it and has been for the longest time. Also, I think I got it about $5 cheaper off Amazon, too. So cheers to me!

She stands at about 8.5 inches tall, and is fully articulated. She can make about any pose you can think of. I was even able to get her into some crazy Kung Fu poses and was able to balance her with it on one foot. The joints are tight as hell–which explains why she’s able to do such crazy poses. The problem with that is, the joints like to pop out. Mainly the hips and shoulders. But, I’d rather they be too tight than too loose.

She comes with an extra pair of upper arms so you can switch them out when she’s not wearing the jacket. Oh, by the way, the jacket’s removable. You also get the choice of a handgun, or the big rifle thing–which comes with a silencer piece that can be added. With the awesomeness that this figure is, I’d kind of disappointed in a lack of hand options. I understand the fact that she only has one head. She’s not a very emotional character. So, it works with just the calm face. She also comes with a small circular base to stand her on. Although, it’s not very necessary considering how solid her stances are.

Over all, I can say that this is one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. I’m glad I did it.

Pros:

• Very articulated.
• Good representation of the character.

Cons:

• Price. $75 – Although it’s not an issue to me, since it’s a very quality figure, I can see where someone else would think it’s a con.
• Lack of interchangeable hands.

To start off, I was quite stoked to hear they were remaking Ronin Warriors toys (or ‘Samurai Troopers’ to others). The figures were even available for preorder on some sites, and even solicited in Previews. However, this was not to be. All orders were canceled, and the only way to get the toy was to import it. So, that means sellers on eBay, generally. I don’t like that idea at all, so I used BBTS.com–who I use all the time. They were nice enough to honor the preorders for the toy, but at a higher cost since they had to import it as well. I’d rather pay a couple of dollars more to KNOW I’m getting my product.

I was on the fence for a long time on this, since the price was right at $90. That is a lot of money to me. I really liked Ronin Warriors, though. But, I’m not a fan of Ryo. I actually think he was the lamest of all of them. But, knowing my luck, they’d come out with all of the rest of them, and I’d be missing one and have to pay even more to get it. Of course, now that I’ve bought the toy, they’ll obviously release a cheap American version for half the price. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t!

On to the toy itself– it’s ok. For the price you pay for it, you’d expect it to be a little more sturdy. I started off very excited about it because of all of the extras it came with. It’s basically the perfect representation of Ryo of Wildfire. He comes with 2 heads (angry/open-mouthed, and calm), and and 3 sets of hands (fists, open hands, and holding swords). He even comes with a black armor dummy to put the armor on for display purposes while the main figure… does whatever he does.

It also has 2 helmets–one with the face showing, and one with the mask down. It’s interchangeable, just like the faces. So, you can have it however you like. You can also have it with the swords in the sheaths, swords in hand, OR the swords together as they are in the final attack.

I originally started taking lots of pictures for this, but then got very very frustrated with how the armor is put on. Specifically, the shoulder armor. The white shoulder-piece comes off its hinge, and the hinge of the red shoulder piece goes in its place. It took me about 10 minutes to get ONE shoulder on. I think it was more of just my particular figure having the defect, but there’s a lot of room for problems. I think they could have engineered the combination a little better. There also aren’t any instructions to speak of. You just kind of have to figure this out as you go. Maybe it was supposed to have instructions and mine didn’t have them…?

Now, parts of the armor are die-cast! It makes the figure very heavy for the size. Which, by the way, it’s about 6 inches tall. It makes sense that it would cost as much as it does, knowing that it’s got metal parts and all sorts of options to go with. While I do really like the figure, it’s not really one that I want to mess around with. The pose it’s in now is the pose it will be in forever.

I do look forward to future releases of the Ronin Warriors figures if they continue to make them. I’d be more happy to pay this price for them instead of Ryo, him being my least favorite.

Pros:

• Very accurate representation of the character.
• Die-cast armor.
• Lots of options for poses. Heads, hands, swords, etc.

Cons:

• Price is a bit high.
• Difficult to switch armor. It’s a chore.
• Kinda heavy.

Ok. So, I’ve gotten a few new toys. None of which I’ve given my half-ass review for yet.

I’ve been busy with school, and work, and stuff (WoW). Anyway, hopefully this weekend I’ll get around to writing some stuff up. I’ve already got pictures taken of Transformers Alternity: Optimus Prime and Fullmetal Alchemist Roy Mustang figure.

Taking pictures is usually the hardest part for me. But, now that I’m in my last semester of school (for now) it’s taking more effort to stay on top of it since I’m actually interested in this stuff and want to do well in it. Go figure.

Voltron Action Pose!

Just last week I received this fun addition to my collection of junk I could have lived without. It’s a Voltron toy, much like the one of way-back-when, but slightly updated to be slightly more poseable. It works pretty well on that, since the elbows and knees are now jointed. It transforms, like the old one. Same five lions are basically as show-accurate as I remember them. Take in mind, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched the cartoon, so it might not be 100% show accurate.

As far as the pose-ability goes, it’s nice to have the option to move it around and ATTEMPT to put it in some awesome poses. However, it’s really not meant for any of that. For the price range, I suppose it makes sense that it would be limited on this. And I’m glad it has as much mobility as it does considering it transforms. But the jointed knees are a tease. The action pose I have pictured on the left is very unstable. I feel as if it’s about to fall over at any moment. And, as fun as this toy is, it doesn’t feel like it would survive a fall in the least. I’m also a bit wary of any fall it might take due to the metallic paint. I feel like it could chip off at any moment. I’d never display this anywhere that it might fall. To have it out at all, I put it on the top shelf over my PC–and put it into a more boring/heroic pose.

The pose-ability of each of the lions separate is pretty good, too. There’s some slight horizontal give in the joints so the legs can take a wider stance and they look more ‘natural’ (as far as giant robot lions are concerned…) Each leg has three basic joints. One at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. You’re still pretty limited on how much they move, but the horizontal movement helps a little.

It comes with the sword and shield, which are painted metallic silver. I seem to remember the sword being more of a golden color, but upon further googling, every image I see has a silver sword. It’s nice that it came with the shield, but I don’t remember them ever using a shield. Makes sense, though, since that’s a pretty freakin’ big sword. How could this imaginary robot made of robotic lions use such a huge sword that forms from nowhere AND use a shield at the same time?!?

I was a bit disappointed by the fact this is just purely plastic,though. There is a die-cast version, but it’s much more expensive. For some reason, I read “Metallic” as “die-cast”. Metallic means… metallic paint, obviously. It still looks great, and is very well done, but… it’s plastic. It would certainly explain why it was only $50. Honestly, for what it is, I probably had my hopes a bit too high. I was expecting more of a ‘modern toy’. Which is to say, I wanted it to be super-pose-able, be super-accurate, and for some reason, made of metal (which isn’t very much like modern stuff at all… but anyway). Time for the breakdown.

Pros:

• Affordable option for Voltron fans.
• More pose-able than the old toy.
• Nicely painted.
• Very show accurate.

Cons:

• No metal… at all.
• Not as pose-able as I’d like.
• Not really as impressive as I’d had hoped.

So, the semester ends in about a week and a half. That means I have to deal with the fun of finals. Being in computer technology stuff makes me sad, because they actually have finals. Back when I was in graphic design it was final projects. I could spend a week putting together the most slap-dash POS and still get at least a B. With networking, I have to kind of try because it’s all stuff I should remember. My problem is that if I’m not actively using this information over and over, then it’s forgotten. So, do I remember anything about Cisco routers for my exam? Not particularly–but that’s not what worries me. My issue is subnetting a virtual network and getting everything functioning for 20% of my grade.

And once that’s all done, I get to turn around and go back a month later to another semester. This semester may be more fun, though. I’m in a network security class that has us doing ‘war games’. We try to hack the other teams’ while we defend our networks from them. Sounds excellent. And might I say, it sounds like a fitting end to college for now since after this next semester I’ll have my Network Admin degree. And then I’ll be doubly overqualified for what I do. Wooo.