Tag Archives: ThreeZero

#3844: VF-1S Veritech – Roy Fokker

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

VF-1S VERITECH — ROY FOKKER

ROBO DOU (THREE ZERO)

Before today, you could count the Robotech reviews here on the site on one hand.  But now, you can’t!  …you know, because there were five, and this brings it up to six.  Do you get it?  Do you get the joke?  Well, I do, and that’s the most important thing.  As I’ve brought up in, I think, all of my Robotech reviews, I’m rather a late convert to the show, only actually watching it within the last decade.  So, there’s a fair bit of catching up to do, but also I try not to go to crazy and space it out a bit.  Given it’s been three years since my last review, I guess I’m doing alright with that spacing out, huh?  Three Zero has started doing some Robotech stuff in their Robo Dou line, and I do like Three Zero’s work, so I’m checking one of those out today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The VF-1S Veritech — Roy Fokker is part of Three Zero’s Robo Dou line, which handles mechas and robots from a number of different anime properties.  This one follows up on the release of Rick’s Veritech from….2023, I think?  There was a bit of a gap.  Roy’s Veritech just started hitting in the last month or so.  The figure ships in Battloid mode, which is the main look that everyone actually likes.  Well, it’s the main look that *I* actually like, and for the purposes of this site, I’m everyone.  In said mode, the figure is about 8 3/4 inches tall and has 29 workable points of articulation.  It compares well to other Three Zero mech stuff I’ve messed with in terms of articulation and build.  You can get good poses out of him without too much trouble.  The hips can be a little bit finicky, especially the first time you use them.  On my figure, I wound up hitting the folded up wings, and it popped some parts of the torso out of place, which was a bit tricky to get back in order.  But, once I did, everything stayed pretty securely together.  Like the other Three Zero mechs I’ve looked at, this figure is a mix of plastic and die-cast construction.  He’s got quite a bit of heft to him, while also still maintaining a sharp level of detailing.  The color work here is quite impressively handled.  All the base work is very clean, and he’s also got panel lining to really help sell the sharpness of the sculpt.  There’s also a ton of smaller printed details, which show a tremendous attention to detail.  The Veritech is packed with four pairs of hands (weapon holding, flat, open gesture, and fists), a GU11 rifle, and a display stand.  It also includes four sets of missiles, an antenna, and an alternate mount for the base, all meant to work with the figure’s alternate modes.

Let’s talk about said alternate modes!  As with all transforming Veritechs, you get the main Battloid mode, the Guardian mode, and the Fighter mode.  To get from Battloid to Fighter (robot to jet), you stop in the middle for Guardian, which is…well, it’s kind of silly, and it’s not really so much a mode as it is just stopping midway.  Of course, given how nerve-racking the actual transformation process is, a break at the halfway point isn’t so bad an idea.  Even following the instructions, I was left to throw my hands up a slightly improvise a few times, and I had at least one point where I very seriously considered running this review without photos of the alternate modes.  Thankfully, the rest of the transformation to full Fighter mode isn’t quite as bad, nor is the reverse transformation back to Battloid (apart from the one pin that fell out during the transformation back.  It’s okay, it’s not entirely structural…).  The Fighter mode is actually pretty nice, and I do really like the little teeny, tiny Roy figure in the cockpit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since getting into Robotech, I’ve been looking for solid figure coverage of Roy’s Veritech, since Roy’s my favorite pilot, and his Veritech is particularly cool.  I looked at the rather elaborate transforming one that All Time loaned me back in 2018, and I really liked that one, but its price point was a bit scary, so I backed off.  I’ve messed with a few of the smaller ones since, and they’re cool, but always a bit too spindly for me.  I’ve been impressed with Three Zero’s other work, so once I saw they were doing them, I was onboard for this guy here.  He’s fun, in a sort of don’t really want to mess with him all the time, but he’s still really cool to look at way.  I’m glad I got to experience the transforming, and now he can remain purely in Battloid mode for the rest of the time I own him.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3249: Iron Patriot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

IRON PATRIOT

MARVEL STUDIOS: THE INFINITY SAGA DLX (THREE ZERO)

In the comics, the name “Iron Patriot” was first taken up by Norman Osborne, during his time as leader of the Dark Avengers, during “Dark Reign.”  With Steve Rogers dead and Tony Stark on the run, Norman repurposes their gimmicks into one leader for people to rally behind, before his eventual undoing  His design actually took some of its cues from a concept Captain America armor that was floated about as part of a proposed alternate ending for “Civil War.”  When it came time to adapt the concept into the MCU, Osborne was still off limits, so Iron Man 3 gave the Iron Patriot monicker to James Rhodes, as part of a rebranding by the US government to make his War Machine persona a little friendlier.  While it’s clearly meant to be a little goofy in-universe, it’s still very much a fun design, and one that the comics even made use of for a brief time.  There was a little bit of toy coverage for the look back when Iron Man 3 came out, but more recently ThreeZero’s started up a line of their own 1/12 scale Iron Man armors, and Rhodie in his Iron Patriot armor is their latest offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Patriot is the third figure under the DLX branding for ThreeZero’s Marvel stuff, following up on the Mark 43 and the Hulkbuster.  Thus far, everything’s falling under a larger “Infinity Saga” banner, and they’re presumably looking at offering armors from most of the movies.  The figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 43 points of articulation.  In terms of sizing, at over 7 inches tall, Patriot feels a little over-sized for a 1/12 line, but he appears to be consistent with the scaling on the Iron Men we’ve gotten so far from ThreeZero.  So, they’re at the very least keeping an internal consistency.  He’s also close enough that you can probably fudge him into smaller scale displays.  The articulation scheme is, like a lot of ThreeZero figures, designed with a lot of smaller moving parts that aid in moving larger pieces a greater range.  The flaps of the armor can move up and out of the way for the arms and legs, allowing for a slightly better motion.  The joints are still very tight, and you have to be careful with them while posing, but it’s honestly a pretty good set-up.  The figure’s sculpt is quite an impressive recreation of the design from the movie.  It’s a mix of plastic and diecast metal, which gives him a decent amount of heft.  The outer plates are all plastic, which allows for a slightly sharper detailing, and a slightly better depth of quality to said detailing.  Iron Patriot’s paint scheme is pretty nicely handled.  It’s certainly an eye-catching palette, and the application is all very clean.  In particular, the markings and writing on the armor are a really good touch, and they’re very sharply defined.  Iron Patriot is packed with six different pairs of hands (fists, two different styles of open gesture with spots for blast effects, and the same two styles without the spots for the blasts), a saluting hand for his right side, his shoulder cannon (which is articulated itself), two different styles of forearm plates (closed up and with the rockets out), four different blast effects, and a display stand.  He also has a light-up feature in both the head and torso.  The eyes are kind of dim on my figure, but the arc reactor is nice and bright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For the most part, I’m pretty much content with Legends for my Iron Man armors, especially of the MCU variety.  I got to see the MK 43 and the Hulkbuster from this line in person, though, and they were definitely cool.  This particular Iron Patriot design is one I’ve really liked ever since IM3, plus it kind of vibes with all my Cap stuff, so when it was announced I put myself down on the list for one through work.  I’d honestly forgotten about him by the time he came in, but he did, and I certainly wasn’t going to pass up on him.  My initial reaction was that he was cool, but I wasn’t sure he was great.  After messing with him a bit more, I’m actually a lot more impressed with him than I initially was.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3152: Evangelion Proto Type 00′

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

EVANGELION PROTO TYPE 00′

ROBO-DUO (THREE ZERO)

I don’t talk about Evangelion much around these parts, largely because it’s very brain break-y, and I tend to need to unbreak my brain a bit after.  So, I’ve only got the one prior review here on the site, and then I took a year and a half hiatus to rebuild a little bit of my sanity.  Shortly after my own personal rebuild, I decided to risk tackling the Evangelion Rebuilds, and there was a rather timely release of another Eva that was up my alley right around that same time.  With my break thoroughly broken again, I guess I might as well just lean into it and review this here additional figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Evangelion Proto Type 00′ is part of ThreeZero’s Robo-DUO line, a line dedicated to robots from a number of anime properties.  She’s the third of the standard Evas to join the line, and started arriving in the last month or so.  As with the Robot Spirits release I looked at last year, this version of Unit 00 is based on the updated design from the Rebuilds, matching up with the other Evas from the line.  The figure stands about 10 inches tall and has 40 points of articulation.  Compared to the Spirits figure, this one’s definitely a lot larger, of course, but it’s also a fair bit less agile.  It’s partly the way the joints are laid out, but it’s also the largely die-cast metal construction of the figure, which not only makes her a bit heavier (meaning her joints need to be tighter to compensate), but also means there are some spots that just aren’t afforded the same amount of flex.  The figure is still capable of plenty of poses, especially the deeper crouches and lunges that the Evas are prone to do, but getting her there certainly takes a little more effort.  Of course, on the flip side, it does mean that this figure is a lot less prone to falling over, which I certainly like.  00’s sculpt is all-new, detailing the updated design.  Where the Spirits release had options for both early and late-game looks, this one sticks to her more armored appearance from later.  It’s my favorite of the two, personally, so that’s quite alright by me.  It means less swap-out parts, of course, but with most of the parts being metal, not swapping them around so much is much better for the figure’s long-term condition.  The sculpt is generally pretty strong, doing a solid job of replicating the animation design.  The arms are a little on the softer side in terms of detailing, which kind of clashes with the rest of the body, but on the flipside, that means that the rest of the body is quite sharply detailed, and I really dig that.  00’s paint work is pretty decent overall.  The colors are a little bolder than on the Spirits figure, which I personally like just a little bit more.  The application is mostly pretty clean, with the arms again being the outliers for quality; there’s a bit of slop on the white/orange change-overs there.  I do really dig the markings, as well as the panel lining on the bulk of the figure; it helps to make the sculpt really pop.  00 is packed with a whole plethora of accessories, which includes five sets of hands (fists, trigger finger, gripping, claw gesture, and wide gesture), two styles of plug (long and short, for displaying and storing, alternatively), a rifle, the Enchanted Shield of Virture, a removable umbilical with posable cord, and a display stand that swaps for the umbilical, and even looks like the umbilical at the end.  Apart from the cord not easily swapping into the stand’s umbilical, everything is pretty cool.  I miss the extra armor parts, but getting the shield certainly makes up for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Picking up the Spirits Eva 00 last year got me into a pretty positive mood for Eva stuff, and this figure went up for order right around that same time, and that’s how they got me.  I was able to get one specially ordered through All Time, and from there it was just a patient wait for her to finally get released.  This release doesn’t have the versatility of the Spirits release, but it’s certainly got a presence to it, and I’m very happy to have added it to my collection.  I dig the fully armored design a lot, and I dig the serious heft that this figure has behind it.  I’m also really digging getting to try out so many of the various different styles of figure that ThreeZero offers.  They’re steadily becoming one of my favorite new companies I’ve discovered.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3093: Shin Ultraman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SHIN ULTRAMAN

FIGZERO S (THREEZERO)

Holy crap, is this two Ultraman reviews, in under a month?  Can that be right?  I mean, yeah, it can.  It’s my site.  I do what I want.  And some times what I want is two Ultraman reviews in a month.  That’s just how I roll.  Today, I’m shifting focus ever so slightly, and delving into Shin Ultraman, a reboot of the Ultraman franchise which is, after a few delays, supposed to be released at the end of this week.  The film follows up Shin Godzilla, a similarly handled reboot of that particular franchise, both of them headed by Hideki Anno (creator of Evangelion, amongst other things) and Shinji Higuchi.  They will be followed by Shin Kamen Rider, and are all supposed to be taking place in a shared universe.  Shin Ultraman has gotten a modest merchandising push in the last year, as they’ve lead up to its actual release.  That includes some coverage from comparative new-comers on the Ultraman front, Threezero, who are expanding on their anime-inspired Ultras and giving us two different versions of the titular Shin Ultraman.  I’m looking at the smaller version today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shin Ultraman is the inaugural release in Threezero’s FigZero S line, which is a line of 6 inch figures, playing into the same market as the likes of Figuarts and MAFEX.  Notably, all three of the lines tackled this particular take on Ultraman, which I guess gives a good mark for comparison.  Not that I’d be crazy enough to buy the same design in similar figure styles three times over.  Right?  Right.  I’m not gonna do that.  I swear.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 40 points of articulation.  The movement on this guy is pretty solid.  I got to mess with the Figuarts release, and the movement, especially at the neck, was my real complaint.  This guy still has some restrictions, but he’s generally a little more posable.  He’s at the very least capable of the flying pose, and that’s a pretty key set-up, I feel.  The rest of the joints all offer a decent range as well; I quite like how the butterfly shoulders work.  I’m not too crazy about the knees, which, at least on mine, seem a little stuck on the lower potion, resulting in a range that’s just okay.  Shin Ultraman is based on his design from the film.  It’s a pretty straight forward update on the classic Hayata Ultraman design.  The fin no longer runs all the way down the back, and he’s no longer got the color timer, but otherwise he sticks pretty close.  I like the design, unsurprisingly, since I also really like the original design.  The sculpt does a good job of capturing the design, at least from what we’ve seen of it thus far.  The joints work into things alright, and he has a pretty slick feel overall, which certainly feels right for the character.  I also dig the skinnier, more alien design, which feels like an intriguing departure from prior looks for the character.  His paint work is fairly decently handled.  The silver is very shiny, which I really like.  The red seems a touch on the dark side, even when compared to shots from the movie, but it works well enough.  The application is a little bit spotty on some of the change overs, but it’s minor for the most part, and not terribly distracting given the scale.  Ultraman is packed with four sets of hands, in fists, flat, open gesture, and relaxed.  No effects pieces, though thus far none of the Shin Ultraman items have those, so it could be a license thing.  The extra hands do at least offer a nice variety of looks when posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I love me some Ultraman, and I’m also growing to love me some Threezero.  I like the 12 inch figures I’ve gotten from them so far, and when this guy was shown off, I was definitely down.  It’s been a little bit of a wait to get him, but I’m glad I waited it.  He’s different from the Ultra-Act stuff I’ve gotten previously, but I can dig the changes, and I’m intrigued to see what else Threezero tries at this scale.  Until then, I’ve got this really cool Ultraman.  And who can knock that?

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3010: Blue Ranger

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BLUE RANGER

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (THREEZERO)

Oh man, I haven’t reviewed any Power Rangers since last year!  …get it?  Because we’re only two weeks into the–okay, yeah, it’s not that funny, I guess.  Also, it’s a joke I’ve already pulled once.  So, you know, there it is, I guess.  Look, I’m not proud of it either, okay?  Let’s just get to the actual review, I guess.  As far as Rangers reviews go, the original incarnation, Mighty Morphin, has become a bit rarer around here, what with me having already gotten the whole core team in my preferred scale some time ago.  I do have a soft spot for the Blue Ranger, of course, so that does leave me more avenues to review the occasional release here and there.  While we’re here and there, ThreeZero has recently picked up the license for the purposes of some 1/6 scale figures, which includes my boy Blue, so I’m taking a look at their take on him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blue Ranger was released at the same time as the other five Rangers in ThreeZero’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line, hitting late last fall.  He and the others were available both as single releases and in one boxed set for the whole team.  Obviously, mine’s the single release, but the actual figures are the same between the two styles of box.  The figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

In true 1/6 form, the most prominent piece of sculpting here is the head, or in this case more specifically the helmet.   Blue’s triceratops-inspired helmet is nicely recreated here.  It’s not quite a perfect match for the on-screen helmet, but it gets all of the elements, and it’s pretty close.  It’s quite sleek in its implementation, and the sculpting is all properly clean and sharp in its detailing.  The paint work is likewise clean and sharp.  The extra panel lining on the edges isn’t strictly show accurate, but at this scale it helps to make the sculpted elements pop a bit more, which is a plus.  The overall finish of the helmet is glossy, in proper fashion for how it looked in the show…most of the time, anyway.  There’s no alternate unmasked head included with these releases, which is on one hand a slight letdown compared to other 1/6 stuff, but on the other hand totally understandable given how much lower the price point is on these figures compared to others on the market.

In contrast to my last two ThreeZero reviews, where the figures were fully sculpted, and a mix of plastic and diecast parts, the Rangers are more classic 1/6 scale figures, making use of cloth costumes with plastic accents and underlying body.  It’s appropriate, what with all the spandex involved with the actual costumes and all.  The main suit is a spandex-like material, which scales well to the body and is generally well-tailored to match.  Obviously, some of the stitching is a little larger than it should be, but not by much.  The metallic finish on the material matches the original Sentai costume, and is just overall very sleek looking, which I’m all about.  The white elements are applied via a rubberized paint, which is clean, sharp at the edges, and offers consistent coverage.  The belt piece is a mix of cloth and plastic, with the main belt being a pleather like material, and the buckle being plastic.  The back of the belt is a little bit rudimentary in its design, but otherwise the piece works well.  The cuffs for the boots and gloves are sculpted plastic parts.  They’re nicely fitted to the body, and help to further keep the costume in place, as well as maximizing the posability on the wrists and ankles.

The body under the suit is clearly designed for function over form, as you would hope for this style of figure.  It shapes well under the suit, but is largely built for being well articulated.  There’s a rubbery sort of a padding on the mid section for more proper shaping, which does its job nicely.  The articulation is a little stiffer than I’m used to at this scale, but that makes it more practical for holding poses.  It just takes some getting used to hearing the joints make a rather noticeable squeak every time you pose them.  All things considered, this body certainly competes well with the top end of 1/6 scale bodies, which is a definite plus.

The Blue Ranger is pretty decently accessorized.  He includes 4 pairs of hands, his Power Lance, and the Blade Blaster.  The hands are great for all manner of poses, giving you a lot of options.  The Lance and Blaster are notable for actually being fully transformable.  The Lance can be used in the separate dagger forms, as well as combined, and full extended.  Likewise, the Blade Blaster is capable of all three of its forms, in one piece, rather than three separate versions like we tend to see.  The weapons getting their full compliment of set-ups was actually a pleasant surprise for me, as I’d fully expected them to just be in their collapsed forms, since that was how the Figuarts release handled things for all the non-Reds.  Ultimately, the combined form on the Lance is a little wobbly, but it’s still cool that the functionality is actually there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

ThreeZero has been a rather pleasant discovery for me in the last year.  I really liked both of the prior offerings I’d grabbed, and when I saw this guy go up for order, I was definitely down to at least give him a try.  I was expecting him to be a passable figure at least, but at the price point, I wasn’t expecting him to be nearly as impressive as he wound up being.  For less than half of the price of your average Hot Toy, you get a figure that’s maybe not *quite* the same quality and is a little lighter on the accessories, but it’s not as much of a gap as you might think.  This is another win for ThreeZero as far as I’m concerned, and they certainly have my attention for future releases.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2762: Ultraman Ace Suit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ULTRAMAN ACE SUIT

ULTRAMAN (THREEZERO)

Another Ultraman review?  This soon?  But, it hasn’t even been two months since the last one!  How am I going to fit this into my “only managing one Ultraman review a year” set-up? I guess I’ll just have to adapt.  Poor, pitiful me.  My recent Ultraman focus has really been honing in on the recent(ish) Anime series, which has generally been pretty good in terms of merchandizing and the like.  Most of that merch has been courtesy of Bandai, who generally have the hold on the market for all things Ultra.  In the last year, however, ThreeZero has also been getting into the game, with a small handful of animation-based Ultras.  Today, I’m looking at my first one of those, Ultraman Ace!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Ace Suit is the third release in ThreeZero’s 1/6 scale Ultraman line, following the standard Ultraman and the Version 7 suit.  It’s a pretty sensible release order, what with following their order of appearance in the manga/show and all.  He’s specifically based on the animated version of the suit, which sports a slightly different color layout than the manga, adding a fair bit more red into the mix.  The figure stands about 11 1/2 inches tall and has over 30 points of articulation.  As with the Soundwave I reviewed, getting an accurate count on the joints is a little tricky, since a lot of the joints are there to help clear the way for other joints in the process of posing.  It’s still a little more straight forward on this guy than it was on Soundwave, making him generally a little easier to pose and re-pose, which does add a little bit to his playability.  I certainly had less concern about accidentally breaking parts off of this one, though it’s definitely still a good idea to glance over the included paper work, just to be a little more familiar with how some of those joints are supposed to move.  The hips in particular have a slight learning curve.  Ace is sporting an all-new sculpt, patterned on his appearance on the show.  Ace’s suit is definitely my favorite, and it’s very nicely translated here.  It’s clean and bold in design, and just generally looks very pretty.  There’s a lot of polish here, and the articulation has been nicely worked in so as not to impede any of that.  The figure has a worked in light-up feature, in both the head and torso, which illuminates the eyes and color timer.  It’s a nice, fairly consistent light, and definitely gives the figure that extra bit of pop.  Accessing the battery compartments is pretty easy, with the top of the head and one of his back plates popping out.  Ace’s paint work just adds to the overall slick look of the figure; that candy coating red color looks really sharp, and it adds up nicely with the clean look on the silver sections.  The application is all pretty nicely handled, with no real issues with slop or bleed over.  Ace is packed with four sets of hands (in fist, relaxed, open gesture, and flat posing), a Specium Blate effect piece that swaps out for his standard wrists, an alternate right arm in cannon formation, alternate extended wrist connectors, and swappable open panels for his arm guards and the thrusters on his back.  About the only thing I really think I might like to see extra is a display stand, but that’s not exactly a requirement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve established previously, the Ace suit is my favorite of the Manga/Anime Ultramen.  When the ThreeZero stuff first showed up, I was definitely intrigued, but I was able to hold off on standard Ultra and Ultra 7.  Ace, much less so.  I was pretty much sold from the word go on this guy.  He’s a really slick figure, and honestly he’s fantastic for the price they’re asking.  ThreeZero’s not a company I had much experience with prior to this year, but the two items I’ve picked up from them have left me very pleased.  I look forward to seeing what else they get into.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2667: Soundwave & Ravage

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

SOUNDWAVE & RAVAGE

TRANSFORMERS: BUMBLEBEE DLX (THREEZERO)

So….remember about two weeks ago, when I was discussing the oxymoronic nature of non-transforming Transformers?  Man, aren’t they just a crazy concept that will never catch on?  Certainly I’m not going to be backing that horse any time soon, right?  …Yeah, about that… Despite only really being a moderate Transformers fan, and also recently finding myself grouped with the people that think maybe Transformers should transform, I may have well gone and bought a rather pricey non-transforming Transformer for myself.  Look, in my defense, it’s Soundwave.  Also, it’s from Bumblebee.  Exactly how was I supposed to say no?  And, while we’re all on the topic, this isn’t a completely transformation-less Transformers release, for reasons I shall get into in the review itself!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Soundwave & Ravage were released as part of ThreeZero’s Transformers DLX line, which has so far been dedicated to designs from Bumblebee.  This marks the fourth release in the line, following Bumblebee, Prime, and Blitzwing.  Soundwave’s definitely a little more of a reach than the others in terms of his role in the film, but he’s freaking Soundwave, so it’s not like it’s super hard to figure out why they’d choose to release him, and bundling in Ravage is just pretty straight forward stuff, really.  The packaging is pretty adamant about referring to both of the figures included here, but make no mistake, Soundwave’s the main deal, and Ravage is really just an accessory.  Soundwave stands about 11 1/4 inches tall and has, like, a lot of articulation.  Getting an accurate count’s kind of tricky, because so many of the joints are really just there to aid other joints in the posing process.  What I’m getting at here is that posing Soundwave is a pretty darn involved process, which requires you to really want to know how you’re posing him before jumping in.  He’s designed with lots of lifting and moving plates, in order to ensure the best posability, while also keeping him movie accurate in the sculpt department.  It takes some getting used to, and if you’re not careful you might end up with some breakage, so reading through the instructions and learning what lifts and how is a good idea.  I myself wound up accidentally popping the glue on one of his front waist panels when I moved his hip forward incorrectly, so I know first hand the need to be careful.  The figure’s sculpt is dedicated to recreating the movie-interpretation of Soundwave’s G1 design as closely as possible, and based on what I could see from his brief appearances in the film, they’ve done a very nice job of capturing that design.  His internal workings make use of some actual metal parts, which makes him both sturdy and hefty, and it’s all sort of wrapped in an outer shell made up of a lot of separate plastic plates, which are responsible for making him look all Soundwave-y.  The detailing on those plates is all very sharp and they look properly machined.  For the most part, they also stay in place very securely.  The body beneath those plates is likewise quite nicely detailed for the most part, though I was somewhat surprised to find that the internal detailing for the torso isn’t actually sculpted, and is instead a decal. I get the why, ultimately, but it does feel ever so slightly like a step down compared to the rest of the figure.  Soundwave has no alt-mode, of course, but that’s something he share’s with his movie counterpart since Soundwave, like a lot of the Cybertronians we see early in the film, wasn’t actually designed with one in mind.  That does make his lack of transformation a little less egregious than the three prior figures, I suppose.  Soundwave’s paintwork is quite impressively handled.  The base colors are nice and bright, and eye catching, and there’s quite a lot of detail that’s been put into making all of the plates and such look worn in and damaged.  There’s a lot of simulated wear and tear, and it looks quite convincing, and is quite certainly of a higher caliber than, say, Siege.  Soundwave includes a light-up feature for his visor.  You’ll need to provide two button cell batteries of your own, but it’s a very nice effect, and adds just a little extra pop to him when on display.  Soundwave is packed with a decent selection of extras.  There are quite a few extra hands, 9 of them to be exact, in fists, open gesture, open relaxed, and trigger finger pairs, and one two finger gesture hand for the left side.  He also gets a blaster rifle, a display stand, and most importantly…

…Ravage!  Soundwave wouldn’t be much good without one of his cassette buddies to keep him company, now would he?  Of course not!  Ravage got a whole bit of focus in the movie, so there was this whole fully rendered model there to use as well, so I guess that does sort of make the whole thing easier.  Ravage is about 4 inches long, and has 17 workable points of articulation.  The articulation’s not quite as involved on Ravage, largely because Ravage isn’t as posable as Soundwave.  He’s still got all the basic movement he’ll need of course, and on top of that, he’s got all the movement he needs to, what’s that, actually transform?  Wait, is there an actual Transformer here?  Why, yes there is!   For Ravage isn’t just permanently in panther mode, but is able to also be folded up into the movie’s approximation of a cassette mode.  Said cassette mode can be stored in Soundwave’s chest compartment, as seen in the movie.  The transformation’s a little bit nerve wracking, if I’m honest, but I’m certainly glad it’s there, and it gives both Ravage and Soundwave a little bit of extra fun factor when messing around with them.  To help facilitate this transformation, Ravage also gets a few accessories of his own, as the side mounted rockets and the cannon for his back are removable parts which can be added to the figure when he’s in panther mode.  Pretty dope.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It all started a little over a year ago, back before Transformers R.E.D. was even a thing on my mind, and therefore a thing that was well and truly getting me thinking about non-transforming Transformers.  We’d seen the first three DLX figures, and they were certainly cool, but not enough for me to really jump on the bandwagon.  Then Soundwave got shown off, and Jason from All Time Toys was looking at possibly placing an order, but really only if I was interested in picking one up.  I’m no stranger to high-end toys, but I’d not yet jumped down this particular rabbit hole with Transformers.  But…it was Soundwave, and it was also like a year away, so I had plenty of time to save up for him.  Good thing, too, since that year was 2020, and, well, we all know how that went.  Needless to say, he arrived, and I was quite happy to finally pick him up.  He’s definitely very different from anything else I own Transformers-wise, but I was definitely expecting that.  He’s certainly more collectible than toy, and isn’t really meant for fidgeting with the same way as other Transformers, but I still had a lot of fun messing with him once I took him out of the box, and he’s a tremendously impressive piece when sitting on the shelf.  I certainly wasn’t expecting to have *two* non-transforming Soundwaves in the space of a month, but worse things have certainly happened.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.