Saturday, May 14, 2011

Enterbay RM-4



The ongoing "war" between two Hong Kong high-end toy companies continues with this base figure set from Enterbay. I believe this is the first time Enterbay has included a head with their nude figure body, and they chose an interesting subject as their sculpting inspiration--Hollywood actor Matt Damon!

For 1/6 action figure kitbashers, this new product represents a welcome alternative to Hot Toys' TrueType series, especially considering the latter's rising MSRP. Coming in at a reasonable $30 (not including shipping) direct from Enterbay's website, the RM-4 is an enticing buy. But how does it compare to others on the market, and is it worth your time?



The figure comes packed fully assembled in a two-tone clear and black stiff plastic rectangular box. The head is wrapped in thin soft plastic to prevent paint rubs, but the rest of the figure sits mostly loose inside. Also included is a set of fist hands and neck adapter for head-only parts. There are no "pistol grip" hands in the set, so you'll need to grab some Hot Toys or other spare hands with similar-sized peg holes if you want your figure militarized.

On first handling, the figure seems solid with moderately tight, but smooth moving joints. The paint apps on the head are very well done. You are basically getting all the quality of a $180-200 Enterbay boxed set here, for a fraction of the cost. The body itself seems to use a similar quality plastic to Hot Toys and poses well. The feet, in particular, have an amazing range of motion and can be posed to extreme angles.





Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the included head/neck. It turns out the neck is a bit too long and the area around the neck too small to allow much movement. The way the neck was sculpted also hinders movement in that it favors the head pointing upwards. One way around this is to take a dremel or file to area on the body where the neck connects to it and widen the space where the neck joint will sit. Taking caution not to grind away too much plastic I was able to increase the downward motion of the head to allow more poses.









Also of note, the figure is very tall compared to other 1/6 toys. The RM-4 is easily the tallest nude of any I've seen so far. This could be an issue if you want to keep the look of your collection consistent. One solution would be to cut a small plastic extension above where the feet connect to the legs. It's possible to do, but risky as you could damage the entire leg rendering your figure useless. I chose to leave my main figure as is since I also purchased the new clothing set Enterbay made to go along with this body.

Consisting of a black stretch top with long sleeves, dress pants, molded shoes, and wool-like jacket, this $30 outfit ensemble makes the figure look a lot like Matt Damon's character Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity movie series. The clothing quality is pretty good overall. While not quite at the level of what you would see in a boxed Hot Toys set, the quality will probably be good enough for all but the most discerning of collectors. And although not completely movie-accurate, with just a few accessories, you basically have what could be a movie licensed boxed figure for just about $60.

Ultimately, the final verdict on the RM-4 largely depends on what you're looking for. If you want a Jason Bourne figure, I think you could do a lot worse than picking this up with one set of the clothes. If you are looking for a replacement for your supply of True Types, I'd probably hesitate to recommend investing in multiples of these unless you're willing to take the time and tools needed to make them more consistent with other existing 1/6 figure bodies in your collection.

**Recommended for Matt Damon or fans of the Bourne movie series

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