Toys City NSW Marksman Overwatch Operation

Toys City's latest modern release might be it's best yet.  This guy comes stuffed to the gills with gear, including some new-to-this-scale AOR2 (after a long wave of desert colors), but the highlight has got to be the Opscore "FAST" bump helmet.

This thing is a little scale masterpiece with air vents, various rails and mounts, and even little bungie-style elastic cords to secure the NVG.

AOR2 paint scheme to match the uni.

The velcro stickers match the air vents very well.

The elastic mini bungies are pretty sweet.  Yes, it's fragile, but still fun to put together.

Despite the obvious fragility, TC did an excellent job designing the build of the helmet--I found it very easy to assemble, with minimal fuss.  A great job of engineering and 1/6 design, IMO.

Another well-designed item is the Mk11 sniper rifle.  Highly detailed with a movable mount/stand, you can even read the manufacturer logos printed on the side.

The rest of the set is a hodge-podge of other items.  Perhaps to cut costs, TC used AOR1 for the pouches, vest, and chest rig.  Not sure if that all is supposed to match, but it looks acceptable to me.

The body is solid with no major complaints from me.  The head sculpt is good-looking, with a good paint app.  I don't know who it is supposed to resemble, if anyone, but I've heard the likeness being compared to everyone from George Clooney to some french actor I'm not familiar with.

Overall, this is my favorite figure set from Toys City so far.  It combines some new elements, with some older elements in a good value package that is fun and relatively hassle-free to assemble (considering the details involved).  I'd highly recommend the figure to any modern military figure collector.

This guy looks ready to provide some cover fire.

Perhaps an odd mix of camo?

So much detail. 

No idea who this face is supposed to resemble.

Inflames/Headplay Metal Boss

Here's a figure I didn't think would get released: The Inflames and Headplay collaboration, "Metal Boss" boxed set.

From the distinctive Yoji Shinkawa-eque box art, down to the costume and accessories, this is an amazingly blatant carbon copy of a certain video game character renowned for defining the "stealth action" video game genre.

Licensing issues aside, what we have here is a pretty impressive action figure.  The body has solid joints and is able to hold poses fairly well despite being clothed in a skin-tight black undersuit.  The costuming has great tailoring with both a solid color and camo-variant set of BDUs.  Accessory-wise, it includes CQC knives, pistol with holster, rifle, belt, alice harness, pouches, and even a crazy detailed crocodile head mask!

Never heard of Inflames before, but I do know of Headplay.  Headplay, as the name implies, specializes in 1/6 action figure head sculpts and here they've done a decent job capturing our cold-blooded friend's likeness.  I still think Headplay's sculpts are a bit undersized and the neck looks a little too long as a result, but the overall effect is acceptable.  The wires in the head band that can be posed are a nice touch though.

On it's own merits, this is a fun and worthwhile figure to own.  I recommend it if you can find it for the MSRP of $150 or less.  Anything more and you're better off waiting for Hot Toys to make their officially licensed product.

I can't tell if this is an homage or if they took an actual bit of artwork.  It looks fantastic, either way.

Two uniforms, and...check out that caiman head!

Some nonsense writing on the back, lol.

Changing to the camo outfit isn't too difficult, just remember how the straps were connected before removing.

To me, the head is a bit too small.

This is a fun figure to mess around with.

Classic hand-to-hand pose.