Monday, January 30, 2012

Enterbay RM-5 (Shek Kien)

I hadn't really planned on it, but I decided to try out the new RM-5 body from Enterbay.  The main draw for me was not the new rubber torso, or design of the body itself, but (as with many of my Enterbay interests) the head sculpt.  The likeness is of Chinese actor Shek Kien as he appeared in the movie Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee.  Shek's character Han puts together a martial arts tournament gathering all the world's best fighting masters in what would be the basis of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and most other video game fighters.

The base figure set from Enterbay is just odd-looking to me.  I'm not sure what it is, but it has a strange, hunched-over gait that just doesn't seem to work with the head and the way the eyes are painted looking off to one side.

Does this look normal to you?

How about this?

Sexy and I know it!
Sorry, there is just something about this figure that results in immediate stupidity when posing.


While the figure is capable of a number of interesting poses thanks to the 30+ points of articulation, my copy seemed to have a loose or slightly floppy torso spring.  It's not too bad, but I do wonder how long it will last if I mess around with it too much.  The joints have a solid design with generous range of motion for the arms, knees, and even ankles.    The ankles are similar to the wrist pegs in that they are hinged on the top end and ball jointed on the bottom, as opposed to a double ball-jointed design, but they work well for most poses and have no problem holding the figure up on my copy.

Since I purchased the figure with the RM-4.2, Enterbay threw in a free "Kung Fu" suit.  While I'm happy for any freebies, the suit is really cheap.  The stitching around the collar was very poor and frayed badly out of the box, and the material feels flimsy overall.  The shoes and socks are very good, and the string loops that fasten the top of the suit together are very strong, however.

Horse stance?  No problem.
Ohara!  You fool!
Chinese boxing?

The figure may have been rushed to market, because there are some paint flaws.  The worst one on mine is on the head--a nice black line that cannot be explained away as an errant "hair" on the character's head.

Aw man, a bit of a drip or something here.  :(


All in all, the RM-5 came out to $54 shipped--about the same price as a Hot Toys muscle body.  I added an additional $44 shipped for the RM4.2 to get the Kung Fu suit free.  I would say that if you could only buy one, get the Hot Toys muscle body.  You can get the set for $55 shipped from Sideshow Collectibles, and it will be better quality and have a more standard gait for your 1/6 kitbashes.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Crazy Dummy Ranger Gunner in Afghanistan

Today, I'm featuring Crazy Dummy's US Army Ranger Gunner.  This figure sports CD's MK46 Mod0 LMG and comes complete with Gen2 Multicam, RLCS gear, MICH2000 helmet w/PVS-15 night vision, and an original, new head sculpt.  Not sure who this guy is supposed to resemble, but it's nice to see a non-caucasian in the mix this time around.

As with CD's first SEAL set, this SAW figure has a ton of gear and details, most of it pretty well done, IMO.  One of these details is one that you can't really see--underneath the BDUs is a "bulk suit", designed to make the figure appear more muscular.  While I understand the aesthetics behind this decision, I'm not as fond of the execution.  Ultimately, the padded suit makes it harder to dress the figure and restricts the articulation in the upper body enough where it's more of a hinderance than anything else.  I was pondering removing the suit altogether, but decided to just leave it as is for now.

He certainly looks big enough to tote that LMG.

This is one my first gunners.

I dunno about the general looks of this guy, but he seems determined--it's a good expression for a military figure.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Soldier Story 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment

Don't have much to say about this one.  Overall it's a great figure, but there are few oddities that I decided to address.  One, the guy sports a goatee--something a real ranger wouldn't do.  Second, the metal alice harness and rabbit extractor is nice, but a bit too heavy and ultimately not something I really wanted to use on the figure.

So, away went the Edward Norton "American History X" head, and in came the Soldier Story marine in Tarawa to take its place.

Also left behind was the extractor set and here is the result:

Oops, I forgot to attach the drop down holster, lol.

I have to say, even with molded boots, he looks ready to go.

Just like the Toys City Marksman Overwatch dude, the Soldier Story Ranger helmet features little bungies to secure the NVG.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Femme Fig Photoshoot of the Day

Happy New Year everyone!  I recently came across a Cy Girls AJ.  These Cy Girl figures are very well done.  I regret missing out on them when they were in production.  Fantastic pose-ability, nice headsculpts with good paint apps, and good costumes and gear.  Perhaps the only issue is that the actual sculpts are reused across multiple figures (with different combinations of makeup and hair implantations).

Anyhoo, here's my take on AJ!