Indeed...but not as large as what was shown at SDCC. The head AND body at SDCC looked much larger than anything we've seen in solicits, at NYTF or before. I was a little worried before, and am moreso now.Originally Posted by rche
Indeed...but not as large as what was shown at SDCC. The head AND body at SDCC looked much larger than anything we've seen in solicits, at NYTF or before. I was a little worried before, and am moreso now.
channeling Bob Wills
so Tothiro - is the jumper underneath the armor glued at the forearm/wrist as well?
If it pulls back, you might be able to get the forearm off by removing the pin. I am sure you would have done that, tho if it was possible. Looks like there is one to many ringlets on the black upper part of the gauntlet. If you cut one of those off, do you think it would be able to regain the elbow articulation?
I do like the looks of this figure. Very ambitious for a Mego ish item.
I am not exactly an old skool Mego style purist. Rather, I like items in a line to match. So I am OK with designs sort of in between cartoony and ultra realistic as long as they are fairly consistent. It looks like this line is doing that. Nice sculpts, but a bit on the CHiPs side. Good details on the soft goods even if they are not ultra realistically tailored. And a supreme effort on the robot even tho he ends up with a bit of Tin Man-itis. I am sort of thinking most of these are designed with the idea that they will stay static in a blister or on a shelf display and not get much in the way of 9yo torture testing.
Thanks for the early pics and review, btw.
I'm not happy to hear about all these problems with the Galactica figures. There's still so much here to work with on the Cylon anyone who likes to tinker can modify the figure and make it better.
Reducing heads like Capt. Apollo is another matter. It could also use a repaint. BBP figures heads on the whole tend to come out too pale. Richard Hatch is a bit more tan. Not impossible to fix. Just difficult.
Last edited by johnmiic; Jul 19, '12 at 10:02 PM.
"The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow...How did it come to this?"
channeling Bob Wills
Billly is the only bbp item that has me wondering. The proto on the back of the last set of cards looked great. I hope the one at sdcc was more of a 'we didn't have the real proto and mocked something up on an adult body 'cos that's what we had' sort of thing.
Dang :( Thanks for the review though.
Being a natural spindoctor when it comes to most things 8 inch Mego style I gotta say I'm a little disappointed. watch out; here comes the spin... In my heart of hearts I firmly believe the BBP folks have the absolute best of intentions in all of their Classic style action figure product BUT in the end they are at the mercy of overseas manufacturers. In what I've learned here at the MM from Dr.Mego and Craig with ZICA and the action figure production processes described with each new release, I can completely understand the communication breakdown that can happen with QC. Problem is though the general consumer doesn't care. A bad / less than 'perfect' final product can kill a line with a quickness (see CTVT).
And while I still want these, my disposable income is very limited at the moment and I think that's the same for many of us here. While I can't speak for the rest of you all I do know that a review / overview such as this, from someone I wholeheartedly respect and trust in their opinion will encourage my Re-Mego dollar to go in a different, safer direction first (i.e. new Diamond Select ST:TNG).
In the end I do want to see BBP thrive and I really do want Battlestar Galactica Mego's BUT I may have to wait longer to justify the retail price in lieu of QC issues pointed out. Perhaps if I only wanted a carded figure and not a loose one I might change my tune but the head size is a real issue even for display purposes.
Again,
Dang. :(
Just for the sake of argument, could you do a photo of the Richard Hatch head next to Ponch? Because I'm ok with the size of Ponch's head.
Ya know, I wanted these to be great as well...but it seem like every time BBP puts out a Prototype and the head is too big to to begin with they always say..."don't worry this is just the Prototype, the head will be the proper size on the final figure". Well, if this this is the final figure...the head is WAAAAAAY to BIG!!
Remego vs Mego Face-Off:
Ok so the "It's all in your mind those heads are perfectly scaled!" line of thought is, now, I earnestly proclaim, dead. Dead with a fork in it's cold, grey heart.
I don't take joy in that at all. I really wanted to be as stoked when the package was open as I was in waiting to open the package. I don't like regretting my toys, and when they're well made I don't.
Anyway - I won't spend a lot of time or photos on the basics and front presentation of Apollo, everyone knows what he looks like and this harshing is a bit of a drag :/
I will say that the belt is done well. The pants too. I'm a classic styling guy, so I would much rather have preferred a plastic belt and holster ala AJ Western gunslinger - without belt-loops. I get that it would have been way too costly, and ridiculous since Apollo is southpaw and Starbuck a rightie. Also people dig the fabric and belt loop thing, so I won't diss their joy. Having said all that the belt material is solid and it does what it's supposed to do. The front velcro isn't bulky like some have been either.
The pants are a little loose in spots but otherwise good. The shirt is pretty basic, and almost a HD Potsie affair though again it's tailored a bit wrong, but otherwise pretty accurate remego.
The boots are unaltered black dm boots. I guess that's a cost issue too, but I'm frankly surprised they aren't dark brown or mego brown. Failing a side buckle sculpt like they had on the show, and since BBP! isn't one for boot sculpting like, at all, I guess I can see it. Repro Little John boots would have been a better choice though.
All of that is incidental - the big thing here is the head, the jacket, and the helmet.
Wow is it big.
While I'm at it - the Apollo head sculpt is pretty good. I would say the cheeks/jowls are cut too sharply giving him a bit of missing teeth/Boris Karloff deal, and he has helmet hair - missing the top comb-over pop the character's hair actually had. Enough about that. Look at this helmet. For real.
On a Cylon:
On a Frakking Sontoran:
And just for fun - on a 12" Neo-Henshin Cyborg...
So... the jacket.
It's the same material type as the Dr Who jacket, in a different tone. The shoulder pads are the coated material like the Dr's elbow pads... except here's the thing: the jacket is tailored poorly. It's kind of botched, I think.
there isn't enough back material to let the shoulders lay correctly, so the end result is the shoulder pads become a detail on the back of the jacket, which sucks. This also means the collar is not wide enough to actually fit the guy wearing it - and instead of the mandarin collar as seen in the show,
We instead end up with Mr Rodger's sweater vest. There's also too much fabric in all the wrong spots on the front, so basically the dimensions are all weird. I think someone was really thrown off game by the raglan sleeve cut.
I like the Colonial Warrior insignia, and the plastic add on for the front buckles is really nice. I might cut this apart and use those elements to make a new one that fits with little Klingon pips on the collar - I dunno, I haven't decided yet.
In the interest of figure swapping - it's a little better on a standard headed body - but you can see the collar and shoulders are still an issue:
Here it is with helmet btw...
In the end, for me, I can't pick these up and be excited about them/happy with my purchase out of the package. Which really sucks.
Others maybe can - and that's totally cool. I would be glad for them probably.
My friend said he looked at the other two figures and decided not to get them for me because of lack of shelf appeal. I can't say now that he was wrong, and I probably would have left them behind in his shoes too.
I think I may get them - it depends on how successful my efforts are to rework Apollo here are. Not everyone can shrink/resculpt/recast/repaint their own heads and be satisfied having spent $20 on what is a resin custom with a whole new suit and a few parts as starter bits. Nor should they.
I know BBP! is into this game and in heavy - clearly. A lot of cash has been sunk and licenses acquired and I know that that was a lot of work and investment. I know it's a fan job and not a day job. I don't understand - really, I don't - why so little seems to have been done to ensure product standards. That is like throwing your time and effort away.
Listen, I don't know what the process was or the hurdles to get over, I'm sure it was very demanding with a few sleepless nights. Maybe this is unavoidable for a small operation - maybe nothing else is possible. I just know what ended up in my little consumer hands, so if something else is possible, i sure hope they do it. (Well I probably also know that my phone will now likely never ring with a job offer - but ... you know... this really is meant as a helpful, honest critique) Better to address problems that effect bottom line than to pretend they don't exist.
PS - the helmet actually IS hard plastic ala AJ helmet - I expected it to be soft and squishy. So irony of irony, it is exactly as I would have wanted it to come if it just weren't scaled for a 9" Denys Fisher Dr Who. Cue sadface.
The guns turned out real nice though.
Last edited by Tothiro; Jul 19, '12 at 10:44 PM.
Looking for Tong body style LHT/Australian release Ninjas of any color, and here's :::My Expansive Wants List::: WARNING: I am medical malady boy, and have recently proven to be chronic iffy-to-negligible-trader-response-guy. Like After School Special worthy. This is my self-imposed Scarlet Letter.
these are an EASY pass...thanks for the review,it saved me $90
That's a very fair review, Tothiro, and a massive bummer.
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