Packaging - ***
The industry standard has become clamshells, so it's no surprise to see them
here. The insert card is heavy board instead of thin paper, and has
some very well done artwork of the character. A shot of the actual toy
would have been nice as well, along with any additional planned figures, but
that's an extremely minor complaint.
Sculpting - ***1/2
This was a very difficult category to grade - there are aspects of this
figure's sculpt that are extremely nice, and others that make it obvious
that this is a first time attempt.
If you have been paying attention to the creation of this figure on the
SI website, then you saw the early prototype head sculpt. The good
news is that all the detail and sharpness of the prototype survived in the
translation to production. The head sculpt is very impressive,
especially with the first figure from a new company.
The body work isn't quite as nice, but still certainly above
average. There's not quite as much fine, sharp detail, and the overall
body sculpt seems a little softer. The armor looks good though, and I
love how they handled the crystal canisters on his back.
All the canisters - the two large ones on either shoulder blade, and the
six smaller ones on his mid-back - have clear blue plastic interiors that
look great inside the copper colored exteriors. This is a touch you'd
expect on higher end figures, not something in this style and scale, and
it's a very nice addition.
The 'cape', which is a whole lot more like a skirt, flows out to one
side, as though blown by the wind. I generally don't like the wind
blown appearance (especially with hair, but with clothes as well), but here
it works nicely.
I did have a few issues with the length of the silver tubes running from
his back to his arms. These are too short to actually allow a full
range of movement in the arms, especially with the ball jointed
shoulders. Mine do pop out of the back though, so that I didn't have
to fear snapping them if I went too far.
He stands fine on his own, even when holding the extra large sword.
The tight ankle articulation goes a long way in helping here.
I knew these would be in a six inch scale, but I've grown so accustomed
to the 7 - 8" scale these days, that he seems much smaller than I
expected.
Paint - ***
The paint ops are nicely done, with only a few nits to pick here and there.
The head is again the finest work on the entire figure, with very clean
work, especially around the eyes and hairline.
The body has a few issues, particularly with the battle damage on the
white, and the wash on some areas. For example, the wash on the blue
armor is a bit heavy, and detracts from the sculpt rather than enhancing
it. The silver damage on the white uniform doesn't really work either,
instead appearing to just be some sort of odd pattern. It's much too
consistent and uniform.
Articulation - **1/2
When it comes to the articulation, I can certainly see that they
tried. Unfortunately, some weirdness in the joints hurt the attempt.
He has a cut neck, and this is one of those rare cases where a ball joint
wouldn't have done much good. The armor simply obscures to much of the
face to have made it useful, so the cut joint was a fine choice.
Both shoulders are ball jointed, and these have a decent range of
movement (ignoring the aforementioned issue with the tubes). There's
also cut biceps and cut wrists.
The elbows are single pin, and here's where some of the weirdness settles
in. The sculpt on the forearms allows for 'points' to come up from the
forearm toward the elbow. These points obstruct the full range of
movement of the pin joint. On top of that, the pin is fairly soft, and
reminds me of the joints on the recent Mortal Kombat figures.
There's nothing weird with the knees or ankles, both of which work
well. The knees are double jointed, while the ankles are single
pin. There's no sort of cut joint in the leg though, at either the hip
or ankle, so the legs must remain straight.
That's a problem because of the second area of weirdness - the
hips. They aren't really weird I suppose, just your basic T
joint. That means there's no lateral movement in the hips though, only
forward (and almost none backward due to the sculpt). He can sit just
great, but he's not going to be taking any fighting stances. That's
too bad, since the softer rubber skirt would actually allow for it.
Overall, the quality and 'feel' of the joints strike me as early work
from a new company, something that neither the paint or sculpt do.
Accessories - ***
There are a fair number here, more than I had expected.
The skirt...oh, sorry, cape, is soft rubber and easily removable.
There's a peg on the right side (his left) that pops in and out. Once
you pop it out however, it's quite the trick to pop it back in. The
skirt looks great though, with very nice paint ops, and it hides those funky
hips.
There's also a 'magnum' pistol, which fits tightly in a holster on the
skirt. It fits easily in his left hand as well.
Stryker wouldn't be complete without his big honkin' sword of death,
known to his friends as Quicksilver and to his enemies as Get The Hell Out
Of Here. He can hold the sword in one hand or two, and stand while
doing it in most positions.
Finally, he has his Cygnar flag and base, or as it's called on the
package, battle standard. This is a three piece arrangement, and the
flag fits on the top of the pole, which then fits into the base. This
looks terrific, and the sand bag base works well.
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