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M.A.R.S. Heroes

 

"The following is a guest review.  The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

Brandon is back tonight with an interesting review of something you might not have seen - tell them all about it, Brandon!

I want to thank Michael again for letting me guest review once more. Tonight's review is a different one. Different because what I am about to talk about came as a total surprise. Whenever I go to a Walgreens I take a look at the action figures, toys and stuff because they carry many of the major lines such as Fantastic Four the Movie, Batman Begins, Star Wars, Spider-Man Classics, GI Joe, TMNT and among others. Their prices are a bit higher than the prices at like say Target and Wal-Mart but I look at it as another source for action figures and sometimes they do have that rare figure you're maybe looking for! They also carry figures that usually can only be found there that are made by companies that are small and not recognized by everyone. So it was one day I walked in and went to the figures aisle (which was actually the other figure aisle across the seasonal items) and I saw these guys. I wasted no time picking them up when I saw the M.A.R.S. name on the cards because I'm a huge alien buff so this was a treat to behold. The series is called M.A.R.S HEROES, a non-movie or comic license figure series made by a company I never heard of called HAP-P-KID that consists of nine figures. There are three Troopers, three Aliens, and three MegaBots. Each figure is about four inches tall but fits in with 3 3/4" scale figs  (more on that later), has about 13 pieces, all have ball joints, and interchange with each other! Cool huh? But that's not the only cool factor, the other one is the price! Yes sir I'm talkin' cheap as in 1 Dollar cheap!!! I was amazed by such a low price! So since I am a completist I immediately checked to see if they have all nine. They had a ton of them like maybe three dozen possibly more and I was there a few days previously and they weren't around so it must have been a brand new stock. Anyway I'm looking for this one and that one, all can be found right away except the blue Martian. So I'm looking all through them putting them here and there and having that feeling where you find the figures you want but then there's just one more you need or just gotta look all around with no such luck. After a couple minutes of searching and stacking I finally hit the sweet spot in the back of all the figures and there he was! The blue Martian! What a trouble maker he became. After all of that I'm like wow! Mission accomplished! Since I don't like it when people drop a figure on the floor and don't pick it up I put them all back like a good doobey. I have absolutely no clue to what the case ratio is but I'm betting the blue Martin is the rare one. It's quite obvious he was very hard to find. It may be a different story at other locations but I didn't explore the thought as I was very happy that I got all of them and left the building with them. On to the review! 










Packaging - ****
The packaging is actually quite nice. Its blister packaging, colorful and it has the M.A.R.S. HEROES name of the series right on the top so the buyer knows exactly what it is. It also has the Cybotronix name on the back and front as well. The cards are all the same and has a figure checklist on the back. Info about the company and that's about it. I would like to have a detailed story of just not the series but also the figures themselves cause they have personality to me. There are large bots in the same series but they are electronic, walk and are much larger in scale and why I am saying this is because there is a story on their boxes. They aren't shown on the cards but their in the same series. Of course I'm not a mint on carder so the packaging isn't extremely important to me but it would of been cool to know a bit about each character. This is a series for youngsters and collectors alike so you could make it up as you go along if you don't go by what it says on the packaging. I can see that the back of the package wouldn't be big enough for a story line with the checklist but it got my attention so it did what it was meant to do and that was its number one priority. 

Sculpting - ****
For a company that is new to Me they sure got Me hooked on their sculpting. Each one has a lot of sculpted detail particularly the Troopers. Two of them has their mugs exposed. The bots have many mechanisms on their bodies and the aliens all have different faces that are translucent. Ol' Bluie has different sculpted hands than the other two which actually that are claws and look menacing. There are some reuse of some of the limbs and weapons but that's ok. All of the guns for the Troops, MegaBots and Martians are fine and don't look silly. The plastic isn't soft and is made well. When I look at the aliens I think War of the Worlds and the Troopers remind Me of the soldiers in the new style of Doom 3! That's how well these Martians and Troops look in person! You can see the size comparison and how well the sculpting is on these individuals. In the one photo you can see the red Trooper with Microman's DC Batman, Street Fighter Chun Li and AVP's Celtic Predator, Takara's DOA Hitomi, Spylounge's Agent Annika, Marvel Legends Showdown Berserker Wolverine, Incredible Hulk and Namor, GI Joe's Baroness and Star Wars' Aayla Secura. I chose them from those lines to show the collector that they are indeed in scale with the top series' in that scale and that they look fine with them so you can have an addition with your collection displays! I'm gonna go ahead and say it, I'm pleased with these sculpts of these M.A.R.S. HEROES, now lets see how HAP-P-KID is sculpting some characters from movies or something of that sort! 

Paint - ***1/2
There isn't much to paint on these guys but where there is a paint application its good. I only noticed a tiny spot on one of the MegaBots. Also I noticed that most of the gray and silver Trooper figures eyes are not painted straight. I for one ain't no fan of awkward eyes or eyes not matching on figures but for some reason I like it on him. If you don't like it either then I recommend that you choose wisely.

Articulation - ****
As I said before all of the joints are ball jointed. Each figure has a ten piece body and this is part of the interchange feature which I'll get to that in the Action Feature section. All of them have thirteen joints but the MegaBots and Aliens has an additional one or two with the shoulder-mounted turrets. The figures have head, shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle movements. The elbows, knees and ankles act like cut joints as they can turn. The ankles are really sweet because they are much like the side to side articulation that you'd find on a Marvel Legends or Sideshow figure! The only joints that are missing that articulation nuts would want is wrist and waist joints but In My opinion the articulation is just right. They ain't Marvel Legends or Microman so there isn't a gob but it works fine and from a new company its a really big start!

Accessories - ****
These guys come with what you'd expect, GUNS! Each Trooper has two weapons and most are different. The MegaBots have two guns as well. They also got shoulder-mounted artillery. Now the extraterrestrials beg the differ. The orange dude has a blaster and a shoulder gun, greenie's got two blasters plus a shoulder turret and the rare bluester is equipped with a really nice sculpted alien ax or hatchet plus a shoulder accessory. All of the Troopers and MegaBots' weapons look like they could actually be futuristic and the Alien's look like they could really be a Martian design. None of them look cartoony and I think its a decent amount of accessories especially for the price point. 

Action Feature - ****
I know the M.A.R.S. HEROES figures doesn't really have an action feature that's spring loaded or has some power punch so let's just call this a feature. The feature is that these guys can interchange with one another meaning that you can take them apart and switch the limbs of an Alien and stick them on a Trooper or vice versa. You can see an example in the picture. In My view this feature is quite acceptable because you'd could have a mutant Trooper or a combination of a Trooper and a MegaBot, that sort of stuff. I think collector's will like this idea just as much as the kids. Its a feature you don't see a lot in action figures these days and its a welcome one at that. 

Fun Factor - ****
Without a single doubt these guys are fun! Who wouldn't want a line with Martians? Kids will totally dig these dudes and at just one dolla a pop it makes it even funner! Action figure collector's who collect lines that are obscure will also have a ball with them. I know I did! Another fun aspect of the series is that you got aliens, commandos, and robots! Plus M.A.R.S. HEROES are in scale with major 3 3/4" lines like Star War and GI Joe! If anyone lookin' fer some alternatives in 3 3/4" scale and that are cheap then these are the guys to pick up!

Value - ****
I said it before and I'll say it again, these figures only cost a buck a piece and the whole set of nine is just nine bucks! Now that I think about it these are one of the best deals you can get in action figure form at this current day. Since I love Mars and Aliens the subject was great but one of the main reasons why I bought them was because, they were so cheap! In My book these guys are around $4.99 value each but only retail for one buckaroo. This is definitely a great way to save some dough. Sure, they ain't a movie or video game based licence but there're action figures that are quite poseable, have great sculpting and are completely affordable at just a dollar each!

Things to Watch Out For - 
Being four inches tall the figures have small pieces and I would be careful with them so nothing happens to them. If giving to a child I would do what the package says and give to children at ages five and over. One other thing is that when you interchange the parts don't pull to hard. The plastic is sturdy but over time it may weaken. I'm just sayin' it so you'll know.

Overall - ****
The M.A.R.S. HEROES series is got a ton going for itself with it's terrific price tag, excellent sculpting, a great amount of accessories and a interchanging feature! This might arguably be the best series of the year when your talking about the price department. You really couldn't ask for a better deal. So if you are a parent and want to get your kids some great figures that cost very little or a collector lookin' for some new faces on your shelf then do not hesitate and get 'em! These guys look great on the shelf with each other and other 3 3/4" figures! Four stars all the way!

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ****
Sculpt - ****
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ****
Accessories - ****
Action Feature - ****
Fun Factor - ****
Value - ****
Overall - ****

Where to Buy - 
I haven't seen these guys at the big stores so yeah, Walgreens is the place. Check their action figure aisles and their summer seasonal aisles as well. The toys/seasonal aisle is where I found mine!

HAP-P-KID has an official page as well.

About Myself -
I have been an action figure collector all My life. I currently collect 12" Sideshow figures of Highlander, Universal Monsters, Star Wars, POTA, X-Files, Horror and others. I also collect G.I. Joe Sigma 6, Marvel Legends and sub-lines, SOTA's Street Fighter, Mattel's DC Superheroes, Godzilla, Gamera and King Kong stuff as well as comics and movie books. I'm a big fan of Action, Sci-fi, Horror and Monster films and I love movie Scores & Soundtracks, Baseball, Boxing, classic Wrestling, classic and Modern Video Games, Dinosaurs, Prehistoric and Modern day Animals, Cryptozoology, Mythical Creatures, Aliens, UFOs, strange phenomena etc. If you have any questions give Me a holler at Capri1981@aol.com.


Figure from the collection of Brandon Miller.

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