Mcfarlane Halo 4 Jackal Storm

I'm no big fan of the first person shooter genre... it gives me motion sickness, but i am a fan of aliens and Halo has some pretty nice aliens. Among them, my faves are the Elites (Sangheili) and Skirmishers (Jackal/Kig Yar). So when Mcfarlane decided to release the new Jackal Storm from Halo 4, i thought to myself, a dinosaur in space armor, i gotta have one! So i waited... and waited... and waited, till a year later, i finally got my hands on the new Jackal Storm. So, was he worth the anticipation and delays? ... No.

I gotta mention first, i already did some mods and paint touch ups to the figure itself. Sharpened the spaghetti spines and gave it some weathering. The original figure was much paler with some really poor paintwork and splotchy finish. At least the sculpt looks nice...

Second, it can't hold his weapon... i have no idea why would they design it in such a way that holding the weapon is a chore. The pictures i took with his weapon was through sheer will power and luck, there's no way to make it hold the weapon without looking awkward. Though the weapon is really well made, details are sharp and the paint is nice.

 

It's really tiny compared to the Elite Zealot in the previous wave but that's based on the game designs. Articulations wise, it's pretty crap. The upper body has standard Mcfarlane ratcheting joints for the shoulders, elbows and wrists, while the neck and torso is on balljoints. No jaw articulation though, big miss with that. but the worst comes in the lower half. It's hips are on balljoints but the range is so limited that it's basically a forward backward swivel... there's no way for you to spread the legs... that sounds awkward... Knees are on ratcheting joints which isn't that bad, it has some range to it, but the ankles, the articulation might as well not be there. I'm able to get 1 ratchet in and that's it! Atleast it has ankle rockers.

Here's the Jackal equipped with the Monster Hunter weapon prop.

It's not able to balance that well, due to how it's feet are designed in the game, so i don't blame Mcfarlane for that. They were generous enough to include a stand as an accessory as well, which helped ALOT!

Overall, it looks nice but that's it... If you can find  1 cheap, or if you really wanna complete the Covenant collection, go ahead and get it. Otherwise, it's a pass
Anyway thanks for viewing!

Neca Series 11 Battle Armor Lost Predator

The Predator movie franchise is probably one of my favorite sci-fi franchise ever. I remember watching it when i was little, i was so awestruck with cloaking effects and scared with the Predator. Designed by Stan Winston and some input by James Cameroon, the Predator was an interesting, scary yet cool monster. The first film was fantastic, and the following movies weren't too shabby either (except the AVP movies, those 2 can rot in movie hell)., so i was utterly in love with the Predator lore. A race of honorable hunters, collecting trophies across the galaxy, what's not to love? So when Neca announced that they were making Predator figures, i was in 100 %. Now, after 11 waves, Neca decided that the movie designs weren't enough, so they've set their sights on re-inventing old and creating new Predator designs. The results? 3 fantastic kenner Predators and 1 original design. Introducing the Battle Armor Lost Predator!

Designed and sculpted by Jason Frailey and Dave Silva, BALP or Borg, looks fantastic! Sporting unique armor, mask, caster and sheathe,  he stands out among the traditional Predators, looking more like he's a cyborg instead of a hunter alien. According to Jason Frailey, Borg here is a technophile, and instead of hunting organic creatures, he hunts robots. How cool is that??

Details are FANTASTIC!!! The mask features sharp panels and angular shapes, it's such a beauty. We've already seen the armor featured in the previous wave's Borg so that's nothing new. The plasma caster is another whole new sculpt, bigger and bulkier than the more traditional Predators', it looks like it could rip a hole in a Terminator. The sword sheathe is sculpted on the robotic spine of the armor.

He comes with 2 accessory, a shuriken...

And the sword. Just look at this thing. It's painted red which seems to imply it's superheated, probably to cut through the robot he hunts. It's cast in hard plastic, so the sword wouldn't deform or bend.

His plasma caster has 2 balljoints, allowing it alot of range and movement.

Articulations are the same as the previous Lost Predators, which is to say... medicore. Not as articulated as a Marvel Legends, Borg has difficulty achieving more dynamic poses. It has sufficient articulations, but i find myself missing an ab crunch... Let's hope Neca fixes that in the future waves.

Here's a comparison shot with the previous unarmored Borg. You can tell in hand that old Borg has a more realistic paint scheme and weathering. By the way, i swapped their hands so new Borg has an open palm. Originally, he was 2 holding hands, which i find unnecessary.

Series 10 and 11 maybe my favorite Predator wave Neca has made, here's hoping they will continue to wow in the future.
Anyway, thanks for viewing!

Takara Transformers Animated Voyager Blackout

Transformers Animated was a cartoon series made back in 2007-2009 when Bay's movie trilogy was wildly popular. Though unlike Bay's movies, Transformers Animated actually had substance. The series was entertaining, written with wit and love for the franchise but because of the budget, the animation was kinda choppy. The most outstanding element though, was the design by Derrick Wyatt. Love it or hate it, you can't deny the design was unique and interesting. The robots looked impossible to translate into toy form, so imagine the surprise when Hasbro released the toys that not only look accurate, but are actually good... well, some of them anyway. Anyway, here's Blackout!

 Blackout only appeared in 1 episode for 5 minutes, but he and Oilslick were apparently deemed worthy to have toys made of them. While Oilslick was given a Hasbro release, Blackout was never given one. There were only Takara versions and those were pretty rare as well. So, i was pretty lucky to find one this day and age for retail price. Anyway, back to Blackout. Just look at all those guns! Both alt mode and bot mode feature so much firepower! He transforms into futuristic looking helicopter instead of his alt mode in series,  probably was he suppose to appear if the series wasn't given a premature death. The alt mode is pretty solid though i wish the arms are able to peg in the body.

While alt mode was above average, the bot mode is fantastic! Just look at that mustache! How often can you have a bot with mustache?? Proportions are fantastic, sharing a similar silhouette with Animated Lugnut. This gives him a muscular, intimidating look while looking cute as a button!

Articulation wise though... it's ok? With swivel torse, hips and knees, the lower half can achieve all the poses you want a mustachioed robot want too. The arms though, with only forward swivels, he can't twist his shoulders sideways. The elbows, wrist and fingers are articulated.

Back is alittle plain, but atleast the copter blades turn into a cape

For a voyager, he's kinda tiny, similar to Lugnut. In the series, he's suppose to be HUGE to be able to challenge Omega Sentinels. So the size is kinda underwhelming...

 Still pretty fantastic though
 

The back part of the wing transforms into a weird bulky disc launcher. On the copter mode it looks good, but here it's awkward and clunky.

Overall, he's pretty great! But because of the rarity, it's pretty hard to get one for a decent price...
Anyway, thanks for viewing!

Neca Pacific Rim Wave 3 Coyote Tango

As you could probably tell, i have really liked the movie Pacific Rim and i LOVE Neca's release of my fave jaegar, Cherno Alpha. So let's now take a look at Cherno Alpha's wavemate, Coyote Tango. Does he hold a candle to the fantastic Cherno Alpha? Well... yes and no.

Coyote Tango , according to the movie, was a mark 1 jaegar which means it's one of the oldest jaegar made. Piloted by Stacker Pentecost played by the charismatic Idris Elba, Coyote Tango appeared for about 5 minutes in the movie. So there's not much to know about the jaegar except it gave Stacker cancer due to the radioactive generator! Anyway, this figure... what can i say except it's beautiful!

Details are sharp and plenty, paintwork is much better than Cherno Alpha's and the proportion is beautiful. So what's the problem with the figure? Articulation.

Neca has made Coyote Tango with so much articulation, but none of them serve much purpose. And you can't blame Neca for this because due to how he's designed, Coyote Tango ranged of motion is severely limited. The head can barely move, shoulders and hips can only swivel forward, elbows can't move more than 45º at most, same deal with knees and the ankle joint barely works. Although arm swivels, wrist swivels and thigh swivels work fine. The best part though, are the giant cannons on the back, they swivels all the way to the front!

Look at all those lovely details

This is the most dynamic pose i could get him to stand in without the use of a stand.

Because of the limited ankle range, Coyote Tango will very often take a tumble from the shelf. But as flawed as he is, i can't help but to be impressed when i look at him. All in all, if you wanna get him, be aware of what you're in for, otherwise, he's passable.
Anyway, thanks for viewing!

Neca Pacific Rim Wave 3 Cherno Alpha

Last year Guillermo del Toro attempt to do the impossible, to direct a Hollywood kaiju film. Written by del Toro and Travis Beacham, Pacific Rim was a solid, refreshing and well executed movie that doesn't treat the audience like idiots. The movie introduces giant monsters called kaiju trying to exterminate the human race, to battle them giant combat mechs were made called jaegars. While the plot was simple, it's the execution that made the movie shine. The designs were interesting and the world felt lived in. But the best part of the movie, was of course the jaegars themselves. Each were unique and memorable, all felt like they could exist in the real world. So when Neca announced that they were making merchs for Pacific Rim, fans were ecstatic. So let's take a look at my fave jaegar of the movie, the Russia jaegar Cherno Alpha!

Among all 5 of the jaegars, Cherno Alpha was the one that stood out to me the most because it's basically a walking nuclear silo. The details of this figure is superb, everything invokes the characteristic of a heavy bruiser, with rectangular shapes and stocky build. The paint work loses some points though. The wash is shoddily painted and some of the red lines are misaligned, but the decals are sharp and nicely done.

Check out the back, plates everywhere!

He also features extendable arms based on his movie's elbow rockets.

Articulation wise, he's pretty fantastic! Because of his simplistic design, each joints have pretty good range to them. Ball jointed hat, torso, shoulders, and ankles, while elbows, wrist, fingers, hips and knees are swivels. Cherno Alpha is able to make some pretty dynamic poses.

Here's him standing next to his wavemate, Coyote Tango. As you can see, he stands a bit taller. They both pretty large and are pretty hefty.

He's a fantastic figure, some flaws with the paint work, but well worth the price. Being the fan fave jaegar, he is very sought after, so get him if you're able. Even when i had to pay extra for importing him, i still think he's worth every penny.
Anyway, thanks for viewing