TOY REVIEW: SDCC EXCLUSIVE LAMBENT LOCUST GRENADER

Yep, another NECA figure. What can I say... they have a LOT of my favorite licenses. Of those, there is not one I love more than Gears of War. A lot of people know at least a little: a last holdout of humanity battles a subterranean race known as the Locust Horde. And there are chainsaws.

For their Gears of War exclusive this year (last year being the fan favorite Anthony Carmine) they did an interesting little remodel of their just released Locust Grenader. Part of the war between human and Locust in Gears deals with an underground fuel source known as Imulsion. Apparently it can cause quite a few health problems and, as seen in the latter scenes of Gears of War 2, some strange mutated Locust known as Lambents.



The Lambent Locust here is, as I mentioned, a retooled Locust Grenader. The Grenader uses the standard Locust legs NECA has been re-using since the second series Theron Guards and Sentinels. Re-using sculpts is nothing new. Back when I was a kid, the Superpowers line of DC heroes featured the same general body for all the characters with slight detail alterations and different heads. Marvel was doing something similar with their Secret Wars figures and this practice is still in effect today. The Four Horsemen have been making a lot of money for a few companies utilizing this very concept. Re-using parts in a video game however makes even MORE sense. Game developers often re-use parts where they can in order to speed development along. Many of the locust have alterations to a few set main bodies, they are soldiers in uniform after all. On the Lambent Locust/Grenader body, we get a whole new upper torso, arms, and head. Every set of Gears figures has blown away the last. And considering they're releasing nearly three sets a year, that's damn impressive. The body has intricate musculature with tiny, fibrous connective tissue sculpted in for a nice effect. The anatomy has a very solid, yet realistically organic look to it in addition to some nicely used veins. The heads their Locust also feature a lot of little skin folds and stretches.





What makes this Lambent edition sculpt especially worth while is his translucent plastic "veins" running throughout the body. Lambent Locust in the game are very easy to tell apart from their uninfected cousins because they glow. A lot. NECA has recreated this effect by (my theory that I'm pretty damn sure of) sculpting the figure in a translucent plastic and then painting him, leaving areas open so that when light is shown through his back, the clear plastic illuminates. It's an impressive effect and I'm very happy with the results.



Why didn't the Lambent Locust get the LED treatment that Isaac Clarke of Dead Space did? Apparently they looked into it but putting an LED light into a figure requires certain sculpting considerations and, since they needed to use this same body for the standard Locust Grenader and Flame thrower Grenader figures, it was simply not cost effective to do do. While an LED would have been obviously welcomed, their explanation makes sense. The re-using of certain parts throughout the Gears line has allowed them to release a lot of game accurate figures for fans at very reasonable prices. Especially when you actually get one in front of you and can see the intricate sculpting, innovative articulation, and detailed paint (most of the time and always improving). Not to mention the weapons selection.

The Lambent Locust features the same articulation as the standard Series 4 Locust Grenader and I'll get more into that when I obtain the standard figure this month. Suffice to say, there's plenty. He comes with a Gnasher shotgun, weapon of choice to Locust Grenaders.

His weapon features the new peg system NECA has been implementing on their Gears figures in much the same fashion as McFarlane's Halo line: a peg mounted on weapons that can be plugged into a spot on the figure's back to sit in the same fashion as secondary weapons do in game. On the Grenader I actually wish they'd have skipped it. Grenaders, not wearing shirts, have an exposed torso. A weapon hanging from nothing just looks weird, I don't plan to use it, and now there's a hole in his back for it. The standard version wears a couple of straps and I'm hoping his weapon snaps into that and not the figure. Its very possible the standard version will have a strap overlapping the hole so that the peg can slip through the strap, into the body, and appear to be attached to the strap. Here's hoping at any rate. we shall see after I get my hands on them.

All in all, a very cool exclusive. He's a solid representation of his in game counterpart and I really enjoy the illuminating feature. He's very well painted all around and he only cost me $20. Average con price and easily fair for the figure. I'm hoping NECA does more Lambent versions of the Locust Horde, maybe in the form of one of their very popular boxed sets, because I was only able to grab one. If the Lambent are more heavily featured in Gears 3, I'm sure they will. I highly recommend it to any fan of Gears of War or figures with amazing sculpts and fun extra features.

TOY REVIEW: SDCC NECA EXCLUSIVE DEAD SPACE ISAAC CLARKE

I first read about the PS3/XBOX/PC game, Dead Space quite a while ago and, regretfully, I've yet to play it. What struck me about what I'd read was that you play an entire action shooter, set in a very 1979 Alien film-like setting, as a mechanic, Isaac Clarke, with mainly tools with which to fight. Not being a well trained super soldier is always a more engaging premise.

This year, when I heard NECA secured the license to produce Dead Space figures, I knew they'd do the fans of Dead Space proud after seeing their outstanding work on several games including Gears of War and Street Fighter IV. What I didn't know, is that thanks to their San Diego Comic Con exclusive debut of Isaac Clarke, that I'd be drooling over their creation. It was only a few weeks before the Con when I read that the average, 8" scale Isaac Clarke, in keeping with the game's aesthetic, would feature LED lights in his head and torso.

I've never seen that before in an 8" figure. Needless to say, I made sure I got one.



Issac Clarke is made out of a dense plastic that carries some good weight without being clunky. Its one of my most common praises of NECA, they do not use weak, rubbery plastic like most mainstream companies. The sculpt is impressive as always. Clarke's suit is very simple in its very utilitarian style design. NECA has given it some good texture to keep him from looking like he's in a one piece body suit. The areas that are clearly meant to be fabric LOOK like fabric and the parts that are clearly meant to be metal (or whatever super plastics we may use in a space travel filled future) have a good solidarity to them.

Let's talk little details. There are all sorts of things happening all over Clarke's suit. I've since looked at quite a bit of material from Dead Space and this suit seems very game accurate. His left wrist and hand have a bit of tech looking equipment bits that are intricately sculpted and cleanly painted. Even the boots received some little extras.





My favorite detail, and its one most companies would have skipped or not really paid much attention to, is his little chest plate heads up display. The plate protrudes from his chest presumably so he can quickly look down at whatever data he needs while still having both hands free to fix what needs fixin'. Its astounding. The plate has a clear greenish tint plastic with some sort of text on it to simulate the holographic projection look of most of the computer interfaces of Dead Space. Its the sort of clever little detail you find and think, 'wow, they could have totally skipped this and no one would have complained, and yet they made sure it was there in perfect detail'. It truly is a commitment to detail I wish a certain company producing movie "accurate" figures from one of my favorite films ::cough::ghostbusters::cough:: would take a cue from. This level of caring about delivering the best representation of a fan's beloved property creates brand loyalty you can't buy.



Clarke features numerous points of articulation including a ball jointed head and shoulders, cut biceps, cut/hinge elbows and knees, cut wrists, waist, double hinge hips (for forward, back and out to side movement), and hinged ankles. I love that we live in an era of toys where that is only slightly above standard. The standard for articulation is in a fantastic place all over the wonderful world of action figures.

The paint, as you can clearly see from the photos already, is equally noteworthy. Some companies would have just painted him all black. Some companies would have allowed that black to have far too much sheen and negate the feeling that Clarke jumped right off the screen. Here NECA has multiple tones of black and dark grays to make their sculpting really pop and enhance all of the little details. The standard version of Clarke, available this fall, will feature a more bronze/brown paint scheme representing the suit he starts the game in. Apparently he upgrades suits when needed, sort of like all those mainstream rollerblade in lava lazers ninja Batman figures we've seen over the years. Only Clarke's are actually functional in the context of the game.

Here we have Clarke in his Unitology suit. In the game, Unitology is an obvious reference to Scientology and is appropriately portrayed as a cult. Clarke's suit is covered in symbols from this cult. I'm not sure how NECA did these, I'm assuming its some sort of stamp. However they did it, each character is as clear and crisp as if they were typed onto him. I've found that there is actually a translator for this code (a is this, b is this) and will someday, when I'm really bored, actually see if the symbols spell out anything or are just really awesome looking gibberish. Being NECA, I wouldn't be surprised if it said something.



Clarke uses a bunch of different tools in the game but here only comes with one. I'm assuming that was to keep the cost down to make room for his best feature, which I'll get to in a moment and then it's price tag. I'm unsure of what it's called but when I read about it on the game's Wikia page, it is apparently a super advanced sort of nail gun which can shoot three bolts in a vertical line or, if you were to switch to its secondary mode, a horizontal line. The plastic version that Clarke comes with doesn't switch to this horizontal mode. That would have been cool, but honestly, no big deal. You'd have to ask a die hard Dead Space fan whether or not that hick up would be enough to make them not want this figure. I'm sure they'd let it slide. The gun is also covered in the Unitology symbols and fits into his hand quite well. It has a mean look and really ads to Clarke's menacing appearance (which... is odd for a mechanic, but I like it so I'm not gonna get into an art versus total functionality debate with myself about it). I'm sure they will make many of Clarke's suits and each will come with his various tools so that by the end of the run, you'd have all of his better suits and tools to swap around.



I recently ripped into, just a little, another company for not providing ENOUGH accessories for their price tag. It might appear that I'm going easy on Clarke. Well that other figure did not feature an LED light (and it would have been one awesome figure if it did!). Most of the gameplay of Dead Space happens throughout a powered down and very dark star ship (borrowing from Alien for its excellent use of the combo claustrophobia/darkness threat). Within that dark, the main light source just happens to be, well, you. NECA obviously realizing what an important character this minimal lighting was on its own, Clarke features not only a light up face plate but back tubing as well. Apparently the developers wanted as little stat related text on their screen as possible so your health meter is the light up tube down Clarke's back. The fuller the tube, the better his health. Ingenious little idea. And NECA nails it here.

As you can see, the light is bright and full in any condition, as only an LED can truly deliver. The left side photos were taken in an all white kitchen heavily saturated in day light. The photos on the right feature him in the much more game appropriate lighting of... my darkened bathroom. NECA even made an already raised section of his spine plates the switch for the LED's so that it does not show up upon inspection. It also has two modes: push it straight in to turn it on and release to turn it off OR push the switch in and slightly up to have the LED stay on.





And the most amazing thing about all this... I'm going to sound like an infomercial... oh well... You get the amazing sculpt, the dense plastic, the high level of articulation, the crisp, well thought out and painted details AND a couple of LED lights for a whopping... twenty dollars. $20!!!

Standard mainstream Con figure prices. NECA has maintained a $20 price tag on, I believe, all of their comic con figures and, in this tough economy where even a company with NECA's big name licenses is forced to keep costs down, they maintain a commitment to making affordable exclusives. Even when they light the hell up.

I'm looking forward to getting some other versions of Clarke. The fall release figure is pretty nice looking and will feature a bloody variant with a different weapon. Oh yeah, those will light up too.

TOY REVIEW: SDCC EXCLUSIVE IDW SECURITY BRAMBLE from 3A TOYS

So since the last entry introduced the uninitiated to the wonderful universe that is Ashley Wood's World War Robot, what better way to kick off a few San Diego Comic Con Exclusive reviews than with 3A Toys IDW Security Bramble!



IDW is, of course, the distributor of the World War Robot books and most of Wood's print work. To celebrate IDW's Ten Year Anniversary, Wood's toy company, 3A Toys, produced an exclusive 1/12th scale Bramble unit with an "IDW Security" paint scheme including the IDW logo and a large roman numeral 10 on his stomach plate in celebration of the company's well earned bench mark.



3A Toys (one year old this passed July!) is a direct to collector toy company that produces high end vinyl figures based on Wood's work. This year has seen some radical expansion including various collaborations and the recent announcement of a Kojima team up (as in Metal Gear Solid Kojima, which made my head explode with excitement). 3A began by producing 1/6th scale figures and have, as of this year, started the WWRP (World War Robot Portable) line of 1/12th bots to further flesh out the world with more paint schemes and variations that would be ridiculous for a 1/6th scale figure. Obviously the smaller scale WWRP line is also in a more affordable price range and a welcomed space saver.

What's most amazing, the figures lose absolutely NO detail in this 1/12th scale!

So let's get to it!



The Bramble's basic sculpt is the spitting image of the World War Robot Bramble unit. He's made out of a sturdy vinyl and sports far more articulation than one would ever expect in this scale. He has a ball jointed head, shoulders, cut bicep, hinged elbow, cut wrists, cut waist, ball hips, hinge knees and ball ankles. But here's the part that is insane: EVERY (and I mean EVERY) digit of his fingers are articulated. He can throw the horns (see above!), flip off my Transformers. solute and oh yeah, hold his gatling gun too.





Let's talk paint: in one word, 'whuuuuuuuuuooooooaaaaah...'. Weathering in your average figures looks good, it works. You see a lot of dry brushing and washes (all effects I gladly employ in my own work). Here you also get texture (as in bumpy realistic rust damage), spray effects, soft tonal shifts and best of all, its incredibly clean. I know that might sound odd to anyone who doesn't customize or paint such things but realistic weathering is a very subtle art and one of the easiest effects to screw up or over do when attempting it. Too little and your piece looks flat, too much and you've buried a sculptor's hard work. I can't even imagine how long each one of these must take.

Let's just take a gander shall we?

PERFECT example of the weathering:


Brambles headshot:


And some full body shots to see the overall effectiveness:


I spent many of my first few hours with this figure just staring at it. Even once the paint has been gushed over good and plenty, we have Bramble's accessories which include four pouches, a gatling gun and a bandolier of bullets that connect from the gatling gun to the ammo drum on his back.

The pouches are art unto themselves. They have functioning clips, extra pouches, adjustable straps and do in fact open. I stuffed mine with a couple cotton balls each to give them a plump and loaded appearance. Perfect replications of realistic military equipment packs. The texture on them really sells the realism (if the functioning clips weren't enough!)



The gatling gun is black with a good bit of scrape and scratch style weathering. The bullets have all the appropriate details and connect to the gatling gun and ammo drum via peg.

The bullets:


The ammo drum itself boasts the 3A Toys logo. While normally I wouldn't like a company's logo conspicuously displayed on a figure, the 3A logo happens to be a very effective graphic which maintains perfect harmony with their products aesthetic. I'd honestly miss it if it weren't on there. Its also on the back so, its not like some Mike Tyson facial tattoo or something. The little danger warning label on the back is also a great example of 3A's commitment to detail. Even on the back of a figure, we're given unique and expertly executed details.



This figure ended up costing me $50 and considering it was limited to 100 units, that's ASTOUNDING. Other companies would have taken this as an easy opportunity to price gouge like there was no tomorrow. 3A kept it in close range with their WWRP singles (sold out at 3A'a Bambastore but available now at Sideshow Collectibles, links at the end). These were all sold out (via IDW publishing site pre-sale) within 24 hours and probably 90% of them went to members of the 3A forums. To boot, Ashley Wood himself took time out of his very busy schedule to be at the con and sign and sketch the boxes for fans picking up their Brambles! Regretfully I was unable to personally attend SDCC this year because I thought my work schedule wouldn't permit the time off but my friend Jamie was nice enough to pick up mine (and 4 more for fellow forum members) and get them all signed.

My prized piece now:


If you weren't lucky enough to catch one of these, they do show up on Ebay but get very costly very fast. I happened to really want this figure, not just as a 3A/Ashley Wood fan, but as a fan of IDW Publishing as well since I've been reading their titles since year one. I highly recommend grabbing yourself any of the 3A Bramble singles and be on the look out for the next wave (and my most anticipated) Bertie, which will most likely be sometime in mid to late fall.

They're more than worth it.

3A is one of the most fan friendly companies out there. Check out the 3A forums if you get a chance, Mr. Wood himself hops on now and then to talk about what he's up to, what's coming and banter with his fans. The forums also keep fans up to date and offer plenty of artist friendly threads and just a generally great community.

Related links:
World War Robot Official Site
3A Toys store
3A Toys blog
3A Forums

To grab those singles:
Sideshow Collectibles (regular 3A retail prices!)
BigBadToyStore.com