Cylon Commander (Battlestar Galactica) - Action Figure Reviews

Series: Battlestar Galactica, 2

Craftsmanship: 6.3 / 10

- Where’s the articulation?

- Accurate to the TV source

- Stands easily with and without the stabilizing disc

- Great color

Playability: 7.7 / 10

- Durable but the sword and the shoulder pads can be snapped off

- Gun can be lost

- Good compatibility with other 6” – 7” figures

Related Action Figure Reviews:

- Master Chief (Halo)

- Master Chief (Halo 2)

- Eddy (SSX Tricky)

- Elise (SSX Tricky)

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Cylon Commander (Battlestar Galactica) by Joyride Studios

There are some sci-fi fans out there that level an accusatory finger at Battlestar Galactica as being a complete rip-off of Star Wars. They are, of course, absolutely correct. You really don’t have to look further than the design of the Cylons. The

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“inspiration” derived from Star Wars’s Stormtroopers and the big bad man in black, Darth Vader, are very apparent, which is probably why I wasn’t a big fan of the series when it first aired back in the early 1980s. Even at a tender age, I wasn’t forgiving of rip-offs. Be that as it may, the series has reached cult status and while I may be somewhat indifferent to the series, there’s enough demand out there to warrant a

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line of action figures.

Here we have the Cylon Commander, a gold-clad killing machine if ever there was one, which suffers quite a bit due to poor articulation. Joyride’s own Master Chief (Halo, Halo 2) features a ton of useful articulation with a combination of hinge, seam and ball-joints, but the Cylon Commander, similar in size and shape to Master Chief, features a handful of seam joints which afford only a fraction of the poseability. (The Cylon Commander has 10 points of articulation.)

The sculpt and pose are generally good but with more poseability there would have been increased play potential as well as display potential.

Paint application is great. The gold sheen reflects light extremely well so if you take displaying your action figures seriously, you’ll always have the Cylon Commander in the brightest spot on the shelf. He stands easily and he’s particularly stable when he’s pegged onto the included stabilizing disc.

Playability is actually pretty good, but you should be wary of a few things. The gun can be lost pretty easily because it doesn’t fit snuggly in his hand. Posed on a shelf is one thing, playing with him the sandbox is another – it will always slip from his grip. The sword attached to his left hip can also be snapped, which is a plus/minus. If you do accidentally snap it off, it can be put in his right hand, but because the grip isn’t that tight, you’ll likely lose it. The Cylon Commander’s shoulder pads can also be snapped off extremely easily. (See picture above.) There is a seam joint at the shoulder and it doesn’t take any effort to snap off the pad with a simple twist of the joint. They can be reglued but you’ll still have the problem later because of this design flaw. Those issues aside, he’s actually a pretty tough figure.

While the Cylon Commander is accurate to the TV show source, Joyride could have gone the extra mile (with Master Chief-style articulation) and made this a must-have for collectors and fans of the show alike. Decent enough, but Joyride has taken a step backward.

- Omni
(August 7, 2005)