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Series: MechWarrior – Dark Age
Craftsmanship: 9.5 / 10
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Metal, baby!
- Good
poseability
- Great
paint application but needs “battle damage”
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Bristles with weaponry
Playability: 7.0 / 10
- Metal
makes him heavy – and dangerous
- Needs
a gun to hold
- Small
pilot figure will vanish
- Big
robots are cool!
Related
Links:
-
AFR: Spawn Interlink
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Review: MechWarrior 4 (PC)
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Review: MechAssault (XB)
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Jupiter
(MechWarrior)
by
Joyride Studios
When Resaurus vanished they took with them a
promising line of MechWarrior figures. Joyride Studios has taken up the gauntlet
of the MechWarrior license and has produced some solid results using a mixture
of die-cast metal, plastic, and good articulation. And since every series needs
a starting point we’ll be looking at
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Incorporated with the metal is lighter plastic material, mostly with the arms,
which are completely hard plastic.
Although it looks unwieldy, Jupiter is quite mobile and poseable. It doesn’t
approach the articulation of Kaiyodo’s Evangelion line, but Jupiter has 6 points
of articulation in each arm (including articulated hands), 3 points in each leg,
and at the waist for a total of 19 points of articulation. (I’m not counting the
swivel guns on either side of cockpit and the cockpit hatch.) It’s a good mix of
seam, ball and hinge joints and it allows a wide range of poses. The articulated
hands make me think there were plans for other accessories – like Jupiter needs
any extra armament! – but in their absence using him as a paperweight/pen holder
is a good option. Of course, his hands can be used to hold other action figure
accessories.
All the poseability is means some really dynamic dioramas – especially with
office equipment involved.
The detail and paint is top notch, but I would have liked some “battle damage”
such as scorch marks, laser hits, etc. For the adventurous, detailing some on
using appropriate paint and a dose of creativity can take Jupiter from “fresh
off the production line” to “battle-hardened veteran.” This is not recommended
if you don’t have some experience.
Playability is mixed. Jupiter is heavy and becomes a dangerous projectile when
thrown across rooms – but used in self-defense I’m sure it could knock someone
out. Rough play puts some joints at risk of snapping, most notably the hands and
the seam joint that joins the arm to the shoulder. The cockpit hatch can also be
snapped off easily because the hinge isn’t that big. This fact also makes it
difficult to get the small rubber pilot into the cockpit – the only safe place
for the pilot. He’s so damn tiny that you’ll lose him otherwise. It begs the
question as to why a pilot was even included (even though it is a nice touch).
Overall high marks, even though the playability doesn’t quite match Jupiter’s
presentation. And if you’re a MechWarrior fan, get ‘em while they’re hot!
- Omni
(April 5, 2003) |
