Author Topic: Official 1:18 Military Toys Thread (21st, BBI, FOV, etc)  (Read 361712 times)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #135 on: August 17, 2004, 06:06 PM »
Harley Euler's package arrived to me today...  The modular playset's pretty cool!

I'll do a bit more of a review when I can get it built.

Accessories are a mix of cool and "eh".  Figures are kinda poor but th e headsclupts (3 unique out of EIGHT, yes 8 figures).  A nice generic black guy, white guy, and older white guy with mustache.

I got Matt's SDCC package today too.  Haven't opened the modern figure set just yet...  Kinda hesitant to even.  These were limited editions and Matt got me like #64...  That's freakin' LOW.  I'm impressed.

Great day all around...  More when I get some time.
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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #136 on: August 17, 2004, 06:26 PM »
Sound good Jesse.

On another note, PTE's website is showing some nice dio fodder, even a nice command base.
- June 22, 2004 12:13 AM -

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #137 on: August 18, 2004, 06:27 PM »
OK, well, here's my take on things:

21st Cent. Modern Figures

First, the sculpts on these figures are a mix of really detailed/nicely done, all the way down to what I can only categorize as some of the sloppiest work 21st's done ever.

The figures sport "skirt pieces", which are all nice and these are the first 21st figures to do so other than the Battle of the Bulge, but they're not "opened" at the sides or center to allow greater range of motion like the BotB figures are.

The headsculpts are very animated on the two Afghani looking guys.  That's a shame because the one with a little Afghani hat has a removable hat and would be a goood army builder if he didn't have the animated face.

The British guy looks the best to me personally.  Best articulation, sculpt, and overall quality.

The Spec. Forces, again, I can confirm sucks in every way except his arm articulation and hat.  Very  poor figure really.

The weapons in all the packages are bent horribly.  It appears someone at 21st must moonlight at Hasbro on this.  The plastic's cheap looking, feeling, and it has ruined the weapons (a shame since they're all  new). 

The U.S. and British fellow have removable stocking caps, which is cool...  And one Eastern Warrior has a removable hat that is commonly seen worn by the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Very cool!

In short, had the head sculpts, leg articulation (both style and sculpt) and weapons been better, these figures would all be winners.  Had they been changed in these ways, they'd be as good as the BotB figures actually.

Eversparkle Playset (Eversparkle's such a truly stupid name)

In short, for $15 you really can't ask for a ton more.  :)

You get 8 figures with 4 unique headsculpts (2 unique black men...  One seemingly older than the other, and 2 unique white men, one younger and one with a mustache and seemingly older), which while they're not BBI or 21st level of detail they're good generic headsculpts.  Customs Ahoy!

There's a plethora of gear, and it's all relatively undetailed though passable.  Especially the tri-pod machine guns and mortar.  The mortar's actually having poseable bases and bi-pod legs.  Very realistic. 

There's 3 sizes of crates and boxes which have removable lids and fit some of the ordinance inside.  Very cool.  Detailed and would look good with a paintjob.

Lots of the other little gear pieces like grenades, pistols, binoculars, clips, pouches, etc., are all molded with a peg on them like 21st figure's gear is, with the intent of it fitting on a figure's holes on their belt area/legs.  Their tiny accessries are kind of disappointing.

There's knee pads and nightvision goggles that have working straps, but they're a pain to get on and awkward when you do.  Far inferior to BBI's efforts in this area.

There's a 3-piece brick wall that frm the front looks neat, but from the back is "hollow" so it is a tad disappointing.  I'm thinking of filling the back in with epoxy and giving it a good paintjob.  It'll shine then!

There's stacks of sandbags that are similar in nature to the wall, and disappointing looking from the back.

There's 2 3-piece tables you build and they look nice within the building.  Again, a paintjob is needed.

There are 2 rocket launchers that look like German Panzeerschrek's, and they come with 4 long missles for them which look neat.  Not the greatest rocket launcher, but the rockets make a  neat modern accessory.  BTW the mortars (there's 2) have little mortar shells too!

There are 2 nice M-16 rifles, 2 rifles I can't identify, and 2 sniper rifles with molded-on bi-pods.  The sniper rifles are very nice and I'm replacing my BBI rifles with these.

The M-16's will flesh out some army builder BBI figures too.

The playset itself is really great.

If you have mutliples of these sets, you really are only limited by the # of pieces you have from the # of sets you have.  There's several different wall sculpts, colors, and "styles" included. 

The floors interlock nicely, and there's a pin piece that fills out an open locking hole on the floors.  Tough to explain, but it's neat.  The pins are in short supply though.  Really they should include twice the # of those that they give  you.

The pieces all go together nicely, and you can ALSO stack upward so if you're ambitious and wanted to make a large office building, all you need to do is buy lots of sets.

I've found one simply isn't enough myself...  I'm buying at least two more at some point.  I figure I can spare $30 for that.

So, in the end I'm pretty pleased.

Again, as with all the parts, the playset could use paint.  There's nice detail in the walls, and while they're a little "thin" they're nice.  I think there's sci-fi and military potential there, and with the right paint they can look good in multiple settings (Africa, Europe, possibly the pacific).

The problem with having one set is the # of different walls tend to contrast some.  That's not good, so you really may want mre just for consistency.  I'd love t contact Eversparkle and just get MORE of a SINGLE piece or couple pieces rather than buy a whole set.

Honestly I'd buy a box of just the playset pieces than the accessories and figures.

$5 or $10 would go far with that.

My opinion, nab it.  I'm nabbing at least 2 at some point, maybe more.  It's a great item...  Little toyish when completed, but I'm thinking paint and some fixing up will help it immensely.

The tabs that interlock will be the biggest eyesore.  No biggie there to me personally, and if I was making permanent buildings I'd even shave them off and cover them with some epoxy that's sanded flush or smething.
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Offline Darth Ghidorah

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #138 on: August 20, 2004, 04:08 PM »
Well I have all series 1 and 2 and gonna start on tanks, can't find any Shermans anywhere, even vehicles besides Patton's crap car. Stupid local retailers suck.  :'(
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #139 on: August 20, 2004, 09:34 PM »
Beyond Wal-Mart, you wono't find much.

The only items I hear of at TRU's are sporatic (very sporatic) sightings of old stock that was lost in the back room, Command Cars, Battle ofo the Bulge Jeeps (which I believe are all gone), the odd airplane showing up in a return or the stockroom, and clearance playsets.

Oh, and the Walker Bulldog tank I think it is, which wasn't evne used in WW2 I believe but has a WW2 tanker.

Beyond that TRu is all BBI stuff.

Most Wal-Mart stores here have Sherman Tanks in Winter White...  There's also Cobra choppers, P-47's sometimes, and P-40 Warhawk planes, and Huey's in Air American deco.

Not a lot...  But some out there. 

Battle of the Bulge figures are available online...  So are the single-carded pilots.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #140 on: August 29, 2004, 08:11 PM »
A bit of an update...

If you g uys are looking for deals, get thee to TRU now.

Select BBI stuff's 50% off, as is most of the left-over 21st Century Product like Command Cars.  I'd take a Command Car or two or three for $12.  LAV's, dirtbikes, and Buggy's are all clearanced for BBI. 

I wish the helo's would...  They're about all that's left here.

Playsets from 21st are 50% off now too, so Fountain's are $10 about.  Not bad at that price.

If anyone has a wide selection available at THEIR TRU, by all means give me a hollar because mine are all cleared out.  I'd like to nab some stuff if someone's willing to help though,  namely a Command Car or two, and an LAV or two.

Just give me a hollar!

JJ
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #141 on: September 2, 2004, 02:07 AM »
Well, tonight I opened the modern military figures set that was a SDCC exclusive.

The set   includes:

-1 Royal Marine
-1 U.S. Special Forces Soldier
-1 "Eastern Warrior" with RPG
-1 "Eastern Warrior" with what I think is a Dragunov Machine Gun (The U.S.'s .60 Cal. equivalent?)

Anyway...

-The Eastern Warriors are BOTH surprisingly better than they were given credit for.  The one in blue with a Turban and the RPG is actually nicely sculpted, though I hate his "screaming" face sculpt.  It's horrible.  The articulation at his legs is limited in that he has no shoe-top articulation like 99% of the line has.  For some reason 21st is all over the board on these modern figures as far as articulation goes.  They dropped the ball.

The 2nd Eastern Warrior with the Machine Gun has a bandoleir of bullets, a clip-on ammo can to his gun, a removable hat...  Very cool.  His outfit required a molded skirt-piece as well extending his camo jacket and ethnic garb.  His hat is the classic Pakistani/Afghanistan hat...  It's like a bowl with no brim.  His head sculpt's much better.

Neither figure has movable shoes/feet unfortunately, and the guy with the hat has a weird  sculpt on his legs where they're shorter than they should be, so his knee almost seems lower than it should be.  It actually works out, but this same feature is a flaw on the U.S. Spec. Forces guy.

By and by, these 2 are nice.  I'd actually take head variants of them to tell you the truth.  More neutral heads would be nice.  And one other thing...  RUBBERY WEAPONS SUCK.  21st went cheapo like Hasbro on their weapons.  I'm having a bitch of a time straightening the Dragunov and RPG out, which were horribly bent several directions. 

Crappy 21st, crappy.

-The U.S. Spec. Forces guy sucks...  He's so bad I didn't even open him since I had one that came with the Humvee.  His legs have that stubbiness to them, but to a much worse extent and they're VERY noticeable.  His foot articulation's nixed as well, and again his weapon's very flimsy. 

The Spec. Forces guy has one redeeming feature, his removable stocking cap which is neat.  If he had a better lower half, he'd be quite decent really, though his headsculpt is pretty ****-tacular in comparison to the rest of the modern 4-pack figures really.

-The Royal Marine takes the cake as crappiest of the lot.  Boy did my opinion do a 180 on this one from its in the package perspective, and this is exactly why you should hold final judgment till you get it in your hands.

Crappiest of 21st's efforts to date, short of the mini figures with the vehicles actually.

Beyond his SAW being bent horribly, and his feet being terribly awkwardly posed for no reason, and his skirt piece for his jacket being so rigid you can't move the legs, 21st removed one of the most important aspects of their figures, the articulation at his bicept that actually allows a figure to hold a rifle.

Yes, 21st, the king of articulation, cut articulation at the bicep on this figure so he basically can't even hold his heavy support weapon.  A weapon nobody could fire one-handed even if they were Rambo...  Well, Rambo could but nobody could do it accurately, ever, even old Sly Stallone.

I mean, what an utter crock of ****.

The Marine des have a nice sculpt...  Probably the nicest of the bunch, and a great deco too.  Give me this guy with proper articulation and a pliable skirt piece and a rigid weapon, and I'd buy a dozen to make a squad and do some headswaps.  They're not bad really overall other than that damn bicep articulation.

So, my overall opinion...

Well, first I gotta thank Matt (JediMAC) again for nabbing them for me, but as far as how I feel...  I like the Eastern guys, and gimme maybe a handful more because they're neat enemies even though 21st is marketing them as CIA trained allies (Shrewd move 21st, but smart).  The other two guys suck though unfortunately.

The 5th Modern figure, if you're wondering, is the current pack-in pilot with the choppers out there...  He's in the versions of the cobra helicopter floating around Wal-Mart stores, which are easy to find here so they're likely easy to find everywhere.

He's a CIA operative in a ballcap with sunglasses.  I do not have him as I don't own a chopper (odd pack-in figure considering he's not a pilot but whatever), but I've heard nothing good on him.

Weird that 21st goes balls to the wall on what, for all intents and purposes, is supposed to be a hated enemy for your guys, and the Coalition troops flat out blow.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #142 on: September 9, 2004, 08:58 PM »
A neat score at the local TRU last night...

Someone bought the BBI Apache Helicopter and returned it because, I am assuming here, they broke the one pack-in pilot.  One of them has his arm glued at the bicep (in a relatively straight pose), so I'm assuming they were twisting the joints and broke it.  I know the wrist joints on both pilot pack-ins were tight.

So anyway, the box is resealed and the contents are just thrown in.  They're rattling all around.  Low and behold the price is $9.90.  A $40, to-scale, amazingly detailed chopper for $10.50 after tax.

One busted pilot's nothing for that price, so I bought it...  I wasn't sure it was complete actually, but I figured even if not then I'd just make a custom downed Apache diorama.  I could sorta finegal that.

Low and behold the chopper's complete and in pristine shape though.  $10.50 got me my Apache with one pilot that has a non-functioning left arm at the elbow.  Yippee!  :)  I'll take that thank ya!
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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #143 on: September 9, 2004, 10:28 PM »
Saw that at GP's, great score! I suppose that's a late birthday suprise, huh?
- June 22, 2004 12:13 AM -

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #144 on: September 10, 2004, 06:22 PM »
Yup, but bought it myself...  Dunno how much of a "gift" that is I guess. :)

On another awesomely bright military toys note, I got a clearanced Bradley today from a really kick-ass nice guy at GP's.  I didn't recognize the nic there actually, and I'm always hesitant to do business with people I don't know especially because at GP's they don't monitor the trading/selling whatsoever, and there's been some serious sheister's there as well as people just trying to jack prices up and make a buck.

I mean, a dude offered me a BotB jeep not long ago for like $35 before shipping.  I damn near told him off.  It's a shame GP's doesn' thave a solid collecting code and tight-knit community like we have here.

But I digress...

Anyway this dude got me a Bradley for $25-ish shipped (I believe it was less actually).

How kick ass is that?  SHIPPED, and I'm talking 2-day with confirmation.  I owe him big now...  He went above and beyond.  Even overpacked it really.  haha

Sometimes ya just win out I guess.  I'm gonna see if he customizes and offer headcasts or something as a thank you.  I owe him that much. 

Now if I could get a 2nd Bradley to take apart and actually cast a lot of the pieces.  The hatch covers and stuff rock all get-out.  I'm thinkin' Star Wars custom if I could get a 2nd one that cheap, haha.

PS: The modern tanker, if anyone's curious, sucks bigtime.  Terrible figure, and no bicep articulation like the Royal Marine.  I don't get 21st's modern figures....  They are just atrocious.  This company's weakest offering ever, without a shadow of a doubt.
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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #145 on: September 10, 2004, 07:15 PM »
Now see, I got the Bradley when it first came out. I take it you no longer have the hippie piloting it?
- June 22, 2004 12:13 AM -

Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #146 on: September 10, 2004, 11:03 PM »
It came with a modern dude...  It's a modern paintjob though, so I'm assuming the original came with the one Nam guy with the peace symbol necklace?

I never saw the first one I don't believe...  The new one's got a tan/grey camo that I'm not sure if it's legit Army or if it's a NATO scheme or something.

New one's neat, and cast in steel like the Winter Sherman was, so it's pretty unique.

Apparantly the Tiger's shipping to Wal-Mart right now (I've heard both an original grey pattern and winter deco) and they too are cast in steel.

Honestly, if it's not changing costs (IE: we can't get it cheaper as plastic) then I'm all for this die-cast stuff.  Feels much more "tank" to me.  Really neat.

I want a winter Tiger now!

Anyway...

Tonight extended the good fortune.  I got 2 Fountain's for $10 each at TRU, and I got the LAST LAV they had for $16-ish.

Not a bad haul at TRU then tonight...  I have to say that for $10 the fountain's suddenly a prime piece.  If this had been $10 or $15 in the first place I may have bought one ages ago.  Thankfully I never got one because the store has about 10 (well, 8 now), and they aren't flying off the shelves exactly.

It's a nice piece, but not $30 nice like they wanted originally.

$20 was too high too, but $10 sure as hell felt right, especially since the removable helmet German Infantry dude's packed in there too.  :P

I'm pretty happy.  Dunno why I bought two Fountain's, but I think I know a use for the 2nd one. 

I guess other people's TRU's have tons of other stuff though...  I've heard that there's a lotta Patton Cars, even old tanks and stuff, but mine is now cleared out of most all 21st product except fountain's and I think 2 of the weird era tanks (The Walker Bulldog or the other one...  The tanks that didn't really have an era to fit in, ya know?  I think the other was a Chaffee perhaps?).
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Offline Darth Ghidorah

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #147 on: September 12, 2004, 02:40 PM »
I got 2 questions.

1. Are they making an Me-262? (there is a picture of it on GP's)

2. Would Hobby Town USA carry 21st Century stuff??
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #148 on: September 12, 2004, 03:34 PM »
One was pictured, dunno what came of it or if it's due this year or next...  With 21st stuff you really can't gauge when it's coming. 

They're piss poor about accurate street dates.  What's worse is you never even know if you'll even see one in your area, or if you'll be relegated to going online for it.

As far as HTUSA carrying this stuff, some do and some don't...  Mine doesn't for instance, but I've heard others have extensive selection at good/fair prices.  Even figures.

Hit or miss...  I've not been to my HTUSA in probably 3 months or so, so I can't even say mine DOESN'T carry these still.  They may now.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: The Official 21st Century Toys Thread
« Reply #149 on: September 20, 2004, 04:21 PM »
I've now gotten two Bradley's, and LAV, two Fountains, and that's about it...  Just recently though, and all great stuff for real cheap.

The Bradley's I had help with from a friend at GP's site...

Now to get some playset extras...  :)
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