Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. - by Boss Fight Studios

[Paul]

I got my box today and it is a great set of figs.  I can't wait for Series 4, Pirates!

[Jesse James]

I haven't kept up with the project like I should've...  Mostly via my brother really.  What are the Pirates looking like?  Is there a Roberto Clemente figure?

I was allowed to narf a skeleton and again, I say, probably the most finely engineered action figure, any line, any scale, I've ever seen in my life.  Proportionally it's incredible, and it's got articulation for days.  Even the wrists are ball-jointed...  on a SKELETON.  There's no room to work there but they make it work, and it looks perfect.  I guess some people aren't even realizing the wrists are ball jointed, it's so finely hidden.

I'm going to order up skeletons and do some deadies here and there.  Perfect figures for an Uncle Owen/Beru burned custom if you're so morbidly inclined too.

And to boot, the skeletons have these clear plastic bits so the armor and things fit them well, and not all loose/sloppy.  Also, a clear foot sleeve thing so the figure has a peghole to stand on a stand too.  Just awesomely designed, and the thought/effort is extremely intricate and mindful.  "Love" went into these.

I'm not much for ******** on Hasbro...  They're a big company with big problems.  And they can't do stuff like this anymore.  Not in China at least, and not for the pricepoints they are forced to hit by big retail.  The days of GOOD cheap figures may be over I guess.  But the days of GOOD figures are far from gone.  You can get them, you just have to pay now I suppose. 

I wish there was something akin to this for Star Wars.  There's the inability to reuse parts and things, so that's sorta where this hits a roadblock IMO, but man, they'd make some nice figures.  It'd cost way too much and would price out most people though.  I think it's clear it could happen, but it couldn't happen under Hasbro I'm afraid.

[Dave]

I'm pretty sure these guys used to be contract designers for hasbro. I thought I read that someplace. I think they might have done part of the saga line.

So hasbro *could* do it if they were willing to pay the design team and the manufacturing costs.  Hasbro has simply chosen not to do it to save money and hit a certain price point.

[Jesse James]

Well that's what I meant...  Hasbro CAN'T do it because it costs too much to do figures like this.  Not to say I'm not buying $20(+) action figures, but for Hasbro that's not gonna fly, so it's not really possible for them because they have constraints these companies don't...  Then again these companies aren't looking at moving 100k of a figure either.  They would gladly, I'm sure, but also realize they're catering to the small market. 

But hey, at least the small market has something...  Tough to complain about that.

[Dave]

I haven't personally seen these figures yet, but they sound super cool.  I'll probably pick up a few in the coming months.

It is too bad that Hasbro couldn't do something awe inspiring like this with something like The Black Series Wal-Mart exclusive line.  Even bump it up to $20 a figure for a handful of totally awesome figures.  I would rather pay $20 for something sweet than $14 for the mediocre TBS WM figures with awful paint apps.

[JediJman]

I haven't personally seen these figures yet, but they sound super cool.  I'll probably pick up a few in the coming months.

It is too bad that Hasbro couldn't do something awe inspiring like this with something like The Black Series Wal-Mart exclusive line.  Even bump it up to $20 a figure for a handful of totally awesome figures.  I would rather pay $20 for something sweet than $14 for the mediocre TBS WM figures with awful paint apps.

+1 on both accounts

[Jesse James]

I've often thought I'd shell out $19.99 if the figure was essentially a mini Sideshow figure (sans real cloth outfits...  capes I like, skirts sometimes, but not the thought of miniature entire outfits).  But imagine a Clone for an example, that had like 3-4 sets of hands with various poses to them (open hands, closed/weapon holding hands, pointing hands, etc.), every weapon and pack, possibly multiple headsculpts, and articulation set at a standard.

On a figure like the new Leia, where some of that doesn't make sense or whatever, she's maybe got a specialized large accessory or a few things even.

It'll sort of kill army building completely (well almost anyway).  It'd be so far niche though, and so off their idea of what "works".  But when you think about it, how much 6" is only selling to the niche?  Are kids giving that line a 2nd look?  Do they care at all about that?  Volume sales would still matter, but it has to matter less for that line than 3.75" at this point.

[JediJman]

I finally broke down and ordered a big chunk of these after seeing more great reports from Toy Fair.  I nabbed Pre Curse Medusa, Underworld Warrior, Skeleton Warrior x2, Spartan Warrior x2, Cursed Spartan, Cursed Gorgon Sister, Amazon Warrior x2, Youngest Gorgon Sister, and a couple of blank bodies to try out.

[Jesse James]

You won't be disappointed.  The Skeleton is still a bit of an action figure marvel to me.  So intricately well done/designed.  I'm amazed they squeezed out the articulation they did.

[evenflow]

The only one i have is the Skeleton. It is a pretty awesome figure. I wish it was a little bigger though.

[JediJman]

These are all awesome by the way.  Expensive, but totally worth it for the detail and articulation and accessories.  I'd pay $20 for SW figs without a complaint if they all turned out like these. 

[Jesse James]

As soon as payday rolls around I think I'm ordering up some Skeletons and humans.  Maybe a Medusa to go with them as a mini-collection.  I can't afford them all, but a nice assortment is definitely going to happen.

[Dave]

Finally got around to opening my figures this weekend.  Totally awesome, and it makes me kind of sad that this sort of quality can't make it in to the SW line.  Sure they're like $22 a figure, but holy hell are these sweet.  I'd love to see a step up from the WM TBS line where they make some core characters from each of the new movies with this level of quality.

My only gripe is with the skeletons.  I had a really hard time posing them and getting the ankle joints to bend right.  But the Spartan and Amazon warriors, and Medusa were so, so sweet.  That articulated snake tail on Medusa was a thing of beauty.

[Jeff]

Pretty sure I am now officially addicted to both the Cursed Skeleton figure and the Warrior Skeleton figure.  Armored skeleton warriors make zero sense anatomically, but man are they awesome!

[Dave]

Oh man.  I didn't even realize they had another wave come out.  That skeleton warrior looks awesome and I'll have to make room for him next to his "naked" buddies.