Been some interest in these lately, and I've been tempted by them ever since I started seeing them at Gordmans a year or so ago. Finally pulled the trigger on one. I went with Cyberus, because the helmet looked kinda Cobra Trooper-y to me, so I figure if anything I could paint the thing blue and take a nap. Also: tank tread feet. Before I get into the figure itself, let's look at the back of the packaging.



The story, and a look at the other figures in the line.



And the weapons and gear that come with the figures. Buy all four figures and you too would have a Racheting Ion Gatlin and Flexible Fuel Hoses (but never a normal left forearm). All of the weapons have either a socket that allows it to be attached to the robot's arm at the elbow, or a hole that will allow it to plug onto the backpack pegs. Most have both.




Cyberus and all his gear.



Both forearms are able to be popped off and replaced with weaponry. But, like I mentioned above, none of the figures comes with a basic left forearm with hand.



The figure isn't quite 12 inches tall. 11 and change I'd say.



Articulation is plentiful, though some is limited. The pose in the above pic has the hips, knees, and elbows at the deepest possible pose.

Articulation is:

Swivel neck.

Ratcheting swivel hinge joints at the shoulders, and hips.

Ratcheting hinges at the knees and elbows

Ball jointed ankles



The elbow joints are a separate piece from the upper arms, but they're not designed to swivel. They could be modded to do so though without an absurd level of effort.






Overall it falls just shy of the mark. If the elbows swiveled, I'd have no reservations about buying the other figures in the line. At 15 dollars you get a lot for your money and they're pretty well made for "knockoff" type toys (the spring loaded missiles don't work reliably, which isn't huge drawback, but annoying). I definitely see custom potential in them as well, but they're just that bit shy of where I'd want them to be to justify the cost at the moment. They'd be incredible for kids though. Blank slate designs and interchangeable weapons, combined with size, you really can't go wrong.

An excellent write up Hypno. It covers the salient points Swivel Arm Battle Grip fans are always curious about. You expressed my feelings on this line with the quote below.


...Lots of screw holes so disassembly should be easy-ish. The upper arm..does it have a screw hole that might make disassembly of the upper and lower arm a breeze? If you feel like torturing yourself perhaps you could take a picture of the upper arm/ lower arm connection point ? In my mind i see an easy swivel bicep solution that involves sanding only. I'd like to confirm.

I surmised that the hips were swivel hinge & elbows were a separate piece. The shoulders being swivel hinge though...that took this from a curiosity to a purchase upon sight if its less than $20 . I have no problem creating some type of swivel joint with some scrap plastic, screws and/or glue.

Cyberus definitely has a cobra trooper type helmet . Your close up detailed pics did him justice. With some tinkering you could have something along the lines of this guy i'd imagine:

I'd buy all 4 from the Robotica line but that Cronos does it for me. It reminds me of many evil robot troopers i've seen in my lifetime. Starcom Battle Drones come to mind right now. The Red guy reminds me of an old CGI animated show from the 90's . Battle Planets maybe? We dont have a Gordmans here so hopefully i'll randomly come across this line. Happy Kids toys comes out with some fairly impressive mech/robot designs that rarely make it to the US. They revealed a battery powered walking mech with 2'' pilot figure a few years ago. I want that with a passion but i've never seen it at retail.

Annnnnnd it just hit me why i'm digging these. They look like Starriors from the 1980's

The connection of the elbow to the upper arm is a plastic T. Half going into each half of the arm. It is easy to disassemble, but not as easy as I hoped to convert.

Won't be able to right away, but I'll try and get a pic of it disassembled sometime soon.

I'm not clear on what you mean by a plastic 'T' but if it's what i'm picturing (basically a double hinge with T support rod cavities on both the left and right side of both the upper and lower arm) then, yeah, that does make it a more involved conversion. Which sounds kind of fun..

OR ..do you mean like revoltech joints (a sphere split in half)?

Re: the pic..
I'm looking forward to it. Thank you !

Pretty rad. Gordmans?

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It's like a Revoltech joint, only instead of the peg plugging into the upper arm, it's a flat T-shaped bit. It goes into slots on either half of the upper. I can't really think of anything to compare it to, not a style of construction I've seen used elsewhere. But yeah, it sounds like I should have time to take pics tomorrow.


And yup Chad, Gordmans.

Ahhh beautiful. Not too far off from what i pictured with the double hinge (the 2 cavities i mentioned were the 2 slots you mentioned). If the stem that extends from the half sphere to the top of the 'T' is circular that would make things a lot more convenient. The swivel would be smooth.

The 6th pic down ..the angle makes the helmet look as though it has a curved fin on its head. That would have been epic had it been released that way. A poor mans Armarauders mech.


Again..thanks for the pics and review. I'm always happy to see new toy designs / toy lines on the shelf.

Are there any other non transforming giant robots (11inches tall or larger) that one can pick up for $15-20 these days?

What's that?

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Ah, sorry, didnt realize you were asking what it was, thought you just wanted confirmation. Anyway, its kind of a less depressing TJ Maxx

Not sure where they've all opened locations, but the two in MN are maybe a year or two old. They get a random supply of "knockoff" and discounted overstock toys.

They are a national chain though.
http://m.gordmans.com/stores

Thanks. The robot is rad.

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Gordman's was also called....1/2 Price Store til they changed the name to Gordman's

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Don't forget us Hypno

Not something that really fits into my collections(s) but I could see the weapons being perfect for the Sigma Six crowd.

- R

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Oh, I won't forget. . .