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Okay, I've had these figures for a couple of days and it's time for a review. Ultimately, all this stuff is exactly what it presents itself as: the work of very talented and very dedicated first-time toy makers.
The Bad:
I'll start with the bad just to get it out of the way. I notice a bit more 'seam flashing' than I'd think is normal, where plastic oozes out beyond the seams where the mold halves come together. My understanding of the casting process is that this happens when molds have been in use so long that they've warped and deformed due to the heat and pressure of repeatedly being banged together over time. I don't see this much on the Gorgons or any of the three Spartans, but it's prevalent on the two Blanks. One of the Orange's ankles was entirely buried in plastic with just the peg exposed and about half of the Blank ankles had it to some degree. This is not a huge or crippling issue like it'd be if the joint was insufficiently molded, as it simply takes a second of x-actoing to trim away. But I'm surprised to see it so much in the first set of items. I've no real idea how many male figures have been cast out for this production run, nor why the Blanks would suffer it more; but maybe they've simply run off so many figures already that the molds are already at their limit and new molds need to be done.
Also, I'd like to see the ankle pegs sink just a tad bit deeper into the lower calf. Many of the MU figures suffer from shallow ankle pegs and trying to push the ankle hinge just pushes the peg around in the swivel socket as it's weaker than the hinge, even after that's been cracked. None of these HACKS are as bad as any of the MUs with this issue, but it's an issue that I've come to detest about Hasbro's laziness on that line and I don't like seeing it here.
The narrowness of the aperture of the shield handles and the difficulty getting the male hands in there have been mentioned before, and I agree. Thankfully it's not insurmountable and none of the figures suffer paint scrape since none of the hands are painted, but it should be looked at for future shields.
And that's about it for The Bad.
The Good:
Firstly, the figures are simply *cool*. Cool to look at both kitted-up and stripped bare, cool to play with both in posing up for pic-taking and simply fiddlin' around as hand candy. They're cooler than a penguin's balls in winter, man.
I *love* the physique on the dudes and what we see so far of the babes. The influence of the classical sculptural arts is obvious. The dudes have beautiful proportions (yay for calves shorter than thighs and no more feet behind the ass when squatting!) and musculature.
The range of motion at every joint is large and smoothly-working. There is some difficulty cracking the ankles and wrists, but no problems afterwards. The upper neck ball doesn't have much movement due to the neck width fitting snugly to the bottom of the head, but the lower neck ball has so much movement you'll never notice. The moob joint is simply awesome.
The paint is very good, although there are a few instances of tampo-prints being off a bit, and my Spartan looks to be missing the white sclera in his right eye. But it's very rich everywhere and appears very durable.
Ideas for the Future:
Here's stuff I'd like to see in years to come, the sooner the better.
Hand sets. I dig the extra feet/boots the Blanks come with, and the swappable hands everyone comes with; but a figure's expressiveness is rooted in its poseability - and its hands. The MicroMan MicroForce line had a minimum of six pairs of hands with every figure in the line, some with twelve. A pair of fists, karate chop/flying/swimming flats, trigger-fingered, as well as the bi-axised grabbers. To give us Superdude masked heads and boots but no fists with the Blanks is tantamount to a crime against humanity (assuming toy collectors can be considered 'human', of course).
I noticed both pockets of the Blank baggie can hold a figure, so I thought there might be some appeal in 'Adam & Eve' Blank 2packs of just figures. We're given so many heads with single Blanks we'll never be able to use without extra bodies that maybe extra bodies can have some appeal. I wouldn't offer them headless, but rather with a featureless head like the MaterialForce figures had.
I'd like to see additional body sizes introduced in portions. Again, like the MicroMan line did with putting a larger chest and arms on the regular Male to make the AcroMedalG big bruiser, and how they introduced the females with three different bust-sized chests. I think the chest used for the Gorgons would correspond to the 'Tig Ol' Bitties' MicroLady, so I'd love to see HACKBlanks with the smaller C- and A-cup chests.
I had been thinking the inner handle piece of the shields were going to be removable so they could be spun around to allow for right-handed carrying. I know right-handed shield carrying wasn't the norm for any culture at any time, but enabling that for future shields would still be cool, imho.
I'd love to get an accessory set of swappable Gorgon heads so all of them can be shown either open- or closed-mouth, even Medusa. I don't think it's necessary for the three sisters, though.
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