These products are available for sale at BossFightShop.com!
The last year or so has simultaneously felt eternal and like one long blur of machine gun events that, in retrospect, seem to be the stuff of pulp novels. I should know, I write them for a living (among other things).
It seems only fitting, in times like this, pulled from the pages of some of those timeless serials, that two characters should come to life thanks to the toy design wizards at Boss Fight Studio. The small toy studio, which catapulted itself into existence thanks to one of the most successful action figure Kickstarters of all time stunned the pop culture world when they announced that they acquired the license to produce toys for several brands from King Features, including Zorro, Flash Gordon, Tarzan and The Phantom. Releasing them under a new “Hero HACKS” banner, the figures would be 1:18 scale and be fully compatible with their existing Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. action figure line, which was already wow’ing collectors with their Greek Mythology and Fantasy based figures.
Built with articulation and customizability in mind (hence the “A” and the “C” of the H.A.C.K.S. moniker) these figures have been a hit throughout the collecting community and now, some famous licensed characters would be joining them.
There was much anticipation for these new additions, and in the past couple of months, we have seen the first three figures released – Zorro, Zorro w/ Tornado, and Flash Gordon (movie) with Lunchbox.
In short, these figures are just what we wanted and more.
I haven’t necessarily been a massive fan of these characters throughout my comic and toy collecting fandom, but I can certainly appreciate the timeless nature of these infamous brands. One of the best things about the Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. universe is that it’s built around the concept of an unreliable time stream which crosses through era’s and universes, giving collectors the opportunity to let their imaginations run wild.
That just happens to fit in perfectly with the acquisition of these brands– in my little H.A.C.K.S.verse, the corrupt timestream has dragged many of these warriors into its muddy waters and now Zorro and Flash Gordon have joined Leonidas, Stonefist, the Knights of the Accord and Q’al Varis in a desperate attempt to save the timestream from Medusa and her sinister sisters. It’s a battle for the ages– quite literally.
It certainly helps that these figures are fantastic. The standard release Zorro and the Zorro that comes with Tornado are both built of the same cloth, but each with some unique twists. Single pack Zorro comes with a terrific secondary head, while the one with Tornado has a cloth cape — the easier to mount a horse with.
(Check out the differences and simlarities at VitruvianFACTS.com)
Articulation and poseability remain top notch, and the sculpting is simply perfect, bringing these characters to three dimensional life. The H.A.C.K.S. figure system is fully intact and functional, and I can just imagine how much potential there will be for future figures, not just from these two universes, but beyond.
Tornado should look familiar to anyone who backed the Mighty Steeds Kickstarter and is just another example of how smartly Boss Fight Studio is approaching their selection of tooling and licenses. The cross-purposes for so many parts and pieces helps them get some much needed mileage out of their expensive tooling, yet manages to bring exciting new things to the table with each iteration.
Flash Gordon is a relatively straight forward release, a football player in a t-shirt and pants, but he manages to greatly resemble the movie version of the character. So much so that the Queen theme song seems to play somewhere in the distance every time I play and pose this figure.
This movie version of the character comes with an awesome metallic lunchbox, something that is becoming a Boss Fight Studio staple (Bucky O’Hare’s Deadeye Duck and Leonidas both graced lunchboxes in the past). The head sculpts are where this figure really shines, however, with three different iterations of the actor’s likeness. Once again, I can see Flash Gordon leaping from the timestream, egg-shaped artifact in hand, ready to throw down with some Gorgons, awesomely hokey orchestra music playing in the background.
Add that to the fact that he’s got alternate hands, including closed fists, and Flash Gordon is ready to throw haymakers.
And again– the customization options are fantastic, especially with Series Z right around the corner.
Each of these figures is now available at BossFightShop.com and honestly, they are among the best 1:18 scale figures for your money. Hero H.A.C.K.S. just blew the doors wide open, not just in this world, but in the collecting world in general. This is just the beginning, and as the saying goes — there are no limits!
