First and foremost, I want to give a nice shout out to a few folks who have emailed to kindly volunteer their time and energy to supplying content for GeneralsJoes. I’m hoping to share some more names shortly, but first and foremost is Almon. He volunteered to pitch in with content, and the first thing he sent over was a review of the G.I. Joe episode of the Netflix documentary series The Toys That Made Us.
Let’s give Almon a warm welcome and check out the review of the episode below!
I’ve had these in the queue for way too long, and it’s long past time to let folks know how the second wave of the second series of Vitruvian HACKS figures measures up. Hint – They measure up pretty freaking well.
I’ve updated the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page with the second wave of the Fantasy figures, or you can just check out the reviews by clicking the links below directly.
I’m far from an expert on Dungeons and Dragons, it’s one of the few geeky properties that I just never latched onto, but I’m certainly familiar with the nature of Orcs and mages and knights, etc.. Plus I just like awesome action figures and obviously these fit that mold as well.
The female Orc Conqueror had at one point been called the Warband Leader (if I remember correctly) but upon release she is simply the Orc Conqueror (like the first figure) but in the female gender. Ever since the release of the first series, with figures like Precurse Medusa and Eurayle I’ve really enjoyed the functionality of the female buck in the HACKS figure line. The narrower limbs retaining the same solidity and fluidity of movement is very impressive, and the rocker ankles work remarkably well. Unfortunately the peg holes on the feet continue to be an issue even with these new feet and it was a challenge getting my Orc Conquerors to stand on their stands.
As with any of the HACKS figures out there, these Orc Conquerors are sculpted and designed immaculately well. Great construction, near flawless articulation, and some excellent color choices combine to create yet another new addition to your Series 02 Vitruvian HACKS family and one that’s very much worth checking out.
Interestingly, they did make this version of the Orc a slightly different green skin color than her male counterpart, but she still blends with the rest of the clan really well. Like many of the figures being released these days, this female Orc comes with two terrific heads, one with a sculpted-on skull helmet/facemask and another without one. Both are fantastic sculpts full of character.
If I have any real complaints about the look of the figure, it’s that compared to the male version, the female version almost looks a little too polished. The male Orc has a much more “rugged” wilderness look, like it’s got battered, worn armor and the hide of fur covered animals as its clothes. Meanwhile, the female Orc has glossy, polished armor and a very decorative belt that makes it stand out somewhat with its broken down counterparts.
That being said, the figure still looks really great.
Accessories
The female Orc Conqueror comes with two heads, an Orc shield, an Orc knife & club, a belt with two armored hip covers as well as the Medusa armor with a set of gauntlets for the other arm. I love the accessories here, though as I mentioned in the review, she does end up looking a little more advanced and regal compared to her male counterparts, but she’s written that way as well in the figure bio. The accessories are really good overall and add some nice spirit to the figure.
Another great figure from Boss Fight Studio. She uses mostly existing armor but manages to add so many new, interesting twists to them that the figure ends up looking and feeling very new. It helps that the new legs and heads are fantastic as well.
Really great end result.
Female Orc Conqueror
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.1
Summary
Another inspired female figure from the Vitruvian HACKS figure line from Boss Fight Studio. Great sculpting, excellent paint deco and some pretty fun accessories combine to provide collectors a nice addition to their growing Orc armies. While the armor makes this figure look a bit more ceremonial than her male counterpart, the figure is still a heck of a lot of fun and looks great with her fellow clan.
Here’s where I start to reveal just how clueless I am about Dungeons and Dragons.
I believe Narissa, who is being billed as the leader of the “Withered Branch” is what is known as a “dark Elf” or maybe even a “Drow”. I had a brief fling with D & D in college and I seem to remember digging the Drow’s as a somewhat evil race of Elves. They’re described as elves with dark skin and white hair, and that certainly seems to apply here.
What also applies is Narissa’s flirtation with evil, which is evident in her bio. The figure itself is a pretty nice one, though I’ll be the first to admit that the Stheno torso armor isn’t my favorite accessory that Boss Fight has managed to put together for their HACKS line. The colors used and the method its used for with Narissa works pretty well, giving them a more armored look than their leaf-covered counterparts, yet the armor still looks somewhat natural and organic thanks to the shapes used for Stheno back in Series One.
Like the female Orc Conqueror, Narissa has the decorative armored belt (though without the thigh armor covers) which adds a bit more flair to the figure as well. The base figure itself is essentially the same as the female Orc, with the new legs and is just as well articulated (yet also suffers from the unfortunate peg hole issues).
Like the Orc, Narissa comes with two heads, which is great because you can buy a few and swap heads around to give her a small army of dark elves to boss around. The head sculpts are both very well done, I love the sculpting of the hair and the different colors used. The white hair is cool, but I really love the shade of blue used for the other.
Accessories
Narissa comes with the two separate heads, the crossbow, bolts, quiver, two elven knives the Stheno armor, Gorgon gauntlets, and the ceremonial belt. I suspect her accessories would have packed a bit more of a punch if they hadn’t come with Cerisier first, but I still really dig the crossbow and bolts. I’ll never get tired of those cool knives either.
The leader of the Withered Branch comes lightly equipped with some smaller and easier to carry accessories so she can leap from tree to tree and do her bad ass drow stuff. I like the accessories for the most part, though as I said, I’m not a huge fan of the Stheno armor. That being said, the figure is nice. Probably not my top favorite figure or anything, but a decent one with a potential for adding a nice army of dark elves to the HACKS roster.
Narissa
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.9
Summary
Though I love the idea of the dark elves, Narissa isn’t my favorite figure to hit the HACKS display so far. She’s got the same great articulation and paint applications that we’ve become used to, though I’m not a huge fan of the Stheno armor, and she doesn’t bring a whole lot of new stuff to the table. I love the idea of the Withered Branch, and I look forward to possibly seeing more additions to it, but for whatever reason, Narissa doesn’t knock my socks off.
I still remember when I first got my hands on one of the early samples for the Felonious figure, and how completely blown away I was at the level of detail and articulation crammed into a four inch action figure, including functional soft goods. Here we are, several months later and guess what – still blown away.
The entire package here is spectacular. The head sculpt is fantastic, imbued with a great sense of character (and impressive mane). From the waist up, the base figure is just the normal male blank, with the same legs as the Knight and Orc. However, they add an additional secondary on the lower legs to make the figure stand out even more, and it works exceptionally well.
Now, generally I split out talking about the figure and the accessories, but that’s nearly impossible in this case, as the figure and accessories are so intertwined they really reflect flawlessly on each other. The greatest distinction with this figure is the use of soft goods as a magic robe, somehow using thin enough fabric to look in scale, yet durable enough to move with the motion of the figure itself. In all honesty, the soft good cloak makes the entire figure, creating a fantastic aesthetic while still being functional.
Along with the cloak there’s a nicely designed belt to hold it in place and had some places to hold various accessories that he comes with as well. He’s intricately poseable, comes with some terrific “magic casting” hands (which also hold many of his accessories in some pretty interesting ways) and looks just spectacular as is. He also offers an amazing level of customization (as so many of these figures do).
His color scheme is great, too, going with various shades of green for the cloak and tan pants, looking muted, yet still very colorful, especially against the backdrop of some other more darkly colored figures.
Felonious is probably one of the most fun, most detailed, and most thoughtfully accessorized 1:18 action figures that I’ve had the pleasure to own.
Accessories
How can I even talk about all of these awesome accessories? It’s almost impossible. I’ve already mentioned the fantastic cloak/robe and belt, but Felonious also comes with a great hood and collar which add a layer of detail to an already crammed full figure. He comes with two magic potions (which fit in a hook on the belt, and in either kind of hand), a magic book (opened and closed, which can plug into a hole on his belt), and a knife. He also comes with a gorgeous dragon-themed magic staff, a fireball, and a little pet mouse. Felonious is packed with great gear and I absolutely love it.
That’s not even getting into intricate detail about his two sets of hands, which allow for great magic casting poses as well as holding the book, holding fire, or holding a potion. Plus, if you’ve got extra Jenny magic spell accessories from the Bucky line, he can use those, too. Felonious has got it all.
I can’t think of a single way to improve this figure, really. Great articulation, flawless color pallet, and the best compliment of accessories I have ever seen. Pure beauty in plastic action figure form.
Felonious
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
5
Summary
Pure perfection in an action figure. It isn’t often that I can look at a toy, even the ones made by Boss Fight, and find not a single thing that I would have done differently. Felonious quite simply does it all. From the sculpt of his head, to his magic casting hands, to his soft goods robe, to the huge assortment of terrific and varied accessories, this mage is truly spectacular and an immediate highlight of my action figure collection. GET THIS ONE.
