Slaughter's Marauders "Bull"

Yes, for the sake of accuracy, I'll be referring to these guys as the name on their packaging, even though most self-respecting Joe fans must know that this isn't "Bull" it's "Taurus". Regardless of copyright issues or troubles, though, this IS the Taurus that we all know, though the jury is out on whether we love it or not.

Ever since 1987, Taurus has been one of my favorite characters, and is a big reason why I love G.I. Joe: Renegades so much. He is full of personality in plastic form, and unlike some cases, I really think the Sunbow cartoon injected some awesome life into him. For whatever reason, as a kid, I absolutely loved the fact that he was a circus strongman and acrobat, and I routinely worked that into the character's adventures.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work as nicely when the figure's update is somewhat clunky and immobile as this one is. And it kills me...this is one of the toughest reviews I've done in a while, because I really love the somewhat animated aesthetic of this figure. The sloped posture, the exagerrated arms, the head sculpt chock full of character. But the fact the remains that the playability does end up somewhat restricted by the parts choices.

Yes, I finally get a modern style update for the awesome Taurus, and they manage to use a series of parts that just don't work all that well together. First you have the Pursuit of Cobra Recondo torso, which is awesome and bulky (suiting Taurus perfectly) except for the whole issue with the head that doesn't look upwards. On top of the quirks with the torso, Hasbro uses the Para-Viper legs, I imagine because the texture on the kneepads is reminiscent of the vintage version, except that I absolutely cannot stand those legs. The knee pads just don't function with the other leg pieces well enough, and you end up with a figure that cannot straighten his legs, standing in a permanent semi-crouch. Somewhat frustrating. It does seem like they're going with a funky animated style almost, with the exaggerated arms, the bright colors, and the cocky face sculpt, and from an appearance standpoint, it's awesome. But the figure doesn't move how I'd like.

I will give them some credit, though...serious credit. Bull's head sculpt is amazing. I mean amazing! They took the overall look of the classic version and really updated it to a style more consistent with modern day, yet it still very much retains the feel of Taurus from the old days.

I love Bull...well... Taurus... like I said, he is one of my favorites. I'm just disappointed somewhat in the construction of this particular figure beyond the fantastic head sculpt.

As for the color scheme, I'm happy to see that they stuck with the old school aesthetic, giving him the yellow and light green that we're used to with the right light brown and black trim. Instead of injecting blue into the figure itself, Hasbro elects to put it on the webgear...and speaking of the webgear.

Bull comes with a very nice selection of accessories, I will give them credit for that. Surprisingly, he comes with the same webgear as Zanzibar does, and it works quite well for Bull, not quite as perfectly for Zanzibar, telling me they probably built it with this particular figure in mind.

The chest holster is fully functional, though the handle sticks up a little high in front of Bull's face. He's got a second pistol which fits into the somewhat oversized holster on his right leg, and he also has the same cool knife and sheath on the back of the webgear. For firearms, he comes with the same Cobra themed machine gun that we've been seeing on a consistent basis, as well as a newly tooled tactical shotgun that also comes with the Wave 4 Law & Order. I'm not entirely sure if the shotgun is supposed to come with Bull or Mercenary, but I'm including it here.

Bull had the potential to be a great figure. An awesome head sculpt, great animated sculpting style, some potential for a great update to a relatively unknown character, but the end result isn't quite as perfect as I'd like. Aesthetically, I do really like the exaggerated, almost cartoon like look of the figure, but I like my toys to have fully functional articulation, and some of the parts choices here just don't mesh.

GRADE:

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