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Introducing VitruvianFACTS.com!

You could say the release of the Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. line has been an exciting moment for me, and I’ve spent the last two weeks or so expressing that excitement with the development of a Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. archival website at VitruvianFACTS.com!

The Vitruvian F.igure A.ccessory C.ollection T.racking S.ystem is a Wikipedia style archive with entries for pretty much everything released to date (except for the non-Kickstarter Blanks) and I’ve spent hours over the past couple of weeks getting things loaded, updated and linked up.  This will be a “working document” able to evolve over time, and in the spirit of WikiPedia, at some point I’ll likely open it up to contributors.  At the moment it’s locked down to myself and a couple of others for updates, but it is possible that in the days to come things will open up a little bit.

So head on over to VitruvianFACTS.com and see what you think!  Big thanks to the immeasurable Troy McKie for his help on the logo, and a huge thanks to the folks at Boss Fight Studio for their advice in insight as I developed the archive.

If you like the figures you see in there, don’t forget to head right over to BossFightShop.com and spend lots of money!

I will warn you, I’ve been experiencing some performance issues on the website and am keeping a close eye on them.  It’s possible I may eventually migrate to a new webhost to see if it improves, but for now, I’m just looking to see how things work.  Thanks for your patience as we work out any hitches as this goes forward.

Enjoy!

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Big news from Boss Fight Studio at MegaCon!

Yeah, I’m a little removed from the news from MegaCon at this point, mostly due to working on another Vitruvian HACKS related project which I will hopefully be able to reveal very soon.

Boss Fight Studio has officially set up shop at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida this weekend, and is making some fantastic announcements!

First and foremost, they’ve revealed the digital sculpts for the first two figures in the Series 02 Fantasy line from Vitruvian HACKS.  There are some key changes, especially to the knight, but the figures still look, as one might suspect, pretty fantastic.

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But the even bigger news out of MegaCon, courtesy of Boss Fight’s Facebook Page is the reveal of a special Wave 5 from the Greek Mythology line!  Featuring a Cursed Skeleton, the River Styx Guardian, a Boa Constrictor Gorgon, and the Amazon Commander Penthesilea!  For folks who are unfamiliar with the history around Penthesilea, she was the daughter of Ares, and an Amazonian queen.  Certain mythologies also connect her with Achilles, so it will be very interesting to see where this all plays out.  We already have the Myrmidon Warriors, and now we’ve got Penthesilea, it’s pretty fantastic to see the dots slowly getting connected here.  Boss Fight revealed first samples of the figures as well as the spectacular card art, check those mirrored images out below.

As if this wasn’t enough…they also revealed two brand new Silver Blanks!

But, wait… there’s more!  Along with all of this exciting news, they’ve also announced a collaboration with them and Dream Concept on a new line of HACKS compatible ZOMBIE FIGURES.  Holy cow.

Yeah, MegaCon has been pretty huge for Boss Fight Studio, and from the looks of things, more huge still to come.  Follow along on the Boss Fight Studios Facebook Page.  Even better, if you’re in the Orlando area, swing by MegaCon booth 818 and tell them GeneralsJoes says hello!

Vitruvian HACKS Week continues on YouTube!

Even though the written reviews have wrapped, there’s still more Vitruvian HACKS goodness over on the GeneralsJoes YouTube Channel!  I’ve just posted video reviews for the NJCC Exclusive Ultimate Spartan and Kokomo Toys/All the Cool Stuff Amazon (Elite Warrior)!

More HACKS video reviews soon to come, but until then, check out these two additions embedded below.  As always, please let me know if there are things I could do to make this better.

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GeneralsJoes Wraps up the HACKS Reviews – Blanks, Accessories and Skeletons!

Okay, I approached these reviews a little differently.  I wasn’t going to break down every individual blank or every individual skeleton or every individual accessory pack.  That felt like overkill.

So instead, I’ve framed these reviews at a more high level, looking at these three elements conceptually, with how well I think they were executed overall.  There are no real review scores for the blanks or accessories, and while I did use one for the skeletons, I’m not sure it really works.

None of these are individual characters, nor are they really designed to come with accessories, and the paint applications are purposefully simplified, so it didn’t feel appropriate to judge the success of these items on those prerequisites.  That being said, I still took a ton of pictures and gave my opinions on the themes as a whole.  They’re all posted on the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page or you can check them out individually below.

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Boss Fight Studio Vitruvian HACKS Skeletons

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Pre-Order this now on BossFightShop!

And, so, here we are.  The infamous Boss Fight Studio Skeletons.

Aside from Medusa, the Skeletons felt like one of the main focuses of the Kickstarter, a fully functional, fully articulated, fully in 1:18 scale Skeleton figure that looked as if it crawled from the corpse of a 4” figure, yet still managed to pose like one.

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Honestly, many folks had their doubts that it could be done.  Even with the decades of toy design experience Boss Fight has, they were attempting something that not even global toy brand powerhouses have been able to pull off.

Would it work?

Does it work?

Oh hell yeah it does.

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Every time I’m sure I’m prepared to extol the virtues of these great action figures, I remember something else.  First it was the fact that even just the human skull itself makes for an awesome prop (and actually has a movable jaw!).  Second it was remembering that the Skeletons themselves could also be disassembled like the blanks and reassembled in different ways.  Third it was the realization that the Skeletons were skinny enough to look realistic, but just bulky enough for armor to fit in key places.  Fourth it was DOUBLE JOINTED KNEES ON A FRIGGEN SKELETON.  Then I started to lose count.  From the different colors to the amazing sculpting on the bones, these figures are really amazing to look at.

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Now, the pieces are thin.  Like pretty thin.  But throughout my review, I wasn’t exactly gentle, and considering I had almost 20 of the things sitting in front of me, I certainly posed them, removed parts, and swapped things around quite a bit, and I’m happy to say, all of my Skeletons remain completely in one piece.

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Incredibly, even as skinny as they are, they retain ball joints in the shoulders and hips, very poseable elbow joints, moveable wrists, ball joint neck, base of the spine, double-jointed knees, and at the ankles.  These things can move like freaking crazy.  They are light as a feather, yet seem to hold up to reasonable punishment.

Now obviously you need to be reasonable.  The plastic is thinner than the normal standard figures, and the joints are a bit smaller as well, so take the proper care and attention, and don’t be afraid to use a hair dryer when swapping limbs around.

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Obviously if you’re going to be swapping hands around and removing limbs, take some care and apply some heat!  That will ensure that the material has enough “flex” to allow for things to be removed and replaced without fear of breakage.

The Skeletons come in white, black, yellow and translucent purple, with a surprise bonus hot pink one as a free gift to supporters who had to wait a little while for the product to be done.  Each color is gorgeously chosen, and if you want to go “full bone” a light dark wash will truly bring out some amazing detail on the white and yellow versions.

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Personally, I find myself in love with the purple ones.  Ever since the release of the Eternal Struggle 2-Pack I’ve become infatuated with Hades and his crew, and these purple skeletons are the perfect compliment to the Undead Warrior from that 2 Pack.  Toss in some Tartarus Guards (and pink Skeletons to go with them) and you’re quickly amassing an awesome pink/purple army for the God of the Underworld to set loose upon the world.

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I will say one of my purple Skeletons did come through pretty bow-legged, I’m thinking mostly due to the material of the plastic that’s used to make transparent figures.  I applied some heat and reshaped the legs somewhat, and it seems to be a lot better.

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Each Skeleton comes with a footpeg and a series of clear plastic devices that seem a little strange if you don’t know what you’re looking for.  The two curved pieces have holes on the bottom and plug into the battle stand so that the Skeleton can use the stand more effectively.  Obviously his bony little foot is too narrow to get a peg hole in there, so these clasps make for an excellent work around.

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Along with those two items are four different “spacers”.  These spacers can hook into various places on the Skeleton’s narrow frame to allow for larger armor pieces to fit snugly without moving around.  Most of the female armor slides right on with no issues, but if you want larger male armor (especially leg armor) to work, you need to clip on a spacer to fill in some of the gaps.

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Boss Fight truly thought of everything.  These skeletons are a hell of a lot of fun, and add yet another intriguing dimension to a toyline which is already completely full of intriguing dimensions.  There are so many things to love about Vitruvian HACKS and it seems like as I push through these reviews I continue to be amazed and surprised by what I find.

A final note about this review…  I’m not sure I’m giving this figure appropriate credit and he doesn’t really jive with my format for reviews.  He ended up with 4 Stars, but when you look at what had to be overcome with the overall structure and durability of a human skeleton, what Boss Fight did with this figure is completely and truly remarkable, and deserves far more credit than my review score can accurately depict.

These figures are a ton of fun.

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  • Character
  • Sculpt
  • Articulation
  • Paint Deco
  • Accessories
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Summary

If I wasn’t holding it in my hand I wouldn’t have believed it, but I can vouch for the fact that these skeletons manage to be functional, aesthetically pleasing, fun, well articulated, and customizable! It’s a trifecta of coolness from the Boss Fight Studios Vitruvian HACKS line. It’s tough to portray how much I love these with my review scores, since I do focus on character and accessories, but trust me when I say these things are SWEET.