It turns out the moderate lull in G.I. Joe news presents a great opportunity to focus on an obscure new toy line that I’m sure nobody reading this page has ever heard about…
I was fortunate enough to be able to get my hands on the second shipment of HACKS figures from my Kickstarter pledge… now seven days, nearly 800 images and 4 gigabytes worth of digital files later, the reviews can now begin!
My intention is to devote a day to each wave, then to the exclusives, then the accessory packs, blanks and skeletons. I’m still working on these, so time will tell how successful I am at meeting that schedule, but I’m giving it the old college try.
Today, over on the Vitruvian HACKS review page, I’ve posted the full line up of Wave 2 carded figures, including Stheno, Underworld Warrior, Athenian Warrior, and the Green Mamba.
I’ve been friends with the folks in Boss Fight for many years, but I am trying very hard to look at these things through an unfiltered eye. Hopefully I have some success. Check out the reviews below and I look forward to rolling through this fun week of HACKS greatness!
With the Vitruvian HACKS Kickstarter, I officially learned something new… I learned that Medusa actually had sisters. I guess I hadn’t been paying attention during my Greek mythology classes at school.
Stheno is the eldest Gorgon sister, sinister, vindictive, and hateful for what the Gods have cursed her sister with. She stands tall and proud with an amazingly elaborate mane of snake themed hair. Like Medusa, she can also turn men to stone, but her bite also transforms normal humans into Gorgon soldiers. She’s a very intriguing character who I was fascinated to learn more about.
As for the figure itself, Boss Fight gave themselves quite the challenge when they designed Stheno, building out an incredible head sculpt with intricate woven snakes for hair, giving Stheno a quite imposing presence above her two sisters. The result is a figure who I will admit is a little top heavy, plus with her bare feet/rocker ankles, I’m sorry to say the footpegs don’t work quite as well as I’m sure Boss Fight intended.
The figure itself looks magestic and regal with the ornate chest plate armor and snake skin skirt, with trims of gold and a fantastic decoed snake pattern on the back of the skirt. The texture almost looks as if she skinned a large snake and is wearing its hide for protection, which is an intriguing concept.
Her snake themed forearm guards are really nicely done, and the complex pattern of the shin armor looks regal and authoritative as well. Combine this with her head dress and you have an elder Gorgon sister who looks like she’s the maternal member of the clan.
Accessories
Stheno doesn’t come with a lot of accessories. She has a really nicely designed snake themed staff which looks very cool and definitely accentuates the regal nature of her character. Along with that she has a nicely built dagger that is small, but lethal looking. She has the normal battle stand and replaceable hands to round it off.
Stheno looks really nice. Her sculpting is excellent, the overall design is busy, but still incredibly appealing. The deco work is spectacular, and while her accessories are few, they make sense. The sheer weight of her head, a slight lack of functionality due to her overall design aesthetic, and the issues with her foot holes drop down her score somewhat, but as a compliment to her sisters, she still feels like a necessary part of any HACKS collection going forward.
Check out the video review below!
Stheno
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.6
Summary
An impressive and powerful looking character with some amazing design aesthetics and impressive sculpting. The size of her head and hair can limit her poseability somewhat, and the issues with her feet fitting in the footpegs are things that Boss Fight needs to (and likely will) address. All in all, a gorgeous looking figure that would be exceedingly tough to translate into plastic, and Boss Fight does an excellent job doing so.
