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Stan Winston's studios have had mixed results with their foray into the field of action figures - beginning with their terrible Creature Features line (sure, Stan, we don't like articulation; whatever you say) they've come a long way with their newest release, the awesome Mutant Earth figures.
Combining a nice amount of articulation and impressive sculpting of those awesome Winston-based beasties, this line delivers with a horde of alien/mutant scum. Stan Winston has been consistently well-known for creating awesome creature designs, and now his figures actually show that off with sculpting and detailing almost as impressive as McFarlane's high standard, with one extra detail - durability.
That's right, the Mutant Earth series have the added bonus of not breaking. Ok, they're not indestructible, but they'll stand up to some play. For every collector who's had a McToy break in the package, this is a sigh of relief. The drawback with these figures is the price - as a Toys R Us exclusive, they start as high as $15 - more expensive than most. Fortunately for us Aus collectors, they're uber-cheap, so I urge all Aussies to head to their local TRU to buy buy buy! They'll run you up a cost of anything from $5 to $10 Aus dollars - now that's value [god, how I hate you --ed.].
This lovely bloke is Moloch, one of the coolest figures in the series. Combining the best elements of Duke Nukem's bosses and Futurama's Morbo ("and that unpleasant waste was Morbo's Vermin of the Week!"), Moloch is a hulking beast of alien origin with some nasty cybernetic appendages for show.
Moloch is an escaped outlaw from Vest'Hahn, hiding out on Earth. The real trouble starts when the "law" from his home planet comes looking for him.
Each Mutant Earth figure features a collectible card, describing info about the character and including a password to the website. Hitting the website, I had no idea where to use it, but it's somewhat cool none-the-less; even though the legends of the figures are somewhat lame, it's nice to get a background on the figure.
Hunching at 6" tall, Moloch is in a crouched kinda position in which his lumbering arms hang down beside his slender body. His body is mostly green alien-flesh with nice highlighting, at good effect with his mechanical torso and gigantic arms. He features two gigantic arms, mechanical and lumbering, very nicely detailed and rusted, both of which are detachable to be replaced with the Wicked Big Arm Cannon. The pegs work fine and give the figure some variation, especially if you want to get more than one of them (and for a figure this cool, you definitely should).
The paint and detail goes with the sculpt to make the figure especially cool - his blue eyes are a perfect contrast to the rest of the figure, with a sick metallic glow, converse to his teeth, which are lovingly rotten. Moloch is a great character - he looks like the type of organism that loves to kill things, but also crack sick jokes while doing it in a high-pitched kind of voice.
Moloch also features an impressive amount of varied articulation that works well for the figure. He features shoulders, wrists, legs, mid-section, 'neck', legs, and then pin-jointed elbows and knees. Without ball-jointed shoulders, his arms aren't unstable, and the pin joints work perfectly to make him look hunched while giving him plenty of poseability, to please everyone. It's fine work; clearly someone was thinking! Also included with Moloch is his mentioned Arm Cannon, a badass interchangeable weapon that fits on either arm, and a base.
Each Mutant Earth figure features a similar base, 6" by 4" and featuring pegs to display the toy on. Moloch's is less interesting than some of the others, featuring only rubble, sand and stone, but it gives him something to display on, fitting him in with the rest of the line.
This is a very cool figure, a surprise from the maker of the abysmal Creature Features, I am utterly impressed. I recommend all Aus collectors run out and get a set now, and other collectors should be on the lookout as well; if this series is anything to judge by, then we have a bright future in the way of Stan Winston toys - the upcoming Gargoyles, Robots, and more look very cool, and the Mutant Earth figures set a high standard for them. I'm looking forward to what will come next.
Pissed at Shocka for getting the Mutant Earth figures for so cheap? Want to laugh at him since he has to wait for everything else and pay double the price? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge.
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