Preamble
I’m now on my 3rd Masterpiece style Huffer, so is the swapping and upgrading game. Will this be the last? Who knows, I mean currently I hope it is but you never know what’s down the road. I don’t want to sound pessimistic about it, that would be too much like Huffer himself.
My first one was Cubex Huff, to this day I still like the mold, pity about the QC and paint issues. Second was Badcube Huff, but even as I ordered it I knew that it was just a place holder until something better came along. I had the very same sentiment with Badcube Brawny as it happens.
And so it leads me onto my third and hopefully final version of Huffer, Fans Toys FT-47 Rig. Cubex Huff and Badcube Huff are gone from my collection now, so it’s just me and Rig, how will we get on?
Normally this is where I would say something like “the standard offering from ….”, however… oh hang on a minute. For a moment there I slipped into typing some mental notes from my FT-25 Outrider review, spoilers. Back to Rig. It’s the standard offering from Fans Toys when it comes to the packaging. A nice glossy card with some embossing for the figure name etc. Artwork to the front with product photos and blurb on the rear. Inside the figure is housed in the a polystyrene tomb, with the instructions and collector card inside a sandwich bag.
I hope these 3rd Party companies don’t go all ‘Dave Angel Eco Warrior’ with their packaging. I feel that there is a certain prestige to figures that are presented in packaging like this. It exudes an air of quality that recycled card and twist ties does not, God I’m turning into a collecting snob! Seriously though, I think for the price point of some of these figures, this style of packaging is the way to keep it.
Opening up the polystyrene and we get our first glimpses of Rig, in his robot mode. I won’t go over it again here but I did discuss my thoughts on packaging figures in their robot modes in my Crimson Wings Review.
Alongside Rig are his accessories which include an alternate head, a rifle and two blasters.
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Vehicle Mode
Rigs truck mode is a good size and very reminiscent of his G1 toy counterpart, which I highly approve of. It’s a solid mode with no panel gaps or mis-alignments and the paint application as ever is excellent. Nice use of chrome on the wheels along with rubber tyres, which are a thing for me. It irks me when you get plastic wheels on a premium figure line like the Masterpieces, looking at you Takara! The weapons combine and can be mounted to the rear, but why anyone would want to do this is beyond me. There is no 5th wheel to hook up a trailer, however you can just plonk MP-10’s trailer on and it stays in place, as long as you leave it static and don't ‘brum’ it along your desk or floor. I assume that it won’t be too long until someone produces an attachment to use that will facilitate the ability to hook up the trailer from both MP-10and MP-44. Rig rolls out well and with that we move onto the robot mode.
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Robot Mode
Robot mode looks really nice, however I was torn at one time regards the move towards the more cartoon aesthetic. I’m a fan of the toy look primarily but I’ve found a way to make peace with myself on this matter, its how it is now and to just go with it.
Rig does look like his cartoon persona, even down to the low slung shoulders. A point which has been of note on some reviews I’ve seen as this does restrict the shoulder movement. I can see how it would be an issue for those who like to go for a more dynamic pose, for me though I’m the king of rigid poses so it’s of no consequence. The posing restrictions don’t end there I’m afraid. Cab overhang restricts the head movement, it doesn’t help that the head is not on a more dynamic joint. Hip skirt at the front is one piece and the sides only move up fractionally. This hinders the upper leg movement, even with the thigh swivel. Knee gets about 90° and ankles rock sideways with no forward or backwards tilt. So in all, your not going to get much here in the way of action poses. Before I forget, there is a waist swivel but no tilt. Pistols peg into the hands fine but on mine I cannot get the rifle to do the same. I don’t see me using it that often so it’s of little concern. Head slides forward to swap it out to give him a screaming or yelling emote.
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Generally speaking it’s a good robot mode. It’s well painted, everything clips together where it should and the use of die-cast means it’s well balanced. It feels like a good quality figure.
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Closing Thoughts
Fans Toys have released another good figure, no doubt, even with its shortcomings. I feel that Badcube Huff beats it on articulation but that’s it. That’s not to say Badcube Huff is a bad figure, no, and if you have him then it’s a great option. If you don’t and you want a Huffer then go for Rig, definitely.
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The size, the sculpt, the paint and the quality of materials used is just on a level above other manufacturers… maybe! We’ll discuss this further in my X-Transbots Janssen review. Back to Rig. I think he’s a little overpriced, but so are all Fans Toys figures (Takara too).Vehicle mode is great, robot mode is good but could be better, marked down only because of articulation. So yeah, glad I got him and if you can then pick him up.
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Rig was purchased from Omegalock, the link to which can be found in our 'Recommended Sites' section.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and catch you all soon.
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