We’re spotlighting some of our favorite sites this week, but we also thought it’d be cool to let our readers in on the guest review action. Today’s article is a piece submitted by long-time reader Dayraven. He sends word of a toy I didn’t know existed: a Fox Sports Baseball Robot!
Dayraven: Hey IAT fans, this is Dayraven, getting his first guest review for IAT. As I’d love an eventual second review, I guess I better get this right, eh? Well, luckily for me, the subject of today’s review will, I think, prove tantalizing enough to warrant a read and recommend… so let’s get to it!
A bit of background: It was late in the first decade of the new millenium when the action figure world was floored by the unheralded arrival of the Fox Sports Robot aka Cleatus. He was a huge, heavy, football themed bot of a mascot used to transition football games to commercial and annoy the gridiron gang just in time to offer them Doritos succor. He was also one hell of an action figure, usable for customs, or just for being the coolest robot that no one saw coming. It recently came to light via BigBadToyStore that a new company, BK Toyz, is releasing new football Foxbots later this year based on the updated FSR model, but in anticipation of that arrival, I started researching dear old FSR, and discovered, much to my continued joy, that Actionheads, the company that produced the bot, had one more trick up their sleeve… the Fox Baseball Bot! I located a few images of not great quality, and finally tracked the guy down on Amazon. At a whopping 30 dollars for the fig, he is pricier than his Football cousin, so I figured, since I was taking the plunge, I’d pass my experience along to help any of you robofanatics decide if this is something for your collection.
It is worth note that there was a Fox Baseball robot graphic, but this figure does not look like him. Don’t know exactly what happened there, but this FSBasebot is definitely better looking than that graphic, so I consider that a win.
The figure is again in the 10 inch scale of his Football cousin. His packaging is also similarly shaped to his cousin’s wide window box, though his is tricked out with the MLB logo, and an infield themed insert.
The box also features a detailed backstory that was lacking from the packaging of the football one. Apparently, this Fox Robot is not just a toy of the mascot, but is himself a player in some high tech fantasy baseball team. The package illuminates some of the custom features designed to keep this “player” in the game. We also see on the bottom panel that, like the Foxbot, this guy was made by Actionheads, only in 2011.
Inside the tray, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was inserted with nary a twisty or rubber band. He is securely injected into the tray, so there’s nothing between you and your basebot.
As you can see, the insert behind him shows home plate and a stretch of infield. It’s a nice touch, and I did snag some photos of him on it… but being an opener, that insert was discarded fairly quickly.
Scalewise, he’s about the same size as his football cousin, roughly 10 inches. I like the scale, as he has a nice amount of mass, thick articulation points, and he towers over most of your collection. His physique is actually more “muscular” than his Football cousin… is it possible he’s using Robine Growth Hormone? Quick, someone get a pint of his oil!
Articulation is great on this guy. He has a pin and hinge ball neck, ball torso, pin and hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, pin and hinge elbows, swivel wrists, pin and hinge ball hips, pin and hinge knees, pin and hinge ankles, and pin and hinge mid foot. Of these, his elbows, hips on both sides of the balls, knees, and mid feet are all ratcheted, and very tight, so they hold poses incredible well. I believe the neck is likely ratcheted, but the neck on mine is so tight, I was unable to get any up/down posability in it. It turns side to side just fine though. Continue to Page 2…
Thanks for the cool review, Dayraven! I never got around to picking up Cleatus, but a baseball one is too tempting. If only I could snag a Royals ‘bot (don’t judge me, people!).
Newer readers may not know this, but Dayraven actually left the very first comment on IAT three years and a few days ago (did we forget to mention the site just turned three last week? Oops!)
🙂 it doesn’t feel like three years already… don’t know if that’s a good thing or if senility is already setting in, but it’s been fun! thank you sir for the chance to showcase my nearly nonexistent people skills alongside my bountiful love of toys. my kids were very happy to see the photos in print. they did help w/ lighting and setting things up, so i have to give them props as well for being very helpful. for example, the shots w/ the glowing eyeball tracer, that was my youngest behind me hitting the face plate w/ a laser pointer. i was pretty happy with how it came out.
didn’t the Cards win the i-70 series?
I’d say I forgot, but then remembered that’s when I stopped caring.
I want a Royals one too! 🙂
In some shots the guy seems to wear a cowboy hat which immediately had me tweeting the Saber Riders melody. Neat figure!!
WANT!
if this dude in any way gets around like the football bot did, i can only imagine how tight the customs will be. i had not discovered clarktoys until after ordering my bot, but for those who want this cat as custom fodder, they have a texas ranger version for 18 bones http://mcfarlaneonline.stores.yahoo.net/teramlbfoxsp.html i have no idea how their service is, or what they charge for shipping, but that starting price is pretty awesome (and i suppose if you’re a rangers fan, double trouble eh!)
Great job DR!!! Nice to see you on this side of the site!
Great review, great pics!
But as I don’t give a tinker’s dam about any spectator sports at all, this one’s an easy pass. Might’ve been different if he’d been in scale with some of my other lines and I could customise him for something, but not at that price.
What a cool little robot. 🙂 Great job, DR. ^_^
little? this guy’s all man lady! 😉 thanks ‘neko… i seriously had in my mind that i wanted you a little pissed at me after this review, cuz i’m secretly hoping vault’s intrigued enough to buy one. it’s a damned nice toy, and honestly, while it’s not as detailed as some of the imports he buys, it’s huge, very solid, well articulated, and could easily terrorize a small army of revoltechs or figmas, and falls right about in that price range or cheaper, depending on where you buy it. he’d look right at home posed out trying to tear a deluxe-class transformer limb from limb.
I felt like I was saying that too much, but, yeah, I’m sure this guy will be on his way here, soon. And we all know that, while $30 is a hefty sum for a toy, Vault doesn’t usually balk at dropping that. The saving grace is that Vault isn’t a baseball fan (well… unless you count the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) so maybe I can con him into that Texas one for cheap.
Now, see, this is the sort of thing I love about IAT and the community that inhabits it. DR really stepped up here and did a man’s job. 🙂
I did not know this existed. I did not know that Fox Sports even had a Baseball robot, they sure don’t do jack in promoting it like they did the Football one.
It’s kinda cool. It looks like it lives in the ‘Real Steel’ world. I don’t think I like it $30 worth, but if I saw it on a peg at around $15 or so I’d pull the trigger. Maybe part of the problem is I’m just not a sports fan. Hockey and Pro Wrestling, OK, I’ll watch that and sometimes a football or baseball game (you know, flipping channels and it’s the only choice) but that’s about it.
Great job DR! Now do another. 🙂
you have no idea steve, how hard i’ve hunted to see if there’s an NHL version of this guy somewhere… i’d kill eight people to get a red wings bot. eight fat people, that would be hard to dispose of by myself. or 64 twilight fans. (that seems about right, right, it takes 8 twihards to make 1 real person?)
all kidding aside, i scoured the web for HOURS for mention of an NHL bot. i suppose i could fire actionheads an email, that’s honestly the only thing i haven’t done yet in pursuit of an NHL bot.
as for finding this guy on the pegs somewhere… good luck w/ that. i found zero press on this guy at all, a few fleeting images of him on google images, and then clarktoys and amazon that had any for sale (sadly, didn’t find clarktoys until after the purchase)… this guy had zero traction at retail evidently. and certainly, w/ the positive vibe the football bot got, i’m amazed this guy flew under our collective radars. the distro on this figure had to be a truly mattelian nightmare. i did find at one point an image of the fox sports baseball graphic design, but i didn’t find any info on if that ever hit the air… and the image i found looks nothing like this robot. this might be a “toy-only” design, but for me, that kind of makes it even cooler.
as for getting to do another review… that all depends on when/if noisy asks me back. it’s his site man, i just hang out here. 🙂
Hockeybot would blow my mind. Problem is, NBC has a lock on the NHL for now, so until Fox Sports does Hockey, that’s that. Unless.
I can’t help but wonder if Baseballbot was a ‘concept’ item, either a pitch (haw haw, see what I did there? 🙂 ) to Fox by the toy company or something the MLB had a company do to try and cash in on the Fox Footballbot. Welp, nope, I see the Fox Sports logo on the back.
Am kind of wondering because I don’t see the usual big block of copyright about MLB and Fox and others.
Gotta say, this feels like a line that got s**tcanned after production started. You know how it goes. “great idea great idea WOOPS new V.P. in charge bad idea not my idea dump it”. The kind of toy that ends up at Big Lots. Hurm.
Want Hockeybot with Jagr’s number on it. Just saying. 🙂
Great review DR, didnt know about this, might need to check one out, tho of course id get mine in the colors of the cross town rival Mets
Can’t vouch for this retailer, but just to show you they did make a Mets one:
http://clarktoys.com/newyomemlbfo.html
Ah, just realized DR linked to the same shop above! 😀
no sweat lay ze, thanks for the assist.
and thanks to everyone who enjoyed this. i’m nowhere near the professional level of this sight as far as lighting rigs and quippy dialogue, or crazy dio sets that some other review sites are known for, so there’s always fears of inadequacy. but i do love toys, and love taking photos of cool pieces. this guy fits the bill. for those of you who lurk on the boards, you know i’m fairly regular at snagging photos, and this guy will definitely be showing up again.
Smart review, DR!
I’ve always admired the Footbot, but never found him in my college state colors for University of Kentucky, though I did spot a UofL one a couple years ago during Christmas that gave me hope.
But this guy’s incredible! His slimmer look and helmet/head really push him over the edge for me. I’ve already got one on order. Thanks so much for bringing this one to light!
Amazing review…
I mean, Dayraven, actually using capital letters!!!
After reading the review, I did an immediate search hoping to find a Cincinnati Reds version – their uniform is very similar to the Hiroshima Carps. The Reds apparently never got made, but any red team could be easily modified – but they all seem to be sold out.
One question. Are the logos and markings printed on the figure, or are they decals which could be removed and replaced with the appropriate markings for teams which aren’t represented in the toy line-up?
“Amazing review…
I mean, Dayraven, actually using capital letters!!!”
LOL 😀 😀 😀
they are painted details, but the logos are the only paint on cast pieces so you wouldn’t damage a base coat of paint in removing them.
and yes gents, for one glorious day… i found my shift key.
Man, I don’t usually care about sports figures, but this guy is really tempting.
Great review, DR!
thanks bra… i figure w/ your bot obsession, he’d be right up your ally. the only issue is, he’s very big compared to your usual import bots.