Vault Review: Acid Rain’s Stronghold 4-Eyes

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from our friends over at Ori Toy, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy.  Over the last couple of years they’ve joined forces with Kit Lau at Skronex to launch an entirely new toy property: Acid Rain, The War Under Pollution.  As their first release starts to hit specialty retailers, the guys were nice enough to send one along to me so I could help spread the word.

The Acid Rain line is set in a world where World War II never ended.  As the war carried on, the losses grew beyond the human casualties as the effects on the environment were also being felt as well.  Eventually the struggle became more about securing what was left of the limited resources, using new machines and weapons that are designed for the new toxic environment.

Our first weapon of war in this new line is the Stronghold, a brick-like tank that’s been given the nickname “Quad-eyes” for its four large front-facing cannons.  But before I get into the figure, I wanted to take a moment to mention the box.  The box is covered in some wonderful art and interesting patterns to mimic rusted metal.  But the most interesting design has to be the hole that’s been cut out so you can actually feel the gritty texture of the vehicle.  This is the first of many small details that push this vehicle beyond just a product and into an actual labor of love.

Another nice detail is the instruction manual.  The back half of the booklet displays how to transform the vehicle from tank to mech mode, and also where to insert the battery.  (Yes, I said battery.  But I’ll get to that in a minute…) The front half of the book displays a brief history of the Stronghold vehicle in the Acid Rain universe.  There are even sketches showing it off and pointing out certain features.  My particular favorite was that this tank was originally a construction/farming vehicle that was upgraded by citizens to protect their boarders from hostile forces.

Stronghold comes out of the box in tank form.  While its cube-like appearance may not look incredibly dangerous, it does give off the feeling of being very heavily armored.  I could easily see a vehicle like this plowing through a dynamite factory as if it were strolling through a car wash.  Of course this chunky tank still has bite with its four 90mm turret guns and double barreled cannons.

The sculpt of the vehicle seems simple at first glance, but on closer look you see a ton of tiny sculpted details like raised panels and panel lines, handles to grip, and standing platforms with crosshatching designs.  The figure is also covered in panels, doors and hatches that can be opened and closed.  I was very surprised to discover that all of these details don’t come at a cost to the quality of plastic, which is very sturdy.

Quadeyes has limited articulation in tank mode.  The dome can swivel from side to side, while each gun on it can swivel up and down.  Unfortunately that’s about it, unless you count all the panels and hatches that can be opened and closed.  This brings me to my only complaint about this vehicle; the treads don’t seem to move.  They look like they should, but I can’t get them to budge.

Stronghold’s transformation is incredibly easy and intuitive, and there are a couple of nice engineering tricks that make it pretty enjoyable.  The whole process gives off a very realistic impression.  Unlike the physics bending conversion of a Transformer, I can actually see a real world mech moving like this.

Quadeyes is a much more imposing force in robot mode.  Overall the domed head and blocky body design reminds me of a robot toy from the 1950’s, only instead of antenna he has machine guns and instead of pincer-like hands he has death dealing mortar launchers.  Continue to page 2…

24 thoughts on “Vault Review: Acid Rain’s Stronghold 4-Eyes

        1. I don’t usually get to see them until they’re up on the site. 🙂 Plus, if I yell, “These are nice!” from the other room I’ll get the reply, “WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!? I’M JUST IN THE OTHER ROOM!”, like 9 times out of 10.

  1. Amazing pictures with this one! Perfect venue and really fun shots. The amount of detail on this thing is incredible!

  2. Incredibly cool. Great review and pics.

    I won’t collect this line (insert standard “lack of money and space” here), but I hope it expands and does very well, as it deserves to. Unique concept and beautifully executed. Outstanding product.

    1. Thanks, Beedo! Yeah, I really hope this line takes off. These guys are very talented and the success would be would definitely be earned.

    2. man, this is cool beyond cool… if the motuc sub goes belly up, this should be the new go-to man… imagine how cool this would be killing your scareglow, or shooting the face off your faceless master. and honestly, he’d be a fine reason to jump ship off motuc anyway.

      1. If the MOTUC sub does indeed die without issue, I would normally agree with you that this would be an excellent line to start on, D.R.

        But I haven’t had a proper holiday in seven years, so I’d rather save up for that and paint NE Ohio, parts of Pennsylvania, and possibly the Washington, DC area red next summer. Preferably with the blood of scalpers.

        Still, a line like this doesn’t need me as an investor when its own incredible coolness is self-evident. It should do fine without me. So long as IAT keeps posting sweet reviews so I can enjoy the line vicariously . . . .

        1. ah, well, if you’re planning for a vacation, then yes, save up the shizzash for that… but cool toys are their own reward. 🙂

  3. is it a wonky photo edit or is the poster really mirrored?
    otherwise a neat toy and would love to see how their figures will look.

    1. Oops, good catch. I flipped the picture so the poster could be seen easier, but it looks like I reversed it too.

  4. cool stuff, and I like how it fits in with the other 1/18 lines, even if I’m no longer collecting that scale. A more realistic take than the previous Joe/TF crossovers have been.
    (altho now that he’s posed with it, I really want to see Iron Man giving it a once over and giving a review-within-a-review! LOL)

  5. i have to say here vault, i’m hurt by this review… cuz it was really good, and that fig is triple digit cool! yet, there are weeks that go by and i see hardly anything from you, review-wise, that i can live vicariously through, or add to my want list. you can’t let noisy be the only voice around here, he only collects/reviews like 3 toy lines! we need something to break up the masters/dc/TF reviews… something like “vault’s cool corner” or “shiz you ain’t never heard of, but will now sell a lung for.” this was done right man, now just do more like this!

    1. Thanks guys! I love getting the word out and showing new lines to everyone, but they certainly aren’t what draws the traffic. It’s mind boggling how much more attention and hits a basic Batman figure will get over something unique, like what Ori Toy produces. So I really appreciate when readers enjoy a review like this.

      Unfortunately money has become tighter recently, so I’ve had to cut back a bit on impulse buys and imports. I love exploring what these smaller companies are bringing to the toy community. In fact, there are a couple other Chinese companies that I’ve been watching for a while and would love to promote. I just don’t have the resources right now.

      Hopefully things will turn around soon though. Then I can start showing up with more crazy things no one has ever heard of!

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