As we mentioned last week, Spy Monkey Creations is debuting a new line of action figures called the Weaponeers of Monkaa! The folks over at SMC were kind enough to send along some review samples and with the drop scheduled for 12pm PDT today, now’s probably a good time to take a look at ‘em!
SMC made a big splash last year with their Armory Series and while I’ve been anxiously awaiting an Armory Series 2, SMC went above & beyond those expectations with a full-fledged action figure line. As the SMC gang has been teasing for months, it really is “not just weapons anymore”.
I became a fan of SMC when I picked up the Master Blade of the Empyrean a few years ago and have been following them ever since. It turns out that was a great jumping on point. Not only is a variation of that classic blade featured in the Weaponeers of Monkaa logo, but the story focuses on Empyreus, a young prince dealing with the loss of his father and suddenly being thrust into power.
Before you even get to the toys, there’s plenty of universe building going on with this line. SMC chose to really focus on that aspect by releasing an eleven chapter Prologue before revealing the figures themselves. A quick read through of the prologue shows that the guys at SMC have a great love for many of the toys and stories of our collective youth. In them, we meet Empyreus, the newly installed leader of Monkaa, and his guardian Palidar, then there’s Empyreus’ “evil” brother, the power mad Umbreus, and his general, Brutok. As you’ll see in the images, that same love of the 80s is visible throughout the figures as well.
The initial offering for Weaponeers of Monkaa will feature four main characters (Empyreus, Umbreus, Palidar, Brutok) at $12, two Gohlem army builders at $12, a $5 extra heads pack, and six $5 Close Combat Accessory packs. As with previous SMC releases, everything comes bagged. The six figures all feature the same basic construction, but like any good Glyos-system inspired figure, there are plenty of little details on each piece that makes basic “customization” easy for the average collector. Between that and the colorways, it definitely feels like there are six independent figures.
One way that SMC was able to create so many independent characters off of one build is a little funny. The various hand attachments can double as heads. Palidar’s head doubles as a cannon, Brutok’s a mace, and the standard fists give the Gohlem’s their squared off noggins. It works great, but sometimes you can’t “unsee” the faces while they’re pulling double duty. When you’re snapping toy review pics, theycan, uh… change the composition of some of your images to put it mildly.
From the neck down, these guys have a great blocky feel to them (which translates into some awesome artwork). When I opened up the box from SMC, I was having a ton of fun swapping around parts and colors and seeing what I could assemble, but I did find that I kept wanting to add a little height in the legs to better match the above-waist proportions. That’s where the Glyos system takes the SMC sculpts and kicks the figures into overdrive. If you want the figures taller? You make ‘em taller. I was a bit limited in my options to do that in these pics, but after the SMC store opens today, I’ll quickly remedy that!*
* – If you’re like me and plan to build with these figures, I might recommend picking up one of the newly discounted Armory Series One sets or some extra Close Combat sets. In addition to providing some awesome pieces for your builds, you’ll also get four more switch pincs with an Armory Series 1 set or two more with a Close Combat set. There are two included with the figure, but I could not get enough of those bad boys! My big guys are being held together by a half dozen pins each!
Out of all the sculpts, Brutok and his spiky head appeals to me the most. I think I’m more partial to the bad guys, the Vilhains, because of the great green color (Onell just doesn’t do enough bright green for me). Brutok’s spiky head and green coloring made him a quick favorite. Continue to Page 2…
Wow some great builds in there, I have been having a blast with my sets I picked up at powercon. I will be jumping on and ordering some more today!
Thanks! The builds of yours I linked to last week were killer! I’m excited to see what you can do with even more pieces!
I keep saying I’ll hold out for a glow Gohlem (Glohlem?), but Umbreon calls to me. As a kid, I had a ton of orphaned “bad guy leader” toys, because that was almost always the one guy I wanted before my attention changed and I moved on to something else. I think that’s kicking in again here, and the sheer ’80sness of the whole Monkaa line is probably to blame.
And then I’ll have to get at LEAST the Umbral CCA set and maybe the head pack, and then…
Glohlem is awesome!! I gotta make sure Spy & Co see that.
And then… that’s how they get ya. 🙂
yeah… i’m gonna need a lot of these, aren’t i?
Wouldn’t hurt. 😉
The “Magma” and “Crystal” Gohlems are probably a reference to the old Crystar toyline.
gotta be. I’m almost disappointed Noisy kept to same color schemes, when the mix and match colors would give you a quasi-Crystar with the “Crystal” torso/arms and red legs/hands/head.
I can’t afford to add another line, but these are cool. I saw the guys promoting the comic on FB and noticed the TF/Crystar/MOTU similarities immediately. The bad guy (Umbreus?) is totally Megatron’s head with Skeletor’s…uh, face?
and can I say that “evil” tab deco looks much better on purple than it does on lime green.
JonWes did that last week over at the Org -> http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?230592
No sense in copying. 😀
Thanks for the shout out. 🙂
And awesome article. Loved all the pics, including the SMC mask! 🙂
Have you seen this awesome build over at He-Man.Org using Monkaa parts to make Crystar! -> http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?230592
Congrats to SMC for branching out!!!
These are definitely growing on me. I really dig some of your “taller” builds Noisy.
But I don’t think I’m ready to pull the trigger on these until a head sculpt that grabs me more shows up on these guys.
One thing that would be really cool would be an “Ultimate Glyos collaboration” where they make one big colorway set from all of the participating Glyos molds. How sweet would that be?!
Adding some height in the legs really opened up the figures for me, particularly when I could add in the axis joints. I’m going to have to beg & whine for Matt to use this new SMC green!!
There was an Onell drop that ran not too long ago with everything in gray/white. It was awesome. Doing that again with the Armorvor, some special OSM, and the Monkaans would be sweet!
Exactly. I just think having the option to mix and match from ALL Glyos stuff would be great!!
And yeah, in something simple, like red/black or whatever.
Being somewhat ignorant of Glyos stuff, where did the axis joints come from?
Great Review Noisy!
3 oclock cant come soon enough (for us east coast guys)
Thanks!
Just can’t get into these guys. I’m way more into the accessory building sets.
just FYI man, these parts are totally compatible w/ the weapon sets, so you can expand the available weapon build options.
This is true! I mainly stuck to building characters/figures, but the blocky nature of the pieces should make for some really cool weapons.
How did everyone do at drop? I managed to get the figures I needed to complete the set and a few CC armory packs…now to transfer the remaining PP blacne to my Bank account for NYCC!!
Speaking of, I need to shoot you a PM!
I was able to order what I wanted (Palidar, Empyreus, CCA-Empyrean and Cold Steel, and a Head pack).
Sweet!
That’s exactly what I’m going to order, lol. 🙂
Has SMC said anything about the production numbers on these guys? I want these sooo bad, but I won’t have any funds until the 11th. For some reason, I’m really worried that a few of these might sell out before then.
I picked up Brutok when the drop first went live and I’m tempted to get the rest since they’re still in stock. I’m impressed at how well they fit in with the other Glyos characters despite a pretty significantly different style.
It really is weird how they do blend in.
I’m really digging these figures, I need to grab a set when I get some $$$ together. It’s cool how this line reminds me of Tomy’s old Starriors toyline in that you can have Palidar in Good or Evil colors just like the Starriors did. Can’t wait to get some of these in hand, excellent review & photos!
Thanks everyone! And thank you Noisy for such an awesome review and killer set of damn hilarious photos! My wife and I haven’t stopped laughing at the shot where they all come in like the Time Bandits and just dust the MOTUC guys. The business with Brutok and Umbreus on Roboto and Hordak had me crying. Funniest and favorite review to date.. Thank you again man.
Can’t wait for my new sets to arrive. Should be Monday or Tuesday, I think. So many more things to build… 🙂