Articulation is the best here of my three Foxbots, and that’s saying something. What we have here is a peg and hinge neck enabling up/down and side to side motion, peg and hinge balls at the shoulders, lower bicep swivels, hinge elbows, swivel wrists, ball torso, ball in socket hips, thigh swivel, double hinge knees, hinge and rocker ankles, and lastly, just for good measure, mid-foot hinges. So you probably read that and were wondering why I think that’s the best articulation since Cleatus 1.0 topped it in sheer number of articulation points. Good question. The answer is, this is the best overall articulation quality wise. The ball torso is tight and offers range in all directions.
The ball in socket hips look great and are tight and well designed with a fantastic range of motion, better by a large margin than either of the competing Cleati. The thigh swivels lie inside those huge armored thighs, and are tight and completely hidden. The double hinge knees are tight and sturdy, as well as ratcheted to aid in posing. The ankles hinges are ratcheted and tight, and so are the rockers, which again have a great range of motion. It’s the most solid mid-foot hinge I’ve ever bought. The elbows are tight and ratcheted, the wrist swivels are tight, the neck is tight in both up/down and side to side, and the shoulders are ratcheted in the in/out range of motion, and are… you guessed it… tight and sturdy. Flat out boys and girls, this is the best execution of articulation I’ve bought in YEARS. Like, I’m kind of stunned by how well this articulation works, it’s that good. I was happy with the MLB bot’s articulation, but this… WOW! The complaints, IF and only IF I were forced to offer them, would be the lack of hinge motion in the wrist, and the lack of swivel at the shoulder joints where they plug into the bicep. These complaints though are really just observations, since the bicep swivel still exists, just not where you might expect it to be, and the wrists are more stable without that hinge motion. Check this three-point stance, he’s the only one who can do that…
Paint aps are this big boy are few, but again, well done. The Fox Sports logo is tampoed on and the edges are clean and sharp. The areas on his ribs and around the team colors logos are tightly applied and clean, with NO instances of slop, though there is a little bleed through on a couple spots where the dark blue of the cast plastic is just more than the yellow stripes can conceal entirely, but that’s something you really have to make an effort to notice. There are a lot of sculptural details that would really pop with an extra wash, especially in the yellow cast areas as the bright yellow makes it hard to really see all the detail that’s there. None of this is in any way a deal breaker, and were I scoring this on a star system, I’d knock him MAYBE a quarter star for the lack o’ wash and bleed through… really just a great paint application here.
So this being IAT, I found myself compelled to do some funny stuff, but I had an epiphany… Noisy has his fun with wit and wisdom, Vault likes his outdoor shots, but me? My action figure fun (as in “have fun with your toys”) usually involves someone getting a chin check from someone else, and Wolverine Cleatus simply demands several such foes to adequately vent his talents on. Seriously gang, one of the most playable figs I’ve bought in a very long time. It’s been beyond fun reviewing this guy, and there has been much play between writing and photo sessions. So I hope you enjoyed this bru-ha-ha, this ballyhoo, this dustup, this beatdown… Cleatus 2.0 is on the clock, and unlike that diminutive Canadian guy, Wolverine Cleatus really is the best at what he does!
Nice review DR!
Tons of great pics and info!
I wonder if we’ll see any customizers tackle these? Maybe new takes on Stel, Sentinel, Roboto, etc.
With the size already what it is, a linebacker would be crazy indeed! Who the hell would be able to ref? 😀
Speaking of size, did your conversations with FoamFanatics reveal any thoughts behind the decision on scale for these?
Gentle Giant involvement also makes sense, gives these less of the “How did these just show up out of the blue?” feel.
I’m not sure. I don’t really check for the latest customs and whatnot, but I can’t recall seeing too many of the first Fox Sports Robot. It’s a fine template for those who want to.
Dayraven: The Chris Claremont of reviews.
Good review though! I appreciate the pics with other figures to show scale.
But Noisy, let another reader have a swing at a guest review next time, huh? that’s two in a row for DR!
posted some extra photos in the thread on the forum: http://www.itsalltrue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=657&p=30003#p30003
this fig is tons of funs, and as a fellow toy geek and pinoy playboy pointed out to me during a facebook convo on this fig, he’s superior to anything jazwares has produced in all their time as toy makers… a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the folks at actionheads.
lay ze- see, this is why i’m not a professional reviewer… it didn’t even occur to me to ask why he’s scaled the way he is. i have no clue, other than perhaps the young frankenstein theory, the minuteness of the parts serves as hinderence to speed of work. i do know that the intent was to create a base cleatus that could be used as a buck so that they could cover more than one sport with only minimal additional tooling, so perhaps that was some reason to have a large base body?
black arbor- thanks for the kind words man! i try to get lots of scale shots, as i like to know scale personally. it’s not always a deal breaker, but having a fig feel like the right scale is sometimes essential to my purchase decision. i try to chose figs that i figure most readers have to help illustrate the scale, plus provide some “across lines” illustration. integration of aesthetic is something i know some collectors are very picky about, they want to know how a piece will look next to what they already have.
Great review and pics, mate!
Unfortunately, the best way to get me uninterested in anything — even cool robot toys — is to link them with big-business spectator sports. Especially if those big-business spectator sports mostly consist of obscenely overpaid guys standing around for fifteen minutes at a time between 10-second plays. And have been responsible for pre-empting anything I’ve wanted to watch on TV that was scheduled after the game WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE FINISHED, BUT THE SOMANOMBATCHIN’ FARGIN’ BASTICHES TOOK SO MUCH TIME FARTING AROUND THAT THE GAME OVER-RAN BY AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!
Not that I’m bitter.
Having said that, I’m a huge fan of Robot Wars . . . which was cancelled years ago.
Not that I’m bitter.
But, like I said, great review and pics, mate!
Another excellent review D-Rave! I’m truly appreciative that someone with an eye to detail and poseability like you gives a well-deserving company this kind of publicity. Great stuff with the 3-point stance pose, I had mine in an upright pass rush pose for a week…
As for the figure, it’s solid as hell and sports a truly ambitious arsenal of articulation. Cleatus 1.0 only beats it in arm range of motion and slightly in balance. I think Cleatus 2.0 here would stand more rooted to the ground if he has bigger or thicker feet, but I don’t know that staying true to the actual model would allow for it. I could also prefer a few more paint detail, but aside from those two small nitpicks, this is a fun, playable, excellent beast of a figure. Never let this guy fall on your foot…
I give Actionheads a ton of respect as a company. By no means are they an outfit completely focused on toys, yet they’ve already turned out 3 action figure efforts deserving of high praise in multiple scales. My dealing with them have been answered with courteous, personalized responses over e-mail or Facebook, a practice rare from any manufacturer. As a big figure, pro football (GO NINERS) and sports fan, I wish these guys the best of luck and hope we can get more killer efforts like these.
o-pax sighting!!!! 😀
That last pic with him in the three-point stance is pretty sick!
i can also testify that my kids have had plenty of time with this fig, playing against lego hero factory, transformers, various action figs, you name it, and every thing is intact and solid as the day they got here. the figs have been dropped indoors and out, bashed, crashed, posed, etc… solid as a rock.
Great job DR!