Articulation is what we’ve come to expect from the Power Soldiers and it’s good, close to being great. I love the ball neck and the two-piece ball-joints at the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The wrist & waist swivels work well too, but I still cringe at the T-Crotch. I wouldn’t mind some bicep & thigh swivels (I know I’m basically asking for the moon on a boutique line here), but the t-crotch is the one articulation point keeping this buck from some truly great poses.
Both figures include the standard ion blaster & power staff as previous Soldiers, but each figure also comes with an extra piece too! Finally, thankfully, extra heads are included! Since Adam Power likes to let his hair breath (& we like seeing that well-sculpted visage), he may not need the Power Soldier helmets, but he does come with one and Adam Power comes with the other. I’m ecstatic to finally get a figure with both helmets in the same color (albeit spread across two releases). I’m still debating if I want Adam to keep his unique orange color and armybuild with other colorways, but I’m tempted to head over to Store Horsemen and snag two more Adams to give him two uh, flank-troopers with the two unique heads.
That said, I do wish an unpainted neck piece were included. The painted piece kinda stands out down there, so if I do get flank-troopers, I’ll be stripping the paint. That’s probably my one criticism for the line so far: it doesn’t quite fully embrace Glyosdom. The 4H were great about finding spots for new ports on the OSM – there are some truly inspired possibilities, but the PL line has not quite made the jump. I’ll talk about the more in the Ggrapptikk review, because here it’s just more about extras. We could use the extra necks, not to mention the extra helmets for the previous Power Soldiers. It seems like those are getting run off each time they go into production, they’re not being used – to keep costs manageable, I’d guess, but they’re piling up somewhere, and we’re just waiting to see how the 4H can get them into our grubby little hands. The only downside to waiting and not knowing is I’m going to need some extra bodies for those heads and they may be sold out!
That’s the thing though. Even with my wanting the extra heads – it’s just about my wanting more. Overall, this has been a fun little line and now that the main event has started with this painted figures, it’s that much more fun. To go back to my earlier point about the 4H not dumbing the quality down to match the scale, I can’t stress that enough. In hand, these two figures are like little pieces of art. Museum quality is too strong a compliment, but they’re done well. I’m left wishing the 4H could tackle properties I’m more familiar with in this scale just to see how nicely they’d turn out. And never mind the part-swapping that would ensue…
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Adam Power & Power Lord are available for pre-order at STOREHORSEMEN for $15 each along with Ggripptogg, but the last I heard was the shipment should arrive at 4H Studios today, so not only will pre-ordered folks soon have their figures on the way, but the orders should be live soon too!
Here’s a quick scale shot that ended up getting left out:
and here I was thinking Lord Power looked like the lovechild of Manhattan and Adam Warlock! LOL 😉
I probably would snatch these up if I were still collecting any 1/18 lines, be it Joes, MU, or whatever excuse for DC Matty puts out (JLU was *IT*). As it is, I’m barely cherry picking select figures, these days.
I’m getting pretty pared down myself. Doesn’t seem to be much at retail right now, at least of interest to me.
cool review! how I wish that Lord Power figure was in 6 inch scale. It would have been an inside head swap onto a Keldor/Faker figure..
Thanks! 6″ Power Lords would be cool, but pricey as all get out!
By the power of powder blue!
That’s a great group shot. “We’re bluer than blue, sadder than sad…”
LMAO at the third to last pic. The one thing this line needs is humor. Sydot is the comedy relief/sidekick, right?
Excellent homage to the vintage “transformation” ad in the next to last pic. The best thing about these guys is that they have actual backs!
I love that they’re seperate figures too, but don’tcha kinda want the 4H to do a fused, six-fingered upper torso? 😉
Sydot will be a lot of I suspect!
Sweet review, excellent pics.
Ended up ordering a Ggripptogg from BBTS. Might get a few more of the alien baddies and perhaps Sydot.
Thanks! Normally, I won’t hard sell ya, but I’d recommend grabbing one of the humanoids at some point too. They’re well done and they’ll enhance how alien the aliens are. I know it sounds weird, but I’ve taken group shots… lol
That recreation of the old comic-book advert at the end is just too rad.
Thanks! I was so excited when I thought of it!! lol
Great review! I’m definitely tempted by these, despite not collecting 1:18 scale figures and not being too familiar with the original line. That’s the sign of well-produced figures – as a toy fan they appeal to me simply because they look great and fun.
I will say, despite never having the toys, I’ve always been aware of Power Lords thanks to that transformation ad. That’s how effective advertising works!
Lastly, keep up the great work writing reviews. More and more people are doing video reviews now…it’s great that there are still sites putting out well-written reviews like this regularly. Thanks for that!
Thanks! I have some favorite video reviewers, but I like text reviews a lot so I’ll be sticking to them!
I think you summed it up well, these are great toys and are enjoyable for non Power Lords fans, no problem.
And that ad? I wonder if they knew it would indelibly burn in young minds as the most most pervasive remnant of the old line?
95% of the video reviewers i’ve seen clips of have one glaring problem: their online persona. they are so cartoonish and carsalesmanish that it hurts the credibility of the overall viewing/listening experience…
OR they are so willfully ignorant that they can’t string together two coherent sentences. i don’t care if street slang is cool or not, a toy is not a joint nor a whip, and if anything is sick, it’s these douchetools’ command of the english language. and it’s not cool to do the review in a voice that says at any moment, mom may yell down from the kitchen that your frittata is getting cold.
the only folks i will totally forgive are the foreign guys who don’t speak english well, as it’s not their language.
the strength, for me, of the video review, is seeing the handling of the figure. i can get a sense of the range of motion, where the articulation is, and if bits of the toy keep falling off. poor range of motion, lack of sensible articulation, and non-flimsy kibble are some of my biggest priorities when making a purchase decision, and that can be difficult to express in print. i’ve seen some gorgeous TF and import toy reviews for toys i was genuinely excited about, but when the review was released, and an arm kept falling off, or you couldn’t get the damned thing to stand upright… unsold! it’s far easier to fudge details like in a text review (though i know in video, some allowance must be paid for operator error on a figure or piece that the host just doesn’t understand)
a great example of this was the recent DCC swamp thing deluxe fig. he looked great to me in the ads, and in some of the text reviews, but on seeing a couple videos on the engineering of his feet, and the weight issues with his wings, i decided to pass. the toy doesn’t do some things i wanted it to, and it has a hard doing something i need it to… so no sale.
that said, a well executed text review with good photos is fine and dandy most of the time. i’m not leaving the IAT ship till the women and children are off. 🙂
Hear, hear! I rarely watch video reviews anymore. Most of the time I just feel as though I don’t want to sit there for ten minutes watching a review. The good ones are scripted, edited well, and concise. If you can’t get your point across in 5-7 minutes you fail (unless of course it’s something which warrants an extended review, like say, Castle Grayskull). Also when you have to sit there for a minute or two watching intros and logos before you get to the actual meat it’s a fail!
The one thing that is keeping me from getting this line is the T-crotch. If they had the DCUC H-hinge I’d be in. But for $15 a pop, even for a “boutique” line, the T-crotch is a deal breaker.
T-crotches are not our friend, ’tis true. On these figures though, it’s kinda akin to the one thing that wakes you up when you’re in a dream. It’s just not right!
i’ve always laughed at the notion of “museum quality” when that gets tossed around as a descriptor… a lot of museum pieces are there because they’re 1 tiny accident away from becoming complete shite. museum quality if in many cases the very last stop at the end of total oblivion.
BUT THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT!! please to further describe the phrase “two piece ball joint” cuz my head can’t seem to wrap about that notion. i’m very curious about it, being a lover of articulation engineering. it is sad about the lack of hip functionality, but i’d be lying if i said that was the only thing holding me back from going all in on these. i really hope the mythic legions solve the articulation issues that seem to populate the OSM and power lords, as for me, they just aren’t posable enough to warrant the scale change for me.
The irony of the term museum quality is has to do more with auctions then museums, but “auction quality” just doesn’t sound fancy.
The two-piece joint is just injection molding. It’s normal ball-joints, I’d say, though some sites prefer to call them hinge-swivel joints or pin & disc joints while leaving the term ball-joint to the one-piece variety like the head is here. I typically only make the distinction when we get both kinds of ball-joints on the same figure.
I totally agree that the painted necks make the helmets kind of a waste. If they didn’t want to include an extra part it seems like it would have been a good idea to tweak the design so that it didn’t need a painted neck in the first place. I also think not having both helmets for the soldier figures is a mistake. Maybe it’s because I’m used to Onell Design’s figures but not having the extra display option really makes me feel like I’m not getting enough value for my money.
I think Onell is part of it. Matt has, in a way, spoiled us and the other Glyos lines don’t feel the same if they’re not packing Matt’s punch.
That’s true, no one goes out of their way to provide extra value like Matt. I’m just afraid the Horsemen may have picked up some bad habits from that other company they’ve worked with so much.
Perfect recreation on that last shot, Noisy!
Agreed! Awesome!
The ad pic was brilliant!
Believe it or not, I used to be freaked out by that Adam’s powers transformation form. I remember seeing it as a kid in the ads and comic books, then I would close my eyes on reaction and quickly turn to the next page. Lulz. It used to scare the sh*t out of me. But, now I can fully appreciate it without putting the blanket over my eyes.
I hope they come out with Arkus. I was thinking of picking up the vintage figure a few years ago but never got around to buying it. Maybe now, I don’t need to.
That final shot really made me smile.
You nailed the final ad shot. Awesome. Really takes me back.
Seems like that ad ran on the backs of comic books for MONTHS. I think it’s pretty much ingrained in our collective memories. Nicely done!
I’m now a total GLYOS-ite thanks to you. The Outer Space Men and Power Lords totally sold me. Now I’m biting my fingernails that the Skeleton Warriors get made and have my eye on the Stealth line over at Onell. My wallet may not like you very much, but I’d like to thank you for opening my eyes to some of the most fun I’ve had with toys since I was a kid.