{"id":19544,"date":"2012-07-11T00:18:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T05:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19544"},"modified":"2012-09-18T23:53:36","modified_gmt":"2012-09-19T04:53:36","slug":"dayraven-review-fox-sports-baseball-robot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19544","title":{"rendered":"Reader Review:
Fox Sports Baseball Robot"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>We\u2019re 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\u2019s article is a piece submitted by long-time reader Dayraven. He sends word of a toy I didn\u2019t know existed: a Fox Sports Baseball<\/em> Robot! <\/p>\n

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Dayraven:<\/strong><\/span> 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!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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! <\/p>\n

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…<\/a><\/p>\n

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My only real complaints on the articulation are the shoulders, which seem like they should be ratcheted, but are not, and are a tad loose. Not to the point that he can’t hold a pose, or hold up his weapon, but they feel like they ought to be tighter. Then there’s his hips. The hips are the infamous 45 degree set, and with ratchets on both sides of the ball, sometimes getting the hip where you wanted it was a chore… but once there, they LOCKED into place. <\/p>\n

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I’m willing to forgive ease of posing for solidity of construction and posing, but clearly, I’m a unique snow flake, so your mileage on that point might vary. I also have one bicep swivel that is gapped slightly. The joint is still solid feeling, and it presses into place when pushed, but the gap tends to open again when posing, or holding his bat.<\/p>\n

Paint applications on this guy are sparse, but generally well executed. There’s the Fox Sports logo on his right shoulder and because I opted to get the Yankees version of the guy, the Yankees’ team logo is present on his helmet and his chest.<\/p>\n

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I don’t know if it’s a trick of the paint ops, or a feature of the blue plastic that many parts are cast in, but the blue on him frequently, under the right lighting, look translucent. They are not actually translucent though, and none of the photos I took managed to really show this, but it’s a very cool effect when you have the figure in hand. His body is mostly cast in white plastic, and then another color, based on what team version you’re buying.<\/p>\n

All of these aps are very tight and well executed. Unlike his Football cousin, there does not seem to be a generic variant to this bad boy. I was able to find several team versions both on Clarktoys and Amazon, but many teams are no longer in stock. A surprise, given that the toy was only released in 2011, but I have no idea, since there’s zero press on these figures, what their production run might look like. I do have some slop on my personal fig, at the piping on the neck and the waist.<\/p>\n

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The sculpt is top notch. There’s a ton of small detail, and several items to give the appearance of the play features listed on the back of his box (though there are no actual “action features”). To broach the inevitable, no, he is not a repainted version of the Football bot. This guy got his own entirely new sculpt. Check this dude out!<\/p>\n

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Another pleasing difference between Basebot and Footbot is the accessory. Mr Baseball got a huge baseball bat. The bat is not glued to his hand this time, and the best part? He can hold it in either hand! And thanks to that fantastic articulation, he can hold it in both. The elbows don’t quite allow a perfect “at bat” pose, but it’s pretty darn passable. The best part is, with the tech elements added to the bat, it appears to be a fine bludgeoning weapon too, should you decide your bot needs to bash skulls instead of balls.<\/p>\n

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Again, at 30 dollars before shipping, this guy is not cheap. However, given the versatility of the design, the quality of the execution, and the relative rarity of the figure, I think the price is fair. He does lack some of the features of his Football cousin, like rocker ankles, ball wrists, and mass (he is noticeably lighter) but he also sports ratcheted joints, and is still a very solid figure for his size. I have no real concerns for the quality of the figure. He’s also very photogenic. If you know any crossover baseball\/robot fans, I’m sure they;d enjoy this fig, as he really pulls off posing that I don’t think any other baseball themed figure out right now could hold.<\/p>\n

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Here’s a few more photos to keep you picture hounds happy. Hope y’all enjoyed this review of the seemingly top secret but secret no more MLB Robot. I would like to note that every pose you see here is free standing, no stands, no wacky tacky, no fishing line… the figure you buy can do everything I photographed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t

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