The Fighting 1:18th! The best Military 1:18 scale site on the net!
It’s a great sculpt, which seems to take a lot of points from the Shock Trooper and make them better. Better to some extent, but not so much in others. Details on that will be found in the articulation section. But back to the sculpt. The figure is suitably bulky, and shares the Shock Trooper torso. After that, all bets are off. Everything else is new. Once thought to be Shock Trooper upper arms with new lowers turns out to be a pair of new arms, which are striking in detail. The same goes for the legs, with a newly sculpted holster to go along with them.
In addition, you get a new Tatum head, as well as the head from the Retaliation “Night Fox” figure to give that random Joe Trooper feel. The work on this figure is excellent. Bulky and padded, folds and creases, pockets and pouches. But, perhaps they went too detailed, because it does affect the articulation.
The articulation is good, but unfortunately, the actual poseability is pretty bad. It’s not just the vest that restricts things, but the bulkiness of the upper and lower arms, along with that of the chest. This makes realistic poses with his weapons nearly impossible, which is a shame because it does look pretty good with a weapon shouldered and looking down the sight. Fighting 1:18th Forum Officer Obi-Shinobi has put up a quick little tutorial to cure all your ills. What some have now dubbed the ‘Obi-Way’ is sure to help provided you follow the steps and demonstrate patience in doing so. You can find this tutorial HERE.
Head, shoulders, elbows, swivel-and-bend wrists, torso, hips, double-knees, and rocker ankles. Again, while I find the rocker ankles unnecessary on non-ninja figures, if they would just incorporate a thigh swivel as well, the rocker ankles would actually provide human movement. Instead, they’re just ungainly.
