Eagle Force RIOT Commando ARMY!

 

Ok, not an "army" but a squad.

I found the Zica Toys Retro RIOT Commando figure to be just a fun figure.  Something just natural and new and fitting for me. 

Well, I had to get a squad of these guys since the "try-out" single figure was kind of lonely.  As a single figure the R.I.O.T. Commando could be a sort of lone mercenary or "boba fett" style character in the imagination.  But teamwork makes the dream work.  And you never know if a part is going to break in the future or anything so I have a back up at worst.  Right now I have a very cool 6-man R.I.O.T. commando team. 

I can't get excited over the Hasbro product in the "oring" category (or whatever "retro" poor quality thing they put out) and no way will I jump into an almost vehicle-less action figure line that is yet another scale change with some slight modifications from the original designs. 

The Hasbro Youtube stream feels a little like the 2005 G.I.Joe Convention when Hasbro Toy Shop was launching the "Direct to Consumer" figures and vehicles while simultaneously changing scales into Sigma Six.  

"Subtle changes."

However, the Megatron H.I.S.S. is surprising....

I want something new.  Something to keep the adventures of imagination somewhat new and fun.  The Megatron H.I.S.S. somewhat fits the bill. 

I jumped in on the Roboskull Mk2.  With the three G.I.Joe Convention sets I bought in the years past, this Roboskull Mk2 is easily in the top 5 "most expensive" toy purchase heights I have ever made.  As of now it is way out in the future on delivery but that is one very fun and unique looking toy.  I'm considering the Air Wolf, anyone get in on that yet?

The only "true" 1/18 scale non-G.I.Joe vehicle I have left that is a Kiowa helicopter.  Unlike the "modern" G.I.Joe figures that will not fit in "true" 1/18 scale stuff well these guys fit nicely.  The Kiowa was tight with later run G.I.Joe A Real American Hero figures and was best used with the swivel headed '82-84 figures that I found.  

I pulled the Kiowa out as I was thinking about what a bad guy commando squad might be using.  I don't have a deep vehicle pool to choose from anymore.  

R.I.O.T. Commando Eagle Force

Dabbling in non-G.I.Joe figures and vehicles is something I've done to a small extent over the decades.  Non-G.I.Joe vehicles had a slightly longer lasting appeal than many of the non-G.I.Joe figures that I've bought here and there.  In the long run, most all went out the door.  The realistic M2 Bradley bought in the mid-2000's quickly became too realistic and detailed quickly losing any appeal.  Some of those soldier figures that may have come with it were even less appealing, no character built into them.  

Something about this guy that's really fun, though.  This commando feels like he fits right in.  

This figure moves and handles like the old G.I.Joe figures I have, there's no extra fine-tuning some modern-like joint manipulation to twist this action figure around.  I tried out an Acid Rain figure awhile back.  That was a lot of really nice pose potential with that figure but sometimes the joints would just pop apart.  The gritty texture has its place but didn't really feel like a seamless fit in my G.I.Joe collection.

I'm not feeling an out of place vibe with this figure so far.  In fact, I'm loving the knees here.  All the "modern" G.I.Joe figures have that double joint hidden knee pad kinda thing going on.  The knee pose on those can take on different looking forms depending on how those pop into place.  Here, I bend the leg and it works.  It was a tighter fit on the foot peg so I didn't force more than this, though.

The extra wrist swivel was something I was not expecting to be this solid.  This is a nice joint that flows into the forearm.
The swivel-head to ball-joint head on the A Real American Hero figures transition is something that in hindsight was a nice forward evolutionary move that made later run figures more appealing.   Here, the ball joint gets an extra joint that moves the evolution further.

The hidden elbow joint is awesome.  It just flows with minimal gaps or space voids.  The shoulder pin is nice and flush and is a refreshing bump up in quality after years of some of those less than quality rivets used by the big H on some figures.

A pose like this necessitated elbows being move forward before.

 

I have one.  But man, this is maybe the most fun figure I've had in a while and I don't know anything about the R.I.O.T. commando or any of that whole story universe.  Maybe I need more?  The quality more than makes this a better deal than what's coming out in the G.I.Joe 3.75-4" arena for me.  I'll have to give this some more play....