[eisen]

my brother bought me this 3 3/4 inch green Guardsman today, he knows i've been eyeing this guy for some while now, and thought he would be a good army building figure (more often than not in-fiction, several units of this armor are used to guard super villains on the Raft--the marvel comics jail for baddies). but when i actually got to playing with the guy i came across some stuff that now makes me glad i got this as a gift.




first off i want to talk about the sculpt of this thing. the muscles on this guy are totally pronounced, and from the upper torso looking down all it's all good.




what throws you off is the ball swivels on the hips, a common detail that is seamless in most of the figures on this line except this one, based solely on the fact that the other armors in the line are--by design-- mechanical looking, one could say that this guy would have benefited more--sculpt-wise with more Marvel Universe styled hip articulation.


let's segway that into my next point: does this look like a man in armor?




well...




i...




er...




...okay NO. he looks like some fruity male exotic dancer in a green thong. i cannot get that image out of my head. (just think of him like a wrestler, just think of him like a wrestler, just think of him like a wrestler...)


i mean compare him with Classic Iron Man.




at least Classic IM makes an attempt to make himself appear like a guy in a body suit.

in defense of the character, he's comic accurate at least. though personally i wouldn't mind seeing a modern rendition of the armor. one that isn't so... well toned. with rock-hard abs...




ARGH.

okay speaking of how well sculpted he is one needs to ask what the designer had in mind while designing this guy. the articulation placement on this figure is not as smooth or integrated like other figures and in fact i consider it a sort of throwback in design.

70% of the normal articulation points are there, from the torso swivel that swings from the midsection, the swing-hinge elbows, double jointed knees. so far so good right?

but get to the extremities, like the forearm and calves, there's your problem aesthetically. see the thing is that they took a well sculpted arm/leg sliced off the forearm/calf, popped a joint in the middle and replaced them to their original positions. "why is this a problem?" you might ask. just look at the images below:





see how it breaks up the sculpt in a rather ugly manner? i mean his limb muscles are cut off completely. though it helps that from the point of articulation up to the hands/feet are painted a different green, to emphasize them as gloves/boots, they could have at least made them look like gloves or boots in form as parts of an armor and not skin-tight like say surgeon's gloves or rain booties.




^on a side note, his feet lack the regular hinge-swivel assembly and instead go back to the full hinge type of joint.

so what am i trying to tell you here?




the guardsman figure passes the sculpting phase but the placement or rather choice of articulation leave room for improvement. paintwise he seems okay. most of the comic figures are, and he's only 2 shades of green anyway so it's very glossy and smooth and while some completists out there may need this fig to round out their collection, unless you know who this is as a character i suggest you skip this guy. he's visually appealing yes, but unconvincing in my eyes as an armored adversary/ mass-produced and de-powered iron man unit. he just looks like a bodybuilder in a thong and helmet who painted himself green, in an attempt to look like a sexy, sexy Hulk.

6 out of 10.


Eisen 2010