Toy Review: Scud Sol Variant by Shocker Toys

I must admit, I had never heard of Scud before I saw the pics of the action figures from Shocker Toys. Although I think he's an interesting, dynamic-looking character, I have absolutely no background knowledge on either him or on this Sol character. So this is one of the rare reviews in which I assess the figure without any preconceived notions regarding the character it's supposed to represent.


In the interest of full disclosure, Shocker Toys sent me this sample as a freebie for me to review. In fact, this is the first toy I've got my hands on from Shocker Toys. So how does this figure measure up?

Stats
Company: Shocker Toys
Size: roughly 6" scale
Price: $18 (includes shipping) at ShockerToys.com
Packaging: Carded

Looks: 3/5
Instead of the yellow/red colors of the normal Scud, this Sol "evils it up" with an all-black color scheme. The paint apps are clean in most places, with the exception of a bit of slop around the eyes. The sculpt captures the look and feel of the character from the comics relatively well (at least, from what I can tell from pics on the 'Net). I feel like he needs something a bit more, though. Maybe some kind of interesting texture (battle damage?) in the sculpt would have made Sol pop a bit more... or, maybe a gloss finish would have done the trick. But as he stands now, he seems a bit flat.

Articulation: 4.5/5
Sol has an excellent range of movements: ball-in-socket neck, ball shoulders, swivel upper arms, hinge elbows, ball wrists, swivel waist, ball hips (which can swivel as well), swivel thighs, hinge knees, and hinge ankles (plus swivel side-to-side articulation). The only catch is that the chest looks like it's articulated, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Accessories: 3.5/5
Sol comes with two sets of hands: one with guns and one without. (The guns aren't removable, which is actually good because they stay in place.) Sol also comes with an Isz, which is a weird little gremlin-looking thing. Although the Isz is a cool little bonus, I would have liked to see him with a more expressive sculpt. Still, I suspect many will dig him. In fact, Shocker Toys would probably do themselves a favor by offering these Isz's in multi-colored packs of four or five. I think Little Rubber Guys fans would go bonkers for that.

Value: 3/5
Sol goes for $18 shipped on the Shocker Toys website. If you consider $5 for shipping, that means the figure would probably retail for about $13. That price is just about par for a figure in this scale, especially one from a specialty toy company. And unlike toys from many such companies, Sol isn't made with that crappy brittle plastic. But since Sol is a bit on the unsubstantial side his score drops a bit.

Coolness: 3.5/5
While Sol isn't as colorful as Scud, he's pretty cool nonetheless. Since he's an evil version of Scud, he kind of has a "Nemesis Prime" sort of vibe to him. Also, he very much resembles a ninja, and ninjas are always awesome. But the main thing Sol has going for him is his articulation, which lets you easily put him in a variety of cool poses.

However, because he's a matte black figure with few sculpting details, Sol visually recedes on the toy shelf. Which is certainly not cool.

Overall: 3.5/5
Overall, this is a pretty solid figure. The articulation is lots of fun and the figure doesn't fall apart on you when you try to pose him (unlike NECA or DC Universe figs). Sol's main problem is that the all-black deco coupled with a sculpt with few details makes the figure a bit bland. Scud fans will likely really dig this figure, though.

This action figure was received from Shocker Toys as a freebie for this review.