With NECA's announcement that their Gears of War 3 Wave 1 figures are ready to ship, I thought it was time to crack open my Marcus Fenix & Locust Grunt 2-Pack and see how the figures stacked up. This review focuses on Marcus, and I'll do a second one of the Locust Grunt once I've recovered. I say "recovered", because this is probably going to be a very "split" review - some good, and some bad. Read on, and see what I mean.
I generally like the packaging that NECA uses. To me, a figure package is supposed to show off the figure while being sturdy enough to take some punishment. The clamshells generally accomplish both of these functions. That said, it seems to me that NECA has 2 different kind of clamshell plastics that they use- one is thinner and more brittle. I've come across these mostly on their Player Select re-issues (the ones priced at $9.99 at Toys R Us), and I figured it was to save a little money on the figures with a lower price point. The Marcus/Grunt pack use that same plastic, though. And these are heavy figures. As a result, all three packages I saw on the shelf had the same problem: a large crack along the lower corner of the bubble. Not a big deal if you're planning to open the package, but certainly an issue for anyone planning to keep them MIP, and a definite problem with QC.
I love the look and design of the package, but there are a couple of things you may want to know: 1 good, and 1 not so much. First, the good. I originally passed on this pack because I didn't like the look of the "flameburst" weapons, or whatever they are called. Having never played the game, I don't know their history, but to me they look silly and just way too orange. Upon a later examination of the package, I saw that a regular version of the Hammerburst and a regular version of some other kind of Lancer ARE included- they're just shoved way down low in the bubble, and are hidden by the graphics. On to the bad: Marcus's head is shoved way over to the right in my particular package. Looked fine in-pack, but once he was out of the bubble and his head was straightened, I noticed a huge black smudge on the right jawline- must have been that the paint stuck at the shoulder point, so he's going to need some touching up. Oh, if that was my only gripe! Remember my comment about a "split" review? Here it comes.
Let's just get this out of the way: Marcus Fenix looks absolutely incredible. He's flat-out amazing. The detail and paint are simply astounding. I like the face-sculpt much more than on the earlier version, though he seems to have a bit of a pin-head (either that or the last Marcus from Gears 2 had a humongous noggin). The washes and textures are brilliant. His belt is so full of accouterments that it puts anything Batman could boast to shame. The skull designs and tattoos are perfect, he's full of scrapes and scratches, and everything works together in perfect harmony. NECA even used a range of materials to make Marcus work: softer plastic (almost rubbery) in places where the articulation would have been hindered. I say "would have" because, Holy Cow, is this guy articulated! The articulation is brilliant. Not only is there plenty of it, but it is so well hidden and thought-out that I couldn't imagine it being done in any better way. I usually don't bother spending much time on articulation, but Marcus here deserves some coverage.
The ball-jointed head works pretty well, though the range is a bit limited by Marcus's tree-trunk-like neck. The torso has a ball just under the armor that has some excellent forward and backwards tilt and side-to-side swivel. There's also a swivel joint right at the waist that was initially stuck, then once unstuck became pretty loose. Loose joints are a pet peeve of mine, but as long as it isn't the ankles, I can live with it. Now, here's where things get fun. The shoulder joints feature a ball joint within a sleeve. The sleeve allows some inward motion (kind of like their Street Fighter IV figures, without the unsightly hinges), though not as much as, say, the Crysis Nanosuit figure. Awesome idea, but here's the catch. The swivel is held in by 2 pins, one on top and another at the bottom, which are made of the rubbery plastic. As a result, when the factory worker shoves the sleeve into place, the pin bends and doesn't pop in to the fairly shallow indents that hold it in place. So, needless to say, my Marcus's entire left arm and shoulder came out while posing!
I was able to pop it back into place, precariously, for the time-being, but he's never going to be up to any heavy-duty posing. Ugh. Another strike in the quality control department. And that's really where my beefs with this figure come into play. In theory, he's just about perfect. In terms of the execution, he's good but a little frustrating: brittle packaging, giant paint defect on the face, loose torso joint, left arm that falls out- you get the idea.
Back to the articulation: besides the shoulder joints, Fenix sports double-pin elbows and a ball-jointed wrist with an in-out swivel. The right hand holds the weapon perfectly tightly and the left hand is open in a loose-grip to hold the stock of the rifle (and, no, I can't get the arms across the chest to be able to have a two-handed hold, but I'm also worried about breaking his other arm, so a more daring poser may have better luck).
The legs are full of intriguing articulation, as well. The crotch pieces include swivels for forward/backward as well as side-to-side movement (think Bulletstorm Grayson Hunt figure style). Then the top of the thigh is a case that fits around an inner piece (maybe it's a ball?), which allows it to rotate, a little like a hidden bicep joint would on the arm (why doesn't he have a bicep swivel, I keep wondering? It's like the only joint he's missing!). The knee ball hinge is well-hidden, and he's got a nicely hidden ball-jointed ankle that works well under the soft rubbery shin-guards. Finally, he's got pin-jointed toes to finish out his feet in case you'd like to pose him leaning forward or running or something. The joints are generally tight, and the elbows even seem to feature a little in the way of clicking joints.
Marcus is a little bit of a mixed-bag for me with a heavier lean towards the positive. He looks awesome, and he's got plenty of articulation, but I'm a little nervous to fully test it: the joints seem to loosen pretty quickly with my NECA figures, and I don't want his arms falling out on me any more. As a result, he'll end up in a pretty "vanilla pose" on the shelf, so I may have been better off displaying him in-package. I'll have to wait and see how the Locust Grunt turns out. The giant face smudge is a huge disappointment, as well. I'll definitely be picking up the other Wave 1 figures when they come out: Marcus Fenix, Clayton Carmine and Anya Stroud, in the middle of November, but I'm leaning more towards keeping them MIP for display as a result of the problems I've had with this 2-pack version of Marcus.
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