This newly released GameStop exclusive set from Jazwares is awesome! It’s been quite awhile since we last got figures from Jazwares. This set is very welcome and has nice packaging.
The back of the box has some nice graphics as well.
The front of the box has two flip open panels, that show off the figures nicely as well as have graphics on the inside of the flip panels.
There is an insert background included. I would call this frost covered metal. But you can call it what you want. It’s a nice little addition to the set.
The figures come in a plastic tray as usual. Each figure is held in place by just one plastic strand. I’m thankful for that as other toy brands used to have too many of those and they were tight and often warped the figures. That is NOT the case here. As you can also see, this tray includes three weapons. A Brute Shot in the middle, magnum at the top right, and Battle Rifle at bottom right.
There is a second tray behind the figures that includes an Energy Sword and several hands for each Spartan.
Let’s take a closer look at weapons and extra hands.
The Brute Shot has some great detail to it.Maybe a little blacki wash to bring out the details would have made it better. But then, that’s hard to replicate exactly. So it’s understandable why Jazwares didn’t do that.
The Magnum is nice. Two-toned with added red highlights.
The battle rifle is also two-toned. One thing about this weapon. You can see the hole in the middle. Normally that’s to add a pin to and attach to the back of the figures. However, there were no added pins in this set.
Now, I must be honest here, I’m NOT a fan of the deco on this energy sword. I’d rather it be all light blue. no energy sparks, just light blue. This clear version with purple marks just doesn’t do it for me. It’s only one of two critiques I have of this set though and since the set comes with other weapons, I can easily choose to display the figures otherwise.
Now, when it comes to the hands, I found it strange that not the same hand pairings were with each figure.
For the Red Spartan you get:
* Left and Right Closed Fists
* Left and Right Pointing Hands
* Right Energy Sword clasping hand.
* And on the figure itself, Left and Right Gripping hands for weapons
For the Blue Spartan you get:
* Left and Right Gripping Hands for Weapons
* Left and Right Pointing Hands
* Right two-fingered pointing hand
* And on the figure itself Left and Right Flat-ish hands for palming weapons.
(I use the right one for palming the battle rifle. You’ll see that later.)
The emblem on the right shoulder of the Red Spartan is very cool! If I recall, it’s the Skull King emblem with the Star background.
Likewise, the Blue Spartan has a great emblem also. This being the Helmet Stick emblem with Saw background.
As usual, here is my orthogonal views of one of the figures. The Blue Spartan’s sculpt is the same. Only the color of the armor and emblem are different.
Each figure features the same articulation. My only minor complaint here is that I wish the torso swiveled more. Otherwise, STELLAR articulation!
And a final action pose to round out the pics!
This set retails for $49.99 and again is exclusive to Gamestop. If you buy it in store, you’ll pay about $55 for it with tax. If you have a power up membership, you may be able to get a discount or if you have the monthly $5 coupon, you can use it for that. Same goes for if you buy it online and used codes. I didn’t have any, so I ended up paying $60 for the set, shipped to me. I tried to find this locally but, my local Gamestops didn’t have it in stock.
Is this a worthy purchase? Absolutely. I would have preferred to have paid less. However, this is an instant classic with the Red and Blue colors. The packaging having flip doors adds to the pieces.
Although I opened my set for this review, I put everything carefully back in the trays, then box. And that is where they will stay.
This is one of those few items I think is better left in the box.
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-Sal
