Oh the wonderful world of knockoffs. Support of these products is a very grey area, as sometimes they come about in order to give collectors SOMETHING to put in their collection, but sometimes it is because people don't want to pay full price even though some of that money goes towards R&D. AC-02 is kind of a special case.
It is definitely a knock off of the Furai Model Windblade, an officially licensed model kit of this character that went back to the drawing board because collectors were too weirded out about how hyper sexualized her booty looked. Well she was popular enough that two production runs were needed to meet demand. Of course, after buying it, one must spend actual time and effort to put the thing together, something that I've yet to actually do.
This figure is basically a preassembled version of this model kit, with a solid paint job, a few extras, all for a lower price than the actual kit itself. Whether or not you own one may come into conflict with your moral compass towards knockoffs of an active item. Me? Well, I treat it like a ROM image of a video game - they're perfectly legal to have so long as you own the original.
Upon receiving the package, you'll be greeted by a fairly mundane brown shipper. What is fascinating is once you open the box, you won't see any art box at all. Instead, you'll see this nylon pouch. I was kind of confused and wondered if I was shipped the wrong item or something. You could argue that this is the greatest packaging that has ever existed for an action figure... or you can call it lazy.
Opening the Drone Case, you are greeted with some foam pieces, one of which has holes cut out for the various Windblade body parts. All-in-all, you get the following in the kit:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 1 x Alternate Head
- 5 x Posing/Gripping Hands
- 2 x Large Swords (From Generations Toy)
- 2 x Small Swords (From Model Kit)
- 2 x Extra Wrist Joints
- 1 x Base/Stand (Repurposed Figure Hand, though I have no idea what figure)
The original kit came with the small swords. All the other weapons are extras, as is the scabbard. I'm not sure if the hand that is dedicated to holding the scabbard was something they whipped up, or, more likely, it was a bonus part included in the kit so owners of the Deluxe size toy could repurpose that weapon for display here.
All of this for $55 USD, shipped.
Upon completion of assembly, this is what you get - pretty much what the original model kit promised. The paint work is definitely much better than I could ever do. In terms of accuracy, the reference photos on the kit are definitely more subdued in terms of paint colour choices, and there's quite a few paint apps missing as compared to "the real thing". Eyes are also green as opposed to the blue in the art and the character in general. The finish, however, is metallic, and reminds me very much of the BingoToys BT-02. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones who actually made this set, as there are many similarities between the colours used on both.
With regards to finishes, actually its pretty good. Unlike most knock offs I've seen, the plastic parts are finished and assembled quite well, with some parts like the groin modified with screws to allow for better grip. I'm thinking they got a hold of some tooling and made their own production run. The finish on the parts are honestly better than 99% of what you'd find on a Walmart shelf, and rivals what I've seen from the best Third Party producers.
Having said that, it's still more model kit than action figure. Even if you ignore the necessary assembly, you'll still get some pieces randomly falling off the figure. In my case, it's the wings, the fuselage, and the piece right on her lower back. Joints are also a bit tight, something that you'd normally take care of by filing down the joints before connecting them together.
One of the major selling points of this figure, apart from convenience, is the die cast. Well, that's kind of a bait and switch. The die cast content in this release is limited to some of the joints being replaced with metal parts, kind of like what one could do with aftermarket kits for their Megami Device or similiar model kits. . Also, for whatever reason, they gave her a soft rubber chest, which normally would be good for some giggles but it's rubber, not silicone, so it's still kind of tough. More importantly, the finish on it is dull, and clashes with the beautiful metallic finish on the rest of the figure.
The alternate head looks really, really dumb. I have no idea what version of Windblade this is supposed to portray.
So instead of the stand the kit came with, they've included this repurposed robotic hand, modified so that it can take a stand. The hand is supposed to represent Metroplex's right hand, though the scale is off. More importantly, I can't tell which figure this was taken from. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the stand is questionable, as it only is hinged near the top, not the base, so you're only going to be able to support the figure at that height.
With regards to posing, you'd better believe that Windblade is better than most because, well, she was born to pose. There are, however some very odd restrictions in posing prowess, especially for a product that does not thing else. Admittedly there is some bulk to deal with, mostly the backpack, but for the most part the upper body is fine. In fact, there's an extra joint right above the wrist to give the figure that much more posing options.
The ankles, however, are relatively restrictive, and don't give as much range of motion as your typical humanoid model kit. Even more strange are the hips. First off, the legs connect to the hips, but it doesn't connect through a ball joint. Instead, they connect via a thin plastic lever that is embedded into the hip piece. This grants extra range of motion, but it's nothing that your typical pull down hip mechanism couldn't accomplish. Another odd choice is the design of the thigh, which still has the moulded on booty. While this does help make the figure appear more curvy, the bulk of the thigh piece prevents the leg from swiveling outward, which limits the types of sitting poses that the figure can do.
Like I said.. very odd choices given that the purpose of this thing is to maximize the posing options.
Overall, a neat product at a great price, though again your mileage will vary on the morals on owning said item. For me, I feel like this has actually motivated me to assemble my kit, and fix the things on the colour scheme that this release got wrong.
Now if I can only find my Snippers...
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