As far as I know, Hiya Toys is a relatively new player on the scene, first starting with some 1/18 stuff and more recently, moving on to 1/12 scale figures. The ones that caught my eye were of John Rambo, hero of the Rambo series which started in the 80s. While people tend to remember First Blood: Part 2 and onwards, First Blood is often overlooked because it's more a dramatic piece that deals with one mans PTSD. Having said it, it's still an incredibly solid cinematic piece and gives a more detailed look into haunted man who would end up killing Mexican drug cartel members while in his 60s while playing extreme hide and seek.
Anyway, turns out I missed the first figure, which was in fact the one based on the Part 2 appearance and instead I ended up buying the First Blood figure instead.
So this product was made to offer some competition to the current 1/12 go to, Mezco, or at least your go to if you want something with actual clothes. This figure was around $100 CAD, and while I can't say for sure it's a better value than Mezco, I can however at least say things are comparable:
1 x Main Figure
1 x Poncho
3 x Head Sculpt (Neutral, Angry, Bloodied)
12 x Posing/Gripping Hands
1 x Survival Knife
1 x Staff/Connector for Spear
1 x Hunting Rifle
1 x Assault Rifle
1 x Machine Gun
5 x Ammo Belt
2 x Ammo Belt for Feeding
1 x Base/Stand
Most of the hands are actually variations of his gun grip, as each weapon needs a different angle, so it's nice to see that at least that has been considered.
Out of the box, lets be honest, the Poncho look isn't much to look at. Not that it's bad or anything - Poncho is fabric and there's some nice weathering on all parts of the outfit (as you'd expect), it's just that a guy dressed in a potato sack isn't exactly going to look particularly threatening or stylish. Having said that, despite the unflattering clothes, you can make out the muscular arms and also, that things actually seem to be in proportion.
The head sculpts range from "pretty good" to "I think someone had a bad day". The neutral sculpt is actually quite good. 80s Stallone, particularly early 80s didn't have that full on action hero look as of yet. The Bloody face isn't terrible but the Angry face just looks goofy. For what it's worth, I feel they captured his hair fairly well, and all of these look superior to what Star Ace ended up giving us for their Rocky line.
Stripping off the Poncho you get a better look at the underlying body. As mentioned, very proportional and has proper musculature. The arms are sculped, and the upper body appears to be covered in a rubber like material which give the chest and abdomen musculature. You can also see the underlying tailoring work better - just the right amount of form fitting and articles of clothing are proper sewn pieces as opposed to just body suits. Shoes are a soft rubber piece.
From what I can remember, the Mezco male body is pretty much in line with what a Marvel Legends , and this body is pretty much in line with that. The exception would be that I feel the neck articulation on this body is better than the aforementioned one, but admittedly it's been a few years since I've seen an actual Mezco male body.. Overall, your typical action poses shouldn't be a problem. Greatest limitations you're probably gonna feel is the elbows and the shoulders. It's OK here, but if this is the same body used for the Part 2 figure, then it's gonna be a real bitch to get the body into a convincing Bow and Arrow pose.
Paint Application wise, it's pretty clean, with most of the paint being featured on the weapons and accessories, though naturally there's a decent amount on the face/head as well. I don't think the flesh tone is painted, with the possible exception of the rubber chest cover. If it is painted then they matched the colour of the flesh very, very nicely. Some of the paint is strangely on the weak side, but these seem to be mostly focused on the Ammo belts. Overall, in a size that features the likes of Mafex, Figma, Figuarts and Storm, paint here doesn't look bad at all.
Finally, Build Quality. A total wild card as I've never handled any of their product, but I have to say that things are pretty solid. The basics are covered, namely fit of parts and of course the competency of the underlying joints. Tailoring is on point, as is the actual stitching to put it all together. Weapons fit into the hands nicely, which isn't something I can say about all figures. Basically everything was on point.
From a product perspective, I have to say I'm quite impressed with this Hiya Toys offering. I can't say I'll be buying them all, or even what my next one will be, as there have been no female figures announced, though at least I know they have a history of making female figures, albeit in the 1/18 scale. As far as being a competitor, I think if Mezco and Hiya end up working the same IP, the Hiya offering will likely end up being the more successful product overall. As usual, only time will tell, but at least their first product didn't strike me as being overpriced like the Super7 stuff did.
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