Ridureyu, I read through your full review. I got my full series of Battle Beast minimates in just a couple days ago, and I have experienced a lot the same problems you had in your review. The legs on Fenruk are completely loose and can not be posed, as half of them move freely on their own, and the other two will collapse under the weight of the figure. Vachonus's left claw just completely falls off, while his right claw seems fused to the figure. Perhaps The pieces on the right arm were put together while the paint was still drying, and essentially allowed the paint to act as a glue between the two pieces. I also think that some of the paint apps have been applied in a very thick layer. There's a lot of detail that seems to be filled in by the paint, which is a bit unfortunate. There is a lot of really great detail sculpted into these figures that isn't coming through, especially on Vorin and Gruntos. I have all of the promo Vorin's, and have painted a couple Vorins myself, and I can attest to the level of detail that is in the head sculpt, underneath the paint. My Vorin also has a lot of excess paint smudged over from one area to another. Certainly I have seen some really nice paint apps on him in the Stealth and SDCC figures, which was a little disappointing since I was so looking forward to this bright yellow and red colored Vorin.
For the loose joints, I took apart the joints, and applied a thin layer of super glue to the joint, then allowed it to completely dry before reassembling. It's what I do for a lot of different collector figures that I get that have loose joints, and typically always works. The only one that I couldn't get to work for this was Vachonus's left claw. For him, I had to just glue the claw in place. I am fine having to do all of this for my figures, but not everyone is going to. Some people are going to be disappointed if their newly purchased figures are unposeable, or pieces are falling off. And that worries me a little bit for the success of the line.
With that said though, I still really like the figures. The sculpts are really nicely done. And I like the variety of animal/body styles that we got. I think I am the opposite with you about Merk, the falcon. He's one of my favorites of the series, and I didn't have any problem with his wing arrangement. I actually think it's a really fantastic way to represent wings on a small, poseable minifigure. I was really excited about Gruntos, and he didn't fail to impress. I love his size and stature. I really like the snake as well. The sculpted tail piece works really well and gives him a nice, stable base for him to stand on. (I normally always have a problem keeping my minimates standing) Vorin's good, I have just seen his sculpt quite a few times now, including twice in full color, so he wasn't as exciting to get, as I knew him so well already. The ones that surprised me were Fenruk and Vachonus. I was really excited for Vachonus, as his claws, head, chest piece, all looked fantastic from the pictures I had seen. While I was not excited at all for Fenruk. The pictures I had seen, all the way back to SDCC, just didn't impress me. But I knew that he was the type of figure to reserve judgement about until I was holding him in my hand. And I was right about that. Once I actually got to see the spider in person, I was really impressed. He's possibly my favorite beast of this series, which I didn't think was possible. I love the way the four legs were done, and the four arms. He has such a great, unique look to him, when a man/spider hybrid can so easily be very generic. I can't say enough positive things about Fenruk. Vachonus on the other hand I was a bit disappointed by. Where as I loved the four legs on the spider, they just look a bit odd on the scorpion. Two of the legs are pointed forward and two are pointed to the side. It just doesn't look completely right, as if there should be two more legs pointed back, mirroring the front legs. Once I get the Toys r Us wave, I might experiment with using the spiders lower half on the Scorpion to see how that changes the figure.
I really liked the accessories a lot. I didn't have a problem with the beasts holding any of their weapons, or with the weapons staying mounted on the back of the figure. That's actually the part that has impressed me the most with the look of the figures. They are neat while wielding their weapons, but they look really awesome with the weapons slung over the back and on their hip. Especially Merk. I love posing him in a flying position, with his knives on his belt and his hatchets on his back. It really gives him a nice warrior look to him.
The humans are rather take it or leave it for me. I don't have a use for them, as I only want to display the beasts, but it doesn't bother me that they are there. It makes sense to have the humans for the Comic Shop wave, since they are the main two human characters in the storyline. And we'll be getting two extra beasts for the TRU wave. I would just like to keep to all beasts for future waves.
If I had to rate the different categories, on a scale of 1-4 stars, here is what I would give:
Character Designs: Vorin, Gruntos, Merk, Snake, Spider ****, Scorpion ***, Tate and Bliss **
Sculpts: All the beasts****, Humans **
Paint Apps: Merk, Snake, Spider and Scorpion ***, Gruntos and Humans **, Vorin *
Articulation: Merk and Spider ****, Vorin, Gruntos and Humans ***, Snake and Scorpion ** (I am fine with the lowered articulation on the Snake as I love the tail part as is)
Accessories: The whole series **** (Extra arms for the humans and Vorin to give them different looks is a nice touch)
Packaging: **** (Reminds me a lot of packaging from the 90's, which I like)
Quality Control: * (This is really the only major complaint I have with the series, and it hurts the playing and displaying potential of the figures without additional work)
Overall, I still really recommend these figures to anyone wanting some anthropomorphic animal warrior figures with a bit of a serious look and feel to them. Just know, at least for this first series, that you are going to have to put a little bit of work to help the joints out when you get them.
Edited by koppenschevelle, 30 January 2013 - 01:38 PM.