Monday 18 November 2013

PHICEN Nina Armoury Post 3

It's been a while, but with more figures in the collection now I've got more Things Nina Can Hold, and more amateurish photos to prove it!

Destroyer Gun Prototype
Sourced from Movie Masterpiece Agent Phil Coulson,
by Hot Toys.

Though it didn't help Coulson all that much in The Avengers, the Destroyer gun was nevertheless thrown in with his delayed but very welcome 1/6er, and it's a pleasingly hefty brute to be sure.  Covered in detail and impressively large (only the M60 compares), the designers did a neat job of getting across potential lethality paired with a rather rushed, botched assembly - see the uncomfortable position of the side grip and the needless addition of 2 separate scopes, which the user almost certainly wouldn't see anything through.  Also features battery-operated LEDs to make the barrel light up as shown.

~+~

.45 Vector Submachine Gun
Sourced from 1/6 G.I. Joe Crimson Guard,
by Sideshow Collectibles.

In a somewhat shocking omission by Sideshow's standards, this gun wasn't explicitly named on the box of the fig it came with, only referred to as a .45 assault SMG.  But I've got a pretty good eye (and it's a pretty distinctive shape) so I'm 95% sure this is called a Vector.  My first encounter with it was on a regular 4" Joe, actually - the Pursuit of Cobra Dusty - and I thought it looked great at that tiny size.  This one...isn't quite so hot, probably because the barrel is so short and narrow it diminishes the sense of power.  There was a suppressor included that makes the barrel bigger, but it's so long it's a joke in itself so I left it off.

~+~ 

Steel Heirloom Katana & Wakizashi Swords
Sourced from Movie Masterpiece Storm Shadow,
by Hot Toys.

After picking up Retaliation Snake Eyes I couldn't leave it at that, so I jumped on Stormy as well, and just like his bro it's the swords that most impress.  The blades are die-cast metal for a realistic shine and sense of weight, and have the thicker, more traditional grips than Snakes' fancy skeletal silicon jobs.  Of course, they both still feature the Arashikage helix printed near the hand-guards, but the real kicker is the included connector piece for Darth Maul-esque doublestabbing.  Nina's pistol-grip hands aren't quite right for holding swords, but a dab of blu-tack in the palm fixes that, and she does look great with 'em.

~+~ 

Throwing Stars
Sourced from Movie Masterpiece Storm Shadow,
by Hot Toys.

 ...this might as well just have been a pic of the figure itself, yeah?  Unfortunately, throwing stars (or shuriken) are by necessity small, and if I held them any closer to the camera the picture would be unrecognizably blurred.  Anyway, these pieces are very thin plastic and super-duper sharp, and have four curved blades stemming from their center at 90-degree angles, plus smaller points in-between.  They've got some holes in the center to reduce weight, although sadly mimicking the CG'd ones in the film (which actually contained the Cobra sigil) was beyond HT's sculptors.  They're still pretty sweet, though I imagine Nina would prefer to throw knives.

~+~

Compound Bow
Sourced from 1/6 G.I. Joe Zartan,
by Sideshow Collectibles.

Katniss who?  Anyway, bows seem to be back in style nowadays what with Hunger Games and Avengers in cinemas, and Arrow on TV, and despite the rustic charm involved there's something to be said for near-100% silent projectiles.  This particular one is a compound model, which are distinguished by the fancy wheel gizmos that keep the string tight but also easier to pull (speaking from one whole archery lesson's worth of experience here).  It's also got the same camo paint as Zartan's sniper rifle (see the first of these armoury posts) and a mounted quiver which is for some reason upside-down - no, I definitely have the bow the right way up! - and has bent one of the arrows rather oddly.  That issue aside it's a good weapon, although getting it into a decent firing pose requires special joints beyond what Nina has; the photo does an okay job of disguising it but her drawing hand should really be held close to her cheek.

~+~

 Recurve Bow
Sourced from Movie Masterpiece Hawkeye,
by Hot Toys.

Speaking of Avengers, here's Mr. Barton's pride and joy.  A recurve bow is basically a modern take on a classic longbow, and if there's an advantage to using one I have no idea what it could be.  This particular one has a laser sight of some kind by the grip, and can fold its tips down when not in use, although it can't quite go all the way closed like it did in the movie; HT compensated by including a stringless 'closed' bow as a separate piece with their Hawkeye.  What they didn't do was improve the figure's elbow and shoulder joints to let him assume a good firing stance, which makes Hawkeye probably the most disappointing 1/6er I've bought, and Nina doesn't have much better luck with the bow than he does.  It's actually harder than with the compound one because this bow is a fair bit 'taller' and so the string needs to be pulled back further to have any tension, which is why her drawing hand is now way out of place.  Ah well.

~+~ 

Mk.23 Pistol w/ Suppressor
Sourced from 1/6 G.I. Joe Firefly,
by Sideshow Collectibles.

Maybe it stems from playing far too many James Bond videogames, but I love me a silenced pistol for what it symbolizes, i.e. covert wetworks in contested regions where capture means torture and death.  Nina probably calls that 'Thursday night'.  Prior to picking up said Firefly fig, I'd never seen this exact handgun before, and if it weren't for the add-ons - both the silencer and an AN/PEQ-6 laser sight -  and the two-tone colours it'd be entirely generic, but with those bits added it's a lovely bit of kit, and I'm seriously considering removing the accompanying holster from Firefly and seeing if it can attach to Nina.

~+~

9mm Submachine Gun
Sourced from 1/6 G.I. Joe Firefly,
by Sideshow Collectibles.

To explain: if Nina sees a dark-haired woman in a red dress whose name starts with 'A', she's not gonna take chances before making her move.  Anyway, this is another unidentified weapon, and I'm buggered if I've ever seen it before.  It's got a very boxy body with few of the extraneous switches that most modern firearms have, and a skeletal stock that can fold up along the side of the gun.  The green colour is a nod to the weapon compliment from Firefly's original toy back in 1984, but it's done in a nice shade that isn't at all garish.  Also features a pleasingly chunky suppressor and a M68 close-combat optic which I mistook for an ACOG scope at first.

~+~ 

Pistol-grip Bowgun
Sourced from Videogame Masterpiece Ada Wong,
by Hot Toys.

That's bow as in 'cross', not bow as in 'take a' or 'that kid rapper who used to be Snoop Dogg's pet project', natch.  But to be more clear, despite the general shape this isn't really a crossbow, thanks to the lack of a stock and having a different method of firing which...I don't really know how to describe, as most of the mechanism is hidden within the bodywork.  Just take my word for it.  Anyway, the bolt is fixed permanently to the string and can be set in the 'ready to fire' position shown or a more relaxed position, and the weird metal bracket at the tip is hinged to let it swing downwards for mysterious reasons.  It's also a bugger to hold, with Nina's fingers here placed perilously close to the bolt, which could end up very painful when she fires.  Between this and the earlier bow mishaps, I guess we can conclusively state that arrows are the one weapon category that Nina does not excel with...

TBC.

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