For me, one of the greatest character designs in movie history was Robocop. Long before Iron Man was a blip on the Hollywood radar, Robocop was the armored hero that captured my imagination. Robocop had this retro futuristic look that reminded me of all the airbrushed robot art that was the rage in the mid to late 80’s. As a kid, his bulky silver and black armor reminded me of a human Transformer. The rigid movements combined with the audible gears shifting, and his booming voice felt like a cartoon come to life. Well, an ultra violent cartoon that is. But that impression has lasted decades, and it has made Robocop one of the few characters I’ll buy in nearly any scale (so long as I think the collectible looks good).
Hiya Toys has offered a pretty large slate of Robocop figures. They have released standard figures, battle damaged versions, and additional variants based on the three original films. The first assortment of figures has begun to hit retail. Today we’re taking a look at the standard editions of Robocop from the first two films. We grabbed these figures from Toyark sponsor Entertainment Earth. After the jump, you can see review and gallery for both figures.
Related Entertainment Earth Links: Robocop 1 Battle Damaged, Robocop 2 Figure, Robocop 3 Figure, Glow in the Dark Robocop, ED-209
Robocop and Robocop 2 3.75″ Scale Figures by Hiya Toys
Pros
- Outstanding sculpts for the size
- Good articulation and range of motion
- Improved plastic quality
- Easy to swap out parts
- No breakage issues
Cons
- Armor paint is too dark
- Paint on lower jaw is a little sloppy
Overall
The Hiya Robocop figures have some fairly unique packaging. The outer packaging is a window box that showcases a figure on a classic card back on the inside. If you plan on opening these figures, you will have to cut the bubble off of the card back. The Robocop 1 figure includes an auto-9 pistol, a pair of relaxed hands, a grip hand for the gun, and a right hand with a needle. The Robocop 2 figure includes an Auto-9 pistol, Cain’s brain, a pair of relaxed hands, a right hand for holding the gun, and a right hand for holding the brain accessory. Each figure also includes a small display base.
The sculpts for the two figures is identical as far as I can tell. Their min differences are the color of the armor and the accessories. The Robocop sculpt is outstanding for a figure standing just over 4″ tall. The detail work on the armor, helmet, and even the exposed lower jaw is really impressive. Like most Robocop figures, Hiya used the robotic nature of the body to more naturally incorporate the joints, which are all hidden pretty well. Articulation is solid, with some great range of motion in the legs, hips, and torso. The arms are a bit restricted, but that’s just due to the design and size.
The plastic quality seemed like a noticeable improvement over some previous releases. It still has that slight soft, almost gummy fell to them. But it all feels a little less flexible, and more solid. The joints here were all mostly fine, a few, like the hips, were just a bit loose. but they never hindered the figures ability to hold a stance. There were no breakage issues, and they all bent as they should with no paint locking. The hands swapped out easily, and had a nice snap when you attached them. There is no leg holster here. At this size, it would have been pretty hard to add that in without compromising the upper right leg.
The only real issue I have is with some of the paint work. While the paint application on the armor is great, the colors are too dark. The Robocop 1 figure should be a bit lighter silver, while the Robocop 2 should have a more prominent blue tinge to the armor. The Robocop 2 armor, especially, has mixes of green and yellow on them which doesn’t quite look right. The painted armor doesn’t look bad by any stretch, just not entirely accurate. The face paint is a little more problematic. The flesh tone of the lower jaw is painted on, and there was noticeable misalignment and paint bleed along the edges. When not looking at them in close ups, it’s less noticeable.
Even with those issues, these are pretty impressive releases. For the size, they are quite nice looking. The sculpts are top notch, and you can get soem great poses with them. If you’ve been collecting Hiya for a bit, these are definitely on par with their Predator figures. Check out a selection of images below, and the full gallery after that.
Some of the backgrounds featured in pics below are from Extreme-Sets.com. Enter code TOYARK at checkout and get 15% off your order!