Royal Marine Commando - yet ANOTHER review!
- ATC
The box is a box - I ripped into it and threw it away after emptying
it. The figure has a SA body and a groovy WWII-lookin' mustache.
It's actually a little wider and longer than it should be, but it
still looks era-appropriate. The expression on the sculpt looks like
a sneaky, weasely, cold-hearted, cruel British soldier who's ready to
execute prisoners or fire on the white flag - very appropriate for the
commando figure (yes, I like this sculpt). The green beret looks like
a new sculpt to me. It's a well-done, soft rubbery beret with a flash
sticker. Inside it has a groovy transparent plastic skullcap -
presumably to keep the guy's hair from sticking to the inside of the
beret; nice touch. There's also a strip of foam on one side to better
ensure a snug fit. Nice piece. The Tommy helmet is unremarkable, but
it does have a good 2-piece chinstrap. The Bren gun is incredible.
It's got a soft feel, so it could withstand kid play, and has movable
parts all over the place. Extremely kewl! This is by FAR the best
rendition of a Bren gun we've seen yet! (Still, I'd rather this guy
came with a Lee-Enfield instead of a Bren, but it IS pretty groovy.)
The .45 pistol has a working spring-loaded slide and removable
magazine. As pistols go, this is a pretty lame sculpt and the
magazine hangs awkwardly out of the mag well - it should fit flush!
Someone mentioned this guy came with a Browning Hi-Power, but it
doesn't. It's clearly an M1911A1. The cloth holster is a tad large
for the pistol, but when closed it looks rather accurate - a nice
addition! The figure comes with a very good Sykes-Fairbairn commando
knife. Would've been nice if the sheath had been rendered as well as
the knife (the sheath should have had tabs near the point for leg
straps). The web belt and .45 mag pouches are great - worthy of the
latest SOTW gear! That's what they look and feel like, too. The
copier has been copied and KO has become the leader. The mag pouches
are larger than they should be (unless Joe is packin' double-stack
mags!), but they still look alright on the figure. The trousers are
well done, with nice stitching and wonderful attention to detail. The
smock isn't as well done as the 21C brit smock, but the material is
thicker and feels like it's "higher quality"although it looks less
realistic than the 21C version - the Hasbro version sports gigantic
brass buttons which are 'waaay out of scale, but because of the
thicker fabric and all, it actually looks alright. The more I look at
it, the more I like 'em. The boots are soft, reasonably detailed,
non-wethered (thank goodness!) and are otherwise unremarkable.
Overall, I'd say this is the grooviest figure Hasbro has done in a
while. Good job, Hasbro, keep it up!
I suspect I'll do some mix and match with 21C gear to get it lookin'
"my way" before I'm done. The only thing it could've used is mag
pouches for the Bren and web gear with shoulder straps. Now somebody
needs to make a Dingo scout car for this guy to ride in, or a R/C Bren
Gun Carrier. ;-)
I still think it should've come with a Lee-Enfield, too.
- ATC
L. A. McGrath
Who)? All I've seen are small pics of it so far..
Lachlan
--
L. A. McGrath
LAMC...@Prodigy.net
Alexander Arnakis
ATC) wrote:
>The .45 pistol has a working spring-loaded slide and removable
>magazine. As pistols go, this is a pretty lame sculpt and the
>magazine hangs awkwardly out of the mag well - it should fit flush!
>Someone mentioned this guy came with a Browning Hi-Power, but it
>doesn't. It's clearly an M1911A1.
If it's the same pistol that came with Audie Murphy, it's not bad at
all, once you make a small modification to get the magazine to fit
flush. File a square notch in the front of the grip, and shorten the
top of the magazine, so that the magazine baseplate fits flush.
The scale of the pistol is the same as the Dragon and new SOTW .45's.
It fits nicely in the SOTW holster.
On the whole (once the modification is made), this is about the best
.45 in the 1/6 market.
LuckyAtLoveAgain
a webley.
- ATC
>.45 in the 1/6 market.
Ooch! I think the scale, proportion, and detail of the Dragon faaaar
outclass the Hasbro RMC .45. No, it hasn't got the working slide, but
it sure is a better sculpt! (The Hasbro slide has the hammer attached
to the slide, too. Ick.) The best sculpt of any pistol I've seen yet
is the Dragon Hi-Power. The hammer cocks when you work the slide, the
chamber is visible when the slide is cocked back, and the magazine was
very well done. I tried the Dragon Hi-Power in the RMC's holster, but
it got lost in there :-( The Hi-Power fits a vintage shoulder holster
nicely, though :-)
For backyard play, I'll probably swap in a first version SOTW .45 and
keep the pistols with moving parts for inside play. (Yes, everything
gets playtime mileage around here. Lots of little JoeHeads running
around.)
FWIW, YMMV,
- ATC
Alexander Arnakis
(LuckyAtLoveAgain) wrote:
>it should have come with a webley rather than a .45. the holster was made for
>a webley.
The Commandos liked the Browning Hi-Power and the Colt .45, but they
didn't change their web gear. Thus, it's correct that a .45 is carried
in a Webley holster.
I agree that a Webley would be nice, though.
Alexander Arnakis
ATC) wrote:
>
>Ooch! I think the scale, proportion, and detail of the Dragon faaaar
>outclass the Hasbro RMC .45. No, it hasn't got the working slide, but
>it sure is a better sculpt!
Are we talking about the same Hasbro pistol? I don't have the new
Hasbro Commando, but I based my comments on the pistol in the Audie
Murphy set (which sounds like the same one, based on your
description). In outward appearance, this Hasbro pistol has the size
and look of the Dragon .45 (and its new SOTW clone), but it
additionally has the working slide.
I ditched the holster that came with the Audie Murphy figure, and
substituted a new SOTW holster. The Hasbro pistol fit in it nicely!
Nana Pono
Discussions about the weapon aside, is it just me or is the face sculpt on this
guy just the sleepy-yet-killer-eyed dude that first came out (I think) with the
'Nam Combat Engineer two years back, except with the moustache?
Or is this truly an entirely new face sculpt?
Regards,
Gordon
(a Hawaii JOEhead)
- ATC
When I came across face sculpts that look awful, I just ignore 'em.
This guy looks like a shifty untrustworthy British backstabber to me.
Sort of an evil professional look. It may have been a 'stache added
to an earlier sculpt, though, I suppose.
- ATC
Emilio Cueto
Emilio
nana...@aol.com (Nana Pono) wrote in message news:<20020509130308...@mb-fy.aol.com>...
- ATC
After heaping praise on this figure, the brittle web belt creased and
tore along the buckle. Sigh. Not as well made as SOTW after all, I
guess. I replaced it with a SOTW web belt noticed that the SOTW .45
ammo pouches are better anyhow, so I replaced those, too. It's kinda
sad when you have to look to the K.O. company to "fix" a Hasbro
piece... humorous, though.
I removed the transparent skullcap from the beret and now it stays on
his noggin better during play.
The Bren turned out to be a monster cannon - it may be in scale, but
it's not small and light enough for our commando, so we gave him a
sten and moved the Bren to the TC Aussie jungle guy.
NOW the RMC fits into the collection better! ;-)
- ATC
Iron Monkey
ALOHA Gordon !
I just compared the two headsculpts, the new Royal Marine headsculpt & the
sleepy eyed Nam Combat Engineer headsculpt, the eyes are very similiar but the
RMC's eyes have different lines under the eyes, looks a little older, the
eye brows on the RMC are also much fuller, the nose on the RMC looks a little
longer and sharper on the end, the ears on the RMC look different [slightly
longer] the RMC's lower lip looks rounder and fuller and his hair sculpt is
entirely different, but the facial structure looks about the same ? I think
Hasbro used a modified headsculpt of the Combat Engineer and just added some.