Review: DVD Set Collectible Cylon and Stealth Warrior Cylon
Posted by Lindsay
So we've only just gotten around to watching Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009), and we're not done with it yet. I know, we're bad geeks, but without cable TV, it seemed reasonable to just wait until the DVDs got cheap. And cheap they got! We got a (terribly packaged) version of the whole series on special through Amazon earlier this year. It came with a toy. FYI: The newer set of the whole series looks like it packs the DVDs better, and there is no figure with it. Later we picked up the Stealth Warrior Cylon on clearance at toysrus.com. The Stealth Cylon is made by Diamond Select Toys, and it's a fair bet the other is too. |
Appearance and Construction:
DVD Cylon: 7/10
Stealth Warrior Cylon: 8/10 The Centurion that came packaged with the DVD Set is a standard model. He has a nice contrast between his main silvered color and the black parts of his legs, but those are the only two colors. He has some battle damage around the shoulders which looks decent, although the fake “bullet holes” look silly. A little shading would have gone a long way here. Good sculpting detail throughout, nothing exceptional. Stealth Warrior Cylon has an old-school look which I enjoy, and a lot more detail in his parts. I'm a little sad that his little skirt of ammo clips isn't as flexible as it looks.
He has a greater range of paint colors than his counterpart, and I think they're well used. I wish his red eyespot was a bit brighter, it's hard to see. |
Packaging and Accessories:
DVD Cylon: ---
Stealth Warrior Cylon: ---
The packaging on this box set was terrible for the DVDs, but not bad for the toy. You can see the figure nestled in the top of the box. It does leave a weird hole after you take it out. He came with no accessories, but as an extra himself, I don't penalize him for it.
Stealth Warrior Cylon: ---
The packaging on this box set was terrible for the DVDs, but not bad for the toy. You can see the figure nestled in the top of the box. It does leave a weird hole after you take it out. He came with no accessories, but as an extra himself, I don't penalize him for it.
The packaging on the Stealth Warrior is pretty standard, although it's a little hard to see him. He has an odd extra plastic piece to protect his knees in transit.
Stealth Guy comes with a gun, and it looks nice. I'd be disappointed if he didn't come with anything, though, so no bonus.
Play and Display:
DVD Cylon: -1
Stealth Warrior Cylon: -2 These guys both have some really cool looking articulation and some really terrible articulation. DVD Cylon has two post/hinges in the neck that are sticky and hard to work. He has ball joints in the shoulders, but the shoulder armor prevents most movement there. Ball-type joints plus posts at the hips. A cut at the waist, hinged knees and hinge/post elbows all function. The wrists are very small ball joints that don't have a lot of range. The ankles are fascinating, though, a combination of two hinges and a plastic piston that slides into the calf as you manipulate the foot. This looks really cool, but it's a pretty finicky sticky joint, with very little motion. He can't flex the ankles to point his toes up, which means you can't have a stable position with one leg back. |
If you're patient and careful you might be able to get some good poses, but the joints are sticky and feel fragile.
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The Stealth Warrior has plastic pistons all over the place: upper arms (attached to the elbow), side of the chest (attached to the shoulders), and a double set on each calf.
The shoulder joints are made up of two hinges and a ball each, the elbows have two hinges and a post. There is a waist cut, but it's basically useless because of the way the “skirt” is attached The neck and wrists are cuts, the hips are hinges with a little extra ball-like movement. But the knee joints are really complicated. There are five hinges on each leg governing the interplay between the thighs, calves and feet. They look really cool, and half-work, so they mitigate some of the other problems I have with this guy. Stealth Cylon can flex his toes up, but not down, so he also has stability issues. You can compensate with the knees, but it can be challenging. I was wondering why one arm was working so much smoother than the other, and realized that the internal shoulder joint is broken on the left arm, and that's why it has a lot of range. Boo. Next problem: Stealth Cylon's gun doesn't fit in his hand securely, and I have been unable to figure out how the back part is supposed to interact with his arm. Mostly it's just in the way. Some of his joints, especially in the arms, are too loose to hold a position. They are both really stable standing straight, but anything dynamic and they lose their balance. I know they're robots, but they're supposed to be dangerous advanced humanoid robots, and the articulation problems don't help them feel scary.
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Price Tag and Final Analysis: 6/10 Each
These are both just mediocre toys, I'm afraid. They look pretty good if they're just going to stand there, but their fancy-looking articulation, while ambitious, doesn't actually work very well.
The DVD Collectible Cylon came “free” with the DVD set, which we picked up on a special Sale for about $110 That's a decent deal for the series, and hey, free toy. Stealth Warrior Cylon was originally around $17, we bought him on sale for $7.98, so that's not bad either. I'm not sure that he's worth it, though. I'll put these two on the shelf with the Terminators, but I have to admit, something about these robot soldiers just isn't very scary to me. |
I guess it could be my associations with robot soldiers...
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