It may seem like a lifetime ago now, but there was a time when we all weren’t pop culture aficionados, experts on every property and the merch that went with it. Today, we knew about it before it was cool, preordered before the price jump, beat the game before the first DLC dropped, read the book before the first movie trailer, and so on. If we were to walk down a toy aisle today, we would likely see the same stuff we saw last month. We would check to see if one of the tentpole lines had been restocked, normally not, and head back over to the part of the store with the stuff we probably actually came for.
So in that regard, remembering or even just imagining a time when a product you’d never seen or heard of before would jump off the rack and bowl you over can feel incredibly distant from today. Not unlike this uncomfortable feeling of helplessness that accompanied watching the last great toy store hit the dust like some mythical colossus, I don’t care for the sensation that collecting toys has given up it’s last surprises.
That makes getting something like ToyNotch/ToyForge’s Astrobot in a unassuming little box, on my birthday, even, a rare treat that is the closest I’ve felt to making one of those stunning toy aisle discoveries in a couple decades.
Of course, this was something I preordered, though not long ago. But it was almost a sight-unseen kind of deal. Robo showed some images during the Weekly last Spring, and it kinda grabbed my eye. I went ahead and put an order in, and sort of just went back to the usual. It was easy to do; while very cool looking, this didn’t belong to any game, comic, or other licensed property I had an investment in. It wasn’t going to fill a roster or provide a specific counter, it was just a cool looking robot toy. Now, if I could have heard my inner 8-year old, he was probably screaming at me that’s EXACTLY why I needed it.
In the 1990s (and late 80s,) there were tons of robot/mech lines that were kind of cashing in as Transformers began to wind down. We had Exo Squad, Robotech, Starriors, Zoids, ZBotz, Robo Strux, and tons of others. Some had cartoon the-ins, many didn’t. I remember picking up all kinds of mechs and bot looking figures at KB, with the classic “ends in 3″ price discounts that got me many a figure for stupid cheap. They filled out the bad guy ranks, made excellent cannon fodder, and every once in a while, you’d get that really good one.
Long story short; this is that good one. As kids, my buddy and I would put together this rag-tag group of heroes from various lines and call it the Shining Force- Sega fanboys know what I’m talking about- and put them through the paces. It’s been 20-odd years, but if I start a Shining Force tomorrow, Apollo is going on that team.
Apollo has a style that is deceptively familiar- it isn’t based on any particular property, but he feels like a video game protagonist, or at least a selectable fighter in some obscure 90s arcade. That familiarity makes him fit virtually anywhere you want. The gray, blue and orange/golden highlights are a classic good guy color scheme, and the paint apps are striking and clean. I got him pretty dirty playing with him outside, and I liked the touches, so I added some Tamiya effects.
The articulation is stellar. Without traditional ball-joint sockets used, the entire system is comprised of hinges and swivels, with one abducting butterfly pair in the shoulders. This helps the mechanical feel, and it sets him a part from many contemporaries. The steel pinned fingers are very sturdy and super effective. It’s tough to really quantify this, which is why I’m going to punt to Robo to handle it on video review, but I struggle to find a pose he can pull off and look awesome in. And the ruggedness of these joints makes this a fun, easy experience, where Apollo can take it as good as he dishes it out.
And really, thats where it’s at for me with this figure. He is just damn fun. The features- the superb articulation and the LED eyes- give this guy a ton of personality, and with a lack of arcana to follow him, it’s a personality that gets to be decided by you entirely. Is he a stoic brawler machine, or a more transformer-like hardass with a literal heart of gold? Your call. For the first time in ages, I have been handed a figure without decades of backstory and crossover elements. These guys have handed me a badass looking clean slate. I am super excited to see what Toy Forge has planned next, because I will be buying.
