Storm Toad Trooper Review
“Let’s croak some Toad!” is the rallying cry of Bucky O’Hare and his crew of the Righteous Indignation, and man, do they ever take it to those icky toads. However, the most excellent Bucky O’Hare line by Boss Fight Studio has not been able to do any toad croaking because it lacked said toads. Until now. Yes, dudes, Bucky, Jenny, and Dead-Eye now have some awesome toads to fight, and these little slime balls might just be some of the best of the line thus far.
I must start off by apologizing for the tardiness of this feature. I actually got these dudes on December 31st of 2018, so while they were early enough to (deservedly) make my “Best of 2018” list, I have been so busy with the holidays and some other review items I had been sitting on, these guys just got caught in the queue. However, I want to make that right now because these guys are legit, and I have not been able to stop playing with them since they arrived. Admittedly, Bucky O’Hare was a toy property that I liked as a kid, but I did not know much more about it past the action figures. Well, thanks to this new line, I have immersed myself in more background on Bucky and crew, and that is most certainly a compliment to BFS. Their toys are so good, they make me love a property more than I did going into a collection. I LOVE it when that happens.
I am going to start off by saying that I believe Boss Fight Studio produces some of the best quality action figures on the market right now. I am not a huge 3¾ scale collector, but I DO have several of their H.A.C.K.S. figures, and the quality and playability is most certainly top notch. That said, I was THRILLED when they announced that their Bucky line was ostensibly going to be in-scale with my predominantly 6-inch action figure collection, and I have been a unwavering devotee of this line ever since. I will say that due to his more complex design and overall execution, I thought Dead-Eye was going to remain the most impressive figure in the line and thus, my favorite, but nah man, nah. This guy takes the cake and in terms of playability and overall fun, the Toads have captured the flag as best in the line.
As these are the rank and file of the villains facing Bucky and his friends, I knew at the outset that I would get in on the two-packs Boss Fight was offering, and me being me, I went for two of those sets. So, with four in tow, I currently have the good guys outnumbered, which is what I wanted, but I am already itching to add more. I know, I am pretty notorious for going over the edge in terms of army builders these days, but this figure has so many display options, and the small group that I have already looks so amazing, doubling or tripling my numbers will only make it that much cooler, right? RIGHT? That is sound logic for the collection, even as my wallet is screaming at me.
So, I had a Toad Trooper as a kid, and he was cool. I mean he was most certainly more fun than the Toad Air Marshall, but Al Negator beat him by a mile. However, the Trooper design is so slick looking at it now, and with a pack of Toads, I just cannot get over how neat this figure is, and Boss Fight upped EVERYTHING in terms of design. I mean, it might be a bit over the top to geek out about Toad eye goggles, but hot damn, do these look great in their translucent hot pink glory. Don’t get me wrong, Bucky and Dead-Eye enjoyed some massive upgrading, too, but when it comes to this figure, the coolness factor has been enhanced at every turn.
The uniforms on these dudes are so bad ass, and the skull and crossbones visage means no furballs will be spared. I mean, even down to the wink in the design, these dudes are like the amphibian equivalent of HYDRA Soldiers, so being appropriately dressed and in the right numbers makes good sense. There are a lot of colors in the palette of these guys, and even though they range from gold to light green to hot pink, everything remains nicely balanced and, more importantly, it all works.
The best part is that the fine folks at BFS knew full well we would want to buy multiples of these, so TWO heads are included, and both bring a lot of, yet different, personality with just a slight adjustment to the expression on the mouth. The fact that you can swap the classic helmet with the hat and combine them with the different heads is a pretty genius move on the part of BFS because you know that they know that we know we want multiples of this guy. The change in heads/hat combination completely alters the look and personality of the figure and it makes for a much more interesting display. See how easy it is to talk yourself into getting more of these? Oy.
The accessories also help with diversification, and these are all-new pieces tailored for a Toad. I am foggy about the vintage figure accessory inclusion, but I am pretty sure the long Phlegm Rifle included and updated here is the carryover from the classic release. The design is nice and it fits the feel of the previous weapons, but if I had one gripe about this release, it would include this weapon. Not the weapon itself, but I wish one of the extra included hands had a hinge (instead of the standard twist) that worked to hold the trigger portion of this just a bit better. It can be done, for sure, but a bit more range of movement for a more natural and varied pose would be my one nitpick.
For me, the pistol will be reserved for my captain Toad, along with the pointing finger, because that is what commanders do, they point. The scythe blade I will probably give to one of my three rank and filers, but again, I already feel like I need more here, you know? Maybe three more will do it? Four with rifle and two with the blade, then just reserve one hat-wearing commander? Decisions, decisions…
What an awesome figure that is made infinitely more awesome by having multiples in the collection! You should not wait, you should go to the Boss Fight Shop right now and buy a stack of these dudes, you collection will thank you for it because BFS is KILLING it with this line. The first deluxe figures, Bruiser is up for PRE-ORDER now, so get him too, while you are at it, but I cannot wait to see who is next. My pick would be Dogstar, followed by Blinky and Al Negator, but really, bring them all, this line is a BLAST!
