After having missed out on the pink/purple release of the NYCC exclusive Ggrapptikk Grunts when they were first offered, I had to wait a bit to get my hands on the second sculpt for the Four Horsemen’s new Power Lords line. This new batch isn’t as colorful as those bubblegum guys, but there is thankfully a nice deep green for some parts (a vibrant green is woefully underrepresented in Glyosdom).
When the sculpt did come back around it was offered in three colorways: two versions of the Ggrapptikk Grunts with alternating green parts and different heads as well a special edition of Ggripptogg based on one of his original color schemes when he was first created by the legendary Wayne Barlowe back in the 80s.
Before I dive too deep into the review, I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope I get all the Ggrapptikks and Ggripptoggs straight. I’m flashing back to Ssejjhhorr & Ggruxx here and I still don’t know if I spell them right! The variations on the name for the Grunts is fun and plays into a naming convention for Ggripptogg’s race, but I’m going to have to rename these guys Steve, Bill, & Terry to keep it together!
The first thing you notice about the Ggripptogg buck is the size. He clocks in at 5” and looks massive compared to the Elite Soldiers that have populated the line so far. I love size variations in a line, so that’s great. The overall sculpt is impressive too. I didn’t have any of the original Power Lords figures, so I’m not sure how detailed they were in regards to Barlowe’s lineart, but the new Ggripptogg buck recreates it pretty faithfully and looks sharp doing so.
The three figures in this review all have unique heads & lower tunics – the black/grey Ggriptogg (Steve) sports the classic head while the two Ggrapptikk Grunts (Bill & Terry) feature two variants: one with slightly different headgear and another with a fully armored head. Terry (green suit) also features a shorter lower tunic piece to keep things a little different. All three head sculpts are well done and look sufficiently different from one another which really helps distinguish between them.*
* – My Glyos-Fu isn’t always strong, but it seems like we should be seeing some alternate heads for these dudes. Maybe the heads just aren’t part of the mold, but it seems like it should be? Interesting. Continue to Page 2…
Great review and some great figures, to boot.
I just kind of wish we didn’t have plod through a year’s worth of various pre-releases before we can get to the actual carded figures. I know that releasing numerous colorways to help create buzz and fund the regular production figures is the way things are done with modern, home brewed or short run action figure lines these days, but five releases of the Ggripptogg body and six releases of the Adam Power body before the release of the actual figures on which these are based seems excessive.
Do we even have a release date for the carded figures yet?
We’ve seen the carded samples, so it should be soon.
The number of Soldiers is about par for the course with the OSM – they all nearly had three releases before the big stuff, but in Power Lords it does seem more important to get to the main attraction.
I’m with Todd. I understand the business model at work here but it’s been months since I signed up for the actual figure subscription and I kinda wish we’d start seeing actual characters by now. Enough with these colorways already.
It might be interesting if the 4H would break it up differently – release one fan-demanded character like Adam Power in a wave with the Ggrapptikks and then the real deal Ggripptogg along side some Power Soldiers.
Did you guys see this over at the Yakface forums. It’s a simple repaint of one of the grunts that looks really amazing heading up Jabba the Hutt’s entourage.
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=102&t=7559&start=45
These guys are great army builders for me and the fully painted figures will be the headliners. I also got some great hulk-colored custom characters by mixing these guys with the pink and purple NYCC editions. You wouldn’t think they’d mesh well, but I think the results look amazing.
That’s cool! I’ve seen some sweet mixes utilizing the pink/purple with the colors found here! Good stuff.