Alpha Exosuit
Review by The Enthusiast
Fisher Price’s Adventure People toys were things of beauty, simple but elegantly designed playthings for every interest - like an American Playmobil. Like many children of the seventies and eighties, I grew out of the Adventure People when the more sophisticated Transformers and their like seized my attention. But I have fond memories of the more innocent Fisher Price toys, and have recently taken a fresh look at the pieces, as well as their descendents, Imaginext.
Fisher Price has been quietly cranking out all kinds of great toys under the Imaginext umbrella. While I admire the designs, the toddler-oriented fare isn’t appealing to my adult tastes. However, once and awhile an Imaginext release piques my interest.
The Alpha Exosuit is part of a recent wave of space-guy-versus-buggy-alien toys which manage to reference the Adventure People, Micronauts, and Masters of the Universe. At about six bucks a pop, I couldn’t resist.
The box is dead simple. A backpack and gun are included.
Imaginext has made a handful of exosuits, but the others have been more cartoony. The Alpha has a more refined, real robot mecha feel. I like the monotone white and gray color scheme with blue accents.
Alpha’s proportions are terrific, and the visual balance between the pilot and machine is perfect.
Articulation is minimal but appropriate. The arms rotate at the shoulders, the claws open and close, and the sawblade spins. The legs bend a little at the hip.
The helmet swings up to expose the pilot, who’s held in with waist clips.
The empty suit has a surprising visual gravity.
The pilot figure is nicely detailed and articulated enough to be fun, but his sculpt is a little goofy to my adult eyes.
Luckily the Alpha fits nicely with some of my other favorite figures!
It’s refreshing to play with an honest to goodness toy, and such a well realized design to boot. Recommended.
| Posted 16 March, 2014 - 17:04 by The Enthusiast |
Comments
5 comments posted"It’s refreshing to play with an honest to goodness toy, and such a well realized design to boot."
What you said there is exactly why I've gotten into Imaginext recently. That exact figure is one of the ones that fostered that interest, as well! You should see this mech from the line with the dinosaurs - a shiny one with clear green limbs. They're all surprisingly interesting and pretty light on the wallet for what you get.
Imaginext definitely has some gems. I've been cherry-picking a piece here and there for years. They tend to re-use molds a lot, but they still crank out lots of new designs, so it's easy to forgive. One of my favorites from a few years ago was a line of small robots. One was strongly reminiscent of the walking battleship from Gurren Lagann, so I had to have it. LOL
While I'm not a big fan of gimmicky sound f/x, I did get a laugh from their recent IR playsets. Like the castle that responds when the giant ogre figure is activated in front of it. They use the same gimmick in a modern airport playset, and--yes--they work across the different themes. The traffic control tower had some interesting things to say when the medieval dragon flew past!
None of these are designed for toddlers, though. Smaller kids are the target audience, but well above the age of toddlers. ;-)
I was looking at some of the other ones onTRU.com and noticed that many have a Masters of the Universe vibe like the crab walker one.
Some of the recent stuff has had direct MotU homages, like this one skeleton with a yellow skull and a purple hood, and the bottom of this one Wizard Tower set - the battery cover is styled directly off of the dungeon grate in Castle Grayskull. It's pretty neat!
The only thing holding this back from a purchase is that the Imaginext figure's hands dangle. Still, it is nice to see some Exo-Suit love in mainstream toys!