Cylon Centurion Warrior (Silver)
Review by Sanjeev
Established toy retailer, Amok Time, has been involved in producing their own toys for some time now, and we're proud to have had the chance to review just a handful of them on CDX. About a year ago, when they announced that they were going to produce a series of 1/6 dolls from the classic 1978 television series, Battlestar Galactica, in their MONSTARZ line, I flipped!
I grew up watching the original BSG in syndication, and I always loved the Cylon's mechanical shock troopers, the Centurions. Their uniform, chromed look and menacing reciprocating red eye put them way ahead of Star Wars' Stormtroopers in my book! Oh, and their monotone robotic voice? Killer! Eat your heart out, Soundwave!
Granted, these dudes were just about as foppish as Stormtroopers: sure, they looked cool...but with a gun, they couldn't hit the broadside of a Basestar! But, hey, what can ya do? If Centurions were actually capable of taking out main characters effectively, you'd have...well...SciFi Channel's Reimagined Series.
The figure comes in a very nice, lidded window box shown above. The cardboard is thick and the graphics are glossy. The cover stays shut with the help of a couple velcro patches, and opening it reveals the doll, stand, and accessories, along with a brief synopsis of the first episode of the show on the inside of the lid.
Once you crack this sucker open, you have to wrestle with a few twist-ties and a couple clear elastic bands...and you've got yourself a 12-inch scourge of the galaxy!
In all its chrome toaster glory, the Centurion is exactly what you'd frakin' expect. Shiny. Menacing. Tough to photograph. ;)
This toy looks superb! Essentially, what we have is a typical-quality 1/6 ball jointed doll (BJD) wearing a stretchy black nylon suit. This suit has several velcro connection patches sewn onto it. The chrome armor bits slide onto the limbs or attach to these patches. And, oh, is that chrome gorgeous!? Some sprue bits are visible on the edges of the armor pieces, but it's very minor.
The boots and hands are molded in a very dense, but slightly flexible hard plastic. The sculpt detail on them is perfect. The arms feature flexible, ribbed sheaths around the elbows and chrome guards around the upper- and forearms. The legs have similar shiny vinyl covers that fit over the upper legs. Chrome armor bits rest over the calves, on top of the boots.
The backpack looks great--it perfectly captures the somewhat hunched appearance these soldiers had in the original show. Also, hanging from the back of the belt is a metal skirt brilliantly mimmicking the chainmail worn in the show. I swear, my girlfriend has earrings made of this stuff!
Now let's look at the accessories. First, the figure comes with a nice doll stand. Unfortunately, it's not adjustable: the support bar and flexible metal "tongs" are set at a height just above the Centurion's belt. That's fine, though--these dudes weren't exactly spry in the old show!
Honestly, the stand isn't even all that necessary. The figure has very solid hip and knee joints (and no ankle joints at all!), so he's very stable.
Next up, we have the weapons. The most common Centurion weapon was their rifle: a dopey-looking affair with a clear, light-up "barrel" at the end. This rifle, along with its short bayonet, is reproduced very nicely in this scale. The plastic is very matte, with a tiny bit of speckled silver applied to make it look worn. The barrel is, indeed, clear plastic.
The pistol is very similar in style and finish to the rifle--only no clear plastic tip...it's painted silver. The chrome sword is really just ornamental-only. I vaguely remember a Centurion drawing its sword once in a classic ep, but I always just assumed they were there to intimidate the Cylons' fleshy enemies. And appropriately enough, the handle on this toy version is far too narrow to fit in the doll's hands!
One thing to note about the sword, however, is that there's a peg right at the guard (on the opposite side shown in the pic above) that fits into a hole on one of the chrome plates adorning the Centurion's belt. With the chrome coat, the peg is WAY too thick to fit into this hole--I had to scrape off the chrome coating with a hobby knife to get it to attach properly. No biggie.
Next up, articulation! Unfortunately, this is probably where the toy loses the most points. If you're familar with BJDs, they can get a bit fiddly...especially with a lot of clothing/accessories attached to their bodies. The Centurion is no exception.
The shoulders can achieve a wide range of motion, but they're a tad looser than I'd like. Sometimes, when extending out one arm, and then adjusting some armor that's out of place somewhere else on the doll, the arm will flop back down. That's par for the course with BJDs, however. They're not so much meant to be played with as much as posed and put back on your shelf.
Anyway, when you're not shaking the thing around, the shoulders keep their pose fine. The elbows fare less well, though: those bendy vinyl sheaths aren't that bendable. The elbow joints are fine, but they're not strong enough to resist those sheaths flexing back to their original shape.
The wrists and neck just rotate: no ball-joint.
There is a double-jointed waist, but it's a bit awkward underneath all the armor (again, a flexible vinyl sheath) and the belt. It can get floppy at times, but it's not much of an issue.
The hips have a fantastic range of motion, and they're really sturdy. They have detents, but they're very coarse...so, when clicking the legs forward or backward at the hips, they rotate through quite a distance before locking into position. The knees are strong as well, and also have wide detents. Unfortunately, much of this added articulation is wasted because of one major omission: ankle joints. So, if you place the legs in any kind of action pose, the feet won't be flat with the ground and the figure won't be able to stand.
Sure, you can use the doll stand, but remember: its height can't be adjusted, so either the legs have to be more or less straight enough to reach the ground, or your "action pose" will make it look like it's flying! Again, these dudes weren't known for athleticism in the old show, so I'm not really all that bothered.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this figure. My only criticisms were regarding the articulation, but the reality is that this toy has all the flexibility of your typical BJD. And besides, you can easily achieve all the "classic" Cylon poses with no problem! Still...I may try to figure out a way to replace the elbow sheaths with something more flexible. Adding just that small amount of articulation would do wonders for posing the Centurion with its weapons.
If I could magically have my way, I'd have worked electronics into this toy. I'd add a red LED mounted on a tiny motor in the head to replicate the reciprocating red eye. Second, I'd definitely add a sound chip that played back classic Centurion lines in that crazy modulated voice! Ah, to dream...
Please...save a Centurion from forgotten obscurity!
Anyway, in the final analysis, this is one of the few toys of the classic BSG Cylon Centurion that actually features chrome armor and looks as fantastic as these guys did on the small screen. For that reason alone, you should pick one of these up from Amok Time Toys today!
Comments
7 comments postedI passed on this and the Tower Records Gold one primarily because of the lack of electronics. At the price they were asking ($40-$50 I think) it just felt too much for something that lacked such a must-have feature as an LED and voice chip. Paying that and then having to do the work myself just made me feel I could live without it.
Mattel had one that lit up and moved in the 70's, it looked like ass, but it lit up. I'm guessing it was going to be part of the figure at one point but the costs of parts, labor, and safety certifications would make an already pricey figure that much more so. These were also I believe one of the very first releases done by Amok, so they were still learning the ropes on getting a product to market. I'm sure if they had done these now after all they've done it would be closer to that ideal toy.
Maybe if I see one on the cheap I'd revisit the idea of modding one. I do kind of regret passing on them when Tower Records closed, they were marked down to like $15.
They aren't the same thing? Amok was involved in the prior ones at some point, I remember seeing them promote the hell out of them. Did they buy up all the unsold stock along with the license?
EDIT
After looking up an old review it appears Amok is making the old one with some improvements (like the skirt and better chrome). So while I was admittedly wrong in that respect, the fact is, it still doesn't have an LED or sound chip and is $50.
A review of the Magestic toy can be found here. Definitely a different toy.
I do hope that either Amok Time gets enough interest in these figures that they release a higher-end version with electronics...even if it doubles, or even triples, the price. Either that, or some enterprising customizers can market a kit to do the conversion on their own...
Still a great toy, either way!
--
Sanjeev
That was the review I found earlier as well.
It's different in very small ways, and it must be a reworked version of the Majestic. There are far too many similarities for it to be a new sculpt. Majestic is kaput, and Amok picked up the pieces and improved on their work.
If I had to get one I'd go for this one since it has the disco skirt, but for the money I just feel that they could have added something as low tech as a light pipe.
To make matters worse, they are doing a Lucifer figure that will have a light pipe, so the lack of Cylon love is that much more frustrating.
Yeah, this is basically the same toy with modifications. From their 2008 Toy Fair press release:
"After the unfortunate end of Majestic Studios we wanted to make sure that someone continued their great line of Classic Battlestar Galactica action figures. That someone is US. Amok Time will continue the Classic BSG line thru 2010. We are improving the original Majestic Cylon’s, both Silver and Gold, so that they are more accurate than the original release. We will be adding the Cylon’s skirt, the one part of their distinctive uniform, that was missing from the original Majestic release."
I'm pretty sure Paul told us that he would have liked to have added those features, but it would have made it cost more than they felt it would sell at.
I'm curious though. Was there a 3rd Cylon released this decade? I seem to remember seeing them at Tower, but it was when I lived in Atlanta, at least 6 years ago and therefore not that 2006 release. I'm not really a BSG fan so I never paid it much attention, though.
"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High
I love this figure but a couple of things really bug me about it- first the head, the jaw area from the side ends halfway along the side of the head on the actual screen- seen robot. On this figure it extends all the way around the head right round the back almost like a darth vader esque affair this is a real shame and bugs me, the screen used cylons have 2 black panels on the back of the head- these are not on the majestic studios version or the amok time version but joyride put it on their smaller figure. - also the eye - the way its painted is pretty goofy and the red is also too low.it changes the face too much the whole cylon eye thing is lost where a dot in the middle would have been fine.
if this was sold as a toy i would be happy toys are ment to be played with but when it is marketed as a collectors figure you expect something a little more accurate there are the silver cuffs on the arms, but not the black cuffs that they go over the sword is way too short, just little details that unfortunatly spoil what could have been an outstanding figure.
i am sure there were reasons for altering the shape of the head- indeed the original 12 inch c3po was highly innacurate too broad too stocky but its a great toy, the original 3 /34 scale r2d2s head is completely wrong in almost every way but its still r2d2.the 12 inch cyberman from dr who was out of proportion the head too small and way too narrow the body way to broad and massive- but its a cyberman. this is a cylon- you can tell its a cylon - its wonderful it is masive and very heavy it is well made but just has these little issues that stop it holding up as a collectors figure.
re the earlier questions and comments-
the first release by majestic studios was the silver centurion and gold commander- the gold one was a tower records exclusinve but it was available elsewhere in the world via comics shops- there seems to be way more gold ones than silver ones. this is odd seeing as the gold one was exclusive
the second release by amok time also consisted of silver and gold cylons they are identical to the previous ones except for a different box, the addition of shiny black leg guards and the rear skirt.
the only other vintage style cylon releases were from joyride who made 6 inch silver and - yawn-gold cylons and also minimates who made silver gold imperious leader and lucifer figures.
amok time announced they were making a 12 inch lucifer some years ago,it appeared in diamonds previews catalog but to my knowledge was never made- despite a couple of online sellers offering it for 99 dollars or so.