Hisstank.com is pleased to bring you another review based on upcoming product from the Acid Rain World line of collectibles from OriToy!
Although we made mention that our Acid Rain reviews would be posted every weekend during the month of February, we’re just too excited to share this particular review with you. It’s my absolute pleasure to announce that our next review comes to us from none other than our own Monte Williams! Monte needs no introduction around these parts, but for those of you that aren’t familiar with his work…Boy, are you in for a treat!
Monte has provided a review of the Acid Rain ST-1 Stronghold Marine 303rd Quad Eyes. We originally shared a review of the Stronghold ST-1 last Summer, so we’re pleased to bring you a refresher on this awesome collectible and who better to do a picture review than Monte?!
Check out the full gallery below, then join us after the jump for Monte’s review of this BEAST of a Vehicle!
Monte Williams says
Acid Rain: Stronghold
Full image gallery can be seen here - Acid Rain Stronghold ST-1 Marine Quad Eyes 303rd Division Review
Setting all critical objectivity and ironic detachment aside, Roger Ebert began his review of 1999’s Being John Malkovich with a giddy cheer: “What an endlessly inventive movie this is!”
That’s roughly how I feel about the Acid Rain Stronghold.
I spent the better part of three hours in the Snake River Canyon with this transcendent toy, posing it in the mud and atop rocks and on the precarious edges of towering cliffs, and just when I thought I had discovered every hidden panel and unexpected swivel and joint of articulation, this delightful transforming beast would surprise me yet again.
At its core, the Stronghold is a mech with an alt-mode of an armored tank. There are two ways to access the cockpit: the turret bubble opens, as does a large panel at the front. There is plenty of space to accommodate your G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Marvel Universe figures, or whatever 1:18 figures you recruit to drive the stronghold. (Hellboy’s shoulders are too wide, alas).
As noted above, there are several panels and such which flip open, one of which hides the battery compartment, which presumably lights up the “cockpit” area, although I have not obtained the batteries necessary to find out for certain.
One such panel on each arm reveals footpegs, although unfortunately they appear to be just barely too large for modern-era G.I. Joe figures, and yet substantially smaller than required for a vintage G.I. Joe figure. (Edit: I have seen many photos of Joe figures held firmly in place by these footpegs, so apparently I am simply inept).
Most notably, the panels on the “hands” open to reveal the missiles that give the Stronghold one of its nicknames: “4 Eyes”. There is no spring-activated or electronic method of firing these missiles; they simply rest in their respective slots. (They also fall from said slots if you foolishly carry your Stronghold along the canyon rim with the panels open, as I quickly discovered).
Any hidden compartment remains hidden whenever you wish it to be; just as the Stronghold can hold surprisingly strained poses on the most demanding, uneven terrain, its many opening, moving parts remain firmly closed when not in use.
Put simply: there is not a single loose or floppy component on this toy. Having put it through its paces in the most rough-and-tumble manner possible, I am uniquely equipped to sing the praises of the Stronghold’s construction and durability.
For all its sturdiness and solidity, however, the most rewarding feature of the Stronghold might be its aesthetic. It is obviously a menacing mechanical hulk, but the turret bubble suggests a certain retrofuture quaintness that is rather charming. Indeed, notwithstanding the modern sensibility and the convincing “weathered” effect supplied by the astonishingly subtle paint applications (not to mention the general sense of post-apocalyptic despair the toy evokes), the Stronghold's tank form (and its streamlined, largely intuitive transformation) calls to mind such satisfyingly simple designs as Transformers Animated's Bulkhead and the unimaginatively named “Tank”, from the vintage Go-Bots series of the 1980s. I even detect a subtle suggestion of that most menacing and aggressive of robots: Conky 2000.
The first time I transformed the stronghold into its mech or robot mode, I was surprised to find that I felt a mild preference for the armored tank alt-mode. (“Surprising” because I am the type of fellow who buys a Transformer and never bothers with its alt-mode; I find robots more compelling than vehicles). With the toy in-hand, I initially felt that the robot mode was perhaps too blocky. However, once I started properly posing the robot and placing G.I. Joe figures inside it and posing it alongside Indiana Jones and Hellboy figures, I discovered that it can accomplish poses and stances far more naturalistic than one would anticipate based on its heavy-duty, decidedly non-streamlined design. Once the time came to revert the Stronghold to its armored tank alt-mode, I suffered a brief sense of deflation because I had grown so attached to the mech/robot mode. The Stronghold, then, is that rarest of treats: a transforming toy of which one can honestly say, “Its best mode is whichever one I happen to be using.”
I’d like to briefly address the packaging. Unfortunate typos and broken English aside, OriToys has put together a beautiful, layered, inviting piece of art with which to safely store the Stronghold. I am inordinately pleased that the Acid Rain logo is embossed on the Styrofoam tray inserts, and the enclosed instruction sheet/catalog offers gorgeous illustrations of the Stronghold and other Acid Rain vehicles.
I am a toy enthusiast who truly could not care less about toy packaging, and yet, having freed my Stronghold from its box, I reverently replaced the Styrofoam trays in their box and the box in its sleeve. That’s the highest praise I can offer.
While I have only given the Acid Rain storyline a cursory glance, it seems rather intriguing. Admittedly, the narrative justification could be My Little Pony for all I care, but nonetheless it is refreshing to see intimations of a fully formed story behind the toys.
Still, I prefer to let the toy tell its own tale. Accordingly, here are some of the story notions that occurred to this nerd whilst posing and studying the Stronghold:
Hellboy discovers the Stronghold deep within the ruins of a castle; presumably it was an experimental (and possibly supernatural) craft of the Nazis, boasting a terrible engine driven in equal parts by electricity and demonic hubris. Fun!
Or perhaps Crimson Asp retrieves the Stronghold from the motor pool of decommissioned Cobra mechs. More interesting still: maybe the Stronghold was with her during the ill-fated mission that cost her an eye.
I forgot to photograph him, but I can also envision Matt Trakker studying the Stronghold during a mournful visit to the shuttered HQ of the long-defunct Mobile Armored Strike Kommand.
With the new Collector Club Convention exclusives on the horizon, it’s fun to imagine a stubborn veteran of Eco Force eschewing the glossy new vehicles for “this here beauty that helped me survive Cesspool’s early-‘90s tantrums and The Compound Z Incident”.
For the purposes of my collection and the ongoing story that unspools in my mind in response to children’s playthings, the Stronghold will most frequently appear in an Adventure Team context. I see a grizzled former commander of a celebrated Adventure Team unit planning an expedition that will take him across a desert and deep beneath the surface of the ocean.
Or perhaps the Stronghold rusts, abandoned and forgotten in some dark, neglected corner of The Venture Compound.
It has been a pleasure to explore and photograph this kickass toy. I will no doubt be photographing G.I. Joes in the canyon again next weekend, so if you have any requested combinations (or any questions, for that matter), please don't hesitate to ask!
New Portraits and Edits:
pig iron grenadier says
Wow, Monte.....so awesome! Thanks for the pics and review...
CrimsonGuard101 says
Super awesome pics and scenery! Just still not feeling this for my joe verse. Its just too blocky and uneventful for the price it will demand.
C.I.A.D. says
Absolutely amazing, Monte. I again can't thank you enough for telling the Acid Rain story through your eyes (or photo lens for that matter).
Your review is so eloquent and it speaks so well to the piece itself. I'd like to ask you a very open and honest question that others have asked me:
In regards to sturdiness/durability, would you say that it's a solid piece that can withstand your style of photo shoot, or is a piece better left to a few photos here & there and promptly placed on a shelf?
Again man, AMAZING!
Noga87 says
Amazing review and artful photos (as always). Thanks for taking your time to to do this.
Monte Williams says
Again man, AMAZING!
Thanks so much for the opportunity.
In regards to sturdiness/durability, would you say that it's a solid piece that can withstand your style of photo shoot, or is a piece better left to a few photos here & there and promptly placed on a shelf?
Now that is a toy that needs to stay on the shelf... preferably behind grass... perhaps resting on a pillow. She looks great, but every time you touch her some piece breaks off. Her swords are all broken, two or three pieces of armor are lost 'cause they toppled off at a gentle touch.
This hobby for me is all about durable toys. I barely have a display at all; while I am lucky enough to have an entire room set aside for toys, it is a disaster. You can barely walk across the floor, 'cause it's covered in figures and accessories and parts. If I have a toy in my hand and I'm indoors, I am kitbashing it.
But most of the time I don't even go into my toy room, 'cause I'm all about being outdoors and taking photos. Someone expressed shock when I took a Hot Toys figure outdoors, but my justification was simple:
Any toy I get must endure the same rough treatment my G.I. Joes endure every weekend.
Now "rough" is relative; I do my best to take care of them, of course. But I place a dozen or so figures unceremoniously in a plastic tub and hold it under my arm while I climb on rocks for two or three hours.
Which is all my bloated, long-winded way of saying:
The Stronghold is solid.
Justin Bell contacted me earlier today, before the review was published, and asked basically the same thing. Here's my response:
To answer your concern, the thing is seriously durable; I transformed it into robot mode a few days ago, and it wasn't until I had it in the canyon and had taken all the robot-mode photos that I realized I hadn't brought the instructions with me! (I'm not the most intuitive navigator of Transformers). At one point in my attempt to transform it back into tank mode, I turned something the wrong way, and quite a bit the wrong way, and yet it held up fine. Best of all, there are bits that clip together subtly to make the tank form more stable, so it's not floppy or anything in the least.
Or, put more simply, just consider that I had the thing outdoors on rocks and mud and cliffs for two or three hours and it's none the worse for wear.
wertdog91 says
Awesome review Monte. And may I say, you are a master of Plastic Crack Photography
Monte Williams says
I'd also like to address a few of the comments from the teaser thread.
It was gonna be hard for you to get any more respect for what you are capable of, but monte, sir, friend, you have done it.
a-maze-ing.
my only regret is that you are a thousand miles away, so that I might visit, and see how you do this first hand.
Thank you so much, bro. Your constant kindness and support is very much appreciated!
Actually, that does sound like Monte...
Thanks again, everyone, for the kind words, and thank you C.I.A.D. and OriToy for the awesome opportunity!
Monte Williams says
Pathless says
DAMN! where do you buy the acid rain figs? Where? anyone. thanks!
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