The Gears of War line from NECA has seen some fantastic advances in only two short years. The newly released Series 5 delivers the best of those advances along with some of the best sculpts yet, including two new fan favorite characters
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First up in series 5 are two retooled characters. The new COG soldier released features, by far, the best articulation of any Gears figure yet. The combination of great balance and joints allows for countless poses. NECA has also corrected a flaw in every basic COG armor sporting figure so far, when the figure is standing in a casual, upright position, his various hip straps finally line up. Even without that tiny detail fixed, this would have been a must have figure. It was a nice detail for them to catch and correct. Many fans are already clamoring for a similar upgrade for the previous two unique COG troop types along with Baird, Kim and, despite his custom armor, Cole as well.
The second retool is one of two new Locusts in series 5, the Beast Rider Grenadier. The re-used (appropriately) Grenadier body now sports the Beast rider helmet. Every helmet in the Gears line gets stellar detail and paint apps, the Grenadier's is no exception. Its a mean looking (and seemingly blinding) bulk plating are battered and riveted together with a good wash to bring it all together. The Grenadier body is otherwise the same. Its a beautiful sculpt but his hands can make for difficult and awkward weapon handling. It would be nice to get some hand variations in future versions of this figure. Currently, only the Gnasher shotgun fits comfortably and even then, its hard to make them aim at anyone. Since most will end up posed on a shelf, this is hardly a major issue, but still something NECA might consider toying with.
Joining the COG command ranks this wave, is the hard as nails on a winter's day Colonel Victor S. Hoffman. This figure has similar armor design to Marcus but doesn't seem to be composed of too many reused parts. Hoffman seems a bit thinner, which is appropriate for his age. It is someone ironic that Hoffman and Marcus share such similar tastes in battle armor, but that's something only hardcore fans would notice or appreciate. Hoffman's head is brilliantly brought to life with realistic wrinkles that show his age in a highly realistic fashion. Many figures of elderly characters end up with severe, Yoda level wrinkle depth. Hoffman's sculptor brought a light hand to the carving that really shows the care NECA takes in adding that realistic tone to all of their products. Most of Hoffman's articulation matches the current Marcus body style. His breast plate pouches can get in his way when trying to pose him, but they're from the original design so it's not as though NECA could skip them. In every way, NECA delivers an exceptional figure of one of the baddest Gears characters not listed on Delta Squad's roster. Fans can only hope this branch will extend to the likes of Anya Stroud (Comic Con 2010 exclusive possibly?) and eventually to characters like Dizzy, Tai and everyone's favorite (novel exclusive) granny.
The series 5 line up only contains four figures in order to keep costs down and allow NECA to release the long awaited Locust Boomer at regular retail price. That price comes with some sacrifice on the part of fans however. As the slide show below depicts, the Boomer, thought to be around seven or eight feet tall by many, ends up standing at around the same height as the Locust Grenadier. While impressively large in girth, the Boomer is sorely lacking in height and could easily be a head taller. As the slide show pic below displays, the packaging for the Boomer is what may cause this sacrifice to be even more obvious to fans. The Boomer is packaged with his Boomshot beneath him, covered by the character specific, in bubble banner which also happens to obscure where his feet end. This gives the impression that the Boomer will loom over your other figures. With the packaging being so misleading, many are left to wonder if NECA was trying everything they could to hide the fact that the Boomer is simply not big enough.
Its a hard throw such a gripe at NECA since they're obviously doing their absolute best to deliver fans as many figures as possible at prices that suit the economy. Appreciated though that may be, many fans would no doubt be fine with paying a few bucks extra to get full scale renditions of favorites like the Boomer, RAAM or even Cole, who (in figure form) is the smallest Delta member height wise when he's a head taller than everyone in game. With November's Bioshock Big Daddy being released at retail for around $20, it is slightly odd that the Boomer was not given a similar treatment. RAAM could have also benefited from that price point, allowing for extra height, girth and an appropriately scaled blade.
All controversy over an inch or so aside, the Boomer is absolutely, positively the baddest Locust yet. His sculpt is astounding. The fact that, despite his height, NECA managed to release the figure they did at standard retail price is impressive. From head to toe, there has not yet been a Gear or Locust with this much detail. His face is a finely carved maze of cracks and wrinkles and if one looks close enough at the tiny eye, set way back in the massive socket, they will see that his eye sports a perfectly painted pupil so small its positively mind blowing. One of the better, yet grosser, details taken into account on the rotund Boomer's body is the dual hip fat lumps squishing every so slightly between his pants and back armor plates. Other details of note include tons of tiny teeth, subtle paint shifts in the face, solid weathering in both sculpt and paint and then of course, there's the Boomshot. The Boomshot is captured in all of its grand, destructive glory with large bits of a faded red, scratches and wear while staring down the barrel reveals subtle orange/yellow luminescence of the ready to blast weapon. Overall, the Boomer is likely to become every fans' new favorite Locust.
Aside from the endless size debate it will have to bear, series 5 is a great entry for the line that increases the ranks of both sides of the brutal struggle for survival on planet Sera. Customizers too impatient to wait for official retools of Baird, Kim and the other COG troopers can find a quick fix by scooping up a plethora of series 5 COG soldiers and popping some fairly standard head swaps. On top of all that, Colonel Hoffman has hit ground.
Next year is likely to bring some great new figures (Boomer variations!) and for anyone not already caught up, now is the perfect time.
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