Pre-Order the Blanks at BossFightShop – Either Female or Male!
As 2016 comes to a close, we celebrate the year of Vitruvian HACKS, a year full of thrilling new product, exciting new directions, and a rainbow’s worth of customizing blanks that continue to appear and impress.
Along with all of the vibrant colors of said rainbow, a short while ago Boss Fight Studio released their long awaited Transparent Blanks, figures produced in crystal clear colors providing a wealth of great opportunities for new characters or interesting combinations. I’ve checked out and reviewed many different colors of blanks throughout the year, but these Transparent Blanks have to be at the top of my favorites list…something about these clear figures is just too cool for words.
I’ve never really been infatuated with clear figures as some other folks are, but I can appreciate a unique design aesthetic when I see it, and these figures certainly have it. What’s especially cool is that the majority of the interior of these figures is also produced in clear plastic, so the effect of the figure is really remarkable. Obviously you do see the metal screw, but they manage to make the rest of the figure quite clear, which looks even more amazing once you start equipping the figures with gear.
While the ghostly clear look on its own is impressive in its own right, the figures really shine once armor starts being applied and you get a very spirit-like vibe with armor that appears to just float there in mid air. The result is characters that look almost supernatural.
Leveraging the different variations of translucent accessories also lends some amazingly cool looks to these clear figures, showing layers of opaqueness that really pop among more traditionally decoed and designed figures. The look of these clear figures is truly impressive, and I end up loving this blanks quite a bit. I may end up picking up quite a few more of these along the way, I can think of tons of creative uses for them.
Each blank comes with three heads, three sets of feet (boots, bare, and sandals), two sets of hands (one jointed forward/back, one jointed side-to-side) and the footpeg to help them stand. I could actually see someone producing a full line of just blanks, the fact that Vitruvian HACKS offers them as compliments to a full blown universe and toyline is absolutely amazing.
I really enjoy the way the multitude of transparent figures are coming together and make for a great group of supernatural beings supporting the Gods and bringing the battle to the Gorgon Horde!
When it was first conceived and revealed, the Skeleton was promised to be able to work with existing HACKS armor and fit nicely into the HACKS universe, but this is the first time the figure has been used within the confines of a retail release, and I’m happy to say, their first foray into mainstream Skeleton use is a raging success.
It’s funny, though, because as excellent the skeleton is, Boss Fight Studio still manages to simply use that as a bony canvas to establish their true artistic embellishments, and the fact that the base figure is a skeleton at all is more of a side note than the main topic of the review.
Don’t get me wrong, the skeleton is terrific, a great shade of crazy green (much like the Unearthly Green accessory pack, but not quite as neon), contrasting with an exceptional shade of metallic purple. The colors here are reminiscent of other agents of Hades, though the bio here labels the Skeleton as a soldier of Persephone, not Hades, although Persephone is the wife of Hades, it’s not established in the character’s story whether their armies are aligned.
The green and purple are a great contrast, and one that is well established throughout character design as being complimentary colors. That is no exception here. The dark and metallic shine of purple paint on the torso armor and leg armor looks spectacular, capturing the light and retaining an exceptionally cool metal look. The purple is balanced by light green and black trim, which only accentuates the great metallic colors of the armor, helmet and weapons.
The skeleton base figure remains a cool aspect of the Vitruvian HACKS figure line, with great articulation and a surprisingly durable sculpt. My figure didn’t have any limb warping and held all poses surprisingly well with the armor layered on top. The leg armor was placed on with spacers (the same spacers included in the single releases of the Skeleton figures) and stayed in place remarkably well.
Intricacies of the paint apps are present on the skeleton itself, too, with some really intriguing detail lines on the skull (they almost look like claw marks) to match the streaks on the armor. It’s a really neat detail.
I love that Boss Fight is integrating the skeleton base figure within the confines of regular retail release figures. Between this one the Warrior Skeleton rumored to be coming in Wave 7, pretty soon we should be seeing more and more skeletons making their way into the further reaches of the Vitruvian HACKS story. I’m okay with this.
Accessories
The Cursed Skeleton comes with the great armor, leg armor, and helmet, as well as two swords, his spear, and a terrific shield. Like they’ve done with many other releases, Boss Fight Studio put a terrific deco on the shield looking like a ghostly skull face, circled by sword scrapes and slashes. He also comes with the clasps for his feet on the stand and the requisite spacers for his armor.
It’s a testament to how well Boss Fight Studio has designed these figures that the Cursed Skeleton manages to slide pretty seamlessly into the collective Vitruvian HACKS army. He’s a great base figure (I love that green!) but what really sets him off is the terrific metallic purple armor and accessories. I love the Cursed Skeleton and he makes for another awesome addition to the ever increasing undead army.
Cursed Skeleton
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.5
Summary
Their first attempt at integrating the skeleton base figure into a normal story-based release, I’m happy to say the Cursed Skeleton is excellent. They manage to build upon a greatly colored skeleton figure and make the entire figure excellent with metallic purple armor, black trim, and all sorts of interesting complimentary deco throughout. A really great figure.
Pre-Order the Blanks at BossFightShop – Either Female or Male!
While fans of Vitruvian HACKS wait patiently for the fifth wave of Greek Mythology figures to hit, Boss Fight Studio is continuing to release more product, most recently a new color of Blank figures, Green. Unlike some of the other selections, there doesn’t appear to be any fancy names for this color, it’s just flat out “green” but that’s okay, it’s the figure itself that’s the shining point.
As with all previous blanks, there are female and male selections of this green color, and the design expertise of Boss Fight Studio continues to be at play with the shade of green they use here. It’s a rich and vibrant color, perfect for any number of customs, whether you want to add another Gorgon to your roster, or consider developing some new Emerald Knights to your super hero shelf.
There are some great color combinations available with the green blanks as there are with many others, including black and the Unearthly Green, which adds some real intriguing brightness to the flat, muted tone underneath.
One might think that these green blanks are the same shade as some existing figures, most notably Medusa (both the post and pre-curse variety) but the color hues are just different enough to add some nice variety. They can exist alongside Medusa and still stand out on their own. With the Berzerker Gorgon on the way, and existing green Gorgons already relatively plentiful, the green blank adds some fantastic flexibility to existing parts and allows for some great mixing and matching for new color combinations.
Each blank comes with three heads, three sets of feet (boots, bare, and sandals), two sets of hands (one jointed forward/back, one jointed side-to-side) and the footpeg to help them stand. I could actually see someone producing a full line of just blanks, the fact that Vitruvian HACKS offers them as compliments to a full blown universe and toyline is absolutely amazing.
Pre-Order the Blanks at BossFightShop – Either Female or Male!
Not one to sit on their haunches, the folks at Boss Fight Studio have been following up their initial Kickstarter release with a pretty steady stream of great new product. High on the list of that product are some great new colors of Blanks, including Cloud White!
The Cloud White Blank is a vibrant and excellent shade of white, another example of the subtle color expertise from the Boss Fight crew.
Both blanks (the male and female) come with the same heads, hands, and feet as the previous iterations, and what’s really cool about the white color is the sense of it being a “template” for customizers. While the other blanks are appealing in their own way using their default colors, the white blank gives a real sense of an empty page or a blank slate that can be used to do whatever you might want. It’s a really cool look.
Along with that, the figure looks fantastic with Bone White accessories, looking almost spectral, and also counter-balances beautifully with black, red, or hell, pretty much any other color imaginable. White really does go with anything.
I was one of those people who was excited for the character figures, but grabbed all the Blanks mostly because they were part of the bargain. Little did I know just how infatuated I would be with the Blanks on their own and how much fun would be provided simply with the part swap nature of the featureless figures and awesome accessories.
For those of you who do not have the Cloud White Blank yet, GRAB IT… it’s an awesome template offering a wealth of great opportunities for customs and part swaps. Plus it’s brand new and in the Boss Fight Shop right now.
Each blank also comes with three heads, three sets of feet (boots, bare, and sandals), two sets of hands (one jointed forward/back, one jointed side-to-side) and the footpeg to help them stand. I could actually see someone producing a full line of just blanks, the fact that Vitruvian HACKS offers them as compliments to a full blown universe and toyline is absolutely amazing.
It’s pretty astounding how well even the most basic of white Blank figures compliments the various accessory pack colors. Bone White accessories can create ivory statues, and the generic light color really works off of the other accessory packs nicely.
Okay, I approached these reviews a little differently. I wasn’t going to break down every individual blank or every individual skeleton or every individual accessory pack. That felt like overkill.
So instead, I’ve framed these reviews at a more high level, looking at these three elements conceptually, with how well I think they were executed overall. There are no real review scores for the blanks or accessories, and while I did use one for the skeletons, I’m not sure it really works.
None of these are individual characters, nor are they really designed to come with accessories, and the paint applications are purposefully simplified, so it didn’t feel appropriate to judge the success of these items on those prerequisites. That being said, I still took a ton of pictures and gave my opinions on the themes as a whole. They’re all posted on the Vitruvian HACKS Review Page or you can check them out individually below.
