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.
And, so, here we are. The infamous Boss Fight Studio Skeletons.
Aside from Medusa, the Skeletons felt like one of the main focuses of the Kickstarter, a fully functional, fully articulated, fully in 1:18 scale Skeleton figure that looked as if it crawled from the corpse of a 4” figure, yet still managed to pose like one.
Honestly, many folks had their doubts that it could be done. Even with the decades of toy design experience Boss Fight has, they were attempting something that not even global toy brand powerhouses have been able to pull off.
Would it work?
Does it work?
Oh hell yeah it does.
Every time I’m sure I’m prepared to extol the virtues of these great action figures, I remember something else. First it was the fact that even just the human skull itself makes for an awesome prop (and actually has a movable jaw!). Second it was remembering that the Skeletons themselves could also be disassembled like the blanks and reassembled in different ways. Third it was the realization that the Skeletons were skinny enough to look realistic, but just bulky enough for armor to fit in key places. Fourth it was DOUBLE JOINTED KNEES ON A FRIGGEN SKELETON. Then I started to lose count. From the different colors to the amazing sculpting on the bones, these figures are really amazing to look at.
Now, the pieces are thin. Like pretty thin. But throughout my review, I wasn’t exactly gentle, and considering I had almost 20 of the things sitting in front of me, I certainly posed them, removed parts, and swapped things around quite a bit, and I’m happy to say, all of my Skeletons remain completely in one piece.
Incredibly, even as skinny as they are, they retain ball joints in the shoulders and hips, very poseable elbow joints, moveable wrists, ball joint neck, base of the spine, double-jointed knees, and at the ankles. These things can move like freaking crazy. They are light as a feather, yet seem to hold up to reasonable punishment.
Now obviously you need to be reasonable. The plastic is thinner than the normal standard figures, and the joints are a bit smaller as well, so take the proper care and attention, and don’t be afraid to use a hair dryer when swapping limbs around.
Obviously if you’re going to be swapping hands around and removing limbs, take some care and apply some heat! That will ensure that the material has enough “flex” to allow for things to be removed and replaced without fear of breakage.
The Skeletons come in white, black, yellow and translucent purple, with a surprise bonus hot pink one as a free gift to supporters who had to wait a little while for the product to be done. Each color is gorgeously chosen, and if you want to go “full bone” a light dark wash will truly bring out some amazing detail on the white and yellow versions.
Personally, I find myself in love with the purple ones. Ever since the release of the Eternal Struggle 2-Pack I’ve become infatuated with Hades and his crew, and these purple skeletons are the perfect compliment to the Undead Warrior from that 2 Pack. Toss in some Tartarus Guards (and pink Skeletons to go with them) and you’re quickly amassing an awesome pink/purple army for the God of the Underworld to set loose upon the world.
I will say one of my purple Skeletons did come through pretty bow-legged, I’m thinking mostly due to the material of the plastic that’s used to make transparent figures. I applied some heat and reshaped the legs somewhat, and it seems to be a lot better.
Each Skeleton comes with a footpeg and a series of clear plastic devices that seem a little strange if you don’t know what you’re looking for. The two curved pieces have holes on the bottom and plug into the battle stand so that the Skeleton can use the stand more effectively. Obviously his bony little foot is too narrow to get a peg hole in there, so these clasps make for an excellent work around.
Along with those two items are four different “spacers”. These spacers can hook into various places on the Skeleton’s narrow frame to allow for larger armor pieces to fit snugly without moving around. Most of the female armor slides right on with no issues, but if you want larger male armor (especially leg armor) to work, you need to clip on a spacer to fill in some of the gaps.
Boss Fight truly thought of everything. These skeletons are a hell of a lot of fun, and add yet another intriguing dimension to a toyline which is already completely full of intriguing dimensions. There are so many things to love about Vitruvian HACKS and it seems like as I push through these reviews I continue to be amazed and surprised by what I find.
A final note about this review… I’m not sure I’m giving this figure appropriate credit and he doesn’t really jive with my format for reviews. He ended up with 4 Stars, but when you look at what had to be overcome with the overall structure and durability of a human skeleton, what Boss Fight did with this figure is completely and truly remarkable, and deserves far more credit than my review score can accurately depict.
These figures are a ton of fun.
Vitruvian HACKS Skeleton
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4
Summary
If I wasn’t holding it in my hand I wouldn’t have believed it, but I can vouch for the fact that these skeletons manage to be functional, aesthetically pleasing, fun, well articulated, and customizable! It’s a trifecta of coolness from the Boss Fight Studios Vitruvian HACKS line. It’s tough to portray how much I love these with my review scores, since I do focus on character and accessories, but trust me when I say these things are SWEET.
Like the Gorgon, the Spartan is produced in a somewhat milky color to represent the glow in the dark look and feel of these supernatural characters. The build for the spectral Spartan is much like the others, only with a bald head.
The pale color of his skin is offset by a somewhat orange look to his armor and leg guards (as well as the helmet) which breaks up the base color quite nicely and adds a nice spark of interesting detail, even without actually glowing in the dark. In fact, I think as a whole, the Spartan is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the Gorgon, the combination of light yellow and red complimenting each other much better than the other half of the two pack.
The plastic here feels quite a bit more solid, too, not quite as soft as the Gorgon, so I feel more comfortable posing and displaying this figure. There’s a certain feel to the translucent figures that is actually really fun. The joints feel like they move a lot more freely and they feel far more playable, and even though these figures aren’t translucent, I notice some similarities here, too.
I did run some scientific field tests on the glow in the dark functionality with these figures, and I was pretty pleased with the results. All told, the Spartan looks cool standing on the shelf in regular light, and he glows really nicely in the dark as well, once those lights go off. It’s a very cool effect.
Accessories
The Spartan comes pretty well loaded with nice gear, all in the same great semi-see through red color. A shield, two swords, and two battle axes make for a great arsenal, plus the normal helmet and armor all combines together to give us a really nicely equipped glow in the dark Spartan Warrior who is a lot of fun in the light and in the dark.
Yes, glow in the dark is a gimmick, but Boss Fight did their best to try and walk the line between gimmick and a great figure. With the Gorgon I felt like they tipped a little close to the “gimmick” side, but with the Spartan they seem to have struck a near perfect balance between the two. I like this figure a lot.
Afterlife Spartan
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
3.6
Summary
A very cool looking spectral version of the Spartan Warrior complete with astral looking milky skin complimented by a really cool pale orange armor compliment. The translucent red weapons also look great, and he comes with some really nice gear. I’m always a fan of the axe, and seeing the axe in a cool supernatural red is even better. He holds up more solidly than the Gorgon in this 2 pack and is a lot more fun to play with as well.
