REVIEW: SDCC13 Exclusive DESTRUCTOR & GENDER BENDER Deluxe Set

[JeffSaylor]

Ultimate Robot Fighting With Toynami Futurama Figures...

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A San Diego Comic-Con exclusive from Toynami this year was a deluxe set featuring Destructor, our favorite bending unit, Bender as the Gender Bender. Destructor, also known as “The Gizmo from Pismo” faces the tut-wearing “Gender Bender for the Ultimate Robot Fighting League title at Madison Cube Garden.

Collectors may recall a previous Destructor figure exclusive, but this one comes with a first time appearance of Gender Bender. The box falls in line with all the other Futurama releases with colorful art on all sides and bios on the back.

The Gender Bender uses the same basic Bender mold with a few add-ons, such as a blonde wig of hair and the pink tutu that says “The Gender Bender” on the front. The same points of articulation as the previous Bender apply here with neck, bendy arms and bendy legs. No longer a feature is the opening stomach compartment to store things.

Bender also comes with a wand and three pairs of eyes that can be swapped out with other Bender releases as well. It’s probably Bender’s greatest toy feature.

Destructor is a tall massive figure at just about 12”. The sculpt is great: blocky but cartoonish at the same time. The paint applications on Destructor are also pretty decent, with solid black lines in the cracks to highlight the sculpt.

The massive Destructor also has some limited articulation which is a shame because it would be fun to recreate some of those wrestling moves, but he’s basically a very pretty display piece. The Gizmo from Pismo can move his neck, arms, wrists, legs and feet, but since he’s pretty limited in his stance positions, it doesn’t do much good.

Destructor & Gender Bender was priced at $65 and may be the last official release of any Futurama action figures in a while. There are talks of an official Kick Starter to get figures like Morbo off the ground but it’s already September and nothing has materialized.

As a Futurama fan, $65 didn’t seem like too much to pay for a massive robot and a boy/girl robot but I won’t lie that I wish the price was significantly lower. These are great looking figures nonetheless but I just hope it’s not the end.

Review and Photography by David Yeh

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