You can’t say that McFarlane Toys doesn’t listen to their fans. What started off as a series of great licensed characters that were essentially plastic statues has fully morphed into a series of great licensed characters that are now fully articulated action figures. I’m talking about McFarlane’s Color Tops.
While the original Color Tops concept looked awesome on paper – and it did open the door for a variety of new licensed McFarlane figures – the reality was that collectors weren’t interested in static, individually numbered figures released in color coded waves. Fans weren’t collecting them all, but instead they were zeroing in on specific characters from specific licenses. And most of all, they wanted these figures to move.
To correct course, McFarlane Toys has not only radically increased the amount of articulation on each figure, but has scaled back the Color Tops branding to focus almost exclusively on the character’s license.
I first started to notice these changes with the April release of McFarlane’s Titanfall 2 Jester (read my review HERE). While the figure’s articulation wasn’t off the charts, it was a drastic improvement over last year’s Pilot Jack Cooper. With McFarlane’s newest Color Tops figure, Scott Ryder from the video game Mass Effect: Andromeda, all of McFarlane’s Color Tops changes are in place. The only indication that this is a Color Tops figure is the small blurb on the lower back corner of the box. Colorless Tops, perhaps? Call it what you will. All I need to know is that this is an awesome looking figure from Mass Effect.
Measuring 7-inches tall, Scott Ryder is pretty close to being in scale with the DC Unlimited/ Big Fish Mass Effect 3 figures. The irony is that the older Mass Effect figures are about as wooden as an old McFarlane Color Tops figure. This new Scott Ryder figure can actually move.
Armed with an X5 Ghost assault rifle, the Scott Ryder figure features tons of useful articulation allowing him to fire it one or two-handed. There’s ball-jointed shoulders, swivel/hinged elbows, swivel wrists, a ball socket in his upper torso (which replaces a waist joint for better aesthetics), swivel thighs, swivel/hinged knees, and slight back and forth rocker action in the ankles.
Another added bonus is the choice of two interchangeable head sculpts: with or without helmet. Not bad at all for a figure that retails for $19.99.
Color Tops sure have come a long way since their stiff introduction last fall. While I’m just happy to be getting some action figures from some of my favorite video games, I’ll be the first to admit that the extra articulation is very welcome. Mass Effect fans won’t want to miss out on this new figure of Scott Ryder, as well as his sister Sara. They are light years better than the DC/Big Fish figures we were lucky enough to get back in the day and some of McFarlane’s finest work to date.
Like McFarlane’s newly designed packaging, you’re best forgetting the Color Tops name all together. McFarlane’s new releases are simply cool-looking, fully articulated and accessorized action figures from today’s hottest licenses.
Scroll on for more photos!
Review and Photos by Jeff Saylor
Color Tops figure purchased by the reviewer.
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