Plastic Imagination Rise of the Beasts Cahriv - Metallic Black Scorpion with Orange Paint Plastic Imagination, 2014
Day #1,050: November 12, 2014
Cahriv - Metallic Black Scorpion with Orange Paint Or, Cahriv
Rise of the Beasts Wave 1 Figure
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:Plastic Imagination Includes:n/a Action Feature:n/a Retail: est. $7.00 each Availability:November 15, 2014 Other: Nifty, get this one
One of the advantages of covering small lines is that the people behind them, at times, are super cool and will sell figures to the press early. The Cahriv - Metallic Black Scorpion with Orange Paint is the only painted Scorpion on sale to the general public, but there are a grand total of five of this guy so far. There's a gold promo figure (reviewed here) in addition to an unpainted flesh figure, an unpainted black metallic figure, plus two more mail-away figures - a silver figure with painted bits, and a black figure with painted bits. They're pretty stunning.
So of the 6 Scorpions, 4 should be pretty easy to get - the line has 12 total mass-produced Glyos-compatible figures in the first drop and each figure stands just higher than a regular Battle Beasts figure at 60mm tall. They're all very nice. The regular releases are nice and the black plastic figures with silver highlights are really nice.
Jon Karis told me the name of the Scorpion is "Cahriv," but that line wasn't on the shop page - so I made sure to use both names here. Like most figures out of the Glyos factory, there are no copyright markings. The head is much easier to see now that it's painted - there are gritted teeth, three green eyes, and three orange eyes. The tail, shoulders, and thighs are painted orange, plus there's a little square homage on the chest that will not fit a rubsign. It sort of looks like one, though.
Each Scorpion pincer is pretty big - while the Rhino can hold 3mm weapons (LEGO, Transformers Cyberverse, Battle Beasts, Beast Saga) the Scorpion's openings are bigger. It's not a stretch to fit a 5mm weapon in there, although they're a little big for these guys. A Glyos peg fits in there pretty much perfectly, if you happen to have spare Banimon or Glyan weapons handy. No weapons are included - such is the way of things with most Glyos toys - so hopefully we'll see a weapons pack down the road.
The shoulders, neck, tail, and waist are articulated which gives them a small leg up over a few of the beast lines. Due to their smaller size, the heads aren't of much value to other Glyos-compatible figures from the Four Horsemen or Onell Design, but the overall quality is pretty good. Any toy collector has probably seen one or two dark plastic figures with light paint applications, where the plastic comes through because the light paint wasn't spread evenly and appropriately. That is not a problem here - the orange covers everything nicely, and the white teeth are nice and bright... presumably just like a real cyborg scorpion. Most regular (read: not Horsemen) Glyos-compatible figures have one or two colors of paint on them, plus maybe a tampo. These guys have 3, but probably could benefit from a fourth. The feet look a little plain, and there's a little cybernetic bit around the Scorpion's green eyes that is hard to make out with the dark plastic. Given these are low run figures made for a tiny group of toy snobs, though, they're pretty great.
I wouldn't suggest you buy the entire line, and thanks to a mail-in offer you are unlikely to be able to do that. The very best figures are available randomly with 10 proofs-of-purchase (none were in my order as I just happened to do enough whining to get the mail-in figures), but the main painted releases of the Scorpion and the Rhino are probably close to the best for the money. As of this weekend I am expecting 8 figures to go on sale, which should set you back about $38 before shipping. It's not dirt cheap, but it's close - a MUSCLE-colored pair, a gold pair, and a black metallic pair are both pretty nifty. I don't know that I need more scorpion figures, but if they make one that glows in the dark or glows under black light (like the real thing) I'm absolutely interested. For an indie figure line over two years in the making it's quite satisfying to see the deliverables, and at prices that are a tiny bit lower than I'd have guessed. If you like the quality of Glyos and the look of these guys, buy yourself a pair. You'll dig it.
--Adam Pawlus
Additional Images
Additional Rise of the Beasts November 2014 Images
16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal. We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.
RSS 
