Monday, March 30, 2020

Action Figure Review: Ruin from Fortnite: Legendary Series by Jazwares

    Ready for a review that's not Masters of the Universe related? Then let's check out Ruin from Jazwares' Fortnite: Legendary Series.  Ruin is an outfit from Fortnite that appeared in Season 8 and is part of the Ruination set. He's an armored warrior with lots of guns, so you would think that he would be a slam dunk in this line. I mean, every other figure in this series has been quite good, so why not a big armored warrior, right? Wrong. Folks, I gotta admit that Ruin is the first figure in this line that I just don't like. It's a real shame, too, because he has some of the coolest accessories in the line to date. Sigh. Let's see how Jazwares ruined Ruin after the break...




 The Facts:

Height: 6 inches

Articulation: Hinged toes, swivel/hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, thigh swivels, swivel/hinge hips, waist swivel, balljointed mid-torso, "butterfly" pecs, swivel/hinge shoulders, hinged shoulder pads, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged fingers, swivel/hinge head.

Accessories: Dread harvesting tool, Dying Light back bling, dynamite, heavy shotgun, Epic/ Legendary infantry rifle, and P90.

Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars

 The Positives:


* Design wise, Ruin has a pretty cool look to him that kind of reminds me of one of the Daedric warriors from The Elder Scrolls. Ruin is a completely new sculpt with an armored but organic appearance that is quite different from anything else we've seen so far in the Fortnite: Legendary Series.



* I do have some articulation problems with Ruin, which I'll get to in a minute, but for the most part he is still a durable action figure loaded with articulation. His legs, head, and torso have plenty of articulation, and most of his arms work quite well, too.


* Ruin's "Back Bling" is called Dying Light and it really looks to be a part of his armor or his exoskeleton rather than being a separate backpack. The red parts of the Dying Light are actually made from red, translucent plastic, which actually matches Ruin's in-game look quite well.


* Ruin's pickax is called Dread and it also pairs well with Ruin's armored look. It has a very angular, organic appearance that really gives it the appearance of a fantasy video game weapon. The head of Dread doesn't look truly like a skull, though it has some very skull like aesthetics. Is it supposed to slightly resemble a bird's skull perhaps?



 * Like the other figures in this most recent series, Ruin comes with dynamite. Why does everyone in this series include dynamite? Who knows! It's pretty cool to have a massive stash of 1/12th scale dynamite now, however.

 * Ruin has three of the best firearms in this toyline so far, the first of which looks like a SCAR MK20. This is an incredible looking battle rifle that with a great design and some really nice paint applications. In Fortnite, this is the Epic and Legendary version of the Infantry Rifle. I kind of wonder how many collectors interested in the upcoming G.I. Joe: Classified Series will be interested in some of the Fortnite rifles to augment their G.I. Joe team?


 * This SMG is the Epic and Legendary version of the standard Submachine Gun from the game. This looks like a very modified version of the FN P90 with a cool new paintjob. I've commented before that there's something about the design of these weapons that remind me of the weapon models from GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64, so here's a good old RCP90 for you!


* Last up is the heavy shotgun. I love this weapon! It looks to be sort of a hybrid of a few different shotgun designs, but the sculpted details, design, and the paint application of the six spare shells (three on each side) really is pretty awesome. Seriously, the weapons included with this guy are my favorite part of this figure.

 The Negatives:

* Ruin is supposed to look like a terrifying, unstoppable bringer of death. Instead, he looks like someone melted the head of one of the Cylons. This sculpt just isn't very crisp looking and, overall, it looks kind of dopey.



 * I really don't like the look of toy companies using pearlescent plastic to try to make figures look metallic, but that's what we got here. It makes him hard to photograph (seriously, this guy was tough) and it just looks kind of cheap. Hasbro has done an excellent job of making plastic look like metal, so I know it can be done!


* Ruin's biceps are frustrating. The curved spike on his shoulder comes down over the bicep, preventing them from turning. This definitely can hold his weapons two-handed. Heck, he can barely turn his arms. This was a poor design decision for sure.



 * I can barely get Ruin to hold his weapons. The hinged hands are still not working for me and I really hope Jazwares drops them in the future.



* Ruin is supposed to look like he's made out of metal with glowing orange light emitting from his body. That's not what we got here. Really, Ruin is a bit disappointment and doesn't play to Jazwares' strengths. He's not the worst figure ever made by any means, but he's quite weak for this line.

 Despite my complaints, Ruin is still a functional, durable toy with great accessories. He didn't break, and I'm sure kids would have fun with him, but he doesn't meet the quality of the other figures in this line. I'm still giving him a Good (which for me is a perfectly average rating) for those reasons, plus his accessories are top notch. He's definitely a figure that casual collectors of this line could skip, though. I don't think McFarlane Toys has put out Ruin yet but he seems like a figure that they would do really well with. For those of you who mix your Fortnite lines, you might want to wait for that release.


This is the first figure of Ruin I've reviewed on the site. For more figures from Jazwares' Fortnite: Legendary Series, check out the following:
Abstrakt
Beef Boss
Crackshot
DJ Yonder
Enforcer
Galaxy
Havoc
Jonesy
Leviathan
Molten Battle Hound
Omega: Max Level (Purple)
Peely
Rabbit Raider 
Ragnarok: Max Level
Raven
Rust Lord
Sentinel
Skull Trooper 
Skull Trooper (Purple Glow)
Tomatohead
Valkyrie
The Visitor 
Wild Card 

5 comments:

  1. He looks like Baron Karza from the MICRONAUTS comic book.

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    1. He does look a lot like Baron Karza, doesn't he? I had to look Baron Karza up as I'm not terribly familiar with Micronauts but, yeah, I wonder if there is some inspiration there? Fortnite definitely seems to draw from so many areas of pop culture s it wouldn't surprise me.

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  2. McFarlane and Epic Games are really crossing boundaries as far as other properties are concerned. Did you see the Fortnite Snake-Eyes? I'm surprised that Hasbro let them use one of their more popular characters (okay, technically Snake-Eyes is Larry Hama's character). Then again, Fortnite Snake-Eyes is a repaint of the exclusive Snake-Eyes so it's not like McFarlane or Jazwares made their own Snake-Eyes figure.

    On the other side of that, RetroBlasting once released a video before the G.I. Joe Classified line came out that lambasted the figures' designs as Fortnite meets Power Rangers meets G.I. Joe. The Fwoosh also joked that the Marvel Legends Gamerverse Captain America was Fortnite Captain America but that was a little more light-hearted than RetroBlasting's critique.

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    1. Now Hasbro has the Fortnite license for figures 6 inches and up so I imagine we'll see many more of the licensed characters from Fortnite (Star wars, Marvel, MMPR, and G.I. Joe) released in Hasbro's Fortnite: Victory Royale Series. Jazwares retains the license for figures under 6 inches and supposedly all this happens in 2022 although recent solicits for the first series from Hasbro seem to imply we'll see the first series this Fall.

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    2. I saw that news on a Fwoosh video. Part of me is disappointed that Jazwares lost the six-inch license for FORTNITE but part of me is curious to see Hasbro's approach to the franchise. I seem to recall someone saying that since Hasbro has the FORTNITE six-inch license that they can now swap guns between the FORTNITE and G.I. JOE CLASSIFIED figures.

      Speaking of G.I. JOE, there's been talk that Hasbro might eliminate the drop-down hips from the figures. That particular point of articulation was what made me reluctant to purchase any of the Joes and Cobras but if the drop-down hips go away, I think I might be interested in buying a six-inch Steel Brigade trooper (which isn't a far-fetched idea since there's Beach Head to use as a foundation).

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