Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Action Figure Review: Ruck from Final Faction by Greenbrier International

 

   If you can't tell from my reviews on the site, I'm a pretty big fan of Greenbrier International's Final Faction line. I didn't start reviewing them until January but I'd been picking up all of the releases in the line since early 2021 (they first came out at the end of 2020) and I think it's time I go back and fill in some gaps in my review coverage. The nice thing about Final Faction is that Greebrier International  seems to still be producing every figure in the line, so you can conceivably go into a Dollar Tree or Family Dollar and find every figure you're looking for. New figures tend to trickle out but everyone released in 2020 and 2020 is still pretty easy to find as new cases are still arriving. Today I'm going to check out one of the first series Alpha Team 1: Sergeant Ruck. Ruck is Austrian and is a ground artillery specialist for Alpha Team 1. While he's not wearing yellow, he does kind of remind me of Jake Rockwell from Centurions since he's sort of a mobile human tank. Need someone to really bring some heat against the Kharn? Ruck is your guy! Let's check him out after the break...


 
The Facts:
 
Height: 3 7/8ths inches
 
Articulation: Swivel hips, swivel shoulders, and a swivel head.
 
Accessories: Mounted turret and ammo box. 
 
Year of Release: 2020
 
Original Retail Price: $1.00-$1.25 









The Positives:
 
 
* Ruck is wearing a pretty standard armored military outfit that wouldn't look out of place in Halo, G.I. Joe, or any other military fantasy/ sci-fi property. He appears to have a grey body suit on underneath some fairly sophisticated OD green armor. The bracers allow for additional gear to attach to Ruck while the chest armor has tubes and some various panels on it that perhaps provides additional protection and abilities in battle. Most of the paintwork is rather basic although Ruck's chest armor does have a metallic drybrushing effect that looks pretty good. It adds a lot of character and weathering to the armor.






 

 * Ruck's bots are really cool. They're armored and look more like the feet of a mech or some sort of walking tank rather than regular military boots.



 

* These are basic figures with five points of articulation. They're fairly sturdy and move well. They're simple but fun with a nostalgic appeal.









 

* Ruck comes with two accessories. the first is an ammunition box which can plug into Ruck's back or onto one of the ports on his arms. While there's no belt included, it's probably supposed to feed the mounted turret on his shoulder.






 

* And here's the turret. It's a simple piece with a plug on the side that can fit in the loop on Ruck's left shoulder or on either of his arms. In the cartoon it seems to be a machine gun of some sort which he presumably can aim using his eye piece.

 

* The shoulder mounter turret can rotate up and down while the ammo box can fit right on his pack. He looks pretty cool all geared up and, of course, you can purchase other accessory packs to give him even more goodies.



The Negatives:

* I wish the peg were movable or something as there's no way to move the turret to Ruck's right shoulder even though he has a mounting point there. That would have been really cool and I probably would have even bought a second figure to have two cannons for him.


 

* The weakest part of the line are the headsculpts. Ruck's isn't the worst (the headpiece is pretty cool) but his hairline is really badly painted and it kind of brings the whole thing down a bit.







   Ruck is one of the core team members and a fun figure to gear up with extra weapons from the accessory packs. I like his straight up military look and the mounted gun. It's quite cool and just one of those things I find myself really liking. He's a Good and a 1/2 figure. Not perfect by any means but for the $1 he originally came out at (now $1.25) he's fun enough. He might not win you over to Final Faction on his own but he's a solid figure who looks like he's ready to fight the Kharn. Probably good custom fodder, too. I could see Ruck hanging around with the Joe team, couldn't you?

 

This is the first figure of Ruck I've reviewed. For more Final Faction reviews check out the following: 
Amari   
Torn




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