The ABCs of 31 Days of Toy Terror: R is for Robot Reaper from The Worst Ultimates by Super7

 

   I reviewed the original "Midnight Special" variant of the ReAction Robot Reaper back in 2016 as part of the Re-Halloween festivities so it's kind of fitting that I'm reviewing the Ultimates version as part of 31 Days of Toy Terror. The ABCs of Toy Terror, more precisely, and today R stands for Robot Reaper. Robot Reaper is my favorite character of the series 1 The Worst crew and I'm really glad to have the Ultimates version. I actually forgot that I had preordered this guy directly from Super7 (though that was back in February of 2022) so he surprised me when he just showed up out of the blue at the end of September. I picked up the series 1 The Worst Ultimates last year but I wasn't overly impressed with them. They were nice looking and quite funny, but there were lots of weird little QC errors and stuff that was downgraded from the sales renders. How did Robot Reaper turn out? Let's find out the facte of this binary bad guy after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 6 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, swivel/hinge knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, ball jointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, swivel/ hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed neck base, and a barbell jointed head.

Accessories: 3 portraits, 8 swappable hands, robe, belt, scythe, floppy disk, Game Boy Color, scythe hand, and an hourglass. 

Non-Scalper Price: $55 dollars

The Positives:

* Underneath the robes the Robot Reaper is a mechanical skeleton. He kind of reminds me of a cross between a low-grade T-800 and Fuminoid from Trash Bag Bunch. You know, he's bizarre and wacky; kind of evil but not really all that frightening. There's a lot of debate about if the name The Worst refers to these guys as the most truly terribly and terrifying bad guys out there or if they're actually largely incompetent. Regardless of the skillset of this Robotic Harbinger of Death, Super7 did a nice job on the figure There's a great silver sheen to him and lots of smaller sculpted elements. His paintjob doesn't look new and fresh, either; there are lots of paint effects to make him look worn and covered in grease and oil and stuff. 

* Robot Reaper comes with three portraits, the first of which is kind of his standard portrait. It's... vaguely skull like, but also very robotic. He definitely looks like a character from a pixelated videogame image come to life. His mouth cracks me up for some reason as it's both expressive, but not at expressive at all because you realize he doesn't move. Those big, bulbous red eyes are cool with a bit of a texture to them, kind of like bicycle reflectors. 

* Flip this headsculpt around and you can see that there's a disk drive. Yeah, just like on the computers we used to play Word Munchers and The Oregon Trail on in elementary school. It's actually a drive for a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk. Do you know how I can tell?

* The floppy disk actually is removable. You can take it out of the back of his head. It says "People to Delete" on it, so presumably it contains a list of  the folks that the Robot Reaper has to kill on a given day. I love his old school technology. I guess he's not ready to upgrade yet, huh?

* The second portrait is a little different and looks almost like the first head, but more stripped down. The eyes are sockets and the panels on the skull and forehead are missing to show off some circuitry. His teeth are quite different, though, looking like large, thick metal chompers.

* The third head doesn't look skull-like at all. It looks more like something from one of the Super Sentai shows or VR Troopers. It is cool looking, though it doesn't seem to really fit in with Robot Reaper's style.

* Here's a shot of Robot Reaper from the back to show off cool stuff like his robotic spine and the grates on the back of his legs.

* His abdomen is cool. It's open and you can see some wires and stuff all tucked in there. 

* While there's a ton of detail on his skeletal body, most likely you'll want to display the Robot Reaper in his tattered black robe. It's a pretty nice fabric robe (the pre-sale renders made it look it was going to be rubbery) and it goes on easily with a Velcro strip along the back. It's also held in place with a rough cord of rope that you actually tie. It comes pre-tied, but you'll have to untie it to take the robe off. The hems are tattered and worn and there's a hole in the front to show off the Reaper's robotic ribs. 

* The hood looks really nice. It not only lays right on top of the figure's head but it also drapes nicely thanks to a posing wire inside the edge of the hood. 

* Without the robe, Robot Reaper's articulation is excellent. He feels very sturdy with joints that seem better made and tighter than those of the the first series figures (Batula and Captain Deadstar). He has a great range of motion and is able to take some pretty wild poses. With the robe on things are a bit more limited, but mostly only his legs. The robe is quite nicely fitted, so wider stances are more difficult to take. 

* Robot Reaper comes with the signature weapon of his 1/18ths scale counterpart: His scythe! This is a very large weapon with sharp looking blade and grip on the middle and rear of the snaith. There are multiple ways to pose the figure utilizing this tool which makes it even more fun. 

* A second scythe is also included, but this one is a smaller scythe that takes the place of either of Robot Reaper's hands. Just pop one hand off and put this in it's place.

* The Worst Ultimates come with some funny and unusual accessories so, in addition to his "People to Delete" disk, Robot Reaper comes with a flat, pixelated hour glass. It looks like the Microsoft Windows wait cursor that was used through Windows XP and anyone who used a computer during that time will probably have this image burned into their brain. It's a funny piece and a fitting hourglass for a robotic harbinger of death. 

* I love this miniature Game Boy Color that Robot Reaper comes with. What a crazy cool accessories. I loved my Game Boy color (I bought mine along with Shadowgate Classic!) and seeing an action figure sized one is a real treat. I love the sculpt and paint here. Perfection!

* Robot Reaper comes with eight swappable hands. You've got some standard grips, some fists, some open hands, and a pointing finger for each hand. That's a nice assortment, allowing you to have him interact with all of his accessories.

The Negatives:

* My only negative is that the pins for the hands feel kind of fragile. I definitely recommend heating up the wrists before swapping things around

   I was a bit disappointed by last year's The Worst Ultimates but I really like Robot Reaper. I'm quite glad I ordered him and forgot about it, otherwise I might have cancelled my series 2 preorder after having series 1 in hand. The quality of the joints and the paintwork feels better here and the wealth of extras, particularly the three portraits, the cloth robe with wired hood, and the floppy disk that fits in the back of Robot Reapers head, do make him feel more worthy of the higher price Super7 is asking. He's a Great figure and he has me excited about the future of this line again. 



Want to see more of the Robot Reaper? I've also reviewed the ReAction Robot Reaper (Midnight Special), the Purple M.U.S.C.L.E.: The Worst Pack B and the red M.U.S.C.L.E.: The Worst Pack A.