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Manufacturer Information:
M & C Toy Centre LTD.
Unit 813
8th Floor
Peninsula Centre
67 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui East
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Website
The Package:
This soldier comes in a windowed box (13 inches high x 9 1/4 inches wide x 2 3/4 inches deep). You can clearly see everything you're getting when you pick one up off the shelf and look it over. The back of the package shows photos of other figures and vehicles that are available. The packaging should have had some background info about what exactly a M.O.U.T. is, as I'm sure I'm not the only one that had no idea what the letters stand for (Military Operations on Urban Terrain, I looked it up on Wikipedia, basically, he's an urban combat trooper). The box is taped shut, which a single pull from a knife easily rectifies. The figure and his Steyr AUG are secured to the interior plastic tray with two twisty ties. Most of the accessories just pop out of the tray, but a few are taped to secure them. You could put everything back in the box with relative ease, which makes them pretty collector friendly. And, as the basic shape of the box is rectangular, they're easy to store for those that like to keep their toys unopened.
The Soldier:
Head sculpts and ethnicity vary for these Power Team figures, so the one you get might look much different than mine. The one I bought is Caucasian. He sports brown hair and a closely trimmed mustache and beard. The right side of his face, particularly the cheekbone area, projects out farther than the left, which looks rather strange--something probably went awry when removing his noggin from the mold. The black gloves are permanently sculpted on and have a fair amount of detail such as a textured surface and seams. He has the usual impressive M & C Toy 3rd-Generation body articulation: Ball-jointed neck, shoulders, chest, waist, and hips; triple-jointed knees and elbows; cut joints in the biceps, thighs, and wrists, and pivot ankles. The biceps cut joints are particularly loose on this one, which makes arm poses problematic.
Accessories:
The M.O.U.T. seems a little light on accessories compared to some of the other World Peacekeepers figures I've bought. I think I'm getting that impression because most of his stuff is technically part of his outfit rather than weapons/equipment. It also doesn't help that there's a lot of re-use of accessories I already have. The M.O.U.T. comes with:
- An olive Steyr AUG bullpup gun with black barrel and scope. An elastic band, attached to the gun via metal rings, allows you to have him carry it over his shoulder if you wish.
- Two round, black grenades.
- Two olive, cylindrical grenades with black tops (one has a flat top, the other a handle/pull ring).
- A black ski mask. There's some gray material around the eyeslot that tends to poke out when you slip it over his head. You'll have to mess around with this a little bit to keep it inside where it belongs.
- A rubbery, black, Kevlar vest. The shotgun shells on the chest are painted red. This has two flaps that open and close on the sides, which makes getting it on and off a breeze. As one would expect, the vest restricts the articulation of the body when it's being worn.
- Two black kneepads with rivets painted gold. These have elastic straps on them that do a great job of keeping them in place.
- An earphone/radio communication assembly. The earphone plugs into a hole in his left ear (mine was jammed in farther than it was meant to go, which damaged it somewhat), a cord from this connects to an elastic ring that goes around his neck, and more wire leads to a small box (which has a small clip so you can attach it to a pocket or something else), and then, finally, to the radio itself. I don't recommend having this on his head in addition to the ski mask and helmet, as that tends to make it troublesome to get it all on/off. M & C Toy makes another, shorter, Kevlar vest that has a sculpted slot in the back to hold these radios, as well as a tab for the small box that is also part of the assembly; the longer vest that comes with this figure doesn't have that slot or tab, which is a shame. I've been stashing his radio above his shoulder, underneath the vest, which works okay, but doesn't look that great.
- A black plastic helmet with material covering. The material matches his outfit and looks very nice. An elastic chin strap keeps it on his head and another elastic strap, stitches around the circumference of the helmet, will let you attach additional gear if you want to customize his appearance a bit.
- Metal dog tags. One has "Power Team" stamped into it, the other "World Peacekeepers". These hang around his neck on a metal ball chain. Scale is good.
- A camouflage jacket. The colors are various shades blue and gray, which I suppose makes sense for an urban environment--green and brown camo wouldn't do you much good if you were trying to blend in with concrete. I really like this color combination, and it remains my favorite World Peacekeepers outfit. The jacket opens and closes in the front via three snaps and it has four, small, working pockets on the breasts and shoulders. It sports quality stitching and workmanship--some customizers buy these World Peacekeepers figures just for the outfits, and it shows.
- Camouflage pants. Same camo design as the jacket and helmet. They open and close via two snaps at the crotch. There are two working thigh pockets. Again, very nice tailoring. The legs are long enough that they'll stay in the boots, even with the knees bent.
- An olive and black web belt that's made out of rubbery material. It opens and closes via a triangular buckle on the front. While this guy doesn't come with anything for it, many of the other World Peacekeepers come with gear you can attach to it (canteens, pouches, knives, etc).
- Black, rubbery boots. Nice sculpt on these with such details as laces, treads, stitching, etc. There's a bit of paint applied to the front to give them a dirty look. These are a different sculpt than the ones I have on my other World Peacekeepers, which is nice to see, as I was beginning to suspect M & C Toy only had one boot sculpt to go around; I'm thankful that isn't the case.
Cost:
I really can't complain here. I paid $7.99 + tax for him which is quite a bargain in today's largely overpriced toy market. You can easily pay that much, or more, for a figure half his size. Sure, these World Peacekeeper figures aren't as good as the higher-end, and considerably more expensive, figures other manufacturers make, but for the price, they can't be beat.
Final Analysis:
PROS:
- Excellent value. You get a good quality 1:6-scale figure and an assortment of gear for $8! There's lots of fun and play value here for little money.
- Kevlar vest and head gear allow for different display options.
- Highly articulated figure.
- Very good quality clothing. My favorite camouflage color/pattern to date.
- Nice, inexpensive fodder for 1:6-scale kitbashers/customizers.
CONS:
- Most of his gear is part of his outfit, which makes him seem light on accessories compared to some other World Peacekeepers figures/sets. There's also a lot of re-use in accessories--I have quite a few of these grenades and radios from other sets.
- Kevlar vest restricts articulation when it's worn, limiting poses.
- Loose biceps cut joints make arm poses troublesome.
- Overall quality is relatively lacking compared to more expensive 1:6-scale military figures made by other manufacturers. However, the price does much to compensate for this.
Where to Buy:
I've only seen them at our local Big! Lots, but M & C Toy's official website (see link at the beginning of the review) has an international list of stores that are supposed to carry these, so you'll want to check that out if you're having trouble locating some in your area.
In addition to these 1:6 scale figures and vehicles, M & C Toy also makes 1:18th-scale military figures/vehicles/playsets which may be of particular interest to 3-3/4 inch G.I.JOE: Real American Hero fans.
For Parents:
M & C Toy recommends this set for ages three and up.
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(Above photo is from package)
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