Review – Armored Core One Coin Figure Series 3

While I was in Hong Kong I either found a solution to my Armored Core* problem or — and this is more likely — I just made things worse. These blind boxed Armored Core toys cost me significantly less than the model kits I’ve mentioned before (mentioned here, here, and here), and they didn’t require much assembly, but in the end they just aren’t quite as cool as the models. And that could be a problem for me.

One Coin Figure Series

This set is marked as “Series Three,” and at the clearance price of $18 HK dollars each (about $2.31/each US) I just had to buy a few boxes and check them out. After all, less than $2.50/each for tiny mecha toys can never be a bad thing . . . and I am happy to report that these were a steal at that price and I really should have bought four or five more boxes so I would have had a better chance at a wider variety of figures. But I didn’t, and likely will never see these for sale at this price again, so let’s now dwell on what I should have done and instead take a look at these small plastic toys.

Some Assembly Required

Each of the toys needed its hand weapons and at least one shoulder weapon attached when I opened the boxes. The plastic pegs didn’t quite fit neatly into the sockets at first, but a blast of heat from the hair dryer and everything went together quickly and as soon as the plastic cooled it was a snug fit. Overall I’d rate the assembly as very simple and other than the need to use the hair dryer I’ve got no complaints at all. And, to be honest, the hair dryer wasn’t all that much of a burden. And the fact that nothing broke during assembly, despite how fragile the plastic felt when it was heated, is a win so I’ll just shut up about the assembly. After all, it could have been a model ki and taken more than a few minutes to assemble all three figures.

Articulation

Each one of the toys has minimal articulation — post and socket — at the shoulders, elbows, hips, waist, and head. Additionally, the shoulder weapons are also post and socket points so you can swing the weapons back out of the way. It’s not the greatest articulation but it’s functional and more than I expected from these small toys. My only complaint with the articulation is that the design of the arms has some parts rubbing together when the arms are swung around, but since these are only going to be displayed I can overlook that slight issue. And costing less than $8 for all three figures probably has something to do with me not being all concerned about what I think could be called the toys’ biggest flaw.

Which Mecha Are These?

Having never played the Armored Core* games I don’t know which designs these are, or even which game in the series they’re from. I did a little poking around online but I couldn’t find any sites with a comprehensive directory of mecha designs from the series so if anyone can identify these I would really appreciate it.

But regardless of the exact names, I like the style of the mecha. They’re not quite Battletech-like but are, instead, more streamlined and stylized. I ended up with two different designs (one in two different color schemes), and both are all angles and weapons that come together to make some pretty nifty mecha. Of the two I prefer the one that has a more head-like head — the first mecha shown in this review — but the one with the more antenna-like head (directly above and below) has cooler arms and hand weapons. Regardless of the details, though, I like the way the mecha in this series look . . . which is probably why I’m now thinking about ordering one of the model kits.

Paint

As can be expected from small blind-boxed toys the paint apps are actually very minimal on the toys, but all of the paint is crisp and neatly applied without any significant or immediately noticeable sloppy spots. Of course I’m sure that yet again the purchase price is playing into my opinions about the quality of the paint on these three toys, but can you blame me when I walked away with three cool mecha toys for less than $8? And even at the original price (about $5/each) I’d say these are perfectly acceptable. I’m sure someone painting up miniatures for a game would put a lot more detail into the paint apps, but what we get here is about equal to the Mechwarrior collectible miniatures game* . . . and maybe even slightly better than I saw on some of the pre-painted mechs released for that game.

Closing Thoughts

Armored Core* may be a game I have never played — and very well may never play — but these mecha toys are great little works of plastic art and I’m glad I ran across them while I was in Hong Kong. I got a great price on these toys . . . unless you add in what it’s no doubt going to cost me if I break down and buy one of the model kits.

I can’t say you should run out and try to track these down, but if you ever run across any of these toys for $4 or $5 or less then I say grab one or two because they look great, feel fairly durable, and have just enough articulation to make them more than micro statues or gaming miniatures.

Philip Reed will now proceed to drool on the Armored Core model kits again. He knows that if he buys just one then he is doomed — how long would it be from one Armored Core kit to a stack of Gundam model kits filling the game room table? — but looking never hurts. Right?