Review – NeoMachines Nemesis

When I first spotted this in the store I figured it would be an okay toy to grab for $5. Part of the MEGA Blocks line* this robot isn’t the most articulated or detailed, but it’s actually not bad for the price and would make a good gift for a kid who loves robots.

Assembly Required

Not a lot of assembly, though. Made of seven parts — including the gun — this robot snaps together in about a minute and is ready for battle as soon as the last part is in place. The ball-joints provide limited articulation, but for a fast-snap toy it’s not bad. I’ve seen better assembled toy kits before, but this 3.5-inch tall robot works just find for kids and that’s exactly who should be collecting these. Well, kids and hardcore robot nuts who always want a new robot toy in their collection.

Bulky Brawler

As you can tell by the pics, this robot’s not a nimble warrior but more of a thick, beefy fighter who looks like he’s gonna toss his rifle aside and jump in and start busting heads. He’s not quite a generic robot design, but the Nemesis was clearly inspired by just about every single mecha design that we’ve seen over the last 30 years or so. There’s nothing at all bad about the design, but it’s so generic that there’s nothing so exciting that I feel like I need any of the other robots in this series.

Minimal Paint for Minimal Articulation

Cast in red plastic, all of the black and silver details that you see are painted on. And it’s not a superior paint job; many areas are blotchy and red specs show through some of the silver parts. Again, this is definitely a toy for a kid and not a high-end art or designer toy fan. Hell, it’s not even at the level we expect from mass-market action figures.

Closing Thoughts

I grabbed this toy because the box made it look kinda neat and because of the $5 price point. In the end what I got was a cheap, generic, bulky robot toy that isn’t terrible but isn’t so awesome that I’m going to recommend that everyone run out and buy a few of them. Maybe if these were $3 or so they would be great bits for customizers, but at $5 these robots are just a little too expensive for anything except random gifts for little boys who love robots.

And that’s not a bad thing at all, since we need inexpensive robot toys for kids.

*Affiliate link: Orders using this link earn battlegrip.com cash, which is applied to buying toys.

Philip Reed feels weird standing his $5 MEGA Blocks robot next to his $300 Ashley Wood robot. Man, that really does make this thing look even cheaper than it does when it’s all alone.