J.Norad Reviews: Intoyz 1:6 PSG-1

 Adding to my collection of "Sniper rifles in cases", I bought an INTOYZ PSG-1 (2000, ~$15 shipped)  Been debating getting one for a while. First thoughts when I received the item was the sheer size of the carded item.

Thing is huge. 

Way larger than I expected the card to be. If you're planning on buying one online, this will explain the shipping costs. 

Out of the Box

The case is rather unspectacular. It at best resembles a Black Monolith pencil case from the 1990s with a remnant of a shop rack hangar tab on the top. The hinges are great, however, as they use metal pins. Gives a sense of confidence in repeated use with those.

 Opening up the case, we get two magazines (one in the rifle already), a folding bipod, and five spare bullets. The set comes with five spent casings, but there's no way to store them conveniently in the case.

 The spent casings are nice for dioramas, but you'll end up stashing them in a small zip baggie and storing them in a case where you can't lose them.


Details

INTOYZ has a lot of nice little details on their model. First, is the safety selector lever.

The lever has two detents to rest at, so they don't keep moving. They seem to have a hard stop as well, so you can't swivel them 360°. Also nice to have the selector markings. 

 This model has a spring loaded cocking lever so you can fiddle with it at your leisure. Not something you'd really need, but it adds to the overall level of detail. Some people tend to try moving the cocking lever on 1:6 scale guns, or maybe that's just me.

 The rifle comes with a folding bipod. It can slide along the bottom front grip of the rifle, and neatly folds up. I didn't find it too sturdy when folded down. The legs tended to bow out and the left one has become slightly loose, and tends to pop out. Something to keep in mind if you intend on using the bipod as a load bearing structure and not as a decorative item.

 Here you can see the full extent you can move the bipod back. Also visible is the safety selector markings on the right side.

 The magazine has molded bullets, but they seem smaller than the loose cartridges. not a big deal as you won't be looking at these too often side by side. They're molded well, complete with the rim.

Annoyances
 This model is pretty good. However, I have one complaint about the case. There's no ideal way to store the extra bullets in the case, as provided.

 Closed up and latched, the bullets will shift around a bit, which is expected. However, the slightest crack will result in bullets all inside the case. Fine if they haven't shifted around like the above image, but they'll tend to migrate into the bipod area and into the rifle region. I think they should have used the space for holding the second magazine and not have one in the magazine well. I'm probably going to do that since I don't like the idea of losing tiny pieces. Into the bag of loose ammo casings they go!

The main reason I picked up the PSG-1 was for my Yamato Solid Snake. I was pleased to  find that the grip slid into his stiff hands with relative ease. Snake's hands are absurdly stiff and difficult to get some rifle grips in there. The PSG-1 slid in like Snake's hands were designed for it.

 Unfortunately, his other hand isn't.

 I tried using the bipod for a prone shot, but the bipod wasn't good for supporting the rifle as it was being pushed downwards by the arms of Snake. Not a lot of figures can do this position (Snake can't do it too well), but if you do find one, the bipod should give you less problems.

Overall
I was pleased with the construction and general build quality. There are only four PSG-1 models I'm aware of on the market in 1:6 scale. One being from Hot Toys' Resident Evil line, the second being the Yamato version from the Sniper Wolf doll, and the other being ZACCA's World Weapon Collection. Hot Toys' PSG-1 is perhaps the easiest to obtain loose, with ZACCA being the rarest. However, in terms of overall detail, the INTOYZ model may be the best if you like all the little mechanical details. Molding quality and paint, I would probably guess Hot Toys' has a leg up in little molding details. However, I didn't see the right side safety indicator markings on some product images of their PSG-1.

If you don't care about the case and just want the rifle, you're better off getting a loose Hot Toys' rifle. The bipod may be too fidgety and the remaining details may be too delicate for rough play. It's a lot cheaper if you're on a budget to get a loose rifle.

On a side note, INTOYZ also makes a MSG-90 which can be bought for approximately the same price as the PSG-1. As far as I know, no one else makes a MSG-90 model in 1:6 scale.

The Soldier Reviews 1:6 Scale ZACCA Panzerfaust 3

Attention, maggots! Today, I am holding the power of the an semi-belligerent god in my hands; a privilege allowed only by the best soldiers. I have here a Panzerfaust 3, issued by ZACCA, and have the special task of presenting my field report of it in action.


As you can see here, there's two parts to this model. A rocket, which the designers decided to not make the separation where the rocket meets the launcher, but at the head of the rocket so that you can't have fun dioramas of a fired Panzerfaust and the sorry gory mess of a bastard on the battlefield. For shame, indeed.


The markings on this model for once were copied properly without misspellings or disemvowelment. There aren't many other features on this model, but the warning and instructions are clear enough for dim-witted recruits like you.

The model is light and can be comfortably and securely held in the hands of an expert soldier, and fits soldiers of the Dragon, Ultimate and Worldly units. There's little fear in breakage, as the rocket is solid and doesn't have any small parts that easily snap off on impact.

Now, J.Norad instructed me to demonstrate my killing skills in this outpost. I have yet to encounter the Blu spy he spoke of in this area. No shapeshifting, cloaking yellow-bellied fiend will get past me today.

I haven't bumped into anyone, so I guess he must be good. I'll have to keep my eye on things here.

I've found the Blu spy, er, he found...gluuuuuuurg...

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The ZACCA Panzerfaust 3 is a solid model that for $5 is alright. I don't recall any other competitors that make a 1:6 scale model of it. It's not a particularly popularized RPG to have major companies make versions to sell, and I'm pretty sure it's a model you can not have in your collection and not regret missing out on.

There's not much in terms of paint application on the model. Just two labels and a safe/fire indicator. It would have been an excellent model if the designer made the detachable section purely the rocket and not rocket+front of launcher. As a display piece, it's fine. As a prop, it loses many points for execution as a result. I do give it points for being holdable by 1:6 scale figures without any awkward moments or problems.

As a display piece, it's very robust with two parts. It also looks great. I've had the Soldier hold it instead of his regular Valve rocket launcher since it fits him well. If you're not a fan of the RPG nor can find it for under $5, don't bother. There's others in series 2 that blow this out of the water though.

J.Norad Reviews Yamato Solid Snake (2002)

Today, I present the Solid Snake doll from Yamato's line of Metal Gear Solid Konami Doll Collection from 2002. No idea what the MSRP was back then, but I picked this up from a comic store in Kentucky for $70, new. I've seen Meryl sell for about $50, so I'd guess that the MSRP was around $30 to $40 in 2002.

EDIT: Seems like they retailed for $50-70 back then.

Snake isn't actually 12", but 11.5" tall. The Team Fortress 2 Soldier is a full 12", for comparison.

Snake's height makes doing some things a bit awkward. He's like the Michael J Fox or Sylvester Stallone of my figure collection: cool, but a very short guy once you meet him in person.

First thing you'll notice is the rubber sneaking suit. The chest guard is removable and held by six molded clasps. They don't connect too well. This is perhaps the part of the figure that forces it to be a limited display piece over anything. The rubber is fairly stiff and obtrusive that it limits Solid Snake's range of motion for his arms. You would think the shoulder pads would also contribute to the range limitations, but they're fairly cosmetic and do not inhibit movement as much as the rubber chest guard.

These are the extents of which he can move his arms with the suit on. His elbows are done properly, but he can't really put his hands together due to the restrictive suit stopping his shoulder movement. His shoulders however have ratcheting motion that let it stay in place. Great, since you'll need it to help keep the arms somewhat where you want them to be.

Solid Snake comes with a 1:6 scale HK MK23 with removable LAM and silencer. These can be stored individually in his side holster. However, they take a bit of effort to fit into his rather stiff hand. You can't slip them in, but need to position them in the right angle, then do a turn to fit them into his hand in order to minimize stressing his fingers.

The green regions in the image above show where the plastic will tend to start to whiten due to repeated fittings of any weapon into his hand. I would expect well worn dolls to show some whitening near the green lines. So far, they're slightly noticeable when you flex the fingers out to fit something. I'm not sure if this is common on other 1:6 scale figures, but it's a problem for me with this one.

Assuming you have some other 1:6 scale items handy, you can attempt to equip them on Snake. He won't like them, nor will he be able to properly hold them. He's unable to look down the sights of the XM-177 with his suit on. He can somewhat hold a ZACCA FIM-92 properly, if you happen to have one of those as well.

If you're buying this figure, the most you're going to do is either leave him in the box, which serves as a nice display piece in its own right, or put him in a very unexciting pose. He can't really do a whole lot with the suit on, but he looks great with all the details he has.

Overall, I found this figure to be pretty mediocre. Other issues I've had include joint stiffness. I wasn't going to try removing his cloth suit to check out his hip and knees. His left knee is a bit loose, along with his left hip. This makes him tend to lean to the left as his leg starts to sag down. Those were more of manufacturing quality problems.

However, his boots are stiff enough to allow him to stand without any assistance. There's little neck movement, and his bandanna needs a longer stub to help it stay in place. It'll fall off if you brush it gently on anything.

If you can pick this doll up for $70, it's not a bad display piece. I wouldn't consider taking it out of the box if you bought it for $150. It's too limited in what it can do to be thoroughly enjoyed without fear of wearing out something. You'd have to remove the chest guard to enjoy doing anything, but then Solid Snake looks less iconic without his MGS1 suit.

Well, anyways, you can still try to have fun with Snake if you decide to buy one. You'll just have to be creative in how you tackle problems.