Examining the articulation design of Sci-fi Revoltech War Machine after the previous posting. ^^
Given the huge difference in release year between the two, War Machine's articulation design isn't going to be as simplistic as that of Revoltech Griffon for sure. ^^ At the same time, it should be more complicated than that of the previous Sci-fi Revoltech figure reviewed - Skeleton Army as well, since some of its armors and weapons would give it extra articulation points that Skeleton Army could never get. ^^;
Very wide vertical tilt for the head.
Two Revoltech joints of different sizes control the neck's articulation. While the joint directly beneath the helmet is pretty standard in design, the smaller joint at the base of the neck is pretty special in my opinion - it's smaller in size and is positioned at the very frontal edge of the part. These two features allow that particular joint to be moved much easily, and increase the bending range of the neck as well.
Unfortunately, horizontal tilt of the head is blocked by the collar weapon compartments. ^^;
The neck joint is flexible enough to allow the head to be bent above the collars, but the look is quite unnatural in my opinion. ^^;
Despite having the large shoulder armors, the shoulders can be bent upward from the side of the body very easily. The edge of the upper arm is the limiter of the shoulder's articulation as shown in the image above, not the armor. ^^
The armor is connected to the back of the upper arm via a small Revoltech joint. It has its own hinge/swivel articulation range which is not tied to the shoulder at all, allowing it to be bent to a crazy position such as that shown in the right image above, for whatever purpose. XD
Forward and backward swings are of course possible with the large Revoltech joints for the shoulders.
Slightly over 90 degrees for the elbow bend. ^^
The wrist armor has no joint, but its soft plastic attribute allows it to be bent outward nonetheless.
As shown in the previous posting. small Revoltech joint enables the wrist's swivel/hinge articulation capability.
Taking advantage of the elbow Revoltech joint's swivel, the forearm can be rotated around on that joint ever though the upper arm is not separated from the shoulder.
This is a feature "inherited" from Griffon. ^^ There shouldn't be any direct connection between the two, obviously. I'm just saying that since Griffon was the previous Revoltech figure to appear on this blog. ^^
Very flexible forward/backward and side-to-side bends for the waist.
As you can see in the second row of images above, the waist have separated parts that move independently.
Similar to Skeleton Army, there is a separated waist segment with two Revoltech joints between the chest and lower body of this figure (for Skeleton Army, it's technically a separated segment of the spine ^^;). A fixed "ring part" depicting a portion of the abdomen armors is meant to conceal the waist joint. when the waist is bent from side to side.
Plenty of positioning possibilities for the shoulder mounted mini gun using the hinge/swivel capability of the two Revoltech joints on the weapon's connecting arm.
The ammo belt's flexibility is also very impressive in supporting all of the weapon's movement. ^^
Almost 90 degrees for each hip joint's outward expansion. The hip joints themselves are obviously Revoltech joints, but there are more movable parts that are involved in the overall display. ^^
One-of-a-kind pinball flippers-like movable part beside the hip joint. ^^ One for each hip, the two flippers seem to serve no purpose other that to fill in the large hollow gap when the thighs are bent outward.
With the thigh detached, the flipper and the hip Revoltech joint can be seen clearly. The two joints are not connected or linked in any way, but since they are bound inside the thigh armor, they do move together.
Restricted by the flippers, the thigh have very limited range to swivel around on the hip joint.
As hinted by the small Revoltech joint above the knee cover, the silver panel on each thigh can be flipped downward.
The panel's articulation capability is rather excessive in my opinion, since none of the leg's movements is "extreme" enough to have to involve the thigh panel. ^^;
Labels of "L" and "R" molded on the thigh behind the silver panel. The letters were meant for factory workers to identify the legs when the figure was assembled I supposed.
90-degree lift for the leg.
Almost 180-degree bend for the knee joint.
There's a sunken area behind the thigh dedicated to accommodate the calf when knee is bent, but being unable to get the right "click" on the large Revoltech joint, I can never bend knee right to get the back of thigh to meet the calf. ^^; The right image shows the intended flexibility, which is achievable with suppressing the parts using my fingers. ^^;
The sunken area behind the thigh mentioned above.
Very nice split design for the knee. The split isn't noticeable when the knee is closed, and the different colors used between the parts add a nice detailed look to the interior of the knee as well.
Pretty standard all-range articulation for the ankle joint.
As with the wrist guard, all three sides of the ankle guard is made of soft plastic that won't obstruct the ankle's movement. ^^
Good-looking kneeling pose for War Machine. ^^
I wish a higher upward lift is possible with the hip, or wider swivel for the thigh to make the pose even more natural-looking. ^^;
The hip "flippers" definitely new to me, and their purpose of hiding the gap when the hip joint is moved seems rather amusing to me. ^^ It's feels like an ad-hoc solution for said "display issue", like empty lines added into a table in a Microsoft Word document just so that the next row would appear in a new page. XD Personally, I would prefer a piece of rounded soft plastic part to be fixed to the hip that would moved together with the hip joint. This might be useful in concealing the hollow gap, but won't obstruct the thigh swivel at the same time. Max Factory implemented that on its Figma Kamen Rider series, for example Kamen Rider Thrust and Kamen Rider Axe, and it seemed to work well.
Since all the movable parts around the hip area is dark gray in color, the flippers can get away from obvious notice because of its low visibility color. Given the same design is also on Mark V, the flippers are going to be as obvious as the colors they are molded in (bright red) I suppose. ^^;
Some action poses from War Machine coming up next. ^^
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