As promised, I’m back with the second part of my look at the IAmElemental figures. Last time we checked out the packaging and presentation and now it’s time to get to the goods. I don’t think I’ve ever tackled seven figures in one Feature before, so I’m mighty glad I broke this up into at least two parts. Buckle up, kiddies, this is going to be a long one. But before I get to the actual figures… Do you remember the last time you opened a blind bag figure? Maybe a MegaBloks figure or a Minion or something along those lines? I do. All that was inside the pack was a crummy little figure. Here you get all sorts of neat stuff in each packet, starting with a fold out poster…

The poster shows you all seven figures in the line on one side with a description of each character’s significance. It also shows you how to attach the included shield to the bracelet, which is a really cool idea. The back of the poster shows an elaborate Periodic Table showing The Elements of Power and explains why this first series was inspired by Jean D’Arc. It’s almost ridiculous how much thought and creativity went into this line. I mean, just look at this thing! Bravo! Next up…

You get a pair of trading cards describing the character and her power. Each figure comes with her own card and you actually get two, so you can trade one away if you have some like minded collector friends. Each card explains the character’s powers and attributes and when you flip them over and assemble them in order, they spell out a secret message! What? No, I’m not going to show you… it’s a secret!

You also get a branded carry bag with a draw-string to keep the figure and all her goodies together. Keep in mind, all of this stuff is included in EACH blind bag! It’s craziness! The last boxed figure that I paid $20 for didn’t come with this much stuff. Let’s start checking these ladies out and I’ll start with Bravery…

The figures are each about 3 3/4-inch to 4-inch scale, but actually stand slightly taller than your average Hasbro Marvel Universe female figure. They’re each based on a shared silver body with some retooling and recoloring to make them each distinctive and indeed it works pretty well, especially when coupled with the unique head sculpts. Each gal shares the same domino mask and pupil-less eyes, but also sports a different style of hair. They also each feature at least one piece of clip-on armor or accessory.

Bravery’s accessory is her armored shoulders, which match her silver torso nicely and can be removed by a simple head pop. She also sports a long braided pony tail. Bravery is one of the simpler figures in the assortment, but I dig her a lot. As previously mentioned, each figure also sports her own shield, with her name and Elemental Symbol on the front. Bravery’s attribute is that she does not shrink from challenge or difficulty and she has the ability to create a force-field around herself and others. Next is Energy…

Energy’s card tells us that she approaches life with excitement and does not do things half-way. Her power is the ability to control electric impulses. She comes with an amazing little flame effect part that rests on her shoulders and looks smashing.

The biggest difference in the body sculpt here are found in the gloves and boots. The head sculpt features some chic purple hair. I love the way it’s sculpted to fall over the side of her face. Very nice. This figure was an instant favorite of mine and she’s only the second one I opened! There’s five more to go, so let’s move on to Honesty!

Honesty isn’t exactly playing fair because she’s got an amazing set of wings that really makes her stand out from her comrades. These clip onto her like a backpack and they really stayed put now matter how much I whooshed the figure around the room. I love the sculpt, it’s somewhat soft and very cartoony and yet still shows off all the feathers and the blue plastic is quite striking. The back of the wings suggest these didn’t just sprout out of her back, but rather are perhaps technological. Honesty features the longer boots, similar to Bravery’s and finger-less gloves.

As her name implies, Honesty tells the truth, and just like a certain Amazonian Warrior, she has the ability to compel others to do the same. Can I say how much I love that they gave Honesty wings. We tend to associate flight with freedom and you know the old saying, “the truth shall set you free!” Moving on to number four, it’s Industry!

Industry’s card tells us that she works hard at all she does, she has the ability to control physical objects and repair anything that is broken. She has the same chunky boots as Energy and dons a pair of finger-less gloves.

Her special piece of gear is her backpack, which snaps around her shoulders and waist. I can only imagine that she carries all sorts of tools and gadgets in there. Like Bravery, Industry is a fairly simple figure, but she’s got a lot of character. I dig her a lot. Next up, is Enthusiasm!

Enthusiasm sports a new set of grieves and the same gloves that we just saw on Industry. She also features a long ponytail and several strands of hair hanging down over her face. Her accessory is a piece of armor for her chest and shoulders.

According to her card, Enthusiasm cultivates and shares a positive mindset and she has the ability to change the negative emotions of others. Ironically, I can’t get all that worked up over Enthusiasm. She’s a cool figure, but she doesn’t have that certain hook that grabs me like her fellow Elementals. And hey, after covering five figures in one Feature, I think a little Persistence is in order!

Like Energy and Honesty, Persistence is a stand out figure and in this case it’s because of her majestic cape. She features the grieves from Enthusiasm and the gauntlets we saw on Bravery. The cape rests on her shoulders and bellows out beautifully to the side giving her a heroic posture. I also dig how her hair is sculpted to blow off to the side in conjunction with the cape.

Persistence finishes what she starts in spite of all obstacles. She also has the ability to pass through solid objects. Now would be as good a time as any to say how much I enjoy the clever way the line connects each characters’ trait with her ability. Very cool.  And that brings us to the last figure in the assortment… Fear!

Yes, lest you thought we were all about kittens and rainbows today, along comes Fear. She has an unmistakably darker color pallet and sports the grieves we saw on Enthusiasm and Persistence along with the gloves worn by Honesty. I’m tempted to sit down and try to work out whether or not the shared parts between certain characters are symbolic of connections between them. Hmm…

Anyway, Fear features an ominous pair of shoulders with snake heads facing outwards and a translucent snake-like weapon that she can hold in either hand. According to her card, Fear spreads the impulse to pull away and hide and has the ability to stop a moving object in its tracks. Is she the villain of this piece, or a teammate? Interesting.

Articulation is identical for all the the IAmElemental figures across the board and it’s pretty damn good for this scale. You get a total of nine points, which is almost double what you get from those figures released by that huge company that ties in with what is currently the biggest movie of all time. Yeah, just saying. Here you get articulation in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and neck. And the actual posability is even better than it sounds thanks to the fact that all those points are either rotating hinges or ball joints. Sure, I would have liked a waist swivel or an ankle hinge, but these figures are plenty fun with what they’ve got. If I had one minor quibble, it would be the lack of peg holes in the feet. You may note that in some of the pictures I relied on a little dab of blue tack to help them stand. It’s not really necessary, but I tend to get frustrated when shooting figures and they fall over just before I take the shot. I’ll also note that the plastic on these figures feels great and the joints are solid, which is a lot more than I could say for some of the $20 figures I bought recently.

This set retails at around $65. If you break that down it works out to be about $9 per figure and that’s not accounting for the lunchbox tote or other extras. Like I said yesterday, I’ve seen my nephew fork over five bucks a pop for horrible little licensed dog tags. When you consider that these figures were made in limited numbers by a small company, I think the value here is amazing. This is a beautifully thought out line and despite being aimed at a very different demographic, I’m super thrilled to have these in my collection. Ah, but before I wrap it up for the day, I also wanted to applaud the folks behind this project for what was some of the best customer service I have ever received from a company. Their communication is so personal and they made me feel so important. Unfortunately, that’s not something I get out of many retailers these days, let alone representatives of the actual company that makes the product. I’m very anxious to throw my support through whatever future endeavors await the IAmElemental line. Bring on Series 2!

And, folks, that will also wrap up the FFZ’s Features for the year. Tomorrow will kick off those insufferable lists that I’m obligated to post at the end of the year and normal bloggery will resume next year, Monday January 4th to be exact. Have a safe and happy New Year and I’ll see ya’ll on the flip-side. 

Howdy, folks. It’s the day after Christmas and soon the holiday madness will be all behind us. I’ve got only two more days in 2015 before Monday when I lapse into my week long Favorites & Disappointments lists so I can lock in the autopilot and take a week off of bloggery. And since Christmas time is the season when we tend to think a lot about the toys and that whole industry, I thought it appropriate to end with a look at a line of figures that seeks to make a bold statement about the state of the action figure market as well as make an impact toward change. 

There were quite a few noteworthy action figure Kickstarters back in 2014. I backed a lot of them, but I couldn’t back them all. Even my voracious appetite for plastic must bow to the realities of finance. One of the projects that I found to be particularly interesting was called IAmElemental.
As I understand it, this line of action figures was designed by two mothers, geared specifically for girls, and consisting of strong girl characters. It was created to bring some balance to a very boy-orientated market. I never even gave the subject much thought until two somewhat recent events in the toy aisles. The first was when Hasbro released a toy based on an amazing scene in the Age of Ultron film where Black Widow drove a motorcycle out of a jet in mid air. Hasbro deliberately changed the character on the toy to one of the male Avengers. The second was the dawn of the LEGO Friends line, which is “targeted at girls” but with subject matter that could best be described as fluff. The Friends Mini-figures are relegated to going to salons, malls, and ice cream parlors while their counterparts in the other “boys” LEGO aisle are fighting crime, building cities, and exploring space. Yeah. They might just have a point there. Honestly, I could do a whole feature just analyzing these debates, but I’m really here to look at some figures. The motivation for today’s feature came from a friend who wanted to see my take on the IAmElemental line. She offered to lend me her set, but a little research showed that the figures were available for purchase online from their website and I opted to support the creators by purchasing a set for myself. And since I’ve already got a little long winded, I’m going to take a look at the packaging today and I’ll come back tomorrow to take a look at the figures in Part 2.

The presentation here is really superb. The set comes in a tin lunchbox with an illustrated cardboard slip over it. When I was a kid, I used to pack my Star Wars figures into a tin Star Wars lunchbox and carry them to my friends house. It was smaller and I could cram more figures into it than the official carry cases. Hell, I still have a Classic Series Star Trek lunch box up on the shelf with my Playmates Trek figures in it. Needless to say, I think this is a really neat idea. This set was the core of the Kickstarter campaign and basically gives you the entire first series of seven action figures.

The back of the cardboard wrap cleverly shows the backs of the figures, as well as their shields. Each of the shields depicts the symbol of the Element that the figure represents. You’ve got Fear, Persistence, Enthusiasm, Industry, Honesty, Energy, and Bravery. Each character has her own unique powers based on the Element she represents. Together all the elements make up Courage. And yup, it’s influenced by the Periodic Table of Elements. A lot of thought went into this line, which we’ll see more of tomorrow when I actually have the figures opened.

Inside the tin you get seven individually packaged figures, an activity book, and a bracelet. OK, I’m a middle-aged guy, so I’ll confess that the book is a little lost on me, particularly the activities that are aimed at girls, but I think it’s a great idea and gives the figures even more of a sense of depth and purpose. On the other hand, the booklet does feature some great illustrations of the characters and I won’t rule out the fact that I might relieve some stress after work some day by busting out some markers and coloring them. Just saying. It could happen. The bracelet works in conjunction with the action figures’ shields, which can be used as a sort of charm bracelet. Again, not exactly part of my demographic, but I can appreciate the thought that went into it.

The figures come in what are similar to large blind bags, but the back of each package has a checklist for each of the seven characters and each one is ticked off in marker to show what’s inside. Of course, if you buy this set, you get one of each. The packs are only collector friendly in that you can make a clean cut and put them back in afterwards. They also look great, just like something you might see hanging on a peg at Target. Seriously, why are these not hanging on a peg at Target? Our Target has a whole section of blind bagged stuff and everything they have is crap. My nephew once spent $5 on a crappy licensed dog tag, which he promptly forgot about and left in the car. I’m sad something as thoughtful as these aren’t represented in the Big Box toy aisles.

Anyway… I’m pretty excited to check these out, so I’m going to break here and go off and open me up some figures and I’ll be back tomorrow to have a look!