Re: Article: Hot Toys-The Terminator-MMS 238-T-800-(Battle Damaged Version) Collectib
In the end we tend to accept what we get from Hot Toys as our Arnie sculpts. If this were Ledger Joker people would be scrambling for some custom because this one isn't total perfection. Having said that if there was some superior custom sculpt for any given Arnie I'd be after it too. There isn't any for whatever reason. Ledger Joker I guess is the most special performance and character ever put to screen ever or something and requires 100% of the attention of 100% of the capable customisers out there.
Though even if you did get a perfect custom Arnie sculpt you'd never get a paintjob as good as a HT one.
Eh, I'm glad this isn't like the Ledger Joker. It makes every Terminator release all the more special.
Like I said in a Joker thread the other day, I'm not even sure what a great or accurate Ledger Joker even head looks like anymore. There have been so many official products and customs in the past 5 years that the market is literally flooded with them. They're all starting to look the same to me. Hot Toys, Enterbay, NECA, custom, whatever. I think Heath Ledger Joker is great, I love the character, but I've NEVER understood the obsession with all these headsculpts. I don't get it, never have. The V1 Hot Toys did and some of those early customs were the only bad ones really, they never looked like him. All these ones after that though? I know the little differences but it's like sensory overload now. They all sort of just blend together and there's nothing about them that stand out. It's especially evident with those crusty *** looking ones that people were/are shelling out big $$$ for. They look terrible, unrefined and dirty, especially with the "real" hair. The fact that people are still obsessed with all the different heads out there is beyond me. I used to be able to tell what was what, but now I just don't ****ing know. The market is completely over saturated ****ed with the character's head in pretty much all scales. It's over kill.
So far, I think every Hot Toys Terminator (since the first T2 they did) have been fantastic. Really. Even with little grumbles like the MMS 117's hardened, strained face or the DX 10's odd eyes and even the DX 13 "bronze" endo blood, they've all been extremely solid pieces in my opinion. They all have this stand out quality in my collection.
This MMS 238? I think we're being a
little too *****y about it. It's not perfect, but what figure ever is? Hot Toys, Yuli and Co. have done more right here then wrong in my opinion. I knew as soon as I saw the announcement with pics that this was going to be special. I noticed as I was photoshopping and elongating the sculpts that there was still something extremely masterful about this prototype's headsculpt. Do the rounded, slightly squashed heads bother me a bit? Sure, but overall it's a really nice looking, realistic figure. This is exactly how I envisioned Hot Toys doing a "Police Shootout/Tanker Truck" figure. And honestly, I might get some slack for this, but how about 90% of the 1/6 Terminator community taking the MMS 136 alternate sculpt and customizing it to this look? They seemed genuinely happy with that but they NEVER really looked that appropriate honestly. The small gargoyles, the squashed/rounded head, the blood running down the left eye, the lack of pattern print on the grey tee. You could always tell that it was simply kitbashed and thrown together and not quite close to what it was supposed to resemble. This? This is miles ahead of those. It's not like it's a slight improvement, it's a lot.
Someone show me an officially licensed or custom/kitbashed T-800 that is better than this,
