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Mifune's Last Stand | ||||||||||
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ion is home to the last remaining free humans in the third film of The Matrix trilogy, Matrix Revolutions. Capt. Mifune, in an attempt to keep the invading machines from reaching further into the city, mounts an APU (armored personnel unit) and takes on the countless enemy Sentinel robots as they flow like waves around him and his army. The APU is essentially a human-driven robotic fighting machine not unlike the Mechs seen in many Japanese films, but having the open structure resembling the power loader driven by Ellen Ripley in Aliens.
While he remains open and exposed in the pilots' seat, Mifune slams sentinel after sentinel with round after round of heavy-caliber weaponry. McFarlane Toys, renowned for its Spawn action figure line as well as many licenses based on science fiction films, including the Alien and Predator series, has recreated this scene with "Mifune's Last Stand," an action figure representing the APU, with Mifune piloting it. His face is locked in a final desperate scream as the sentinels rip past him.
This model of the robotic machine stands a miniumum of 10 inches at the shoulder, but with arms raised and legs straight can measure as tall as 13 inches.
The APU comes packaged in a large box decorated with images of the APU on a background of the familiar text-dropping green computer screen. The back of the box shows images of several other McFarlane Matrix toys, including a similarly scaled Sentinel, and various characters from the film including Trinity, Niobe and Neo at larger scale.
This toy is a fully jointed version of the model seen in the film, and it seems that every single joint is a working one. It even includes pistons that extend and contract as arms rotate and pivot.
The figure of Capt. Mifune reasonably resembles actor Nathaniel Lees, and measures around 4 inches tall. His shoulders pivot, his upper arms have a rotator joint, and the forearms (inside rolled-up sleeves) also pivot along the axis of the arm. He seems permanently seated in the pilot's chair, but his extended arms can grip the pivoting twin joystick arms that are used to control the APU's massive frame.
Each shoulder is an intricately jointed system complete with hydraulic cables (made of black plastic tubing) and leads down to multijointed arms that pivot and hinge in many different ways, culminating in huge twin machine guns that are so detailed that they even have tiny sights that pivot up. These weapons are fed with belts of bullets that drape down and end in ammo containers at the rear hips of the machine.
The legs have multiple pivot points and angles, supporting hinges and hydraulic tubes. Even the side toes of the feet have linking hydraulic tubes and hinges.
A toy with features too good to be true
The term "action figure" doesn't really do this thing justice. Even photographs will not clearly convey the sheer number of pieces that make up this gigantic robotic toy. I stopped counting movable joints at 40 or so, and I have no idea the number I would have come up with if I had finished counting.
In front of the pilots' seat, a pivoting control panel hinges up to meet the pilot, while side-mounted control arms with joysticks swivel in from the sides. But those arms don't simply swivel, they also slide up and down the hinge rods on which they are pivoted. These arms, just a tiny facet of the whole, have joints that raise them, swivel them in, rotate the joystick arms and hinge them up and down.
The foot pedals Mifune stands upon also pivot down freely. The hips of the machine swing forward and backward, while at the same time the legs can crouch down and stretch upward, all the while holding the weight of this heavy toy. Each foot has a main ankle, but the "Achilles heel" is also there, comprised of a two-step jointed beam that connects to the rear hip for support.
It seems that just about every joint has a connecting hydraulic cable that is well modeled and fits into small hydraulic spigot heads that are tiny—this item leaves no detail behind. Each aspect is well modeled, painted and constructed.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that dismantling this toy down to its every individual single part would yield more than 200 pieces, and there would still be plenty to count. Hands down, this is the most intricate model I've seen that costs anywhere near the low price of $25.
With all this praise, the grade of B- may leave some wondering. Wonder no further. The problem inherent with a toy of this amazing intricacy is fragility.
I purchased this toy at a retail outlet. I got it home and, using more tools than you'd use to build a house, I finally released it from its prison of plastic and twist-ties (which does not require a degree in reverse engineering, but it helps to have one). I was playtesting it, and within the first few seconds I noticed that the right main shoulder joint pin had sheared off in the package.
I returned it and replaced it with a second unit, opened that one in the store to be sure, and found the exact same break in the exact same shoulder. A third unit seemed intact, but when I opened it a small lever from the control box had snapped off in the packaging or during shipping.
So while this is probably the most detailed and amazingly intricate toy I've ever seen, that very feature is its downfall.
Seriously, this is one gorgeous toy. Move one thing, and many other pieces seem to move in symphony with it. But let this be a warning to any who buy it—open it in the store in front of the sales clerk, and check it out thoroughly before taking it home. — Sean
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