The Callgrim Grim Squad Armodoc comes out of the nifty collaboration between Onell Design and, well, everybody they touch-- specifically RawShark Studios in this case. This beefy vinyl figure is made of 11 pieces, and while this one is blue and white, the other is white and blue. It's a redeco of the original Armodoc sold through Onell Design and, for some reason, this sat around a bit. I have no idea why-- the paint job is fantastic, the price is decent, and it's the same quality of goods as an Onell Armodoc.
The joints are a little stiffer than on the normal Glyos System toys, and they're also not compatible (directly) with the little guys. Armodoc and the Rig can swap parts with one another, plus you can plug in the Phase Arm accessories as a sort of adapter for the normal Glyos pieces. Of course, this is ideal for customizers, but what about the figure for those of us who just collect and play with the things?
It's good. The design is, like a lot of things from these guys, designed so that it does what you expect-- like stand. It stands well, its joints swivel nicely, and it's painted nicely. You can swap some parts with other releases, and you could cram a figure inside the hollow being if you were so inclined. The mushroom-like head is white with some red markings, some nicely alien eyes, and a few red panels on the sides. His right arm is essentially a cannon with a red dot on it, which should remind you of the likes of Samus Aran or Mega Man. It's a nice touch. The left hand is a unique double-thumb design, much like on Callgrim, which eliminates the need for such concepts as "right" and "left" hands. If you buy two of this figures, you could pop two "fist" arms on a single figure and it would look fine. (Since it'll cost you $50 I'm not saying you should do this... but you certainly could.)
In the Glyos universe, the larger vinyl Armodocs are more of a "beast" or a villain character, a Baron Karza of sorts brining evil and an alternative play pattern to Callgrim and Pheyden's playground. These larger figures sport more articulation and are just a generally meatier plaything-- considering some of the smaller guys are about $8, I'd say it's not a stretch to consider an Armodoc to be $25 worth of plastic. Unfortunately, it doesn't to a whole heck of a lot-- what you're buying is essentially a designer toy in the truest sense of the word, given the fact that you can actually play with it.
While not marketed as such, Armodoc feels like something you should have seen on the shelves of Gemco or Drug Emporium back in the 1980s. It comes to you in a clear plastic bag, but oozes with some intergalactic personality that you simply don't see in current toys from most manufacturers due to an increasingly selective pool of new properties. If you're a fan of weird space toys, or want to get into vinyl without being pretentious,* I'd suggest getting one of these. It's fun, it's neat, your kids probably can't destroy it too easily, and it has little holes in its feet which feel like they are waiting for some future expansion packs. Who knows what the future might bring?
--Adam Pawlus
* - Admit it, you know I'm right.
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