Xevoz wave 2

Packaging - 8/10

Sculpting - Hemo Goblin 3/10, Shock Berserker & Dune Stinger, Sky Grinder & Moon Stalker 7/10

Hemo Goblin is a disappointment for me. While each individual piece is nicely done, they don't seem to come together as well as the other figures in the line. In my mind, I envision three different types of vampire designs: the monsterous bat, extremely old human or younger human. This figure seems to have pieces based on all three designs but they don't come together well. The forearms in particular are sculpted so that the wrist move the opposite way of the elbow. They don't work well with the human head, which is sculpted to be fairly young. The wings seem disproportionately small for a bat. And there are no regular legs of feet for a more humanoid look.

The Dune Stinger and Shock Berserker both have good sculpts, but each has some design issues. Dune Stinger's shoulders are angled too far downward. As a result, the arms hit the front set of legs. The problem can be reduced by elevating the front legs, but that position doesn't look very natural. Shock Berserker has a unusal sculpt due to its asymetry which matches the concept of a creature made of living electricity. But the figure has extremely long limbs. With the guards and bolts on each arm and the arms streatched outward, the figure can reach more than a foot across and stands almost eight inches high. But the sculpt doesn't compensate for its size to insure stability. It comes close with the larger feet, but there is still room for improvement.

Sky Grinder and Moon Stalker both score higher for doing a better job of creating a more complete overall figure. For Sky Grinder, that means a pretty simple design of a teen in black pants and a t-shirt. The forearms and calves are sculpted as oversized elbow and knee pads. Moon Stalker combines wolf parts for the head, torso, arms and lower legs with clothed legs and forearms. The sculpt allows for either an upright, human-like pose or a more feral, hunched over pose.

Paint & Decals - Hemo Goblin 3/10, Dune Stinger & Sky Grinder 5/10, Shock Berserker & Moon Stalker 7/10

Sky Grinder has a simple but effective paint scheme: black for the pants, white and blue for the shirt, and translucent blue and silver for the pads. It won't win many awards, but it certainly does the job and looks pretty good. Dune stinger on the otherhand, has a more elaborate design that is well executed. But for some reason Hasbro made all of Dune Stinger's extremities bright red, including the stinger, feet, claws and hands. It works for the stinger in my opinion. Even the claws, which don't blend in to the upper arms very well, would be acceptable. But the feet look like they belong to a completely different figure. There is no transition at all from the feet to the lower leg sections.

Shock Berserker scores well not for the quality of the paint applications, but for knowing not to over paint the figure. The majority of the figure derives it's color from the translucent plastic which varies from a bright yellow to green in color. The guards on the various joints, armor and the head are painted with a metallic flake gunmetal gray. Not paiting the rest of the figure helps to convey the image of a character whose body is comprised of pure energy.

Moon Stalker has one of the more complex paint schemes with multiple shades for the fur as well as paint for the various bits of clothing. In general, the result is terrific. The one drawback is the areas around the peg holes in the chest and calves. The paint goes up to the holes but not into them. The result is that the peg holes stand out even more than they normally would.

Articulation - Hemo Goblin 8/10, Dune Stinger 9/10, others 7/10

Accessories - Hemo Goblin 4/10, Moon Stalker 9/10, others 7/10

Moon Stalker has a great assortment of accessories. The figure has two heads: one with goggles sculpted on and one with a hinged jaw and no goggles. There are armor pieces for the chest, forearms and biceps as well as a matching belt. Moon Stalker also has a blue cape that attaches to the chest armor over the right shoulder. For weapons, Moon Stalker has a crossbow, sword, a lance with two lengths of chain that can attach to it or the trap, the trap and the same weird hand blade that has come with every Xevoz figure so far. (What is that thing Hasbro?) The crossbow is nice but has a very long handle on it for some reason. The trap is an interesting accessory. It is made up of two halves that can be joined by either a ball and socket connection or a hinge. But the design has an odd effect. The ball and socket connection that allows it to be positioned in a completely position as if the trap was set doesn't allow it to close. The trap can be positioned in a closed position using the hinge, but then it can't be opened completely. The trap has two other cool features. The first is that the same chain that attaches to the lance can connect to the ball on the trap. And the socket allows the trap to be used as a third alternate head. Very cool.

Sky Grinder takes the prize for sheer number of accessories, unfortunately numbers are the best thing they have going for them. There are a total of three heads: one with a stocking cap, one with a jester hat and one with spiked red hair. There are two pack packs. One is a plain sculpted backpack. The other is a large backpack with spring loaded wings which flip out when a button is pressed. There is a board. Though to be honest, I don't know if it is intended to be a surfboard, snowboard or skateboard. It has the length of a surfboard, but it is quite thin and narrow. There are four square holes in the bottom of the back of the board and two in the front into which the various rockets can be plugged. There are also five pegs on the top of the board to attach the figure in various stances. There are two roller blades that can attach to the figures feet. They also have a hole on the side for a rocket to be attached. As for the rockets themselves, there are eight: four small football shaped ones, two medium sized ones and two long missiles. They are simple, unpainted and quite dull. The figure also comes with four weapons. There is of course the obligatory hand blade thing. (You know, it looks a little like a potato masher. Maybe it is to defend them from the bands of evil roaming Mr. Potatoheads?!?) There are a pair of what appear to be steel plated knuckles. Sky Grinder has also has a piece of pipe. Finally, there are two swords that can be connected together using a black cable. It is certainly an impressive number of accessories. But there really isn't any standout pieces in the entire lot. I also miss the usual comical accessory.

Dune stinger comes up a bit short on accessories in terms of numbers. But the ones that are included are excellent. First off is the three heads. There are two styles of insect style heads and the Sombrero of Death. (ok, it is just a sombrero, but Sombrero of Death sounds better.) There are two sets of forearms and hands. One set are two large claws with moveable pincers. The other set is regular arms and hands. There are two tails included: one two segment tail shaped like a centiped and one five segmented one. The only true weapon included is another handheld potato masher, because on the planet Xevoz, the potato people have infested even the deserts. I can accept the lack of accessories, but I wish they would have given the spare body parts a paint job that would have allowed them to match the rest of the figure better.

Shock Berserker has a decent selection of accessories. There are two heads, one translucent yellow one and a mechanical one. There are two sets of hands: regular grasping hands and a set with articulated fingers like those of Inferno Fury from the first series. Shock Berserker also has a horseshoe magnet that I believe is supposed to be an alternative hand. There are three pieces of armor: a chest guard and two large guards that can attach to either the forearms or knees but really don't look that great in either position. There are also three weapons. Shock Berserker has a sword with a blade of translucent yellow plastic. There is also a staff/club. And of course, there is the standard issue potato masher. Let no spud go unmashed. Finally there are six electric bolts that can be attached t the mechanical head, club and two on each arm guard. The guards don't work all that well, but all of the other accessories are terrific.

Value - 7/10

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