Meet Twitch, the Insectaloid warrior, where MAN + INSECT = AWESOME! This sturdy action figure stands over five inches tall, with more than 15 points of articulation, including ferocious chomping mandibles. Use his powerful wings and impenetrable exoskeleton to evade capture! Twitch is meticulously detailed and includes his signature magical battle staff and removable chest armor. For children ages 4 and up. Other Insectaloid figures sold separately.
As a toy collector it’s rare to not know about figures months in advance before they start hitting shelves or go on sale. That is all well and good, but sometimes it’s nice to walk down the toy aisle and have something jump off the shelves that you had no idea about. I’ll be honest, I didn’t exactly have my first encounter with Twitch in a toy aisle, I found a review for him over at Michael Crawford’s site, which is probably the next best thing.
Packaging: Toy Story 3 is obviously a movie targeted towards kids, so of course the packaging is going to be eye-catching from the shelves. Whether this is done intentionally or not, it’s very reminiscent of the old MOTU packaging. There’s not much for a bio on the package itself, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, allowing for a child’s imagination to go wild. Being that he is rather generic, he could be a cosmic warrior, or just one of many in a race of bug-men, or perhaps a mutant with a troubled past.
Design & Sculpt: Twitch’s overall look is very evocative of action figures from the 80s, namely Masters of the Universe, though he also looks like he could easily fit in with the Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He features a fairly unique sculpt; a mantis-like head, a large muscular torso, scaly arms, and smooth legs. He appears to be wearing gauntlets and a harness is sculpted right onto the torso.
Plastic & Paint: The chest and arms are molded in a lime green, so no paint problems there. The antennae, harness, hands/gauntlets, and feet/greaves are painted a bright orange. The paint application is adequate, but nothing to write home about with some slop here and there, I must have poured through at least half a dozen figures looking for the best one. There are some chips on the hands, and the paint work on the harness is splotchy and uneven.
Articulation: Continuing with the 80’s figure trend, Twitch features some “classic” articulation, which includes the big five; neck, shoulders, and hips, a far cry from the fifteen points of articulation promised in the character’s “toy” bio. It’s a pity too, ferocious chomping mandibles would have been pretty freakin’ sweet! Finally, the wings feature a swivel, only being able to move up and down.
Accessories: Twitch comes sans any accessories, unless you count the packaging as an accessory. The 3 ¾” Twitch Movie Collectible figure comes with a stave, so I’m not sure why this couldn’t have included it as well.
Quality Control: Other than the aforementioned issue with the paint, there seem to be no other QC issues.
Overall: Despite the lack of detailed sculpt, articulation, and accessories, I still have a soft spot for Twitch. To most collectors Twitch will probably be a substandard figure and not even worth a look. While other lines are superior in all aspects, I find this sort of step back in time to be fun.
[raven 3]