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Toyrrific Pouches:
The Toyrrific modular, magazine and canteen pouches that I purchased look nice and have a clean and uniform appearance with good fabric and stitching. The canteen pouch looks like U.S. Army MOLLE gear and the magazine pouches are more generic looking more like SPEARs than MOLLE with no visible snap. For both, the cloth construction is excellent and very uniform. The magazine pouches can accommodate one or two magazines, but they look a bit loose with only one. I use resin castings of a pair of M-16 magazines to fill mine. The camouflaged material used looks nice as well. The woodland is a match for my 21st Century Toys and Dragon uniforms although the Toyrrific trim is brownish olive while the Dragon pouches are trimmed in a much greener shade. The 3-color desert has some shade variations in the light sage and brown against all of the similar products that I have compared it to, however it is subtle and does not stand out as mismatched. On the downside, the PALS type fasteners in the back are flimsy and weak and on all of the canteen pouches I received, the web loops were too low to hold the ends or the plastic "straps". I had to customize these some to get a more snug fit and that is just for shelf display. Extensive re-working would be necessary to bring them up to "play" level making these ill-suited for young children, I would think. Also, the canteen pouches have no cord or elastic to snug the opening and needed some re-working for a neater appearance. Finally, on the magazine pouches, the Velcro closure is the high-pile Velcro which does look somewhat out of scale, but I do not think that it stands out once on the figure. For my cloth pouches, I like to shape them while wet with water with their contents. When dry, they hold a much more realistic shape.
Pouches: B+
Toyrrific Canteens:
The canteens that I bought were fairly generic. They do have great shape, some heft, and the detail is crisp. The cap-retaining strap is molded on (as is the cap) and is not cleaned through, but it was molded somewhat flat to reduce the obviousness of this flaw. While these work well in the pouch, they really are not much use on their own.
Canteens: C
Toyrrific M-4/M-203:
The M-4 w/M-203 is also a nice looking piece. It is all plastic, the detail is crisply molded, and the painting is very well done. There is weathering applied but only on the areas where there would be metal surfaces which is indicative of the crafters knowledge of the weapon. The butt-stock adjusts, the Aim-point has moving covers, and the magazine is removable. It does not appear that the scope, hand guards and target-designator are intended to be removed making this weapon less easily customized than similar Dragon and BBI weapons, but it is a fine, stand on its own, piece. Personally, I wish it had a leaf sight for the grenade launcher but this is not too big an issue.
M-4/M-203: B-
Toyrrific Overall:
I love these pieces and they really are useful at figure customizing. However, anyone looking for perfect, right from the package, parts is in for frustration. While the rifle stands well on its own, some minimal crafting ability is needed to get the pouches to fit right, but with that said, this is great soldier-builder material. The price on the weapon seemed high compared to Dragon or BBI but it is better in quality than any similar, mass produced, weapons offered by Hasbro or 21st Century Toys. I expect that they will be much sought after. The price on the pouches was great! I hope that they will be produced for some time to come as I have unsightly Hasbro figures that desperately need these kinds of uniform parts to bring them up to speed. How a person will ultimately view Toyrrific stuff is subject to individual benchmarks. If Dragon sets the standard for you then these parts are nice and useful. If 21st Century Toys is your standard, these parts are great. Finally, if your standard is set by Hasbro or M&C Toy's International Peacekeepers, these are incredible and indispensable customizing parts and you might just rethink your standards after trying them!
For me, Toyrrific earns a (B).
Thanks for letting me say my bit, I'm sorry that it is so long. Take care and I hope business stays good.
Chris Richter |
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