Review – Mayan Triarama

Manufacturer: Triad Toys * Year: 2007

Last week at the New York Toy Fair I was lucky enough to buy two of Triad Toys’ (website, Twitter) display pieces. Both the Mayan Triarama and Fire Fight Triarama came home with me and today we’re taking a little time to look at the Mayan display . . . and while it’s designed for 12-inch scale action figures I think I’m going to have to say that Masters of the Universe Classics action figure fans should consider grabbing one of these.

A Great Price for a Gorgeous Display

If you’ve got a lot of action figures — regardless of scale — you know that shelves loaded with free-standing action figures can look cool and all but it’s a fantastic display that really brings everything together to make a great display. Well, this Mayan Triarama is an excellent display piece and at $40 on the Triad Toys website it’s considerably cheaper than the Reactor Station Alpha action figure display (review here) while actually being bigger than that previously-reviewed display piece.

Why is this one cheaper? Materials have a lot to do with it. The Reactor Station Alpha is made of polystone (with plastic rails) while this Mayan Triarama is completely made of plastic; two hollow plastic pieces that slot together. But you know what? It wasn’t until I found out that the piece was plastic that I thought it was anything but polystone; photos online do not make this look like it’s a chunk of plastic . . . and I think that has a lot to do with the quality of the paint work on the display.

Paint

Yeah, the paint on this display is what really makes it look like a lot more than just two plastic pieces slotted together. In his Triarama review, Michael Crawford writes:

All three pieces have realistically painted surfaces, emulating the look of stone and dirt. The stain and dirt patterns give the dioramas an eerie, ancient look . . .

I absolutely agree with this assessment of the paint quality on this action figure display (and, for that matter, on the other two Triaramas in my collection). The two close-shot photos above should give you a good idea of the quality of paint on this display and if you have any interest at all in this I suggest enlarging the photos for a closer look at the details.

Just a Tad Too Small

While not quite as small as the Reactor Station Alpha action figure display (review here), I think this Mayan Triarama is slightly too small for 12-inch scale action figures. The photo above left shows an Ankou on the display and the figure is just slightly too big compared to the display for my tastes. It’s a minor complaint with what is otherwise an awesome display and, as you can see in the photo above right, the scale problem vanishes completely when my Masters of the Universe Classics Skeletor stands on the display.

It’s almost as if the display was made for this series and I’ve gotta say that at $40 any Masters of the Universe Classics collector should consider grabbing one of these pieces. Yeah, I think this is a perfect match and I hope Triad Toys creates some more displays that work with both 12-inch scale and 7/6-inch scale action figures.

Closing Thoughts

Great sculpt, fantastic paint, usable with various action figure scales, and an incredible price all come together to make this the best entry-level action figure display in Triad Toys’ Triarama collection. And while I love the heft of their polystone displays in my collection I’ve gotta say that I hope they’ll produce more plastic displays because this Mayan Triarama really does look just as good as their polystone displays and at a much lower price.

I know I bought this piece at a discount (I bought the Mayan and Fire Fight pieces that were used in their New York Toy Fair display for about a 40% discount) but I have no problems at all recommending this piece to anyone who has 6/7-inch scale action figures that would look appropriate with the background. It’s a decent fit for 12-inch scale action figures, but I hope that Triad Toys continues to increase the size of future displays because this just doesn’t feel big enough for 12-inch scale action figures. It’s not a bad fit, but I like pieces like their massive Pantheon Triarama and the large Grave Danger Triarama because those two tower over 12-inch scale action figures.

Thank you to Triad Toys for selling me these display pieces, and good luck in 2011. I look forward to seeing what you guys bring to San Diego Comic Con and my fingers are crossed that I’ll see your Splinter Cell action figure and statue (mentioned here).

Philip Reed should post reviews of the other two Triaramas in his collection so that he has an excuse to pull them down and play with them.