Review – DRT Riac and WARP Bike
Today’s mail included a few awesome surprises from Jesse Moore (Callgrim). Jesse included Riac in my Callgrim WARP Bike order and he even called me last week to let me know to expect the box today. Thanks, Jesse, for the extra and for getting me these fantastic toys in time for Christmas. Expect to see Callgrim soon, but for now let’s jump in and take a quick look at Riac and his bike.
Packaging
Wow. Scan down a little for shots of the box that Jesse crafted for this new release. Stickers and silkscreens come together to make this a beautiful package. And since it’s not sealed you can open the box and play with the toy and still keep the box in good shape. Absolutely fantastic work and far more elaborate and impressive than I was expecting from this release. Great job, Jesse!
Two Weathered Toys
I’m very happy with the weathering effects and paintwork that the factory applied to both the action figure and the vinyl bike. This is a great step toward Custom Corps-quality toys under mass production and if Jesse can keep working with the factory to adapt his style to mass releases then maybe soon we’ll all be able to get our own Grimwave (review here) . . . which I know would make lots of collectors happy.
Click on any of the shots for a closer look at the paint apps on these two toys; notice all of the silver scratch-like effects and what looks like patches of raw metal. Fantastic and if you compare these to Jesse’s customs (custom tag at the Callgrim blog) you’ll see just how close the factory came to nailing Jesse’s style. After years of clean factory toys I was surprised to see 3A-quality weathering on these toys; man, I really do hope we see more custom-like toys in the future.
Fully Playable
I tested the parts on Riac and everything pops apart and reassembles cleanly and without issue. Usually customs I’m too afraid to take apart for fear of damaging them, but that’s not a problem with this guy since the paint’s every bit as durable as other Glyos action figures. I think I’ll play it safe and not reconfigure Riac too often — no reason to risk damaging such a limited toy — but it’s nice to know that I can move his weapons and parts around sometimes without hurting him at all.
WARP Bike
And now we get to the completely new vinyl toy that’s the star of the set. The WARP Bike is built of three parts that are compatible with earlier Glyos System vinyl toys; once this thing is released in solid colors I expect we’ll start to see some wacky builds as people mix and match parts between the various vinyl toys in the series. But for now let’s focus on the incredible paint design of the WARP Bike since it’s the intense paintwork that makes this first release of the bike extra special.
Reconfigured
It’s important to note that the bike shown here was reconfigured before I started snapping photos. See this post at the Callgrim blog for the official configuration of the bike. I will probably swap the parts back to their official positions in the future, but for now I’m playing with it like this.
As Weathered and Gorgeous as the Figure
I wish I had whatever paints the factory was using on this vinyl because the paint’s sticking perfectly and isn’t rubbing off or sticky. But for now I’ll just have to be happy playing with the bike because all of my attempts at painting vinyl have been failures. Scan through the various photos and look at how great the weathering is; those silverish spots that look like worn metal are my favorite details.
Closing Thoughts
Jesse went all out on this release and the love he put into the toy really shows through in the final product. I’m impressed — I never expected this level of paintwork in mass-produced Glyos toys — and I can’t wait to pop open the second bike and play with the two together.
Thank you, Jesse, for giving me Riac for my collection. Incredible, and I wish my photos could be as awesome as your toy is.
Philip Reed doesn’t want to share one of the surprises that was in the box until later. Trust him, though, that it’s neat and totally unexpected . . . and in every single Riac and Callgrim bike set.
Excellent review Phil, I love the packaging on these two bikes; the white box reminds me of old model kits or old 1980’s toy packaging. Odds are I’ll have to get a warp bike if it’s made available solo as it’s a cool little accessory to add to your Glyos toys.