Review – G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Zartan
That was unexpected! Shockingly, the first G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 action figure (Amazon.com search*) came from eBay and not from Amazon. Wow, that was one fast delivery for an eBay item . . . but you don’t care about shipping times, so on with the review!
Packaging
Now this is one hell of an amazing package! The G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Zartan* package, shown above, is a mix of cardboard and clear plastic — designed to be tossed after the toy has been opened — and gray plastic caps. The artwork’s quite nice, the giant open front shows off the action figure and accessories, and the back gives us Zartan’s bio and shows off some other toys in the line. But it’s the gray plastic caps that are the most impressive parts of the packaging design.
Weapons Case
Once you’ve removed all of the packaging — and this is a pain, since the toy is held in with wires, rubber bands, and there’s ridiculous amounts of tape holding everything in place — then the two caps connect together to great a weapons case. You have to snap on the carrying handles and the closure pieces, but within a moment or two of freeing all of the parts from the package you have a carrying case for all of Zartan’s accessories . . . complete with a foam insert designed to hold the pieces in place! This is one of the cooler packaging designs I’ve ever seen for an action figure.
Nice Box, but How’s the Toy?
My first impressions after spending about fifteen minutes with the G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Zartan* action figure is that Hasbro went all out in designing a fun, well-produced toy. There’s just enough articulation to make the toy wonderfully playable, the size feels great — more portable than 12-inch scale action figures while still chunky and fun — and my very first thoughts all center around “I am impressed.”
Sculpt
The G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Zartan*, like the other action figures in the Sigma 6 series, is more toy-like and stylized than it is a realistic approach to human features and anatomy.
This is the classic Zartan character design modernized, and I really enjoy the look of those sharp, angled shapes that make up the toy. The bicep muscles are more like blocks than human muscles, the feet have that chunky style that I love on the Power Attack Batman action figures, and even the fingers are more blocky than they are rounded. I suspect the sculpt is an acquired taste — well, considering my first response to the line when it was in stores, I know this is an acquired taste — but I strongly suggest that you acquire the taste right now!
Articulation
Since this is my first G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 action figure (Amazon.com search*) review I want to run through all of the points of articulation:
- Head – A simple ball-jointed neck works fairly well, except for where the soft plastic cowl stops movement; Zartan can only look up or down so a little before the cowl gets in the way. Side-to-side range is better, with Zartan being able to look to either side (but not over his shoulder).
- Torso – Zartan has both an ab crunch joint and a waist swivel. As with pretty much all single-hinge elbows, Zartan can’t bend his arms up much. But it’s not terrible.
- Arms – Swivel-hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists all work great!
- Legs – Swivel-hinge hips and knees and hinged ankles. The knees are very tight and I’m a little worried about breakage, but on the plus side the legs don’t feel weak and I’m not worried about Zartan falling over.
So I count that as fifteen points of articulation. That’s a lot, but at the 8-inch height and with the plastic this durable I’m not finding any of the joints (except for those knees!) frustrating to deal with.
Accessories
I now see exactly why so many of you have praised the G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 action figures (Amazon.com search*) and their accessories. Zartan comes with three weapons, a quiver, two magazines from one of his guns, two arrows for his spring-loaded bow, and that weapons case to store stuff. There are a lot of accessories packed with this toy!
- Dreadnocker – Shown in the photo above, on the left, this is the spring-loaded bow. What’s especially cool is that the arms of the bow pop out when you load one of the arrows into the launcher.
- Hideburner – I don’t understand this weapon (shown above, on the right side). One of the three points is on a string and extends/retracts. The description on the box says the weapon coils around enemies and then heats up to burn them, but it’s a really weird accessory.
- Bushranger – Shown on Zartan’s left arm in the below photo. The two magazines are removable, and what amazes me is it’s two unique sculpts and not simply the same magazine twice.
Closing Thoughts
The G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 Zartan* action figure is one incredible piece of work and playing with it just makes me regret not latching onto this line when it was first in stores. Those knees have me worried that one is going to break off, but otherwise I’m not running into any durability issues with the toy.
I can see where the weapon case could get to be a bit much once you have a dozen or so of the figures in the line, but for the moment I’m loving the packaging idea and am completely happy with the toy. Happy enough, in fact, that this one’s going to work so I can show it off to the other toy fans in the office.
I’m gonna cry if one of them then proceeds to tell me about how he collects the G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 toys (Amazon.com search*)
I went through a period of Sigma Six obsession a few years ago, fueled almost entirely by looking at Sigma Six Central (http://s6c.joebattlelines.com/toys.html) until I cracked and started buying them. It always starts with “I’ll just get a Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow….”
Hmmm, I haven’t dug those out in a while; did I complete the collection to my satisfaction…..? No! I’m not going down this road again!
Man, now i see why you’ve been so Sigma 6 obsessed lately. This is indeed an impressive figure, from sculpt to play-ability and accessories.
Do you know offhand what new retail was on these?
There were two lines of figures you could buy. The commando line cost $15 and came with a load of accessories and the package that made the container. The soldier line was $10, had few accessories (but still more than most figures) and came on a blister card.
I bought my first sigma 6 figure, snake eyes, in 2005 and remember thinking “I can’t get too many of these because they’re expensive.” Then 2 years and probably 20-30 figures later…
@Court – Zartan was $15. That’s a lot of toy, even in 2006, for $15.
@Dave – Yes, you should avoid going after any more Sigma 6 toys! (Well, at least until I’m through. I’d hate for us to compete with each other on eBay.)
Was just lookin through Dave’s link, had no idea how big that release was.
Also funny how time-less Snake Eye’s design in. Abit of change here or there but ‘black body armor’ ninja doesnt really go out of style hehe.
I never got Zartan. I don’t know why, I loved his design. I’m thinking maybe financially I was in a bad spot and all toy-buying was put on hold, because there is no reason I can think of why I didn’t pick him up.
Great review, now I’m thinking maybe I should finally add him to the others.
@Court – Black never goes out of style!
@clark – Thank you! Knowing you’re considering buying a Zartan after seeing my review makes me think I did a good job on this. That’s the kinda encouragement that keeps me going!
Great review.
If you like the Sigma 6 Zartan then you’ll love Lt. Stone. Unlike Zartan he comes with diguises, one of which is Zartan.
Lt. Stone is indeed a great figure!
@Pete – Thanks, Pete. I actually now have a Lt. Stone on order; I found a good deal on a case of figures.
That may have been why I don’t have a Zartan, because Lt. Stone came out that same wave, and I only had money for one figure. In that case, I think I made the right choice, because Lt. Stone went on to become, and still is my absolute favorite Sigma 6 figure that I own.
Not to build him up too much for you, Phil. There is just something about him that really made him a home run for me personally.
Man, Zartan looks great. I only ever see these unopened cause the only person I know who collected them is hardcore about keeping stuff MOC. Keep these Sigma 6 reviews coming.
Great review! Now I must get Zartan 🙂
Hardest figure ever for me to remove from its packaging was Sigma 6 Flint. Total badass having the figure posed like he was climbing the side of a mountain. I’ve never been a MOC guy and that was my only temptation ever.
A great look at a great figure. Zartan is easily my favorite of the S6 line. Unfortunately, my whole collection got wiped out in a flood. The boxes got saturated with mold and had to be pitched. The two I miss the most are this Zartan and Snake Eyes with his Ninja Cycle. Cobra Commander and Destro are plenty cool too.
@PrfktTear and clark – You’re making me a little sad that Lt. Stone will arrived while I am out of town. But I suppose that just tells me I’ll have a hell of a lot of fun opening him when I am back from my trip.
@T-Rav – More Sigma 6 on the way, including 2007 figures in the same style but without the Sigma 6 title.
@Hedrock – I’m seeing packaged Zartans between $30 and $40 at the moment. But you may be able to find a loose one (or a lot) at a better price.
Now we just need Zartan’s swamp skier in this scale!
@DJjoker182 – Over a decade ago I was a MOC collector and displayed all of the toys on the walls. It looked amazing, but I am much happier with toys now that I open them.
@FigureFan Zero – Flood = suck! Sorry to hear about that. And shhhh. You’re scaring all of my toys with talk of flooding. I should probably check our insurance plan.
Lt. Stone was a pain to find at first back in the day. I think people were army building with him since he came with a Cobra trooper disguise and was the closet thing to a trooper.
I didn’t even know about the 2007 figures. I’m looking forward to seeing those. I could see myself diving into this line pretty easily. I need to avoid it though. I’ve got very little room left for things as it is and I’ve had my eye on those Battle Shell Ninja Turtles that are out now. They look awesome.
@Spatula007 – It is weird that there are no standard Cobra Soldiers/Troopers for the line. I see the BATs, but those just aren’t the same as an army of old school blue Cobra troops and an officer.
Yup. There were Iron Grenadiers though, but not the same.
@T-Rav – At the very least you should avoid this series until I’m completely finished. Clear a path, I’m headed to eBay!