Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Toy Week: Lord Commander Coleman Stryker

WARMACHINE

It's a wild concept: take sword and sorcery fantasy like Conan or Elric of Melnibone, and add elements of Steampunk, giant fighting machines and firearms. You wind up with the world of Iron Kingdoms, where Warlords do battle, not on horseback, but with sorcery and six-ton metal behemoths called "Warjacks". Originally a role-playing game, this creation of the folks at Privateer Press quickly grew to include original fiction, miniature table-top gaming, and now, action figures.

The debut Warmachine action figure, Lord Commander Coleman Stryker, is one of the first action figures made by Southern Island, a young independent toy company from Arizona that has an exciting array of cool licenses in their portfolio. In the future, they'll be releasing figures based on the hot Anime properties, Full Metal Alchemist, and Case Closed, as well as a line of action figures based on the cult comic book, Victoria's Secret Service. As a bonus, all of their action figures will be in scale with one another (they're roughly six inches tall), which makes for more fun display options.

Their first effort is rather impressive. In the Warmachine mythos, Lord Commander Coleman Stryker is the "greatest Warcaster serving the nation of Cygnar." The detail and sculpting on this action figure is amazing. This figure, complete with a removable cape, Cygnar flag with base, and big honkin' sword, has a huge inherent "cool" factor. He'd look great on your desk, or laying waste to those puny Star Wars action figures that the nerdy guy in your office has on his desk. You can order Lord Commander Coleman Stryker directly from Southern Island here. He can also be found at select comic book and hobby retailers.

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