Stallone line - First Blood Rambo released

What?!
Woah... I don't know what to say... he was such a constant in most of the 1/6 boards. This is very sad news. I didn't have much contact with him on the boards, but he was always very knowledgeable (and opinionated) and mostly helpful. I'll miss him.

The figure came out about on-par with a licensed Sideshow figure from maybe 3-5 years ago (and is the type of movie character Sideshow might have done,) which were mostly pretty decent. It's not at HT level, lacking that hyper-realism in sculpt/paint/cut-sew but still a solid looking release.

The head is a tad cartoony (which to be fair comes naturally to some degree due to Stallone's features) and the paint more like a 7 or 8/10 but it's still a really decent sculpt and solid enough paint. Overall looks good enough to grab.

Just watched Juston's review of this. After having just watching his SSC Luke X-wing review from maybe four years ago it's so funny how he found his "brand" voice with that strange intonation and speech pattern he uses now, versus older reviews where he sounds like normal Justin.

I actually like it - It appears from the comments that I’m in the minority. ha!

What drew me initially to the figure was the “moment” they went for. That solemn walk into town and that sadness/introspection John was feeling.

My biggest complaint is how green the jacket is and how clean all of his clothes and accessories look. Nothing that a little customization won’t fix.

Something about the eyes looks off, too droopy, which is probably why they had words plastered across them in every instagram pic prior to the reveal.

What the heck happened to Stallone's eyebrows in that unboxing video? It was startling.

medicineman3 said:

If you are referring to Chung, he passed away recently. I don't know the details.

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That’s too bad. I didn’t always care for his takes and found him overly critical often. Still wouldn’t wouldn’t wish ill though.

I preordered the figure.

I'll put him next to the DX Indy figure and the MMS T-800. Rambo will look great next to those figures.

I have high hopes for the 3Zero version. At least the knife will be superior.

Thing with the knife on this figure is even though it’s not great I’d never pose him with it. It would always be in the sheath.

The Clown Prince of Crime said:

I preordered the figure.

I'll put him next to the DX Indy figure and the MMS T-800. Rambo will look great next to those figures.

I have high hopes for the 3Zero version. At least the knife will be superior.

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I preordered it too. I think it looks pretty decent.

medicineman3 said:

If you are referring to Chung, he passed away recently. I don't know the details.

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Wait what?

Well son of a *****. There’s a thread on OSW that confirms it. No details there either.

If they do one revision on this, I would say completely redo the paint apps. The face is too pale which is why the features have this washed out appearance. His skin should have more of an olive color to it to be of Indian/German decent. They also need a more subtle gloss on the eyes and get rid of the pink/red traces in the eyelids. Those features distract from the intended appearance. And lastly they badly need to drybrush his hair, especially around the bangs. In his present appearance, they look way too thick. Compare it with the digital preview and you'll see what I mean. If they address those issues, it could really give this character a measurable upgrade. And again, no disrespect intended to the artists involved. It's a tough project to be attached to, especially where the actor himself is directly involved. But it needs some critical fine tuning to get it across the finish line. There's no problems, only solutions.

Rotfish said:

That's what's so weird about this, the digital sculpts were anything but soft. Look at the hair on this render versus the final product. What happened? Did something change in development or were their factories not able to reproduce this level of detail?

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This was the original sculpt done by vimal which although not perfect is better than the one that will be on the figure from inigou.
No matter how they repaint it, its not gunna fix the issues of the eyes and eyebrows imo.
Sorry to hear about chung, he was straight talking infuriating at times but an important knowledgeable member whos opinion and experience is a loss to the community.

Just wanted to see how the threezero rambo 3 would look kit bashed as this version.
Not perfect either but think its a better likeness.
Ok ok gunna let it go...... but then I saw the dog tags so thought i'd share.
Least its somewhat legit unlike the pancake pan

The Clown Prince of Crime said:

I preordered the figure.

I'll put him next to the DX Indy figure and the MMS T-800. Rambo will look great next to those figures.

I have high hopes for the 3Zero version. At least the knife will be superior.

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MGS_OldBoy57 said:

I preordered it too. I think it looks pretty decent.

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Same preordered without any reservations. I have the Hot Toys jacket version although I changed out the body, I shared pics in the Threezero thread. Being a huge Sly fan this was an easy purchase and upgrade of that look for me. I see the issues people are complaining about but I feel with some custom touches you can make him infinitely better. The knife be it that is has 12 teeth or 14 teeth or buck teeth means little to nothing to me because mine will never leave the scabbard.

I might repaint the knife. It's an easy repaint that even I can pull off, hopefully. It's just two colors. It'll look very nice. The knife's shape is very good.

I like the figure overall (and have it on preorder) but I do not agree it is a 10/10 rating.

As others have stated, it's missing that Hot Toys hyper realistic look (the sculpt and more specifically, the paint apps). It's more akin to a Sideshow release from a few years ago or even the Rocky 1 KP releases (from the same sculptors of this Rambo if I recall).

If they had released this Rambo figure under the radar without all the hype and at a lower price, it probably would not have garnered all this hate.

I'm a big fan of Stallone, so I've bought nearly all the figures/statues from ThreeZero, StalloneShop, KP, PCS, HCG and other third parties. The Hot Toys releases were before I started collecting, so I never got those.

Drake said:

Valid criticism isn't whining. Just as passively accepting whatever comes along rarely results in a company putting in the extra effort it takes to produce their best possible work...

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sabin23 said:

I like the figure overall (and have it on preorder) but I do not agree it is a 10/10 rating.

As others have stated, it's missing that Hot Toys hyper realistic look (the sculpt and more specifically, the paint apps). It's more akin to a Sideshow release from a few years ago or even the Rocky 1 KP releases (from the same sculptors of this Rambo if I recall).

If they had released this Rambo figure under the radar without all the hype and at a lower price, it probably would not have garnered all this hate.

I'm a big fan of Stallone, so I've bought nearly all the figures/statues from ThreeZero, StalloneShop, KP, PCS, HCG and other third parties. The Hot Toys releases were before I started collecting, so I never got those.

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Looked on the threezero first blood thread.
Great custom on there worth checking out.
All I want is the figure to look photo realistic and companies like threezero at least listin to trolls/nit pickers/whingers and take onboard the criticisms. They revised the sculpt from the bad proto they showed on the rambo 3 and people bought it.
I feel stalloneshop wont bother which is a real shame. They said they heard the criticisms but only about paint apps.
Repainting the eyes wont fix a bad sculpt and by buying mediocre products they have no incentive to listin.
Not telling anybody not to buy, your money but id rather get 2 threezeros and kit bash one to make the m65 look.

The Clown Prince of Crime said:

I might repaint the knife. It's an easy repaint that even I can pull off, hopefully. It's just two colors. It'll look very nice. The knife's shape is very good.

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I’ve used Molotow chrome paint markers with incredible success. Just give adequate time to dry - well over 24Hrs (I usually give any piece 2 days) and you will get a mirror finish. Don’t seal it because you’ll lose the mirror chrome look unless that’s what your going for. But you can play around and get any patina or painted look you like. If you seal the chrome with a dull coat (like Testors Dul-Cote) you can get a very nice gun metal silver that is believable to the eye as stainless.

Jase25 said:

I’ve used Molotow chrome paint markers with incredible success. Just give adequate time to dry - well over 24Hrs (I usually give any piece 2 days) and you will get a mirror finish. Don’t seal it because you’ll lose the mirror chrome look unless that’s what your going for. But you can play around and get any patina or painted look you like. If you seal the chrome with a dull coat (like Testors Dul-Cote) you can get a very nice gun metal silver that is believable to the eye as stainless.

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Thanks for the info.

I'm going to try painting it like this.

sparkstron73 said:

Repainting the eyes wont fix a bad sculpt and by buying mediocre products they have no incentive to listin.
Not telling anybody not to buy, your money but id rather get 2 threezeros and kit bash one to make the m65 look.

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I agree that a sculpt which is fundamentally flawed should be redone. But there's allot going on here with the paint apps that impact the perception of this particular sculpt. Changing up the tone of the skin and removing the red tones and heavy gloss in and around his eyes will make a HUGE difference in its appearance and his perceived expression. Dry brush the hair to give it the highlights that would be there naturally and that removes that dull finish that places too much emphasis on the strands. A descent sculpt captures the essence of a character, but the paint apps have to bring it to life.

So has this started shipping?