Howdy y’all and welcome to my first article for the international cyber sensation that is ActionFigurePics.com! The Dark Lord, SamuRon has enlisted my aid to help keep all you plastic maniacs informed and forewarned! So look out below cuz here we go…
Due to a comment made by fellow Fwoosher, RoboKillah I’ve been eyeballing NECA’s Gears of War figures at my local TRU. A few months ago, RoboKillah postulated about how cool the Grenadiers would be to add to his DCUC Apokolips shelf as soldiers for Darkseid. Never one to ignore a good idea I filed that one under “Needs Further Investigation.” Well during the Christmas shopping fun I found myself at TRU and in possession of a little old TRU gift card. Since I had finished up shopping for the kids I decided to give myself a treat and grabbed the last GOW2 Grenadier Elite figure hanging on the pegs.
Standing at about 7 inches the GOW2 Grenadier Elite figure is a hefty chunk of plastic and an amazingly detailed figure! I don’t think NECA’s sculptors have left out anything. He’s got more straps and buckles than Deadpool and Cable combined. And I mean if Liefeld drew them. The Grenadier is sporting 18 POAs and comes with a Gnasher Shotgun accessory. I know squat about the actual Gears of War game but according to the PR on his packaging, the Grenadiers earn their armor by engaging in “unending human subjugation.” Not the kind of guys you want to see unloading a U-Haul at the house next door to yours.
The POAs are head swivel, ML style shoulder balls, bicep swivels, elbros, wrist swivels and a funky type of articulation in his waist and knees that feels/acts like a ball socket joint. It looks like he’s supposed to have some swivel action on his hips but I can’t get ’em to move. Maybe it’s just the sculpt that makes it look like a hip swivel. It’s too bad because some kind of hip articulation would push his already high coolness factor over the top.
The Gnasher Shotgun accessory is also beautifully sculpted with paint apps that bring out the minute details and give it a slightly weathered look . The shotgun has a peg on one side that I’m guessing is supposed to fit in the peg hole on the back of the figure for when he’s not using it to deal hot death. Unfortunately this leads me to my next crit about this figure which is the design of the shotgun grip doesn’t allow the Grenadier to hold it very convincingly.
Despite the lack of hip articulation and not being able to wield his shotgun well; the beautiful sculpting, great paint apps and multiple POAs make the NECA GOW2 Grenadier Elite a very cool little beastie to add to your menagerie. He’ll look great subjugating all your other action figures. Now that I’ve seen how cool he is, I’m seriously considering picking up the TRU Exclusive 2 Pack to do some army building.
Buzzy, welcome aboard, and great review and pics! quick question – are the armor pieces on his arms and torso part of the sculpt, glued on, or removable?
thanx Ron!
good question. the torso harness/bandolier is a free floating, seperate piece of soft rubbery plastic which is possible to remove if one were to pop off one of the arms. the armor pieces on his arms are made of the same soft plastic as the bandolier and seem to be held in place by pegs glued into anchor points. it doesn’t seem like it would take much effort to remove them.
there’s a lot of customizing and fodder potential in this here monster.