Moldie’s got a lot to say about 3A and the Ankous, so I’ll keep the intro short. He’s done a bunch of guest reviews for us (see here, here, here, here, and here) – you think it’s time for him to become a regular on AFP?
Toy collecting is growing up. Those of us who grew up with the old Star Wars figures of the 70s and 80s and G.I. JOE and Transformers, a lot of us were sucked back in with well designed and heavily-articulated toylines like Marvel Legends, now largely considered a pivotal series in the history of action figures. All the while the whole concept of comics and pop culture as contemporary art has grown and infected the same generation, leading toys to become more and more about legitimate aesthetic and overall design and less about character recognition and franchise promotion, the toy world’s crust slowly cracked open exposing opportunities for new and diverse lines.
It’s no surprise that a company like threeA might shine under these circumstances. With the production of toy lines the likes of WWR (World War Robot, 1/6, twelve-inch scale) and WWRp (World War Robot: portable, 1/12, six-inch scale) which are promoting nothing except an artist (Ashley Wood)’s sense of aesthetic, toy collecting seems to be veering into a whole new direction of high-quality collectibles, and leaving, to some degree, the toy aisles to the kiddos.
But threeA’s not just about rendering grimy, diesel-swilling robots in vinyl. Not just about gas masks and one-sleeved renegade soldiers, nope. It turns out it’s also about an old-school classic adventure team with a contemporary, crusty twist. With a touch of “emo” for the whiney-kid set.
We’re talking Adventure Kartel, here – the details of which are fed slowly, tiny morsel by tiny morsel as new figures are released into the wild.
