Toy-Review: Playge Version RAT 1/6 by FERG x threezero

TOY-STORY: "Playge Rat" is a 1/6th-scaled articulated action figure designed by Clay Ferguson aka FERG and produced/manufacturerd by threezero from Hong Kong. Playge is the combination of both Ferg and threezero, and the more infamous of their products thus far had been Project Squadt. Playge RAT is their first 12" figure featuring tailored fabric clothes and accessories.

This is the Playge Version with lime-green eyes - limited to 150 editions. price-point was at US$140 per including shipping. There is a Retailer Edition featuring a albino-white figure-base with red eyes. I have since forgotten this was a gift, or more likely a purchase, but it doesn't matter - as I am highly critical when it comes to 12" figures, regardless of their origins.



PACKAGING: Housed within a brown-carton box with print, is a lush matt box cardboard box with gloss-printing - the image being a Playge Rat "in action". This is a nice touch considering this figure is a mashup between an offering with "art toy" design-sensibilities (focused in it's head) and the rigors of the 1/6th-scaled hobby, which is a hit-n-miss considering whether or not you're happy with your figure.

House within the box, is a plastic-tray with the figure and accessories all laid out. I like my accessories spread out like that - even though I know put together on the figure it is not a whole lot - but seeing them displayed like that always gets me excited! LOL



FIGURE GENERAL: This figure exists within a limbo-axis between "art toys" and "1/6-hobby" previously unfilled, with most designer-based creations adopting a "humanoid" base-form, for which PLAYGE RAT possess the body-form of. "Designer Figure" is the closest description of the figure, and hopefully in time, this conceptual notion will be carried on with further releases.

Visually, this figure is both exciting and invigorating, and is released at a time when "original" creator-owner properties like 3A Toy-products thrive within a realm gripped by movie-license and military-figures. Very exciting indeed!

As well threezero has always been well known and acknowledged for their production of fabric-clothing, so this is a no-brainer, at least for me and my tastes.


TAILORING: Dapperly dressed in a suit and dress shoes, Playge Rat is a sharp-looker indeed! Slender and sleek, the chosen-fabric is thin and very nicely tailored. In lieu of having stub-buttons, velcro was chosen for the waist-vest, which frankly gets at me - but I understand the need to keep the figure slim, so this works for that.

I have not attempted to strip the figure to see the body-based below, but the figure is indeed slender and extremely long! I suppose I should measure it with a ruler, but perhaps "length" is not important, the visual representation is - and Playge Rat looks pretty great, IMHO.

My only extreme complaint, would be the trouser-front - with my figure having neither zips nor clasps, with the "gap" obvious when I attempt to bend or pose the figure in a certain angle - which restricts it's displayability, at least in my book.


HEADSCULPT: The undisputed "star" of this figure, is the headsculpt - which basically takes the figure out of the "regular" 1/6-hobby genre, and crosses a little into "art toys" with the designers pedigree, and as well brand association. The triple-eye concept is synonymous with Ferg's designs primarily for Project Squadt, and is replicated here. One aspect of the head, is the "soft" back-of-head - which allows you to push "into" the skull, to have the figure's "tongue" peeking through! (See video below). While folks who view the net and toy-forums now of this function (well, I certainly hope they do) - there is no literature house within the box set to mention this - so would be quite an interesting surprise for folks not-ni-the-know to figure it out and have fun finding it, IMHO.



SHOES: Folks know me and my 1/6-affliction, know I have a "thing" (*cough*) for "shoes". Playge Rat's dress shoes are utilitarian-cool, with a tinge of "sharpness" at the tip for that extra "oomph". Alas the figure does not wear socks (which I no huge biggy, because who the heck would ride up the trouser-leg, innit?) which reveals the bare-ankle-joints, which are very often seen on 3A Toy's Tomorrow Kings (of which threezero is a partner of 3A) - which I frankly find visually distracting - but that's just me.



HANDS + WEAPON: Very much appreciated is the sculpted hands for the figure - providing a focused look for "Rat" (with an exception of a "tail", but THAT would be pushing it hard lol). Additional handsculpts which gripped the blade accessory is pretty exceptional and looks splendidly-sleezy!

The primary automatic shotgun is a sweet addition (if "unweathered", compared with the myriad of weapons out there), if only to make the figure "cooler" and more badass - the bandolier is THE accessory which completes the "look". Somehow the figure always reminds me of a character from Michael Mann's HEAT - all he needs is a large duffel-bag filled with cash, and a "gloved" version of rat's-hands, and we are in business! LOL


WRAP-UP: Considering this is Playge's first 1/6-figure, I would offer my sharpest salutes and congrats. And hopefully in time, we will get to see more 1/6 figures from Playge, that will keep this Rat company - I'm thinking a new series seeing Project Squadt in humanoid-form! Now wouldn't that be nifty?