Toy-Review: Project C.I.Boys - 'Super Hero' Series
Truth be told, when I first saw images for C.I.Boys Superheroes series, I was not particularly impressed. And while I have been accustomed to seeing alterations - of designs for obvious references to pop culture characters - to avoid legal and licensing entanglements for a huge variety of figure releases particularly from the East (yes, some folks call them "homage" or "inspired by" pieces lol), too much of one thing no longer adds a faux "charm" to the product, IMHO.
With all that in mind, seems my impressions and opinions has since "changed" thru the years, as I picked up the set at the local Sunday Flea Market at China Square Central (thanks for the goodness, Richard!) and with deboxing them and snapping them, I found myself enjoying them more than I could have imagined, actually!
The faux "parallel" designs now seem pretty funny, and at some times even hilarious! The "fried egg" eyes for the faux-Ultraman was LOL-worthy (in Cantonese, Ultraman is nicknamed "Ham3 Tan2 Qiu1 Yan3" = "Salted Egg Super Man" - in reference to his eyes looking like yellow salted egg yolks), to the cheeky ripped "pants" of a Yellow-HULK! Hey, I'm pretty happy with my set now, and am thinking about collecting other C.I.Boys too! Rotocasted.com has a spectacular array of C.I.Boys listed - which I suddenly find myself gawking over in earnest (Gundams, Star Wars, DGPH etc) OH NOEZ!
Released in 2006 under the (now defunct) 'Red Magic' label, the basic set consists of 9 x 2.5" character figures, and two "chase" figure (in this series it was the ULTRAMAN, and the clearish-body with white turban - a character whom I have zero clue who it was lol). Online venues state it to be made of "vinyl", but I have a suspicion it may be rubber/PVC, or even resin? Well at least the bodies are - pretty heavy to the hold, and most probably not hollow … the only possible "vinyl" might well be the "hats/helmets" the characters wear over their heads? hhhmmm…
I will leave you to "guess" who the characters are supposed to represent - Click HERE to view individual character profiles … although I am still wondering what the "hole" at the figure's bum was used for …
[Click HERE for C.I.Boys coverage on TOYSREVIL]
