Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Panda Mony Toys - El Ray (Alter Nation)



Number 2 in our Panda Mony Toys entry, El Ray is a fish-man hybrid member of the GK Delta Team. He's the water-based archetype hero of the group with a few powers including glowing, an electric touch attack, and tail-whapping! In the mini-comics, he is an explorer and higher standing member of the team who is also one of the better fighters alongside Quillroy.

I like its design because it mixes a lot of different elements: catfish whiskers, clawed appendages, nice proportions and most importantly an abundance of fins. He has better articulation than Quillroy and also comes with a decent number of extra weapons (all ocean/diver themed of course!)
His action figure gimmick is two-fold: a floppy gel material tail you can whip about and if you press the symbol on his belt his shoulders light up with LEDs! (demo video at the end!)

Sculpt/Paint: 4/5 I think they did a much better job on El Ray for the sculpted detail, cleaner paint and a face that much more resembles his comic book look. He's got a mix of paints, textures and lots of detail for what is really a lower price point figure.

Articulation: 3/5 (19 points): Articulation is always going to be different for these figures since their action feature often prevents certain types. In this case, El Ray has horizontal wrist swivel, vertical ankle swivel, single jointed elbows and knees (decent range), and ball/swivel shoulders and hips. His head also is on the large ball joint every one of these toys has which gives a good range. One thing he lacks though is a waist swivel due to the action feature button being smack dab on his belt.

Accessories: 3/5 (3 weapons): His three weapons are his bident, harpoon gun, and larger (energy?) weapon. It seems like some kind of underwater sonic device but that's just a hypothesis. He never uses it in the comics, just has it strapped to his back when going to fight Sabotage. They're decent enough with some details and paint in enough areas to make them fun to look at and not just one molded piece of plastic. He also comes with his comic book!

Fun Factor: 3/5 Definitely El Ray is a lot easier to handle. He stands much more solidly in other poses and because of his weapons and how well he holds them, you can get him into some good fighting stances. His tail is fun to flip around as well as his light LEDs (though I'll probably refrain from using those too often so I don't have to replace them!).

Verdict: 13/20 Good I definitely like this character more and think he's a much cooler idea for a special ops hybrid team than Quillroy. He's a top 3 character for me out of these six! If these 90s type animal hybrid heroes appeal to you, I'd say get this one for sure!










































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