Rex "The Doctor" Lewis

Height: 10cm to top of head.

Articulation: 22 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, swivel wrist; mid-torso ball joint; 5 points each leg: ball-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Colors: Molded black, silver-gray, and green. Painted silver and fleshtone.

Accessories: Steyr AUG Rifle, Claws x2, Nano-Injector, Suitcase w/nanomite canisters x3, Claw Weapon, stand. Removable labcoat, wig and respirator also included.

Author: RAC

(more...)

Rex is the chief experimental doctor for MARS Industries and developer of advanced nanotechnology. Disfigured in an explosion, he relies on life-support equipment as he launches a diabolical plan to satisfy his thirst for power and revenge.

I'm probably a bad choice for this, because I haven't actually seen the movie (as of when this review was originally written in October -RAC), and by all information I can find Rex is pretty central to the whole thing. Which makes sense since he's Cobra Commander. I bought the figure because he I liked a couple of his accessories, first and foremost the shiny claws. But we'll get to those in due time.


The Figure

This guy is weird-looking, but it all feels vaguely familiar. If you were being kind, you could call him a pastiche but I'm going with "hodgepodge of bits stolen from memorable villains." There's Darth Vader's burned face and respirator! There's Dr. Claw's claws! There's Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor toupee! And to top it all off, his entire costume, once you remove his labcoat/vest thing, is- and there is no kinder way to phrase this -ripped the hell off from Metal Gear Solid villain Psycho Mantis. Go do a Google Image Search- every strap in every location is the same, and the boots even match- the only difference to speak of is that Rex's shoulders are not fleshtone. Once you add the labcoat and the wig, though, most of the Mantis-y ("Mantic?") parts are covered, and what he looks like most is a generic villain.

Once you first remove that wig, I should note, it never really stays firmly on his head again- it'll rest there, but it's never really secure. But one thing I like about the Doctor is how many options you have in setting him up: his labcoat, wig, claws, and even respirator are all removable pieces, even though you have to pop the head off if you don't want to use the respirator. Beneath the respirator there's a face, of course, but even accounting for the burns it doesn't really look like Joseph Gordon-Levitt- far too lantern-jawed. The figure also omits a monocle shown on the package art, but not having seen the movie I think this is an incredibly wise decision- this is a busy costume as it is, and the monocle is a cranial accessory too far. (Plus, unless you molded it onto some other part, there's just no way you're doing a monocle at this scale!)

All the stuff around his neck restricts movement severely, though. The respirator eliminates tilt completely, and the collar of the vest prevents most of the swivel. The arms come out a lot better, with practically no shoulder restriction. The elbows hit exactly the 90-degree mark when facing forward, but the upper half of the joint has an "elbow pad" in the back, which gives the arm a defined front and back- something missing from earlier figures. But when you swing the forearms out to the sides the elbows straighten somewhat because of this. The mid-torso joint is not too useful except as a waist once the vest is on, because you can't really tell when it's angled. Labcoat off, however, and it has more tilt than many, especially side-to-side which most of the modern GI Joes don't do well. There's a hole in the back, through the vest, in case you want him to wear a backpack. (He's already got the harness covered.) His hips are about as good as GI Joes get, edging closer to a perfect split than Agent Helix, even. And the coat manages to mostly get out of their way. His knees don't get quite all the way into a perfect U-shape, but they're acceptibly close. The feet have a good range too- he can lean forward reasonably far but not as far as Helix, and he can point his toes like a ballet dancer. The leg joints are a bit weak, though, so he seems to prefer to stand leaning into his ankles a bit.


Accessories

-Rifle

It really seems like they love bullpup rifles for Rise of Cobra. This one is a Steyr AUG assault rifle, the mainstay of the Austrian Army. Considering who Rex is and who he works for, I think it's safe to say it's not one of the ones restricted to semiautomatic fire. It's out of scale- too big, which is fairly common -and he has no hope of both shouldering the rifle and getting a two-handed grip. On the upside, he can at least get a two-handed grip when he tucks it under his arm.

-Claws

The claws are actually why I decided to get Rex in the first place. Big, silver armored and clawed gloves that slip over the figure's hands. Their goofiness appealed to me, and I do like them even though they're the worst-executed accessory of the lot. They don't peg into anything or attach in any solid way- they depend solely on the the shape of the recesses matching the shape of the hands. Both of which are pretty soft plastic. So that doesn't work too well. They do stay on if you leave them alone, but they slide around a lot when you try to turn his wrists. I should've saved a couple clear bands out of the package.

(On the upside, though, the shape of the hands means that Wigless Rex can add a Nosferatu to the list of villain impressions he does at parties.)

-Nano-injector

The Doctor's favored weapon, unsurprisingly, is the fancied-up hypodermic. At least, I have to assume that's what this is because it doesn't look like any kind of handgun, and it's even too plain to be a made-up pistol. No, it's clearly a tool, and it looks like the kind of quasi-hypospray devices you see in movies that are tech-obsessed. Luckily, his weapon of choice fits his right hand very securely, and even the injector twisting out of his grip is only a minimal concern.

-Suitcase and Canisters

A compact but heavy-looking matte black suitcase, which opens to reveal three silver and green canisters of nanomites, all removable. Mine are labeled 1, 3 and 5, so I have to assume somebody else has 2, 4, and 6. Why? I have no idea- outside of these numbers the canisters all look completely identical. Rex doesn't hold the case or the canisters very well, as his hands are more posed for holding firearms.

-Claw Weapon

Instead of a missile launcher, The Doctor gets a large claw weapon to match his shiny clawmittens. (Are we absolutely positive they didn't think they were designing Dr. Claw, here?) It fits his hands fairly well, though the weight of the weapon demands it be braced against his shoulder, ordinarily. Or that he be put on his stand. Push the green tab on the back, and the claws open; release it and they snap shut. They move a bit spastically because they seem to be ratcheted so as to avoid damage. Problem being that this does make it a bit harder for them to stay closed around another figure, which almost has to be the intent here. And assuming you do get a figure successfully grabbed, then what? I did manage to get Rex balanced holding someone over his head, a feat I hope to duplicate for the photo shoot. If you try it, you will need to brace the other hand on one of the cables near the back of the weapon, but it can be done if you really want to.

-Stand

Yup! It's a stand! See Crimson Neo-Viper's review if you really need to know more about this dogtag-shaped, utilitarian black rectangle.


Closing Remarks

Odd, odd figure. The removable bits are kind of neat, though I wish the wig stayed better once you've pulled it off. The accessories all work okay, though I wish his claws fit a bit better. A few little problems that make him a Very Good figure instead of an Excellent one, but he's more interesting than the Cobra Commander figure. And if nothing else, the amount of borrowed wardrobe pieces make him excellent custom-fodder.

-RAC