Background Story:
Dr. Hal Emmerich designed Metal Gear Rex, it is reported that he took inspiration from the mechas featured in Japanese animé. It has the form of a bipedal tank. REX's main weapon was the railgun on its right arm. Apart from that, REX also had a laser cannon below its abdomen. It is very powerful and can slice through armour. Vulcan cannons were found on its upper body,and together with missile launchers were used with its advanced targeting system to hit targets accurately, often with multiple missiles simultaneously. Additionally, REX was equipped with fortified armour. It could perform attacks by using its frame or perform kicks to defend itself against enemies in close proximity.
Despite the many supreme features of this mechanical beast of destructive power, it was purposely built with a weakness. It's exposed radome on top. Once destroyed, it would deactivate the VR-like targeting system, thus forcing the pilot to aim with his own sight, and would open the weapon's beak and expose the pilot to attacks.
The first Metal Gear game created by Hideo Kojima, was released in 1987. But it was not until 1998 when Metal Gear Solid was released that it started to spawn a legendary much loved and received franchise that would span more than 15 years. According to Wikipedia, Metal Gear Solid-was very well received, shipping more than six million copies,and scoring an average of 94/100 on the aggregate website-Metacritic.It is recognized by many critics as one of the best and most important games of all time,and heralded as the game which made the stealth genre popular
Metal Gear Rex appeared in Metal Gear Solid as well as well Metal Gear Solid 4.
Armament Specifications:
Machine guns:-2x 30 mm XGAU-8R rotary cannons
Missiles:-AGM-114P Hellfire anti-tank missiles
Laser:-Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser (100+ MW free-electron laser)
Railgun:-18.5m Rail Gun ("Widowmaker" Conventional / Nuclear Warhead)
Metal Gear Rex Replica Review:
ThreeZero is a company that produces designer 1/6 and 1/12 figures. ThreeA (3A) is a brand whereby ThreeZero work together with Ashley Wood (comic artist for Metal Gear Solid as well as Spawn).
I first heard from someone online that there would be a rerelease of this figure. But there was no such confirmed reports. The online toy store that announced this was too obscure for me to make an order. Hence, I approached another store that I knew better. The boss said he couldn't confirm either but would source a Metal Gear Rex for me. No news for a few months, but a few days ago, he messaged me and told me he secured a piece for me. This was my second chance and I had to take it as I really love the design of this mecha plus I love the Metal Gear Solid series.
Sculpt: 9/10-
Metal Gear Rex as most Japanese mechas are bipedal. In fact, to me, it looks like a giant sized mechanized dinosaur with railgun, cannons and missiles. Futuristic designs of mechanical tanks have more curved elements & parts. But the appeal of Metal Gear Rex is that it is more old-school looking. It has a lot of angular polygonal mechanical looking parts. Every detail of the Metal Gear Rex is replicated on this model. Down to every feature. The railgun is beautifully replicated and every mechanical parts are accounted for. To add realism, it even has some mixed media such as mini rubber hoses as electrical cables. When you open the cockpit, the inside is also finely sculpted to show the pilot chair, and control console. There are many removable parts of the armour and when removed, you could see the details of the mechanical grooves and intricacies in the exposed parts.
Paint & Mixed Media: 9/10
Solid 9 points for this because care was taken to give it a weathered look. The armour and exterior do not look squeaky clean,shiny and brand new, but was painted to look like REX has been in action before. Some parts were sprayed with black to simulate the effect of smoke or oil residue for the pistons and other appropriate parts. The paint scheme of metallic grey and green is excellent with beat up effects, just as it looked in MGS4 game, and it doesn't look like a plastic toy at all.
Design: 9/10
When 3A designed this giant toy, they had in mind to give it plenty of play value through its designs. I was very happy to see that 3A has designed Metal Gear Rex to have all the features as its video game counter part. Removeable parts, extendable and retractable legs, parts that can elevate this beastly bipedal tank, 3 different axis articulations on thigh joints to the body, so you can have 3 way movements. Extendable and retractable shanks, moveable flaps, moveable jaw to open the cockpit, articulated antennae with ball joint, it's just nuts, because you can really almost do many poses its supposed to do. This REX comes with a big black plastic wrench. What's it for you ask? It's for you to hold the REX at certain points of the machine and then rotate the body, or legs into certain locked positions to adjust poses. You can hear “clicks” when it locks.
The rail gun has LED lights and they light up one by one in a forward motion to the tip of the gun. Lights are also on the left and right of the cockpit.
Production & Build Quality: 9/10:
This beast is sturdy, not too heavy, quality plastic parts, smooth surfaces and with all the light up parts and articulation, definitely well built and produced. Worthy to be in the home of any collector or video game fan.
Comes with full instruction booklet and assembly leaflet. Plus a full colour 3A products catalogue.
Overall Score: 9
Note: Be careful with all the tiny removable parts. Very small and fragile and do not look directly into the railgun lights as the brightness is very intense.