nticipation can ruin a toy. I’m not entirely sure anticipation is the only thing to blame regarding the Kaiyodo Battle Action Scopedog. This figure held the promise to right all the wrongs Kaiyodo had done with their previous ATM-09ST offerings, but lets face it, maybe Votoms wasn’t well suited for action figures.

I am a veritable Votoms nut, I love the designs of the mecha, I also loved the dark subtlety of the anime. Despite quality control problems and toys fraught with PVC parts (and no screws) I bought up lots of the Kaiyodo figures. I really had high hopes for this …ugh…’Action Figure’. Despite the miniscule metal content of the figure (notice I didn’t use the word toy) , the toy is as fragile as the other Votoms offering from Kaiyodo. In fact, my dear old Scopedog didn’t even make it through the photo shoot without requiring a bit of superglue sugery.

The sculpt is excellent however, and as long as you stick to the intended ‘stock’ poses he looks incredible. He comes with the ‘Solid Shooter’ bazooka, the standard machine gun, and a slew of hands both splayed and fisted for your posing pleasure.

The packaging is both collector friendly and incredibly well designed. Kaiyodo ought to consider going stricktly into the packinging design business and leave the toys to companies that won't comprimise on quality during production phases of the toy.

As with the EVAs, Kaiyodo went out on a limb with some really ‘experimental’ articulation. Forget the old, dull rotating shoulders and hinged elbows and replace them with forward moving shoulders (for holding weapons) and 360 degree swivels for the elbows. It makes for some cool posing, but somehow it is confusing to the hands and really doesn’t seem like much fun. Sometimes experimental or alternative is just experimental or alternative. I would definitely have preferred run of the mill MSIA style action for this action-less figure.

Again, for those mecha or Votoms enthusiasts this is a must, especially at the $18 Diamond import price tag. But if you are expecting a high quality toy, prepare yourself for a rather fragile display model.