A Great Little Figure From the Hit Vehicle/Driving-Team CGI Cartoon by Hot Wheels
When I heard a few years ago that Hot Wheels had developed a new action/adventure vehicle-based property, I wasn't that interested in the news. They mentioned right off the bat that they were planning a line of action figures to ride in the vehicles, but even that didn't get me going. I've seen Vehicle Team toys and cartoons come and go over the years, and very few have left an impression. When I finally saw details for Battle Force 5, I saw that they were following the standard format of 5 drivers/pilots, with one lone female. But the difference this time was that I really liked that one female. First off, she was an African American woman, which is just about the rarest combination in the world of boy toys. Secondly, she's decked out in my favorite color, green. And Thirdly, I saw a clip of the show and she seemed strong, spunky, and likeable - not the typical passive pastel-clad token female.
This figure is small, she's described everywhere as being a "3 inch articulated action figure," but she is less than 2.5 inches tall in reality. She's surprizingly detailed for her size and sports a whopping FIVE points of articulation! Calm yourselves please. What I like so much about this toy is the nostalgia factor for tiny driver figures. I know most of the vintage love goes to 3.75" figures or the larger He-Man sized warriors, but the 80's were LOADED with tiny guys like this. I'm flooded with memories of StarCom, Dino-Riders, M.A.S.K., Eagle Force, even Voltron. Agura really brings back a ton of great memories. These are the types of figures I would actually carry around with me everywhere.
Agura came with a large green vehicle called the Tangler which was very reminiscent of M.A.S.K. or Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors. I should note that I have seen several very distinct paint variations of Agura online. Mine is pretty monochromatic, but this packaged shot (not mine) shows her with a much brighter chest armor. I've also seen pictures where she almost looks like she's wearing a tealish-blue outfit instead of green.
Here is a promotional graphic of her from the cartoon and her bio from Wikipedia:
Agura Ibaden (voiced by Kathleen Barr) - BF5's Special Operations Officer, second in command, and Hunter. The tomboy female and African-American member of Battle Force 5. Her favorite hobby is off-road driving and was brought into BF5 under the pretense of taking part in an off-road race. She finds Stanford very "obnoxious" and the two get into fights, though this tendency begins to diminish after Cold as Ice. Her pet peeve is being referred to in any way as weak and/or especially helpless. She has excellent tracking and hunting skills, and also possesses formidable hand-to-hand abilities and athleticism, allowing her to defeat even Kyburi. While she can get easily angered when annoyed, she has methods of staying calm and focuses on the task at hand.
Had to throw that rear view in here somewhere! I really hope this line continues because there are some really cool characters that haven't seen action figure treatment yet. My favorites being Sage and Kyburi, the Blue and Red Sentients. They'd look great in transluent plastic!
Time for a comparison shot!
Cheers!
This was my Seventh review for Black History Month. Click to see the rest.
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