This year, McToys took on two major licensed properties - the Matrix and Terminator 3. The action figures for T3 were just recently released, quite awhile after the film hit theaters. There are four figures in the series, including the regular T-850, a T-850 with a huge coffin accessory, the T-X with her human appearance (called "Terminatrix"), and the T-X in her natural, all metal state. She gives new meaning to the term “chrome fenders.” There is also a deluxe yet-to-be-released boxed set of a T-850 battling the endoskeleton T-X.

If you know McFarlane, you know there will be variations. Later case assortments will include T-850s without their sunglasses, and I'm sure we'll see some sort of variations on the Terminatrix as well. The figures retail for $10-$13, depending on where you pick them up.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Terminator 3 - T-850 and Terminatrix"

Today's review covers the regular T-850, and the human (or meatsack, as Bender would say) version of the Terminatrix. I'll also be posting a review of the other two at MROTW later tonight (8/12) for your viewing pleasure. Is it just me, or does the Terminatrix sound like an Orkin Man wearing leather pants?

Packaging - ***1/2

It's those cool clamshells I love so much. The graphics on the inserts are good, but as usual they lack in the text department. Still, they wear tremendously well, store fairly easily, and look great. No, they are as far from resealable as you can possibly get, but that's pretty normal for single-carded figures.

Sculpting - T-850 ****; Terminatrix ***

Once again, McToys shines in this category. But I think they may have even outdone themselves when it comes to the Arnold sculpt. This is the definitive Arnold head sculpt, surpassing anything from before. Compare to even their own work on the Matrix characters, and you'll see just how much more accurate to the real life version this sculpt is. I'm very impressed, and that's tough for McFarlane to do, since going in you assume that the sculpt will be perfect. But here they've managed to even outdo my expectations.

The T-X is a little less impressive, not because it doesn't look just like the source material, but because I hate the sculpted pose. It's cool for about 30 seconds, and then the over the shoulder, come-hither look starts to wear thin. Don't get me wrong - I love the detailing. But this particular pose, with so little articulation, makes the figure less attractive for me.

Paint - ****

Paint ops have come a long way for McToys. While the figures have large amounts of a single color, like the black on Arnold or the red on T-X, there's still plenty of intricate details in the faces, wounds, and small areas. Things like her necklace, eyes, or heels are all perfectly done, and the T-850 sculpt is made even better by the quality paint application. The silver detailing on his outfit is a great example of quality work, right down to the zippers, small chains and rivets.

Articulation - **
Ah, yes, it's time for that split personality. This is a line with little articulation, even less useful. It's not as bad as some figures we've seen, particularly in the earlier Movie Maniacs lines, but there's not much you'll do to these two basic poses.

The Terminatrix has neck, shoulders, cuts above the elbows, cuts at the sleeves, and waist. Since the head is at such an odd angle, the neck articulation is almost useless. All the value here is in the arm articulation, where you can at least use it to get a variety of hand and arm poses, with and without the gun. An alternate left hand would have been nice as well, since that hand pose is mighty funky (or at least very specific), but that's not one of your options. And don't try pulling the left arm off to put the mechanical hand on - it's not designed for it, and you'll probably break it unless you boil and pop.

The T-850 doesn't fair any better (actually, worse), but at least his initial pose is less, shall we say, dramatic. He has neck, shoulders, wrists, waist and one cut on his left arm above the elbow. The math whizzes in the audience have already figured this out, but he has one less point of articulation than the T-X. On top of that, his left wrist is almost completely useless due to the jacket restricting almost all it's range of motion. The right wrist is a little better, but not much.

Accessories - ***
The accessories have some great features, and one major problem. The T-850 comes with two: the pump-action shotgun, and what McToys calls the “drum-feed weapon.” The drum of this gun is actually removable, and the shells can come out. That's a level of detail we normally don't see in McToys weapons, and the detail and plastic used on this gun are excellent. Be careful not to lose those shells!

The shotgun isn't quite as nice. It comes with a great strap, well-attached on either end, but the pump doesn't work, and the plastic used is much softer. The gun will likely come out of the package warped, and you may have to resort to warming it up and freezing it quickly to get it to hold a straight position.

This version of the T-X comes with two additional hands and a handgun. One of the additional hands is also human, designed to hold the gun, while the second one is robotic. These pop on and off fairly easily, and both look very good.

Finally, both figures also come with small display stands with pegs for their feet. Neither is very large, and neither is uber-complex, but both look fine. I did have a major problem with them though, and this was true across the entire series - the pegs for the feet are too large for the holes. A snug fit is good, but these were almost impossible to get into the holes. I managed to break the peg on the T-850, and even with the T-X, once she was on those pegs she wasn't coming off again. The T-850 doesn't really need the stand, since he can stay upright on his own just fine, but the T-X is very dependent on the stand.

Value - ***
If you're a wise man (or woman), you'll be spending about $10 each on these. In my neck of the woods, Meijers carries the line for $10, and that's what I'm scoring this on. That's a decent value in today's market, although it's not fantastic. But if you end up paying the $12 or $13 at a store like Gamestop or Media Play you can knock another half star to a star off this category.

Overall - T-850 ***1/2; Terminatrix ***
Of these two figures, I really prefer the T-850. He's a fantastic looking figure on the shelf, and the sculpting, paint ops and accessories make him one of those figures with an extremely high cool factor. The Terminatrix doesn't have this same level of cool, and short-packing her was a wise move on the part of McFarlane Toys.

Of the entire series though, the coolest figure is the T-850 with the coffin. The Endoskeleton T-X is certainly an improvement over this version, but the other T-850 has it all going for it. That review will be up later tonight at MROTW for those that are interested.

Where to Buy -
Specialty stores like Media Play and Gamestop already have these in, as do Meijers stores in the mid-west. On-line options include:

- Beans Toys has the set in stock for only $40. Look under the Mcfarlane section.

- Killer Toys has the set of four for $43, or individual figures for $12 (including the T-X's). They also have a pre-order for the deluxe set for $22.

- Aisle Sniper has the T-850's still in stock at $11 each, but are out of the T-X versions.