I'M NO TOURIST
I’ve been a Rambo fan for over 20 years. My introduction to the character came through the old cartoon series and Rambo 3 taped off TV and edited for content. While still a pretty intense film, the edited version was much cleaner and it would be some time before I saw the uncut version and new what was missing, the biggest thing being the sealing of the wound on his side; this scene was totally removed, making no sense of why Rambo took a single bullet from Mousa. As a child, I would pretend I was Rambo, tying my bathrobe belt around my head and arming myself with all the machine gun toys I had, and of course a knife. I probably shouldn’t have been watching this movie as young as I was because I even wanted to try and have a stick fight with someone, not fully grasping the pain of such a sport.
My first Rambo figure was the Coleco figure tied to the cartoon. Despite the cartoon Rambo bearing no resemblance to Stallone, the figure clearly does, and the Trautman to Richard Crenna. For a long time, this was all I had. Eventually a company called N2 emerged, turning out figures similar to McFarlane and NECA, releasing a Rambo with a fairly realistic body sculpt and including 2 weapons. The portrait is pretty bad and details are off in the sculpt work, but it was still something new and a leap forward. While mass distribution never came to be, N2 eventually became Mirage and Mirage produced small numbers of a trilogy set of figures, one for each film. I’ve only managed to secure one of these figures and continue to hunt. So for the most part, N2 was the best option for some time. Then came Hot Toys, an emerging producer of 1:6 scale collectible figures. Traditionally, Rambo’s shirtless look meant figures would be made in chosen poses with little articulation to preserve the anatomy of the body. Hot Toys reinvented the Rambo figure with a rubber muscle body that was posable yet appeared human. While a very cool idea, the body sculpt was not specific to Stallone, possibly even too tiny in muscle mass for Sly, and the scars were cut into the rubber rather than being embossed from his body. That said, it was a big leap forward, and ultimately, their Rambo 3 was made just as the company’s products were undergoing a huge leap in quality, with better sculptors and painters, Hot Toys’s figures would take on a new life and push towards an unbelievable realism.
Sadly, Hot Toys ceased with Rambo figures shortly before 2008’s Rambo, failing to represent each film in the franchise with a figure. Rambo fans were forced to go year after year, hoping to see a new figure, left only to purchase a series of statues from Hollywood Collectibles Group and Sideshow Collectibles. In May 2011, roughly 4 years since the last Rambo figure came out, Enterbay announced a forthcoming Rambo figure. Expectation, based on poor advertising, was that it would be a 1:6 scale figure based on the 4th film, Rambo. Finally, fans could have the whole series in 1:6 figures. That dream was short lived, as early prototype shots of weapons from Rambo 3 emerged and it was revealed that it would be a 1:4 scale figure from Rambo 3. While initially disappointing to Rambo fans who’d yearned for a figure from the fourth film, seeing the development of the 1:4 scale T2 T-800 from Enterbay sparked excitement in Rambo collectors who couldn’t resist the possibility of a Rambo figure, from any of the films, made to such a high standard.
Slowly, in small bits over the course of the next 12 months, Enterbay would provide us with glimpses at the development of this figure. Early camera phone photos of the production head caused a good deal of concern with collectors over the likeness and left doubts if the Rambo figure would live up to the bar set by the T-800. Official production photos instantly removed all doubt, and the revelation of the muscular body developed in secret was a great relief. Mirroring the latest style of Hot Toys muscle body, Enterbay delivered a Rambo that is as authentic to Stallone’s Rambo 3 physique as possible while still allowing an acceptable amount of articulation for a figure.\
After months of waiting, the Enterbay Rambo 3 figure is finally reaching collectors and at last, the die hard fans have the opportunity to buy the ultimate Rambo figure.
Packaging - ***
Enterbay launched the HD Masterpiece line with a uniquely styled box for the T-800, capturing the feel of Terminator 2. After dealing with shipping this package, they quickly took to designing a universal package for the line. This new box is made of lightweight black foam, protective of the contents, but light in weight, with a soft foam interior around the figure and plastic trays containing the accessories. The new packaging design was promoted to provide cost savings to consumers, however, with Rambo, no savings were seen. While it may have been a genuine effort, it seems like weight is likely a minimal factor in the cost of shipping such a package and the change had no impact on shipping rates. Because of the standardized nature of the packaging, the appearance is very bland, making it nothing special worth any high remarks.
Sculpt - **** 1/2
The body and portrait are listed as sculpted by SCUDERIA. While not a sculptor I’m familiar with, they’ve certainly wowed me. I was one of the concerned collectors when the early camera phone shots of the portrait came out, and based on their quality, I thought it was the product and not any trick of the lens losing Stallone’s likeness, but based on production photos and the end result, it was either lens tricks or they tweaked the sculpt beyond that sample. This portrait is Rambo 3 Stallone all the way, and that’s a huge thing, that it is not only Sly’s likeness but very specific to the shape he was in for Rambo 3, a very unique physical build to his other films of the era, and possibly the most muscular he’s ever been. Taking that beyond the portrait, the body sculpt is also unique to Rambo 3, capturing Sly’s rather thick neck and the unique pattern to his chest scars, which differed from Rambo 2 and First Blood. Even the extra veins in his right shoulder and the unique indent in the right pec from Sly’s surgery are captured, no detail missed. The veins in the forearms flow right to the unique hands that came with this figure. It’s just an amazing piece of work and thankfully, this scale and price range allows for a unique body for the figure, rather than being more generic with recycle value.
So why then, not a perfect score. Well, it’s about sculpt choice more than quality. The body is sculpted in a relaxed state, and depicts that very well. However, this is Rambo, a man who is always wielding some weapon, be it a knife, gun or bow. Having very thin, relaxed biceps while supposed holding up a heaving gun looks a bit mismatched, does it look terrible, absolutely not, and it doesn’t ruin the overall impressiveness of looking at the figure on display, but it’s the sort of detail that one would expect a company to consider in the planning process.
While I don’t know who’s responsible for the sculpt work on his accessories, praise is due for the detail and quality of those sculpts. Even his boots are highly detailed and very well done.
Paint - ****
An area that usually makes or breaks a product, particularly with great sculpt work, and EB came through beautifully. The shade of his skin very nicely captures the tanned look Sly had during Rambo 3, and there is a varying range of tones making it up, rather than a flat, single skin tone. Subtle highlights pronounce his veins and additionally, the hair features highlights to bring out the texture as well. The face is really nicely painted with great work on the eyes, lips and eyebrows.
So again, you probably wonder, why a lower score with such high praise. 2 reasons. First, the execution of stubble paint is very nice, however, I think it could have been a bit heavier to give him more of a scruffy, rugged look. The big reason though, is the eyes. As much as they are nicely painted, they are posed, something I absolutely cannot stand on figures, it dictates your poses for you and limits your options, almost turning the piece into a statue. I prefer to have the widest range of options possible. Enterbay has used posable eye technology before, and given the way Rambo’s hair is attached, could easily have used this technology on this figure, which would have been amazing, but as such, it is a negative about the figure to me. The T-800 has straight looking eyes which make for more pose options, so this isn’t a defined trait of the HD Masterpiece line that one should expect on every figure, and in fact, so far appears to be unique to Rambo.
Articulation - ****
While the figure features less articulation than on a body that’s less realistic, this is the most articulated high end Rambo figure ever, so to me, it’s a big leap forward. The arms have a pretty strong range of motion; the legs are highly articulated, as they’re more basic, being concealed by his pants. The abdomen lacks any articulation to keep the body sculpt intact, and the neck has more minimal articulation than the T-800 neck. While this figure is less articulated than some are used to, the area I do find disappointing is the feet, as they have little posability and it impacts the ability of the figure to stand on its own. More on that in the accessories.
Costume / Accessories - *** 1/2
The T-800 wowed many collectors with its accessories, utilizing metals and woods to give an added realism to them.
Rambo continues that with a real metal knife, grenade, machine gun made of metal and wood, and a rocket launcher with metal components. The paint work and weathering work on Rambos weapons and costume are great and quite detailed.
While the overally accessories are a real highlight of craftsmanship, there are some low points. Firstly, Rambo’s watch, which has a cheaply made band and a poorly secured, transparent face that plugs into the body of the watch, mine popped out easily during photo taking. The second strike against this figure is the display base. The T-800 came with a stand that provided multiple points to insert the support rod, however, Rambo has only one, and the base is an uneven, sandy surface, with the support rod attaching near a slight slope in the sand, complicating how you stand the figure on the display base. Another issue is the color of Rambo’s bag, which Enterbay chose to make a light tan shade where in the movie, it was more of an olive drab like most army gear. The last strike against the figure would be is boots. While I don’t reject the idea of fully sculpted boots for price and aesthetics, as some want real leather and laces for the price point of the figure, I do care greatly about posability and stability of the figure. The T-800 features leather boots which allow a wonderful range of posing with the figure maintaining stability. Rambo’s boots, however, being sculpted, are very stiff, leaving no posability in his ankles, which makes the figure quite unstable in certain poses. You definitely should use the display stand with this figure. A final note, not a huge deal, but his boot dagger being plastic where even the grenade is metal, was a bit surprising and disappointing, and not sure why it isn’t metal.
One additional note, those who buy direct from Enterbay will receive a bonus set of a standard and an explosive arrow that you can split in half and remove the tips from to assemble the arrows in the same manor as Rambo on screen.
Value - ****
Priced at about $400 USD buying direct from Enterbay, prior to July 1st, this figure is easily worth the price, particularly in relation to other 1:4 scale pieces. He’s even more detailed than the T-800, which cost about the same, and he’s much more detailed and of higher quality that most Sideshow PFs which aren’t much cheaper. That said, you have to be a real Rambo fan to feel this, I do think that more causal fans looking to buy from awe inspired by photos of the figure, will find him quickly boring and wish they’d saved their money. Given his size and price, I don’t see this as a piece for more casual collectors, but a grail for hardcore fans.
1:4 Scale Rambo Comparisons
Enterbay is now the third company to make a 1:4 scale Rambo piece, first Sideshow with their PF based on Rambo 2, then HCG with their statue based on Rambo, and now Rambo 3 from Enterbay. The area these piece all excel in are body sculpts, both the Sideshow and Enterbay sculpts wonderful depict Stallone’s unique condition from their respective film, and while fully clothed, the HCG statue captures the build and form of the aged Rambo very well with solid detail to his exposed arms. The portraits, however, are where they all differ greatly. Sideshow’s style is soft and lacks realism, despite capturing the features of Stallone and bearing his likeness, and also depicting the Stallone snarl quite nicely, but again, it’s not so lifelike, but that’s only a negative if you feel a piece must look photo realistic. The HCG statue is a rough portrait, but again, Sly’s likeness is captured and his attitude really shines through, but even in an non-photo realistic style, I do think the portrait could be polished up more like Sideshow’s work. The Enterbay figure is head to toe a photo realistic depiction of Rambo. The other big point of separation is paint. Sideshow is the most basic paint job of all 3, monotone skin, though I do feel the shade is fairly close to his look in Rambo 2, the eyes are cleanly painted by aren’t quite Stallone’s eyes, and the hair is fairly flat. HCG isn’t the best skintone, but the skintone varies over the piece giving a better quality than Sideshow and the eyes on it are more Sly looking, but again, the hair lacks detail, and his costume could be painted with greater range but they’re fairly monotone. As I’ve mentioned, the Enterbay figure is very realistically painted and loaded with detail. As far as size, there are slight discrepancies among them like the size of the head, overall, they’re pretty in scale with each other and look great. Now someone just needs to tackler First Blood so we have the franchise covered.
Rambo 3 Figure Comparisons
At the risk of opening up heated arguing, I cannot help but compare the Hot Toys Rambo 3 1:6 scale figure and 1:4 scale bust to Enterbay’s Rambo 3 1:4 scale figure.
Amongst Rambo fans on the internet, the Hot Toys Rambo 3 figure has been regarded as not only the best Rambo figure ever, but even one of Hot Toys’ best efforts. I agreed with this attitude, until now. With Enterbay producing actor, even film based bodies, acceptance of recyclable bodies has diminished. Hot Toys Rambo 3 on a generic body with scars hardly looking like anything Sly ever had on screen now looks weaker for it’s body. Enterbay is uniquely Rambo 3 Stallone and captures every detail properly. While the overall paint job on Enterbay’s figure is more lifelike, there are traits to the Hot Toys paint job that I like better. Stallone seemed darker and grittier than ever in Rambo 3, and Hot Toys employed a paint job around his eyes and to his beard stubble that really captures those qualities, and I can only imagine just how much more imposing the Enterbay figure would look if painted like that. The portrait by Enterbay is more clearly Stallone, though again, I do give Hot Toys some kudos for capturing an attitude in their portrait that Enterbay didn’t. However, I don’t know if it was with intent, but Hot Toys’ hair sculpt looks more like Rambo when his hair is all sweaty and lacks body, which isn’t often in the movie, where Enterbay captured the full body it had through most of the film. Accessories are an area where Enterbay comes out a bit more on top, their choice of weapons was more appropriate, where Hot Toys included a gun never fired in the film, only in a deleted scene.
Now, that all focuses on the figures, mainly because, there’s really no comparison between the Hot Toys bust and Enterbay figure, I’ve always felt the bust was subpar to the 1:6 figure, making it measure up even lesser to the Enterbay figure. The bust is a cool, unique piece to add to a Rambo collection, but can easily be tossed out with no loss felt.
The Rambo 3 knife, at 1:6, 1:4 and 1:1 scale.
I’ve been a Rambo fan for over 20 years. My introduction to the character came through the old cartoon series and Rambo 3 taped off TV and edited for content. While still a pretty intense film, the edited version was much cleaner and it would be some time before I saw the uncut version and new what was missing, the biggest thing being the sealing of the wound on his side; this scene was totally removed, making no sense of why Rambo took a single bullet from Mousa. As a child, I would pretend I was Rambo, tying my bathrobe belt around my head and arming myself with all the machine gun toys I had, and of course a knife. I probably shouldn’t have been watching this movie as young as I was because I even wanted to try and have a stick fight with someone, not fully grasping the pain of such a sport.
My first Rambo figure was the Coleco figure tied to the cartoon. Despite the cartoon Rambo bearing no resemblance to Stallone, the figure clearly does, and the Trautman to Richard Crenna. For a long time, this was all I had. Eventually a company called N2 emerged, turning out figures similar to McFarlane and NECA, releasing a Rambo with a fairly realistic body sculpt and including 2 weapons. The portrait is pretty bad and details are off in the sculpt work, but it was still something new and a leap forward. While mass distribution never came to be, N2 eventually became Mirage and Mirage produced small numbers of a trilogy set of figures, one for each film. I’ve only managed to secure one of these figures and continue to hunt. So for the most part, N2 was the best option for some time. Then came Hot Toys, an emerging producer of 1:6 scale collectible figures. Traditionally, Rambo’s shirtless look meant figures would be made in chosen poses with little articulation to preserve the anatomy of the body. Hot Toys reinvented the Rambo figure with a rubber muscle body that was posable yet appeared human. While a very cool idea, the body sculpt was not specific to Stallone, possibly even too tiny in muscle mass for Sly, and the scars were cut into the rubber rather than being embossed from his body. That said, it was a big leap forward, and ultimately, their Rambo 3 was made just as the company’s products were undergoing a huge leap in quality, with better sculptors and painters, Hot Toys’s figures would take on a new life and push towards an unbelievable realism.
Sadly, Hot Toys ceased with Rambo figures shortly before 2008’s Rambo, failing to represent each film in the franchise with a figure. Rambo fans were forced to go year after year, hoping to see a new figure, left only to purchase a series of statues from Hollywood Collectibles Group and Sideshow Collectibles. In May 2011, roughly 4 years since the last Rambo figure came out, Enterbay announced a forthcoming Rambo figure. Expectation, based on poor advertising, was that it would be a 1:6 scale figure based on the 4th film, Rambo. Finally, fans could have the whole series in 1:6 figures. That dream was short lived, as early prototype shots of weapons from Rambo 3 emerged and it was revealed that it would be a 1:4 scale figure from Rambo 3. While initially disappointing to Rambo fans who’d yearned for a figure from the fourth film, seeing the development of the 1:4 scale T2 T-800 from Enterbay sparked excitement in Rambo collectors who couldn’t resist the possibility of a Rambo figure, from any of the films, made to such a high standard.
Slowly, in small bits over the course of the next 12 months, Enterbay would provide us with glimpses at the development of this figure. Early camera phone photos of the production head caused a good deal of concern with collectors over the likeness and left doubts if the Rambo figure would live up to the bar set by the T-800. Official production photos instantly removed all doubt, and the revelation of the muscular body developed in secret was a great relief. Mirroring the latest style of Hot Toys muscle body, Enterbay delivered a Rambo that is as authentic to Stallone’s Rambo 3 physique as possible while still allowing an acceptable amount of articulation for a figure.\
After months of waiting, the Enterbay Rambo 3 figure is finally reaching collectors and at last, the die hard fans have the opportunity to buy the ultimate Rambo figure.
Packaging - ***
Enterbay launched the HD Masterpiece line with a uniquely styled box for the T-800, capturing the feel of Terminator 2. After dealing with shipping this package, they quickly took to designing a universal package for the line. This new box is made of lightweight black foam, protective of the contents, but light in weight, with a soft foam interior around the figure and plastic trays containing the accessories. The new packaging design was promoted to provide cost savings to consumers, however, with Rambo, no savings were seen. While it may have been a genuine effort, it seems like weight is likely a minimal factor in the cost of shipping such a package and the change had no impact on shipping rates. Because of the standardized nature of the packaging, the appearance is very bland, making it nothing special worth any high remarks.
Sculpt - **** 1/2
The body and portrait are listed as sculpted by SCUDERIA. While not a sculptor I’m familiar with, they’ve certainly wowed me. I was one of the concerned collectors when the early camera phone shots of the portrait came out, and based on their quality, I thought it was the product and not any trick of the lens losing Stallone’s likeness, but based on production photos and the end result, it was either lens tricks or they tweaked the sculpt beyond that sample. This portrait is Rambo 3 Stallone all the way, and that’s a huge thing, that it is not only Sly’s likeness but very specific to the shape he was in for Rambo 3, a very unique physical build to his other films of the era, and possibly the most muscular he’s ever been. Taking that beyond the portrait, the body sculpt is also unique to Rambo 3, capturing Sly’s rather thick neck and the unique pattern to his chest scars, which differed from Rambo 2 and First Blood. Even the extra veins in his right shoulder and the unique indent in the right pec from Sly’s surgery are captured, no detail missed. The veins in the forearms flow right to the unique hands that came with this figure. It’s just an amazing piece of work and thankfully, this scale and price range allows for a unique body for the figure, rather than being more generic with recycle value.
So why then, not a perfect score. Well, it’s about sculpt choice more than quality. The body is sculpted in a relaxed state, and depicts that very well. However, this is Rambo, a man who is always wielding some weapon, be it a knife, gun or bow. Having very thin, relaxed biceps while supposed holding up a heaving gun looks a bit mismatched, does it look terrible, absolutely not, and it doesn’t ruin the overall impressiveness of looking at the figure on display, but it’s the sort of detail that one would expect a company to consider in the planning process.
While I don’t know who’s responsible for the sculpt work on his accessories, praise is due for the detail and quality of those sculpts. Even his boots are highly detailed and very well done.
Paint - ****
An area that usually makes or breaks a product, particularly with great sculpt work, and EB came through beautifully. The shade of his skin very nicely captures the tanned look Sly had during Rambo 3, and there is a varying range of tones making it up, rather than a flat, single skin tone. Subtle highlights pronounce his veins and additionally, the hair features highlights to bring out the texture as well. The face is really nicely painted with great work on the eyes, lips and eyebrows.
So again, you probably wonder, why a lower score with such high praise. 2 reasons. First, the execution of stubble paint is very nice, however, I think it could have been a bit heavier to give him more of a scruffy, rugged look. The big reason though, is the eyes. As much as they are nicely painted, they are posed, something I absolutely cannot stand on figures, it dictates your poses for you and limits your options, almost turning the piece into a statue. I prefer to have the widest range of options possible. Enterbay has used posable eye technology before, and given the way Rambo’s hair is attached, could easily have used this technology on this figure, which would have been amazing, but as such, it is a negative about the figure to me. The T-800 has straight looking eyes which make for more pose options, so this isn’t a defined trait of the HD Masterpiece line that one should expect on every figure, and in fact, so far appears to be unique to Rambo.
Articulation - ****
While the figure features less articulation than on a body that’s less realistic, this is the most articulated high end Rambo figure ever, so to me, it’s a big leap forward. The arms have a pretty strong range of motion; the legs are highly articulated, as they’re more basic, being concealed by his pants. The abdomen lacks any articulation to keep the body sculpt intact, and the neck has more minimal articulation than the T-800 neck. While this figure is less articulated than some are used to, the area I do find disappointing is the feet, as they have little posability and it impacts the ability of the figure to stand on its own. More on that in the accessories.
Costume / Accessories - *** 1/2
The T-800 wowed many collectors with its accessories, utilizing metals and woods to give an added realism to them.
Rambo continues that with a real metal knife, grenade, machine gun made of metal and wood, and a rocket launcher with metal components. The paint work and weathering work on Rambos weapons and costume are great and quite detailed.
While the overally accessories are a real highlight of craftsmanship, there are some low points. Firstly, Rambo’s watch, which has a cheaply made band and a poorly secured, transparent face that plugs into the body of the watch, mine popped out easily during photo taking. The second strike against this figure is the display base. The T-800 came with a stand that provided multiple points to insert the support rod, however, Rambo has only one, and the base is an uneven, sandy surface, with the support rod attaching near a slight slope in the sand, complicating how you stand the figure on the display base. Another issue is the color of Rambo’s bag, which Enterbay chose to make a light tan shade where in the movie, it was more of an olive drab like most army gear. The last strike against the figure would be is boots. While I don’t reject the idea of fully sculpted boots for price and aesthetics, as some want real leather and laces for the price point of the figure, I do care greatly about posability and stability of the figure. The T-800 features leather boots which allow a wonderful range of posing with the figure maintaining stability. Rambo’s boots, however, being sculpted, are very stiff, leaving no posability in his ankles, which makes the figure quite unstable in certain poses. You definitely should use the display stand with this figure. A final note, not a huge deal, but his boot dagger being plastic where even the grenade is metal, was a bit surprising and disappointing, and not sure why it isn’t metal.
One additional note, those who buy direct from Enterbay will receive a bonus set of a standard and an explosive arrow that you can split in half and remove the tips from to assemble the arrows in the same manor as Rambo on screen.
Value - ****
Priced at about $400 USD buying direct from Enterbay, prior to July 1st, this figure is easily worth the price, particularly in relation to other 1:4 scale pieces. He’s even more detailed than the T-800, which cost about the same, and he’s much more detailed and of higher quality that most Sideshow PFs which aren’t much cheaper. That said, you have to be a real Rambo fan to feel this, I do think that more causal fans looking to buy from awe inspired by photos of the figure, will find him quickly boring and wish they’d saved their money. Given his size and price, I don’t see this as a piece for more casual collectors, but a grail for hardcore fans.
1:4 Scale Rambo Comparisons
Enterbay is now the third company to make a 1:4 scale Rambo piece, first Sideshow with their PF based on Rambo 2, then HCG with their statue based on Rambo, and now Rambo 3 from Enterbay. The area these piece all excel in are body sculpts, both the Sideshow and Enterbay sculpts wonderful depict Stallone’s unique condition from their respective film, and while fully clothed, the HCG statue captures the build and form of the aged Rambo very well with solid detail to his exposed arms. The portraits, however, are where they all differ greatly. Sideshow’s style is soft and lacks realism, despite capturing the features of Stallone and bearing his likeness, and also depicting the Stallone snarl quite nicely, but again, it’s not so lifelike, but that’s only a negative if you feel a piece must look photo realistic. The HCG statue is a rough portrait, but again, Sly’s likeness is captured and his attitude really shines through, but even in an non-photo realistic style, I do think the portrait could be polished up more like Sideshow’s work. The Enterbay figure is head to toe a photo realistic depiction of Rambo. The other big point of separation is paint. Sideshow is the most basic paint job of all 3, monotone skin, though I do feel the shade is fairly close to his look in Rambo 2, the eyes are cleanly painted by aren’t quite Stallone’s eyes, and the hair is fairly flat. HCG isn’t the best skintone, but the skintone varies over the piece giving a better quality than Sideshow and the eyes on it are more Sly looking, but again, the hair lacks detail, and his costume could be painted with greater range but they’re fairly monotone. As I’ve mentioned, the Enterbay figure is very realistically painted and loaded with detail. As far as size, there are slight discrepancies among them like the size of the head, overall, they’re pretty in scale with each other and look great. Now someone just needs to tackler First Blood so we have the franchise covered.
Rambo 3 Figure Comparisons
At the risk of opening up heated arguing, I cannot help but compare the Hot Toys Rambo 3 1:6 scale figure and 1:4 scale bust to Enterbay’s Rambo 3 1:4 scale figure.
Amongst Rambo fans on the internet, the Hot Toys Rambo 3 figure has been regarded as not only the best Rambo figure ever, but even one of Hot Toys’ best efforts. I agreed with this attitude, until now. With Enterbay producing actor, even film based bodies, acceptance of recyclable bodies has diminished. Hot Toys Rambo 3 on a generic body with scars hardly looking like anything Sly ever had on screen now looks weaker for it’s body. Enterbay is uniquely Rambo 3 Stallone and captures every detail properly. While the overall paint job on Enterbay’s figure is more lifelike, there are traits to the Hot Toys paint job that I like better. Stallone seemed darker and grittier than ever in Rambo 3, and Hot Toys employed a paint job around his eyes and to his beard stubble that really captures those qualities, and I can only imagine just how much more imposing the Enterbay figure would look if painted like that. The portrait by Enterbay is more clearly Stallone, though again, I do give Hot Toys some kudos for capturing an attitude in their portrait that Enterbay didn’t. However, I don’t know if it was with intent, but Hot Toys’ hair sculpt looks more like Rambo when his hair is all sweaty and lacks body, which isn’t often in the movie, where Enterbay captured the full body it had through most of the film. Accessories are an area where Enterbay comes out a bit more on top, their choice of weapons was more appropriate, where Hot Toys included a gun never fired in the film, only in a deleted scene.
Now, that all focuses on the figures, mainly because, there’s really no comparison between the Hot Toys bust and Enterbay figure, I’ve always felt the bust was subpar to the 1:6 figure, making it measure up even lesser to the Enterbay figure. The bust is a cool, unique piece to add to a Rambo collection, but can easily be tossed out with no loss felt.
The Rambo 3 knife, at 1:6, 1:4 and 1:1 scale.
