Augustus Cole
The last character in NECA’s second wave of 1:18 scale Gears of War action figures is Augustus Cole. Again, not having played the GoW videogames, I have no real personal connection to the character, but I will concede that he is possibly the best looking in his wave.
Until now, I had been quite impressed by how NECA has been designing these figures because none of the characters so far seemed to share pieces, making each of them unique sculpts. Sure, small elements like the hands, elbow pins and maybe the hip connectors may be generic enough to allow sharing the molds without being too obvious, but in the case of Cole, NECA decided to reuse the entire body from Clayton Carmine and just added a new head.
This means that Augustus Cole is the same height as Carmine, and every bit as detailed too. The uniform is composed of layers of protective leather garments and armored plates, each incredibly detailed and textured. Cole has only a bandana over his forehead and very exaggerated facial features, which is consistent with the illustration art on his card back.
Articulation is the standard for the line, consisting of:
• Barbell mounted head.
• Pegged hinge shoulders.
• Hinged elbows.
• Pegged hinge wrists.
• Barbell mounted torso.
• Pegged hinge hips.
• Upper thigh swivels.
• Hinged knees.
• Upper calf swivels.
Even though the overall range of movement is decent, the lack of a biceps swivel is still really annoying this time, especially because Cole comes armed with a Lancer rifle that has a chainsaw attached underneath, making it impossible for him to hold it properly in two hands. The weapon is nicely detailed and it has a small peg that allows Cole to carry it at his back.
The paint job on Augustus Cole is very nice. The base uniform color is quite dark with shading washes applied to enhance the sculpted textures, producing a tarnished feel to the equipment. The chest plate has the front panels painted in a nice olive green color, with light yellow accents that add a lot to this figure’s looks.
The skin was painted in a rich, warm brown color and in addition to that, Cole’s lips were picked out in a lighter hue, really bringing life to the face. The eyes and eyebrows on my figure were also painted very neatly, but it is always wise to look for the better-painted ones.
My only complaint about the figures decor is that the elbow pins are apparently unpainted, and they are the wrong color. These can be a bit distracting, but they are nothing that a dab of paint wouldn’t correct.
Even though this time around the lack of a biceps swivel annoyed me more than I remembered, Cole is still a nice figure to have, especially if you can find it at a good price.
Errex Score: 83/100
Category: Featured, Other Games, Toy Reviews, Video Games