You know you want it.
WeAreBorg finally here with some of the first Guardians of Harmony toys hitting US shelves. Today I am reviewing the it’s-not-creepy Shining Armor and the abandon-all-your-friends Shadowbolt.
Join me below for a trip inside the box full of spice, dragons, stop motion, and literally anything else.
So before you start asking why these ones first, I’ll let you know these were the first two that arrived in the mail. I think it’s great because while doing this review, I’ve thought up what I want to with some of the more anticipated GoH toys. Anyway, enough of my rambling, let’s grab a camera and a lint roller and play with some toys!
Toys in boxes. What did you expect?
Okay, so I can’t tell you guys just how excited I was to finally get these in. Cynder taunted me with them for hours. Right away we can see the similarities with the Fan Serie: The character in the corner, name in white outlined in blue, the detailed background. Good stuff. Packaging is also clear and the toys are posed so if you’re a collector who wants to keep the packaging, these guys won't suffer for it. Oddly the say “Shadowbolts” as in more than one as if the cockatrice was one too. Not quite the case is it. Speaking of unisex action figures and cockatrices, not sure all the boys out needed another excuse to emphasize the first syllable of an innocent word to make his friends giggle. Let's spin them ‘round...
“Shadowbolts Pony & Green Chicken”
Like the Fan Series, these have a picture of the toy on the back ...that’s technically smaller than real life, but hey it shows you that it moves. Also, it confirms what the little badges are. They are in fact badges for you to represent just how into toys you are. Naturally, I wear all of mine all the time. We’ll get to those in a bit. Also, can you say first MLP toy weapon? An actual toy version of a real life weapon. *squee* As a person who has one of every toy, the first weapon is a big deal to me, as a collector. Let’s destroy the collectors’ value and open these up...
More accessories than my Roomba.
BBBFF comes with body armor and helm, spear, shield, and badge. All the makings of a warrior. Shady, that’s her name, comes with goggles, chicken, badge, silver lightning bolt and a purple spandex outfit that she needs your help getting into. Just kidding. Her hair is more awesome than Shiny’s though. The chicken isn’t doing it for me, though, honestly I’d say the same thing if they packaged Scootaloo with Rainbow Dash. It’s funny that they thought it necessary to pair a Shadowbolt with a cockatrice as if a Shadowbolt wasn't cool enough. I would have liked to see a pairing of both a female and male Shadowbolt just like the Wonderbolt set. I would have ordered that from Amazon in a heartbeat then the shipping would have been real. Let's toss 'em in the gif generator...
Shiny is naked...
So let's get into the number one unique feature about this toy line. These guys are posable. And not just a little but like a lot posable. I'll attempt a demonstration later, but for now, I'll try to explain in words. Forelegs are capable of the widest range of movements including 360 rotation at the shoulder and knee as well as about 90 degrees of bend at the shoulder and knee. Rear legs have simple 360 pivots. The tails and wings are on ball joints which means a large degree of motion in all direction and the ability to rotate. The heads can tilt forward till it's level with the ground and can rotate a full 360 if you'd like to reenact an exorcism. The joints are stiff enough to hold their position and there are less manufacturing imperfections than the Fan Series figures.There's a lot of potential in these toys and the balance is great. Now that I've thought about it, if this is the Shadowbolt from the show, i.e. the morphed form that is Nightmare Moon, then this is really a naked third of Luna. The best third cause it's the female third. Let's slap some clothes on 'em...
No 360 of green chicken for you.
So a bit about the accessories now that I'm showing them off. The helm and armor for Shining are a softer plastic than the ponies that makes fitting the pieces onto the stallion pretty easy. On the downside, however, the clasp for the armor against his chest is rather touchy and rarely stays together. It's so soft that it's hard to mash the tab into the hole while it's on him. Attaching the spear and shield, also soft but not too soft, was natural. On Shady McShadyface, the glasses clip below the ear but with less than gentle handling, will slide down and off her face. If you look closely you'll see that the goggles are actually a little transparent which just goes to show the thought put into these toys. The silver Rainbow-Dash-cutie-mark-knock-off is....odd. Maybe she'll play Zeus in God of War. Shining can be Kratos. We'll explore that later. For now, let's compare them to other toys...
Guess which one the dog chewed on.
So they're almost the size of the common brushable, just a little bigger and wider. See Shadowbolt Rainbow Dash there for instance. Now the Shining punk rocker brushable there is a kinda fluke. He's much bigger than he should be compared to a Twilight or Cadence brushable and as such he stands about a half an inch taller than GoH shining armor. In the middle is blind bag BBBFF, also pretty big. I was super proud of this shot by the way, with him standing with his gear. He's actually supporting all his weight on his hind legs in an easily obtainable balance while the shield and spear rest against him. If you don't recognize the Celestia in the back by now then where have you been? Let's back peddle for a sec and check out those badges...
I'll front page you if you get one of these tattooed
I can only assume these are to allow fans to immerse themselves in the action. It'll be interesting to see if badges have any part in the IDW spin off comic. A simple sticker on a simple mold. They have a little flapper to clip onto clothes, buttons, or noses. Let's try it out...
You will never kiss these lips
I told you they would attach to noses. Quite securely in fact. I think it's a bold a fashion that lets people know what you're about. I bet by the next con I go to everyone will be wearing one. But I mustache you a question. Does this count as a shining armor cosplay? Anyway, back to the ponies. Let's check out that balance some more...
Lean, mean bucking machine.
I like any toy that can stand in place long enough for me to jack with my camera. It was really easy to get him to stay like this. Even one hoof is easy. For now, let's go with the bucking pose instead of a break dancing one. That's for later. He could be bucking all sorts of things! I'm spoiled for choice. Let's go to the fridge...
What your face would look like if Shiny bucked it
Okay, so the fridge didn't have any apples. I didn't notice that was a bell pepper and not an apple until after I had grabbed it from the drawer and tossed it on the table. It was red alright. Oh! I do have an apple for him to buck, hold on...
To the moon!
Apple bucking goodness! These toys are fun for all ages! I thought I'd spare you more Scootabuse. I wish I had a Diamond Tiara really. Anyway, enough of Shining's powerful flanks, we'll move on to the bad girl. Let's take the balance to the next level, really stretch those limbs, and turn the uncanny valley up to 11...
Sweet Celestia forgive me
Okay, other than being absolutely terrifying, this animation proves I suck green chickens at stop motion. It wasn't easy moving the limbs without tossing her on her side. I may have thrown a tantrum at one point in frustration and Cynder told me to go to my room and to not treat my toys like the target demographic. I said "Who are you, my mom?" and she replied, "No, our last cosplay together was Shining and Twilight." It's not creepy. Also, that was at Nightmare Nights. Shout out to those who went to the EQD panel! Anyway, the idea of multiple toys is to play with them as a set. Let's try it out...
Is this politically correct?
Too much fun! Shining Armor is really just a hard dude. He's seen and done things that don't just fall in the gray areas but move the boundaries altogether. He is the law; a Guardian. He could probably take down a dragon. We'll get to that later. So this is what happens when your toys come with spears. The battles commence, the imagination soars and the wings pop out...
She's actually an earth pony.
I think I saw a performance like this in college. Really deep stuff. Holding the keys to your success, your strength, your inner being, but not being able to use them. I think there's a fanfic about this but with Rainbow Dash. Also, this could be a Starlight Glimmer mindset taken to the extreme. A true defiance of the Equestrian Pony magic by ripping out the main conduit for Pegasi magic, the wings, and displaying them with unwavering resolve. Dark stuff. Scootaloo would be a likely candidate for such a cult. Speaking of Scootaloo, let's check out that other "Shadowbolt"...
I'm not a huge fan of the cockatrice but it's still pretty fun that they included it. Now you can reenact your favorite episodes to included your headcanon that no one else likes, such as Twilight forever being encased in stone, Fluttershy giving her life to save the CMC, Equestria falling to Tirek, Luna failing to...I...I'll move on. Anyway, let's explore another one of the possibilities of owning both sets...
20-inch shields on my tail ridin'
Shining Armor looks pretty gangsta. I just now figured out why Twilight is so nerdy. No Colt would have been stupid enough to talk to her with a big brother like that. You stunted her socialization Shining. It was all you. So bad at friendship that she turned into a Princess of it. If only that work in real life. Like in the bedroom. Oh, right, politically correct. Hasbro will never speak to me after this. Maybe if I endorse one of their games...
Carefree hacked.
Man, I hope you get the reference because that took effort. Can Rarity be quick enough to grab the cloud and dodge Shady? Anyway, as a person who loves to plan, the Star level-up racing game was not my favorite part of the Gameloft game. I more enjoyed evenly distributing my buildings and digging up roots and builders. But back to the toys. The secret to a good toy is one that will mesh with your existing toys, and the GoH figures defiantly do that. Let's try some more meshing...
This is definitely creepy.
Senor Pepper.
Like all I have in my kitchen are various peppers apparently. It's like a pepper hot tub.
Final thoughts: All in all these toys are fun and the quality is great. I had a great deal of fun playing with them and writing this review. My niece came over after my shoot and started playing with these specifically and greatly enjoyed them. If you like figures you can set up and leave in a scene or you want to actively play with them, and even if you want to leave them in the packaging, the Guardians of Harmony line is for you.
You can grab all of the Guardians of Harmony Toys over here on Amazon. Buying toys using this link supports me doing these reviews or use the Amazon link right of the page to support EQD.
Catch all my toy reviews by searching for either editorials or reviews.
Tell me what to review next in the comments!
BTW, I just got in the Guardians of Harmony Spike...
(pic unrelated)
Twitter: @WeAreBorgPony
