Hey guys, the Brick Forge Powered Assault Commando Armor is by
far my favorite product here (as evidenced by me immediately jumping on every new color made available, and a MOC centered around them) so I figured I'd do a little review about both the positives and the negatives of these parts. Yes, I'm doing the whole shebang, as really that's how I invision it is supposed to be.
Now then...
Taste the rainbowOkay, so that's a little misleading. These are a far cry from the "rainbow warriors" of KK2 fame. The wide range of colors available really allows for a wonderful array of possibilities, though I admit some colors can be a little unrealistic. The new baby (medium) blue just screams "It's a boy!", as does the Hello-kitty pink. Well okay, that one screams "It's a girl!", but you get my point. However I feel absolutely no regrets at my purchases. While they may not be the most realistic of colors, they can be used for some great comic relief (especially the pink!). The other colors are all fairly muted and realistic, and don't look out of place in even the most realistic of settings and MOCs. Currently, there have been 14 colors of Powered Assault Commando Armor made (that I know of!):
Clear: Available as a special promotion during the month of February only! Order $25 worth of products, and get a complete set of armor for
free!White: Normally available from the store
Dark Gray: Limited edition color that was made available at Brick World 2008
Red: Normally available from the store
Dark Pink: Donated by Armothe for Nannan's recent children's charity drive on Bricklink.
Available for a limited time through the store.
Orange: Normally available from the store
Yellow: Normally available from the store
Dark Green: Normally available from the store
Green: Normally available from the store
Sand Green: Normally available from the store
Blue: Normally available from the store
Medium Blue: Normally available from the store. Recently released.
Purple: Normally available from the store
Tan: Yes, second-to-the-right is Tan. I don't know what happened, it looked great on my computer. No longer in production, made available for a short time through the members-only forum
Showcase Specials.
Black: Normally available from the store
Each piece of armor, as you've seen, has an accompanying helmet available in the same color. They are sold separately, at a price of $1.50 US each, with the visors being sold separately at $0.75 each, also in a wide variety of colors. It's important to note that the visors are
only compatible with Brick Forge Powered Assault Commando helmets without modding. They snap into place and are held snugly by friction. I should say that the seal isn't 100%, and you can move it around slightly, but the visor is in there strongly. You can throw the fig around the room if you wish, and that visor will not come off.
First, let's take a look at the front. This is tan, I figured it would show up the best. This is what it actually looks like, as I said above I have no idea why it came out that way, but whatever.
As you can see, the level of detailing on it is amazing. The color-matching on it is, by and large, phenomenal. It isn't 100%, but it's close enough so that you won't notice at all unless you look for it. All armor is shown with 100% official LEGO for color comparison.
The back is also nothing to sneeze it. The detailing has that rare perfect balance between LEGO and real life that makes it stand out to me. You'll notice that round nub on the end. It fits perfectly into a stud-hole. No, I don't mean the stud receptacles you'll find on the bottom of bricks, but rather that hole you'd find in various parts such as
this. In other words, it's the same diameter as any piece that is grippable by a fig hand. This can be used to great effect, and in fact inspired a MOC of mine centered around this:
As you can see, the figs fit perfectly into the holes to keep the figs secured during travel. Practicality aside, this can also be used for posing (having a fig hold on to the back nub), or adding some back attachment to it. The possibilities are endless.
The helmet inside is shaped to snugly fit a fig head. Sometimes a head can get "stuck" in the helmet, but this can easily be fixed by wiggling the head back and forth a bit and it pops right off.
As you can see, the visor doesn't click into anything, but rather it's held in place by a combination of friction and that little bump on the top by the eyes. It's held strongly though, so no worries there.
Here with the helmet removed, you can see how the head is supposed to fit on the fig. Like several official LEGO pieces, the head can fit perfectly into a little hole so that there is zero movement of the armor on the fig. You know it's in all the way because the "neck" is completely hidden.
The helmet without the visor can also lead to some great alternative uses (such as
bike racing). Also note the strategic placement of the plastic bits around the face, so that it allows for facial expression, but hides the mouth (potentially for a breathing apparatus, or communications device). This can even look cool without the visor at all, depending on your aesthetic preferences.
All in all these products aren't perfect, but in my opinion they're pretty close. They're also my favorite Brick Forge products, despite me not even being a Halo fan. That has to say something about the quality of the items. And I'll probably continue to buy every new color of Powered Assault Commando Armor that comes out. Hope you enjoyed this little review. Any suggestions or questions can be sent to me via PM.
I like the review anyway. 
