Rewrites: June 2016 & December 2018
Eaglemoss decided to tackle the Species 8472 Bioship with thier 43rd issue. We first meet this type of starship in the Star Trek: Voyager episode called "Scorpion". I'm also happy to report that I actually have another manufacturer's version of this vessel to compare it with.
My collection consists of a whopping two versions of this ship, one from Eaglemoss and one from Furuta.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Species 8472 bio-ship was a type of organic starship used by Species 8472 in large numbers during their invasion of the Milky Way Galaxy in 2373."
According to Memory Beta, these ships have been classified as Nicor class starships.
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Nicor Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta
I write this particular series of articles to give a good side-by-side comparison of the various pre-built and pre-painted small scale starships available to a collector. I found that there was a serious lack of material showing what they looked like next to each other thus not giving me a good informed choice on what to buy. I decided to start providing this information myself since I ended up buying the different manufacturer renditions of the same ship.
So now I present to you what I like to call "the gravy shot", a series of pictures I wished I had seen long ago, and the main reason I started this blog.
Eaglemoss vs. Furuta
Eaglemoss
The model comes in the standard sized box that most of the Eaglemoss models come in, yet it only takes up the bottom third of the box. And most of the box s just empty space. That sort of packaging makes the buyer feel like they are not getting thier money's worth.
And unfortunately, it is as small as it looks. It probably is one of the smallest and lightest ships of the Eaglemoss collection. My guess is that those fins are what drove the size down as Eaglemoss does not like to stray away from thier standard packaging.
The stand feels awkward and although it holds the ship just fine, it looks like a good bump will send the ship crashing down.
Like the Tholian Webspinner (read that review at THIS LINK), the Xind Insectoid ship (read that review at THIS LINK), it's tough to determine a top and bottom of the ship, but that is the nature of what this vessel is.
As usual, Eaglemoss has done a fantastic job with the sculpting and molding on the plastic and metal parts.
I've seen complaints from other reviewers that the details are repetitive, but given the nature of the ship, I'm not sure what they were expecting.
I really like that they showed off some parts of the ship that the other manufacturer decided to "glaze over", like the central core.
The ship is well painted too. I actually found it quite eye catching. Yes, like the molding, the paint scheme is repetitive, but once again, this is a living ship that looks the same from all three different angles so I'm not sure what the critics were expecting. My only complaint is that the core part of the ship was a bit drab being all one color.
Honestly though, if you are looking for highly detailed views of this ship, take a look at the magazine as it really has some good shots of the ship. Eaglemoss has done a great job of trying to replicate it in thier model.
Furuta
And here comes my standard copy and paste bit every time I review a Furuta model, but I feel that it is important for my first time readers to understand this part about Furuta....
Furuta is a Japanese company that produced a series of gashapon toys. Gashapon toys are meant to be nothing more than cheap little $1 to $5 bubble gum machine prizes. I like to remind my readers of this fact so that they can take any critical reviews I may make in the spirit it is given. I am in no way expecting these toys to be on the level of a Hallmark, Eaglemoss or Hot wheels toy. I found a neat video about these types of toys and you can check that out at THIS LINK.
When I started using Furuta toys to fill in gaps in my collection, I though it was super cool that I was able to add the bioship to my fleet. The price was super cheap at the time and quite frankly, for what it is, the model is pretty decent too.
The shape was great, and the colors were drab enough to convey that this was not your standard metallic ship.
Like Eaglemoss, the details, both molded and painted were repetitive, but this was fine with me.
I hinted at the fact that the inner core of the ship was "glossed" over on other manufacturers. hat was an understatement as you really cant make out the inner parts of the ship at all with the Furuta model.
Like Eaglemoss, the details, both molded and painted were repetitive, but this was fine with me.
I hinted at the fact that the inner core of the ship was "glossed" over on other manufacturers. hat was an understatement as you really cant make out the inner parts of the ship at all with the Furuta model.
Conclusion
And now, let us do a quick check on eBay to get some prices of the ships I've shared with you. I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices (with shipping included in that price) from eBay at the time of this article's (re)writing (December 2018).
Eaglemoss = $25
Furuta = $19
NOTE: Prices were researched last on December 2nd, 2018. Unfortunately, at the time that I am re-writing this, Eaglemoss does not have this ship in stock on thier website, so we are at the mercy of the eBay sellers.
We now come to the part of my article where I like to give you my opinion of which ship gives you the "best bang for the buck", which is my rough way of telling you which one is the best one to get, for the best price. To put this in a nutshell, when I write these, I am trying to give my opinion of which model is the best for the least cost.
I was super pleased with the work Eaglemoss did on thier model. I only wish it had been slightly bigger. Of my two bioships, Eaglemoss' version blows away the Furuta model as far as the details go. and since the prices are relatively close, it only makes sense to put your money down on the Eaglemoss model.
As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.
So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Eaglemoss Furuta
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
No comments:
Post a Comment