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Elite Force Action Figure Stand
Well, a question was posed a while ago about display stands - you know the ones, the cool ones you always see the mecha posing on at Expos and such, that are basically a bunch of ball and socket joints strung together to make a poseable arm, to support the mecha from. No one really knows where they get them from (actually, that's a lie - you can buy a display stand from HLJ that's similar - looks to be a flexible metal rod of some sort - made by Yellow Submarine, but it's out of stock - MS Stand - though I did just find this stand from HLJ that looks exactly the same, also by Yellow Submarine - Almighty Doll Stand). So I searched around and found this stand:
It's made by BBI, and is sold through All Things Collectible - Figure Display Stand. It's designed to make sure your 12" GI Joes and such don't fall over, and can hold a pose, but I figured it was worth a shot, and bought a couple of them, to see how they are.
Appearance
Well, they look ok (and please excuse the crappy models - they're what I had lying around)... The base itself isn't anything to phone home to momma about, but I figure I can make my own base. The quality control on the ball joints seems to be a little hit or miss - I posed one with a MG Stamen, and another with a MG Quebeley, to get a feel for what they can hold. I haven't tried yet, but I would bet the joints could be painted.
Performance
The one holding the Stamen is pretty solid - the joints have a good deal of friction, and hold the position you put them in. The one holding the Quebeley... Well, let's just say that it wasn't holding the Quebeley at first. Some of the joints were loose, so I stiffened them up with some CA - dabbed a little in while the joint was assembled, added some accelerator, and then moved the joint, and that broke the CA joint enough that it allowed it to move, but it was alot tighter than before. I'm sure there are other ways to tighten the joints, but this was quick and dirty for this review. The other problem, is that the hoop of wire designed to be used with the 12" figures really doesn't work with mecha. Again, I tried to get this done as quick as possible, but it shouldn't be too hard to make a plate of some sort to join up to your mecha.
Final Word
So, should you get these stands? Well, as I said, there are several problems - the occassional loose joint, the crappy base, and the need to scratch build something to mount your mecha onto it, I still recommend these stands. I only spent $24 on three of them, and that includes $6 for shipping - and with a little work, the stands work beautifully. I'm planning on buying a few more, and using them to pose my models instead of just having them pose statically on a shelf... and, here are some pics!
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