Knock Out's getting some attention in 2022. A Legacy figure was unveiled not too long ago, and while it does a better job of conveying his signature look in spite of the Geewun influence than Arcee, he still does feel a little blockier than I'd like, something that doesn't really suit him that well. At least the vehicle mode is still fitting for him in RID15, but I would kill for a Knock Out that's more of an improved and accurate version of his current Deluxe figure than a heavy retool of SS86 Jazz. So the R.E.D. version of him might be the next best thing, right? He doesn't transform but he has the iconic robot design that conveys his character perfectly, right? Well, as we're about to see, visuals aren't just the important thing that this shitty line should give attention to. So let's take a look at this piece of disappointment.
Here is Knock Out in-hand, and at first glance, he looks very nice in terms of capturing the robot mode very well. The proportions are spot on, the wheels are painted (even the ones inside the ankles), and the figure also has a good amount of color break up, especially for the doors, which come with a nice silver trim for the windows to complement the black windows and the purple to lavender fade for the decals. So it's all good from here, right? Well, that's until you get up close and notice everything else wrong with him. First up, the shade of red looks a little too wishy washy for my taste. It's not as nasty as it was on Universe Ironhide, but it's very close. The gray on him, though, makes the figure look as cheap as it already feels. It borders on the prototype resin levels of bad, to the point where it makes this guy feel more like he was made out of the material for the entirety of the damn toy. And do you notice how nice and smooth the joint for the right elbow looks compared to the left elbow? We'll get to that.
I suppose the head sculpt looks nice, but I'm not rally a fan of how they decided to paint the mouth. I can appreciate it since his face is painted white, but 1: It looks out of place with how thick it looks, and 2: it's not really lined up with the sculpt. The eyes try to go for that TFP look, but he doesn't look like he's facing straight. The proportions are on point, and the way the paint works is almost perfect, but the execution for the latter could have been better! His articulation consists of limited head movement apart from looking left and right and barely looking up and down, shoulders that move front and back, somewhat in and out, bicep swivels, double elbows (though one of the arms actually bends properly), wrist swivels, an ab crunch that works, a waist swivel, hips that feel like they're going to tear apart when moving front and back but work fine when moving in and out, thighs that swivel and look like they'll come off, knee bends, and toes that try to pass off as ankles but not really. Was it too hard to add proper ankle movement on the Prime characters, Hasbro?
Here are all of his accessories,, consisting of his iconic staff, a massive drill, a saw blade, an auger, and two pairs of hands meant to hold the staff.
The staff is always a signature aspect of his character design, but while the articulation is plentiful for him to dual-wield it like a proper staff, I think either it's too short for him or the hands suck at holding it properly. The hands and the other tools can be swapped out as they normally would on a normal action figure, and the drill technically spins from the peg.
And you wanna know what I meant with that damage on his left forearm joint? The part that the forearm attaches to does not like staying in at all. On top of that, it originally came with excess plastic that had to be removed, which led me to believe that maybe freeing it up will make it stay on better. It didn't work as planned. Sure, it still stays on, but moving it around will cause it to wiggle out, resulting in one of the worst cases of poor quality control I have ever seen on an action figure. It'd be one thing if this figure had the whack take on his color scheme, or if he felt a little rubbery, but this is absolutely inexcusable for a figure that aims to be the next Hasbro 6 inch collector line. Next to Arcee, I'm being reminded that she isn't perfect but at least she wins for being better made by comparison. Same goes for the original Deluxe Knock Out in spite of his own shortcomings from being a 2012 Deluxe back when the engineering was not as good as what came before or after it. Honestly, these issues made me regret buying this figure. It also doesn't help that I got two Jakks figures of Sonic and Tails, with quality control that's not the greatest, either. I thought Arcee was okay and gave her some slack, but this guy's issues are enough for me to not recommend getting unless he's somehow discounted, which good luck given how shite distribution can be. Otherwise, I'm done with the line.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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