Endorsed by: Dirk Benedict • Richard Hatch• Jane Seymour • Stu Phillips • Jack Stauffer • Laurette Spang • Ronald D. Moore • Aaron Douglas • Hollywood North Report

Two Centurions Are Better Than One

Commander Taggart Takes A Look At The Series II Joyride Studios Collectibles

When my girlfriend rolls her eyes at me and says "You're such a little boy," she means it. Truth be told, I will turn 40 in a little over a year… but that didn’t prevent me from shrieking with delight when my Series II Joyride Studios Battlestar Galactica action figures arrived at my door.

Grabbing my pocketknife, I tore through the packing tape, and gleefully extracted my coveted 7" likenesses of Starbuck, Apollo, and a Gold Cylon Commander. I held up Starbuck and Apollo for my girlfriend to see (thus prompting the little boy comment… and a slight eye roll). Undaunted, I carefully worked the small blade of my pocketknife around Starbuck’s plastic casing (got to protect the original box, you know) and freed the rapscallion from his packaging. What a marvel. Finally, a Starbuck action figure that finally looks like Dirk Benedict! Racing over to my display shelves, I held my new Starbuck up next to my orginal "Faceman" A-Team action figure… and chuckled (my girlfriend had left the room at this point). I was reminded just how much my Murdock and Faceman figures looked an awful lot like each other… the notable difference being the different colors of the hair and jackets. Not so with the Joyride figures… oh, no! This Starbuck looks like Dirk right down the facial expression! But that's not where the detail ends. The uniform, Colonial Warrior's jacket, belt, and hip-side computer betray a level of detail previously unheard of when it comes to Battlestar Galactica action figures. Trust me, folks, the good people at Joyride got it right!

Packaged along with the figure is an equally detailed Colonial Warrior flight helmet, which fits snugly over Starbuck's noggin. It's a sight to behold. And then there’s the Colonial Blaster which also fits snugly in Starbucks right hand. PLUS, there’s a wonderful added bonus (which was absent from the Series I action figure), a round circular plastic base which attaches to the figures right foot, making it much easier to actually get this work of art to stand up properly. Nice touch! As I stood Starbuck on the table, wearing his helmet and sporting his blaster… I could literally hear dialogue from the original series play itself out in my head.

This was too good. Onto Apollo.

Whipping the pocketknife back out, I gingerly removed the plastic facing, and the good Captain was free. Now, I have to say that while this figure does look an awful lot like Richard Hatch… Joyride doesn’t seem to have captured the likeness quite as well as they did with Starbuck. Not that I’m complaining. It still looks a lot more like Richard than my 80's Murdock looks like Dwight Schultz.

As with the Starbuck figure, Apollo's little plastic base disc makes it easy to stand him up. And while there may be a slight discrepancy with the likenesses, there is no discrepancy in the level of attention to detail. While Starbuck’s Colonial Warrior's jacket is open, allowing his uniform to be seen underneath, Apollo’s jacket is tightly closed. A nice contrast, I thought, between the attitudes of the two characters. Well done, Joyride. The accompanying belt and hip computer are equally impressive. As with Starbuck, the accompanying helmet fits snugly over our hero's head, though the blaster fits better in Apollo’s left hand than his right. Was Apollo a lefty? I don’t remember. I’ll have to break out the DVDs and check. If so, more kudos go to Joyride for that little level of detail.

Last, but not least, my pocketknife once more performed its magic, and out sprang my Gold Cylon Commander. The Gold figure is virtually identical to the Silver figure from Series one… but, again, with one important difference: the little plastic disc that allows my little metallic friend to stand upright with ease. As with the Silver Centurion, the Gold Commander comes complete with an awesome looking laser rifle and equally imposing sword attached to the hip. Had it been me doing this repaint, I think I would have put the red "dot" of the Cylon's eye on the right side rather than the left, to give the figure just one more little distinction to differentiate the Gold Commander from his Silver predecessor. But that's a little thing. The little plastic disc makes up for a world of sins.

I placed the Gold Commander between the helmet-wearing, blaster-sporting figures of Starbuck and Apollo. It was a short battle. The Colonials were victorious.

It would appear that Joyride listened to what their consumers had to say in the wake of Series I… a practice that’s a little unprecedented in the entertainment world of today (are you listening, Universal Studios?). Just the addition of the little plastic disc was a tremendous improvement, but my hat is off to the artists who crafted these figures… they did their homework. And they got them right.

Like Series I, Series II is a must-have for any true Galactica fanatic. Well worth every cent of their modest price, these figures can't help but bring out the little boy in all of us.

And cause our girlfriends to roll their eyes. Now where did she get off to?

For more information, visit http://www.joyridestudios.com

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