JOYTOY JT3723 Warhammer 40k 1: 18 T'au Empire XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Shas'ui K'yenItem NO.: JOYTOY JT3723

very pose a ball mech with twin weapons flight stand is big but needed to hold figure

I waiting 32years for this
Best Toyline best Paintjobs best articulation
Thanks JT

A great (and big) figure - nicely sculpted and the paintjob is decent too. Highly recommended, even for those who may not be a fan of the Tau in general. CTC service first rate as normal.

This figure in one sentence: accurate to a fault.

To see what I mean, I'll start out with the positives, of which there are many: this is the fourth mecha figure I've bought from JoyToy, and I have to say it's the best one I have so far. This not-so-little guy is very easy to position with joints just stiff enough to always hold a position but also loose enough to be effortless to reposition. This figure is also the most stable one I own when it stands on the feet cups, in fact, it's so stable I still haven't taken the display stand out of its plastic bag. Ironically, JoyToy's own marketing for this figure warned that it would be unstable without the display stand due to the strange design of its feet which are presumably meant to emulate the skeletal structure of the Tau's cloven feet. I guess they underestimated how well the feet cups would work. The paint job and detailing on this figure are also very well done, with the staining and dirt splotches giving it a nice weathered look, while the free-hand detailing and linework make the molded details pop. My only criticism of how this figure was painted is that they should've used a dark glossy blue paint for the suit's optics to give a nice coated lens look instead of the light blue metallic paint they used with makes all the optics look like metal buttons, but that's just a nitpick, really. There's also the problem of all the arms, legs, and weapon parts popping out easily, but they pop back in just as easily, and I've never had out fall out from being out into an extreme position, only from being pushed on too hard.

However, where the real flaws with this figure begin are with JoyToy's (or Games Workshop's) decision to be 100% faithful to the design of the original Crisis Suit tabletop mini, which means that all the flaws of the original mini have carried over to this figure. It's to the point where it's not at all an exaggeration to say that this figure is just the original Tau Crisis Battlesuit mini blown up from ~1:56 to 1:18 scale and then given some ratcheting joints and friction joints so it can be repositioned with ease. Just like the original mini, this figure cannot bend its legs too far back due to the position of the jetpack, cannot bend its knees inward too much due to a piece of armor on the suit's calf, and cannot raise its left arm at the shoulder much at all due to the pauldron being right next to the jetpack (the original sprue for the mini includes an additional pauldron with the top cut off so you can pose one of the three Crisis Suits included with its left arm raised if you want). Though, as these faults are the fault of Games Warkshop's designers and not of anyone at JoyToy, I still give it a 5/5.

But, if I may give a real criticism of this figure, it would be the lack of additional weapons and support systems, which makes customizing this Crisis Suit impossible without buying the other figure which has interchangeable parts with this one. While this isn't too much of a problem for Crisis Suits specifically, as they're usually not customized all that much unless one of them is elevated to the rank of commander, this will be a problem for the larger battlesuits that usually come as individual sets such as the Commander (Enforcer/Coldstar) Suit, Broadside, and Riptide, as those are very frequently customized or magnetized so they may use some of the alternate weapons and support systems included on their sprues. The Commander Suit is a particular favorite to customize and kitbash, as if you Google Image search Tau Coldstar Battlesuit about 2/3rds of the results will be either kitbashes or custom loadouts that deviate from the standard one Games Workshop displays on their online store. As such, I would like for future battlesuit releases (and I know these two sold well enough for more to come eventually) to include alternative weapons and support systems at least to the extent included by their original mini's sprues, though preferably to the extent allowed by their respective codexes. I can understand in Games Workshop locked JoyToy in

for the greater good!
This suit is great fun. And quite a bit larger than I was expecting! solid articulation. Can stand well without the included stand.
I’m still a little disappointed that it doesn’t have a removable firewarrior pilot. But the suit is so fun I got over it quickly.
I would like some drones to put with it, and do wish there was more weapon options with it. I’d like a missile pod for example.
But these are small things and it isn’t like it’s lacking for accessories.