ThreeA WWR Medic Dropcloth & Bertie

I never watched the movie or read the novel, but somehow I've always known that Dr Zhivago originated from Russia, so imagine how apt it is that I managed to get a Medic Dropcloth (named Zhivago) from a Russian collector! There were some hiccups with the shipment but it eventually landed at my door step in great condition, which was all that mattered to me. I remember that it arrived the same day as the Dark Equine Superset, and how elated I was that day to receive two masterpieces that were rolled out from the Hatchery, albeit being 3 years apart.

 

I think there isn't much that hasn't been said about the WWR 1/6 Dropcloth (DC here on), as I have reviewed the EMGY colourway before, and also photographed the Deep Powder and JEA DCs couple of years ago (speaking of EMGY DC, I recently bought another OG cause it was quite a good deal... and all of its accessories are still in sealed bags, which I know I oughta take some photos of before opening it... if I get down to it). So how does it fare under the banner of the Medics...?

Zhivago DC was one of four DCs sold as a set (along with Jungler, Snowballer and Monty) on 29 January 2010. Suffice to say, I didn't even know 3A exists at that time. However, prices of 3A stuff on the secondary market seemed to have cooled off a little, particularly for the DCs which, some might say, is an acquired taste that might not appeal to all. I remembered that I didn't really fancy them at first, but today I'm happy to have 5 of them in my collection. Zhivago came packed in a standard shoe box with plastic inserts. While the cover is a plain red with a white cross, there is a nice illustration by A.Wood on the bottom.

I'm not the 1st owner of this figure, but I'm happy to report that he has been well taken care of in his previous ownership and the condition is mint. All the joints work nice and tight. Unlike his DC counterparts, Zhivago comes equipped lightly with only 2 hand guns. I would attribute that to the fact that he is a Medic, so... on the battlefield, his priority is probably to rescue and will only need to defend himself and the wounded. According to the Geneva Convention, firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime, unless they use their weapons offensively. Of course, we won't know whether this applies to Medics in A.Wood's World War Robots...

Well, this theory does contradict the 2nd Medic to be released in WWR / WWRp, which is the WWRp Medic Bramble MK2 issued on 20 July 2009, the 1st being the WWR Square MK 1 released on 25 May 2009. Bramble comes with a gatling gun (photographed below), which is most probably used for offensive purposes -.-" If I had the chance, I will probably buy some 1/6 DC weapons and equip Zhivago with more fire power...

Next up, we have the WWRp Bertie MK 2 and Square set that was dropped on Bambaland on 20 November 2009, the 3rd member of the Medic colourway. Bertie comes only equipped with 1 hand gun. He's about to go through a quick draw shoot out with DC in the pic below. This particular Bertie I have has a loose left knee hinge, but it doesn't really affect its poseability.

At this point I would say that after the Bramble, Bertie, Square and DC, the paint application on the Medic colourway took a turn towards the darker, more heavy weathering which I don't personally appreciate. The off white base colour and brownish grime weathering were replaced with blackish weathering on the Armstrong, Caesar, Grunt and Betsy Square MK 2 that were offered subsequently. I'll admit I am rather resigned to the lack of consistency of 3A design, which is probably a good thing cause it won't restrict the Artist's creativity, and it could potentially mean more savings and less spending for me... Unless the Medic colourway reverts back to the old days, I'm happy to keep my Medic collection the way it is today.

 

Dropcloth MK1s are a gem. I don't have many good things to say for the MK1.5s, and there hasn't been more colourways announced apart from the EMGY, Peaceday and the slew of ugly GIDs that are so forgettable... Get one and see for yourself (try to get something earlier than the JEA DC) if you don't already have one. I'm sure the charm of the Dropcloth will rub off on you slowly but surely.

 

The WWR versions of Bertie MK2s have long been teased but never released. Even if 3A really gets down to releasing them, it is hard to say whether they will come in the colourway your desire, and what sort of "improvements" that might be implemented on them. If it were up to me, I will just upsize 'em WWRps into the larger version and keep everything exactly the same (including paint apps)... Anyhow, let's wait and see what 3A does with the WWR Berties.



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ThreeA WWRp Deep Powder Bertie MK 3

So Deep Powder Bertie MK 3 Mode B, ie. huge ass twin cannons mode, was dropped on Bambaland earlier this year. I don't recall it being a limited sale, despite his listing on the catalogue as so. Hmmm... All I recall was that people were making noise about how these samples were shown and never sold, and A.Wood seemed to suddenly wake up from hibernation and got it listed online or something. Limited or not, it was fairly easy for me to score and I had been wanting a WWRp in Mode B in this colourway after I gotten the JEA Bertie MK 3 Mode A.

I did a fairly detailed review on the JEA one and sorry to say, the 2 main flaws that I found previously are still there with this later release: the flimsy fingers, and the huge gap in the pouch hooks. For this particular piece I got, it came even missing a pouch hook! Talk about bad QC! Alas, CS was quick to ship one to me so it wasn't that much of an issue. A dab of super glue and bam! Deep Powder Bertie MK 3 is ready to rumble.

In this review I will focus on the two main differences between the Deep Powder Mode B and the JEA Mode A, which is of course the paint application and weapons.

The Mode B is not as inconspicuous as the Mode A, mainly because of the huge cannons that are mounted slightly above its shoulders. They stem from a dumbbell double ball joint, which gives it a fair amount of mobility. Apart from the turrets, there seems to be what resembles an ammo drum that is also mounted adjacent to the turret, which kinda gives a lot of bulk and top heaviness. So each turrent assembly can essentially broken down into 3 parts: the turret, the ammo drum, and another drum in between that I can't guess its purpose. The shell casing ejector slots are sculpted on the turret itself, which is pretty neat.

Since the turrets are already mounted on their own ball joints, the arms are free to move around or carry even more weapons. Not that he comes with any, but he might look pretty cool carrying some side arms like a pistol or an uzi.

The only way you can pose the Bertie Mode B at ease is actually just to swing the cannons down forwards as far as you can go (photographed below), which is actually how he was packaged when delivered..

I absolutely like the paint application this time. For JEA it was meh, but I think for this Deep Powder colourway that was painted on the Bertie MK 3 Mode B, 3A did a great job. The chassis sports a nice, big snowflake logo followed by the huge letterings that read "Deep Powder Corp", though partially covered by the huge pouch at the abdomen. I really didn't notice that the cartoon of a kid carrying a bomb on the left shoulder (photographed above) is the same one that is on Snippy, until after I've gotten Snippy. Anyway, I like the colour combination of off-white, dark grey on the body and limbs, and turquoise highlights in the form of insignias a lot. Caesars (and later Frank and Snippy) have also been done this way except there isn't much deep greys on 'em...

If you fool around the cannons a lot, you'll probably notice that there seems to be an extra lump of plastic sticking out at the turret base of cannon right (photographed above). Turns out this extra piece is what seems to be a little Bertie head with a cyclop scoping eye, possibly essential for the targeting system of the cannons. A similar idea was adopted for the WWR Caesar rifle; a small Bertie head that is articulated is also mounted at the tip of the rifle. For Bertie, it sometimes gets in the way of the turret movement and will scrap against the main body but no big deal... honestly it is quite a nice little detail that breaks the symmetry of the turret.

I have seen the WWR version of Bertie Mk 3 Mode Bs in person before and I must say that their presence is incredible, being the tallest robots that were ever made by 3A. Can't comment on the functionality of the huge cannons on the 1/6 version though, cause they are super long and probably weighs quite a bit. On the WWRp though, the cannons still make the figure stand out, but with the added advantage of manoeuvrability due to its smaller scale.

For Bertie MK 3s, I still recommend the WWRp version, despite the flimsy fingers, which is the side effect of the shrink ray process... just be really careful and we should be alright. Before you say the words "Customer Service", I think that CS is actually less willing to send out spare parts these days judging from feedback on the Outpost so don't count on it and be really careful handling these figures. After the JEA Mode A and DP Mode B, I think I'm done with the WWRp Bertie Mk 3s... Seeing how apart from these two colourways, the Daywatch, Nightwatch, Sand Devil, Dutch Merc and even a GID are also released, I'm plenty sure that A.Wood is also done with this mold.

Personally, I think that the Bertie MK 2 and 3 are great follow ups from the original feetless Bertie MK 1, but I don't really see the point of the MK 3.5 that was released later... I feel the same way about the Heavy Bramble and DC MK 1.5, 'em being mediocre updates of the original versions... Caesars and Harolds are kinda meh for me now looking back at it. Well, I suppose there are always hits and misses for whatever gets developed for the WWR series, and it is so subjective (some people just love almost everything that gets produced). Luckily, I always have the option whether or not to buy any new designs that gets developed. I do feel that WWR isn't getting the attention it deserves now with the AK / TK club things going on, and A.Wood going to space with Totem... there's probably only so much one guy can do I guess...

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