I looked around alot for an in depth review of these figs before I bought them. I couldn't find one, so I offer this up for anyone else wanting to know about them.
A Rreview of the EM4 Plastic Troopers and Gangers
and metal upgrade kits
You can see pictures of the figures here:
link
And pictures of the sprues here:
link
I purchased the figures from Tin Dictator:
tindictator.com/tindic.html
Plastic Gangers
Like all the Em4 figures, these assemble easily but benefit from a bit of putty or filler where the arms meet the body at the neck, and where the legs meet the crotch. The figures are very much like you might see in a late 80's post-apocalyptic movie, open shirt with a big medlalion, handlebar mustaches, and head bands along with the usuall sci fi body armor and equipment. For the most part this actually works pretty well. The three male bodies and torso's are pretty good. Two of them could double as charachters for the trooper sets, and they all look pretty tough, I would describe them as more like Mercenaries than Gangers, but who am I to judge what gangers will look like after the bombs drop.
The two females don't particularly fit in with the 3 male figures. The legs/rear torso with the thigh high boots is a fairly good sculpt. I paired it with the forward looking head/torso front that is shouting and the results were good. The other is a very awkward sculpt that seems to skinny to be wearing pants, and the knee joint bends backwards. Likewise, the second head/torso front has a bizairre single long feather headdress and a really long pony tail. I considered the legs piece to be pretty much a wash. As for the body piece, I will be modifying the headgear and fitting it to filed down trooper legs.
The arms are ok, they are moulded fairly well, but sometimes the hands tended to blend in with the guns. I do not like the assault rifles that they come with, they are very 1970's sci-fi, and don't fit with the look of the figures. The packs are fine.
Overall, The figs have alot of charachter, and are a great way to bulk out a gang or start a new one, I consider this set to have 4 usefull figures. Still a great deal for all that.
Ganger heavy weapons Kit.
This kit comes with 5 heavy weapons and torsos. I like some parts and not others. The Male hooded and capped torsos are very cool, The overweight bald male torso has alot of charachter, and some will like it, and some won't. The female torso with mesh shirt and no hat is a good sculpt, but the female torso with beret looks kind of stoned, and not terribly attractive. The Male machine gun and Missile launcher are very nice. The auto cannon piece looks nice, but on closer inspection, it appears that it started as a rotary cannon, but that not all the barrels were added so you have 4 barrels in a " . : . " patern. Kind of wierd. The female arms and the flamethrower they hold are just ok. The recoless rifle is an ungainly looking piece of equipment, and the arms holding it are a bit awkward, especially the left arm. Overall, I'm not sure why the female accessories are so mediocre, but I still recomend paying the extra buck to get the ganger Heavy weapons kit, even if you don't use all the parts, especially since it will allow you to not use the plastic assault rifle arms.
EM4 plastic troopers.
I like these figures. There helmets are like a combo of motorcycle and pilot helments and it make s them look very much like futuristic police or security forces. The pants are a bit bunchy, but not terribly so. As with the gangers, the hands sometimes seem to melt into the pistols, but an carefull paint job can hide this. Also, as with the gangers, I really don't like the assault rifles, but this is a minor quibble. The pack selection includes a radio pack, which is a nice touch, though as police, I may not be using very many of the field packs.
EM4 trooper heavy weapons.
This is a good set of guns. The recoilless rifle is slightly improved over the ganger version, and looks a bit like a heavy laser, but I still will not be using it. The awkward autocannon has been replaced with a propper minigun with an impressive ammo system, and is my favorite weapon of the batch. The missile launcher, light auto cannon, and flamethrower are all well done. The arms holding these weapons are well proportioned also, I would have like to see a smaller SAW like the ganger pack has, but that's just my preference.
The torsos included in the pack give a much more miltary appearance to these troops. They have a less futuristic looking torso, no face coverings and trimmer helmets. I am undecided as to wether I will be using these or not, as I want to keep uniformity. For those looking to use these figs as military, the heavy weapons pack is a must even if just for the torsos.I would consider the Trooper heavy weapons pack to be of sufficient quality to be a good option for converting other miniatures besides the EM4 plastics.
Trooper command arms pack.
This kit comes with 10 arms. The arms are all separate, which is different from all other sets of arms which come attached to each other. I recieved two arms holding mp5's, a first aid kit, a scanner or comms thing, a grenade, a pistol, a pointing arm and a few others. The arms are all pretty well done. As the website says, this is a random assortment, as I recieved 6 of one hand and 4 of the other. Overall they are nicely done.
I think that myself and most folks would like to see more mp5's.
Overall summary:
The EM4 plastics figures and metal accessories are alot of fun to work with. They have a unique charachter, but are not so different as to be unsuited for use with many miniature ranges. As to scale, they are a bit slimmer than most current ranges of 28mm, but height wise, they are a perfect match.
As for quality and detail, I would rank them perhaps a touch under Shockforce miniatures and a bit above the slicks and other futuristic stuff available from Black Forest. Getting the most out of these figures really requires a bit of filing and an ability to use some kind of filler or epoxy putty.
Each set of 5 figures is available alone for $4.50 USD or with an accessory pack for $5.50 USD making them them among most affordable multipart miniatures around.
Drawbacks
The weak execution of one each one of the female ganger leg set, torso, metal torso and heavy weapon arm set, is a disapointment. Also, I was not impressed with the plastic assault rifles that come with the gangers or the troopers. They are oddly shaped, and have no magazine. These will probably not bother beginners who will be drawn to the low cost of these figures, and for the most part, modelers with some experience will be able to overcome these issues.
To sum up, not the best figures, but a great deal for some unique miniatures. I enjoy converting miniatures and I love a good bargian and have no regrets about purchasing them.
thanks you for your donations.