Berserker

Hey gang! A quicker one this week. We’re going to talk about one of my favorite figures, TLK Berserker. Now, let’s just be very clear about one thing out of the gate. This figure is trash. It’s hot garbage. The panels on the arms aren’t even glued in. You can just remove them. There is almost literally zero alt mode integration, the entire Chevy Suburban or whatever the hell it is just curls up on the back, and what alt mode integration there is is actually screen inaccurate, because this is one of those fun movie character models that just cheats its way between one mode and the next.  To top it all off, the figure is oh my god ugly. All of these compromises don’t even result in something good looking. Yes the giant red x painted on the chest is accurate. But why would you do that? It’s horrible. As are the scourge style pink fingernails that go up to the second knuckle. Plus, on top of all that, it’s just Legally Distinct from the Predator ™. Which, like. Isn’t a bad look. But what? However, the sum totality results in something, like TLK Scorn, which I find morbidly fascinating. My mind just keeps being drawn to this figure, contemplating over and over again how horrible it was like your tongue going to where you lost a tooth.

But here’s the thing about Berserker. I love it. It’s genuinely a lot of fun to play with. Because it is just an action figure curled up in a car, it has a stunning range of articulation. It’s not necessarily the most poseable, but this is almost certainly the most articulated single figure I own, rivaling stuff that’s famously bendy like Studio Series 86 Hot Rod. Plus, I think the panel work on the alt mode is really cool. I like how thin it all is, and I like how it folds up into the back pack. It’s satisfying how close all the pieces are able to get to each other. Plus, the Chevy Suburban is a cool vehicle, particularly the black one with light bars like he turns into. It makes him feel like a movie prop for some generic government vehicle, something out of the Avengers or something, which, to my thinking, is really cool. This is a take perhaps unique to me, but I also really enjoy how hilariously small the Suburban is. It doesn’t scale with anything, and it’s really nice how it just kind of cleanly fits in your hand. All of that combined, and in particular because it’s not really hard to transform (for being entirely shell, it’s way less parts massagy than it has any right to be), this is one of the figures I mess with the most. It’s just enjoyable to play with. It also helps that I literally don’t care at all and if I damage it or it gets wear, whoops look at that. 

This brings me to my other point about Berserker. I’m perhaps the biggest Berserker apologist you’ll find out there. But I totally get why it shelfwarmed back in the day. 20 dollars is a lot for a meme garbage bot. I got mine on ebay for 10, which was a lot more attractive. 

But yeah, overall, what can I say? I like it a lot. If you have the chance to pick one up and fiddle with it, I’d recommend it, if either you don’t have to pay for it and can just handle one, or you find it really cheap. He makes a nice little desk bot.