For the last several years, JoyToy has been systematically taking every single Space Marine model that Games Workshop makes, rendering it in 1/18th scale, and selling them with top quality paint jobs. They started off with a few random Ultramarines, and now you can run a 2000 point army of Ultras. They have done many other chapters of Space Marines, a few Chaos Space Marines, Orks, Imperial Guard, Adepta Sororitas, Tau, and Tyranida.
In 2023, JoyToy expanded their license to include the Horus Heresy, starting with the Imperial Fists and Sons of Horus Legions before continuing to the Space Wolves, Thousand Sons, and Ultramarines.
For every Marine Legion released so far, their Primarch has come with it! The Imperial Fists are led by Royal Dorn, the Sons of Horus are led by Horus, the Space Wolves are led by Leman Russ, and as of the time of this writing the Thousand Sons have Magnus on pre-order. JoyToy has also released the 40K version of Lion El’Jonson and Roboute Guilliman (1). As the 30K and 40K Primarchs are in-scale with each other and look fantastic together, I will review them all so you know which one is the best one (2).
Packaging
All the Primarchs are packed in similar boxes. They are sealed by clear tape that is easy to remove. Within the Primarch and their accessories are contained within a foam tray, held in by a vac-formed plastic shell. It is easy to remove and the Primarch figure is ready to come out and be played with/displayed on the shelf.
Sculpts
The JoyToy Primarchs are faithful recreations of their tabletop models, for better or for worse. This includes some of the more unusual choices GW made with the models, like Horus Ascended’s nose tube and Rogal Dorn’s Captain-Pike like hair. Guilliman, by virtue of being an articulated action figure, looks infinitely better than his model. Each Primarch comes with multiple hand options: a “pistol grip” hand, a “sword grip” hand, fists, and some have an open hand. Every weapon that the model has in the codex is sculpted and can be held by the figures. The various capes and pelts are all made of a stiff (but still somewhat flexible) plastic and look fantastic. The expressions on the figure are mostly neutral, though Russ has two face sculpts with different expressions (a neutral and a “rage” expression).
There are only two issues amongst the figures that really bother me:
- The top of Russ’s hair (for both of his bare heads) is a separate piece and the seam line is somewhat visible.
- The shoulder pauldrons for both Guilliman and Horus are huge and don’t look good if you try an extreme pose with the arms. It’s more of a problem for Guilliman, whose articulation isn’t quite as restricted as Horus’s, but the internal articulation of the shoulder and pauldrons can be unfortunately visible.
Paint
Where these figures absolutely excel is the paint ops on these action figures. Each figure features a soft fade on their armor (except for Horus), and most of them also feature edge highlighting. Russ probably has the “worst” paint ops comparatively, but his armor also has a whole lot of texture such that it would be cost-prohibitive to edge everything. Dorn also does not have a lot of edge highlighting, because JoyToy chose not to edge highlight any of the metallic bits. The faces are full of warmth and expression. The Power Swords all feature subtle energy effects. Jeweled bits look different than metallic bits. There is minimal paint slop on these figures. While there aren’t really any washes on these models, the big size of the models means the light will miss the recesses.
The collective paintjobs are not perfect – for example, most of the purity seals tend to be one flat/dark color, and the leather bits don’t have highlights. But for a mass-produced toy that is *generally* under $150 shipped, I think we’re getting our money’s worth versus a Marvel Legend or Star Wars Black Series figure in terms of paint job.
Accessories
Another reason the JoyToy line is so wonderful as compared to the aforementioned flagship action figure series is the accessories. Each figure comes with their entire armory: Guilliman comes with the Emperor’s Sword, while The Lion comes with Fealty and The Emperor’s Shield. Russ has the most weapon options, having his pistol and his various sword and axe options. All of these accessories are likewise well painted, which is a rarity in US mass market action figures beyond one or two colors. Most figures come with multiple heads: Guilliman has a helmeted and unhelmeted option, as does The Lion. Russ comes with two heads: one with a neutral expression and one with a fierce expression. Horus, unfortunately, comes with only one head with a tube up its nose. We therefore cannot recreate the Warmaster Horus miniature, only the Ascended Horus miniature.
The Lion comes with the two Watchers in the Dark that appear on the figure’s base, so they can hold his weapons, if needed. Mine is currently packed away.
As noted in the sculpting section, each figure also comes with three sets of hands (except Guilliman) (3): a pistol grip hand, a melee weapon grip hand, and then either a fist or an open palm. For the most part, getting the gun weapons into their owner’s hands is pretty easy to do. Getting the tight “kung-fu” grip hands holding the swords can be a little trickier, as these hands are made of firmer plastic so that the weight of the weapons don’t bend the fingers into rubber. However, with a little patience one can get the sword into the hand. On some of the earlier JoyToy figures it was harder to fit the swords into their grips.
It should be noted that one retailer, Cool Toys Club, offers after-market head swap options: They have helmets for Horus and Dorn, while The Lion gets his hooded head. They also offer alternate sculpts/paint jobs for weapons such as The Emperor’s Sword. I have not purchased any of these add-ons as I think the accessories the figures come with are fine, but if a purchaser is interested they do exist.
Poseability
Like the rest of the JoyToy line, the poseability of the Primarch action figures is pretty good. The joints the figures have are solid. The heads possess a double-ball-jointed neck (so the head can be removed easily), a torso ball-joint, a cut waist, and ball-jointed hips. The elbows and knees are both double-hinged. The ankles are also ball-jointed. The toes are hinged as well. The shoulder articulation is a strong mechanism of interlocking hinges versus an easily breakable ball-joint. The armor pauldrons themselves are on a a series of internal hinges so they can be moved to accommodate more action-oriented poses from the Primarchs. The wrists are also on double-ball joints, to accommodate hand swaps. But how does this plethora of poseability come out in practice?
Dorn and Russ have absolutely amazing poseability. They can take any pose you can think of, be it action, neutral, or silly.
Guilliman’s poseability is pretty good. Guilliman can be posed neutrally, he can be posed sitting regally, and he can be posed in the weird contorted pose of his miniature. Additionally, the ammunition feed for the Hand of Dominion is made of flexible rubbery plastic (more flexible and rubbery than the capes), and so his arms can be posed easily. The only downside to Guilliman’s articulation is the Hand of Dominion is in and of itself without finger articulation.
The Lion runs into some more trouble with his articulation. The firm plastic in the cape prevents him from doing the splits or trying to do a high jump kick. The various hand options and wrist articulation also prevent The Lion from holding Fealty in the way that the miniature holds fealty, because there’s no internal hind on the wrist to allow his right hand to bend that far back. Lastly, the Emperor’s Shield itself has an articulated grip that more-or-less prevents The Lion from articulating his left arm when he’s holding the Shield. This means his poses with his “canon” wargear tend to wind up more restricted than the other three Primarchs have.
Horus is probably the weakest when it comes to effective poseability. Horus’s Serpent Scales armor is very top-heavy Terminator armor, and on top of that he wears a giant rubbery wolf pelt. This makes trying to raise Horus’ arms in a fierce pose difficult, as the figure will often fall over if the arms are raised too high.
Incidentally, Horus can give the finger with the Talon of Horus. This is an invaluable part of the action figure, because what is the purpose of owning the biggest bad of the Warhammer universe if you cannot do childish poseability with these figures?
Stand-alone Ability
One of the more underrated elements of modern toys for adults is the ability for the toys to stand on their own without falling over. I’m pleased to say that Guilliman, Dorn, The Lion, and Russ all have the ability to stand on their own without issue. Horus, however, is incredibly top-heavy because he is in Cataphractii Terminator Armor with a giant rubber-pelt AND rubber cape, so he will make use of multiple stands in order to stay upright.
Luckily, all of these figures come with holes in their mighty power boots and a generic, clear stand with an appropriately-sized peg that helps keep the figures upright. Horus requires two of them to stand because he is really that big, but you can give him one from the Heresy Abaddon or Dorn or something.
Annoying Ephemera
-Dorn’s Iron Halo doesn’t like to stay on. You can glue it on if it continues to fall off, though.
-Unlike all the other Primarch figures, Dorn’s cape is removable.
-The Primarchs will not fit into an Invader ATV.
-Leman Russ does not fit upon the Thunderwolf Cavalry Thunderwolf. Luckily, I was able to scrounge up something from my collection that Russ can easily ride.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to collecting anything, I like to collect the entire universe. This is why I am about to have a 2000 point army of JoyToy Ultramarines (once I get my Ultramarines Leviathan Dreadnought and Techmarine). The Primarchs are big, meaty figures that can actually satisfy the collecting urge without wanting to collect an entire universe: Each figure stands about 8-9 inches tall, dominates the shelf, and is absolutely impressive. Each figure is about the price of the actual Forge World miniature with the benefit of not having to actually assemble or paint the miniature. This is how I assembled the Heresy Imperial Fists force I wanted – Dorn, Sigsimund, some Legionaries, and a Contemptor Dreadnought – while leaving my painting time and energy to a game system I will actually play.
My plan is to collect all the Primarchs that Joytoy releases, from Heresy!Lion to Alpharius. I do not think that JoyToy will release the Daemon version of the Primarchs, because apparently the Chaos Space Marines do not sell well. JoyToy has yet to release a 40K Abaddon (just a Heresy Abaddon), so having both “good guys” and “bad guys” equivalents at the Primarch scale is only really possible with the Heresy Primarchs. I eagerly await Sanguinius and finding a way to balance him on top of my friends’ Christmas tree.
- As of the time this article is drafted, the 30K version of Guilliman has not been announced. More frustrating for me, Contemptor Kevin, is that the Ultramarines Contemptor Dreadnought has not been announced.
- It’s Russ, but mostly because I love Thunderwolf Cavalry and he fits really well on Salsa as his Thunderwoof.
- Much like canon!Guilliman, JoyToy Guilliman’s left hand is the Hand Of Dominion, a giant Power Fist/Heavy Bolter combo that prevents the Primarch from easily writing or picking up his pen when he accidentally drops it. In this case, it also cannot hold accessories because it is not articulated.
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