I sat down for about five hours yesterday and built Brikfas, a 5:2 scale replica of a STIKFAS ™ Alpha Male action figure, just to see if it could be done (unfortunately, the only color that’s been used for every one of the basic pieces is black, so it doesn’t photograph very well). Most of the joints are built accurately to the original design, though I had to cheat somewhat on the ball halves of the knee joints (they’re mounted horizontally from the kneecaps instead of vertically from the thighs), and some joints (like the ankles) ended up having greater range of movement than the original version, while others (like the wrists) ended up having a bit less. I also quickly realized that while I’d be able to recreate some of the general shapes (I think the torso turned out especially nice), others would need to be heavily redesigned in order to achieve the same basic functional articulation (fortunately, I started with the feet, so it wasn’t much of a sacrifice).

I wanted to have at least one weapon for Brikfas to hold, so I pulled out the Samurai weapons…and realized that they were all dark-grey, and that some of the pieces I’d need to recreate them just don’t exist in that color. And I couldn’t find the sprue full of Chinese Warrior Monk weapons (and in a fit of “perfect” timing, I just found it), so that just left the Military weapons (I’d bought some tan and green ones just for body parts). The guns were designed in an exaggerated style, and none of them were particularly suited to being built in this scale. I wanted one that the original STIKFAS character could hold in a two-handed pose, which really cut down my options. I’m still not happy with the result (the main section is too fat, and the ridges on the barrel should run radially instead of length-wise), but I ran out of black 1×2 flat liftarms, which are key to any redesign that I might undertake.

Here you can see that the body sections break down exactly the same way that the original design does, with ball- or socket-joints roughly matched as well.