A Crowded Coop TF2 Portable Mercs Wave 1 Review

Around third quarter of the year is when we start to see that stuff that was in early development at Toy Fair.  I fell in love with a lot of stuff at Toy Fair (no surprise), but I always have a soft spot for the Valve related merchandise.  A Crowded Coop has a ton of fun stuff slated for this year and a good chunk of it we saw at the recent DOTA 2 Tournament International 4 hosted by Valve.  Being a sucker for super-deformed mini figures I was most looking forward to their Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs series.

I’m not a huge fan of the blind boxed concept.  I think it’s fine when something costs a few dollars, but when toys start getting past the five-dollar mark I start second guessing my decision to buy.  So in order to stick it to them for making these blind-boxed I ordered a whole case.  Showed them!  Actually the real reason I bought a whole case was because I didn’t want to chance getting doubles if, in fact, the cases had even distribution.  It turns out (at least in the case I got, which I doubt is a coincidence) that if you buy a case you should get an even spread of the entire wave.

A Crowded Coop Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs Wave 1

A sealed display case has twelve figures in it.  Each of the characters are listed as a 1/12 ratio meaning you should get both a red and blue Soldier, Scout, Pyro, Spy, and Engineer in each case.  The part that slightly confused me was that the sentry guns were listed as 1/24, so I was a bit concerned I may only get one in a twelve figure display box.  This wasn’t the situation as I got an even mix of ten unique characters and two sentry guns.  The case purchase was a success!

I’ll assume that if you run into a chase it would just take the place of that normal character release.  The three chases are a golden Engineer, a clear Spy (I did hope to get this one), and an unpainted test shot of the Pyro.

Now I would have been perfectly happy with just a set of Team Fortress 2 mini figures.  However, A Crowded Coop has pretty deep knowledge of the game and it’s proven through the little details in this series.  Until getting the figures in I had no idea that the blue and red version came with different accessories!  There are also a few items thrown in that aren’t listed on the boxes.  Here is a breakdown of everything:

A Crowded Coop Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs Wave 1

Blue:

Scout – Bat
Soldier – Bugle
Pyro – Flare Gun
Spy – Knife, Dossier, and Photo
Engineer – Destruction PDA
Sentry Gun Level 1 – Sentry Blueprints and Tool Box

A Crowded Coop Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs Wave 1

Red:

Scout – 2 Bonk!  Atomic Punches (1 pristine and 1 crushed)
Soldier – Shovel
Pyro – Axe
Spy – Disguise Kit and Photo
Engineer – Wrench
Sentry Gun Level 1 – Sentry Blueprints and Tool Box

A Crowded Coop Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs Wave 1

So with a whole set you get a nice little selection of accessories to mix and match within your squad.  It’s also worth noting that if you remove the Engineer’s head the stem if his neck has “NOPE” printed on it.  If you have no idea what that means just check here.  It’s a tiny detail but it shows the love that A Crowded Coop has for the property.  Another little bonus is that the sentry guns actually work pretty well with the NECA Engineer who did not come packaged with one.

The figures all turned out great!  If I had to pick a favorite it would probably be a close race between the Pyro and the Spy.  Realistically though they are all really fun little figures, and I’m interested to see how they compare to DOTA 2 Demiheroes (mini figure collecting is a hell of a drug man!) that I have coming some time next week.  Portable Mercs have a surprising amount of heft to them.  They are solid plastic figures unlike similar priced Funko Mystery Minis which are hollow.

A Crowded Coop Team Fortress 2 Portable Mercs Wave 1

The Portable Mercs retail at $10 per mystery box and $120 for tha case of twelve.  If you want a full set I would seriously suggest buying the case, and my buddies over at Entertainment Earth probably have the best deal on it since it includes free shipping.  Of course singles are an option too, but then you lose the stability of knowing you should get a complete set in one go.  If you are the type that just wants to buy a specific character there are listings on Amazon as well.

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5 thoughts on “A Crowded Coop TF2 Portable Mercs Wave 1 Review”

  1. They look great! Have never played TF2 but the Pyro looks so cool!
    Have considered investing in some of the kidrobot TMNT and Loyal Subjects Transformers but know it’s a dangerous path to go down…

  2. Pingback: Toy Fair 2015: The Coop « Preternia

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  4. how did you get the blueprint out of the sentry? I cant get the lid off mine and I’m scared I’ll break it! also these photos are really great!

    1. Thanks! Try sliding a fingernail into the crease and maybe turn it upside down when you do it. I didn’t have too much an issue getting them off though.

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