I bought my first Fistful of Power toys back in 2005 in Kmart with CA$8.99 for a Battle Box and CA$2.99 for a Battle 2 Pack. I love the product presentation a lot. The series version I got was a bright orange box with a fist sculpture (later I came to know it was series 2). And within it, a bunch of random warriors with various rarity and colours. I found it really interesting and wished to get more of them. However in the end, I never came to like the gameplay.

Fistful of Power had the right collectors theme and engaged our “wants” of owning a collection – However, the inability of making it an interesting “duel game” hurts it in it’s short 2 years run

There are not much information about Fistful of Power aside from a few fan created community page, review site page and wiki page. Also, the information were hardly complete nor informative. In terms of the product development, unlike Barcode Battler where the product attracted imitator/ competitors and inspired so many collaborations and spanned so many various product types, Fistful of Power has only two core series launched by the manufacturer. And I would say, it was part of a movement, a brand of toys where there are blind boxes to draw characters and cases to hold them. So Fistful of Power wasn’t the only innovator in this toys genre which I call Collectible Battle Toys.

This article will review Fistful of Power on why I think it was well designed as a collectible battle toy but failed as a duel game. For the photos, I will be referencing and showing mainly from Fistful of Power series 2 to give coherence of the materials reviewed (And actually those are the only ones I have). Also, it is interesting to note (perhaps lack of effort or not the right time to add innovation just yet), essentially both series 1 and series 2 are exactly similar in product composition and gameplay. The only differentiation between series 1 and 2 were just the looks of the figurines.

Name	Fistful of Power
Type	Collectible Battle Toy
Versions	N/A
Add-on Modules	N/A
Years	Series 1 – The Beginning – 2004 (43 Fighters/ figures) Series 2 – The Prophecy – 2005 (40 Fighters/ figures) Series 3 – The Uprising – Never released
Manufacturer/ Distributors	Moose Toys (Australian Manufacturer), Spin Master (North America distributor) & EPEE (Czech Republic distributor).
Platform	N/A
No. of Players	1-2*
Batteries	N/A

What is Fistful of Power?

Fistful of Power was a collectible battle toy released between 2004 to 2005. It featured battle boxes and packs where you “draw” random Fistful Fighters to duel other players. Also, along their product line-up there are container cases and battle stadium which were mainly used to carry your Fistful Fighters around and to showcase them or make a scene (the battle stadium did have game tokens and counters) while you duel with other players.

Within the box and the battle packs are the Fistful Fighters whom are the core of the product. Which, they represent your army like the hold of your own fist. And they are your warriors and fighters who fight for you. They come with different sculptures and each has 3 different styles:

• “Shadow” being entirely dark grey transparent;
• “Hyper” being in solid plastic yet coloured;
• “Crystal” being clear transparent yet coloured.

Where is the fun?

The gameplay elements? For each character there is a number beneath one of their foot, and that’s the power level of the Fistful Fighter. Basically, you compare the power by doing a lucky draw, or the more advanced play was to throw it up and see how they land. Depending on how the rules were agreed, you “duel” and see who win. As some people puts it, you use the Fistful Fighters like an flawed dice.

Getting back to the more intriguing collection part. As you can logically follow, to own a full collection means you need to own all 3 colours of all scriptures. Not to mention there are for each series, a unique one of a kind Fistful Fighter who has only 1000 made in the entire world (or distribution region)!

So who made them and came up with this collectible toy?

Moose Toys is a company who kept making original collectible toys for kids since 1985!

The Australian company, Moose Toys was to me, a successful toy maker in original collectible toys. I have a lot of respect for them because Moose Toys was unlike many other toy makers who rely heavily on intellectual properties/ licensing from popular shows and series. Moose Toys was extremely bravo and innovative in terms of willing to design, make and sacrifice for the uncertainty and are able to produce new series continuously.

Moose Toys has set their target audience as kids of 4 and up. So it wasn’t an adult thing. But yet, I felt there are a lot of grown ups just like me, who will look back and feel enriched by that prior experience and memories of collecting certain Moose Toys series “back in my days”. Just thinking, what if they produce series for adult collectors?

That brings us to a very key question for any company who is innovating no matter in toys, stories, art, animation etc., what do people want and what makes a collection worth collecting?

The art of a “collection”

When I bought my first of Fistful of Power toys, the feel for the collection was addicting and intriguing. Overall, the product packaging and contents feel satisfying and linked well. The product contains an instruction manual, a map of some sort, token pieces and the 4 Fistful Fighters. Natural and immediately jumped on the collection list to see if I got any rare. And I thought of plans to get more (but never did afterwards). Although I don’t feel the instruction manual and map too interesting, the necessity of feeling the depth of the collection is important. But if those were not there, immediately I feel less intrigued.

Once I get the toys, I do want to explore more and to get more of them. That’s important.

However, what brings longevity is beyond the art of the figurines and intriguing collection elements. The Fistful Fighter figurines were not the best, but they were unique and adequate as a collection. Yet, having a strong gameplay is what eventually bring in more audience and in turn, more fans together. And by having more fans with the title, is what brings more interesting ideas and magic of the collection together.

No wonder we never really heard much about the title nor get to find more information about Fistful of Power going forward after series 2.

Let’s talk quickly on the gameplay.

Fistful of Power Gameplay

The gameplay of Fistful of Power is simple and varied:

1. Each player picks 6 Fistful Fighters;
2. Throw the Fistful Fighters like dices;
3. Players tally the power numbers of all Fistful Fighters faces up;
4. The player with a lower points total will need to remove one face down Fistful Fighter from game;
5. Repeat until only 1 fighter is left.

In summary, it is like flipping coins and see who gets more heads or tails. I read a few lines on the first page of the gameplay guide and dozed off. The game mechanic like this, you can say is innovative but I would say it was pretty forced and not thoughtful.

Releases/ Collector’s Guide

The following is a list of products which was launched for the First of Power line. Note that some of the photos here were taken from around the web. I tried by best to reference the photos so if I didn’t do a good job please let me know. Also, if you wish to contribute and make a claim of the photos do let me know as well. But I felt it would be nice to know what these products are with a show of a picture of them.

Products	Series	Style/ Colour	Pictures
Fistful of Power Battle Box Advanced Tournament Pack (Series 1) (Contains 4 Figures)	Series 1	Silver tin Case Red plastic case Black plastic case Blue plastic case Grey plastic case	Picture2 Picture3
Fistful of Power Battle Box Advanced Tournament Pack (Series 2) (Contains 4 Figures)	Series 2	Orange plastic Case	Picture1
Fistful of Power Battle Pack (Series 1) (Contains 5 Figures)	Series 1	N/A	Picture2
Fistful of Power Foil Pack (Series 1) (Contains 1 Figure) * I have not seen this even as a picture, but it was mentioned somewhere in text as an Australian only packing	Series 1	N/A	N/A
Fistful of Power Battle Pack (Series 2) (Contains 2 Figures/ 5 Figures)	Series 2	N/A	Picture1 Picture5
Fistful of Power Combat Case (Series 1) (Contains 1 Figure)	Series 1	Red w/ Silver styling Blue w/ Silver styling Black w/ Gold styling	Picture2
Fistful of Power Battle Arena (Contains 3 Figures)	N/A	Red Dark Grey	Picture4 Picture6

1: My own pictures.
2: Taken from EBay listings (These listings are too dynamic to direct link them).
3: https://ronsrescuedtreasures.com/products/40507
4: https://fistful-of-power.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_Arena
5: https://www.facebook.com/fistfulofpower/
6: https://www.carousell.sg/p/fistful-of-power-games-arena-and-miniature-figurines-165615542/

What’s in the Box? Product contents of Fistful of Power Battle Box (Series 2)

• 4 Fistful Fighters
  • 2 exclusive Warlord Fighters
  • 2 random Fistful Fighters
• 1 gameboard battle map
• 1 combat handbook
• 24 colour game counters (cardboard)

What’s in the Box? Product contents of Fistful of Power Battle 2 Pack (Series 2)

• 2 Random Fistful Fighters
• 1 combat booklet

Related product releases

There isn’t any related products released for Fistful of Power. If I found any it will go here. If you found anything and wish to contribute please let me know. I will give you the credit of the information on this page.

Final thoughts

After collecting my initial packages of the Fistful of Power Battle Box and the Power 2 Pack, there isn’t much I want to do with them aside I am going to try my luck and get a few more for the lucky draw.

And I have to think, is this why the series cannot go on? As I mentioned earlier, a strong collection elements is not enough to bring longevity to a title. What needed is a strong gameplay and a great backstory. Any of which will bring in more audience which will convert to fans. And in turn, brings in more ideas and turns a title from good to great.

Of course, the positioning is important too. That we all have to acknowledge if Moose Toys was focusing on kids 4+, the lifespan of the toy title is only likely to last a few years. I am not suggesting all collection should be for adults, as that defies my original praise of Moose Toys as an awesome innovator. We need more companies like them.

Pros (Why It is Awesome)

• Great collection elements such as good pool of figurines with rarities, and really hard to get figurines.
• The carry boxes and general design look and feel is cool. I mean, a fist with powers in form of your figurines!

Cons (What could be done better)

• Lack of good gameplay.
• Just 2 series and it’s done.

Further readings & resources:

• Fandom Wiki – Fistful Fighter Seer – Seer was the special figure in Fistful of Power Series 2. Only 1,000 was made per country distributed.
• Fandom Wiki – Fistful Fighter Xar – Xar was the special figure in Fistful of Power Series 1. Only 5,000 was made in total.

Please comment below what you think of this product. Such as let me know if you collect them? Did you play them? And anything you thought about this product? Finally, do let me know if you found anything you want to put up on this article or anything I am missing here.

Written by NKBDL for Strategy Games Evolution, May 26, 2023 (updated Nov 23, 2023)

Disclaimer: All pictures shown on the article were taken by me from my own collections. For pictures that are linked out, and are very specific like those really rare items, I downloaded them from online auction websites and will reference them as best as possible. As these websites listings are quite dynamic it is very hard to keep a permanent link to them. If you found yourself to be the owner of such photos and I didn’t do my reference right, please contact me right away. Thank you!

I started this site so that anyone (including me) can come and learn about/ reference on interesting strategy game products, so being able to show and reference the right pictures meant a lot to me and my audiences. Of course I did put up some referral links so that I can continue to support this site and buy more products to review. So I shall let everyone know about this point too. Thanks again.