Night's Corner

Review: S.H.Figuarts Cyborg 009 Joe Shimamura

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 11:58:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Bandai
Origin Series:	Cyborg 009 (first appearance) 009 Re: Cyborg (version look)
Scale:	Non-scale (approx 1/12 scale)
Height:	Approximately 15cm tall
Original Price:	4180 yen

Packaging:

For a figuarts released back in 2013, 009 has a really decent box design, I love the color scheme and especially loved how the window is layered in a globe-fashion was something pretty creative to me. But anyway, the sides just contain the shf logo with the labels of Joe's cyborg number and his name while the back gives you some poses (awkward looking ones too) which should already tell you a lot about the figure.

Details:

The Re: Cyborg suit is pretty plain much like the original suit, and is pretty much just a bit modernized version of their old suits since Re:Cyborg does take place several years after the series, it still has that iconic feel to it overall just with minor differences but anyway, let's take a look at the head first.

By 2013, Anime faces still ain't SHF's strong suit but I guess they did capture how Joe looks like in the film pretty well and this probably is one of the strongest points of the figure.

Going to the suit the Re: Cyborg suit captures that classic feel and just retained enough of the details you'll notice from their old suits which would include the belt, the skirt flap and the four buttons on the chest. Probably the biggest deviation this has from the old suit would be the color as the re:cyborg suits for the males have a more darker red tone for it. One of the nice details I appreciate here is the amount of wrinkles they put in the mold of the suit which makes it more realistic rather than just leaving it straight up flat so kudos to bandai collector division for that.

Of course, the suit isn't complete without their big af scarf and this does lie down pretty neat and the scarf is indeed pretty long; it's also pretty light even if one of the scarfs included is hard plastic so this won't get in the way of balancing the figure.

Now going to the skirt section, that is made of soft plastic BUT it's not layered nor does it have any cuts so you just know it'll screw on the articulation later on.

Going down to the lower section of the body, it's pretty much the same thing, same color scheme, some wrinkles and of course, the old back boots which now looks more realistic as with the rest of suit now having more realistic elements in them more than anything.

Accessories:

Going forward with the review, it's now gonna be pretty slippery slope from here as the details is the only thing that's really good about this released, for the accessories, you basically get 2 extra pairs of hands, one open hand and one more splayed out hands which doesn't really help the figure get into more better poses. I really wished they could've at least given him gun holding hands as well as the 00 numbers' traditional blaster which we actually see them use in the film.

The next of the accessories is a soft plastic scarf tail which I really liked as you can use it for more dynamic poses due to its bendy nature but it doesn't really have an inner wire or anything so you'll have to force it to bend to certain directions when you use it.

Articulation Points:

Ok, following after the sad accessory count, we're now going into an even worse situation, which is his articulation. So let's tart with the head, shall we? For the most part you've got your typical head movements, he can look up to a degree and downwards a bit while having a full rotation on the neck which is pretty the only strong point in his articulation.

Going to the arms, you can weirdly raise the arms sideways to more than 90 degrees which, while weird, is also pretty neat; the arms also fully rotate but the shoulder part does get in the way so when you rotate it upwards, it'll also spread outward a little. There's also a bicep swivel in the connector which is great but going to the elbows, that's where it gets bad, really bad; it's a single hinge and it only bends to 90 degrees which is really questionable, Joe isn't even a female frame to merit the single hinge joint heck even single hinge joints from SHF Cures bend way further than that and, of course, one can't help but wonder why he didn't get the double joints that SHF Kamen Riders get, it's really just a questionable decision. Lastly for the arms, the hands are in a dumbell joint so both ends are on ball joints which works pretty well if you ask me.

The scarf does connect on a ball joint but it doesn't really do much aside from raising it upwards and downwards.

One of the other problems of Joe's articulation is the fact that he has no ab cut so there's literally no body crunching for this guy and the only movement you have would be from the waist which pretty much only allows you to rotate the upper body sideways and a little to none bend which I didn't even bother taking a photo of anymore.

Now to the lower portion of the body where things get even worse, remember that I mentioned in the details that the skirt doesn't have cuts and layers? That exactly becomes a core problem of 009's articulation as you can't really make full use of the good hip articulation due to how small the room is for the legs to move due to the skirt, you can barely split the legs nor can you move them forward, there's really just a small room for movement due to that design choice. Going to the knees, those are supposedly double jointed but again, to my disappointment, they just bend to a 90, the ankles retain your typical SHF where you can tilt it sidewards or move it forward and backwards both to satisfying degrees. Of course, the toe hinge is there as well.

Size Comparison:

As 009 was the inspiration for Kamen Rider's backstory (both were made by Ishinomori btw), I figured it was best to compare 009 with the non-Shinkocchou New-1 andddd he does fall short next to 009 but you can still make it work I guess.

Gallery:

The gallery for this one ain't gonna be a lot since if you've already reached this section, you'd already know the downsides of this figure already but I definitely did try my best to pose this guy around so hope you enjoy the gallery below.

Final Thoughts:

While this figure looks good from the box, he's pretty much almost a static figure in a sense; the stiff articulation and the very sad count for accessories ultimately lead to me disliking this figure a lot, but you're probably wondering why I still have it? It's because he's 009 and we really don't have a huge number of offerings available when it comes to Cyborg 009 figures so I'm keeping this one mainly because of that, if you definitely want a good posable Joe Shimamura figure, this just ain't it, I can't even recommend it to anyone unless you're a die hard 009 fan and to which by this review (6 years after its release), you probably already have this if you are indeed that kind of fan.

This really could've been a great figure of the character had it been put more care, but alas it met with a lot of problematic and questionable engineering so it really was a waste and the fact that this was a Tamashii Web Exclusive really doesn't help out its position as something I can even praise.

VS Series 02: DC Essentials Red Hood vs. DC Multiverse Red Hood

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:53:00 +0000

I actually didn't think I'd be able to do a new VS Series especially since I've been out of the reviewing scene for like 3 years but here it is!

So for the 2nd issue of VS series, we'll take a look at 2 Red Hood action figures that was released this year and as the title indicates, we'll be pitting the DC Collectibles' Essentials Red Hood and Mattel's DC Multiverse Red Hood and as with the 1st VS series, if you still haven't noticed, there's a full in-depth review of each figure available in the blog so to give you quick access, click on the images below!

Select Your Figure:
DC Essentials Red Hood	DC Multiverse Red Hood

Point 1: Aesthetics

Generally speaking, when it comes to body molds, none of these two actually own an original frame as both generally reuses an already existing body mold which is the general male body for Essentials while the Multiverse uses their recent teen body frame, so it comes to personal preference which proportions are better, should you want a more muscular heroic body, then Essentials is your pick but if you want it less beefy like I do, then Multiverse is the way to go.

As far as the details go in the suit and jacket and whatnot, Multiverse definitely has more things going on with its suit design while the Essentials have plain and simple detailing over the jacket and suit overall.

The biggest breakpoints of this section lies in two things for me, and let's go to the first which would be the Red Hood Mask; this is a no brainer win for Essentials as it definitely captures the ideal mask with the piercing eyes complete with linings and even earpieces topped off with a beautiful metallic red paint meanwhile, the multiverse's mask is just hot garbage; it's too bright, it's too big, the shape is weird and even the eyes aren't menacing enough to look at, it's just a flop and Multiverse is supposed to be the smaller scale here.

Left (Essentials), Right (Multiverse)

A good friend of mine actually says it looks like a Balloon with holes in it and boy, was he right...

The mask is so big that the Essentials head actually works a million times better than the actual multiverse mask, and it's a good thing that it's compatible, like holy crap if a larger scale figure's head fit better than your actual head, then you know you f-ed up big time.

Next major competition which puts Multiverse to shame yet again would be the gun holsters; the Essentials has a working gun holster on both sides and you can easily, insert or remove his pistols from there without any problem at all.

Meanwhile, with multiverse, you have the gun molded in both holsters so in no way can you pull those out, thus, ultimately giving their version of Red Hood no guns to wield without borrowing stuff from your other toylines.

With what's said above, here's a summary of the pros and cons of each figure:

Essentials	Multiverse
Pros: - Perfect Mask Design - Working Holsters Cons: - Plain details Subjective: - More chunky body proportions - 7 inch scale	Pros: - More suit details Cons: - Terrible Mask Design - Non-removable guns Subjective: - Less muscular body proportions - 6 inch scale

Personally speaking the only big appeal of the Multiverse body right now for me is the fact that its scale works better with most of the stuff that I own but objectively speaking, Essentials is the superior figure here so for Aesthetics, Essentials wins this one, like seriously Mattel, of all the things you'll f up with, it really had to be like 2 of Red Hood's definitive traits.

Point 2: Accessories

Left (Essentials), Right (Multiverse)

Probably a lot won't agree with me on this one but while Essentials does provide the bare essentials, should you have enough extra guns and accessories, I'll give this round to Multiverse as his accessory count really makes him way more playable/photo-friendly due to the number of extra hands they gave him and the fact that he's 6-inch or 1/12 scale makes it even easier to find guns for him to use, the normal gripping hands has proven to wield a variety of weapons too such as SHF Joker's Crowbar and Revoltech Raiden's combat knife.

In addition, the Jason Todd head from Multiverse actually fits on the Essentials one so that's a major plus.

Point 3: Articulation

Left (Essentials), Right (Multiverse)

Now at first, I thought this would be another one sided battle mainly because Essentials has the superior frame but when I did side by side comparisons of poses, some flaws of the Essentials became more evident such as people claiming that Essentials generally has gorilla arms and it does show when they're side by side. Below would be a short gallery of both figures doing the same pose and all of which are using 0 accessories to keep the game fair.

While not a lot, you'll probably notice that in some poses, the Multiverse frame actually pulls it off more naturally while the Essentials come off awkward with its proportions being more noticeably flawed and obviously in more dynamic poses such as the cross arms, Essentials wins by a landslide mainly because of its superior frame; though in all honesty, the only advantage Essentials really have over the Multiverse in articulation would be the neck and the elbows, other than those two, they're pretty much pretty identical.

While the fight on this is pretty close, dynamic poses are always a plus so Essentials wins this round just because of that slight advantage.

Point 4: Price

Generally speaking if you bought like the whole Killer Croc wave, Multiverse is supposed to be a bit cheaper a piece but in terms of how each piece is priced here in the Philippines, the Multiverse figures do tend to be more expensive so that said, it's another obvious win for Essentials in this aspect as you pay less (at least locally) for generally a good package of a Red Hood figure.

Judgement:

Speaking objectively, given the statistics on this one, then you already have the winner, if you care not about the scale and just want a satisfying Red Hood action figure then Essentials is definitely your answer as it is plain and simple, complete with the bare essentials and definitely a bang for your buck with the articulation frame you're getting.

On a personal level, I prefer Multiverse because of the scale and its ease to shoot with other lines without forcing perspective too much, while definitely a very bad release with almost 0 saving grace, you can definitely fix them, in addition, if you own both you actually get compliments to each other such as giving Essentials the Jason head or giving the Multiverse the Essentials' head (the latter of which I did lol). So yeah, if you just gotta own one without minding the details and scaling, then I suggest Essentials by all means but if just love Jason Todd's incarnation of Red Hood, it's not a bad thing to get both IMO. Anyway, before I wrap it up, I'll leave you a shot of multiverse Red Hood with the Essentials head alongside his brothers and fellow former Robins!

Review: DC Multiverse Red Hood

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 14:17:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Mattel
Origin Series:	Batman: Under The Redhood
Scale:	6-inch (approx 1/12 scale)
Height:	Approximately 16.5cm tall
Original Price:	Approximately 21 USD

Packaging:

Since this is one of the last few Multiverse figures ever to get released, it follows the newer Multiverse packaging style that sports the blue box which isn't really that interesting as you just get to see the same artwork in like 3 sides of the box + a very hilarious sounding short text about Red Hood along with the "collect and connect" (basically Build A Figure) breakdown at the back. You do get a full window to see the contents of the figure clearly so that's a plus.

Details:

First thing I would like to focus on the details is the Red Hood mask; so, before this writing, I've already watched several reviews of this guy since he's been out for like 2 or 3 months already and while it does look weird at reviews, seeing it first hand was definitely something hard to describe in words. The Red Hood Mask looks REALLY bad in person, if you think it looks bad in photos and whatnot, it's way worse if you see it in person as it is ridiculously huge, kinda gives that feeling of playing the Arkham Games with the big head mode. Remember when I raved about this announcement before? That mask definitely looked way better back in the prototype they teased but what the heck happened? He looks like he has no neck and the overall shape and size of the head is really just awful in proportion to the rest of the body.

In addition to that, the plastic and color they picked is just too glossy and too bright that my camera actually had a really hard time capturing the mask in photo properly and it also makes it hard to appreciate the lining in the helm as they aren't really that noticeable thanks to the color choice they went with.

Now going to the rest of the details, let's head down to the logo on his chest first, now, some people might wonder why they decided to split this apart with some sort of zipper marker, this was because they based it off the suit design from the first volumes of Red Hood and the Outlaws under the Rebirth series so I'm totally fine with it.

As far as the suit details go, they did it pretty well except for that zipper line across the crotch area since it's not supposed to look like that but eh, it's not pretty bad I guess. Also the belt might look displaced in the photos but those are adjustable so don't worry about it. The body is also using that of the newer teen mold they use so it works perfectly for Jason for me as it's not as beefy looking which was my complaint with the Essentials one.

So let's head to jacket this time shall we? for the most part I like its paint/color choice it looks dark, it looks dirty and the fact that the hard plastic parts match that of the soft plastic is a huge plus for me; I guess my only gripe about the jacket is how weird it looks like layed down but if you look at underneath, you'll see that the body proportions are just ok.

With the jacket out of the way, it's time to head to perhaps this figure's BIGGEST SIN, while his belt does have the holsters and the gun on the sides, THOSE GUNS ARE MOLDED INTO THE HOLSTERS meaning there's no way to remove them at all, so that basically means, Multiverse Red Hood DOESN'T HAVE GUNS AS ACCESSORIES. So let's head back to that prototype tease again, remember how they showed that Red Hood had removable guns? Well, Mattel fucked up real hard I suppose.

Going to the last part, it's the usual shin plates and the boots which I have no complaint on as they look clean and the paint schemes are pretty good too.

Accessories:

Possibly the saving grace of this figure are the accessories so let's begin with what I think is the best part of his accessories, the Jason Todd head.

Compared to that god awful mask, the Jason Todd head looks well proportioned and does actually fit pretty nicely to the overall aesthetics of the figure. While there isn't any major features, it does look great under decent lighting and the hair mold isn't that bad too though it's also not anything great.

Ok so his default pair of hands are actually his gripping hands instead of the fists for some reason, so while he technically has zero weapons, these hands can basically grip several accessories from the same scale which can range from a combat knife to batarangs or, alternatively, you can use it to hold his crappy mask.

The next pair of hands are fists so you can easily use them for fistfights and whatnot.

And finally, the last set of hands are actually trigger finger hands which was intended for supposedly his guns which are now non-existent, so for this particular review, I'm using the Essentials guns which ridiculously fit this figure's trigger finger hands perfectly even though the Essentials is basically a larger scale line.

Last but not least is technically not an accessory but the Collect and Connect part which is the right leg of Killer Croc and boy, it's huge so I can't help but wonder how huge Croc really is when completed as I've no plans on completing it.

Articulation Points:

Generally, the frame has pretty basic articulation in some parts while also having really good ones in other parts so it's a mixed bag overall. Let's start with the head and for this one, I'll be using the Jason Todd head as the mask really doesn't let you use anything of the neck articulation at all. So the neck is actually on a weird hinge with the head is connected via a ball joint so this allows your basic upward, downward movement and a full head rotation; sideways tilt is almost non-existent so I didn't include it in the photos.

For shoulder articulation, you have a full rotation while raising the arms sideways is pretty limited, just around 45 degrees.

However, if you fiddle with the shoulder pad's position, you can actually raise the arms to a full 90 degrees sideways which is weird if you ask me but I'd still take it anytime.

For the rest of the arms, you get a full rotation on the biceps while you get a 90 degree bend on the elbows as they are sadly single jointed. Going to the wrists, they full rotate from the connection and does hinge sideways like your old figma hands.

Going to the torso, Red Hood does have a decent ab crunch going forwards and backwards though be very weary about using it a lot as it may loosen this fast; there's also a full rotation at the waist though this can sometimes cause the belt to get displaced so do take note of that.

And finally going to the lower portion, the frame features a very very satisfying full split and a perfect 90 degree kick though nothing backwards thanks to the butt flap. For the rest of the legs, you get a full rotation on the thighs and decently bend from the double jointed knees; last, but definitely not the least, the ankles have a fully working hinge and does have ankle pivot which really helps in standing this figure up, something the Essentials had a hard time doing.

Size Comparison:

So the only reason I did get Multiverse despite how bad it is is basically the scale which is right up my collection and while Multiverse is indeed still on the larger side of 1/12 scale, it's definitely easier to work it up with other lines for photos and that's another selling point of this figure for me, anyway, let's start up by comparing him with the 6.5 inch Essentials version which was also released just recently.

Next up is a comparison with his wavemate, Red Robin and another one with DC Icons Nightwing.

Next up, let's compare him with Japanese lines and in the next few photos, he'll be compared with MAFEX Ra's Al Ghul, Figma Catwoman, Amazing Yamaguchi Batman and S.H.Figuarts Injustice Joker.

Gallery:

While this figure's articulation frame is pretty mixed, they're pretty much enough to pull off your basic poses but, of course, I wish there were more as more dynamic poses with the guns look so awkward due to the lack of the articulation points. The enjoyment factor also depends if you can spare him accessories to wield (most importantly guns) and with that said, please enjoy the gallery!

Final Thoughts:

By all means, this is definitely a pretty bad figure in general especially with the major sin of molding those guns inside the holsters from the belt BUT should you have guns and other accessories, it still is a pretty enjoyable piece to pose around but definitely avoid using that masked head, just use the Jason head, I still can't believe how bad they messed up this Red Hood especially considering that in the same wave, a decent Red Robin was released alongside this one so it's definitely questionable, DC Multiverse was never a line I put in high regard and this is definitely one of the reasons to help explain that. Granted that this might be the last wave from Mattel's DC Multiverse line before the license goes off to McFarlane Toys next year, Mattel definitely didn't end it with a bang considering something like this was part of it. Anyway, as usual, before I end the review, I got this figure via special order from Xeno Toys.

Special:

Now you're probably thinking, the VS series will be a one sided comparison since I've been pretty much downing this figure for most of this review but to my surprise, comparing the two actually makes me see the pros and cons of each figure. Click on the photo below to jump to the comparison review!

Review: DC Essentials Red Hood

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 07:08:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	DC Collectibles
Figure Number:	18
Origin Series:	Batman: Under The Redhood
Scale:	7-inch (approx 1/10 scale)
Height:	Approximately 18cm tall
Original Price:	26 USD

It's been 3 years since I last did a review so hopefully, I haven't lost it yet, but anyway, before I begin, this is probably going to be the first and last DC Essentials line I'll be reviewing mainly because, one, I only got this figure to eventually use the guns and the head for something else and, two, the essentials line's scale is way off my preferred scale which 1/12 (6-inch). I also don't like Essentials line as it was the one that replaced DC Icons, the short-lived yet personal favorite line of mine from DC Collectibles.

Packaging:

The packaging design isn't really anything special, it's your typical Window Type box which lets you see all of what the figure comes with and I believe the non-white color of the boxes differ from character to character and for Red Hood, it's obviously Red hahaha. Anyway, much like your typical western boxes, you get minimal product shots, a short short bio at the back with different translations and the usual "check out the other items in this line, collect them all" thing. At the top, you do get that sweet red bat logo that Red Hood bears in his suit's chest area.

There's also a bonus promo shot at the back of the blister/clamshell which is just the same as the ones you find at the back and at the left side of the box, I did take the liberty of showing it so here you go.

Details:

While there isn't much paint variation going on, the figure does indeed capture the essence of a more traditional Jason Todd Red Hood design very well. Let's start with the strongest point of this figure and that's definitely the mask/helm, it's ridiculously spot on in proportions and details, definitely just the way I want my Red Hood mask to be like. The piercing eyes and the metallic red really makes it a definitive traditional Todd Red Hood mask as I really didn't like the one with the visible mouthpiece which was I think the one they used for New 52.

The nose and the earpieces are really well defined and the metallic red helps make those details pop out and the lining details are clearly visible.

Going to the jacket, while again, it's paint maybe plain, they actually did put some wrinkles in the jacket detailing which helps it evoke a more realistic feel and the fact that the wrinkles are probably caused by Jason being so buff lmao; there's also some neat detailing in the bottom part of the jacket. While the main jacket is made of flexible plastic, the arms are, of course, solid hard plastic but again, the wrinkles are still there which also helps mask the arms from looking so long but I do think they are pretty long.

I think Essentials also uses just one frame for all the males so the muscular body and all are pretty much the same across the entire line, at the very least, in my opinion, Red Hood needs to be less buff as I do find that beefy chest look weird at times but for the rest of the body, they look just fine especially the muscular structure of the legs. Do note that the red bat logo can sometimes be scuffed so check yours before buying. The belt and pouches are also soft plastic so cast your worries aside if you feel they'll hinder articulation later on.

Last but not least is are his Shin plates, as simple as they are, I'm really glad they gave it a clean silver paint which looks absolutely great!

Accessories:

Probably bearing true to its line name, Essentials Red Hood gives you the bare essentials, so they just give Red Hood a pair of trigger finger hands and dual pistols. The pistol is painted enough to make it look like an actual pistol and they can be inserting in the holsters from his belt and, of course, be wielded by the extra pair of hands. Be very careful as the plastic near the trigger is pretty weak, as of this writing, when I was trying to reinsert one of the guns in his hand, the plastic just broke but good it's wasn't notable.

Articulation Points:

This is probably the selling point of Essentials as a whole as the articulation is definitely a lot better than how Icons did it, anyway, from the head, the head is on a ball joint so you can do all kinds of stuff like a full rotation, head tilts and some upward and downward movement. The neck also has a hinge which, when combined with the head ball joint, allows Red Hood a very satisfying upward and downward movement.

Going to the body section, there's your usual ab crunch (hinge) which only goes up and down but they do go to satisfying bending/stretching ranges, however, this probably one thing I think Essentials didn't do better than its predecessor line which is the Icons line as the Icons line was on a ball which not only crunches but also allows you to rotate/tilt from torso too; a minor gripe but I guess that feature is somewhat solved by the existent waist swivel which allows you a full rotation.

Going to the arms, you can't fully raise the arms sideways and is just around 75/80 degrees which is a bummer since you can particular do those side gun pointing poses but they do rotate at the shoulders on a full 360 at least. For the rest of the arm articulated, you get a bicep swivel, a double jointed elbow and a swivel + hinge for the wrists.

As for the legs, they can kick up to a full 90 but nothing backwards as the butt flap gets in the way; there's also a decent split range. For the rest of the leg articulation, you pretty much get the same good stuff you get from arms as you get a tight swivel, double jointed knees and a bonus boot cut.

Now for the last and probably the weakest part of the figure, the ankle joints, they are generally on a hinge which can swivel at the connection point, at least from the leg connection anyway. The general problem is that the hinge is ratcheted, meaning they only move on a fixed positions per click which makes it really hard to make Red Hood stand up properly.

While I can't find an ankle tilt, if you play around with the joints you can sort of make something to that effect but you do lose the ability to hinge it forwards or backwards should you do so.

Size Comparison:

As you can see in the initial info at the top of the review, Red Hood is pretty tall and, in fact, actually towers over every figure I collect. It also occurred to me when shooting for this that I actually have a DC character on almost every line I collect so I did the comparisons using those characters instead. First off a comparison with his brothers who are in the form of DC Icons Nightwing and DC Multiverse Red Robin.

Next up is a comparison with One:12 Deathstroke and Mafex Joker (TDK version).

Lastly here's another comparison with Figma Catwoman (Batman Ninja version) and Revoltech Batman; I would've done a Figuarts comparison but I was pretty lazy to pull out one from their Injustice releases as those are the only DC-related SHFs I have.

Gallery:

Having a somewhat Marvel Legends-like frame definitely helps in making this figure poseability great as Essentials Red Hood can definitely pull off a lot of dynamic poses but I do feel like some poses look awkward due to the figure's joint designs or the lack of some joints but it's great that we, at least, got guns and gun holding hands which is pretty much the only things you'll really need for Red Hood. Anyway, please enjoy the short gallery I've prepared for the figure.

Final Thoughts:

If you personally don't care for scales and whatnot, despite not being a perfect figure as I do have a number of gripes on it personally, then as of this writing, this is probably THE best Red Hood action figure out there at the moment. Everything just checks out, bare essentials accessories and with the articulation to help make use of those accessories and not to mention that perfect Red Hood head sculpt, it's definitely a bang for the buck despite the number of flaws I found in it. And with everything said and done, I got this yesterday from Hobby Korner, it was really good that they have extra stocks as I've been looking for this since the end of September.

Special:

How does this figure fare against Mattel's Multiverse Red Hood? Check it out by clicking the photo below!

Night's Gallery: Dogwood Challenge for January 2019

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 09:09:00 +0000

First of all, a super late happy new year to all! This is gonna be a not-so-long entry this time but basically, I'll be posting this on a monthly basis, around sometime during the first week of January 2019, I've stumbled on a 52-week photography challenge shared by a friend in facebook and if you follow the page on Facebook then you already have an idea on what this is, it's basically an article from dogwood photography on an annual 52-week themed photography challenge and I figured I should give it a try and adjust each theme to toy photography accordingly because I haven't been using my figures for a long time now; and thus, as we have it, I've successfully complete the first 4 weeks of the year!

I post them on the Facebook Fanpage and on my IG so be sure to check those out to know what's happening with me since I barely have time for new blog posts nowadays. Do note that I also post non-dogwood entries from time to time in those so check them out if you like!

Anyway, this is basically a summary and an "omake" of sorts since I don't really explain things in my Fanpage and IG posts, I figured I could discuss them here so here goes~

Week 1: "Take a picture that tells us who you are, without actually showing your face."

My first entry was a very simple on the fly one, I figured I had to show what I normally do outside work while also showing how messy I am in my own room; I've also carefully hand picked the items loitered around the shot as these are vital to get to know me a little better. Lastly, originally I was supposed to use Figma Anzu to represent me in the shot but I figured the an Archetype would be a better fit to make of "without showing your face" literally.

Week 2: "Use Rule of Thirds to show motion in your picture."

Now this is the week I've enjoyed the most so far since I had to go beyond my comfort zone for this one, I had to be more resourceful and I've had to make full use of what my current camera could offer; during the shoot, I've tried several ways to make this shot look like it floats in mid-air but I ended up still using the figma stand but the point of finding the right angle and camera settings to hide it off as much as possible. This was also a shot concept I've wanted to try for years now but never got to do because I'm shitass lazy but thanks to the challenge, I've finally done it and I am VERY happy with the outcome! I've also had one of my best friends help me out since I've had several shots before I got the final one.

Week 3: "Take an amazing Black and White photograph of any subject you want."

The idea on this one basically was related to the fact that Titans just got released on Netflix when I was doing week 3's entry. "No longer a shadow of the Bat" was my main idea here and since it was black and white, I definitely did my best to put emphasis on Nightwing's shadow, I don't actually know if I managed to show that correctly but that's about it.

Week 4: "Tell a story that makes us feel warm inside."

I kept it simple here, one of the first things that came to mind as an idea for this theme was definitely Uzuki's smile as I definitely think Uzuki has one of the brightest and warmest smiles of all time when it comes to japanese game/anime characters; additionally, I've always love the idea/notion of weddings and while I know it's not always the case, I always picture it as the happiest day of both the bride and the groom so I mixed up both concepts and here's what I ended up with; I also intentionally made it a bit over exposed to add some effect which I hope made some sense.

And that's basically it for January's entries, next week's theme is quite tough and I'm still a bit lost on what to do so hopefully I come up with something great. Til' the next post and I'm signing out!

Corner Bites Issue 5: DC 6-inch Dilemma No More!

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 03:14:00 +0000

Hey there! Night here and while I've mentioned in the FB Page and previous post that I'd be able to post more stuff, I still can't find time apparently to do proper figure shoots and put them up for review afterwards but for posts like this, I can definitely slip up some time as this requires 0 photo shoot sessions. Anyway, for Issue 5, it's literally just my rants and raves with the DC Action figures that were previewed this SDCC.

Ok, so I'll start with DC Collectibles first and if you guys read my Icons Batman review, then you know that I love the Icons line despite its obvious flaws, while it's not perfect, it's definitely a treat for because I love the sculpting detail they gave to their releases and the accessories they gave felt like I was getting what I paid for. However, if you've been monitoring reviews and releases, it didn't sell really well and thus, as of SDCC2017, DC Collectibles finally decided that the Icons line needed to end and it's time for its successor, the DC "Essentials" line and by that time, DC Collectibles released a video as demonstration of it's "great" frame.

It severely disappointed me as Essentials, while looking like a spiritual successor to the Icons line, was intended to be back at the 7-inch scaling which already breaks any chance it'll work with Icons even. In addition to that, the video really gave me a bad impression since the poses being done were ridiculous at many times. I had to wait judgement since these figures were slated for a release 1 year later from their announcement. Jump to some months ago, I've seen the reviews and it does look as bad as I thought it would be. The body frames were really generic and with how much accessories Icons gave, Essentials came with little to none, like Flash came with none and only had a fist and an open hand to work, couldn't they even give an alternate hand version to form a pair at least? A good action figure for me is one where the mold looks neat and there's a fairly decent articulation and some accessories you can work with because I'll be frank here, what good will your oh-so-great articulation even do if you don't even have anything else to work with like extra hands at the very least. I'll give credit to where it's due though, Essentials articulation is really superb no doubt and as far as head sculpts are concerned, I definitely love the heads better than how they did the earlier Icons stuff but than those two, I still think Icons did it better.

By the time Icons died, I was at a loss because I had no more constant source for my fix of 6-inch DC Characters. But then, come Wonder Festival 2018 Winter, Revoltech showed off a prototype of Batman!

(Image taken from Kaiyodo's website.)

A DC comics character finally joining the Amazing Yamaguchi line was definitely one of the best news I got this year but knowing the interval of releases for the Amazing Yamaguchi line, it might be some time longer before we see the offerings grow (hopefully one new character on this coming Sunday's Wonder Festival Summer).

That said, I really thought Revoltech was going to be my only source for DC stuff in the future because the only option remaining wasn't really enticing, which was Mattel's "DC Multiverse" line to which a friend of mine described as "it's 2018 and their articulation is still stuck in the early 2000's" until a few days ago... Everything changed when Mattel unveiled their lineup after their panel over at SDCC 2018!

Upon initial glance at these new Multiverse figures, I thought to myself "Hot damn, these look great!". Then after checking up more on SDCC stuff, I stumbled upon PixelDan's interview with the people at Mattel and to my surprise, they said they really worked hard for these brand new molds and that they'd be giving more accessories than what was displayed over at the event, they highlighted the articulation improvements and those highlights certainly caught my attention. I certainly went 180 degrees from "ehhhh" to "WOULD BUY" on their lineup, I mean, DID YOU SEE THEIR BATMAN BEYOND? Like it looked so perfect with their new teen body and I'm definitely gonna try and snuff one out once it comes out.

(Photos of displays above were from ToyArk.)

Long story short, Mattel had REALLY stepped up their game this SDCC and it definitely shows on their lineup, their fans have been wanting this and that for a long time now and they finally gave it to them and this is what we got. That said, I think my fix for 6-inch DC Figures has come to light with Mattel's new offerings. I'm definitely looking forward to these and hopefully, they live up to the hype I felt when I first saw and heard about these changes.

Last but certainly not least, Mattel also previewed something I've wanted for a long time now, a 6-inch Jason Todd Red Hood! Man, I'm a Batman fan since I was a child but as I grew older, my interest shifted more from the caped crusader to his edgy and extreme vigilante "son", so finally seeing a 6-inch Red Hood figure happening brings nothing but joy to me, so I really would to say... GOOD JOB MATTEL!

(Photo from Toy News International)

Anyway, this ends this issue of Corner Bites but hey, as I've mentioned above, it's Wonder Festival very soon and if I find something interesting I can talk about, I'm definitely posting another issue. 'Til the next post then!

Murakami's Log #13: Hello 2018 and a Trip to a Certain Eco Park!

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 08:38:00 +0000

What's up everyone! (if there are still anyone visiting my blog) I know I've been gone for more than a year now and I think it's about time I start posting stuff again!

To keep it short, basically, a lot of stuff has happened since I left, mainly because I lost interest in the hobby in general, I mean, I still do order figures a lot but the passion to do reviews and even handle displays totally flew off due to personal matters involving my hobby circle and additionally for a good part of 2017, my collection suffered a lot from unforeseen damage which is mainly because of termite attacks and room leakage problems which was really stressful and depressing. Additionally, to cope up with all the shit, I found a new distraction in the form of "mobages" or mobile games, mainly from late 2016 up to this writing, I've been playing Granblue Fantasy every freaking day (hence why this post has also been delayed by a few days).

Things have slowed down a bit in Granblue since my progress is enough to tackle most of the end game content so I now have time to do other stuff again and have somewhat a reinvigorated passion to do what I used to do. That said, my own hobby circle has also changed over the time I was away and one of the people I've been hanging out with is a good friend who likes photography too, his handle name is Fryste. (Check out his FB page or IG account too)

So last Saturday, we actually went to a known Eco Park here in Metro Manila which is La Mesa Eco Park in Quezon City. Our main purpose was to basically do outdoor shoots and tour the place as well. We've certainly managed to do both and our whole trip around the park took around 4 hours total to complete.

A little feedback on the place is that it's really good for shooting since there are quite a number of nice spots to shoot but not everything was as smooth sailing because there were A LOT of people when we were there and I doubt it will ever run out of people. This was a major problem because most of the nice spots were filled with people so I couldn't do my shoots properly as there will be people in the photos and if you know me, I don't like editing my shots.

At best, the flower terraces was the best spot to capture them shots which was where most of my shots were from, not much people stay in there for long mainly because you're directly under sunlight, so much so that I got sunburned for staying for too long just to shoot my figures lmao (lesson learned, bring sun block). Again, there were a lot of good places to shoot but the problem was the volume of park visitors as well, the Amphitheater was also a prospect place of mine but was never able to shoot due to the sheer number of people in there. You can also venture the mini-forest for ruin-like sites for more action-ish and dramatic scenes but again, there were kids doing some kind of project there I think when we passed by.

Anyway, check out my small gallery for my shoots below!

I wasn't able to take much shots of Fryste's stuff because I was busy doing my thing mostly when he shot his setups but I did manage to capture when he was messing around with his Shinkis since I was already taking a break that time.

Anyway, expect some more content soon but don't expect too much, I can, at least, go back to putting content here again from time to time. To readers, who play Granblue Fantasy as well, feel free to add me as a friend and just leave a comment on my profile so I can add you accordingly, I'll leave a shot of my Profile page below and that's it for now, bye!

VS Series 01: 4inch-Nel Rockman vs. D-Arts Rockman

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:06:00 +0000

Welcome to the VS series, a sort of new occasional article type for the blog; the vs series will focus on comparing different articulated/action figures that are based on the same design with the intention of analyzing the pros and cons of both figures! That said though, recolors are NOT gonna be tackled by the VS series because you're basically getting the very same figure and it's only a matter of personal color preference with those; originals vs renewals, on the other hand, will be done from time to time.Anyway, without further ado, let's start the 1st vs series!

Before anything else, the two figures to be discussed on this post already had their individual reviews completed so you might want to head there if you want more in-depth galleries and points and I'll leave links below for a quick access!

Select Your Figure:
4inch-Nel Rockman	D-Arts Rockman

Point 1: Aesthetics

Picking one over the other is definitely a personal choice between these as while both Rockman figures represent the original Rockman; remember that he had 10 "numbered" games with a few more unnumbered ones and in some of the games his design changed, so yeah, there's that basically.

If you definitely want a real classic Rockman as in the short and somewhat deformed proportions for the blue bomber, definitely go for 4inchnel with that as they definitely based off their figure on it.

The D-Arts on the other hand is based on a more updated design which heavily based off the latter games like Rockman 8 and Rockman and Forte.

The difference between the two is mainly how the face looks and slight proportion differences but overall details are pretty much the same as Rock's design isn't really the most detailed thing ever. But as such when it comes to overall details, here's a breakdown between the two:

4inch-Nel	D-Arts
Pros: - Classic look - Paint consistency Cons: - Several cuts throughout the body	Pros: - Modern look - More details (joints and clear red parts) Cons: - (for some) glossy plastic somewhat breaks the solidity of the presentation

That said though, for overall presentation and aesthetically speaking, I do prefer the D-Arts one mainly because if you just make him do a default stand than hands down, he'll basically look better than the 4inch-Nel one mainly because D-Arts have a more solid looking mold due to the minimal visible articulation cuts and well placed joints.

Point 2: Accessories

Left (4inchnel), Right (D-Arts)

Personally this is a no brainer win for D-Arts, I mean D-Arts definitely gives you like a whole lot of accessories, aside from having everything Sentinel offered as an accessory for their 4inchnel Rock (stand aside, of course), you have an extra Rock Buster (allowing you to recreate Super Adventure Rockman's Double Buster moment), a shouting faceplate, a rapid fire effect, a metool and even Rush! It's definitely a complete package here or if not for you, it's still definitely way more loaded than what you get with the 4inchnel release.

I do think giving Rockman a stand was also a very nice touch so that's definitely an appreciated thought on Sentinel's part and you can most definitely recreate more stuff with a stand if you are only after Rockman himself.

Point 3: Articulation

Left (4inchnel), Right (D-Arts)

Now this is where everything completely changes, while D-Arts won on the first 2 points for me personally (with Point 1 just being a slight win over 4inchnel), 4inchnel definitely blows the D-Arts figure away in this point by a long shot. While I was shooting for the 2 reviews, it was definitely clear to me which one was the superior one, posing D-Arts was a complete headache as he would normally deal with balancing issues on dynamic poses while 4inchnel definitely had no problem with it and it felt so natural. (He can even stand on one foot like it's cakewalk)

4inchnel doing the one foot stand on a somewhat running pose

What's additionally delightful with 4inchnel is the fact that the cuts barely make the view awkward once he's posed around. 4inchnel's wrist and ankle joints also feel existent while D-Arts barely made me feel like it even had a joint on those points most especially with the ankles.

Probably the biggest articulation advantage 4inchnel has over the D-Arts is the fact that 4inchnel can easily cross Rockman's arm so he can hold his buster while D-Arts takes a lot of effort to even make such a pose look decent.

4inchnel easily holding his buster with his other hand.

D-Arts trying to hold the buster with his other hand.

Judgement:

Overall, these two are complete extremes of one another when it comes to aesthetics and articulation; these two definitely shout that sometimes with designs such as Rockman's, you really have to sacrifice design for articulation and vice versa.

Initially, I had intended to let go of 4inchnel Rockman after shooting him for the review because I'm more of a visually pleasing but has satisfactory articulation guy above anything else when it comes to my action figure standards but then posing 4inchnel around was so easy and fun that it actually made me appreciate the figure by a huge margin. While it's true that D-Arts has way more accessories, it's also true that if the articulation is so-so, then those are mere decoration options rather than actual accessories.

Personally, I think the D-Arts still has the better value of the two though the two are very close in terms of giving you a bang for your buck. Anyway, so yeah, in the end, I still favor D-Arts but it is quite hard to find these days since it was released like 4 years ago(?) while 4inchnel is just a month old or so as of this writing so, it's definitely a good alternative if you missed out on the D-Arts. Again, this is completely personal judgement so if you really prefer the 4inchnel for its godly articulation then by all means, get it.

Anyway, that's about it, and if ever you're wondering why I never bothered to compare the prices here, it's because comparing a 2012 release to 2016 release just doesn't seem like a fair game especially with figure srps blast to bonkers nowadays compared to how it was 4 years ago, so, I purposely skipped on it.

Review: 4inch-Nel Rockman

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 16:22:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Sentinel
Origin Series:	Rockman
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 10cm tall
Original Price:	4,320 Yen

Packaging:

I don't own much sentinel stuff since I only have the Pen Nemesis Prime/Black Convoy before these 4inchnel releases came but I can definitely say that Sentinel isn't really the best when it comes to making their boxes look desirable or even help sell the product at all but sentinel really has a great track record so that does forgive the box presentation. As you can see, it's straight up a plain looking box with enough window to actually inspect the figure inside; the only product shots you'll see in Rockman's box would be from both sides of the box, nothing more, nothing less so there's really hardly anything worthy of being noted at the box.

Details:

Unlike my previously reviewed Blue Bomber, this Rockman (Megaman) captures a more classic look as this one is based off more on the earlier arts of Rockman as in the first Rockman game designs. One look at his face easily brings out that bomb of nostalgia, no doubt!

For the most part, 4inchnel Rockman's details look very flat at best especially the red bits on hear earpieces and buster barrel (pic later on). A really weird design choice on his helm is that awful seamline somewhere near the middle; I say weird because you don't really need to remove the helm's front half to swap his faceplates.

Much like the D-Arts counterpart, everything's pretty plain especially the light blue body although the 4inchnel doesn't really have the detailed joints.

Paint is even more solid here as it's more consistent consisting of only 1 light blue color and 1 dark blue color throughout every detail.

Probably the biggest drawback on 4inchnel Rockman is the fact that for sentinel to actually make him almost perfectly articulated, they actually need to leave a lot cuts through Rockman's mold.

Size Comparison:

4inchnel Rockman is as they advertised as he stands just a few millimeters taller than 10cm and that gives this line a good scaling factor with the seemingly discontinued Rockman releases from Tamashii Nations. Now, to give a better visualization of that, here's 4inchnel Rockman standing next to D-Arts Rockman and Rush!

Another comparison is with the very first 4inchnel "Rockman" released which was Dark Rockman.EXE since he was released early being an event exclusive item.

Accessories:

4inchnel doesn't come with much but his accessory set sure is bearable enough, one of the more obvious accessories is the generic Sentinel base and stand which kinda works almost like your tamashii stages though with extra gimmicks such as locking points.

He also comes with an alternate teeth gritting face which is perfect for more serious scenes and it does look spot on as does with the default face; a worthy note is that exchanging the faceplates with this figure is ridiculously easy as it's a simple pop and push though that also makes the faces held mostly via friction which can cause his face to fall off if you're unlucky enough with your piece.

Rockman only comes with a single Rock Buster part but do note that it can be slotted in both of his arms though you'll only see it ported on his left arm in this review.

You are also given a pair of open hands that go perfectly when posing with his Rockbuster.

Articulation Points:

Here is where all those mold cuts will makes sense, Rockman's head range is really range when looking up and down and moving it to look up actually has some neat engineering going on the back of his helm. Making Rockman look sideways feels kinda awkward though as the movement itself isn't a flat out turn left or right thing, it moves his head diagonally until you reach the limit.

For the shoulders, you can raise Rock's arms to a little more than your average 90 and then fully rotate it the arms as well; additionally his shoulder section does sport the so-called butterfly joint which allows you to slight move his arms inward which would help greatly when doing buster poses. The rest of the joints for the arms comes with a fully rotatable bicep swivel, a more than 90 degree bend AND a ball wrist joint that actually works because you actually feel that the hands move inward and outward.

The cuts on Rock's torso also proves how well he can bend his body in both inwards AND outwards motion while at the same time using the the cuts as swivel points as well which does provide satisfactory rotation levels.

The hip joins does allow for an almost perfect sideways split, a near 90 leg raise and a slight backward movement while the thigh swivel only allows a minor but not non-existent rotation for the legs. Rockman's knee joints are actually double jointed and this really feels incredible as it features a full bending capability. Lastly, much like the wrist joints, you actually get to move Rockman's feet quite well as the ankle joints works their magic for this release.

Gallery:

Being an articulated figure, 4inchnel Rockman's frame is definitely a treat for any action figure lover, Sentinel definitely nailed it when it comes to posing Rockman around though we really could've used an extra faceplate or two. 4inchnel perfectly captures Rockman's iconic poses from jumping to sliding to running to shooting; there's definitely a wide potential with what the frame can do and to top it all off, Rockman even has a really good center of gravity, something which the D-Arts didn't have. Anyway, I hope you guys do enjoy the gallery below!

Final Thoughts:

I definitely cannot say which between 4inchnel and D-Arts Rockman are better as both have their own strengths and weaknesses but definitely the 4inchnel doesn't disappoint at all. It's a really great figure and is definitely the best Rockman out there IF you want extraordinary articulation; given the price it still is cheaper than most articulated figures by Japan these days so it is pretty much a bang for your buck in many many ways. And before I end this review, I did pre-order this figure from the awesome and sometimes wacky folks at Onegai Onii-chan!

Special:

Much like my previous review, a special article which compares 4inchnel and D-Arts versions is posted here in the blog very soon, check out the article by clicking the photo below!

Review: D-Arts Rockman

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:48:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Bandai
Origin Series:	Rockman
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 10.5cm tall
Original Price:	3,675 Yen

Packaging:

D-Arts Rockman's (or Megaman in the US) box is nothing too amazing but it does give you a great overview of the set contents. Up front you can see pretty much everything you're getting and it does have this feel of old school touch to it if you inspect the box closely as there are traces of 8/16 bit goodness throughout the box which does the job well as Rockman is definitely a nosta. As usual though, sides and back of the box features various product shots from tamashii to entice people into getting it haha.

Details:

First off the bat, Tamashii Nations based their Rockman on the latter designs, which was around the Rockman 8 era since it had the better proportions in both Art and Sprite. And that happens to be my favorite as Rockman's proportions look better overall.

A look at the default face instantly shows Rock's stern face and I must say, it is very well translated into figure form as the likeness of the character has been captured to a huge degree and the proportion of the helm to the face is definitely perfect.

The ear pieces make use of clear dark red plastic which look great and the lining molds around it look fantastic! Overall, the finish on his helm is flawless; there really isn't much to his helm aside from housing 2 different blue paint jobs which are both painted in their rightful places to produce that accurate Rockman helm in figure form.

There isn't much to say about Rock's body as well since he isn't as detailed as his brother from the future but what I definitely liked is how consistent the paintwork is throughout his body. There are just about 3 or 4 blue shades that you'll see through out the figure and it is quite pleasing to see when things are consistent.

Additionally, tamashii nations added in some nice detailing in his elbow, hip and knee joints. These aren't suppose to have that lining finish but it definitely works to hide the fact that it's merely a joint.

One particular detail is the bar detail on his Rock buster, it's definitely spot on though my piece has that minor paint spill in one of the golden colored bars.

The bottom of his feet and the buster core also use the same clear red plastic that the earpieces use and those definitely look great under good lighting.

Size Comparison:

D-arts Rockman is pretty small if I must say so and miraculously, he is as tall as what Tamashii indicated in their website since this is usually off by a bit. Rock stands 10.5cm and that pretty much says a lot about how small he really is, below is a comparison between Rockman and D-Arts Forte as well as with D-Arts Rockman X.

Being just a few cm taller than your average Nendoroids, here is Rockman next to another blue mascot, nendoroid Sonic!

For a final comparison, I checked out my inventory during the shoot for a small figma and the smallest one visible that time was figma Anzu Futaba who is actually taller than Rockman.

Articulation Points:

Rock's head has a great range for looking up and down, you can also fully rotate it via the neck as well as do a minor head tilt from it.

Shoulder joints allow his arms to fully rotate, raise up to a 90 sideways as well as pull it down for certain poses as the shoulder joint is connected to the body via a ball joint.

Both the forearm and buster options can bend to a full 90 degrees while additionally allowing you to fully rotate the forearms via the connection point for the elbow joint from the upper half of his arms.

The hands work on a ball joint but you can barely make use of it (the joint) aside from rotating them.

Rockman does have cuts on on his abs and waist but these barely do anything and are only usable for minor body bending/twisting.

Hips are on a ball joint and does have a nice sidesplit range to around 45 degrees, they can also raise Rockman's legs to a full 90 but almost little to none when moving them backwards. Additionally, you can swivel the legs by a little using the hip joints and this somewhat makes up for your none existent thigh swivel.

Knees can bend to a full 90 degrees as well but unlike the elbow joints, you cannot rotate the lower half of the legs via the connection point from the legs' upper half.

Probably the weakest part of Rock's articulation is his ankles, it's really hard to move it and if you actually do, there's really minor movement going there and this hits back on Rockman's overall balance as it is hard to keep him on a flat footing.

Accessories:

Rockman's accessory pack is actually the best part of this set as you virtually come with everything you'd want for him plus, bonuses! Rockman comes with an extra Rockbuster as well as an extra forearm if you want to have him possess dual busters or dual hands, each forearm also come with an alternate pair of open hands.

Rockman has two alternate faces which comes in the form of Rockman grinding his teeth and my favorite, a shouting face!

Pretty much like X, he comes with an alternate buster tip which provides a peg hole to port his bullet effects.

Additionally, D-Arts Rockman comes with a static Metool; Metools are those iconic worker enemy mascots found throughout various Rockman games. The metool itself is spot on in appearance, detail and paint work.

The Metool's hat can be removed so you can remake it's indestructible hiding state.

The biggest bonus is definitely Rockman's trusted companion, Rush! Much like Rockman, the paint is very consistent throughout Rush's mold, nothing eye popping about the details as it should but it is definitely a great mold overall.

Unlike the Metool, Rush is a fully poseable figure and seriously speaking, this set should have been officially dubbed as Rockman and Rush instead of just Rockman alone; Rush features the same neck engineering as Rockman which allows you head tilt, a decent range of looking up and down as well as rotating the head to look sideways.

There is a swivel on each of his limb's connecting point from the body and each leg can bend to 90 degrees using the knee joint. The biggest surprise is that Rush's ankle joints are definitely way more movable than that of Rockman's.

Lastly, Rush's tail is also articulated as it moves on a ball joint.

Gallery:

D-Arts Rockman is definitely a good representation of the character and while it definitely is just "okay" in terms of artculation, the pack it self proves to make up for whatever Rockman lacks on his articulation as there's definitely more to do with the inclusion of Rush and a Metool. The alternate faces really help bring out a good amount of expression for Rockman in appropriate scenes and his articulation does actually allow you to do his iconic poses from the games which is fine already as it is. Lastly, while you never really see Rockman wield double Rockbusters in the sidescroller games, he did actually do it in the shooting/interactive game "Super Adventure Rockman" and that is a huge plus. Anyway, that said, please enjoy the gallery below! (And sorry if they are mostly over exposed as my shooting for review skills have definitely rusted a bit after months of not doing one.)

Final Thoughts:

As I've said this is not the perfect Rockman figure, the set release is definitely a great release and a great representation of the iconic Blue Bomber. As of this point though, it doesn't seem like Tamashii will ever continue with their Rockman releases beyond him and Forte but luckily D-Arts Rockman's height will allow him to blend in with the quite recently new 4inchnel line from Sentinel who seems to be pushing out Robot Masters as Cutman is already out for pre-order as of this writing.

Considering his pricepoint during his release, the set was definitely a bang for the buck and if you can actually find a cheap one these days (note he was released years ago and I got this from Pre-order), then definitely dig in for it.

Special:

The reason why I finally decided to review this guy is because the 4inchnel Rockman is already released and I already got it; if you aren't following my FB Fanpage, then know that is a prelude to a new series of articles here for the blog called the "VS Series" and #01 will feature both of the mentioned Rockman figures, in here, I'll go to an in-depth comparison of the two figures and inform you, the readers, of the pros and cons of each figure. Click on the photo below to check out the comparison!

Review: Ranko Kanzaki -Anniversary Princess Version DX-

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 17:07:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Phat! Company
Origin Series:	Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls
Scale:	1/8
Height:	Approximately 24cm tall (base included)
SRP:	15,800 yen (first release)

Packaging:

Phat Ranko DX's box is ridiculously huge and as far as the box design goes, I love it! The spread of the feathers through out the front, back and top of the box really help put an appeal to it as this is something people can easily relate to Ranko if they do know her. On the most part, the box is pretty much just white with product shots here and there but definitely, good enough to help sell the figure if it's on shelves.

Additionally, you can find a chibified art of the figure inside the box as a bonus and Ranran's totally cute here. XD

Details:

Like usual, I'll go through the details section from head to toe and there's no other better start than discussing Ranko's face! Now, depending on DereM@s arts, Ranko's face changes but Phat definitely did a standard Ranko face and it's quite spot on to her standard confident chuuni look.

Ranran does wear quite a number of head gears such as a Tiara and a Hat with a giant rose. The Tiara is really well detailed as the jewelry details are all carefully painted and there aren't any particular paint spills on my figure which a total plus; accompanying the tiara are beads that's sculpted in a dynamic manner and while they don't really give any wow factor, each bead is coated in a pearl finish which actually gives out a nice realistic feel to it.

Next up is the hat, it's okay at best since it does have some frilly parts but the molding on the frills doesn't stand out too much and I feel they could've done better. A nice thing to note is the flow of the ribbon as it does sync with the beads and Ranran's hair and easily one of the best features of this figure is the roses found through out her outfit, the sculpting work on these roses is easily eye pleasing in every possible way and the fact that they added in some shading work really makes the roses pop out a lot and I just love it!

Ranko's hair details and layering are all spot and her drill tails doesn't look stiff at all which helps add to the dynamic feel that the figure is emulating. Much like the roses, her hair has a good mix of shading in it and it looks really great!

The body outfit pretty much shares my previous comments with the roses and the frills. Ranran's outfit is your typical Goth attire and again, there's quite a nice mixture of paint and molded in details in there but I guess the white parts in the front could've used better crease details but that's just me nitpicking.

Next up on the figure's detail highlights would be the back of her skirt, generally, Ranko's skirt is made up of your regular skirt at front but the back is truly a sight to behold, the entire back section is made of clear plastic and that this part is molded to emulate feathers, something which Phat as totally nailed in this figure, each feather is uniquely sculpted and if you noticed the upper half is following the same movement flow as that of the her hair and head gear while the lower half presents a more rested state; this totally makes a good concept and display of movement in a static figure and that, for me, deserves a good praise of attention to detail.

Last but definitely not the least in details is Ranko's stockings, while the mold is as simple as it gets, the rose and thorn pattern inscribed through out her stockings is executed nice and clean and this certainly makes the somewhat lackluster molding detail stand out on its own.

Base:

The main highlight of Anniversary Princess Version DX is, like any other DX releases by GSC and the likes, of course, the figure base, the non DX one just features a transparent base and that's it; the DX version, however, is in a whole different level as this completes Ranko's characterization in every possible way. Aside from having a checkered base, the fences at the back of the base heavily compliments Ranran's gorgeous gothic outfit; the fences share a general paint scheme but you can definitely how well these have been molded.

The biggest compliment and actually also the biggest pulling factor of the DX base is that the base actually has this really gorgeous flame effect included and that definitely completes Ranko as a character and figure since she's definitely doing chuuni stuff based on her pose. The flame mold itself is ridiculously good, it's very dynamic and that the flame tips don't look cheap at all; additionally while the entire is casted in clear plastic, it doesn't feel brittle and there's also a nice color transition from the bottom.

Lastly, Ranran also comes with a cross mic stand which also shares a great molding detail and none of any paint errors; holding the mic is yet again another set of roses; while mic definitely compliments the figure even further, it's also the weakest part of the entire figure for me because the mic simply doesn't have any proper locking mechanism aside from resting its bottom tip in the roses' visible socket; this leaves it easily falling from time to time and I definitely they could've made setting this up more secure.

Gallery:

The figure's appeal is definitely great and every RankoP will probably agree that the pose is definitely spot on as well as the outfit. Of course, given her pose, her strong angles are definitely those from the front and tilting your angles also does make the captures great; additionally, panning a good enough of light source on the flames definitely makes it illuminate and this definitely adds to the figure's overall appeal. Anyway, below are just different angle shots I took from the figure, hope you enjoy the shots!

Final Thoughts:

Ranko Anniversary Princess DX easily had me ordering it during its first pre-order run even though I still wasn't that much into Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls back then and up until now, I still have no regrets doing so as I consider this Ranko to be one of my Grail-level figures among my remaining scaled figures now that I've pretty much streamlined a lot. Anyway, going back to the figure, her price point is definitely justifiable for me since I definitely think this is the best Ranko figure out there at the moment and I don't think any other Ranko figure will be able to beat this soon enough even if WonFes is basically just days away as this writing.

Would I recommend the figure? The answer's an obvious one, so yeah, in case, you've missed out on her, she was just announced to have a re-release earlier last week, so you can definitely order her right now if you want to. I promise the figure won't disappoint! Before I end the review, this figure's yet again from the awesome folks at Onegai Onii-chan!

I give the fallen angel a 5 out of 5.

Review: S.H.Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Decade

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 12:36:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Bandai
Origin Series:	Kamen Rider Decade
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 14.5cm tall
Original Price:	6,480 Yen

Packaging:

As I've reviewed 2 Shinkocchou Figuarts already at this point, there's nothing new in Decade's packaging style as it's been the same style/presentation from Kabuto which features a close up shot of the figure's head in front while looking all premium with how small and clean the overall design is like that of a gadget's. The back still features your gimmicks and product shots to try and entice you to buy the product if you haven't yet. Anyway, not much to say anymore, so let's proceed with the main dish!

Details:

Starting off with Decade's head, I love it! The shape and detailing, the eyes, everything looks so accurate now, something that the old Decade certainly did good but not perfect. The green in the eyes look really great and does make it totally pop out while surrounded in Decade's color scheme. I do think the yellow gem on his forehead could've used a more brighter clear yellow plastic.

If there was anything I'd actually nitpick at least on my piece is that when on the sides of he head, the silver streak is definitely not arranged pretty well when viewed from his right side.

What's totally lovely about Shinkocchou Decade is definitely how they finally got his proportions correctly as he's not thin anymore and that the body does look great along with the suit. The Magenta they used is also pretty accurate this time though my detail shots might look totally bright below but anyway, the magenta definitely works with the glossy black paint on Decade's body along with the clean white shade.

My favorite part on this that Decade finally have proportioned HANDS! Like seriously, the old Violent Emotion Decade was good in its time but its hand size have always had bothered me since, well, he does have them man hands.

One really amazing attention to detail on Shinkocchou Decade is him having his joints actually colored to have symmetry with his arms' paint.

The Decadriver and the buckle is truly a wonderful sight to behold since each part has been painted correctly and the driver itself have each of the 9 heisei rider logos carefully printed in it. The color is glaring red as heck though I wished it would've been a much more clearer plastic so you can actually leave a Ride card in there and see the logo; additionally, speaking of ride cards, you can actually insert one of the ride cards included in the set inside the driver which definitely ups the playability of the figure.

The belt itself is covered in rich silver paint and the right side is actually capable of holding the Ride Booker which I'll discuss more in the accessories section.

Size Comparison:

Tamashii nations actually did put up a decent size approximation of 14.5cm as Decade's real height is just slightly taller standing near 15cm. And comparing him with newer non-shinkocchou riders like Gaim Orange Arms, Decade is actually pretty darn tall since he does stand a bit taller.

The same case applies when he stands next to a fellow Shinkocchou release, Kabuto.

The figure really is tall as he does fair well when standing next to one of, if not, the tallest Riders ever released as of this writing which is Kuuga Ultimate Form.

And lastly, thankfully, my sister has the Violent Emotion release so I can actually show you guys both a size and actual comparison of the two Decades since Violent Emotion was pretty much sort of a "renewal" already back in his time. You'll easily see how much taller Shinkocchou Decade is as well as being more proportioned overall especially the hand size and doing a way better job at presenting detail symmetry.

Accessories:

Decade comes with a neat set of accessories such as a Ride Card sheet, 3 versions of the Ride Booker, an alternate opened buckle for the Decadriver, the Gekijoutai or Violent Emotion head and 4 alternate pairs of hands which comes in a pair of card holding hands, open hands and two variants of weapon holdings for each of the Ride Booker's Weapon Modes.

The Violent Emotion head doesn't really follow its movie colors as intended such as having darker green eyes and darker magenta color but that's actually pretty good since this keeps symmetry across Decade's body. Color aside though, they got the Gekijoutai head perfectly with the fierce looking eyes and the violet core on his forehead.

The Ride Cards Sheet is actually pretty neat as you can easily pop out the cards from there. Cards include all 10 Heisei Kamen Ride Cards, a Final Attack Ride for Decade and 4 Attack Rides featuring Illusion, Slash, Blast and Invisible cards.

Each Ride card are fully detailed in front and at the back, as the back side features the logo as intended.

I've mentioned the details section that I'll be discussing the Ride Booker here, and it actually is a pretty good representation of the actual Ride Booker as the Decade logo is imprinted in it quite nicely while being covered in silver for the most part and the attention to detail in both molding and paint is superb. Additionally, you can open up the Ride Booker although you can't really put any of the cards there and it's just flat out black plastic inside.

The same amount of detail can be found in both of the Ride Booker's weapon modes along with additional little details but are all still painted accordingly. What's ridiculous for me is that if you flip the booker in the other side, you'll still see the peg for the belt's side in there, not really sure if the Ride Booker really supposed to be like that but it does really look ridiculous for me to see the peg still there.

Compatibility:

While this gimmick isn't anything new in Figuarts history, Decade's form changes does actually have him transform into one of the nine original Heisei Riders with and thus, if you actually split his body from the waist, you can actually remove the Decadriver and its belt and then put the belt into other riders in the same way you removed Decade's belt. (Except Kiva since we don't have a Figuarts of Kiva's base form yet.)

As far as my test goes, the oldest Rider mold it can be put onto is that of Faiz's mold and it actually perfectly fits despite its old age. The belt is also compatible with pre-shinkocchou frames like that of Ryuki's, Den-O's and Blade's, though the belt will loosely fit on Ryuki and Den-O, especially on Den-O. For the remaining riders who all have their Shinkocchou releases, compatibility is definitely not an issue so you can easily turn them into Decade's Kamen Ride forms.

Below is a gallery of the Decade's Rider Forms arranged from Kuuga to Den-O.

Articulation Points:

Decade's neck is using ball joints on both the top and bottom portions so you can actually make him look up and down to a REALLY good amount while also allowing you awesome tilting range. The top ball joint alone also allows Decade a complete head rotation.

Decade's shoulder pads move similarly to that of Blade King Form's where in there's a hinge from the shoulders while the pad itself moves on a ball joint.

While Decade has all your typical Figuarts articulation nowadays, his arms does actually go way up when raised up sideways as it pretty much goes up to 135 degrees than your usual 90. Of course, you can still fully rotate the arms via the shoulder joints and also rotate the arms via the bicep swivel. Elbows remain double jointed and you can get a good amount of bending from it. Decade also has forearm swivels while the wrist joints are still your usual figuarts wrist joint which can swivel at the forearm connection point, has a hinge and a ball joint on the hand connection point.

As for his torso, you have another case of two ball joints working together which is on the waist and on the torso's mid section which can work wonders in giving Decade a great amount of bending ability, a good enough for stretching backwards and tilting sideways. The ball joints can also be used to rotate the body to a certain degree.

Hips joint works similarly to all other shinkocchou releases which I can't really put to words that much but yeah you can split his legs sideways up to around 45 degrees, kick forward to almost 90 degrees and little to none when going backwards. Thigh swivels also exists so you can easily rotate Decade's legs with it along with double jointed knees which does give a good enough bending ability. Ankles rotate at the connection point with the legs, have a hinge to raise or stretch Decade's feet and a swivel on the feet connection to tilt his feet using the ankles and finally, the toe joints which bends enough to a normal realistic degree.

Gallery:

Decade definitely has a very great frame and him being Decade definitely meant that he's going to be totally interactive with a lot of Riders. Anyway, the accessories together with his frame are definitely enough to pull off his Iconic poses and timeless scenes with other riders. The old Dimension Kick cards also still work perfectly with Shinkocchou Decade so if you have them, then your Decade's totally complete! Additionally, since this is Decade, shooting him with other characters from other series for crossover shots are definitely okay to do haha, anyway, I did exert a lot of effort for Decade's gallery so check them out below!

Final Thoughts:

Shinkocchou Decade is everything you would have ever expected from a renewal similar to what Kabuto, Kuuga and Agito did as well as looking like a mini Project BM/RAH in terms of appearance. I did feel that Decade is the one that totally nailed it, he's got paint consistency, the right set of hands with the right set of accessories which actually feels like you got both the old Decade and the old Violent Emotion renewed into one single package as Shinkocchou Decade has everything from both those sets and even more. I definitely love this one out of all 5 Shinkocchous we have as of this writing and I don't think he'll have paint problems easily like Hibiki did. Decade definitely got me excited to see more from the line such as DiEnd in the future as these releases are clearly a big step up from Tamashii's older releases. Before I end, this has been another figuarts that I've pre-ordered from Onegai Onii-chan!

I do give Decade a 10 5 out of 5.

Review: Action Hero-Pro Part 2 - Blue Model

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 07:56:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Takara
Origin Series:	n/a
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 16cm tall
Original Price:	2,500 yen

Ryukendo:

For those who do not know, Blue Model is part of Action Hero-Pro Ryukendo's packaged deal, so everything about Packaging and technically speaking, Blue Model's "accessories" can be found on Part 1 which is all about the Tokusatsu Hero, Ryukendo! Click on the image above or just click on the link I'll provide in here to go to Ryukendo's review: http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2016/03/takara-ahp-ryukendo-review.html

Details:

As the title and photos above suggests, this is technically a review and look on the Blank Body beneath which I'll call as the Blue Model since Action Hero-Pro calls the other blank bodies "Model" as well.

Details on this body is pretty plain in general, you'll see the elongated head but they did mold it enough to have a distinguished sculpted area for the eyes, nose and mouth which is neat if you want to customize this frame into something else.

Without all the Ryukendo Armor, you'll be able to see that the frame does indeed have a slight degree of muscular build to it though it's nothing really impressive but it does help identifying which part is which.

Additionally, the set is given a pair of blue feet and these are used when you transform Ryukendo into a plain Model. I feel the feet are just a bit too thin but hey they're long enough to actually provide the frame a great amount of balance.

What differs the Blue Model from the White and Black Models that were sold separately is the fact that when you strip the armor, Ryukendo's black lining details retains on the frame instead of seeing just a plain full blue body.

Additionally, while Ryukendo himself does have a lot of screws revealed, removing the armor parts certainly does reveal even more screws when viewing the figure at its back.

I've said this at part 1 but without any forearm armor, them man hands do stand out even more and is now even more odd to look at.

Size Comparison:

Losing all that armor does shorten the height just by a little bit, around.5cm to as a good approximation. And since you've seen Ryukendo standing next to different figures in Part 1, here's an additional comparison to see just how tall AHP frames are, below is a shot of the Blue Model standing next to the figma Archetype He and one look will definitely let you see the huge height difference between the two.

And again, just to refresh you guys, here is the Model standing next to an Ultra-Act and a rather tall S.H.Figuarts release.

Articulation Points:

I won't expound on the articulation that much anymore since the frame does move similarly to Ryukendo so do check it out in Part 1. What's new in the Blue Model is that you get a slightly better range for some parts after losing the armor such as the bending the elbow joints, stretching the arms sideways from the shoulders and making the feet bend or stretch to an even more unnatural looking state using the ankle hinge.

The new feet also features two hinges near the toes which is quite odd IMO since we usually just get one instead of two.

The rest is just the same as Ryukendo's and again, you can check additional explanation on part 1 BUT I will still leave you a photo gallery of the Blue Model's articulation tests, so, do enjoy the photos below!

Gallery:

The Action Hero Pro Model is definitely top tier in articulation given that you have no hindrances of sorts, this frame can do A LOT from normal human poses to dynamics like Shoryukens, Rider Kicks and whatnot. Additionally, while the hands are odd to look at, they do make a fantastic job of gripping other figures' weapons and can easily double grip sword-type weapons. Posing the Model around was definitely a fun task especially when having him interact with other figures.

Final Thoughts:

Having this along with Ryukendo as optional package was definitely a great additional aside from getting the hero himself. Playing with it definitely made me wish I got two so I can have a separate blank body or maybe I'll just have to find one of the Black or White Model releases for that matter. I might be getting repetitive already but there's definitely a huge charm on this frame's articulation though admittedly the proportions could have used improvements but Takara just killed off the line. Definitely a gold find for me for something that was manufactured in 2006.

While I did give Ryukendo a 4.5, I believe the Model itself deserves a 5 out of 5.

Review: Action Hero-Pro Part 1 - Ryukendo

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 05:56:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Takara
Origin Series:	Madan Senki Ryukendo
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 16.5cm tall
Original Price:	2,500 yen

Packaging:

The Action Hero-Pro (AHP) line is a very short lived (to my disappointment) line with I believe only 3 releases (2 of which are blank bodies) from Takara and is very similar to Bandai's Souchaku Henshin line except Takara actually did a much better job with it (and I mean it); that said though, beneath all those armor is a blank body frame.

Anyway, this figure is really old being something that was released in 2006 and I got mine 3 or 4 years ago and given the age, I got it with the box condition already poor and dirty but you can still see the overall design though! Nothing amazing overall but the front is split in a window to see the half of the figure while the other half shows you a schematics of the blank body and with it pointing out every point of articulation which extends its explanation to one of the sides of the box.

The back of the box does show you some of the frame's highlights as well as a breakdown of Ryukendo's armor bits.

As I've mentioned 2 of 3 releases from the line are both blank body frames so this release is quite focused on Ryukendo as the top of the box has the series logo and the window label exactly tells you that the figure is Ryukendo himself.

Details:

Starting with the helm details, I do think the helm shape is a bit oblong in shape when it needs to be just a little rounder than oblong but otherwise, Takara nailed it with the details here as everything looks pretty great in molding and paint finish.

Going to the main armor, I love how rich the paint combinations are in these as silver portions are really covered in silver and the gold parts are covered in metallic yellow. The armor mold is pretty much detailed to a degree and does reflect quite accurate armor and color detailing which is totally impressive in my book.

Takara didn't slack off as even the madan key holder in the side of the belt is well detailed to some degree instead of leaving it unpainted.

The rest of the armor comes in pearl white with the dragonic armor parts in rich yellow plastic and I mean this is not your typical unpainted crappy looking yellow, the yellow does slightly resemble the metallic yellow/gold paint found in the body and helmet details.

What's neat here is that they actually put in the black lines on the frame to reflect on the Ryukendo suit though, how accurate these lines are, I can't really say for myself. Additionally, I think the body is just a tad bit lanky or maybe he just needs to be slightly more buff but hey, again, for a 2006 figure, I think they have better proportions than the first batch of figuarts we've got in 2008.

The one thing I totally do not like about Ryukendo's mold is his hands as they look too big and while you have joints implemented in the thumbs and fingers, it will just look totally weird whenever those hands aren't holding anything.

Size Comparison:

Action Hero Pro Ryukendo actually stands pretty tall at 16.5cm but still passes for a 6-inch figure and to give you guys an idea of what I mean by tall, you'll see him next to Shinkocchou Seihou Kuuga Mighty Form and to Shocker Combatman in the next set of photos below.

As you can see above, Ryukendo definitely towers over Kuuga and does stand better next to Shocker Combatman, who stands taller than most Rider figures.

Standing him next to Ultra-Act and Marvel Legends does make it feel like he's still in the 6-inch scale as shown in the photos below where he stands to Ultraman Nexus Junis and the Hobgoblin Wave Daredevil.

Accessories:

Ryukendo does come with his main weapon and partner, GekiRyuKen as well as the Madan Knuckle which comes with a total of two option parts, I do wish they also gave us at least one key to use to the with figure as that would have really completed his accessory set.

Much like how the finish is with Ryukendo's armor bits, GekiRyuKen also receives the same amount of attention to detail with probably only the push/pull mechanic detail missing in the handle but overall, a neatly detailed weapon.

Now, going to the Madan Knuckle, I guess my only gripe is that despite the nice paint running in the figure and the sword, I do think the red paint in the Madan Knuckle looks pretty cheap.

Articulation Points:

Action Hero-Pro's frame is highly articulated for its time and none of the armor falls apart when you pose him around which is something to note for. Anyway, his neck have ball joints in both the top and bottom so you can utilize it for a decent range of looking up, down or even sideways as well as a neat tilting range.

One of the amazing feats of the frame is that the shoulder joint is one big ball joint when connected to the body, and the allowance area is quite big so you can definitely push the arms forward, backward or whatnot so long as you don't get limited by the borders of the ball socket.

Ryukendo's arms are fully rotational and can be raised up to almost 90 degrees since the shoulder pads does get in the way by a little. Bicep swivel is also present and his elbows are double jointed though you won't be able to fully bend it due to the armor bumping in the upper half of the arm.

The hands are attached to the arm via a ball jointed wrist but you won't be able to utilize the ball joint that much since the hands are a little too big so it, most often, will bump on the mold. Additionally, Ryukendo's thumbs has a swivel which is really useful when having him hold GekiRyuKen in more dynamic means; the rest of the fingers does move on a single hinge.

Ryukendo's body runs on a ball jointed torso as well as a ball joint on the waist so combining the two joints absolutely gives him a great bending, stretching and tilting ability. The balls also allow you to rotate Ryukendo's body.

Hips are on a ball joint and can split the legs sideways almost perfectly while allowing a forward motion for the leg to a good 90 degrees but little to none when trying a backward motion. While I forgot to take a photo of it, AHP Ryukendo does have a thigh swivel so you can fully rotate the legs from there. Additionally, his knees have a perfect bend using double jointed hinges. Last but not least, the ankles does mainly work on a ball joint while also having a hinge on the connection point and this allows you to stretch out the feet to an unnatural state while also having the ability to tilt the ankles to a minor degree or even rotate the feet if you'd like.

Gallery:

Despite my complains about how ridiculous Ryukendo's hands look like, it does its job in gripping GekiRyuKen perfectly and while I was doing the photoshoot for this guy, I'm totally impressed that he can do poses that I didn't expect the frame to pull, especially the ones where I posed him dynamically while wielding the sword with both hands. The frame definitely is way beyond its time in terms of how posable it actually is as even some figuarts nowadays still can't do stuff that figure can with ease.

Final Thoughts:

I definitely love the figure to bits as it pretty much captures the essence of Ryukendo pretty well and definitely does give the suit design enough justice in figure form. It truly is disappointing that the line itself never did live long enough to see his allies, RyuGunOh and RyuJinOh produced. Still, hands aside, the figure is definitely worth its price and even though the figure is already 10 years old more or less as of this review, the quality is really above average and that if ever you want to find one, I believe he's still not that much expensive in ebay. (cause that's where I got mine around 3 or 4 years ago) Additionally, if you do know how to sculpt hands, you can definitely give him better hands since they are ball jointed. In any case, as I said, I snagged him off on eBay and I did get this with the help of a friend!

I do give Ryukendo a 4.5 out of 5.

Blue Model:

While the figure definitely intended to be Ryukendo, you do get two regular alternate blue feet as casting off the armor and switching the feet gives you, technically, another figure which I would call as "Blue Model" since the only two other releases from the line are both the same blank body frame labeled as "White Model", a full white blank body and "Black Model", a full black blank body. Anyway, part 2 will all be about the empty body frame!

Check out the Part 2 of the review by clicking the following link:
http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2016/03/takara-ahp-blue-model-review.html

Or simply by clicking on the photo below!

Review: DC Comics Icons Batman

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 13:21:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	DC Collectibles
Figure Number:	1
Origin Series:	Batman: Last Rites
Scale:	1/12 (6-inch)
Height:	Approximately 15cm tall
SRP:	$24.95

Packaging:

Batman is figure number 1 but he did release along with 4 other characters as part of the 1st wave of DC Comics Icons and as part of the initial releases, you do get a glimpse on how the line packaging goes (as this is true for the first 9 figures in the line). It's very clean, simple and presentable, as you get a the line name at the front, a window big enough to inspect the entire package content, the figure number and the character's name. Note that in the "Icons" label, the logo changes depending on the character which is pretty entertaining if you ask me.

Nothing notable at the sides design-wise but one side does show you the figure number, character logo AND the best part for me, showing you which comic run/event the character's rendition was based on and for Batman, it is from the "Last Rites" story arc. The back does show you all of Batman's other wave mates in the form of Deadman, Green Arrow and Mister Miracle.

If you look at the top of the box, you'll see the character's logo as well.

Details:

First and foremost, the Icons Batman sports a traditional blue Bat suit rather than the modern black which we usually get. Now, I do not read comics but from what I looked up, Last Rites is a comic book event which happens around the time when Bruce Wayne "died"; regardless of what happened in the events, I am not sure how accurate this Batman mold is to the comics, so I'll just discuss what the figure presents.

Since I'm using anew camera for this review, photos here in the details section will be much more useful than all my previous reviews! :D Anyway, I'll start off with the head as usual, Icons Batman really has great sculpting in the head as the mouth and facial muscles are sculpted in quite nicely, additionally the wrinkles and some molding in the mask helps in giving the figure a good amount of realistic feel to it; that there's a man underneath that mask. If you zoom in on the photo below, you'll see that my piece actually does have some minor paint mess here and there and that the right side of the face's skin (to your left if you're viewing the photo) have some scratches in it, so, if you're buying one soon, do check the piece and get the most clean looking one.

Viewing the head from either of the sides does actually allow you to view that there is indeed a sculpted lower portion of the nose right there and that's just amazing if you ask me. The bat ears also makes it to a point that it's not just a pointy ear planted in there as there is a degree of layering involved in it which again, is a great attention to detail. The cowl is technically just this dark blue which is very clean overall and there's no difference in the blue that's used for the head mold and for the cape and cowl, which is great since I like color consistencies.

The cape is made of soft material so it won't be much of a hindrance in articulation and as far as the detailing in it goes, I like it a lot, the wrinkles definitely make it look a lot better rather than just leaving straightened out.

Going to the body mold, I love how muscular DC Collectibles made this Batman look like, the amount of muscular features in this figure is absurd and the sculpting looks really great and well defined; it's definitely something I'm impressed with as Icons Batman is my very first figure from DC Collectibles and is also 1 of 4 starting figures for the somewhat new DC Comics Icons line. Additionally the muscular build really helps emulate that there's this really powerful guy inside that suit.

One thing that I totally am amused on my piece is the fact that my Icons Batman seems to have the Bat logo printed twice, if you look at the photo below, you'll see that the logo looks like it casts out a shadow but in reality, it's merely a double print. It's not that noticeable and this definitely is an error but it really does amuse me and it really doesn't bug me since it looks like it's casting a shadow.

Going to one of the caped crusader's most notable features, his utility belt, I was absolutely stunned to see how the details in each pouch and even the buckle are meticulously sculpted in there and while I wasn't able to snag a photo of the pouches at the back, do know that those are equally detailed as the ones on the front and sides.

Lastly, going to Batman's gauntlets and boots, very minor detailing as everything looks smooth in these two and while I do love the consistency in blue in everything else, DC Collectibles seems to have used a glossy for these two. Now I have no idea if it's really supposed to be that way in the comics but personally, I would've loved it if they didn't make it glossy.

Size Comparison:

As for size comparisons, DC Collectibles completely advertised this as a 6-inch line and by measurement, Icons Batman just stands more or less as exactly 6 inches tall, personally, I think he needs to be just slightly taller but anyway, below's a comparison with Icons Batman standing next to other Batman figures I have which is S.H.Figuarts Injustice Batman and then next to MAFEX TDK Batman version 2. In both cases, Icons Batman falls short though it is more evident with the MAFEX one, I think Icons line will fit just right in with S.H.Figuarts.

Comparing with other lines that I own, here's Icons Batman standing next to figma Captain America and I must say, the scaling is perfect between these two lines as Cap and Bats are almost as tall as each other.

And now to the main comparison since most of the folks at the west who collects action figures seems to always use Marvel Legends as a point of comparison, so, here he stands next to my Marvel Legends Agent Coulson.

Seeing that Coulson falls in one of the more shorter Marvel Legends, definitely, Marvel Legends will be bigger than DC Comics Icons but hey, you can still makes things work if you're into toy photography. Anyway, I do think Marvel Legends are just way too big to be in exact 6-inches or it might just be the other way around (that SHF and etc lines are the ones that are less than 6 inches tall) but yeah, as for me, my collection is mainly on Japanese figures so Icons' scaling works better for me in every possible way.

And to prove that I really Batman needs to be slightly taller, here is Icons Batman next to the Icons Hal Jordan Green Lantern.

By one look, you'd know that Hal is taller than Batman and supposedly if the stats on search results is true, then these two should have the same height.

Accessories:

What got me totally sold on the Icons line is that each and every release would normally have accessories and with it comes at least a pair of alternate hands, something that ML needs to have for all their releases. Anyway, Batman comes with a pair of alternate gripping hands, 2 batarangs and a left hand with a molded in line launcher; while only a few, these are still welcomed additions in my book rather than nothing.

Anyway, the alternate hands are really for gripping his batarangs but you can also make shift it for a pair of slight open hands for certain shots.

The line launcher is, for me, the weakest of his accessories since it has this playable rope gimmick which isn't really useful for shots and if you actually try to hook it, you'll need solid hook points as you'll find Batman to be heavy enough to actually pull on the rope.

I would've liked it if we got a hand with the grapnel or at least a pair of open hands instead since I really find the the line launcher hand to be completely useless.

Articulation Points:

I was definitely looking forward to articulation when I first got this due to the frame breakdown that DC Collectibles posted before but ultimately, the frame didn't live quite up to my expectations as there are some parts that's quite disappointing.

Starting with the head, while it is on a ball jointed neck, you can mostly just rotate the head left or right as well as very minor tilt. Up or down movement is supposedly there but it just doesn't stay so it's technically non-existent for me which is definitely a bummer for me since looking up is very useful for a dynamic character like Batman.

Batman's arms can fully rotate despite having the cape at the back; as I've mentioned in the details section, it is made of soft material so rotating his arms will temporarily warp the cape and allow you to continue with the full rotation.

Arms can also be raised sideways up to a near 90 which is quite decent. Icons Bats also has a swivel and you can fully rotate the arms from there. His elbows are double jointed though due to the muscular structure of the mold, it pretty much just bends to somewhere above 90 degrees. Lastly, his wrists do work similarly to old figma wrist joints and that of Marvel Legends'.

Batman's torso is on a ball joint and unlike the head, this, thankfully, works really well with a decent stretching and crunching ability as well as a useful torso rotation which can sub for the Icons frame having no waist swivel capability.

To further his body crunching ability, Bats also has a hinge in the bottom of his abs which does bend just a bit but again, when combined with the torso joint, it does give you a good amount of crunching.

Batman's hips are on a ball joint but his kick forward is very limited and can raise just around 45 degrees more or less, I think this needs improvement for future releases while splitting sideways gives a full 90 degree split. One of the biggest downsides of the frame is not having thigh cuts, one might say that you can utilize the boot cuts in exchange for the loss of it but it just doesn't work on some poses.

Knee joints are double jointed as well and it works as intended this time, bending to a very satisfying amount. Ankles can move the feet up and down as well as tilt it to a very good range!

Gallery:

I've replaced the old "Poseability" section with this "Gallery" section as I want to shorten my reviews even by a bit. What I'll do now is just drop a quick comment on how the figure's accessories and articulation would work together and then just present a photo gallery of the figure.

Batman's lack of a thigh cut and limited neck articulation definitely gives a backlash on how enjoyable the figure is as some poses will look very unnatural if you only rotate the leg via the boot swivel and Batman does lose more expression with a very poor up or down head movement. You'll definitely find yourself either having Batman use his batarangs or just do CQC for making the most out of his frame and set contents.

Final Thoughts:

While there's definitely a need for improvement for the Icons line and with Batman just being the start along with a few more figures as of this writing, there's still time for DC Collectibles to improve on the first two waves' flaws and hopefully, we do get it for the upcoming ones.

While not a perfect figure by any means, I do think the figure is good overall and I'll definitely invest in the Icons line for my fix of DC comics characters not because they're the only ones who does the comic versions at a good price and at a scale that I prefer but because I am content with the Icons figures that I have at the moment (I have 4 as of this writing). Scaling + price might be an issue for other collectors but mainly being a Japanese figure collector myself, I do think it's more justifiable than how much you pay for a school uniform figma nowadays and that DC collectibles definitely care for details because, for me, articulation isn't always what's important. If you want a more affordable 6 inch Batman then I definitely suggest giving this figure a try.

Before I end, I pre-ordered my Icons Batman from Play Giant, do check out their branches at Shoppesville Plus Greenhills and Glorietta!

I give the caped crusader a 3.5 out of 5.

Corner Bites Issue 4: Figure Armies

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:24:00 +0000

Some people might call it wasting money...

But today, I'm going to talk about Army Building!

So what is Army Building?

It's usually a term for when you buy multiple copies a certain figure to eventually grow it to a size of an army for whatever purpose you have it mind; a best example would be to buy a certain Stormtrooper figure multiple times to have a miniature Galactic Empire in your home.

In my case, one of my army build targets was the Ultron from the Marvel Legends Iron Man, which you have probably seen countless times already from toy photographers who are in leagues better than me. Now, I bought 5 copies (and I need more as of this writing) of this simply to repurpose them as Ultron Sentries while using MCU's Ultron Prime as my main Ultron so I can do photos with Heroes (Avengers or my random mash ups) fighting off Ultron's invasion. So yeah, technically, my purpose for army building Ultron is for display and photography purposes.

Don't get me wrong though as Army Building doesn't strictly mean that you only have to buy copies of one figure alone. What do I mean by that? Check out the photo below!

The photo above actually exhibits two more variants of army building; first up is the fact that I somewhat built an army for a photo using different "characters" which involves a mixture of Clonetroopers, Stormtroopers and First Order Stormtroopers; so yeah, you can actually get different mooks and then jam them all together in a photo to emulate an evil organization/army much like how teaming up certain individuals can form a makeshift team.

The second one is just technically getting the same character but in different lines which is what I meant by "Army Building doesn't strictly mean that you only have to buy copies of one figure alone" and this is what I personally prefer when army building. (I also did this for my Vehicons) In the photo above, you see three Stormtroopers there (and no, I don't mean the First Order guys) and to be honest, each Stormtrooper is a different figure, one is the S.H.Figuarts (back), one is the Black Series (Rightmost) and the other one is the MAFEX (front) and they actually work, at the same time, a good way for me to actually know which 6 inch Stormtrooper is actually the best since each and every release have their own pros and cons. At this point, I still lack the Revoltech one and maybe the Bandai Kit.

Army building definitely isn't for everybody, if you want to do so, then you have to be prepared to spend for it at the very least; then again, you can always spy for people who will let go of your targets for cheaper prices but you need patience for this, haha.

Anyway, that's about it for today's Corner Bites Issue, til' the next issue!

Review: Figma Iona

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 17:24:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Max Factory
Figure Number:	263
Origin Series:	Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 13cm tall
Original Price:	6,000 Yen

Packaging:

It actually took a while before Arpeggio characters had a figma rendition and as you can see in the box and obviously from Iona's outfit alone, this is based off the Arpeggio DC movie already. Again, not much to say as the box is still your figma 200+ generic boxes but as for the color choices, they do synchronize well with this version of Iona pretty well. As usual, you have your generic product shots on the sides (and one featuring the awesome Data Rings) while the back of the box are your compiled official shots when she was up for pre-order.

Details:

Max Factory actually did a good job on capturing anime Iona's face and it's really accurate especially her default expression and her eyes are perfectly captured here as well. Her hair could've used more details though but we probably won't have that since their hair are usually like Iona's anyway.

Iona's sudden outfit change in the last 1/3 of the movie was definitely a refreshing view and while I actually prefer her old outfit, I must say that this isn't really bad either and max had definitely captured it pretty well in figure form. The color choices are pretty accurate and the details have been captured down to the teeth especially on how well the blue steel fleet symbol has been embedded on Iona's back, it looks absolutely wonderful for a figure this small. Minor details such as the silver belt buckles are definitely good signs of detailing on Iona.

Thigh high stockings aside, the finish on her leg/footwear are quite clean especially the laces on her boots as I expected a bunch of visible paint mess in there but to my surprise, it is quite clean (on my piece at least).

Size Comparison:

Specified as 13cm, Iona does stand around 12.5cm to be more accurate and to give you some ideas as there aren't any other Arpeggio figmas yet as of this writing. Below's a shot of Iona standing beside the other Kongou (Kancolle AGP).

And for something that's slightly related and in the same figure line, here's Iona standing next to one of my favored ship girls, figma Amatsukaze.

Accessories:

Iona doesn't come with much but to breakdown her accessories, for faceplates and hands, you get extra 2 faceplates (a side glancing smile and a serious/expressionless side glance), 3 extra handsets (a pair of palms, fists and gripping hands) and a right hand holding a cup of tea.

Figma stand aside, you also get a plate for the teacup, a star fish and the main event, the Data Rings! The data rings come with a special stand option so you can have it surround Iona, the special stand also comes with a shorter option for the bottom ring which allows you to display the data rings for Iona's sitting pose which is also part of her accessories; the sitting pose comes in a bootless and underwear-less (yes, the instructions actually tell you to transfer that) lower body piece and exchanging the lower torso is quite an easy task with Iona.

Do be careful when attaching the Data rings to the support clips as it is quite tedious and mine actually resulted in some of the data decals peeling off but luckily it's only at the back so it's still okay for my standards.

Articulation Points:

There's technically nothing new on Iona's articulation points as we've pretty much seen the same in several older figmas; to start off, her head can rotate 360 degrees as the tails in front are made up of soft material and if the back part of the hair gets in the way, know that those are articulated at their connection points as well. Her head can also tilt and move slightly up but decently downwards.

Iona's arms can be rotated 360 degrees though you will need to slightly hinge her arm when going upwards since it will bump into her uniform's collar while raising the arm sideways allow you to a nifty 90 degrees. Iona does have a swivel point for her arms using the shoulder joints and you can also use the elbow joints to rotate her forearms. Lastly, Iona, even though being a figma who's number at 200+, still uses the old wrist joints so you can just swivel the hands at the connection point and hinge it based on its placement on her hands.

As far as her torso goes, it is on ball joint with an additional swiveling point on the connection point between the lower and upper sections of the torso, it's a minor ab crunch/stretch but then again, Iona doesn't really do dynamic actions that frequently.

Splits on both ways (side, front+back) are only near 45 degrees and though the skirt is layered it's pretty hard getting her to kick higher actually. Iona does have thigh swivel and minor rotation on the hip joints; her knees bend pretty good (around 135+ degrees) and you get the usual ankle hinge and tilt since her boot design isn't really complex enough to hinder the tilt.

Poseability:

Definitely out of all the accessories that Max gave Iona, I'd say the Data Rings are definitely the crown here, being able to support Iona in both standing and sitting modes, it's actually pretty epic especially if you display her with the rings together with GSA I-401 in its Graviton mode.

The alternate sitting parts does fit perfectly with Iona's gentle smile expression and you can definitely do a lot of relaxed poses with it as well.

For more extremes, fiddling with the alternate lower torso does double it for perfect kneeling poses which you can do if you want to pose Iona in more dynamic poses as she does so in certain parts of the show. I must say I love the serious side glance faceplate as it definitely compliments more serious poses.

Overall, Iona's frame is pretty well balanced and eve though she uses the old wrist joints, she can certainly accompany action poses here and there which is pretty much everything you'd need for Iona especially since she's like the only Arpeggio figma out at the moment.

Below are some scenes inspired from the anime but, of course, with different figures representing the character/object from the scene.

Final Thoughts:

Iona is definitely my second favorite from the series but her being alone in the line did actually put me in a clueless state on what to pose during the shoot (hence the few photos on the section above) but again, I think her articulation is good enough and her included accessories are pretty much spot on for her character. (plus if you ordered her through GSC's online shop, you also get a tea party chair) If arpeggio is in your interests and Iona is your favorite then definitely, give her a try as her figma is really well balanced but also offers nothing we haven't seen before nor does she give the wow factor; IF you have the GSA I-401 or even a built Aoshima model though, I highly suggest getting her to compliment it as they make an amazing display piece, I swear that they just look THAT GOOD together.

And once again, before I wrap up this review, Iona is once again one of the figures that I ordered from Onegai Onii-chan!

I give Iona a 4 out of 5.

Review: Good Smile Arms I-401

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 11:03:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Good Smile Company
Origin Series:	Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio
Scale:	1/350
Height:	Approximately 35cm long
Original Price:	21,296 yen

Packaging:

Good Smile Arms (GSA) is a fairly new line with only 2 releases as of this writing and I-401 being the second and when I first received this last December 2015, I was amazed at how the box looked like since it feels really premium (and it is, lol) with all those hexagon cell windows and the Blue Steel fleet's logo in there; it's totally eye pleasing for me overall.

Like your typical boxes, you'll see some features in the sides while the back of the box gives a good breakdown of all the highlights of the figure with a bunch of Japanese text I definitely cannot read lol.

What totally makes the box look premium is basically the fact that it actually has a sleeve and it's the sleeve that actually has the Blue Steel fleet logos.

Details - Default Mode:

As you've seen in the packaging section, the main front cover shows the super graviton cannon opened up so this figure definitely has two modes and I'll start with the default sub first; as this isn't an articulated figure nor a character scaled figure, the review will mostly be discussions on the details.

I-401 overall features a spectacular paint job and detailing in there as there is a good variant of blue shades while GSC had also definitely painted almost, if not, every little bit of details, thus, making the Submarine stand out and make a good display piece in general. What's pretty neat is that even the I-401 marking is pretty clean and accurate as you can only see it in one side of the sub. As minor nitpick though, I believe the blue should have been a little bit darker but hey, it's still pretty good.

As this is a transformable figure, one of the few inaccuracies in this form is of course the existence of seamlines in places where it shouldn't be based on the 3DCG model seen in the anime adaptation; one factor is that once you've transformed the sub into its super graviton cannon mode once and revert it back, the seamlines would even be more obvious since most of the parts that were initially stuck are a bit more loose now and that the figure itself doesn't have any locking mechanism with it to keep places in tact in the default mode.

Once again, the figure features a high amount of attention to detail as the deck when viewed from above definitely features that realistic look with all the mixtures of different shades of brown resulting in a wonderful look of the ship's deck.

Armaments are all painted in silver and as indicated in the manual, these are all very fragile so do be careful with it or you might just kiss your 21k yen model goodbye. One thing that the sub failed to capture though are the fences and wires but I can live without those and adding those will just add to the fragile list.

The bottom of the sub features the lighter blue side as well as the "tattoo" that every Fog ship seems to have in the show; from the looks of it, these tattoo details were painted onto on the ship instead of being decals like the eyes of figmas as an example.

Transformation Process:

I won't be showing the transformation itself but the transformation process is a bit nerve wrecking when you first do it since the whole thing feels ridiculously fragile. I kid you not when I tell you that transforming I-401 from regular sub to the graviton mode involves a whole lot of parts forming and by parts forming, I mean, removing a lot of tabs here and there which might scare you when you first transform it.

Just to help out and give you an idea, I'll be providing a photo for each of the tabs removed step by step so that you'll know what to expect if you do wish to get this after reading up this review.

Left Side (Front)

Right Side (Front)

Top Side (Front)

Right Side (Middle)

(Sorry I wasn't able to take a photo of the left side @.@)

Details - Super Graviton Cannon Mode:

The Graviton mode is definitely what made me buy this figure and while the exterior is basically the same as the sub (since most of the tabs removed during transformation are just slightly repositioned for this mode), the highlights of this mode is that you actually get to see I-401's interiors.

The front of the ship is where all the good stuff's in, seeing the cannons and its intricate detailing and paint in the cannons; additionally, you actually see the fog fleet's symbol in there when the cannons are opened.

As I've said, most of the Graviton mode's highlights are its interiors and while some of the parts looks like they're just unpainted gray plastic, in no way does it look cheap as the two (or three) variants of gray plastic in there look clean and high quality. Adding to how good these gray plastic look like is the fact that majority of the interior engines have panel lining already.

The back in this mode have also opened up to show thrusters which features the same amount of detailing as the cannons in the ship's front.

Again, most of the ship parts seen in the Transformation Process section are pretty much just repositioned for this mode with only a total of 5 parts that you swap out with a different one that's, of course, also included in the set. The repositioned states does give off a more spiky look for I-401 overall and does also give you the idea that several parts of the sub shift when it enters this state. Lastly, in this state, the inaccurate additional seamlines I've mentioned in the Default Mode Details section are insignificant here since the main purpose of those was to accurately represent the sub's Super Graviton Mode.

Base:

Adding to the premium feel is the fact that GSC has included this classy looking base which features a silver plate containing some info about the figure such as the line, series, scale and Blue Steel Fleet's logo. Additionally, the base features a wood-like texture which helps add to the appeal of quite a simple base.

The set also comes with 2 pairs of support stands for each mode of the sub. The default mode uses a shorter support which you basically rest the whole sub into while the Graviton mode uses a slightly taller stand which actually features hooks which you use to insert in the gaps between the sub's revealed interiors.

Final Thoughts:

I can't say that I can suggest this figure to everyone since it is pretty much just an expensive high end but fragile display piece for those who can't build the kits released by Aoshima (like me) though this does have the ability to shift between modes and is a really well detailed figure if I may say so myself. IF you have the spending power and are a big fan of Arpeggio, then by all means, I suggest getting this figure. As for me, one of the main reasons I got this was because I totally love the Super Graviton Modes of the ships in the show and the fact that I've always visualized this displayed together with the figma rendition of its mental model, Iona, when both of them were first revealed during last year's (or was it last last year's) Wonder Festival. I definitely think it's worth the price despite being a small display piece and it actually feels just like buying scaled figures these days IMO. And before I end the review, I got this from the folks at Onegai Onii-chan, so do check them out!

I give I-401 a well deserved 4 out of 5.

Review: Frame Arms Girl Stylet

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 17:21:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Kotobukiya
Origin Series:	N/A
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 15cm tall
Original Price:	4800 yen

Packaging:

Frame Arms Girl is first of all, a kit, so this is actually my first time reviewing a full kit unlike the previous ones where those are just minor kits (I'm talking about the Microns from TF Prime's Arms Micron guys). So yeah, being a kit, you get a similar packaging like most other kits where in you actually have zero window and you're presented with a cover art while the sides does show you a possible outcome IF you paint up and detail your kit. Frame Arms Girl (F.A.G.) also market some of its gimmicks in one side while the other side shows you Stylet's different faces and the decals included in the package. Anyway, not much to say here so, that's it for the box discussion.

Details:

Before I start the detail discussion, do note that I just straight built Stylet for this review as I want to review figures/kits in their raw and unmodded state.Probably the only real modeling work I did here was sanding the some nubs but aside from that, Stylet was just assembled according to the manual with no paint attempts of any kind.

First off is with the face, I definitely love Stylet's face and it is one of the factors that really made her kit an easy order for me. One thing that I do not like though is how glossy her faceplates' skin tones are. It's pretty minor but at times, the glossiness just tend to stand out but yeah, her face is definitely a win. Her hair is quite plain but you do get some needed linings on where you usually see them in anime-ish designs and the spiky edges look quite nice.

Her armor bits look great despite the fact that my piece being was just straight built; it's probably how well the colors combine to present a visually stunning piece, for me at least. While building Stylet, I definitely hated the black plastic used on her since sanding the nubs definitely left the sanded areas in a somewhat light gray color which can is quite visible to a certain range.

Similar to her upper armor details, you do get the same quality overall but it really does look great even if you leave it unpainted as Stylet's color scheme definitely is eye pleasing overall.

Probably my favorite part of Stylet's details would be how plump and meaty her ass is. I mean, maaaan, those are just juicy hahaha.

Part of building Stylet actually requires you to attached the double missiles on her left forearm and being a kit weapon, it's totally the very unpainted gray plastic you cut from the runners.

Size Comparison:

As far the official height from Kotobukiya goes, Stylet stands 15cm tall though in actual measurements she's more close to 16cm actually and if you'll count to the pointed tip of her headgear, she's nearly 17cm tall. Now if you are looking to pair up the Frame Arms Girl with your typical female figmas, it might not work since Frame Arms Girls are way taller than your average female figma; as an example, below is a shot of Stylet standing next to figma Racing Miku 2014 and you can easily see how much Stylet towers over Miku.

Luckily though, Frame Arms Girls seems to be work better if you display them with AGP MS Girls; sure, FAGs are still taller but the size difference is barely noticeable unlike with figmas and besides, best pair up a mecha girl with their fellow mecha girl, right? To give and insight on this, below's a shot of Stylet standing next to AGP Gundam Mk II (Titans).

Ultimately, Stylet still passes as a piece inside the 6-inch scaling as her height is more reflective of that Marvel Legends scaling, I have her standing next to Marvel Legends Ultron below.

Gimmick:

Frame Arms Girl is a spin-off of Kotobukiya's Frame Arms line and as such, even though we actually build girls instead of receiving an actual pre-built frame with tons of 3mm ports, Kotobukiya did their best to actually keep the "Frame Arms" gimmick alive in the Frame Arms Girl line by incorporating a similar "frame" feel as stripping Stylet of all her wings and jet pack does open up a number of 3mm ports all over her body.

Upon removing her wing parts and jet pack, Stylet is then revealed to have a total of 12 (2 of which I wasn't able to taka a photo of) 3mm ports all over her body, making her highly "customizable" as you can technically plug any 3mm pegs on those slots and arm her up like their line namesake "Frame Arms".

As you can see in the main photo of this section, I've attached Revoltech Complete ZET's wings and tail on Stylet; so far from my tests, Frame Arms 3mm ports are highly compatible with Revolver Joints, so, parts from Revoltech Jetwing Optimus Prime could be a good match for Stylet.

AGP MS Girl parts also work with her (do checkout my instagram for that), however, it seems that AGP has different standards per franchise and it's only the armor/parts in the MS Girl subline that I was able to mix and match with Stylet, AGP IS and KanColle parts just didn't do it; and speaking of the MS Girl subline, given that they are compatible with RDs, it is safe to assume that Side MS RD parts will work with Frame Arms Girls.

Last that I've tested was S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Birth's CLAWS system and they definitely work wonders when mixed with Stylet; in theory, old legends class transformer weapons should also work as they also wield 3mm port weapons.

There's definitely a huge amount of potential for making clustered combinations with this line and if you guys know any other lines that can fit, do let me know in the comments!

Accessories:

As for the accessories and alternate parts, Stylet comes with a lot which is pretty sweet of a deal if you look at it. She comes with an alter fixed left arm and leg which you can use to recreate the art as seen in her box's cover. Additionally, we are provided with 3 pre-decal installed alternate faceplates as well as 4 sets of alternate hands. You also get to build her a figure stand, two sheathed Katanas (a long and a shorter one), two unsheathed versions of the said Katanas, a combat knife and a Gatling gun. The sheathed Katanas also have holsters with 3mm pegs and these holsters actually come in 2 types which is a single holster (unseen in the photo above) and a twin holster.

Being a model kit, it is quite common that we get unpainted weapons and that is actually true for ALL of Stylet's weapons and since I need zero customization work for my reviews, you actually get to see the weapons in their raw unpainted state.The weapons are the exactly the same as the ones released under Kotobukiya's M.S.G. kits.

Lastly, the set also comes with a water slide decal sheet which contains some jet imprints, eye sets which you can use should you need to custom paint the face to match with a custom painted flesh on the body and last but certainly not the least, pantie decals... yes, pantie decals lol.

Articulation Points:

As you build Stylet, you'll actually know all her articulation points and from what I've heard from Gourai's straight build, she's got a lot of loose connection and joints problem and I can definitely say Kotobukiya has taken a good amount of feedback to ensure that most of Gourai's problems have been resolved for Stylet's release.

Stylet's neck has ball joints on both the bottom and the top of the neck so you can make her look up and down to a decent degree, tilt it a bit and rotate to the left or right; you can't do a 360 rotation though since Stylet has twin tails and these tails hinders the articulation once it bumps on her armor.

Her tails do move on a ball joint on the connecting point but it's not a huge amount of movement.

Her arms can rotate 360 degrees on the shoulder and can also be raised to nearly 90 degrees which is good stuff for a kit actually. Stylet also has bicep swivels and her elbows bend to just a little pass 90 degrees while the wrists are on ball joints which you can't do much aside from fully rotating her hands with it.

Additionally, you can pull down Stylet's arms on due to the ball joint.

Her back pack thruster also moves via the hinge that's available.

Stylet's torso moves mainly on a hinge on the ab section but the slot that the lower half of her torso connects to is a socket-able ball joint so this allows you some minor tilting aside from bending and rotating.

Stylet's skirt is actually divided into 5 bits, the back's one piece, the sides are one piece each and the front is divided by the hip armor. The side and the front does move up which works pretty nicely when you do kicks and splits.

Stylet's hips is actually built similarly to that of old Figuarts, so you can actually pull down her leg to allow her greater kicking range and thus allows her for perfect splits while the side split just allows you to somewhere near 45 degrees. The rest of her leg articulation include a thigh swivel, a fully bendable double hinged knee, ankle hinge and toe pivot.

Additionally, a great engineering gimmick that Stylet has is for her leg armor as you can actually extend the knee cap and have it hinged together with her knee joint.

Last is that the wheels on her feet are actually deployable which helps her stability on certain poses by acting as support heels.

Poseability:

Probably the hardest part of posing Stylet is having her stand without the base since her feet is technically just half flat and sometimes the deployable wheels just don't touch the ground to help you with things.

Don't get me wrong though as Stylet's joint are definitely built for dynamics and I really feel that of all her included weapons, I'd say her Katanas are my favorite as Jet girls with twin katanas just work like bread and butter for me; additionally having her wield the katanas actually does make great use of her articulation to certain points. Additionally, her shouting face really brings out a great amount of character and I really love it that they actually included it since Gourai didn't have any shouting faces.

While I like having her dual wield her katanas, a single katana setup is definitely possible especially if you use the single holster option. It's really just too bad that Stylet doesn't have any 3mm port on the side of her hips so it's either you plug the holster on her forearms or at the back near the skirt; single holster looks pretty badass if you port it on her forearm though as she does generate that Devil Trigger Vergil (from Devil May Cry) feel by having the katana sheath attached there.

The forearm missiles are actually detachable but yeah, you really can't do much it aside from pointing it towards stuff for photos. The same goes for her Gatling gun but it does work second best from the Katanas and I think, the Frame Arms Stylet (the mecha one) does actually have the Gatling gun as well, thus, making it Stylet's real weapon of choice.

My least favorite would be her combat knife since none of her hands can seem to grip it properly and I really like my combat knife wield upside down but yeah, if you can actually get her hand to grip it properly, it does make for really cool poses.

And of course, if you want something different, pop in her extra arm and leg along with the expressionless faceplate and you actually a more static figure feel which may be to your liking for displays.

Final Thoughts:

I actually got Stylet for a really good price and for a piece that acts as my exposure to the Frame Arms Girl line, she definitely did not disappoint at all. Straight building her definitely made me happy with the outcome and because of it, I've back ordered the Frame Arms Girl Weapon Set 2 and pre-ordered the recently revealed Frame Arms Girl Jinrai!

For her price, you get a great number of accessories which goes along with her decent overall articulation and that really makes it a worth it purchase; should you decide to paint and panel line her, she'll definitely look even better if you know what you're doing. I did get my Stylet from the awesome people at XenoToys!

I give Stylet a stylish 5 out of 5.

Review: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Spider-Man

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 05:10:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Hasbro
Origin Series:	Amazing Fantasy (First Appearance)
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 16.5cm tall
Original Price:	$19.99

Packaging:

I've decided to pick from my Top 10 action figures of 2015 for 2016's first review and here he is! This is the first time I'm actually reviewing a marvel legends with an actual packaging in hand! (Do note that the BAF part has been taken in my piece.) So yeah, the packaging for Marvel Legends Infinite Series are pretty much the same across all the releases and as you can see, it's pretty plain overall; there's a big window for you to inspect the figure (which is a plus in my end since I've seen some Pizza Spideys that have warped joints from how they're packaged, do beware of that) and you can see the brand line, the character's name (which is sometimes replaced with titles) and which series and wave it is which is Spider-man Marvel Legends and Hobgoblin wave in this case. Well. there's really not much for me to discuss so I'll end it here.

Details:

Okay, so I have not much ideas whether this body is a reuse from an older release or not so I'll just discuss the figure as how I see it.

Of course, I'll start with the head and I must say it looks pretty good, it's definitely got that right Spidey feel to it though while this is supposed to be a representation of Earth 616 Spider-Man, I am not sure if this was based off a certain comic version or not but it does feel more cartoon-ish than comic due to the way the webbing in the suit has been done.

The details extend to the rest of the clothes and the spider logo looks perfect IMO. One thing I totally loved about the figure's mold is that you can see pretty well defined muscles in his arms and especially in the torso which is definitely something pleasing to me. Overall, the paint and details are clean though my piece in particular does have some minor paint chips here and there but it definitely doesn't bug me.

If you noticed in one of the detail photos above, Pizza Spidey does have a hole in his back and this perfectly fits figma stands if you have extras.

The biggest bummer on Pizza Spidey for me is that in his double jointed elbows, you'll see that on one side, it's still red which a total eyesore for me. I mean, I might be spoiled by my japanese figures but couldn't they have painted those two blots with blue just to keep consistency?

Size Comparison:

And starting 2016, I'll be separating the size comparison into it's own section and that I'll try to provide more comparisons as the reviews go from here on.

With figma Spider-Man

The comparison above is with another Spider-Man from a different line which is the only one I have at the moment (and I really wish I had MAFEX Spidey at this point) and as you can see, the figma is definitely shorter and it always has been shorter when stood up even with the figma Avengers.

With figma Captain America and S.H.Figuarts Iron Man Mk 42

The figma Avengers and MCU shfs scale a bit better when they stand next to Marvel legends though by all means, Marvel Legends figures are still taller (just slightly taller than SHF Mk 42 for the comparison above.) So yeah, you can definitely bundle these guys together for a photo and not extremely notice a sizing difference when they're posed altogether.

Accessories:

As for accessories, this is definitely a great set by Marvel Legends since ML rarely do give accessories aside from the Build A Figure (BAF) part which isn't even an accessory for the character to begin with; speaking of BAF parts, Pizza Spidey comes with Hobgoblin's left leg which I definitely do not have.

Anyway, this Spidey comes with alternate hands, a feat that's slowly being applied to more and more Marvel Legends releases; Spider-Man comes with a treat as you get a pair of fists and the other halves of his default hands (a web shooting hand and an open hand) thus, giving him a total of 3 pairs handsets.

Hands aside you also get an alternate head which depicts Spider-Man's mask unmasked just enough for us to see a grinning Peter Parker mouth. Lastly but certainly not the least, he comes with a pizza slice! Yes, a pizza slice and hence why I and a lot of other collectors have been calling Hobgoblin Wave Spider-Man as Pizza Spidey as it's a big indicator on which ML Spidey is being talked about.

While the count isn't much compared to figmas or Figuarts, for a Marvel Legends release, this is actually more than what I could ask for and I really hope Hasbro provides us with more accessories for their releases this year.

Articulation Points:

Marvel Legends has always been loved by many because of its great articulation and at least for Pizza Spidey here, I'd say I'm around 80% satisfied with his articulation. And as I start with the head, the head primarily moves on a ball joint so you can definitely get a full rotation there and some minor tilting and I do wish we could've gotten better tilting while there's also a hinge on the neck which does give a great range of looking up and down.

Arm articulation is totally awesome as it provides a complete 90 degree raise to the sides as well a hinder free arm rotation on the shoulders. We are also given a bicep swivel, a VERY satisfying double hinged elbow as well as wrist movement similar to old figmas (hinged and can be swiveled via the connecting peg) on each arm.

And although I forgot to take a photo, you can swing his arms inward thanks to the shoulder mechanism.

Going to torso articulation, he does have decent outwards and inwards ab crunch and what's amazing here is that even if you crunch his body to its limits, the detailing doesn't break as the extra plastic molds inside are also detailed, giving that continued detail look. A full rotation on his waist is also available but do note that if you rotate his body that much, there's gonna be an obvious mold break visible there.

And now the most disappointing part is Spidey's hip joints, its sideways split is just so damn limited (just around 45 degrees by default) for an acrobatic character like Spider-Man, you'd have to mod it just so he can split properly, and what's even more disappointing here is that an earlier ML Spidey (TASM2 Spidey) had so much more than this without any need of modding so it's definitely an odd case. Anyway, going back to the hip joints, they can at least kick to just a little bit past 90 degrees while you are also given minor backward movement. Much like the arms, each legs does get a thigh swivel, perfect double hinged joint and last but not least, a very very great ankle tilt and hinge, which definitely helps the wallcrawler in dynamic poses.

Poseability:

Pizza Spidey's unmodded limited hip joints really proved a challenge when I was posing him around for shots in this review and it certainly was tricky to utilize the joints to make Spidey actually feel like Spidey. Don't get me wrong though as this Spidey can definitely pull off some remarkable poses despite being limited at certain points of his articulation.

I found posing him in mid air to be the easiest types of poses to do and is a lot of fun; there's certainly still limits every now and then but hey, Spider-Man is one character who we actually see in mid air more often than not so the frame definitely works. I do wish he came with some web parts but hey, that's just asking for too much already.

Adding the alternate head was definitely a great move by hasbro as this allows this Spidey to be posed in not just typical Spidey business but also some more relaxed manner or even something totally unorthodox if your ideas go wild.

With all said and done, I really find Spidey to be very poseable despite the limits; it's just that he could've done more without those and from the 3 Marvel Legends I've reviewed so far (this included), I definitely enjoyed this shoot a lot.

Final Thoughts:

For his price point, I must say that he's totally worth it as again I'd like to emphasize that he has an absurd number of accessories for a Marvel Legends release and the articulation is also above average while at the same time providing you with a decent 6 inch representation of Earth-616 Spider-Man. Pizza Spidey was definitely a bang for the buck hence why he's included in my top 10 action figures of 2016. Anyway, before I end the review, I did get Pizza Spidey from Dragon's Keep in Greenhills Shopping Center so do check out the store when you're there. Additionally, Pizza Spidey stocks are all over Toy Kingdom stores recently so if you're looking for one, do try checking out their branches.

I do give Pizza Spidey a spectacular 4 out of 5.

Corner Bites Issue 3: Night's Top 10 Articulated Figures of 2015!

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 16:29:00 +0000

Beginnings of new years have always been a good time to look back into the previous year's highlights and today, welcome to Issue 3 of Corner Bites as I present to you my very own top 10 (in no particular order) picks from 2015's array of articulated figure releases!

Disclaimer: My picks are limited to those that I own and that the post itself is just to share my own list to my readers.

Figma Sinon

First of my picks is one that I have reviewed in 2015 and is from Max Factory's Figma line. Figma #241 is a prime example of having excellent articulation while being packed with tons of accessories which gives you a complete package deal in one purchase. Sinon definitely left a mark on me as one of the most articulated figmas to date and also being a complete package with a handgun, Hecate and basically everything you'll ever need for Sinon's GGO avatar as how she was shown in the anime while bearing none of the online shop exclusive schemes.

Review Link: http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2015/05/max-factory-figma-sinon-review.html

Figma Saber 2.0

One would think that a complex design such as the armored form of Fate franchise's King "Arthur" easily known as Saber would have much limitations but when Max Factory decided to rework their old figma Saber into figma #227, dubbed Saber "2.0", to go in line with the Unlimited Blade Works anime series, they made sure the King of Knights gets that majestic articulation as pretty much every part has been looked into to make sure that Saber can be as dynamic as possible while also being true to the ufotable's rendition of the character. Possibly the most poseable figma with a long skirt as the skirt breaks down into several points of articulation to allow a great deal of movement in the her legs as well as the incorporation a lot of new changes to the joints has proved that Max Factory can make really quality articulated figures when they actually put extra effort into it.

Figma Criminal

While supposedly the release of figma SP-58 with figFIX SP-01 was to highlight the "young" detective Conan, he is IMO simply overshadowed by the Criminal Silhouette figma he comes with as Conan was reduced to being a mere "articulated" statue. Being a silhouette, Criminal presents no whatsoever limitation as he is basically a 2.0 archetype body while also coming with 2 heads and a lot of murder/crime weapons, Criminal has to be one of the most accessorized figma releases for 2015 while also being a very good poseable figure himself which can also act as a common thug for your heroic needs.

DC Comics Icons Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Icons line had its debut quite in the late in 2015 and this has received a mixture of positive and negative comments; while I would admit that the Icons line have much to improve maybe due to it being a new line and is still at its early days even as of this writing, the general articulation of the entire Icons line is good enough but actually releasing a sort of "DX" valued figure early in the line, Hal Jordan was definitely a good releas showing line's potential, Hal is, so far, that one Icons figure that has a lot of possible display options and I only had to pay like, at most, $3 more than your average Icons release for all his worth.

Marvel Legends Infinite Series Hobgoblin Wave Spider-Man

Marvel Legends has always been a hit line to a lot of people but personally, for me, I always think that they seem to lack proper accessories but then Hobgoblin Wave's "Pizza" Spidey somehow makes me think otherwise; coming with the BAF part, an alternate head, a bunch of alternate hands AND even an unneeded pizza, this has really got me thinking "Why can't Hasbro do this for all their releases?". While Marvel Legends has long established that its articulation is good, providing accessories and alternate hands/heads are far from the line's forte and not a lot of releases actually get them which sometimes limits what you can do with such great articulation, Pizza Spidey, however, has almost everything you'd need from a wall crawler.

MAFEX Darth Vader

There has been a lot of Darth Vader figures in the 6-inch scale but I definitely think MAFEX nailed it best. Being a Japan import figure, the placement of joints and overall articulation are more than enough to satisfy anyone who's looking for action, while the S.H.Figuarts can also do such feats, there are two things that MAFEX has over the other and they are height and poseable cape. MAFEX Vader is really tall as he should be as opposed to SHF whose Star Wars releases are generally really short in a sense that they are following more of the Rider scaling than the Avengers/Injustice scaling; additionally, poseable wired capes always makes poses look even more dynamic and this is also something SHF doesn't have, I have no idea for the Black series though while Revoltech's cape breaks into a ridiculous tattered look when you pose the cape around. Lastly, SHF actually requires you to buy their Luke Skywalker release to actually obtain Vader's "Anakin" head but MAFEX just gives it you as part of the package.

S.H.Figuarts Super Saiyan Son Goku -Awakening version-

While I'm never a fan of Goku, his Super Saiyan "awakening" version release is definitely game breaking such that he started the trend of Dragon Ball Figuarts as being regular releases again while also bringing us a complete overhaul of the DBZ body frame. Coming with the excellent new frame is also an excellent level of sculpting while also hiding the joints fairly well. This Goku has easily found its way into other people's top 10 figures as well as it definitely IS that good of a figure.

S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Proto Drive

Proto Drive is simply a recolor and a minor retool of the existing S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed, which I totally love BTW; the only reason he's at my top instead of Type Speed is mainly because of the fact that at least ProtoDrive is complete in a sense that he doesn't need weapons unlike Type Speed whose sword and gun (and even the gripping hands) were bundled in his other forms. The Type Speed mold is an excellent representation of the suit and is really a fully poseable figure without needing the Shinkocchou Seihou treatment and Proto Drive is no different as he gets exactly the same pros as Type Speed did. The downside though is that Proto Drive is an event exclusive release and/or lottery web release.

S.H.Figuarts Harley Quinn

While S.H.Figuarts' Injustice releases has been seemingly put to a hold, Harley has definitely been one of, it not, the strongest releases in the line. The slender body frame together with the sculpting truly brings out Harley's character. Together with a lot of hands, alternate faces, weapons (DIE CAST GUNS INCLUDED, PEOPLE!) and a set of smartly placed articulation points throughout her frame, Harley is easily, for me, the best Injustice release from S.H.Figuarts.

S.H.Figuarts Captain America (Age of Ultron)

I will admit that the face is far from Chris Evans' muscular features when wearing the mask, many will agree with me when I say S.H.Figuarts' Captain America rendition is easily the best 6 inch Captain America ever released in the year of 2015. With solid paint finish, solid articulation, alternate hands, eyes (yes, eyes) and features such as mounting his shield on his back and initial shield throwing. Age of Ultron Cap definitely makes a new baseline standard for future Cap figures (yes, even the Civil War version announced a few days ago) as he is pretty much one of the best S.H.Figuarts releases from Avengers Age of Ultron.

Well, that's about it for my top 10 articulated figures; note that just because they are here doesn't mean that I actually think they're my best hauls as well (which will be for another issue); The only factors that actually helped me determine this list would be the overall content and general articulation. Anyway, what about your top 10 figures? Feel free to share them in the comments section below!

Review: Return of Marvel Legends Ghost Rider

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 08:12:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Hasbro
Origin Series:	Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 16.5cm tall
Original Price:	$14.99

Packaging:

Much like my Agent Coulson figure review, I got RoML Ghost Rider as a loose figure just this year at Toycon with the help of my friend Snacks who bought it for me from a friend of his. So yeah, to give an idea, RoML's packaging is that of a card-type package with an artwork at the back, though I cannot provide any photos of the packaging as I don't have it, I will provide links to the package's front and back photos . (credits to Marvelous News.com)

Details:

This Ghost Rider is actually Danny Ketch who is, quite likely, the most famous Ghost Rider among the fans, but in his look as seen in the 2008 Ghost Rider comic series (if my research is correct that is, correct me if I'm wrong though) complete with the blue flames.

Like all my detail section reviews, I'll start off with the head. First off, I TOTALLY love this head sculpt, I definitely think it's the best looking Ghost Rider headsculpt to date as it does look like they've really put in effort to sculpt the skull alone and there's definitely a fierce look on how the molded in the skull; in addition to that, they actually painted it with blue hues to give it the effect that it's somehow inside a burning blue flame.

The flames igniting molded in the figure are all molded up pretty well for a legit flame effect and are all made of clear plastic with different shades of blue to have give it a more legit flame look, kudos to them for that as I definitely love it.

Likewise, his outfit is equally as awesome as the coat was molded in a way that there are a lot of wrinkles in it + the fact that it's in gloss black give it an impression of a real leather jacket. Additionally, I just love how rough the texture is on the shoulder pads and gauntlets. One additional thing to note is that you can see traces of blue hues on his suit, it's actually supposed to be a full black and gray suit but since they made the shoulder pads ignite blue flames, Hasbro wanted to give it some light blue hues as an effect of the flame igniting at the instant; I think it's a very cool approach and it definitely works well for my tastes.

There are a bunch of chains throughout this Ghost Rider's designs and while they are not real chains, the amount of paint detail on those soft plastic turned out quite nicely and they actually look like chains with all the mixes of silver and black lining.

Accessories:

Unfortunately, Ghost Rider doesn't have any accessories but he does come with the arms for Terrax which I definitely do not have as, again, I got this one as a loose figure without the BAF parts.

Articulation Points:

Ghost Rider's skull sits on a ball joint and there's no articulation at the bottom of the neck but the ball does allow a nice rotation and tilt but looking up and down is quite limited in range especially looking down.

While Ghost Rider supposedly has good articulation, a lot of his suit details actually limit his articulation to really notorious levels. First off, his shoulder pads prevents his arms from being fully rotated, only allowing you to raise it up around 90 degrees forward or backward, sideways raise is pretty ok though however, due to his suit yet again, having his arms in resting position would look awkward at certain points because it only sits at 45 degrees by default instead of the usual 10-ish degrees. Ghost Rider has a bicep swivel, but rotating his arms through the biceps would forcefully raise his arms through the shoulders. His elbows are basically double jointed but you can't fully bend it since again, a design factor prevents it and this time it would be his gauntlets getting in the way. Lastly, his wrist joints are again similar to old figma wrist styles which has a central side hinge but also rotates via the connection peg but yet again, a part of the gauntlet makes it very hard to fully rotate it; you can definitely fully rotate it but it will stretch out a bendy plastic in the tip of the gauntlet.

Ghost Rider has an ab crunch and that is ridiculously one of the more unrestricted articulation points this guy has and the range is pretty decent IMO; additionally, Ghost Rider does have a waist swivel.

Going to the legs, since this is the pre-infinite series, Ghost Rider does have that weird hip joint that works similarly to the shoulders, what makes this so hard to move is that you need to shift the position of the hinge on the hip joints before you can do any kicking (worth a 90 degree raise) or splitting sideways (around 135 degrees split). Ghost Rider also has a thigh swivel which works just as intended; a double jointed knee which, I can't tell if due to design or not, can bend only to around 90 degrees and lastly, a hinge on the ankles. Yes, no ankle tilts which makes this a pretty hard to balance figure.

Poseability:

RoML Ghost Rider is pretty tricky pose and is very hard to balance due to non-existent ankle tilts and there really isn't much you can do with him alone since first and foremost, he doesn't have any accessories nor extra hands. But hey, a Ghost Rider's a Ghost Rider, so the default I thought of was him punishing a bad guy but even with such a case, there's still really a limited amount of poses this guy can do.

If you have the means to give him some chains, it does work perfectly as his right hand was sculpted in a way to make it look like it was supposed to hold something and I did use the chains from figma Black Rock Shooter for him since I don't have any silver chains but it does work pretty well as an accessory for Ghost Rider.

Now, it's already a given fact at this point that you need to accessorize the Rider if you want to fully utilize him being a figure and for me, one of the best complimentary "accessory" you could give him would be the attachable flames from the Tamashii Effect Flame (of course, the blue one since this is the blue flame Ghost Rider variant). Sure Ketch is more on the chains and the stares but Hellfire is always one of the powers of the spirits of vengeance.

Effect Flame definitely works perfectly with him and is my main "accessory" for him in my display cab.

And before I end the review, here's a little shot of our sin-counting heroes. (well, GR technically works that way in general, right?)

Final Thoughts:

Now the only reason I bought off Ketch Ghost Rider was because I like Ghost Riders the best from Marvel's array of heroes but, of course, if it's THE Ghost Rider, it'd be Blaze for me. But anyway, I totally love the sculpting and detailing work on RoML Ghost Rider and that alone makes his price worth it, got him for around 13 USD iirc? But if you're looking for articulation, you'd best be chasing after the Blaze Ghost Rider from the recent Rhino wave. I can't really say I can recommend him since I love and hate this figure at the same time, love it because sculpt-wise, this is still the best Marvel Legends Ghost Rider for me but accessory and articulation makes it equally a bummer to own. So yeah, do decide for yourself, if you're a fan of this design of Ketch's Ghost Rider form, then definitely get one. (Do note there's an orange flame variant for this.)

Once again thanks to my friend, Snacks, for this find, I owe you one for this! 8Db

I do give the Spirit of Vengeance a 3 out of 5.

The Lost Child, A Halloween Story

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Hey there everyone! First of all, a Happy Halloween to everyone! So yeah, I know blog activity has been very slow recently but I do find time to update it at least once a month so everyone knows that the blog's still alive and stuff, I was supposedly posting a review last night but I wasn't able to finish it, so yeah, a little later for that.

Anyway, I rarely do occasion posts like this but since my creative juices fired up last Sunday, I made a photo set that tells a spooky spooky tale. I initially planned to put dialogues like my old photostory series but the photos are actually pretty self explanatory, so yeah! Basically, it's about "what would you if you encounter a lost child in the middle of the night while walking home?" and for Araragi-kun, this is what he's done and what happened after that. With that said, please enjoy the blog's halloween special photoset!

And that concludes the blog's Halloween special! Hope you guys enjoyed the short photo story! Once again, a Happy Halloween to you all and please, stay away from Dayos. Murakami Out!

Review: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Agent Coulson

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 13:24:00 +0000

Figure Information
Manufacturer:	Hasbro
Origin Series:	Iron Man (MCU 2008 film)
Scale:	Non-scale
Height:	Approximately 15.5cm tall
Original Price:	$39.99 (3-pack release)

Packaging:

Agent Coulson is part of a Toys R Us exclusive 3-pack release called "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." together with Nick Fury and Maria Hill which I definitely am not interested in getting so, as a result, I had to snipe for Coulson in the local toy groups and I eventually got one with the help of my friend, Fryste. As a result, I got him loose so I don't have the box BUT as my other loose reviews before, click on this link to view the photo of the packaging which is from Marvel Toys News!

Details:

Okay, so I'll start with the Coulson's head and this is actually the alternate head which I mixed up during the shoot so I'll start with it, so, this is the head with the shades put on which is actually my preferred head. While the paint definitely has some minor bleeds here and there, the molding of the face actually looks pretty good, and does have a great degree of likeness to Clark Gregg especially with the shades put on, it is definitely THE Agent Coulson. His hair's detailed enough to actually save it from looking dull in many ways.

Since this is based on the typical Agent Coulson we've seen in many Marvel movies in the MCU, there's nothing special on his outfit as it is just a formal suit, first and foremost but what I love about the mold is that the suit isn't just your smooth black, there are actually a lot of wrinkles in the suit and if you hit it with good lighting, you'll see how it pops out and it actually does give that cotton(?) texture which looks absolutely good. There's also Coulson's tie which is in a metallic light blue in stripes, and the neatest part of it all is that the tie is made up of soft material.

And for some scaling, here is Coulson next to his hero, SHF Captain America and then next to the Asgardian God of Thunder, figma Thor. I must say Coulson scales quite well with the SHF and Figma Avengers; there's definitely a sense that Marvel Legends are scaled slightly bigger but height wise, they do look perfectly fine on my book.

Accessories:

Again, what I discussed in details section was supposed to be the the alternate head, so, I'll discuss the default head here instead. The default head is actually the shades-less Coulson head which is basically Clark Gregg; I definitely think this is the weaker head but don't get me wrong though, this does have Clark Gregg's likeness to a degree but not as much as the other head. I do think that this resembles Coulson's animated series look from Ultimate Spider-man though; the only difference this one has from the other is that you can see his eyes and that Coulson is smiling here instead of his stoic look.

Extra head aside, Coulson's only true accessory is his Energy Destroyer Rifle (as called in Marvel Heroes 2015 anyway), the same weapon he used to shoot Loki before you know... that scene. The rifle is coated in gun metal gray and there aren't any particular paint details aside from the energy particles but there is quite a good amount of molded details in the rifle.

Articulation Points:

As usual, I'll start off with the head articulation and as for our Agent here, Coulson does have a hinge on his neck, thus, allowing you to make him look up or down to a decent degree while the head itself rests on a ball joints which, of course, provides an excellent range of movement in head rotation and tilting.

Going to the arms, the shoulder does provide a swivel that lets you fully rotate Coulson's arms as well as a hinge to allow you to raise it sideways; additionally, a bicep swivel is provided to allow you to rotate the arms' orientation. Coulson does have double jointed elbows which absolutely bends like how double jointed hinges should and his hands do function similarly to old figmas which let you rotate via a swivel point in the wrists and then a sideways hinge so you can flap his hands like how we normally can.

Amazingly, despite having a double layered outfit, Hasbro still managed to put on an ab crunch for Coulson and it does bend pretty nicely though stretching it outward feels pretty non-existent but you can indeed do so albeit just a slight stretch.

Our agent here has also been graced by a waist swivel which really works on certain action poses and I'm definitely glad it's there.

And finally going to the leg articulation, first off is that due to how the hips were molded, Coulson can only split sideways to around nearly 45 degrees while his kick can reach up to about almost 90 degrees; a pretty neat range I must say but definitely could do better (alhtough you can actually mod the hips to provide a full split). Similar to the arm articulation, you do get thigh swivels and double jointed knees and finally a hinge on his ankles as well as a very nice tilting range which helps provide Coulson some needed stability for some more action oriented poses.

Poseability:

While Coulson definitely has a good level of poseability, character-wise, we really just see him conversing with people most of the time and that definitely had me in a tight spot when thinking of posing him that's in-character. So yeah, have some Hero conversations for a while, which perfectly blends in with his default head.

Of course, you can indeed do some dynamic action with Coulson if you as his frame can technically support them from jumping to running or just doing some normal to badass stances; the frame is very easy move compared to the frames of those in the Return of Marvel Legends line.

The alternate definitely works perfectly for anything that involves Coulson doing some agent action and I just love it!

And before I end, here's some bonus shots of Coulson taking down some Ultron drones with his hero! While we probably will never see such a thing in the Cinematic Universe, it's definitely an easy sight in the MMO Marvel Heroes 2015!

Final Thoughts:

For something that's not a Hot Toys release, I definitely think Hasbro nailed it on Coulson's release, I just love the figure and definitely all my hype trying to find a loose one is pretty worth especially since I really like Phil Coulson as a character. While I do believe he's a bit short in accessories, he does come with a really cool alternate head and somewhat a "trademark" rifle, Coulson is definitely worth the buck though I can't say for sure for the entire 3-pack. If you can find one and you're actually a fan of Coulson, definitely get one as he's definitely a good 6-inch representation of the character. And before I end the review, a big thanks to Ferrari Aquino from Pinoy Sulit Toys for selling this one and, once again, to Fryste of Fryste-Claudandus (do check out their page!) as I couldn't have gotten my hands on this without his help! Anyway, below's a rather heartbreaking scene inspired from the 1st Avengers movie as my final thoughts shot feature.

I do give Agent Coulson a 5 out of 5.

Corner Bites Issue 2-B: The Japanese Articulated War -MAFEX Edition-

noreply@blogger.com (Murakami Night) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 16:28:00 +0000

Continuing the discussion on the 4 major 6-inch lines from Japanese figure companies, I now head on to my second discussion which is all about the rather "fresh" MAFEX line from Medicom Toy!

Photo from MAFEX Batman's review.

Medicom has always been known for their 12 inch (1/6 scaled) RAH line for as far as I can remember, though sometime back in 2013, they seemed to have expanded their target market by introducing a new 6 inch line in the name of MAFEX. The line started off with Spider-Man (TASM version) and Batman (TDKR) and they were technically released on the same month too. And while their first two releases weren't highly commendable for me (Batman being a good figure but has a lot of problems and then Spiderman seemingly having weird proportions for my tastes), the line technically is pretty much okay but also slow in releases as #3 and #4 literally came more than a year after the release of Spidey and Bats; as of this writing, we have only less than 10 figures that's been released into the market with MAFEX #6 Darth Vader being delayed for almost a year now and #10 Storm Trooper delayed for around half a year already.

Official photos from Medicom's website.

MAFEX's articulation and frame can be easily be at par with that of S.H.Figuarts, meaning they have a great frame for articulation and that is actually one of the charms of the TASM1 Spidey for me as he was truly capable of doing Spider-man poses in many many ways. While I did say #2 Batman had a lot of problems, Medicom did a renewal on him 2 years after and there certainly were a lot of satisfying improvements to the first Batman and when they released TASM2 Spidey, the proportions were actually a lot better to look at and I took it as a good sign that future MAFEX releases will get even better.

One of MAFEX's strengths for me is that they're clearly trying to make realistic faces and while it clearly failed on their first try, which is Peter Parker(Andrew Garfield)'s head for #4 TASM2 Spider-Man DX set.

Official photo from Medicom's website.

They've clearly improved in my book as this year's The Dark Knight Trilogy releases have been quite satisfying for me in terms of capturing the actor's/actress's likeness. I do admit they're not perfect but they certainly do look good enough for me especially when compared to how other companies have been doing in capturing human faces in their final products.

Photo from MAFEX Joker's review.

MAFEX is technically the most promising line for me when it comes to capturing real-life faces and this has actually got me excited when I found out that they were doing Age of Ultron which starts with Iron Man Mk 43 next year; I really am crossing my fingers that they would make that much needed MCU Hawkeye and Black Widow which Japanese companies seems to be ignoring. :/

Official photo from Medicom's website.

While I originally thought that MAFEX was only a line for Western movie characters, I was completely wrong when they announced Meliodas to be part of the MAFEX line a few months ago; from prototypes alone, it totally looks good for an anime character rendition, quite easily looking like a mini RAH IMO and can definitely be a possible rival to figma in the future but we'll see.

Official photo from Medicom's website.

One last thing worth noting on MAFEX is that they actually have 1 vehicle released to date which is Batman's Batpod as seen in the The Dark Knight Trilogy. I don't have one myself but from the looks of it, I think it was a pretty solid release and this also gives that sign that we might be seeing more vehicles in the future for some of their releases.

Official photo from Medicom's website.

My favorite from the line so far is definitely The Joker as the accessory count, the face and overall articulation is great making it a release that's definitely worth how much I payed for it. But yeah, while the line started back in 2013, the number of actual releases is still a pretty low count to have a general opinion on the line but I do know that it's definitely leaving a great impression on me so far. At the moment though, if a human figure (based on an actor/actress) actually gets a MAFEX release as well as another on a different line, do pick MAFEX if you want a more accurate head sculpt.

With that previous paragraph, I end my article on MAFEX as a line and definitely check out my Revoltech Edition post if you still haven't. Next up on my coverage would be Max Factory's figma line!