Review 5: figma Black Rock Shooter The Game: BRS 2035 and Berserk: Guts - Black Swordsman Ver.

Here it is…the next review. This one is a double, hitting two figures at once. My first and third figmas, Black Rock Shooter: The Game’s BRS 2035, and Berserk’s Guts Black Swordsman Ver. Make no mistake, they both are great characters, and are great figures on top of that. Since I finally got around to what I promised, I decided to go ahead and throw a bonus on it with a 2nd figure. Onto the review.

 

First, I will go with BRS 2035. She is from the Black Rock Shooter project, which portrays the same character with certain changes in different stories.  Being in an OVA, manga, anime, and video game, this particular character assumes this role with a plethora of tasks ahead of her. I particularly wasn’t a big fan of her design back when I first saw her in a hobby shop in Akihabara back in 2010. She looked like a black Hatsune Miku (which I was HELLA sick and tired of seeing), I didn’t know what to expect of her, and sort of felt like a perv just looking at her outfit, knowing she is a little girl. I see now, I was completely wrong in thinking so. By the time I saw her in action, my jaw fell in my lap from the animation of her fights. My jaw was through the compilation of her fights from the anime. They are…ridiculous to say the least. It’s interesting how this particular anime/OVA is all about women, though made by a man (I think). The “other self’ idea is pretty nice, however, being an adult, it really just makes me think that there is 1: a girl the way she is normally, and 2: the same girl, only on her period. All of the “other selves” are demonic looking incarnations of the original girls they are, and all have a dark side to them, akin most women I met. Not that I’m being sexist or anything, but in a comical (and more truthful way), I don’t really think I’m far off. If you really want to get more in depth about Black Rock Shooter, go ahead and try here: http://blackrockshooter.wikia.com/wiki/Black%E2%98%85Rock_Shooter_%28original_concept%29

What you are really looking for is the Black Rock Shooter (Game) article, since this is where this particular figure is from.  However, if you ask me, it just so happens to be the most boring section of the 4 protagonist Black Rock Shooters.

As it arrived

Opened

Full accessories (without stands)

Factory setting (without wings)

Hair looks nice even from the side

Yelling face and eye flame piece

Again, this is my premier figma, and I left and open mind to the expectations of it. I didn’t know what I was dealing with, and the only thing I knew about figma is what I read on BeamKnight87’s review of his figma Saber. I really bought this to test out a category of figures I have not dove into yet, as well as Black Rock Shooter being so awesomely drawn.

The packaging is pretty intense. It makes sure to encompass the iconic tile pattern that is evident in the BRS world, and the cardboard that goes around the plastic casing of the figure has a cut out portion around the logo. The paint detail on this figure is nothing short of magnificent. This is certainly the CLEANEST paint job of any figure I have ever owned (which is a ton, by the way).  The detail of the barcodes on her mid drift is great…probably stenciled on. Her jacket isn’t flat black, but glossy, with the white trim and star faithfully portrayed. Best thing about the paint, is that it doesn’t seem to bleed anywhere, and nothing seems to be painted over anything else in the wrong places at all.

Another note of the paint is her weaponry. Unlike backpack and wings, both her “Black Blade” (sword) and “Rock Cannon” (Gun) have a base paint that is covered by a grungy, unkempt kind of film that gives both weapons the look of worn metal, which I prefer. It’s a bit different from the likes of say…Armor Plus, and Saint Seiya, whose weapons/special parts look about as glossy and clean as can be. The parts look more like decorative props rather than serious wartime utensils.


Posing



Noel Vermillion inspired

The Black Blade

The Rock Cannon

Wings attached

Other than that, I also like what they did her hair. They didn’t skimp on it at all. The locks are connected by a single figma joint, which provides plenty of room to articulate it how you like. The waist is a bit of a problem. It’s very stiff. There isn’t much turning to be done with it. The kibble at that area doesn’t help either. Actually, you don’t need to move it much, since it will interfere with her girlish figure.

Onto special pieces. They weren’t shy about them. She actually comes with 5 pairs of hands, the Black Blade, the Rock Cannon, and angry face, a hair piece containing blue eye flame effect part, and 2 figma stands…one of  special “claw” to hold the Rock Cannon. The hands are: open hands (fingers together), open hands (fingers open), holding hands (for cannon), a tighter set of holding hands, and angled holding hands (for sword).  The faces are changed by removing the bangs hairpiece, then the face itself. This is also used to change the bangs hairpiece to eye flame piece as well. The stands are special figma stands that actually say “figma” on it. They are extremely similar to Tamashi Stage 4 stands in appearance and functionality, but lack the attaching function to other stands. That function is a trademark of Bandai anyway, so it doesn’t hurt figma if they don’t do it.

This thing is capable of some nice poses, but don’t expect anything too dynamic. figma is not created for dynamics. Bandai is more suited for that. figma is more of a calmer, sleeker, classier sect of figure that emphasizes a more graceful display.

"Restiction 666 released. Dimensional Interference FIeld deployed. Azure Grimoire..."

"ACTIVATE!"

Let's do this

First victim

Death by Black Blade

Down parts: There are some. I’m not a particular fan of the small articulation on the wings. I see where it could have been a nice idea, but my particular figure cannot hold the extra stabilizer on the left wing where I want it. The feet is another issue. Due to her small, girly feet, standing her is a bit of a chore, and you are forced to use the stand. Even if you do pose her on her own, don’t put her anywhere close to a fan, because she will tumble down. Now, I understand that she is a little girl, and that she has a small frame, but what happens with that, is when she is standing straight up, the figma joints protrude pretty drastically. Sure, they could have made the joints smaller, but that would only hinder the integrity of the knee joint. Last thing: the Rock Cannon. The Rock Cannon connecting to the holding hand is guaranteed to test the “bendability” of that hand. Removing and securing the hand onto the Rock Cannon multiple times will work down the strength of that hand.

*Insert epic angelic landing jingle*

Battle ready

 I give this an 8\10. Reason being, it must use a stand for use of the Rock Cannon that is dangerous to use. The arms don’t come together enough to assume the role of holding the Black Blade with two hands. The figma stand doesn’t fully settle into her back, but that just might be my case only. Get this only if you love Black Rock Shooter, or if you are curious about figma. I may have hit some bad things about it, but it is without a doubt a great figure and worth the buy. Hell, it was my first figma, and now I have four.

If this isn’t enough for you to still consider this, I pray you watch this. It’s a bit long, but rest assured, it will keep you entertained. Big ups to the uploader/editor for a job well done.

Place in collection next to figma Black Gold Saw

Next up:

Guts. Guts is from one of the greatest animes I ever watched, Berserk. He can be boiled down to anime’s Kratos, before Kratos was known. He is a savage, stone cold, hot-blooded killer, with a kill count literally in the thousands. In terms of warfare, this guy has seen it all, done it all, and even invented a few things we take as cliché nowadays. He carries a sword as big as him (in which he practices 100 strokes a day with, and Guts is technically 6’3”), and is cased in battle scars. I won’t go too far into him without you doing some research on our own, but the story surrounding him losing his left arm and right eye is freaking unbelievably epic. I mean, c’mon, the guy breaks a sword tip by biting it! Who does that? If you haven’t read the manga, don’t feel bad…I haven’t either. But if you haven’t watched the anime, GET ON IT!!! It isn’t terribly long, but it will keep you entertained. If you can stand for the old school animation, a great story will unfold. Equipped with plenty of character development, and unorthodox yet do-able love plot, and a ton of notable carnage, this anime easily gives credence its popularity and is sure to leave you begging for more. Also, there are movies coming out soon of this anime, so it gives Berserk another chance at animation, only with modern seamless 1080i Blu-Ray awesomeness. That doesn’t mean skip out on that anime, because it’s damn worth it! I watched the whole series in about a day at my friend’s house. Sacrificed my sleep and everything just to see what happens with the Band of the Hawk. Want to know more? Visit: http://berserk.wikia.com/wiki/Guts

As for the figure, again the paint on this is VERY well done. With Guts, more is considered to paint with his mold. His costume is entirely medieval, and his skin isn’t clean and bright like everyone else. Everything about him is colored in dark tones, and rightfully so, since I don’t think he wears a speck of white anywhere. One thing to notice is the weapons he has on his person at base level. An array of throwing knives on his bandolier, and great hunting knife on the front of his belt make for a threatening guy. They make sure to incorporate his pouches all over his belt that includes medicine, food, water, currency, gunpowder, etc. His shoulder armors are actually a part of his arms, and moves with them as opposed to being attached to his torso armor.

figma Guts

Cut-out section is particular to figma

Comes with everything you see here

Sculpt on the angry face is very notable



The Dragon Slayer - taller than him.



The figma joint



Chain accessory

Following the chain



Make note of the the rod the cahin ends on AND the brand on his neck



Closer look

As for his skin, this is a big plus for me. Guts is a dirty, and grungy kind of guy, and his skin lets you know. His head has beautifully spiked short hair, and his right eyes is shut because he lost it. His arms are sculpted beautifully.  He isn’t some skinny little boy, nor is he a karate guy with an average strong build. He is a bug, surly man. He has always been muscle bound, but carrying such a thick blade his own height, he must have a body for it, and the arms to go with swinging that thing all over the place. That being said, the veins in his arms aren’t too much, but aren’t too little either. They are just enough to let you know that he is war torn. The left arm is special, and I prayed that that Max Factory came up with a suitable arrangement to portray it as faithfully as possible. They did quite well. You see, as Guts’ right arm has a bandage covered hand, the left arm has a bandage over the elbow area, since from the elbow down is a mechanical arm. I won’t tell you how he lost that arm. You will have to do research for that. They do a great job in keeping articulation at the elbow, while at the same time making it look like the bottom portion of the mechanical arm flows right into the top portion. Such a nice job by Max Factory.

Factory setting



The only guy in my collection that doesn't look like he's in a boy band



Freakin' arm cannon

"You think I just wake up in the morning with my hair like this?"

"Tonight...we hunt."

Sword secures with that plastic piece

See the secondary use of the metal rod? VERY clever, Max Factory!

The Crown Jewel for me comes in the holster for his sword. It’s done by a very clever chain mechanism that connects from the bottom of his bandolier, goes around his waist, and up his back to a metal bent rod on the back of his right shoulder blade. On the chain, however, is a bent piece of plastic personifying the “leather” that would secure his blade while holstered. This mechanism is pretty slick if you ask me. A very cunning design, amplified only by its simplicity. You will see what I mean.

As for special parts, you get a good number, I think. No, it doesn’t come with ten extra hands like BRS 2035, but they do give him open hands (closed fingers), holding hands, angled holding hands, and angry face, an “arm cannon” hand, a sword and a cape. As mentioned before, the chain on Guts’ body is used primarily for securing his gigantic blade. You see, the sword has a small chain link of what would be the chain guard (chappe) on one side of the sword. By sliding the blade onto his back, and having the crease of the “leather” plastic part cup the edge of the blade, you slide the sword downward until the chain link hooks onto the metal hook, and let gravity handle the rest. It’s not the most secure way to holster the weapon, since shaking him or turning him upside-down would undo everything. The real thing to pay attention to is the sequence to get it there. The sword itself is painted nicely, as previously stated, especially with the special wiping of a small coat of what looks akin to shellac or something.  

Reaching for the cleaver

Drawn!

Take notice of the paint job on the blade

Battle Warrior

Grand blade

About to charge

Not really a Guts style, but it's possible

With the cape, you will find that it is a small piece of sculpted rubber glued to a very thin, slightly folded piece of construction paper. Personally, I have not even touched construction paper since grade school, and haven’t seen it in about 20 years. Nice to know that Max Factory engineers are using everything at their disposal for greatness. The cape doesn’t drape over Guts until you take off his head first, but that doesn’t make much a difference to me. The cape can be worn with or without the holstered sword. By unfolding dome of the construction paper in a select area, taking off the pommel and sliding it through new hole made in the cape, you can have both of them at once. In fact, taking the pommel on and off is the preferred way to place it in the hands. This makes sure that you don’t ruin the integrity of Guts’ hand molds. Of course, standard is a figma stand, but has a nice scondary black piece that fits on top of the stand and goes into his back for added straight standing.

For poseability, done expect much from below the waist. His legs don’t go very many places. Not that Guts is a character to do such a thing, this is a figure that you spent money on, and as an owner, it’s nice to know I can do what I want. Though the sword holstering is awesome, it IS as flimsy as can be, and can be knocked out of place easy enough.

The most productive use of construction paper

Drawing again

Ready...

8.5/10. I can only go so far for nostalgia and paint job. It’s nice enough to keep his brand on the back of his neck, which I really liked. He does NOT come with a Behelit at all, which is a bit disappointing. I’m hoping it comes with Griffith. Though it is a great homage to a great character, the paint job can be so well, it can almost comes to its detriment if you’re collecting for figure’s sake. If you really want a great paint job, get a statue. If you really want a great figure, wait until Bandai takes a whirl at this. If you like Berserk, go ahead and get it, for display reasons and fandom’s sake.

For some more motivation, check him out doing what he does best.

Place in the collection

P.S. - figma BRS 2035 was shipped to me via the good folks over at Image Anime. figma Guts was shipped to me by the good people over at Plamoya.

Hope you all enjoyed the review. Comment on the good, bad, and the ugly. if you have an idea for the next review of something you have seen in my collection, give a holler!

Happy Hobbying, everyone!