Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Review 18: figma Guyver III

             
  Here’s a story about two kids in the 90’s. When you’re 10, and you’re best friend invites you over to check out the latest Manga VHS tape, you go over there. I couldn’t figure out whether or not this thing was a robot, nor get passed the tentacle session he goes through to don the armor, but my friend was all about it. All the gore, the super moves, the Hulk-like transformations…all of it. He couldn’t get enough, and by proxy, I loved it too. Nice to see that Max Factory didn’t forget about the classics for all us old anime-heads.
Enter Sho Fukamachi, a 17yr old kid at Narisawa high school. Just a normal Japanese kid in school until he literally stumbles upon a top secret alien landmine. No big deal, right? Wrong. He is immediately thrust into the midst of a complicated war between a company of alien monsters, and a bunch of other alien warriors that kill them. Sweet premise, right?

"You guys know I'm important, right?"

                So, how does Sho kill these alien monsters? It’s all about the landmine. It’s actually called a Guyver Unit, and it’s wielder is surrounded by a bunch of hentai tentacle and plating called Bio-Boosted Armor, and dub the mantle of Guyver. From here, Sho is nothing less of a super-duper killing machine. The armor is known to even change the insides of its host, sometimes changing and/or removing organs. It heals the host of just about any injury that did not already kill them. The Guyver also has a crapton of attacks and powers, however…
                We aren’t here for him. We’re here for his cooler counterpart: Agito Makishima. Where Sho is the one to activate the first Guyver Unit, Agito activated the third known Guyver  Unit. Naturally, he Is dubbed Guyver III. Like most anime cool guys, he has a working knowledge of the scenes behind the scenes, works to his own agenda(usually something like revenge), and is more powerful than the main character.
"I just...found this thing lying around. Belong to you?"

                First showing up on the scene as that enigmatic dude in the background creeping on your fight scene like a dude with a pack of cigarettes in his sleeve looking at high school girls, he “assesses” Sho’s (or Guyver I’s) use of the Unit while dispatching cannon fodder Zoanoids, the alien monsters I talked about. Agito is the adopted son of a man named Genzo, who works for Cronos, the secret organization that makes the bio-weapons known as Zoanoids and is supposed to be in charge of the Guyver Units. Sho’s Unit was stolen, the second Unit was damaged, and Agito has the last, most powerful unit.
                Guyver III has some distinct features about him that separate him from the first 2 units, and allude to his gap in power from them. The Guyvers are pretty much used as Zoanoid busters in the story, although their original purpose is rumored to be something else. Here’s a small list of the crap these units can do for the host:
-          Vibration Globes – The orbs at the mouth. He can then super scream to perform the Sonic Buster (Sound Wave Destructive Blast). Sonic waves can undo molecular bonds. No biggie.
-          Mega Smasher (Thoratic Particle Beam Cannon) – Reported to discharge over 100 megawatts output, eradicating a mountain. Opening the large breastplates to reveal the fragile lenses inside, it is claimed to be the most powerful cannon on the Earth, with a projected potential of about 10 kilotons of TNT. Anime, amirite?
Guyver III Dark

-          Head Beam – Infrared laser that cuts what? You guessed it: everything in its path. It’s preferred to the Mega Smasher since it uses such less energy.
-          High-Frequency Swords “Sonic Swords” – Probably the most prominent thing about the Guyver, and what people remember the most. Long blades that protrude from the forearms. Guyver III is a bit different, in having 2 swords per arm protrude. They are the primary weapon of the units, and vibrate hyper fast, and can cut you guessed it again: anything in their way. They work a bit like both Wolverine’s claws and Eva 01’s prog knife as one weapon.
There are some other things it can do with the orb on its waist, its bare hands, mind control, super orb-ears, etc. Here’s an interesting thing…it’s an anime, right? What does that mean for the main character? A Transformation of some kind. The Guyvers can become bigger and called “Gigantic Guyvers”. Awesome. Bigger bodies, bigger weapons, bigger destruction. Then, there is the Gigantic Exceed. You can look up that thing all you’d like. It just gets ridiculous. Learn about Agito here: http://guyver.wikia.com/wiki/Agito_Makishima and learn about the units here: http://guyver.wikia.com/wiki/G-Unit
"Say Ahhhh"
Onto the figure…
                Box Art: This is a figma. So…don’t expect a bunch of stuff. You don’t get that here. Figmas are more like dolls than straight action figures, and most of the poseability showcased on the box is dynamic enough to show heroic action, but nothing out of the ordinary for what is expected for the figma line. That being said, the front has an open window to see the figure and some of the accessories inside. The side panels have close ups of the figure, just like the top panel. The back is where it displays the real gimmicks. You have some action poses of attacking and poses of the quintessential “cool guy” poses.







                Design: The Guyver has a pretty legendary look to it. Imagine Ironman…if he was made by the Japanese…in the 90’s…and if the armor is alien instead of metallic. Throw some spikes on the forearms, and you’ve got the gist of it. What is the most notable feature, I think of the Guyver is the elegant yet simple head. There are so many parts to it that are detailed in the manga. Another thing is the use or orbs/spheres throughout the head and body. The orbs on the sides of the head are used as ears. The orb in the middle of the forehead is the control module, the orb above that is a laser, the orbs at the mouth are super speakers. Even the bug blade antenna on the top of the head is nice. Guyver III’s look has a great deal of spikes. More than any other unit. And unlike the other units, he is primarily dark, with black plating, and a very dark reddish-brown interior, in contrast to the Guyver I and II’s brighter colors of turquoise and gold. The feet are also nice, being set right underneath the armored ankles. The Mega Smashers are powered by two plated cables that droop underneath the armpits and along the rib cage until they reach what I assume would be some sort of battery power in the back plates. Last thing is the collar. The Guyver units have connecting cables from the chin to around the front clavicles. They are represented well here.

















Paint: Liberties were taken here, and I use the term “liberties” to soften the blow. So, Guyver III is very dark…black even. Unlike the turquoise of Guyver I, the black is a straight sheen. It’s just one glossy coat. There are no weathering, panel lining, or shading done anywhere. For Guyver I, there is black panel lining, weathering and some rustic features that gave me the idea that the armor was a seasoned battle suit…at least more than Guyver III, whose flashy sheen confuses me. The lack of any noticeable weathering not only makes me think Max Factory got a bit lazy on the part of their figures that I believe is superb to most others, but more than anything, it makes me think that either he’s too powerful to get dirty doing his work(highly unlikely), or that the armor is more ceremonial than active. It’s almost like rifles and swords in the military that we use once or twice a year during balls. The most intricate part of painting can again be found in the head, but don’t expect much there. Some orbs, red eyes and a green head beam. The majority of the detail is in the sculpt itself, and the paint is simply nothing special. That’s because the Guyvers have simple color schemes for all their armor detailing.
























Yeah...not a good look


Articulation: Let me just say this: Max Factory has grown. If I had to harken back to the days of figmas like Kanu Unchou and Fate Testarossa, you can tell that this line has seen some upgrades in articulation. Guyvers are fighting machines, with most of their melee battle including jumps and single hard hits at a time. You know…the same ol’ 90’s jazz.  Starting with the head, this is probably the most interesting part. Connected by dog bone ball joint, the double jointed neck houses two cables made out of very flexible plastic that connect to the back of the spike protruding from the center of his chest, giving it a good range of movement when moving the head and neck. The shoulders are nothing to clamor over, honestly. They work just fine, with the a ball joint going into the torso, and a hinge joint  connected to the bicep. The shoulder pads are just flex connected to the arm connections so that they don’t get in the way of moving the arms outward. Biceps have their swivels, and connected to yet another hinge joint-to-ball joint deal. It’s only after the ball joint that the forearms are attached. This in turn gives the elbows double joints with a decent amount of wiggle room even side to side. Normal small figma joint to connect the hands. Back to the torso, the chest, abdomen, and hips area are all separate pieces. The torso/abdomen area are connected by ball joint, allowing an ever so slight ab crunch and back arching. The connection from abdomen to hips is another thing, with plenty of swivel, albeit tight but next to no crunch. The hips have a ball joint connection that mirrors the pattern of the arms, thigh swivel included. Unlike the Guyver I, the plating on the side of the leg does not rise as high to the hips, so there is minimal bending of the plates when spreading the legs. The knees are a bit interesting, having a figma joint under the thigh. There is small piece of what I can only call “filling plastic” that literally fills the area between the thigh and the figma joint. Without the joint, the piece would fall out. The bottom of the leg and foot are par for the course with figma. You get a limited ankle tilt on the foot, due in part by the thick armor plating on the ankles. Toe bend.




















The flames somehow fit.






Special Parts/Accessories: There is a lot here. In fact, there may be too much by my count. Roughly 18 pieces in counting off the noggin. Now, I can possibly see why. First thing, the figma line is is popular…very popular. Part of that popularity I think comes with the fact that so much is packed into one figure. If you’re one to do a bunch of posing ::ehem, this guy:: then it has all the tools necessary to make it look awesome. Next, let us not forget that Max Factory loves Guyver. They do. They already had a pretty impressive series of Guyver figures made years ago. It had a lot more figures in that line as well. Go look for them now, they are a bit bigger and some come with glow in the dark pieces. That best friend I told you about? He bought the first two Guyvers, and I rummaged and fought tooth and nail to get him his favorite, Guyver III. So I can see why they put so many things into this one figure. Favoritism, really. Let’s start with probably the most obvious thing: the high frequency swords. Alright, so it doesn’t take much for these. Remove short spikes, insert long spikes. There are 2 of them per arm. One big, one small. Easy, right? Sure, but understand that these things get in the damn way when trying to pose the arms, so you may be best to insert them last. Next up, my particular copy needed a clear nail polish treatment in both the pegs and the holes. They kept falling out. That gets pretty annoying pretty quick. Next, the chests. He comes with a standard chest that can be swapped for two more. One chest it a bit larger, with a bit obvious ball hinges. These are because the mega smashers are revealed behind the plates, and boy, do they look nice. Clear plastic orbs with  alien cannon batteries to get rid of…everything. The other chest is smaller, and more compressed. This is explicitly for the one of the next accessories – the crossed arms. I said he was the cool guy, right? Well, he is also kind of/sort of a bad guy. You can’t be either bad or cool without crossing your arms. That also happens to be a signature look for him anyway. They work by pulling off the arms at the biceps, and replacing them. They should slide snugly into place. And if you were wondering, yes you can still change out the little spikes for the big spikes on the arms. I don’t like the look though. Now, the hands. Ok, so the hands are great and plentiful. It comes boxed with fists, so you get pairs of open extended hands, tensed fingers, cupped hands, and gripping hands. The cupped hands are exclusively for deployment of the mega smasher. This is main reason for the somewhat funky arrangement of the arm articulation. It’s so you can grip the breast plates comfortably and recreate the look. As for the gripped hands. I don’t know what that is about. I don’t know Guyvers for holding weaponry, nor did it come with anything to hold in those hands. Maybe I’m missing something. I did, however, find uses for those hands. Nice to have a weapons cache for figures every now and then. Lastly, you get the Unit I in its stasis form. Maybe I need to know about the lore to see the importance of having it.
Guyver I has an enormous chest


Anime lean...





A use for those hands...



InuYasha swords...cool. 

Overall Score: 7.5/10. This guy just looks so awesome. Unfortunately, this is the bulk of his beauty. I know it’s a toy. It should look good. But I would like it to shine a bit more in the articulation. Maybe the arms can go a little higher into the shoulders. Maybe the ab crunch can have a bigger crunch angle. But most of all, is the m*tha f*ckin’ arm blades. Nothing has ruined this experience more than the constant falling apart and uneasy grip of the pegs into the holes. Where that hits for a figure is functionality, which is far more important to me than how easy it is on the eyes.

Is it worth the purchase? As I said, Max Factory loves Guyver. Despite what I had to say about functionality and the arm blades. Purchase if you are a fan of Guyver. It’s not something for new audiences, so if it this series has a special place in your heart, don’t miss out on it. Max Factory did put their heart into this figure. It’s the one character everyone wants anyway. Even if Guyver isn’t your thing, It may be worth it just for the design of it. I think it’s really cool.

The Guyver III is the essential Anti-Hero that has been part of antagonist Anime trope that we all know and love. The cooler, better “brother” of the main protagonist is everything a young man wanted to aspire to…in his fantasy world of course. I know I had my issues, but hats off to Max Factory for bringing such vibrancy and life to something clad in so much black. It’s perfect for the cool, superior poses, and easily catches your eye on a first glance.


Happy Hobbying, Everyone!