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?
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| "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.
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| "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?
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| 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
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| "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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Guyver I has an enormous chest |
 |
| Anime lean... |
 |
| A use for those hands... |
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| 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.
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