Figma Kid Icarus "PIT" I've been a fan of Kid Icarus eversince I first played the game on Nintendo Famicom's Disk System way back in its glory days.. but I am really stoked to finally get a figure of Pit.

  

It's been a long time coming, and to know that it's a Max Factory Figma release makes it all the more perfect for me. The articulation on the wings are simple but does not ruin the sculpt and is very well made to execute those dramatic wing poses. 

 

Of the past Nintendo Figma releases I think Pit has the most generous array of accessories. He also comes with an extra monoeye monster that has a nifty action feature, his eyes swing from side to side when you move the center tentacle under his eye. The monster comes with his own corresponding stand to accommodate his flying effect from the game.

  

Pit's bow can be seperated and has an extra handle so that Pit can use em' as dual daggers. 

The set also comes with two exclusive Nintendo 3DS Kid Icarus Uprising AR (altered reality) cards. (To be used with the 3DS Kid Icarus game)

 

Monoeye with his AR counterpart

  

Pit with his AR Injured counterpart 

 

Nintendo Power

God has been so good (ALL the time!) that I was again able to spend vacation time with the family during the holidays, along with some R & R  I was also able to get some awesome toys. What's more this time, it's more fun to do toy runs because My Son is old enough to really appreciate the stuff that I like too.

Happy New Year, God Bless and Thanks for visiting my lazily updated toyblog!

Toynami Naruto Action Figure Line

Toynami Naruto Line: Kakashi and Itachi

Got these figures at 20sgd each.. a little steep for 4" western figures, but well worth it.

Itachi I suppose is the weakest of all the figures from the wave 1 release of toynami's naruto 4" line. Because of its lack of accessories and minimal play value. Although he does indeed feature 25points of articulation as advertised by toynami, most of the articulation from the waist down is hampered in terms of range movement by the akatsuki coat.

Itachi close up.

For a 4" figure, you just have to admire how toynami executed making Itachi into an action figure. The Sharingan eyes are very well detailed even for a figure this small. Very well painted and not a paint bleed noticeable, very odd for a western mass produced action figure. The forehead protector is also very accurate with the konoha/leaf logo and the slash across the crest indicating the bearer as a missing nin/rogue ninja.

As mentioned, Itachi has limited articulation from the waist down, toynami didn't even bother sculpting hips for itachi, from what I can see, the legs and torso are connected by just a "T-bar" shaped crotch!:lol: Although this is a limitation to the figure per se, it only highlights how good Itachi is as a character. Even by just a simple standing position, Itachi can very well stay true to his anime personality. Specifically a Genjutsu master, Itachi rarely does intense moves. He just simply stands there and kills you with his stare, literally! :shock: However, what bothers me is his facial expression, although the eyes look good, I hate how he seems to be smiling a little bit. I think I could count the times I remember itachi smiling, and he rarely smiles, so I find it a bit odd that toynami designed his expression that way, anyways they could've easily remedied it with an extra "mangekyou sharingan" head but opted not to, oh well.. 

The only accessorie(s) that came with him is a pair of jutsu/seal forming hands. That's it, I can't help but feel a little shortchanged, they could've at least thrown an extra pair of kunai wielding hands, if not the extra head.. I had thoughts of cutting the robe so as to get a more range of leg movement, but after seeing that he has no sculpted hips, I'm glad I didn't. 

Like I said, no overly acrobatic poses for Itachi, but cool nonetheless, for this pic, I borrowed naruto's kunai wielding left hand as they are interchangeable and uses the same sized pegs/peg holes.  I don't know how they could've gone any other way in terms of sculpting the akatsuki robes but I think it would've been more awesome if they made the robes semi opened on the waist down so as to accomodate the wasted articulation for the hips and legs..

As seen on Itachi's return to Konoha (with Hoshigake Kisame)

Customized straw hat borrowed from my "love hina" figure.

You just gotta admire the extra details for the figure, the akatsuki ring is also evident on both the open and jutsu hands, sculpted and painted. Even the details on the nail paints for Itachi's hands and feet are there. I was expecting sloppy paints for the akatsuki clouds on the robes, but I was surprised that they were expertly painted. Very good indeed.

"What could a missing nin like you want from Konoha?"-Kakashi

Naruto and Itachi forest encounter

"I've given you some of my power, I hope the day never comes when you have to use it..."-Itachi

Overall I think this is the best Itachi action figure release. While there are more bigger figs of itachi out there, I think the additional articulation as well as the prospect of putting him alongside additional akatsuki members is a big draw for this figure. Unlike with bandai or other japanese toy companies, who would only release and re-release main characters to death, western companies like toynami, are more concerned with releasing secondary characters and a chance to complete the cast. This is how it was with Irwin and Jakks for Dragonball Z, I hope this also holds true for Toynami. Wave 2 consists of Gaara, Sasuke and Deidara. hopefully somebody brings these in locally at a more affordable and friendly price.

Thanks for looking, Will give my thoughts on Kakashi next (the gem of the line imo).

Super Robot Chogokin Gear Fighter Dendoh

Super Robot Chogokin Gear Fighter Dendoh

I intentionally decided to just get the main mech from the show so as to have a "feel" of how good the gear fighters release are, so far I'm contented with them, and after playing around with Dendoh, I think Knight Ogre is worthy of a purchase also.

Dendoh also comes with effect parts for the forearms and one skid mark effect (ala revoltech), which I think is not that useful, I would rather that bandai made wind effects also for the leg turbines instead. I like how they used shiny gold paint highlights on the chest and on Dendoh's forehead. Dendoh has solid chunks of diecast metal parts on the forearm and shin turbine frames (those silver parts that hold the gears). At first I was expecting bandai will make the gears made of solid metal also, but I guess they opted to making em rubbery plastic for  cost cutting and balancing issues. The white part on the front chest of Dendoh is also made of metal. Everything else is made of plastic. When compared with Alteisen, Dendoh seems to be lacking very much in terms of metal content. Plus the non usage of metal joints on the legs and shoulders worries me about possible breakage issues over prolonged play-wear.

My favorite move from Dendoh is his jumping crescent kick. I'm glad how this SRC version of him can replicate it with ease. Poseability is one of the main staples of SRC Dendoh, and he wont dissapoint, Dendoh can strike lots of poses that will please even the most casual mecha fans.

Another angle/view of Dendoh's crescent kick, this move definitely makes me crave for that missing wind effect for his legs. I tried using the skid mark effect but it just doesn't seem right for it..

Perhaps they can include the leg effects when they release Kiba? There was a prototype shown of kiba back when the line was announced, but most of the stuff are now in limbo (cybaster,kiba,Rgun etc.)

"Unicorn Drill Command Install!"

Bandai was sane enough to include one data weapon for each gear fighter release. Dendoh comes with the Unicorn Drill, and the horn can rotate just as how it was when used in the show.

 

"Unicorn Drill Final attack!!!"

Havin' fun with the src effect parts, for this one the electricity effect was from SRC Great Mazinger, although now that I think about it, it would've been more anime accurate to include the wind effects over the electricity effects.. Dendoh also comes with alternate parts for the backpack and his backpack can also be pulled to reveal the ducts and vents in preparation for the excess energy emitted during the execution of its final attack.