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 Mazinger Z and Weapons pack

Big big thanks to a fellow ptker Swaldem for getting me these when they were released in HK..

Great things come in small packages! 

Super Robot Chogokin Mazinger Z and SRC weapons pack

contents

thoughts on the figure:

It's a pain to put the pileder on maz's head, took me about 3-5mins. just to put it in place, the pileder is tiny, plus the sharp edges of the pileder's fins and maz's earhorns make it scary to force the issue.

very nice clickety joints, its like a revoltech figure but not that annoying or scary to pose, that paranoia of breaking a ratchet joint won't be felt on these srcs!

Love the metallic colors of the breast fire plates, the scrander wings, as well as the gold trim on the kyoukagata rocket punch. They are very shiny, its like socs meets saint cloth myth shiny goodness..

Lovin' the package as well as the peek-a-maz window.

Be careful of maz's chin and his neck, the ball jointed neck its so poseable that maz's chin paint CAN be scratched on his own neck, yep, happened while I was putting on the pileder, make no mistake guys, remember how hard it was when koji was trying to dock the pileder on maz in the anime? You'd get that same sensation on these here src.

The rocket punch effects is really not compatible with socs.

As for the diecast parts, I'd say its about 50% of the figure, specifically the chest, and shins (blue part of the legs). Aside from that I think there are diecast parts inside as the hip joints are solid diecast ball joints. It's true that the figure is light as opposed to regular socs, but when you hold it, it feels like a real soc, an soc that has been shrunk. Although its a few hundred grams lighter than socs, its also proportionally heavy given the size, its like how the transformers ths-02 convoy feels, small but solid.

Take note though that these are my own personal thoughts, others might have other opinions on the toy.

that said.. on with some funshots!

Swordsmechs

Maz vs. doublas

With SRW Buddies (sorry, too lazy to add more mechs on this pic) 

These srcs are not replacements for soc, but they sure are awesome to play with,  and great for dios too, really tempted with changing my displays from the usual static with bases to an srw free for all diorama battle!

This is the best mazinger out there right now, If bandai decided to 2upped this one, and release him in SOC form, its another Maz I'll surely welcome! 


Based on one of my fave eps of Mazinger Z, before the jetscrander upgrade, Maz had to resort to using Aflodai-A's rockets to fly and defeat his enemies!

future src tamashii exclusive? 

Rocket Punch!!!

Another great classic Mazinger Z collectible.

Here's hoping the Photonic Research labs/institute SRC base pushes through!

One Piece Mugiwara (Strawhat) Pirates

Bandai One Piece Catalog Insert

Another anime line that I like very much is One Piece, Its about a group of pirates and their (mis)adventures, its now one of the most popular anime shows in Japan. The manga is also going strong and Luffy the main protagonist has been ranked no.1 three times for Shounen Jump's character popularity polls.

Back in 2002, Smarty toys released a couple of One Piece Merchandise to coincide with Gma7's One Piece airing of the show. Along with these was Bandai's One Piece Action Figures, it was a highly poseable line of 5" action figures with lots of accessories, sadly One piece was not yet known locally, coupled with Smarty's SUPERB pricing scheme, the toys flopped, and the line went on sale, but not after about three years of warming and clogging the pegs..



Anyways, I'm glad I picked up the figs back then, cause right now, these are the only decent One Piece action figures available on the market, Mattel released One Piece action figures also, but of course the sculpt was not up to par to Bandai's versions, and Mattel's action features was such an obstruction for the sculpt of the figures. Sad thing about bandai's line though is the release was only limited to select key characters, (surprise surprise! Every DBZ fan knows that) So long story short I couldn't complete my Mugiwara (strawhat) Pirate Crew. Had to get out of scale static figures of Nami and Robin just to make a decent looking Mugiwara crew...



Fast forward 6years later.. and Bankee releases Bandai's Styling figs, although static and not poseable, I immediately realized that these are the figures I was waiting for, decent enough placeholders for the other Strawhat pirates that I lack in my collection, great scale, and great sculpts to boot!




Action shots for the Strawhat pirates with the highest bounties:

"Black Leg" Sanji 77,000,000 beli bounty



Nico Robin 80,000,000 beli bounty (DF user)



Roronoa Zoro 120,000,000 beli bounty




SantoRyuu (3 Swordstyle)

Monkey D. Luffy 300,000,000 beli bounty (DF user)


Gomu Gomu pistol!!!


In Arabastan Garb with Arabastan Princess Nefertari Vivi (aka Miss Wednesday)



And an extra although not necessarily a Strawhat..

The center of the current manga storyline, Portgas D. Ace, Luffy's Brother and a Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates.


Fire Fist Ace



And to cap things up, the 8" Banpresto prize fig that was available before for P599.75 but it went on further sale for as low as P200!





TFL!