Reviews

Bring Arts – Final Fantasy VII – Barret Wallace

And Barret completes the last of the 4 core heroes. Though now that I think about it, Aerith kind of doesn’t count does she? It’s complicated, she is kind of core to the plot but also she uh… Isn’t around as much… For spoilery plot reasons from a 25 year old game.

How about we go with Barret rounds out the core 3 heroes of Cloud, Tifa and Barret.

Barret is an interesting character in the game, he is a well meaning tough guy who leads the tiny rebellion group known as Avalanche. Not too smart though, he tends to solve things with violence. Tifa tends to be the brains of that outfit. Gameplay wise, I never care for him much. If I remember, he wasn’t great at magic in game and his weapon seemed kind of weak. Plus ranged fighters are boring in combat because they just sort of, step forward and shoot then step back. You only got 3 heroes in your party and one of them had to be Cloud, so of the what, 7 choices, I didn’t use Barret a lot once he wasn’t the only option.

It probably didn’t help that he was a big goofy bulky dude.

The figure is also appropriately big. He stands head and shoulders above Cloud, the next tallest of the four Final Fantasy VII Bring Arts figures I have. His proportions feel a little off though. Like maybe he should be wider or just a bit shorter. His legs seems really long. Part of this may stem from that, I believe, the primary influence for these classic design figures is the key art, not such the in game models.

Being a bigger figure though means he gets extra screwed on accessories.

And when I say extra screwed, I mean EXTRA extra screwed. His only alternate part is an open hand, and it’s not even for his gun arm side. Its not a big deal because Barret only has one hand, but it would have been kind of a nice extra. And I think the Remake Play Arts version has hands for both arms, but don’t quote me on that. Actually it may be guns for both arms.

As for the EXTRA extra screwed, I could not even get the extra hand to work. I tried, believe me, I tried, and maybe mine is a fluke, but I absolutely could not get the spare hand to attach to the peg. It also feels like it’s maybe, 25% too large anyway. If I could get it attached maybe it would look better, but as it is, it looks comically huge.

Also, I have found that the hips issue that Squall had has returned. It’s not “shake it and it falls off” but the hip joint pops off way way too easily when trying to pose him.

Which, and I know I am a bit of a broken record on this, is really sad given how much these Bring Arts run compared to similar Figma or Figuarts figures. If you are pushing a “premium priced” figure Square, make sure it’s “Premium Price Quality.”

Like this entire line, Barret certainly looks nice visually, but around the edges, there is a lot to be desired.

Toy Story 2 Dynamic 8ction Heroes DAH-074 Al McWhiggin

Aug 14th, 2024

by Ramen Junkie.

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As a toy collector, this felt like a figure that was a weird requirement to own. It’s also a figure that feels less likely to get a lot of toys. He was the villain for Toy Story 2, for the most part, but Toy Story toys tend to revolve around the Toy characters, who are all “toy sized.” Plus he is just kind of a goofy weird design in general.

I was a little warry because I don’t really know anything about the company making these. Buying from lesser known companies isn’t always an issue, and neither is buying from companies that may or may not be making unlicensed toys, though in this case, Al here is probably licensed. There are a lot of Disney characters available when searching for “Dynamic 8ction Heroes”. They seem to make slightly less mainstream characters from popular properties.

My other big worry, and probably still my bigger annoyance, is the weird 8″ scale. As implied by the term “8ction”. I mostly try to stick with 1/12th scale, but for a lot of stuff that is closer to whatever 5″ is I can sort of fudge it as height differences and whatever 7″ would be actually works better for a lot of non human characters. This guy is really big though. Way to big to “fake it”. Even way to big to “fake it” with the few 7″ figures I have. I imagine sticking to this size is part of whatever licensing deal they have, kind of how “Super 7” is all “7 inches”.

He does look alright next to Revoltech woody though. I know Woody wouldn’t be anywhere in scale, but it some how does work, which is fine, because in the end, Woody is the only one he really needs to display with. I don’t have a Buzz to pair up with him though.

There was plenty I do like about this figure though. He has cloth goods clothing for starters, which is always my Achilles heel for toy likes. Al’s clothes fit and work really nicely too.

The other fun bit is the ridiculous Chicken Suit. It’s actually, mostly kind of functional. You shove the figure up in this large rubber chicken suit, and cover his feet with some little cloth chicken feet. There is also a piece of soft material to help stabilize it all. Maybe technically you are supposed to not use it, but you can’t see it and it helps everything stay together. The overall effect works really well. It’s goofy and I love it.

Another neat bit is that he has poseable eyeballs, which, appropriately, match the poseable eyeballs on Revoltech Woody. Both of the faces have the poseable eyes. He also has several alternate hand styles and small versions of Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete, though they are not removable from their little display trays.

Overall, it’s admittedly, kind of a weird piece, but it seems like an appropriate one for a toy collector to have, since his character is a toy collector. On another side note, the box for this guy is absolutely humongous.

Horizon Zero Dawn Aloy

Aug 7th, 2024

by Ramen Junkie.

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This line of Playstation based figures kind of felt like it came out of nowhere a month or so ago for pre order. Most of them look pretty cool but I don’t really play most of the games and have no real attachments to most of the characters. I do however really like Aloy’s look and was at the time, playing Horizon Zero Dawn on the PC. She seemed like a good choice to try out the line.

I was a little worried before receiving the figure itself. The actual company making these is Spin Master, which makes more, young kids toys and some Tech Deck skateboards. Basically, they don’t really make a ton of action figures. They could be annoyingly brittle like NECA or have awful likenesses like a lot of non figure making companies end up. On the other hand, Jada toys is mostly known for their die-cast cars, but has been absolutely killing it with their video game themed lines.

Aloy here ended up being really really nice. The articulation is all well done and not too hindered by things like her skirt and shoulder pieces. She even has layers of articulation in her hair so you can make it look neutral or dynamic. The sculpt looks really nice all around, and the paint application is really good all around, especially with all of her multi-colored bits like the stripes on her clothing and elaborate weapon dressing.

If I had any issues, it’s that in places things feel almost a little too rubbery. This is more an issue with keeping her accessories attached. There is a little peg on her back for the spear or bow, but it has trouble staying attached. The same goes for her little arrow quiver that hangs on her side. Also, her feet are a little small which can make balancing her a little tricky.

She has plenty of accessories, which is also why she costs more than most of the line. I believe she is technically a “deluxe” style price point. She includes her bow and spear, the bow is super nice with a nice string for posing the barrow knocked. She also has one loose arrow for posing. She has several sets of hand options and an assortment of face plates with different expressions and face paint looks.

She is roughly 1/12th scale as well, so she will fit in nicely with other 1/12th scale lines and figures.

All in all, I am really impressed with the figure, and I kind of wish I had more interest in more of the line. I may have to pick up Kratos or something to get a second look at the line.

Transformers X TMNT – Party Wallop

Aug 6th, 2024

by Ramen Junkie.

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I have lost track of how many of these crossover Transformers we have gotten but it’s a pretty neat line that for the most part has been done pretty well. I particularly like that they are mostly original molds. It feels like it would have been easy to just do some mediocre repaints. I suppose making actual meaningful molds was probably part of the deal for getting some of these IPs.

The TMNT crossover is pretty good, it’s not perfect, but I like it. Party Wallop definitely has the “Ninja Turtle” look in Robot mode, with a few spots of added armor that sort of resembles Samurai armor. The neat gimmick here is that the head has a swappable bit that lets Party Wallop wear a bare green head or one of the four TMNT colored bands.

I am not sure I would suggest anyone order 4 of these. Mostly because he is very large. Not quite Leader class large, but he is bigger than a standard Voyager. Plus the alt mode is the Turtle’s Party Wagon, and having 4 of those doesn’t really make any sense.

Back on the largeness though, a lot of it is that he is really chonkey and wide all around. Almost too much so. The robot mode has plenty of articulation, but his mass makes it kind of awkward to use, or just awkward looking. Like a Sumo Wrestler doing Karate.

I am not real sure how much could have been done to slim him down, but there is some interesting techniques used in the transformation to make the Party Wagon smaller. There is a lot of crunching and compression and some of it seems a little hard to keep held together. I have trouble with the front wheel panels holding in place.

The Party Wagon looks really nice though when transformed. It’s missing the Red Door on the one side, but that could be painted if one wanted that bad enough. It would mean one shoulder pad becomes asymmetrically red though.

Considering the lack of red plastic anywhere else, I am sure they just opted not to make one red for cost savings.

He has some other nice features though. There are weapons for each of the 4 Ninja Turtles available, and everything has a place to store on Robot mode. The front of the Party Wagon forms the entire torso of the robot, but it can also be removed to reveal a more “Turtle Shell” looking torso. The front piece can be used as a shield as well, though the Turtles didn’t really ever use shields like that. It’s a nice bonus feature though. The front circle on the front of the van comes off to become a little pizza as well.

One last nitpick to mention, the package is not collector friendly at all, which I kind of hate.

It also feels like a missed opportunity not giving him a Mechaturtle head.

Overall, I really like this one. The thick chonkey body makes it a little awkward as a Ninja Turtle, but it’s still a very nice robot and transformer otherwise. That chonkey body isn’t really a problem in basically any other context that isn’t “Ninja Turtle.”

Bring Arts – Final Fantasy VII – Aerith Gainsborough

Jul 31st, 2024

by Ramen Junkie.

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I just want to put out front here, Aerith, is not my favorite Final Fantasy VII character. In fact, she is probably on the bottom, by quite a bit. Like, I have a few favorites (Yuffie, Cait Sith, Cid) and everyone else is a bit below that in a plane, and then there is Aerith.

But considering I plan to get everyone else from this line, it would be lame to leave out Aerith. Especially because, though I dislike her, she is, very much, central to the plot. I mean, aside from Cloud and Sephiroth, you could remove almost any other character from the plot and offload their plot elements to someone else or just remove them. Except for Aerith. Because her name sounds like Earth and she is a mako manifestation of the planet’s spirit or whatever.

I mostly just find her boring. This isn’t an Aerith thing, it’s an “RPG Healer type” thing.

The figure is at least nice. The articulation in the legs is hindered slightly less than I expected given the long rubber skirt. The skirt is flexible enough and the slit down one side really help. She can actually sort of do a kneeling pose. And this need isn’t for some weird dirty reason, she literally kneels and prays in the game, it’s part of her deal, she lives in an abandoned church even.

It probably would have been too much to ask for a cloth skirt, and probably would have looked out of place anyway. It’s kind of an eternal problem for action figures in general.

Of the three of these I have so far, Aerith makes out the best for accessories. She has a weapon like Cloud, and an extra face like Tifa, and more alternate hands than both. Maybe they were trying to make up for her limited hip articulation. I do have one issue with her accessories though, the face/hair front on mine tends to fall off. It’s not super loose, but it’s loose enough to be annoying.

She also has articulation on her pony tail, which I had wished Tifa had, so that’s also a plus. Honestly, despite that I am not a fan of the character, she is probably the best figure of the three I have, aside from the limitations that come from a plastic/rubber skirt piece.