Saturday, October 26, 2024

S.H. Figuarts Naruto Uzumaki - [Kurama Link Mode] Courageous Strength That Binds



The Naruto show goes through a ton of instances of power scaling, a term in anime (especially Shonen anime) that refers to determining a character's power by comparing them to other characters. Specifically, this is often a power race between Naruto and his rival, Sasuke. 

Near the end of the series, Naruto and Sasuke get a massive power boost. In this case, for Naruto is finally can win over the heart and the chakra Nine-Tailed beast imprisoned inside him by his father, and bond completely in a symbiotic synchronicity. The nine-tailed demon fox, Kurama, has learned over time the value, loyalty and determination of the human being he is locked inside and decides moving forward that Kurama is now on Naruto's side, creating a new power blend resulting in the Kurama Link Mode. Naruto is now surrounded by a yellow-orange chakra and black outlines surround him to show how completely enveloped by Kurama's chakra. In this mode, Naruto has incredible, previously unheard-of power. He can also create clones with insane power and throw on chakra cloaks to an entire army. It's a lot! 

This special figure release is amazing and a bit of a holy grail for me. It was NOT cheap to acquire and yet it's a pretty awesome version of Naruto while not being a repeat of previously produced Naruto versions in the line (I'm looking at you Sage mode!)

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

S.H. Figuarts Obito Uchiha - Hollow Dreams of Despair




 Obito Uchiha's story is riddled with traumatic moments and tough times that ultimately led him to become completely numb and turn into a villain with a grudge. He is key in implementing the Tsuki No Me (Infinite Tsukoyomi) plan, which aims to put the entirety of the ninja world under an illusion to end all wars. He goes through several iterations and changes in the story.

SPOILERS BELOW!











He begins as a child of the Uchiha during the third great ninja war. He is part of the three-person team of Minato (Naruto's dad) that includes himself, a young Kakashi and his crush, Rin Nohara. During a fierce battle, half his body becomes crushed under a rock, and he gives one of his Sharingan eyes as a gift to Kakshi, who lost his eye in the battle. From there, we find out he in fact didn't die, and has been rescued and revived by a super old Madara Uchiha, who is just barely alive, but teaches Obito what he knows and bonds him to a White Zetsu (a copy of the 1st Hokages cells, allowing a half body transplant that returns him to be fully able to fight once more. Madara convinces him to follow his plan, which involves forming a group to take all the tailed beasts and summon the Ten Tails. This would allow Madara to become the host of the Ten-Tails and project his power onto the surface of the moon. 

In between all those plans, Obito goes out to find Rin, sensing she's in danger. He comes at the exact moment Kakashi is manipulated into killing her by Rin herself to avoid releasing the three tails upon Konoha village. Kakashi faints after awakening his Mangekyo Sharingan and Obito goes crazy, killing every ninja there. 

After that, Obito continues as the Masked Man, controlling the Nine tails to attack Konoha village, killing Minato, his old teacher and his wife. At this point they seal away the Nine tails half in Naruto, half in Minato as he is dying. Years later, Obito becomes Tobi, and manipulates Nagato, Pain and Konan into using their newly formed Akatsuki organization to execute Obito's plan of piece. 

He successfully gets most of the tailed beasts but only summons a partial Ten Tails due to Naruto still having Kurama and Killer B still having 8 tails Gyuuki. He becomes the ten-tailed jinchurikii, then gets backstabbed by a newly resurrected Madara, who has brought himself back to life in the prime of his power. Eventually, he gets Naruto'ed, convinced of the error of his worldview and grudge-filled past. 

In this form of Obito, he is still claiming to be Madara and has outfitted himself for the Fourth Shinobi war. He uses Madara's fan weapon and a white mask with three tomoe around in a circle to indicate his power of having acquired one Rinnegan. This figure is a nice battle-marked representation of Obito, and I have to say it's done very well like the others. His accessories are plentiful, his articulation is great (minus the waist), and the paint is clean. 

Friday, October 11, 2024

S.H. Figuarts Orochimaru - Seeker of Immortality


 Orochimaru is one of my favourite villains in the Naruto series. He has the mad scientist-type vibe and has no qualms about experimenting on people and killing those who stand in his way. He is based on a Japanese myth with a character of the same name, a robber who was blessed with snake magic that allowed him to spit venom at his victims. He is in love with Tsunade, the slug princess, who is Jiraiya's bride. A lot of names were taken in by the show! 

Orochimaru plays a fairly big part in part 1 of the show, being the main antagonist for a good chunk. He has acquired a ton of ninja techniques but is often seen using summons and powers involving snakes and poisons. Early on, he takes on Sasuke and Naruto in the Forest of Death and sinks his fangs into Sasuke, giving him the Curse Mark. This painful seal allows him to draw on power from outside his body but causes transformations of his physical body into something a bit more sinister. The sub title of the figure is Seeker of Immortality, but I'm not sure he isn't already. As long as he has access to a new body to inhabit, he continues living. Maybe it's a pseudo/viral type of immortality. 

Given that I didn't know this figure was coming (I was expecting maybe some of the other Konoha 12 from part 1), it's pretty cool that there's another villain! The figure is pretty great, and if you're waiting for me to put one of these figures on blast for something it's probably not going to happen. I love the accessories and completely forget it ALSO included another faceplate for Sasuke! A part of Sasuke's curse mark 1! The figure is very well articulated, and even the back of the hair flips up on a hinge to allow some movement. The only odd thing I could say here is there is some messy shading on the front and back of the bottom robe, but nowhere else. It's a little visually off. 

Sunday, October 6, 2024

S.H. Figuarts Kid Sasuke Uchiha - Ninja Prodigy of the Uchiha Clan Bloodline


 The way Sasuke is written in Shippudden leaves a lot to be desired. I understood his character a lot more in Part 1. He wants vengeance on his brother, he's an emo kid who doesn't want anyone to truly understand him or be his friend. I get it! Despite that, Naruto perseveres in trying to make him part of the ninja family that Naruto has built up over the series. 

This figure is once again very well executed. The sculpt and engineering are great, allowing a wide range of flexibility. The accessories are almost everything you would want from his combat in Part 1minus his transformation into Curse Marks 1 and 2.  To get that done though it feels like you'd need a fully different sculpt for the wing hands, and a distinct head and face plate. Even if you wanted to execute Curse Mark 1, the arms legs and face would also need a switch. This figure definitely covers his moves including and past the Chunin exams.