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!)

Sculpt & Paint: 3/3 Amazing paint here. There's so many nice gradations of yellow and orange. With the overall black it pops so well. Add to that, they made this figure EXTREMELY shiny. The gloss is insane on this figure. The sculpt is pretty good and they designed a hard plastic cloak that mostly stays out of the way of the articulation. I love the orange chakra/flame type effects on the figure. 

Articulation: 3/3 It has all the points of articulation you'd need in a a new SHF figure, and yet somehow it handles better. The joints are just a little stiffer to allow more stable posing (maybe the gloss gives it this effect). The neck articulation somehow works better than other figures in this line who have less impediments from coat or cape edges. 

Accessories: 1/1 Seven pairs of hands is insane. It's so many hands they had to make another small plastic package to insert under the packaging just to accommodate. Some of these are style pose hands, but two sets are for the Rasengan (biggest one I've ever seen in a figure) and a very cool Rasenshuriken effect. It also includes four extra face plates, including a comical face. I love that they do that with this line, because ultimately in between the battles and impassioned speeches for villains to be less bad, there is a bunch of slapstick comedy in the show. 

Fun Factor: 3/3 This is so much fun to pose, and it's so incredibly bright on the shelf, it kinda tries to outshine the rest of the line! It helps that it is easy to balance and pose despite the extra weight from the cloak. 

Verdict: 10/10 I don't know if they could've done this figure better. Maybe a face with a kunai held in the mouth? I don't know. It's pretty perfect. I was going to make minor gripes about not having chakra rods, but I realize that would be only included if they ever made a Six Paths mode (also a great idea). 

Had to recreate the spider man scene. The 
Narutoverse collides in time. 

Fits well into Kid Sasuke's ball joint
stand for his fireball effect

Best Rasen shuriken I've see

Now THAT'S a big rasengan

Good balance and range of motion

The cloak is so well designed here, he looks
amazingly dynamic in nearly any pose

Awesome accessories. The only ones that don't
seem to be for anything in particular are the hands
that have the black large ball joints at the end. They don't connect to
any effects included...so....I don't know! They are also not advertised in 
any of the back art on the box. 

De Box

Back view. Very bright! Lots of cool
chakra flicker effects here.