Jay's Toy Shelf : S.H. Figuarts

One of the prime big bad guys of the Naruto Shippuden series: Madara Uchiha, a former co-founder of the Ninja village Hidden in the Leaves. Like Sasuke in the first part, the history is a bit back and forth. At first, Madara and Hashirama, the first Hokage, are friends, then enemies, then they form a truce and bring an end to the violence from their respective clans. When they founded the village, Madara and Hashirama had very different visions of how this would work. Madara's version of peace between the ninja clans was to control others through laws and regulations, where Hashirama's was cooperation between the various nations and villages. Eventually, Madara left with an ominous promise.

Many years later, he later returns and brings the Nine-tail fox to destroy the village. Many die in the attack, including Naruto's mother (Kushina) and father (Minato - see the previous review!). However, his parents manage to seal half of the Nine-Tails inside Minato, and a half into their just-then-born son, Naruto. He possesses powers mostly from his eye, which allows all kinds of space and time manipulation, as well as being a super skilled martial artist and fire technique user.

It's a very long storyline and plot as to the why's and hows, but basically, Madara becomes resurrected into a somewhat obedient zombie form. SH Figuarts included both a cracked/reanimated face and a regular one though, so that's pretty nice!

Speaking of which, the figure is pretty amazing, with only one gripe. The sculpt is fantastic, and most all the armour pieces for the legs and shoulders move freely on their hinges and can detach without damaging parts. The scythe and giant fan connected by real chain pieces are fantastic. The weapons have a nice lightweight that doesn't turn his hand over and looks super impressive given their size.

One way in which he suffers a bit is the articulation in the abdomen. His chest armour doesn't move and there isn't a joint hidden in between the waist and lower limbs. That was a bit disappointing, and given how well they've engineered figures with overlapping jackets like Boruto or Kakashi, I'd say that was avoidable. Still a great figure though, and so far the ONLY other villain aside Itachi.

Sculpt/Paint: 4/5 Great details in the weapons here. Such clean paint in the Rinnegan eyes, and all the Uchiha and Sharingan symbols throughout. One thing I would have liked would have been if the armour panels had been lined or shaded to create a bit more anime accuracy. As is, they look too plasticky and shiny. I also wish he was slightly bulkier in the upper chest area, as he's a bit less imposing without his weapons. His hair is so great if a bit harder to pose. It kinda gets in the way of seeing his Uchiha symbol at the back.

Articulation: 4/5 (34...technically): This figure is surprisingly limited in more ways than just the chest armour piece. It's a bit disappointing that they actually bothered to put in a diaphragm joint, but then made it impossible to use. I would either have not bothered with the diaphragm or made the armour in sections to allow poseablilty. He has the standard toe hinge, double joints on elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists. He doesn't have a butterfly joint, and yet his arm range is fairly decent given that and the fact he has his armour plate in the way. I really like that the shoulder armour pieces can detach and move around, as well as the leg/groin armour plates. He...doesn't have drop-down hips?!?! What?! Or if he does, they are so limited I can't tell. The skirt is also quite restrictive so you can't make very wide stances. Not SH Figuarts' best articulation range for this, but technically it has a lot of points including swivels for the armour and hair piece.

Price/Availability: 3/5 A bit much. I originally got this figure for about 95 CAD (standard at the time at BBTS, Amazon etc). His slightly higher than standard 85 CAd price is due to the fact he was a web exclusive, and generally isn't found in stores. He is still available online, but at about 125 bucks, I'm not sure it's completely worth it for you unless you REALLY need Madara or another Uchiha for your SH Figuarts collection.

Accessories: 5/5 His accessories are totally sweet, and probably the best part of this figure. He comes with the alternate hands, folded arms, cracked zombie face and regular faceplate, and his MASSIVE Uchiha fan weapon and scythe blade. He holds them really well, and they are of excellent make and paint. The chain that you can connect both with pegs in well and is real metal that drapes well. Great choices here.

Fun Factor: 4/5 He looks SO good on the shelf, but it's hard to a) keep him standing and b) put him in a ton of dynamic poses. Basically, you're going to either need a stand all the time for really cool poses or just slightly spread stances with his weapons held aloft. I almost gave him a 3 but he does still look great.

Verdict: 20/25 Great. This is still a pretty good figure, but I understand if some SH Figuarts Naruto collectors may give it a pass given the price and how limited it can be. I still enjoy having him, and the aesthetic is really nice. Plus any line worth its salt needs a villain to balance out the sheer number of protagonists and support.