S.H. Figuarts - Rock Lee

I absolutely love Lee. He's got the massive bushy brows, an inferiority complex, and one of the best fights ever in the entire Part 1 of 300 some odd episodes (not to mention the most outrageous eyes) As you may have guessed, he's a humorous homage to Bruce Lee. In Japanese, his name sounds like "Blues Lee", so both Rock Lee and his son in the Borut series, Metal Lee, are musical variants of that same pronunciation. He also has a similar hairstyle and jumpsuit to Bruce Lee, as well as the same birthday (yes, in Anime characters have a birthday, even if it is never once mentioned, is always put into their profiles). He's goofy looking but optimistic, and his biggest character trait is his gruelling hard work in the face of tough adversity, which I think we can all admire as a trait. His fight against Gaara and Kimmimaro are easily the best fights in all of Part 1 (300 episodes or so).

In the Ninja world of using chakra (aka magic), there are three primary types of chakra use: Taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat techniques), Genjutsu (Illusion techniques) and Ninjutsu (External mostly, and basically everything else like using the five Natures, etc). Unfortunately for Lee, he is near skillless in Genjutsu and Ninjutsu (which you'd think would mean he'd never pass basics to become a ninja...) however, his martial arts combat skills is so great, alongside his ability to unlock some pretty crazy internal chakra "gates", that he became a ninja on taijutsu alone. I also really like Lee's sensei, Might Guy, who is also a hilarious parody type character that is very endearing and incredibly powerful.



This figure is a somewhat complicated, but very fun once you get the accessories together. As he does in the show, Lee's skin complexion, eyes and hair tend to change during the power of his Eight Gate openings. To emulate that, he comes with the alternate head, hair, hands, feet and NECK! I applaud SH Figuarts for this since this does require a lot of switching to get him there, but they did it.

Sculpt/Paint: 3/5 Fairly clean paint apps, especially for the eyes. There's not a ton of variation in colour on this figure. They sculpted the "diaper crotch" on him, but it still works well despite the overall weird aesthetic. They didn't really bother shading his arm wraps or panel his leg warmers like they are in the show. Most of the figure isn't strictly painted by rather in different moulded plastic colours. One thing that is off-putting is that they bothered to add shading to the crotch...and it just doesn't look very good. Makes me want to get some nail polish remover and take it off.

Articulation: 5/5 (34 Points): Pretty standard for an SH Figuarts. I like that he has bicep swivel, a pretty good butterfly joint range (despite the jacket), and fairly good range. Where he loses a bit is a lack of range in his head motion. The collar really impedes his turning also due to his neck being too short. The ankle articulation is also somewhat limited by the sculpting of his leg warmers.

Price/Availability: 4/5 He's a few bucks cheaper than the first release (so about 70 CAD). You might be able to find better deals at other stores but mostly he's that price and still available online in a few locations.

Accessories 5/5: Comes with a neutral face, shouting face, drunken-attack face, and eight gates opening head. He also has 8 pairs of hands for different martial arts poses and the swappable neck, hands and feet for the Eight gates unlocking. That's really all you need for Rock Lee. There are a few episodes where he uses nunchuku and tonfa, but it doesn't seem completely necessary.

Fun Factor: 4/5 He's got good balance and weight, and he's an awesome character. I wish they would make his teammates as well as Might Guy. I'd buy them in a heartbeat! He's a top 10 for sure, though I've said that so often now I'm pretty sure this will have to be a top 15 or 20 now! The lack of detailed paint and that weird crotch area throws him off a bit but he's worth getting.

Verdict: 21/25 Great! He's a really sweet figure and a great character from the show if you're into that or the line. The paint is a little underwhelming, but he's got everything you'd want from the representation in the show and the SH Figuarts articulation style.

Stare into the black hole eyes and be concerned!

Nice set of accessories

Decent kicking!

One thumb

Whoe has two thumb hands?

This guy!

Power of youth! 

Konoha sempu! (English: Leaf hurricane). I always find it
funny that in shonen anime (especially older ones) they always
announced their attacks beforehand. 

Crane style! 

Recreation of scene in Part 1 (except they were younger than
the figures used here)

Come at me! 

Love the drunken kung fu look
and face. So good. 

As you may have guessed though,
it's hard to balance him
in that pose given how his ankles
have a lesser range of motion. 

And yet he can still balance in some
one leggedp poses! 

Lee, go home! You're drunk!

The Switch: Step 1 - Feet

Step 2: hands (doesn't matter if they're black or white...it's the same sculpt!)

Step 3: Remove hair

Step 4: Remove hair and faceplate

Step 5 Remove collar

Step 6: Detach and lift both neck pieces

Step 7: Add on eight gate neck pieces...

Step 8: Add collar. I did this a few times where I
forgot to do this and had to redo the steps

Step 9: Add crazy eight gate hair back piece

Step 10: Add face and you're done!

Unlocking the gates! Lee can unlock 6 of the 8 gates,
where his teacher Might Guy can unlock all 8...though
opening all 8 usually kills the user. 

I gotta say I it's a toss up between this head and
the drunken face for my favourites.

The full lotus is a move where the attack comes from
behind and high speed, grabs, turns in midair,
and spins downwards to smash their head into the ground.
Never understood how this wouldn't destroy both people!

Omote renge! 

Sweet kicking!