Gaara's first appearance in Naruto is as a very disturbed kid who can manipulate sand imbued with his chakra. His character has many parallels to Naruto's if Naruto had never had friends, became a psychopath, and tried to destroy the Leaf village!
Gaara's tragic past includes having had the One-tailed Shukaku beast put into him, in the same way, that Naruto had the Nine-tailed fox sealed into himself. Upon being defeated by Naruto, he comes to realize a little about others and himself and basically becomes rehabilitated.
He is from the Hidden Sand Village and his father was also a pretty cold-hearted psycho himself. He has a brother and sister how also featured quite a bit in the show. He has the power to manipulate any sand around him, and so he also carries sand imbued with his chakra on his back that instantly protects him from harm. The only one who was able to beat the speed of his protective sand was Rock Lee (see the previous review!).
Now in his current state, Gaara is able to summon the one-tailed beast in parts to help him battle to protect his village. He has become the Fourth Kazekage of his village, and despite his young age commands respect and reverence from people that previously considered him a monster.
He's a really good figure with some great accessories. The gourd on his back is hollow and you can even remove the cork to simulate the sand that comes out. He has a few interchangeable faces and the piece-de-resistance is that he comes with a stand AND a giant, slightly poseable sand Shukaku hand! So awesome.
Sculpt/Paint: 4/5 Pretty awesome sculpt here. Accurate, well painted, well balanced, and pretty clean looking joint engineering. The robe is a flexible and thin plastic that you can mostly move aside. He has no shading except his hair has some colour changes to it which give it some life. The gourd is also shaded pretty well and the cracks are even painted. Very solid here minus shading to the body!
Articulation: 5/5 (34 points): He's got some pretty good SH Figuarts articulation with some limitations due to the sculpt. His shoulder joints have a short double ball peg attached to the butterfly joint which allows good arm crossover. The ab crunch is limiting and the thighs are tricky to pose with the robe pieces in the way. The ankles are quite recessed into the pant legs as well, which makes them super limited in range. To be fair, Gaara was never one to get into wild poses since most of his ninjutsu is done from standing and controlling the sand with arm movements.
Price/Availability: 4/5 Mostly he's still pretty standard price with some retailers having him a bit cheaper (66-75 CAD). Still in most online stores!
Accessories 5/5: He comes with quite a bit! If you count it, his gourd can detach from his back as can the cork! Nice details and even shading there. He comes with crossed arms, punching hands, jutsu claw hands and some flat hands for when he starts his sand summoning. He also comes with his standard face, grimacing face, and cracked sand armour face. The best piece is the giant sand claw from the Shukaku one-tail. It's got awesome detail, looks appropriately menacing and even comes with its own stand. I especially like that they gave it a trailing tail so you could have it coming out of his gourd, flying in the air or emerging from the actual sand! Top notch effort here.
Fun Factor: 3/5: He is somewhat tricky to pose and is somewhat difficult to get looking dynamic with his whole body. The figure has lots of personality and the accessories really help with that. You'll pretty much get him in all of his iconic poses, even if his balance is a bit tricky to get right. Not bad, but could've been better!
Verdict: 21/25 Great. A really awesome figure with great aesthetic and accessories but ultimately a bit hard to pose. The matrix-esque robe and colours make him look badass, and that's mostly what you need to know! Pick it up for sure if you're collecting the line.
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| Not a bad amount of accessories for him |
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Ever brooding! Almost never smiles the entirety of the 500
episode part 2 series! |
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Finally putting my kinetic
sand to use! |
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| Come at me |
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| Ready to release some jutsu |
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| Parting the sand! |
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| Matrix-style dodge! |
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| Sand defence! |
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| Ouch! Right to the face! That's gonna leave a mark... |
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| Time to get the beast out |
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Sand Coffin. This was the first technique and time where
Gaara outright killed someone horribly! It wasn't Lee though
just some nameless Rain ninja.
And it was easy to get the sand out of any joints but
I probably wouldn't do this very often... |
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| He so dead..... |
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| This is admittedly fun to play with |
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| Sick 'im! |
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Kick isn't too bad but it is hard with the top part of the robes
Balance time: 5 minutes... |
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| Power of youth squad! |
The kinetic sand was a fun touch. You're much more patient than I am, if I can't get a figure balanced within a minute or so I grab a stand.
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