I won't harp on too much again about Itachi Uchiha, I've already done one detailed SH Figuarts review from his older figure here. He is Sasuke's brother and a prominent drive for Sasuke's character throughout the two series. This particular figure is the result of re-releasing Itachi to celebrate the top 20 characters chosen in the Narutop99 poll taken a while back. As the 20th anniversary of the series, they took a fan poll of the top 99 most popular characters. Itachi came in 2nd (the first being Minato, who, as a result, got to have a one-shot manga written by the original writer).
Anyway! This figure is a huge improvement on the previous figure in nearly every way. The secret here has been including not just a cloth goods Akatsuki cloak to allow fun poses with clothing Itachi normally wears, but having it bendy-wired. This allows so many good options. Typically at this scale cloth goods look bulky and a bit silly but despite the lower than Mezco price point, they've managed to do a good job here. Add that to the improved articulation scheme and some fun accessories make this a great release!
The only thing the original takes from this one is having a couple of final battle face plates that allow a bit more dramatic expression for the character. Also technically I think the clothes under are supposed to be blue, not black, but that's more of a nitpicky thing.
Sculpt & Paint: 3/3 Great sculpt here, and enough paint to bring out the character. There is minimal shading, as usual, but the face plate details, sculpted hair, and moveable ponytail make this better than the original. The sculpt makes this one a bit lankier and they did a great job with the colours on the Akatsuki cloak.
Articulation: 3/3 The articulation is leagues better than the original Battle ver., but it sometimes gets a little difficult to move with the cloak on. Getting the arms up and around takes some finagling. I'm impressed by his dual waist joints that help get him in those dynamic fireball-spitting moves!
Accessories: 1/1 He comes with a decent amount of accessories, mostly jutsu hands, sword-holding hands and his standard fists. He also comes with his cloak (so much bendy wire and easy to remove), partially unsheathed sword and full sword. More than the Battle ver., but that one still has unique face plates for that final battle.
Fun Factor: 2/3 I like Itachi as a character enough, and couldn't pass up the chance to get an updated version, but ultimately having a cloth goods cloak you have to manipulate a bunch to create a more natural-looking pose takes more work than a standard figure. In addition, I find his hands don't hold his sword super well, which made it fall a bunch during photos and poses.
Verdict: 9/10 Worthy Ultimately this is a great figure, but if you already have the previous Itachi figure (maybe with a custom cloth cloak) and/or don't need updated articulation, you could pass on this one EVEN as a Naruto figure collector. For me though, I think it's well worth it so grab it if you can!
 |
| View from the back. Even with the wire it does get quite bunchy around the waist. |
 |
| Narutop99 ver Vs. Battle Ver. |
 |
| I wasn't going to keep this one but it seems kinda neat as a banner stye picture |
 |
| The accessories! |
 |
| Nice box! |
 |
| Very flexible and easy to pose! |
 |
| Works well with the Tamashii Nations fire effect! I'll have to review it someday |
 |
| Gotta admit despite my gripes about posing the cloak it does look cool swept behind. |
 |
| The wire clasp to close it is kinda funny looking but ultimately you don't notice it too much |
 |
| Itachi Vs. Kakashi. Well, at least a 30% powered clone of Itachi |
 |
| Uncloaked side-by-side comparison. Now looking at this, I do appreciate the broader shoulders, skin tones and proportions of the original. It still doesn't beat the sculpt and articulation of the Narutop version though, and lets be honest, who doesn't like a poseable cloak and sword?? |
No comments:
Post a Comment