The Pain Arc is one of the most iconic in Naruto Shippuden. We are constantly teased about this character for a good chunk of Shippuden as a mysterious, powerful figure who leads the Akatsuki. We find out through Jiraiya's spying that Pain is, in fact, a formerly deceased pupil of his. The mystery deepens when he realizes that there are, in fact, six formerly deceased people being used in a coordinated manner to lead the dangerous group known as the Akatsuki. They are the Six Paths of Pain, six separate bodies commanded by someone (Nagato) with the Rinnegan (the special eyes with many concentric circles possessed extremely rarely by some individuals in history).
This path is the Deva (Tendo in Japanese) path, capable of utilizing attractive and repulsive forces on any scale. The path uses this power to initially charge up and wipe out most of Konoha. This path used to be a student of Jiraiya from the Village Hidden in the Rain. His name was Yahiko, and he initially trained with two other students, Nagato and Konan. They were all orphans from the village and were taught by Jiraiya to survive their war-torn country. They grew up and decided to band together and end the war by founding the Akatsuki. Their goals eventually warped under the influence of another villain, and they became obsessed with harnessing power, first by acquiring the nine different Tailed Beasts in the world. This is how they come to try to capture Naruto and steal Kurama, the Nine-tails.
Pain is ultimately defeated by a new and improved Sage Mode Naruto (figure review incoming!), but the arc is pretty emotional for how quickly Pain destroys things around Naruto. The figure is also good! It comes with the Akatsuki cloth coat that works in many ways, and is a little bulky and awkward in others. The accessories are a little fewer than usual, but overall, the sculpt and paint are well done here.
Sculpt & Paint: 2.5/3 There's a lot of well-done paint here. They sculpted and painted every piercing on the arms and head, and the eyes are well done. The rest of the body is fairly identical in sculpt to the Itachi from Narutop99. Even the thumb ring is here! I take away a bit of a point here for how they reduced the size of many of the chakra rod piercings and made them look too tiny. It would've been nicer if they had been chunkier and a more solid black.
Articulation: 3/3 The one great thing about a robed or cloaked figure with a fabric cloak is how you can use nearly all the articulation to full capacity even while it's on. The ab crunch here works better than some of the others in this line, and all the other joints are larger ball joints that work to create a good range of motion. There is another joint above the ankles, which is nice and keeps a natural foot shape for posing.
Accessories: 1/1 There is technically everything you need for the figure here: multiple hands, a long chakra rod to stab into Naruto, and two alternate face plates. It's not a lot, but most of his power uses either using the other paths (it would be cool if they made all the paths), or the shira tensei, which is the nearly invisible attractive or repulsive sphere around him (not something easily included here).
Fun Factor: 2.5/3 I feel a little hypocritical for going on for ages about how figures need some bendy wire cloth materials to give more articulation range, while now having some minor gripes about how this cloak fits. The wire works super well, but like the Itachi cloak, it bunches so oddly at the shoulders I may need to steam treat it and/or put clips on the cloth during photos to make it look less like Pain is hiding shoplifted fruit on his shoulders. The clip to hold the cloak together is also a little big...I wonder if tiny velcro or some other solution might've been better. Despite that long gripe, the figure is really fun to pose around, and the cloak being posed in multiple ways does add a lot to this.
Verdict 9/10 Amazing. Pain is such an iconic character in Naruto, along with the other Akatsuki members; it's impossible not to want this in your Naruto SHF collection*. I highly recommend picking up this Pain, if only in the hopes that now that there are two Akatsuki members released, there will be more!
*As of this writing, I see that they have released another (ANOTHER...) version of Naruto, so maybe the line isn't dead yet! Let's hope they make more of the Akatsuki, or some other figures, to complete teams. My guess, though, is they're going to release Sasuke in his final battle form.
 |
 |
| Not a bad batch of accessories, but feels a little on the thin side doesn't it? |
 |
| The coat isn't bad at certain angles but is 100% too frumpy in places and difficult to arrange so it flows like cloth. Maybe steaming the material would help? Not sure.... |
 |
| Shinra TENSEI! |
 |
| He was surprisingly good at hand-to-hand in his fight against Sage Mode Naruto |
 |
| He's gonna place in the javelin throw, Believe it! |
 |
| "And the world shall know PAIN!" |
 |
| ALMIGHTY....Stop! |
 |
| Excellent hip rotation and flexibility here! |
 |
| Two Akatsuki! Now they just gotta make all the other paths of Pain, Konan, Deidara, Sasori, Kisame, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Hidan. Interesting that Pain is taller as a figure. According to databooks, he's 5'8 and Itachi is 5'10. |
No comments:
Post a Comment