S.H. Figuarts Kakashi Hatake - Naruto Shippuden

 Kakashi is definitely one of my top 5 favourite Naruto characters. He's cool, extremely knowledgable, calm to the point of seeming catatonic, and has some interesting parts to his backstory. Add to that that he became Hokage, the leader of the Hidden Leaf Ninja village for a period of time. He's capable of taking down nearly any character in the Naruto universe with the exception of Moon people and Tailed beasts, though I reckon at the height of his power he could give them a pretty good run for their money solo. Here I though the previous SH Figuarts Kakashi was super well done, this one is better in most every way! 

He's got superior articulation and range as well as some more interesting face swaps. I have one minor issue with the articulation and one major one with the accessories. I love that they extended the shoulder pads out and gave you more posing options here. 

S.H. Figuarts Sasuke Uchiha - Naruto Shippuden

 I didn't love Sasuke's character in Shippuden. He seemed more irrational and less relatable than ever before. In Part 1 you could understand his motivation and really get it even though he wasn't particularly likeable. He had episodes where he showed a more childlike or human side to himself that made you understand, even in the battle at the end. 

Shippuden's writing needs to make more sense. That said, the character grows and he does get some pretty sweet lighting and doujutusu (eye) abilities that make him an intense force to be reconned with. This figure is of him post-Itachi fight, in his gray collared shirt, armbands, blue robe and purple obi rope belt. 

They did kind of an amazing job with all this clothing junk he has on his outfit. First of all, amazing range for the arms, neck, diaphragm and legs, especially when you consider how the robe restricts movement. The belt bows move independently which is nice! He has a very clean place to put his sheath, with or without the sword in it. His chidori effect is pretty good, though not any better or worse than the previous release. There's quite a few differences between this release and the last Sasuke release they had (Itachi Battle ver.). He comes with a lot more face options, and some nice sword options to go along with his chidori (lightning). I'll be comparing the other Sasuke by SHF which I'll refer to herein as SFB (Sasuke final battle). 

S.H. Figuarts Sakura Haruno - Naruto Shippuden

 

I'm super excited to reintroduce new figures for the Naruto line! I didn't know this would ever happen, so thanks to one of my readers for alerting me to this earlier last year. To be fair, most of them are figures we've seen before, but with entirely new engineering, facial expressions, and prices. They initially released Shippuden versions of Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and FINALLY SAKURA. It only took forever to release female character. With this, I finally complete an original team 7. I don't know why it took so long to make a female figure, especially considering how easy it is for some of their builds and accessories, but here we are. SH Figuarts ALSO is making kid versions of Naruto and Sasuke, which I have preordered out of Japan. 

This is fantastic stuff, and the very first I want to go over is Sakura Haruno. Sakura's parents and origins aren't featured much in the original two parts, and this is mostly because Kishimoto is 1) Bad at writing female characters and 2) Thinks they are secondary to males, so they never get as much screen time or good fights. Sakura DOES get one or two good fights in Shippuden, but mostly she's around to beat up Naruto, have interrelational conflicts with Ino, and swoon over Sasuke. Gross! This is a shame because as one of the new Sanin, Sakura is absolutely a powerhouse. 

Early in the series, she is a genjutsu sensory expert and learns early on from Tsunade the art of healing and concentrating chakra so pointedly she can break through the earth with her punches and kicks. Later on, in the Boruto series and the light novels, it becomes clear Sakura is even stronger than that, and can completely regenerate using the same principles as Tsunade by banking chakra into a diamond seal on her forehead. They definitely do female characters dirty in Shippuden and Part 1, but at least Sakura is featured more than most, what with being a crush on Naruto and a main team member of Team 7. 

The figure is fairly simple, but very well done. The proportions are nice, and the articulation they've put on all these figures is also very well done. Sakura has some good engineering, and while she doesn't have a ton of accessories, it's enough for her character and what she does in the show. 

Mafex Hush - Batman Hush

 

Hush is a villainous foil to Bruce Wayne/Batman who tried to kill his parents as a child. He grows up a bit of a psychopath and uses his surgeon skills to literally impersonate other people by sewing on face parts to infiltrate, cause chaos and assassinate others! This is Face-Off but upgraded! In the Hush storyline where he makes his first appearance, Hush is first thought to be Jason Todd in an epic battle at the end, then melts to be revealed as Clayface, THEN the real Hush eventually shows up, and is shot by a reconstructed Two-Face (aka One face now! hah!). 

Hush makes a bunch of appearances after this, because what is a Batman villain if they can't escape and do more crime again?! Anyway, this is a pretty great figure. The joints in the foot/knees are a bit loose on mine, but a lot of range here! There's a ton of extras (some of which are VERY small and loseable!!), and they've done some things to make the figure more flexible: the pouches on the belt actually have a hinge that flips up, and the coat is a softer plastic that allows some movement. Being able to swap out the chest decal and belt is a cool feature! 

Mafex Medicom Superman - Batman Hush

 

Superman in Batman Hush plays in another bizarre event in the comics. Amongst all of Batman's rogue gallery, all of whom are acting strangely, Superman adds to the list. Poison Ivy has managed to use her pheromonal control and is manipulating Superman into killing Batman. Batman notices that Superman is subtly resisting Ivy's control, and after a classic Batman v. Superman fight, triggers him into wrestling control back. He gets Catwoman to drop Lois off a building. Jeez. Anyway, so he breaks free from Ivy's control to save her, so good thing that worked! 

I only own a few Superman figures, but this is my favourite. It has all the classic look with lots of poseability, a wired cloth cape, and a few different head sculpts. The proportions are nice, and the paint is really clean. 

Mafex Medicom Catwoman - Batman Hush

Catwoman has always walked a tightrope between being a burglar-style villain and an antihero that helps out Batman and his allies. I have always liked her character in the comics because of how she balances and foils Batman's way too serious demeanour and tone. The Hush comics put Catwoman front and center to a whole wack of crazy plots, including ones that go against and for Batman's goals. Catwoman starts off by being mind controlled by Poison Ivy into stealing some ransom money, but eventually is freed from her grasp, and gains the trust of Batman. He reveals his identity to her and a romance blossoms in the story. 

This Catwoman has a classic plain black suit with goggles that became popular post-post-crisis storyline. The whip is more ropelike than the typical black whip you see in other iterations. This version sports the large belt buckle and nice sturdy boots as well, which REALLY helps keep the figure stable. It comes with a handful of accessories and is probably the most poseable Catwoman I own. The feel of the figure is a bit light but the joints are solid and neither stick nor are they too loose. Yay! 

Mafex Medicom Batman (Black ver.) - Batman Hush

 

The Batman: Hush storyline is an iconic Batman series of comics from Oct 2002 to Sept 2003. It's a pretty convoluted back-and-forth storyline, but it all boils down to a mysterious villain Hush who is manipulating Batman's villains and allies to destroy Batman. These involve pretty elaborate schemes that cause his typical rogues' gallery to behave in unusual ways, all cumulating in the final reveal: Who is Hush? 

I read the story and while I liked it and the art, like many comic book stories it's all over the place and tenuously connected. That's just the reality of comic books it seems, no hate! The version of Batman here is very plain and classic: blue and grey with a yellow utility belt. I prefer black and grey so when Mafex offered the alternative, I had to scoop it up!

This figure is fantastic: well-painted and sculpted, poses smoothly, comes with a bunch of accessories and is fun to play with. Unlike the original blue and grey release it comes with a cool gargoyle piece stand! Makes for some iconic posing! Unfortunately, it doesn't come with the unmasked Bruce Wayne head, which I think is one of the best comic forms of his face in figure form! 

Kaiyodo Amazing Yamaguchi Arkham Knight - Batman: Arkham Knight

 

Amazing Yamaguchi is a line by Kaiyodo of action figures with hyper poseability. So much so that when I read or listen to reviews about them, the largest complaint is how difficult it is to get into poses due to all the joint rotations, but once you do, they look...well, amazing! Using the Revoltech joint system (two pegs with a ball joint swivel), they're able to achieve extreme poses, albeit with exaggerated proportions compared to the source material. 

This figure of the Arkham Knight from the game is pretty cool. Aesthetically, not as bulky or imposing in this scale, but maybe that's because there's no equivalent for this line for Batman himself. This is an expensive import though, and as such the quality is fantastic. The sculpt is so detailed and the colours are vibrant, especially the shiny bits. The figure is solid and fairly easy to pose around, though like many Amazing Yamaguchi figures, there are certain poses that show surreal gaps, especially raising the arms above the shoulders. 

There are so many great accessories here, specifically for switching the figure into the Red Hood version. The weapons are very odd here, and it's something that has put me off buying a lot of McFarlane DC Figures. He comes with a couple of laser swords and two kris knives....which...I gotta say I played the game 3 times and never saw him use a laser sword once or those knives. This is a weird choice, but it's pressured by WB's decision that started with a mandate to remove guns from their figure marketing properties. This effectively means that since February of last year, no figures sold using WB's license can be marketed using guns. I don't know how this decision came to be, but now toy companies are selling figures with trigger fingers that are supposed to use guns, but don't come with them. This makes it a harder decision: Do you buy them and then hope the decision is reversed? Hope McFarlane or other companies sell a weapons pack later? Do you buy them and use your own weapon arsenal to substitute in? For the most part (this figure being the exception), I don't buy them. 

This doesn't affect most figures, but I passed up on the Arkham Knight Red Hood by McFarlane because...well the character isn't much without the guns. The same goes with Hush or a multitude of other characters. I just have those already with guns, so I don't need to buy a newer one that comes with less, you know? 

Creative Field Grave Frog - Number 57

 You know those totally random purchases when you get something just because it is both A) On sale and B) cool looking? This is one such purchase! This model kit was featured on Hobbylink Japan on a pretty steep sale, and just looked cool, so I went in to see what it was like. I wasn't disappointed! It was a lot of fun to build, and you get a lot of choices. They come in pretty short at only a couple of inches though, so may not necessarily jive with all your other figures. 

One of the first is deciding to build an aquatic body grave frog or a terrestrial one. I went for the aquatic body with the toad face and cigar cause it looks like it has a lot of class! You can switch the weapons to make them side-mounted onto the suit or held in the hands (albeit a bit loosely). You can equip a backpack, computer and walkie-talkie if you want as well. The aquatic look has a clear helmet to put around. The joints are pretty great, all extended ball joints that hold together well and allow for tons of flexibility. 

I looked up Fifty-Seven and their lines and while I found some cool Shark-type ones with a similar body, I didn't really figure out what the story is behind the creature aside from them being a model kit with a cool look. I'm happy with that, but was just curious! 

Kaiyodo Asian Giant hornet - Revogeo

Occasionally, I'll purchase or be gifted a figure I was not anticipating. This is one of those! I had seen Kaiyodo previously release a beetle and scorpion, thinking they were really cool looking but at the time not sure if my action figure budget could sustain the purchase at the time. Ultimately I didn't have to make that decision because this was a wonderful birthday gift! 

The Revogeo line is a set of realistic animal figures created by Kaiyodo with amazing accessories and moving parts that use the Revoltech joint system. I absolutely love this figure, and it being from my Japanese in-laws, reflects the absolute terror everyone has for the Asian Giant hornet or Suzumebachi (literally "murder hornet". I have personally never seen one (and was slightly disappointed) despite warning signs of them when I was on Miyajima island in Japan. 

This figure has a TON of range in every segment of its body. It has a better abdominal crunch in the thorax end than most humanoid figures, replaceable wings, moving jaw parts and a stinger that can unsheath with some finagling! The stand attachment is good and while this is one of my first Kaiyodo figures, I've heard of the number of extra joints it comes with in case of breakages and that's always a good thing.