D

 After the last post lets stay in 2001 a little bit. Aside of McFarlane releasing its Tortured Souls we had amazing games in the Playstation 2 like Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 and in cinema we had the start of the J-Horror fever with The Ring. Anime was getting stronger and stronger and we had a particular anime movie that put the standar into an imposible to reach height: Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. A movie based in Hideyuki Kikuchi´s second Vampire Hunter D novel that demanded to be seen in the big screen because not only it was glorious visuals, but it had one of the most amazing soundtracks to be hear to follow the exciting journey of the dumpeal vamire hunter D in a futuristic and yet gothic and veautifull decadent world.

Its been 25 years and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust looks as magnificent and perfect as it looked back in 2001 and back then we didnt had too much merch based on it aside of t-hisrts, posters, the DVD and other small details but we actually ahd action figures and i cant explain how exciting it was to see the figures on display on its blister with the card on the back featuring the amazing poster of the movie, all black and white with the text in bloody red, they lookes soo cool and edgy.

The studio that made them was Epoch soo they were pretty rare and expensive since this figures were a Japan import. D is made in the same scale as modern action figures soo he was quiet big for most figures back then but now day he fits perfectly with anything NECA, McFarlane of even Storm soo he have the perfect size to have presence on the shelve.

This man cant stand on hos own given of the shape of his legs and how weak are the articulations but he does comes with a base that keeps him in balance perfectly thanks to two pegs for each of his feet. His head can rotate but very subtly since the long hair and the cape block the movement quiet a lot. His right shoulder have a ball joint soo he can move it up and down and to the side tough his left shulder is static. 

He have a cut joint on each biceps to rotate the arms tough this really mess with the sculpt and he have double articulation on each elbow for a pretty deep bend and he can rotate both wrists. The legs have a cut joint in diagonal soo while he can move his legs to the front and the back he does it in a very awkard diagonal way and both thighs have a cut joint in the midle that let him rotate the leg and help him pose his legs a little bit more natural but this cut the sculpt of the thigh and he have double articulation on his knees to bend them pretty deep. The top of the boots rotate and he have articulations on the ankles.

This figure was very different since back then standar was almost only a few articulations but D is very very articulated and yet, many of this articulations are useless because the sculpt have an specific pose in mind. He is standing in a very femenine way with the right arm rised with his sword and the left arm down, soo the whole body follows this pose as well as the cape soo the left shoulder is rised and the legs cant be opened too much.

With certain exploration he can achive a few good looking poses but is very tricky and also, after 25 years i must be very carefull with the articulations since the material used dosnt looks too strong. The material its a little bit soft (and maybe thats why it hasnt broke in 25 years) while the plastic used on his cape, hair and hat are much more softy and gummy while the sword sheath on his back is made with very hard plastic.

The sculpt is very clean and have no textures at all, the muscle structure is good, very lean and aerodynamic and the lines of the legs and other parts of the body suit are perfecly sculpted (tough i still dont know waths D´s outfit is supposed to be...). There is a soft plastic belt hnging from his hips and a pendant hanging from his neck with a real chain (yeessss a real golden tiny chain, not sculpted!!). The gauntlets have a very Amano style patthern sculpted and the cape fillows the shape of the arms perfectly soo both arms can come out and be moved without being blocked. The cape sculpt flows good and it culrs on the rigth side on a very dramatic way.

The head is not very well defined. I mean it have a mouth and an sculpted nose  but they have a blanck expression but thats the base face expression of D and also the while head is pale white, wth no paint at all aside of the eyes painted in black in a shoujo manga style. Is VERY basic but in the end, 90% of the face is covered by the hat soo is imposible to notice this without taking the figure in hand and take a look under the hat.

The hat and cape are sculpted in a soft grey while the body is sculpted in a darker grey tone and the gantlets and boots are painted in black. Both the cape and body have airtbrush of darker grey soo the figure dosnt looks that plain and theres very small golden accents around the entire body suit, following D muscles and around his boots and gauntlets. Also the pendant is perfectly painted in blue while theres a white scarf under the body suit with blue lines. All this details are covered by both the hair and cpae but i find very amazing Epoch add them.

I am not sure i like the inside side of the cape tough....yellow? Is not a color i ssociate with D and while it contrasts with the figure, i am not sure it suits him. Also the hair is very well ainted with multiple tones of brown in a inconsistent patther that makes it looks real and the giant sword sheat is painted to make it look like real wood.

Theres not many accesorys here tough, typical from the 2001. He have an extra rigth hand with his palm open and the parasite in full display. The sculpt is good for such a tiny size and both the eyes and nose are actually painted in black while the mouth have a red bloody paint job that contrast a lot with the white color of the hand. Swap hands is very easy tough for my surprise.

Theres D sword too that fits perfectly in its sheat and on his hand as well. the sword is huge and very thin and that makes it very delicate. The handle is also very very thin ad delicate and i already broke it and glued it back but this is the design of the sword on the books soo theres no alternative. The paint of the handle is very delictae mix of browns that makes it looks like ancient bronce while the blade is just silver but this peice is the section that must be handle with the most care.

And finally theres the base. Back then they used to make bases to work as dioramas for the figures and this is not ecception since we have a column here like those seen on the rest place where D face Caroline in the movie. The sculpt is very basic while the paint mix really good white with soft grey to makes it looks like stone and mixed with all the crakcs looks detailed enough and given its nature it makes D looks like the statue of a dark good on top of it.

This figure is such a mixed bag. For some the lack of deffinition of the face as wel as the materials and articulations may this looks like a very dated toy but for others this figure is extremelly good looking despite its limitations and more importantly....after 25 years we didnt get any other Vamprie Hunter D action figure soo this was the first and pretty much the only one as well. Wish this D was more complex? Sute, but back in 2001 this is the best we could ask for a figure.