LEILA MARCUS

 Again, lets stay in 2001 a little longer since it was quiet an interesting time frame to be for multiple enterpirses like anime and videogames or even toy collecting, since back in that moment McFarlane Toys was changing the public perseption over "toys are only for children" and with it, multiple new studios arised with the same concept of adult collecting, like ReSarus, Palisades or NECA but there was also the japanese toys studio like MobyDick and Epoch, Fewture or Marmit.

Figures under this brands used to be very rare and very expensive too since they were imports and they felt totally different to those of western brands. Bandai, Kotobukiya and Kayodo even had a sticker on the blister marked with "JAPANESE PRODUCT". But focusing on today´s subject, Epoch was mostly doing action figures based on fight games, like Tekken 3, Dead or Alive, Samurai Shodown 64, Guilty Gear X or even Soul Calibur but they also released an action figures set for Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, one of the best anime movies in history.

Aside of Tekken they only released a single set for each series soo the Vmpire Hunter D set had only two figures: D and Leila. Seen the amazing artwork of the movie on the card with all the text in bloody red and the figures displayed in full glory in front was very exciting, at least for me. Leila is exactly the same heigh as D soo she can fits to modern NECA or Storm figures perfectly tough she cant stand on her own at all given her long lehs and loose ankle articulations and sadly, they didnt include a base this time unlike D.

She is very articulated...like a lot and thats quiet unusual for figures from 2001. This is probablly the most articulated figure in the entire Epoch production since she have an articulation on her head that not only let move it it from left to rigth but also up and down and since she dont have long hair or a cape, her ehad have a huge range of movement. Her shoulders have ball joints but they cna be open thanks to her shoulderpads but they have a very good up and down movement range.

The biceps can rotate and the elbows have that wrid diagonal cut that let them rotate to make them looks like they are bent but doing it is tricky since a bad ajustment can make them looks like broken arms. The wrists cna rotate as well and the legs have exactly the same diagonal cut that let them move and open at the same time. Thighs have a rotating cut in the middle that cut the entire asculpt and knees have two articulations that gives them a pretty deep bend option. Near the ankles there another roation articulation while the ankles themselve have a hinge that let them move up and down.

This ankles hinge along side the high heels and the loooong legs dont let Leila stand on her own at all tough given the reasonable movement of her legs is posible to keep her in balance in certain poses. Unlike D she is not pre-posed soo she have more chances to have different poses to display in a more natural way. The articulation system is weird for now day standar but backn in 2001 this was super dynamic.

Just like D the sculpt is really good and it follows the character design perfectly, with the long neck and ling legs and thin waist, Leila´s shape is very stylish and the futuristic corse, jacket and very tigth pants looks really good tough the roating articulations on the legs broke the sculpted line on the pants, uot the hips all articulations are pretty well hidden. The corse in the center as well as the opening in her chest revealing the bandages D use to heal her are particulary well sculpted and i really like her hands as well since they have long fingers and a pretty delicate and femenine manierism.

The head follows the character design too with the long face, nose, small moth and huge eyes and the short hair looks good as well with a blond color, a dark brush on the borrom and white accents on top to give it a very anime hair style. The eyes have a sad look on them with many eyelaches and big blue pupils as well as a purple shade on the upper lid but the rest of the face is not painted and this makes the face features got lost with the shiny skin color plastic and thats a shame.

The rest of the bdy is dark red with a darker air brush randomly used just like with D´s body suit with the inside of her jacket painted in gret and the corse details in black as well as the bandage sin qhite. Aroudn her wrists theres a lot of very colorfull and almost childish looking bands painted in silver colors and she is wearing a big belt with the hoslter of her gun at the left side. The holster is HUGE but since this belt is made of soft plastic it dosnt get in the way of the arms or legs and it just hangs from her hips pretty nicelly.

Spekaing of her gun, this weapons have the same odd shape as in the movie veing extremelly thick with four bullets at the sides. Its pretty hard to explain it since is a totally futuristic gun that looks like a revolver. The paint job is ok with some gun metal aribrush on it as some silver and brown accents on the handle and it fits perfecly on the holster on her hips or on her rigth hand.

She comes with two extra hands for hold stuff as well. Both hands have the same colorfull rings around the wrists and they can be swap pretty easy despite the hard material used. Both hands have her fingers posed in a different way soo they are not holding an item in a generic way and i like that, just like the relaxed hands, this hands have an awfull lot of personality for such a tiny sculpt.

Leila also comes with her googles when she is on her bike and they are dark green with the center painted in silver soo you cant see her eyes once on her eyes but sadly, theres no way to put the googles on her beacues theres no clip  or peg or anythign to keep them in place and Leila´s hair also get in the way. Is almost like they didnt designed them to be used.

She also comes with her grenade launcher she use to attack Mayer Link´s carriage once out of his hidden spot. This launcher thingy looks almost like dandomly make because it have sections that looks from differentweapons but at the same time dont look like an specific weapon either (like her revolver) and is cast on grey plastic. Despite looking pretty cheap and generic, both sides can extend soo it can fit on her bike holster tough is not possible for her to hold this weapon in a confortable way thanks to her awkard articulations.

And lastly is Leila´s bike. Yes, Epoch added her fucking bike along side her, like a normal accesory when this vehicles is actually heavyer than her. Its heavy and big  and looks exactly the same as in the movie. The design of course is very industrial and militaristic, simple and cool with a single wheel and a cross shaed design in front as a lanthern (tough its only sculpted in here). The machine is painted in military green with a darker airbrush to give it fake shadows. The seat and handlebars are painted in black while the controls in front and behind the metal plate are painted with fuel markers and theres a red and orange light in the back.

The two pedals in the back are articulated and move up and down since Leila´s heels fits perfectly on them. The wheel is ain independent sculpt and while made with black hard plastic, it actually moves and spins perfecly!! How to make such vehicle to stand? Well, theres a base included that consist on a black clamp like stricture that holds the back from the sides of the wheel and keep it "levitating". This lets you rest the bike on the ground of move it to the front to make it looks is moving.

Theres a couple of post on the rigth side to rest the rocket launcher thingy on it and thanks to Leila´s fully articulated body she can sit on the bike perfectly. Its tricky, deffinetly, open her legs enough soo her heels fits the pedals and the holding hands must be used in the handlebars and thanks to the artuclation on her neck that lets her mvoe her head up, she can be displayed riding the bike perfectly or just standing with it between her legs soo the bike works as a base.

While the figure is good enough, the addition of the vehicle made this figure the coolest thing to own and really help to elevate the display much more. D is realy good and looks nice on the pillar but Leila is much fun to play with deffinetly and while i am sure many people would find this figures dated and dissapointing, for me they are the coolest things around because in 25 years theres no other figure produced making them unique and even more special. Sure they can be much better with modern standars but this are products of theyr time, and back in theyr time this collection was more than perfect.