GUTS - VOW OF COUNTER ATTACK

Japan have a lot of weird ways to collect figures, like the claw machines, but last year i leanr about theyr lottery system: it seems stores in Japan have different lottery games focused on different anime series and each ticket give you a small item or merch piece, sometimes at random, but there is always a lucky single ticket with a figure as prize and the one with the last ticket wins the big prize that is, usually, some kind of sculpture or statue that are incrediblly expensive in the secondary market since the only way to get this figures is at this random lottery games.

Last month a store in Mexico bring the Berserk lottery that had a wicked and HUGE Zood statue as final grand prize and while i wasnt able to get it, i ended with lots of keychains, standees and towels and also one of the figures included in the collection: Guts using the Berserk armor. The box of this big boy reads "Ichiban Kuji Berserk - MASTERLISE Prize A- Vow of Counter Acttack" and there was a alternative version with Guts with the helmeth covering his head as well as the armor covering both hands but i got the open helmeth version.

This is a statue soo theres no articulations and given the pose and the huge cape, this figure cant stand on his own but it comes with a sort of stand....i will talk about it later but this stand thingy works perfectly and keeps the figure in perfect balance.

This Guts is in a bigger scale than the Pop Up Parade L Guts, soo i think is actually 1/6 scale given the dimension of his legs, arms and head - quiet a big scale - but thanks to the pose with the legs bend and standing with one of his hands on the ground in a very animalistic way, this makes this guy smaller than the Pop Up Parde L figure but just to his feet and head because the cape actually add a lot to his size.

Soo overall, i think this figure is on a totally different scale and is designed to be displayed along side the Zood that comes as final prize and its gigantic soo the scale is pretty unique to this Masterlise line and deffinetly it take an awfull lot of display space.

Like i said this is Guts posed in  avery feral way, with the legs totally bent and keeping his balance with one hand while the other have the Dragon Slayer sword buried in the ground, with the armo fully open and his head coming out from the wolf mouth with a fierce expression while his cape is fliying to the wind and the Berserk armor is actually loosing hold from the hands with the sword. A pretty damn spectaculat and epic thign to display on a high shelf soo it looks like Guts is about to jump down.

And as good as the pose is, this figure only shines while on a top shelf because the head is looking down and also, the cape take an awfull lot of space of the back but i guess thats the sectacular part of the sculpture.

Despite the size is very ligth since its made of a pretty softish plastic. The body is solid but the small bits like fingers and cape edges are pretty soft as well as the helmeth parts. Sculpt is really good with each plaque of the amror sculpted independently and each bolt and union as well tough the armor have is covered in lines and makes it looks like is a hand drawing from Miura and the cape, also have that wird texture full of lines that flows along side the fabric. The cape ondulates in a very nice and fantastic way and its irregular shape make it looks almost like smoke or something made with strokes of paint.

The texture is really difficult to describe and honestly, is very difficult to show as well since i wasnt able to take good quality pictures of this figure given the lightning and color palette. The free arm have sculpted veins and also roots from the armour in the section between the metal and the flesh and the way the armor gauntlet claw hangs behind Guts actual hand is soo cool!!!!

The face also have veins and Guts have a pretty fierce expression showing his teeth. The wrinkles around his nose and eyes looks pretty natural as well as his spiky hair tough the head is in a very weird angle in relation with the neck but i guess thats necesary given the pose.

The paint job is very simplre tough. The armor is actually metalic dark purple tough this is very difficult to see given how dark is the color, but yes....its purple and shines with the ligth while the legs sections have no armor and show Guts is using black plain mate pants while the cape have the same black color it does have some gray areas in the top of it to give it a little ligth and shape. The grey tones are very soft and hard to see but they are there and looks a little bit like smoke.

The hair is plain blakc while the stroke of white hair in front is grey, the face have a good skin color with a little bit of orange spray to enhance the ligthing and shadows. Both the closed and open eye have a black line as a lineart while the open eye has no pupil at all and is painted in a soft grey, just like the teeth and the lis are actually painted as well in a very discret way.

The only accesory here is hald of the Dragon Slayer sword, buried in the ground, with a bunch of rocks opening up in the bottom while on the top Guts hands holds it. The sculpt is super cool and while the sword have a good silver metalic color and have traits of use and wear, the grey paint job on the rocks is extremelly simple as well as the color of the bandages on the handle, it looks very plain.

The other accesory is the base, or should i say a stand?. Its basically a transluscent plastic pillar with a diagonal top that fits behind Guts and holds on the cape nicelly. Put it on the perfect spot is a little tricky but once done this simple thing keeps the figure in perfect balance forever. Simple, elegant and it does the job perfectly!!

This is pretty mushc the only lottery Ichiban Kuji figure i have of Berserk soo i am not sure how of the quality standar. The pose and sculpt are really fantastic but i feel the color is pretty lacking. With a repaint to enhance each detail this would looks amazing but as this is it feels kinda cell shading cartoon coloring and that dosnt fit the sculpt particulary well.

But even soo, this is one good looking and kick ass statue to display on the top shelf. The opening mouth wolf helmeth, the claw of the armor releasing Guts hand, the cape flowing to the wind, the sword buried on the ground, the animal pose, this is a figure that is deffinetly worth much more than the small amount of money the ticket demands and with Zood with him and Skull Knigth, the display will be more than perfect.

GUTS

I lack control with some things like Devilman, Metal Gear Solid or other series that makes me difficult not to spent money on them. One of them is Berserk. I remember years ago i tough "OK i just want a super cool amazing figure of Guts and my collection will be complete" and i got the Art of War statue to later be "I just want a 1/6 scale figre of Guts" and i ended getting the ThreZero figure that i have yet to show in here. Then it was "i want action figures" and spent a fortune on the Figmas, then the Nendroids.....last year i saw the Pop Up Parade L Guts from Good Smile Comapny, something i didt had plans to get, and we....

Now i have another Guts that dosnt fit on any scale of the rest of my Berserk figures aside of the Berserk Armor Pop Up Parade from years ago, soo i guess he is not all alone after all....and i got the Zood too that is too small to display together but is part of the collection....and just like that the train of tough keeps changuing and convince me to buy figures like this but i dont regret it at all.

The Pop Up Parade is the economic line from Good Smile Company tough this "L" branch of it is not as economic as i like and while deffinetly are much bigger than Figma they only are a head taller than a standar action figure but not tall enough to each the 1/6 scale, soo this Guts is in between scales, imposible to match him with other lines, its on its own size universe soo i guess that makes him worth getting.

He cant stand on his own because, for some reason, they decided to put pegs on his feet and cape soo he cant stand on his own without his base but once he is isnatlled on the base the figure have perfect balance. Soo this is a statis sculpture soo theres no articulation in here and no accesory aside of his sword and the already mentioned base.

The pose is extremelly boring. I mean, the Art of War statue is in the same pose soo is the Gecco figure and like many many others too. Even the Berserk Armor Pop Up Parade figure while standing on a rock, it have the Dragon Slayer over his shoulder in exactly the same angle. I know the big ass sword is pretty much the biggest issue to handle while doing a figure of even dragon Guts, but i am susprsed by the lack of creativiy while doing figures of this man, it seems they dont know wath to do with the sword aside or puting it over his shoulder.

Aside of the very basic pose, the sculpt is really amazing. The boots have a pretty nice leather texture and while the pants are clean, you can clearlly see every muscle of Guts legs being huged by the fabric thansks to the wrinkles. It almost looks like the pants are going to burst thanks to those amazing muscle legs!!

Of course this is Guts in the very first two volumes of the manga soo he ave no armor on his legs and not soo mant straps and the pointy shoulder pads, instead he have the knife, the belt in front with the smaller knifes, a few bags on the waist and his very basic black chest armor. The sculpt on each element is extremelly clean and perfect and the chest aror even have some identations as battle damage and you can see a little bit of Guts black thisrt under the armor. 

The musculaure on the arm with the Dragon Slayyer is really good as wella s the bandages on the hand and the mechanical arm looks perfect too even if the sping in the back is just plastic and not a real spring. The cape is flowing to the wind but not much soo the figure dont take too much spcae and while the wrinkles on it flows in a very realistic way, the texture of it is pretty odd....just like with the Berserk Armor version, the cape is covered insculpted lines that make it looks like.....fur? I ma not sure how to describe the cape texture look but it deffinetly make it looks different to the rest of the outfit materials, it almost likes like the cape is a 2D drawing turned into 3D.

I seen many peple complaining about the face but for me he looks perfect. The face expression is stoic like always, but the shape of the facem the size od the ears and the spiky hedgehog hair looks perfect to me. Of course he is not uver realistic but looks more anime, just like the Figmas.

Paint job is very simple but effcetive. The face and exposed arm are cast in a very good looking skin tone color while they have an almost invisible dark brush to high lights the muscles and shapes but its soo soft it looks mor elike a faint shadow. The lips are also painted in a very discrete way and the eye is clean and perfectly painted following the character design and the closed eye and eyebrows are painted in a very anime style. The scar on top of the nose is tehre and on the back of his neck theres the God Hand brand painted in brigth red.

The bandages are painted in bone white with some browns to make them looks used and dirty while the boots are a soft brown but the upper part of them are painted in ligtn brown and have some dark washes on the wrinkles section that almost makes them looks like painted with a color pencil.

The armor and arm are painted in gun metal black while the cape is pitch black, with no other color or brush on it and that makes it looks way too plain, but since the cape is not the focus point of the figure (like the Bsererk Armor version) it dosnt stand too much. The puches and other belts are painted in medium dark brown and that helps to make the texture stand a little bit.

The Dragon Slayer is full of identations and battle marks here and there and a little bit of texture in the center, with the blade painted in metalic silver and the bandages painted in the same tones as Guts bandages. It looks really good and way too much like the sword of the Berserk Armor Pop Up Parade but this one is different since the bandages in the end re flowing in a totally different direction.

The tip of the handle can be removed soo the sword can be intorduced in Guts hand and the blade have a little peg that fits on asmall identation of the cape in Guts shoudler soo the sword can fit there and stay in place with no chance of rotation.

The base is HUGE.....i dont know why is it soo huge but is oval shaped and totally black, pretty simple and generic and with three holes, two to insert the pegs on Guts bots and the other for the peg on a transluscent structure coming out from the cape. This transluscent structure is pretty strange and looks like is coming out directly from the folds of the cape but i guess Good Smile Comapny really needed a third point of balance just for the big ass sword.

I dont like the base, is just way too big for the scale of the figure and makes it difficult to display and also i find the pose very uninspired, but aside of that, i find this fgure pretty perfect as a representation of Guts, specially from the start of the manga. The sculpt is really good and detailed, the pain job is simple and efective and overall the figure have a good presence on the shelves despite not verin very big (tough the sword and base take an awfull lot of space).

I am not sure since theres too many figures of Guts but maybe, if i have to chose one this one is probablly the one that loos as the best representation of the character, dark, simple and elegant. And now i have three of four Pop Up Parade L figures from Berserk with only one missing...Skull Knigth.

BUBBLE HEAD NURSE

 Last chritmas Konami released a new series of figures based on the remake of Silent Hill 2 to be used as prize in japanese claw machines. A pretty cool idea tough that for a single token and a little of gaming job you can get an official Silent Hill figure. I like the idea a lot and the price of thr market of this figures is incrediblly atractive too and of course.....wath characters are included in the collection?  Red Pyramid Thing and the Bubble Head Nurse, the only mascots of the entire series.

I want to complaing about the character selection but the fact this are based on the remae and not the original game makes them a nice variant to have on display as well. I already review Red Pyramid Thing and he was pretty damn good in my opinion, specially with that price soo i will look to the Bubble Head Nurse now.

She is bigger than the Figma and in the same scale as the Silent Hill Pop Up Parade and matches most horror collections in the market (like NECA´s or McFarlane Toys) and i am pretty sure she can stand on hr own at all but the inclusion of a base pretty much fixes that. This is a statue soo theres no movable parts or assemble requiered.

This figure is odd because.....it have the same sculpt and pose as the Gecco statue. I dont know if Gecco give the rigths od the sculpt to Konami or if Konami is the rigths owner but i find it pretty odd they recycle the pose for a figure. I mean the Pop Up Parade is in a very damn similar pose but it have some difference here and there but here, even the fingers are possed in the same angle.

We have the Nurse walking to the front in a very contorted and grotesque way while holding her iron pipe. The sculpt is perfect, i mean this is Gecco´s work soo it canot be the other way soo the fin on the head and bust size as well as all the curves are accurate to the in game model.  The nurse cap is made of soft plastic and have some nice details on the back, like pincs to hold it (tough i dont know how since theres no hair to do it), the hands are also cast on soft plastic as well as her skirt.

Theres this red metalic square where her mouth is supposed to be and after 25 years i still have no idea with it is but for some reason they always add if to the figures of this creature because in the game not all of them have this weird thing, tough i must admit the metalic red contrast pretty good with the white of the creature´s head.

Unlike Red Pyramid Thing that is full of metalic, fleshy and cottton texture, lots or rust, this girl is completelly devoided of any texture, but her skin and uniform are completelly clean of texture as well as her head but i think this really helps the figure to be more accurate since the Nurses in the game had alsways looked thing of...sintetic and not real, and the clean cheap plastic of this figure really helps achive that look.

Noth her skin and entire uniform including cap as well as her head are full of yellowish/brown stains plased completelly random and thats makes her looks realistic enough. Even her gloves are stained unlike Red Pyramid Thing ones and they fits n the overall display better. Her stockings tough are too clean as well as her high heel shoes and that mesk them stand out a little bit even with the dark color on them, they have a heavt contrast with the white of the figure.

This is pretty much the only difference between the original bubble Head Nurse and the remake ones, the stockings and high heel shoes soo this make the figure a nice variant to the rest of the collection. Her only accesory is her iron pipe that fits her hand pretty easy and also have a very good scult with a lot of details and sections that makes it looks like a functional item and the metalic cooper paint makes it looks realistic enough.

The base is as awfull as Red Pyramid Thing one, made with hollow cheap red plastic and a rock texture and a pretty random and space eating shape, the base looks a little bit out of place but like i already said, it does the job and i guess is the less imporant part of the whole figure.

This is a very simple looking figure that looks good, specially for the low price and i love it but i dont know how to feel about the recyled pose, the variety of the characters is extremelly low and having the characters in the same pose is something i dont like at all but given how hard to find is the Gecco nurse by now, i dont think not many people would notice. I just wish someday they make other creatures or characters, PLEASE, KONAMI!!!!!

RED PYRAMID THING

 I still remember the shock of the Gecco Silent Hill statues and later on, the Figam action figures....it was almost surreal that we finally had Silent Hill figures and merchadise tough we didnt got nothing while the videogame series was alive and well, somehow the gears of publicity started to move long looong after the game was dormant soo in the last teen years we been having a parade of figures based on the characters.....or should i say, in only two characters of the series: Red Pyramid Thing and the Bubble Head Nurse.

And last christmas and with no warning or pre-order Konami launched two figures based on these creatures as prize figures from those machines with a claw...you catch the boxes with the claw in exchangue of a token soo this figures are really really cheap and i cant find even a brand in theyr boxes aside of Konami soo i am guessing Konami makes them directly.

The atractive price made me get them for sure soo i cant let Silent Hill merchadise slip away. This figures are in the standar scale of most figures like Storm, McFarlane or NECA soo they fit with most horror collection and they are actually taller than the Figma....let says they are in the same scale as the Pop Up Parde.

This is a statue soo no articulation or asembling needed at all tough i am not sure if this Pyramid Thing can stand on his own, he comes with a base that works perfectly fine with him with the use of pegs under his boots.

At first the fact this is no screen accurate really bugged me but eventually i found out this is not based on the original Silent Hill 2 but in the remake, soo this Pyramid Thing is the redesign Masahiro Ito did for Bloober Team and have a number of differences with the original. 

The head is perfect, perect sixe and shape and the metalic texture is nice. It have a rugged side like if the content of the head is going to brake the metal and it have a metalic nail in this part soo everything from the game is present, including the fleshy parts under the pyramid and the flesh coming out in the back with another nail coming out from it. 

The musculature on the arms is really nice and the fact his arms have no carving makes the arms much more sexy and the gloves frames the muscled arms even more. The outfit is different from the original, while the original hace a......dont know wath to call it....its a costume that covers his entires body and is tucked on his boots, this version only have a butchers apron that only cover the frront side and have the back side totally open, revealing his entire back and legs.

There is a number of straps holding the apron in place and while the pants are extremelly simple, the wrinkles following the legs anatomy are really doog looking and natural and while the boots and pants have no tecture, the apron have a pretty heavy cotton texture. The pose is really good with Pyramid Thing walking up front with a very natural motion thanks to his apron since the back side flows very good around his body and the weigth of the big blade can be felt thanks to the stretched musculature on his arm.

The paint on the head is relaly good, with a shiny metalic dark brown mixed with black and the nail on his side in shiny silver. While th meat under the head is crimson read the one coming out from the back looks purple and kinda plastic soo instead of a brain it looks like a tumor. The apron also have a very natural firty grey with a lot of random stains that looks very natural and a black gradient fromthe bottom to the top.

This black gradient can be seen on the arms too tough while his arms have a nice pink texture on the, they kinda looks way too "healty" and actually sext for such a creature. Also the sqeaky clean white cloves really looks awkard in contrast with the black ink on his arms but i cheecked in game and yes, his gloves are actually very white. Maybe in game light kind of hide them but in a figure the contrast is pretty odd...

The pants and boots are just plain dark blue and brown and lack any kind of detailing. His only accesory is his big blade that have a realistic rugged texture on it as well as a copper and dark paint with a lot of stains and rust on it. Put the weapon on his hand was pretty tricky tough since his fingers cannot be open and the handle hace a peg that fits on his palm, soo remove the blade seems imposible now.

And finally theres the base...it have an incrediblly anoying shape that makes no sence and takes  ahuge amount of space on the dhelve and it have a rocky texture on it tough is made with hollow cheap plastic cast in dark red, soo it looks incrediblly cheap and generic but i guess this is the less important part of the figure and it does its job perfectly keeping Red Pyramid Thing in perfect balance.

Its odd how some elements of this figure are soo cheap and low quality and how other elements are soo damn good, yet i guess nothing can beat the super low and atractive price of it. I wish Konami release more figures as nice as this one with such price because collecting figures like this is getting pretty impossible with prices like the ones of Good Smile Company. 

Also i am very happy to have figures based on the remake of Silent Hill 2, this finally add some variation to the display tough i still wish they make more characters or creatures from the game aside of this guy and the nurse.

WEREWOLF

 The werewolf horror genre is one of the worst ever....theres not many werewolf movies out there and even soo only a handfull of them are worth watching. I can count with the fingers of one hand the really good werewolf movies out there and thats really dissapointing but those very rare few good movies are soo damn good!!! And despite the years, they still hold as some of the best in the horror genere.

Thats why is not a surprise theres not much werewolf figures out there, while we have like 400 different Chuckys, Leatherface or Michael Mayers, theres not much in the toy department dedicated to werewolf movies aside of the Wolfman movie from Universal. It take theyr time but gladlly, NECA gives a first stemp and finally give is a Werewolf Ultimate figure from The Howling, one of those very rare brillant wolf movies.

This was one of my most hyped figures of last year and one that fits perfectly along the An Americna Werewolf in Lodon and the Dog Soldier wolfs (and i REALLY HOPE NECA do the Dog Soldier wolf someday too). In perfect scale with everything NECA does, this good boy is shoulders and a head taller than all other figures of the brand, just like a werewolf must be and theres no way he can stand on his own with such long legs and tiny feet soo he comes with a special base but i will take about that later.

This lycan is articulated on the head and neck base, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, legs, knees, half calf, ankles and ....feet? Or are the paws? Soo theres no way to complaing about articulations here since he is nude and nothing block them. Biceps rotate and elbows and shoulders have a very good range of movement while the neck is really long and have ball joints on both side; one conects with the body while other conects with the head and theres two different hair rings made of soft plastic that covers thins long neck section, soo the head have a huge range of movement to the sides, up and down (perfect to pose him howling to the moon).

Chest have a really good range of movement to the front and back while legs, somehow feel a little bit limited but i cant point exactly why. Knees bends very good, just the same as the kalf articulation and "ankles" while the feet can rotate. All this articulations are ratchet soo they are pretty sturdy and hard to bend but i am glad they are since this figure really does needs strong legs to survive....not like that McFarlane Manbat...

Sculpt is reaaaaaallly good, each strand of hair on his body follow the flow of his muculature structure on his back, arms and legs and the the way the hair flows and joint on the center of his chest and belly is just soo natural....like a real dog with long hair. Also the hair on his forearms and thigh hangs behind soo nicelly and his tiny tail is soo adorable. The small feet dont look human at all but dont looks like dog ar all and the hands have such amazing long and thin spidery fingers.

Theres a lot of hair hnaging from the sides of his face (this actually looks like....a long haired cat once in close look) and the size of the snout is perfect along side the tiny eyes and huge fox like ears that gives him a kind of demonic look since they looks like horns. Really the ears are giant but each part of the silhouette mathes perfectly that of the on screen animatornic and costume in the movie.

The tiny eyes are yellow and they have a mini small black pupil and i am surprised how perfectly are painted given the small size. The yellow fangs and red gums looks perfect along side the black lips and nise. The claws are yellow like the fangs and the hairless skin on the paws and hands are actually blue, pretty much everything else here is brown.

Like....a lot of brown and a toon of different browns. The color in the hair is very rich since it have an awful lot of darker and lighter browns perfectly combined in an extremelly natural way. I mean you dont see the different colors until you take a good look at them and i counted 6 different browns soo far along side the grey area in the chest. Everything mix soo perfect and each piece fits soo perfectly, this is one of the best pieces i ever seen on the history of NECA.

Accesorys theres not much but that is understandable. He comes with tree pairs of hands: one is completelly relaxed, one is claw shaped to attack and theres another one in the middle of this two. Sometimes is very hard to see the difference bewteen this hands but they are different and the paint job and sculpt is perfect on all of them and they swap very easy.

Then theres tree different heads: the standar head with the jaw closed (togh his lips are open to show his fangs), another ehad with the moith fully open and a third one with articulated jaw. While the sculpt and paint on the inside of the mouth of the open jaw head is fantastic, the articulated jaw head pretty much negates the other two. Really, why produce two heads with different face expression and a third head with both expression at the same time?

I am guessing this was done only to justufy the price because, aside of this theres nothing more to give to this Werewolf an accesory. Maybe bloody extra limbs?? But wathever the reason, i guess is better to have more heads than missing them. Plus this articulated jaw head dripping blood and looks soo damn good!! This is deffinetly the only head i need for display tough all of them can be swaped very easy.

And lastly is the base. Now theres no way this character cna stand with those werid shaped and small feet soo i am very happy NECA added a base, and not any base....this is a base that actually does work!!! The base consist on a circular transluscent plastic piece with a rod on the center and a clamp in the end. The clamp holds onto the Werewolf hip piece in the base and between his legs .... it holds him from the balls, literally.

I never seen a base like this from NECA before but it works and keeps the Werewolf standing no matter the legs position. But this feels so damn delicate....i mean, one mist be carefull soo the legs are posed to reach the ground soo the rod dont need to hold the entire weigth of the figure, but i am afraid to broke the rod or the clamp that holds the balls soo the addition or emoval of the base must be handle with extreme care and is really tricky and even with that i am not sure how much time this base will hold.

Soo this figure cant stand but thats to be expected thanks to his design and i am happy NECA made a working base just for him i just hope is not that delicate as it looks....aside of that, this figure is complete perfection, even with the lack of accesorys, articulation, sculpt and paint is just spectacular from every angle and makes me wish they give us a Dog Soldier wolf as well someday.

I think is not necesary to say how good this looks on display on any horro collection and how necesary it was for me to get this beautifull beast in my hands.