HAOHMARU

Its weird how sometimes the best and most unexpected things come from the unknown. It was out of luck when, years ago, i found pretty intriguing images of a figure of non other but Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown. Not only its weird they produce figures of Samurai Shodown given how niche it is but it was true? Other company aside of Storm had the license...Tunshi Studio. Who is Tunshi??? I looked at forums, at conventions, in social media, there was literally no info about this Tunshi Studio, not even a web page and not even BBT Store or any other toy shop online had the brand on theyr stock products. 

I found a single page that had listed Tunshi Studio and i was shocked by the price, yet i took the risk and pre-order it, knowing i had high chances to lose my money and for two years i actually lose it until last week, a HUGE box came to my house by mail. And when i say huge i mean really MASSIVE since it half the size of my bed, with the tittle "TUNSHI STUDIO - CLASSSIC GAME FIGURE" on top and the cool logo of Tunshi in kanji on the bottom. I think is useless to write how excited and happy i felt in that moment.

I actually never expect to see a Haohmaru 1/6 scale figure given for how long his game has been dead and even with the internet photos i was doubting the final result would be worth the astronomical price i pay for this, but i was really wrong since even the box is a piece of art: inside the brown box with Tunshi logo was the real thing, a beautifull, heavy and high quality box bound in black canvas with an amazing Haohmaru art in front painted in Nihonga style, with the logo of the game in the sides and the characters name in top and bottom in glossy red kanjis. Only the box is a piece of art that deservs to be framed and leaves in shame Hot Toys and Sideshow figures.

Haohmaru is big and heavy, really heavy and can stand on his own perfectly tough he comes with a very impresive and high end base. He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, legs, knes and ankles. Now here is the thing; figures in this scale usually cant achive pretty extreme or deep action poses since the clothes block theyr movement, like Snake or Imhotep that are mostly statues that can move only theyr heads and while others have a much bigger range of movement (like Dante or Batman) they still cant take extremes poses since that can damage theyr outfits or theyr articulations.

Haohmaru is not exception. His torso and legs are covered on a skin like soft plastic that lets him move his chest area and neck without showing any kind of articulation,and while his shoulders have a good ranage of movement, his elbows have only a single ball joint soo they can bent on "L" but not more and his legs have the same limitation, he can move them in front and back and open them up perfectly but he cant seat and he cant put his hands together or hold his sword with both hands without forcing the joints and that could be fatal.

He sure is really delicate, like all figures in this scale and price, tough like i said his articulations are completelly hidden under his plastic skin and the only ones visible (the elbows) are almost invisible and that bost the figures aesthetic a lot. Sure thing he cant be posed in a fliying kick stance but he looks fantastic on more natural and pasive poses.

He looks fantastic on anything actually, the scupting is trully glorious, the skin texture is soo crazy realistic is weird...you can see and feel the veins on his hands and his chest is soo soft and....well, he just need to be warm because is imposible see him and not expect him to breath at any moment.

Now this is not based on the character from the last game, this guy dosnt have short legs and that cartoony feel, Tunshi went to the realistic route and gives him a pretty athletic and perfect shape and his face also follows the rules of realism. This is Shinkiro version of Haohmaru. His strong jaw, the shape of his eyes and eyebrows, this is a 3D render or Shinkiro art from Samurai Shodown 2 (and actually, the art of Shinkiro always looked very 3D). 

The skin color is very natural and is the actual tone of the plastic, tough the paint is really really good: there is a subtle black shadow for the soft beard, the pink on his lips, the scar close to his mouth, his black eyelashes and brown eyes, the paint aplication is pristine, dosnt lack any detail but looks very natural and blends each element perfectly. I specially like the weet texture on his eyes and how livelly they look.

His hair is totally black and the sculpt of each hair is really sharp and shines nicelly with natural light. The pompadour have a very sharp sculpt as well and his mane on the back is composed of many layers of strand of hair. Following the rule of realism Tunshi chose to follow, the mane of hair is much more realistic looking than in the games, specially after Samurai Shodown 3, Haohmaru´s hair started to grow to crazy lenghts but since this is the character from the second game, the hair is much more discrete.

Also, i forgot to mention, there is another articulation in here, on his mane of hair. There is a ball joint that conects the mane with his head and can rotate to any direction, a pretty nice concept and much better than Storm Collectibles hair exchange, tough the ball joint can be dissconted pretty easy in here in order to manipulate the figure much more easyer.

Another sculpted part are his feet, deffinetly the second most amazing section of the figure. The sculpt of his Waraji sandals is stuning. The sculpt of the straw woven piece is amazing, specially on the base and the Tabi socks are soo nice too, i love how dirty and yellow they are on the front section, since Hohmaru´s toes pop out of the sandals and are touching the dirty ground. Thats such a realistic detail.

His outfit is soo crazy simple: a pair of black and white Hakama pants and a Haori put in place with a black belt. The fabric is thick and of very good quality and looks surprisinglly clean and dosnt block any of the leg or waist articulation. Tough i feel his Hakama pants are a little too small? Again, i am soo used to see Haohmaru using such a huge Hakama, this one looks pretty tigth, tough the Haori is perfect.

Each black setion of the Hakama and Haori have a wire inside as well as the black belt, soo you can pose the outfit perfectly to flow with the figure pose. Again, an amazing detail that really helps gives realism to an almost too real piece. The last piece of his outfir are the red bandages around his calfs and forearms.

Except for his footwear, all his clothes can be removed pretty easy. Why remove his outfit? Well, he is very well made, actually way too very nicelly made. Except of his knes articulation, his entire body is covered in this realistic and soft plastic skin. Usually with this figures, once you remove the clothes you see a manequin like body under it, with ugly articulations and thin limbs. This guy is not like that...his entire muscle structure is there, under the outfit, his back is very....realistic and his ass too and......his groin is not empty at all. This is actually and finally an anatomically correct figure...

His accesoryes are as brillant as the rest of the figure: first he comes with five pairs of hands, one is closed fist, one to hold his sword, one to hold the sheath while tooking out the sword with his thumb, open palms and lastly claw shaped palms. All this hands are big and gives a lot of personality to Hohmaru tough i must say, change them is really hellish. The peg on his wrists is thick and the holes on the hands are soo small and the red bandages on the forearms dosnt helpt to make the task easyer. I feel like the hand exchange is the most dangerous part and thet event that can end with the figure broken.

His other accesory is an extra head with a sexy smirk on it. The sculpt and paint are brillant and are a perfect version of Shinkiro´s art cover for Samurai Spirits 2. This extra head comes with another mane,  the same articulation and can be exchanged extremelly easy. Actually, this is the opposite to the hands since the hole on the base is a little too big for the ball joint of the neck.

He also comes with his sake jug. This jug is full of scratches and the paint is very weathered down but still vibrant and colorfull and have a red string around the neck for Hohmaru to hold it on his hands or around his belt. The cork can be removed and the little jug is actually hollow and it can be filled with any liquid.

Then there is the katana and its sheath. The sheath is very simple, just black with two red stripes and can be hold on Haohmaru´s belt just like his jug and the katana fit inside nicelly. The katana then is a piece of art: the handle is not sculpted plastic, oh noes, it have an real tiny and thin green string woven around it in a perfect pathern. The artcraft on this sword is amazing and quiet delicate too sadly, since each time i put the sword on Hohmarus hands, the fingers damage the green string a little bit and i am afraid it end broken. Once one of the strings is broken, the whole woven pathern will shatter soo this section is extra extra delicate.

The blade tough is not delicate. The blade is actually made with real metal and is really sharp wich makes the katana really heavy and shiny and trully dangerous as well since i am pretty sure it could be pretty easy kill someone with this tiny real life sword. I actually wasnt expecting this.

More accesorys: a red ribbon and 3 straws. I really dont know wath to do with the ribbon, theres no instructions about it soo i let it be, but the tiny brown straws fit on an almost invisible little hole on the smile of Hohmaru. Put the straw in such a miniature hole is really tough, but once done it matches perfectly the, again, famous cover illustration Shinkiro made for the game.

Then there is the movements effects, just like Storm Collectibles but this guy have two different effects. One is the Ougi Kogetsu Zan or Arc Moon Slash, pretty much the same effect the Storm figure have: a windy looking thingy with the shape of a half moon that fits in the katana´s tip. Its cast on orange transluscent plastic and easy to use tough posing the actual movement is tricky given the already tall Haohmaru must be fliying upward with his katana up and that requieres a lot of space.

The other effect is the Ougi Sempuu Retsu Zan or Whirlwind Rending Slash and consist on a whilrwind sculpted in yellow transluscent plastic, with orange shades and standing on a transluscent round base. This thing is laucnhed by Haohmaru soo its pretty easy to pose it, works great and is really spectacular looking tough i feel is a little shorter than it should be.

Then there is the base, wich is as amazing as the figure. Is round and cast in red plastic (very 90s) with a black circle in the middle with the logo of the game. There is a protective sticker on it and once removed, the logo shines but i wont remove the protection. It also have a plate with Haohmaru´s name in front written in kanji and to my surprise, this plate is actually made of real wood!!!

The base have two roods, one longer than the other, made of metal that can be screw on the base while a black claw can be screw at the other end. Despite being metalic...the rods are actually flexible and can be adjusted to any heigth and the claw have a spring inside too to hold the figure waist pretty tigth, while the inside of the claw is covered in soft material to not damage Haohmaru´s cloths or waist. This is a high end base that not only looks great and works perfectly to keep the figure in place, but this damn thing also hold the figure with care to avoid damage. Impresive.

I know this is one of my longest entrys in here, but theres juts too much around this figure, even the box that contains it have a lot going on and yet is still shrouded in mistery: The back of the box have the urls of the web pages and social media of Tunshi Studio and i already check them and they dosnt exist. There is a single photo of an Ukyo Tachibana figure made by Tunshi and they are making Metal Slug figures as well but aside of that theres nothing more, i still cant find any other page to buy this figure and the page i used is already out of stock and given the high price, i doubt someone else besides me buy one of this.

Now i wonder how many of this figures produced? I would like to follow this brand and see if they make a Terry Bogart figure or just tell them how much i like this guy, but the people behind seems to be out of reach. Honestly, this is one of the most expensive figures i ever got and i took a big chance spending this much money on him, but after a couple of hours with him, it feels like it was a bargain. The quality is stuning and it was still cheaper than any of the Marvel or DC stuff Hot Toys has beein doing (or Star Wars).

Also, this man is soo handsome, REAL HANDSOME. Is soo awkard that a piece of plastic can be this sexy and attractive, this wasnt by luck. I mean, if i had the chance to have different backgrounds and a better ilumination system, i could open an Only Fans for this figure.

Aside of the debate if this is a action figure or a sex toy, this Hohmaru looks fantastic and draws the attention on any room given his strong presence and realism. He is a dream come true to any Samurai Shodown fan, or any fan of figthing games, any fan of videogames in general or Japanese culture as well, a true museum quality piece that really blows away the Storm Collectibles action figure. This is deffinetly one of my top 5 favorites pieces of my collection and i dont even feel i need more figures based on Samurai Shodown anymore.

I hope this entry helps anyone who search info about this figure since this may be the only english written review about it with this much photo evidence. I got the feeling this piece will be even more rare now than before.

MUMMY

 I cant belive theres been five months since NECA released theyr Ultimate Frankenstein Monster. On that period Jada Toys came and released four Monsters already. Is not like NECA didnt do anything tough, since it launched Gargoyles and American Werewolf in London among other stuff, but the WolfMan had to be out months ago and theres no sign of him. But finally, after a long wait another Universal Monster arrives, tough is not the Wolf but The Mummy.

We are at the 90 anniversary of The Mummy soo the moment is perfect. That movie put to the test Boris Karloff acting skills and he creates the most subtle monster, the high priest Imhotep, who can convey a sense of power and menace just with a look at his terrifiying eyes just before unleashing his misteryous and unknown mental powers over the living. NECA´s version of the character really live up to the silver screen version.

Imhotep is surprisinglly much smaller than Frankenstein Monster. This is logic tough weird considering both are the same man, Boris Karloff, but is really really nice NECA have a pretty clear view of scale between characters. Imhotep can stand on his own perfectly despite his feet being kinda small.

He is articulated on the head, bse od the neck, shoulders, biceps, double articulation on the elbows, wrists, chest, waist, legs, knes and ankles, all ball joint and given the simplicity of his shape, pretty much nothing get on the way of his movement, he have a full movement freedom (except on the ankles, theyr range of movement is small) and is by far the most articulated Imhotep to date since Diamond Select version is just a statue and Sideshow version is completelly bound by his bandages.

Not like there is a lot of pose options here tough, this is a character that moves slow and steady and....actually we never see Imhotep full body on the movie either or actually moving. His physic is....thin, much more than the Monster, and the bandages sculpt is really nice, messy in some sections and very well defined in others and that helps keep the articulations hidden for a nice aesthetic.

This is Karloff in all his glory. His sunken cheeks, square jaw, sad eyes, the deeple wrinkled face with the scar on his nose, the sculpt rivals to Matt Falls version for Sideshow and given this is in a smaller scale, it may be better looking. The wrinkles on his hands are also perfect tough most of the effect comes on the paint job. His skin is grey/purple wich gives him the looks of a corpse but very different to the Monster skin texture.

But my favorite parts are the tip of his fingers, painted in black, like gangrene as well as the dark around his eyes, that gives them a pretty deep look.Plus, his pupils are golden and the eyes balls are red, and thats gives him a pretty eerie and inhuman look. Again, NECA nailed the "living dead" look perfectly only with this small details.

The rest of the wrinkles are perfectly painted too as the grey wash on his bandages, they are pretty natural looking and different to his skin texture. This is mostly a  black and white character since the only color is on his eyes and the golden ring on his finger.

His accesoryes are an extra pair of head, one "sleeping" and one screaming. The sleeping head is an exact copy of the base head, except he have his eyes closed to mimic dead even much better, but the screaming head is a complete novelty since we never saw Imhotep screamin on screen. His scream is crooked and he have no teeth and the wrinkles around his mouth make it looks like an endless hole, is a really creppy looking expression.

He also have with a couple of left hands with the scarab ring. I had issues noticig the difference bwteen the hands tough sicne they are very similar, but one hand have open fingers and another one look like is triying to grab something. Is odd they didnt add any extra rigth hand but he dosnt have too many accesorys to hold anyway. The hands and heads can be exchanged pretty easy.

He also have a couple of extra wrappings, made with soft plastic but still keeping the fantastic sculpt and natural paint of Imhotep´s body. This wrapping are sculpted to be put around his neck and flow around his closed arms on his chest as well as around his legs, but they can hang on any places actually, on his arms, or feet. And given the sculpt, they also give to the character a pretty cool sense of movement since it looks like they flow with the wind.

His last accesory is the ceremonial chest that is buried along him, a replica of the one on screen toug this one is grey, unlike the Sideshow version that is yellow. The golden horus on the sides as well as the stars and symbols on the lid are perfectly painted, and inside it is the Scrool of Thoth, thet one that once read, brings back the life to Imhotep. Its just a printed piece of paper tough the printing quality is really good.

And no sarcophagus since it will be DLC. Really is a shame such a crucial piece will be DLC but thats pretty much the only issue i can find on this figure. The quality of the sculpt, paint and articulations are perfect as well as the accesoryes. Like i already say, NECA is closing the gap between prototype and final product and this Mummy si really a lot of fun. Now lets wait another half a year for the Wolfman.