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.