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.

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.

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.

DEVILMAN VIOLENCE

 Let start the year with something retro, very retro, from 1998 actually and a subject even more retro: Devilman. Its been a long time since i posted something Devilman related but i already review every single piece i have and in the last years pretty much nothing has come out related to the character. Yes, Devilman Crybaby was very popular but it didnt spark any kind of merchadise at all soo the last time we had new Devilman toys was....probablly 15 years ago.

Good thing tough last century leave us an awfull lot of Devilman merchadise to hunt down soo while this figure is not entirelly new but its just a color variant i think its worth adding it to the collection given how rare it is. From Kaiyodo this is part of theyr "Violence Action Figures" series that consist on nly two figures: Devilman and Devilman Lady.

But while the series was pretty small, the color variations made it much bigger. Back in the 90s for some reason color variations in action figures was extremelly popular ocurrence soo every figure came out in 5 or even more color palettes and that made them extremelly tricky to collect since the original color palette was most of the time pretty difficult to find. Thats something i really dont miss from toy collecting in the 90s and beginign of the 2000s.

Soo of course Kaiyodo was no exception for this soo it released 4 different variations of each Devilman and Devilman Lady. I think i got the original version of both....maybe. But last year i was able to find another Devilman lose but in really good condition. Yes i aready got this guy in my collection but up at this point is a good idea to snatch anything related to the character.

He is in standar scale, justlike NECA or McFarlane or Storm soo he fits nicelly with most figures series and he can stand on his own, partially because the articulations on his knees are very lose and make him fall constantly, specially with the wings on soo you need to find the perfect balance but once done, he stays still perfectly. With no wings he stands much much better.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs and knees and of course, all this articulations are very basic swivels that only let him rotate the waist, head and wrists and the elbows and knees have a basic articulation and given his legs are sculpted very open, moveing them isnt specially usefull or good looking, soo this is a figure fully articulated but with not many options of display.

Sculpt is fantastic, this is Devilman in his most basic shape, just like Go Nagai designed him, with the big smile full of fangs, pointy nose, the anthena and medium size wings on his head and hairy legs, no unnecesary redesign or anything and the muscular buid is really really amazing, he looks like a body builder and he actually have his penis sculpted as well as his nipples.

The paint consist on metalic orange with a black airbursh on his legs and shoulder marks and the wings have the same color aplication. The red inside his mouth dosnt stand too much with all that orange but the yellow eyes looks really nice in contrast with the back section of his head. While the paint on the eyes and fangs is perfectm the whole figure is cast in transluscent plastic soo it catch the light in a pretty weird way mixed along the metalic paint.

The original version is cast on normal plastic and is painted in green, with a lot of details on his muscuature. Here theres no details in the paint at all, just plain orange, but the transparency make his looks more shiny than the original version. There sno accesorys but the wings can be removed but that leave a big hole on his back.

Compared with modertn figures this is abismal. but the articulations and design mixed with the material and the way its painted makes this looks like one of those super expensive vinyl japanese toys and it defifinelty screams "80s-90s". From all the Devilman figures i seen in my life this one is one of the bests to represents the Go Nagai character design and fits nicelly on any anime of horror collection.

I cant remember the last time i got a Deviman figure like this. To a point i think i felt my collection was completelly closed but this guy reminds me it is not, there is a lot still out there related to Devilman and that somehow makes me feel kinda excited.

NOSFERATU ZODD

An update??!! Yhea!! At last!! Its been quiet sometime since the last entry but i knew a time like this will come eventually: its pretty difficult to justify the prices of figures and toys now days, specially since salary stays the same but i will try to update more often mixing new releases with old figures that has been with me for a long time because....yhea, this hobby is getting much more expensive each year, just like the subject of this entry.

For years i been filling the Good Smile Company survey asking them for one of my favorite Berserk characters in Figma shape: Zodd. And for years they have been ignoring me and they even clsoe theyr Berserk line long time ago but somehow, Bandai listened to me and finally added Zodd to theyr S.H. Figuarts line, a line that i have been ignoring for years. For years S.H.Figuarts has been avoiding all the series i like and been focused on Dragon Ball, Naruto, Avengers and overall mainstream shounen and comics until last year when they took the Berserk licence.

More Guts and Grffith variations in the same scale as the Figma´s and the little kids Schierke and Isidro, this last two tempt me since they are new characters but not my favorite and then then release Nosferatu Zodd on his human form!! I dont know waths the deal with this, it seems this figure is exclusive of the Premium Tamashi site, but this guy was way too expensive, almost twice as the rest of the S.H.Figuarts but i just bit the bullet and got him.

It is true his box is much bigger than the rest of the figures but he is not that huge at all since its perfecly in scale 1/12 soo he is a whole head taller than Guts and much more bulky but he fits perfectly with the Figma figures as well but unlike those, Zodd dont have a base but he dosnt need it since his balance is perfect and can stand on hiw own.

He is articulated on the head, neck, absi, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, legs, thights, knes, ankles and half feet. Both the ehad and neck are ball jointed soo they have a HUGE range of movement to the sides and up and down and hair dosnt get in the way but the abs articulation barelly moves up and down soo it can be moved only to the sides, despite the belts and torso pieces being a totally independent sculpt, they are made with hard plastic.

The shoulders have two ball joints!! I never seen soo many before. Once conects with the torso and another ones conects with the biceps, with the shoulders covering them like some kind of cups.....but they leave a HUGE gap in top that makes the ball joints visible but not only that, the shoulder cups thingys are made with soft plastic, soo while they kinda move up and down around the ball joint, they dont let him move his shulders up too much. Very dissapointing.

Biceps rotate and elbows have double articulation, tough the inside of the elbows is sculpted following the arm shape and color and texture, soo this elbows not only bend pretty good but they are really well hiden. Totally different to those hideous whoulders. Wrists ball joints are big and move perfectly tough the ball dosnt fit too deep inside the hands and they tend to fall constantly but i guess thats much better than not be able to remove the hands at all.

The furry loincloth is made with soft plastic soo the legs have a lot of movement freedom as well as the thighs can rortate pretty good but the cut in here is extremelly evident and sometimes it leaves a gap betwen the muscles and the innder leg structure. Despite that this is much more eye pleasing than the shoulders.

Knes have double joints and the inside part is aslo sculpted followinf the same textre and color of the body, soo they articulations is etremelly well hidden. The feet ball joints works perfect and helps him balance himself perfectly and the half feet articulation is simple but works pretty good. Overall this Zodd have a big range of movement except on the torso and the shulders.

Pretty much every single thing Bandai has done is anime based soo there was some worry about the sculpt of a character like this but they did a greay job with Zodd in-human face features, from his thick nose to his small eyes with bumps instead of eyebrows, his wide jaw and pointy ear. The spiky hair looks and feels really good and even the scar on his forehead is sculpted.

The musculature build is perfect for him with some veins on his legs and arms to give him a natural look tough theres not much of a texture on his skin tough or the texture is extremelly low. His chest is really huge and have no nipples, just like Miura draws him and the hairy bits on his boots as well as his loincloth looks pretty good, tough i have my doubts if the loinclothe was this small...its barelly covering him.

The straps around his chest asnd belts looks nice but they have no texture at all but the best part is the demon head at the center, with the pointy horns. This peice is painted in silver paint as well as the metalic bits of spikes on his belts and straps and the red metalic eyes on the demon head stand out soo nicelly!!!

And while the troso underpiece is painted in metalic grey, the hairy sections as well as the belts have no paint at all soo they are cast just in dark and ligth brown. This makes them looks kinda cheap....i mean, giving a nice was of dakr colors could make the belts looks more like leather and the hairy loincloth and boots looks jost too clean. Actually his boots are just plain brown and looks unfinished.

Gladlly, the body paint is much better and detailed since his skin tone not only is correct, but it have a very soft wash that gives the muscles pretty natural shadows that makes them stand out, also areas like the knukles have a little bit of redish too that meks them looks very realistic. The hair is plain black tough the hair line is perfectly painted as well as the tusks coming out from his mouth and red vibrant eyes that have some black painted around them to make them stands out even more. The scar on his forehead is painted in ligth brown.

Aside of closed fists he comes with hands to hold his weapons and open hands shaped like claws. While the sculpt and paint is consistent on all of them and all of them are a little bit tricky to swap, the hands that hold items looks pretty toyish since they are the closed fists but with a big hole carved in the center.

Zodd also have two extra face plates: one with an angry look and another one screaming and while his standar neutral face plate looks angry enough, the  second face expression have a very nice sculpt around the nosee and mouth to give him a more scary look, with many more teeth in sight but my favorite is the sreaming face expression. The open mouth with pink gum and tongue and all those white fangs is just way too beautifully savage!! All face plates can be swaped pretty easy.

He also comes with two different sheaths for his machete/hatchet/monster sword thingy. One sheath have the weapon inside and anotehr is empty, of course for the moment when the figure actually have the weapon in hand. This could have been solved giving him an actual sheath for the weapon but i guess this is effective as well. Both have a very good leatherish texture but they have no paint at all and looks incrediblly clean. Both can be attached pretty easy to a side belt than hangs close to his leg and both are pretty anoying while posing him.

This apostle also comes with his only two weapons: and actual axe and a giant machete/hatchet/monster sword thingy....i am not sure wath the name of thsi weapon because is huge, pretty brutal and oddly shaped with spikes on one side and a hook at the other but the blade is soo incredible wide. I dont remeber if the manga mention its name tough but i have to check that out later.

The little ball at the end of the handle can be removed soo the weapon fits on Zodd hands while the head of the axe con be completelly removed for the stick to fit on the hand pretty easy. While the sculpt is very good on both of them (the odd looking blade have a lot of scratches, identations and marks of being used) the pain is just EXTREMELLY simple...the handle have yellowish bandgaes while the blade have only silver paint and nothing more. The axe is the same, silver paint with brown on the hanle and looks way too cheap, almost like a Kenner or Hasbro weapon accesory. Even if this is based on an anime, a little rust or dirt or even dry blood would helped to make this weapons much more credible.

Then its his worst concibable accesory: an extra set of crossed arms. Remove the normal articulated arms and put the crossed arms in place, inserting the two ball joint pegs into the holes on the arms and you are done. The sculpt of the arms is really good as well as the paint and the end result is very good looking (tough llimiting deffinetly) but while this works in theory, in practice it dosnt. The removal of the arms is not as easy as it sounds and insert the two pegs in the crossed arms is just imposible since the ball joints keep moving around soo in the end the arms are just inserted in only one peg. Put back the articulated arms without breaking the shoulder cups is HELLISH!!! Very very difficult and tricky and in the end, the ball joints gote more lose after changing the arms once. Not only this proces is time consuming, but i feelt the price to do it and the resk are way too high just to have Zodd with his arms crossed.

And to compensate, his very best accesory ever: his furry cape!! This little cape is the skin of a wolf soo its made with real hair and have tiny paws hanging in front!! This little paws are soo damn cute!! The brown hair is short and very soft and the cape is wired soo you cna pose the little arms around as well as the cape part in the back. In order to use it the head of Zodd mist be removed but the proces is pretty easy, tough the fluffy hair cover his entire neck and sometimes his face as well, a price worth paying for such a cute accesory.

Lastly, i am not sure if this is an accesory or not, but the back of the blister have a kinf os carboard poster with Miura´s artowkr on it mixed with manga panels. It feels like some kind of background, like the Storm figures, but it deffinetly is not since it canot stand. I feel its more like something that cna be framed in hang the wall.

I am not sure if my love for Zodd makes me too forgiving of the flaws of this figure or if it makes me too picky and see mistakes that are not very important. I find some of the paint lacking and looking too cartoony but truth be told, the Figma figures dosnt have oto much textur eor paint details aside of the God Hand.

The engineering of the arms is terrible!!! but soo is the heavy and huge cape of Berserk armor Guts that hold onto a small peg, the stiff wings of Femto or the transformation of Void from a statue to an action figure. It seems Berserk figures always have some kind of design issue thath makes them not very fun to play with. But still.....i cant forget those ugly looking and not working shoulders.

This guy dosnt feel as premium as Figma somehow but in the end, he pretty much fits into ther quality style and scale perfectly and i guess thats the most important part for me. He should be more than perfect with the price i pay for him tough.....but i would never regret getting the only existing action figure of Zodd to pair him with his apostle version. I dont know if i will get Schierke or Isidro tough but i will deffinetly get any other apostle from Bandai.