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.

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.

ZODD

 I still remember soo many years ago when Good Smile company show for the first time the God Hand prototypes in the Tokyo Toy Fair. I couldnt belive they were going to do something like that and many years of wait later, they release the God Hand as some of the most eclectic and difficult to get Figmas out there. Back then i also had a sort of fantasy form them to release a Figma Zodd, how could they make it? That never happen until now....in some way.

Yes, no Figma Zodd but instead a Pop Up Parde L one!! This was one of my most hyped figures in the last years and in the end, i a glad they release him as a Pop Up Parade since a Figma would have been imposible to get, with the price range of Figmas something like this would be 500$, but as a Pop Up Parde, while expensive, the price is still afordable.

Since this is Pop Up Parade L size, the box is HUGE but thats tricky, since once outside of the box, this guy is not as big as i was expecting, he is actually not that tall but the circunference is the oposite since his pose with the open legs and tail make him pretty big by the sides and also he is EXTREMELLY HEAVY!! This is not a hollow figure, is a big chunck of solid plastic soo he is really heavy and the horns and claws makes him even more dangerous!!!

He can stand on his own perfectly thanks to his tail that acts like a tripod, but he comes with a round plain black base as well just in case. While this base works perfect, it makes the figure evn more space consuming!! I cant find a shelve to fit him at all!!

No accesoryes, no articulations at all, this sculpture is really amazing looking since every single muscle stands out perfectly: the huge bull neck, the big pecs, back muscles, the abs, biceps, the dorsals, this is as beastly as he looks in the manga panels and the fur texture sculpt dont clash with the muscle sculpt either, they bot perfectly match each other while the fur texture is carved enough to stand out.

The claws are extremelly pointy as well as the huge horn and the texture on it is really good looking, with scars and other battle marks. The fierce face expression is perfect as well as the teeth and tongue texture, all the wrinkles around his cute nose as well as the big hoobs full of textures that mix perfectly with the fur of the legs.

Theres not that much paint here tough since he is nude, the whole peice is black but it have some dark blues washes around soo the furt shines with the light and dosnt looks one single plain color, tough of course most of the colors comes on his mouth, eyes, horns, claws and hoobs. The hoobs have a dark brown color with a black wash on top to mix with the fur while the claws are more yellow with some black detailing.

The horn have an spectacular paint work that mixes browns and yellows in a very natural way, lik the horn of a real animal, while the cut horn dosnt have that much of a detailed paint work, it looks really good as well. The mouth is also really spectacular since each fangs is painted perfectly but the gums and isndie of the mouth (tongue included) have a wet look mixed with ll the pinks and reds and gives him an extremelly realistic look.

His lips are painted in shiny black as well as his cute nose, and his eyes are painted in metalic red soo they reflect light pretty good while surrounded by all tha black fur. A trully spectacular job done here.

I wish he had his wings tough, that would be the only single thing that coud make this figure absolutelly perfect but i guess that would also make the price sky rocket. 

At first my main objective here was to mix him with my Berserk action figures since i tough they would match in scale perfectly, in a second look i was dissapoitning to notice this guy, as big as it is, is still too short for the Figmas. On a thid look tough, examinign the pose of Zodd with the flexed legs and crounched back, i think he actually is on scale with the Figma figures.

I mean, last yera they also released an Ichiban Kuji of Zodd and he was masive!! But he is standing straigth with his back strecthed (and wings), soo if this figure was in a smiliar pose i think the size difference would not be that much!! Soo in the end....i am very happy to add this to my Figma action figures collection since they looks really good together!!

More Berserk figures are coming next year....Zodd in human form as well as Skull Knight, soo i think the display of this serios will be growing pretty soon after soo long of not getting anyithing. But meanwhile this figure is such an amazing piece to display even all by himself, is astonishing sexy and menacing at the same time it would fit on any collection of both horror and anime.