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.

GUTS

 I cant belive its been six years since the last time i get a Nendroid from Good Smile Company. There was a time when my collection of Nendroids grew pretty steady until Good Smile Comapany decided to follow SquareEnix road and started to sky rocket the price of theyr products to the point they had to create Pop Up Parade to get some money from collectors again. I miss a lot of Nendroids in the last years because i wasnt going to pay 3 times the price they had before the pandemic.

But i finally fall back at theyr graps, why? Berserk. I am actually surprised they took soo long to start release Nendroids of Berserk actually, and they start in the same point all other Berserk collections start: Black Swordman Guts.

This little Guts is the same scale as other Nendroids: pretty pretty small and he fits with the rest perfectly but wath surprise me the most is that he can stand on his own perfectly, for the first time, he dont need a base. Why? Because of his cloack that works like a tripod and keep his balance perfectly.

He is not specially articulated tough, only the head, the shoulders, wrists and legs and nothing more. The head have a ball joint as well as the legs but they dont have too much room to move, specially the head since the clack keep the head kind of static. The shoulders and wrists are cut joints soo he can rise his arms up but thats it, he has no way to open his arms at all.

He have a couple of extra articulations tough on his cloack, it is a 3 pieces construction with the main piece in the center keeping Gts standing and the two extra flaps at the side can open up an move around a little bit to give the impression the cloack is moving around. Open them too much and they look like insect wings soo its better to just move them a little to give them a discret pose effect.

The sculpt is very nice. Of course his face is extremelly simple with the cute little nose and giant proportions tough his chin is square too make him look more manly. His spiky hair is very nice but looks like a challengue to dust off. The details on the shoulder and legs armor is pretty incredible as well as the little mechanical arm.

But the best part is deffinetly the knifes on hi chest and the one on his belt, the puches on his waist and....it seems he have more on his back but i cant see them thanks to the hard plastic cloack. I can see chains and even his crossbow but they are completelly hidden under the cloack.

Theres no exture here, nothing at all. He is completelly clean of any texture and his cape looks specially simple thansk to this but i guess it helps to make him look like a little anime chibi.

The paint is good but keept as minimum since each part is cast in the dominant color of that section. His skin looks really nice as well as the hair and the brown belts with the knifes, tough the metalic armor part have black silverish paint that makes them looks, well....metalic (and this includes the mechanical arm, is actually darker than the rest of the outfit and the cloack).

The mouth is both sculpted and painted tough the scar on his nose and entire eyes section is only paint. Looks crispy and pretty clean and still amaze me that, despite the simplicity of the "anime" design, his eyes are totally different to the eyes of the other Nendroids, and the thick eye brows too. He have one black aye and his gaze is as serious and cold as Venom Snake.

He dosnt have too many extras tough. To begin with he comes with two extra face plates that fits into his head once the front hair part is removed. Is prettye asy to exchange them and one have an mischevious smile and the other is shouting. The screaming one is my favorite and fits him perfectly tough the addition of the smiling one is good, i think he looks way too much like an anoying breat in here, even his pupil lose all ligth to make it looks like he is in madness mode but it dosnt works for me.

His most important accesory is the Dragon Slayer tough, his giant sword that is,like always, taller than him. The metalic paint is good and i like a lot the bandages flapping at the wind in soft grey color. Of coruse the sword looks way too clean but it matches perfecty the extra clean look of Guts.

He comes with an extra left hand and an extra pair of hands to hold the sword. The hads are soo tiny and at times soo easy to lose but they are of coruse very important, specially the left one since is itself a weapon: his little mechanical hand is bend down and revealing his arm canon, just like the Figma (and just like with the Figma it makes me wonder why they just didnt articulated the hand....).

Since his arms are not articulated he also comes with a pair of extra arms with the elbows bend. The scult is nice as well as the paint and they can be exchanged by the bicep section, conects with the rest of the arm with a peg. And same way, since his legs are not articulated he also comes with a bend knee left leg. To my surprise is pretry easy to swap legs and this one helps for the more actiony posing.

He also comes with another pair of extra arms witout the bicep section. The missing biceps let him join the arms up front soo he can hold his sword with both arms at the same time. This is a pretty smart soluction since most figures cant join theyr hands up front to hold a gun or a sword (Not even the increedible expensive IconicQ Ryu can do it) and i even wish the Figma version had this arms.

And finally he have his base, the slasic Nendroid base made with trabsluscent plastic and an articulated arm thingy that conect to his back with  apeg, tough this time around the base is completelly inecesary except if you want to pose him jumping around.

And thats all, not much really and while i looooooove the look of this little Guts, he is pretty limited. Even with the extra leg and arms, he can only achive 4 or 5 poses and thats it, not only his design hinders his movement (he cant be pused with his sword over his shoulders because of his gigantic head), but the static nature of the figure as well. Is really not very fun pay with him to be honest, this is a figure once posed is best to let it rest on the shelve and thats it.

Or maybe i am just bitter for the price i pay....this guy is like 1/4 the size of a Gargoyle or a Pop Up Parade and i had to pay for him a little bit more that those. I still dont understand why this little figures are soo expensive since they are now basically statues, i even find it hard to call this an action figure at all.

Truth is i had this same issues even 10 years ago when i started collecting Nendroides with Metal Gear Solid, but the price they have now make things feel even worse. I am not sure if i will buy more Nendroids tough, despite how cute and cool looking they are, maybe i stop after Endeavor.

GUTS BERSERK ARMOR

 I still remember 23 years ago when i started to read Berserk and tough "woooww...i really wish i had just one of those Art of War statues, i would be happy just with one". Fastforward to 2023 and now i even have plushies aside of an Art of War statue and the entire action figures line from Figma, tough after the death of Kentaro Miura, i wasnt expecting no more merchadise.

That changed last year with Good Smile company releasing a Guts on Berserk Armor on theyr PopUp Parade, that line of ultra cheap statues and i am glad they did it, since with the price tag Figmas have i cant no longer afford them.Tough this guy was stuck on the customs office of my country for two months and a half to a point i almost tough mi lose him....but here he is, escaped from burocratic cautivity.

This figure is just one inch shorter than a Play Arts Kai or Gecco statue soo he is not small by any means, but he is not huge either, just have the perfect size to have enough presence on the shelves while still fit on small places. He is deffinetly taller than the other PopUp Parade figure i have - Lancer from Fate - because in the boox it says is a PopUp Parade L....Large?? I havent seen too many of this figure in Large size but despite that the price is still very good.

He have the same base Lancer have, an hexagon base but instead of electroic blue this one is black. Extremelly simple but it does the job perfectly and fits on most shelves. The figure is conected to the base with two pages under it soo it wont fall by any mean since is not that heavy either.

No articulations at all, just a cmpletelly static statue of Guts on top of a rocky pillar, posing as a wild animal with his sword on his shoulder and his cape flowing with the wind, replicating an extremelly popular illustration of Kentaro Miura.

The anatomy, shapes and body language is perfect since i seen another figure of this same illustration from another brand and Guts have a huge head....but Good Smile Company managed to make a perfect scupt of such an iconic image. The rocky pillar have such a nice texture on it, pretty soft like velveth and the Berserk Armor looks very different than the Figma version.

While the Figma version have this clean metal texture with some grey paint to give it a metal look, this guy have the armor full of small lines following each metal plate giving it a weird texture....it looks really busy and catchs the ligth nicelly but it also give it a looks like if this is hand drawn and have shadows made with a pencil and the entire figure is covered in this texture from toes to the helmeth.

I love the cape soo much, it flows soo nicelly like tentacles around him and its soo thin in the top and gets wider and wider, huging Guts back and with the same "pencil" texture, it deffinetly looks like fur in the back of a wolf instead of a cape. Tough its made of very hard plastic soo the pointy ends of it seems to me the most easy to brake sections.

He is holding his Dragon Slayer sword on his hand and it rest on his shpulder where he have a cut for it. The sword is really good looking and easy to install and i specially like a lot the rags on the grip. Is this an accesory? I dunno tough its perfectly removable but extremelly necesary for the display.

The paint is black...like pitch black....this is like a big mass of blackness to the point i had to use my cell phone camera since my digital camera could not take any descent picture of it. The rocky pillar have some soft greys that make it looks like a very realistic rock while the armour ir just gun metal black soo the black shines with ligh. The cape is dark brown mixed with blacks soo that enhance even more the fur texture out of it.

The sword is nicelly painted but soo clean....very clean, and i seen many people complaignin that theres no blood on it, wich makes sence since the Figma version have a lot of blood spalttered on it. Maybe the lack of blood is because of the low price?? While i would have liked some red on here, i dont think is necesary for the overall look.

The reason this Guts was two months and a half stuck on customs office was because of his action feature. Yes he have an action feature, wich is pretty odd for anything of Good Smile or a statue at this point. He have led ligths on his eyes.

The basic looks have his eyes painted in metalic red wich looks really fantastic (this eyes are the only parts that arent black, soo they stand out a lot), but the top half of his helmeth can be removed for another one with a little hole inside. Put the led ligths inside and put the head back and you have Guts with his eyes burning intense red and you can see the ligth coming out from his mouth as well!!!

Its looks fanfastic!! But the mechanism is not wath i was expecting...theres no button at all or anything, if you want to turn it on or off you need to remove the helmeth and remove the ligth itself and the ligth.....is just an indepdnetn entity, a little blister with a tiny tiny tube and the ligth on top. Push the ligth and its turned on, pull it up and it turns off but given its small size ir turns on and off just by looking at it.

Also no battery changes...the ligth battery ran out and goes directly to the trash and you need to buy another one, a Hiromi Miraito 316R. Where? A fishing store at Hokaido or Kyoto it seems or buy another one on Ebay for a fortune.....and it seems the battery only last for 7 hours soo.....

Overall, the price i pay for this Guts was an insult, the quality of the material is soo high as well as the paint and sculpt and he is not small at all. I am astonished this was much cheaper than a damn Nendroid or Figma toygh at the same time i am really bafled by the ligth feature, it looks fantastic and i can live with the constant helmeth removal but where i am going to buy another Miraito 316R?? I feel sad to not be able to have his eyes ligth on all the time, i am even anxious to turn them on a minute....

GUTS

 Its amazing how time flys since it was eight years ago when Good Smile Company launched theyr Berserk movie serires figures from theyr Figma line, i remember it clearlly because i saw Guts Band of the Hawks and i had no money ....and never saw him ever again since a year later he was twice the price and by now they ask an absurd amount of money for him.

Tough Good Smile Company was nice enough to relaunch many of the Berserk figures and i finally was able to get the Guts Band of the Hawk tough they say this is a repaint version, i really dont see any difference with the original edition aside of the box design. This was a pretty desired figure for me since is pretty much the only Berserk Figma i was missing after completing the God Hand.

Guts is a little bit taller than Griffith and Casca soo theres no issue with the scale at all and he can stand on his own....sorta...sometimes, more about that issue later tough he comes with the traditional and always trusthfull Figma base with an arm on his back. He is articulated on the head, neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knes and ankles. 

Artculations works really good since the armour on his shoulders is made with soft plastic as well as the armour on his hips, he can move with total freedom except on the ankles. Somehow his boots dosnt have too much room of movement and that makes him stand kinda tricky.

Sculpt is really good, only his mouth and nose are sculpted and his eyes and scare are only painted, wich gives him a pretty "anime"look and that makes sense since this is based on the movies.The armor is very simplistic, much more than Griffith´s and Caska´s but the very few details it have are pretty good looking, like the engraving on the sides of his chest or the knife at the front.

Every section is cast on the dominant color soo that gives him a pretty clean looks with only minimal sections painted (like the buckles or bandages) but this small bits are perfectly painted (i specially love the look of the bandages on his hand and metalic texture on his armour).

And the cape...oh the cape!! Unlike Griffith´s or the Black Swordamn´s capes, this one is made with solid plastic. The sculpt is good, with folds and everything that gives it a really heroic sense of movement and matchs the figure nicelly, dosnt looks as cheap as the other paper/fabric capes Figma did but this cape is actually quiet heavy....and that prevents him to stand properlly without the base. And even with the base, it needs an extention in order for the arm to moves around the cape and reach his back and thats quiet awkard.

Also i was expecting the cape to be articulated but is not. It fits with a couple of posts on Guts back but is rock solid soo you can move it around for more dynamic poses, soo in the end is the cape wath prevents some of his movements. The top section of the cape is a separate piece that fits around his shoulders and while it fits nicelly, in certain angles is ptetty obvious there is a big gap between this top piece and the rest of the cape.

Because, of course, the sword. His main weapon is a long sword that fits perfectly on the sheat on his back and inside the gap of the cape. The sword fits perfecty and easy on the sheat and is really good looking, specially on the handle with bandges, looks pretty savage and rough and the small piece on the end can be removed soo the sword can be inrested on the hands.

The other accesory is his helmeth, again, much more rough and savage looking than the heleths of Griffth and Casca, the sculpt with all the bolths and identations is perfect. The front side can be detahced and once you remove Guts hair piece, the helmeth fits on his head perfectly.

There is also an extra face plate with a fierce screaming expression. The paint work on the mouth and eyes is really amazing tough the face shape is kinda odd...i like the neutral face expression more. And the other accesorys are a bunch of extra hands to hold his sword and open hands, all can be exchanged with no problem at all.

I hated the Black Swordman Guts cape as well as Griffith´s, they looks soo cheap and separate to the sculpt. Now this Guts have a plastic cape and while is really good looking, i am not sure wath to think about how limits his movements and standing abilitys.

Despite of that i really like this figure a lot. Guts here looks really cute and almost innocent, very youthfull, maybe for the soft smile. Is imposible to make a more perfect figure at this small scale, and yet this will be my last Figma. This guy cost me twice the price of Griffth or any other human Figma, it was really expensive.... i think this brand already reach the point of no return on the prices, just like Play Arts Kai did years ago, the quality is top notch and i love the articulations, but they are soo tiny to be this expensive....