Pacific Rim – Horizon Brave

Horizon Brave, one of the first Yagers constructed. It is armed with shoulder-mounted Cryo Cannons. On the toy, they deploy with the press of a button. We don’t get a lot of spring loaded firing in this day and age. And to get one on a figure that looks this good is really great.

Since Horizon Bravo is a Mark-1, he is pretty bulky. Built in China, he has two Chinese pilots. In the beginning sequence of the movie, you can see Horizon Bravo being built, and there was at least one more behind it, on the production line. There could have been other sister Yagers out there that we haven’t seen.

Horizon Brave will be launched in about a month from now on Dec. 22, 2015. In a novel, it teams with the famous Gypsy Danger and the newly minted Striker Eureka in Nov. 2019 to take on a Category IV Kaiju Only one cat V has ever been seen, so that means the Kaiju they were fighting was pretty darn big.

Overall this figure is fantastic. Just what you would want from a Pacific RIm figure. He is robust with lots of good articulation, and the added bonus of firing missiles. He is a little top heavy, but not too bad with the well designed legs. Let the battle begin!

Pacific Rim – Romeo Blue

This guy is great looking. He has the look of a Jaeger, but then he gets a little crazy.  First off, you might notice the giant fin on the front of the chest. This is supposed to be extra protection for the Conn-Pod, or the cockpit of the Jaeger.

Romeo Blue was only the second Jaeger sent out to fight the Kaiju, and was very slow. It is ranked as a Mark 1, and is/was deployed in December of 2015.

As a figure, it is yet another great figure by NECA. They continue to make these figures with such amazing detail and great articulation.  Romeo Blue has one forearm open, while the other is still closed.  He also has two jump jets on his back.   There is an overall look about him that says he is an early Mark 1 version of the Jaeger.   He looks very robotic from what we see later with the higher techs of the Mark 3 and Mark 4s, where the Jaegers become more robust and take on some very unique characteristics.Romeo Blue is a fantastic figure, and a whole lot of fun to play with.   He definitely stands out on the shelf.

Pacific Rim – Striker Eureka and Crimson Typhoon

Today is a look at a different kind of robot.  Slightly larger in scale than a Transformer, but no less important for the protection of Earth.   Today we are looking at NECA’s Pacific Rim figures.  More to the point, two of the Jaegers, Striker Eureka and Crimson Typhoon.

I missed most of these figures the first time around, since my local comic book store didn’t carry them, and I am not one to go and buy stuff online, sight unseen.   I was at a toy show last year, when I happened upon a few other Pacific Rim figures that had just been released.  I loved them instantly, bought them, and the Kaiju from the same wave, and lugged them all home.  Once home, I opened them and realized just how good they are.   These robots have some amazing detail that makes them stand out on the shelf.  What a treat.

I saw that these two were being re-released in what NECA called a 2nd Deployment.  The chance to get my hands on the three-armed Crimson Typhoon was too good to pass-up.  I got them, loved them, and then they sat in a pile for nearly forever… or at least June of 2014.  Six months is practically forever in the toy world.  Once open, I like them even more.

The level of detail is so outstanding on these.   They have great articulation.   With Crimson Typhoon, it has the three arms, controlled by triplets.   The mech also features backwards knees that give it such a great appearance that differentiates it from the other Jaegers.

Then there is Striker Eureka.  The last, best hope for bringing an end to the Kaiju.  For a while, it was on top, and then disaster hit.  Well, it still looks good before it got all bashed up.   With more of a human resemblance, he has a great anime style with the air intakes sticking up on it’s back.  There are also a could of extra shields around the arms.  The best part may be the giant scissors on each arm.  How better to cut a Kaiju down to size.

These are great figures.  They have such good articulation, and all of that detail only a few companies could bring.  There is an amazing cult following for the movie, and the toys too.   When I saw the movie, I instantly loved it.  I walked out and said, “This is going to do poorly.”  Why?  Because nobody seems to go see the movies I love.  Well, we get a second one here in the not too distant future, so probably more Kaiju and hopefully some new Jaegers too.

Play Arts: Street Fighter IV: Chun-Li

Today, I am looking at the fairly large-scale version of Chun-Li, which is the first of two figures to come out by Play Arts.  There are two more slated to come out in the next few months.  But why dwell on what is to come when I have a perfectly good figure right here in my hands.

Here she is in all of her packaged glory.  I thought this was the best way to show her with all of her accessories.   An extra head, flat hands, and the pieces to give her power floating in the air.

She is really well done.  Lots of good paint went into her design, with everything from the dark tights, to the glossy multi-colored outfit, to the worn boots.   Can’t complain there.  As with the other Play Arts figures in this size, Final Fantasy and Halo, she has some really nice articulation.  Good head movement, and upper torso.  Her arms have really neat movement at the shoulders to bring the arms forward across her chest like above.    The hips have a few different joints that allow for different poses.  Unfortunately, the tops of her legs don’t pose too well, making for mostly standing or crouching poses.

The knee is double jointed, but the piece that holds the upper and lower legs together looks really fake compared to the rest of the leg, and is shiny.  The legs do end with a ball socket for the feet, which is really nice, but does not hold her giant body in very dynamic poses.

Chun-Li comes with a great addition of hands as well as the power she throws out.    You can see the not-s0-nice knee joint in the middle of the leg.  The more you move her around, the further the leg parts move away from one another.   With her being so top heavy, and the joints having trouble holding the weight, this is about as dynamic as you can make the display.

For my money, I still liked the NECA version of Chun-Li better.   Bigger is not always better as we can see here.  With over twice the cost, there is not much that makes it seem like twice the worth.

Now that I have thoroughly bashed on poor Chun-Li, I am going to gear up for the Ryu that came out at the same time.  I picked them both up at the same time.   Where I was saying Chun-Li was a heavy figure, Ryu is actually REALLY heavy.   The box seemed to weigh twice as much as Chun-Li.    So, come back next time for a look at the other figure.  Who will win  the first battle?  FIGHT!!!