Kong, Charizard, & Ace Killer up for Reservations

The S.H. MonsterArts King Kong, D-Arts Charizard, and Ultra-Act Ace Killer are now up for preorder at HLJ, Hobby Search, and Amiami. Quickly order yours now! These figures are slated for an April release. 

I already placed my orders for Kong and Charizard.

*FYI, Charizard is now sold out at HLJ. Gee wiz! 

*Kong has now been revealed to also come with another accessory, a miniature Anne Darrow figure.

Toy Review - Revoltech Yamaguchi Evangelion Unit 02 (Q Theatrical Ver.)

Back in November, the third movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo, was released into theaters throughout Japan. A month prior to the film's release, Revoltech released a figure of Evangelion Unit 02 as featured in the TV Promo for the 3.0 movie back in August 2011. I had originally intended to get this figure back when it first released, but other monetary priorities prevented me in acquiring it. But now, I managed to buy one and here is my review for it.

The figure's box is very basic and resembles that of a lot of standard Revoltech Yamaguchi figures. While the figure itself is sculpted out of the exact same mold as the Revoltech Evangelion Evolution Eva Unit 02 (spare the head), it isn't part of that line of figures. Perhaps for good reason, which I'll get to in a little bit. It stands at around five to six inches tall, and comes with a good amount of accessories. The articulation is not stiff nor is it loose. Just right. 

While this figure is pretty good as far as sculpt, detail, and articulation goes, let me explain the differences between this figure, based on the TV Spot shown in August 2011, and that of Unit 02's final design in the movie. 

While the body is pretty much accurate, the right arm (in photo) is not. Remember, this figure is sculpted based on Unit 02's design from the TV Spot for Evangelion 3.0 back in 2011. The final design has not been properly incorporated into the movie yet. So the model of Unit 02 in the trailer shows a full arm, while in the final film, Unit 02's arm is replaced by a grappling cable gun. The head as well has some minor inaccuracies, but that is mostly with the color. The heat shield as well has changed design since the August 2011 TV Spot. The one that comes with this figure is mostly dark gray all over, but the design of it in the final film has highlights of red, and a better contrast of light and dark grays. This isn't the first time that Revoltech has released an Evangelion figure based on its design in a TV Spot. Prior to the release of Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance back in 2009, Revoltech released a figure of the Evangelion Provisional Unit 05 with colors based on what was featured in the trailer. However, almost a year later a second figure was released that was much more accurate to its onscreen representation. So, I can safely say that Revoltech will eventually release a more movie accurate version of this incarnation of Eva Unit 02.

Despite the innaccuracies, the figure is still quite neat. Plus, it comes with a good amount of accessories as I stated before. The figure comes with its distinctive heat shield as seen in the TV Spot, a long space rifle, various pairs of hands, an umbilical cord, and the crossbow and projective knives as seen from the last movie. 

 

Overall, I find this figure a good addition to my ever-growing Evangelion collection. Is it the greatest? Not really. However, I get that this figure's intended purpose was to help promote Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo a month before its theatrical release. As I've said before, despite its inaccurate design when compared to the final film, it's still a really neat figure with good accessories. I'll give it a 4/5 rating. It is what it is, and for that it's a good figure. For people who love Unit 02 as much as I do, then buy it. If you wish to await for a more movie accurate representation of the Eva, then I'd suggest that you pass on this one. Based on Revoltech's track record, we can certainly expect several figures from 3.0 to be released soon enough. However, I like this figure regardless to its design flaws. The more Eva, the merrier! 

I am just aching to see Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo now! 

NECA & Sideshow Doing Toys for Pacific Rim

News just hit that figures and statues are being produced by both NECA and Sideshow Collectibles for the upcoming Guillermo Del Toro movie, Pacific Rim, set to hit theaters this coming May. Check out Toy News International's article for more information. Based on their track records, both companies should be offering some neat Kaiju and Jaeger goodies!