galactiboy said:
Care to give any thoughts on the furry samurai right nest to him? I've thought about picking him up before, but wasn't sure if he was worth the scratch.
Hi Galactiboy.
I knew you would be interested. I ordered this figure when the ED 209 went up, along with some other figs, to save on shipping, due to one of your posts, so that's why it's taken so long to arrive.
The box is very basic, the outer sliding cover has a history of Ieyasu on the back, along with the company name, that being Sea International Co.
www.seafigures.com. I'll have to go there after I finish posting this. I have taken some pics at each stage. The yellowing is some sort of reflection of the flash on the plastic inner box. The box it comes in, is flapped up at the sides making sliding it back into the outer cover a little less than what we've come to expect. It catches on the outer sleeve. Five soft ties hold the figure into the plastic inner. Not necessary, as there is another plastic cover holding the figure and accessories in place, in any event, and that is taped shut. Another two ties hold the helmet in place. It's not difficult to remove them, as they are placed after the figure had been positioned, so they aren't wrapped around the neck, ankles and wrists.
The first thing I noticed was the head appeared to be small. Taking him out, I notice the plastic that has been mentioned by someone before. Particularly noticeable on the shoulder guards. Then I noticed his little feet have plastic 'thongs' too. After removing him from the package I started to feel the articulation. It is similar to the ratcheted style that Dragon uses but less stiff. In fact it feels a little loose. The fur is attached to plastic armour. The flaps, of which are longest on the front of the apron, restrict his movement, though they are pliable to a degree, they return to their original position. Pretty stiff really. The guards on his upper arm are not attached to his arm, only to the shoulder guards, and flop around. Just moving it around to view the back and the button holding the upper arm plate to the shoulder came undone, so I took a pic.
The accessories. The helmut is plastic, it's strap is leather, glued into place. All the plasic is shiney and would benefit from paint. The mask is held on by elastic knotted after being thread through two holes. I haven't worked out how to put them on yet. It looks as though the mask would go on first, as the elastic needs to be hidden under the helmut, but then the strap doesn't stretch to go over the mask. I ended up just moving it forward and up, inside the front of the helmet, where it sat pretty well and took up the slack. It's probably how it's supposed to work. The mask has a moustache and whispy goatee glued to it. When I pulled the small sword out the handle came off. The blades are a shiney plastic chrome. You've seen it before and probably said it looks crap. They lock into place in the scabbard, as the blade is thicker at the hilt. The handles look good.
At the price, including shipping, you'd probably be disappointed. The sculpt is really good as is the rest of his costume. The head is probably small so it looks good with the helmet on, being that he has a top knot. I found it hard to get him to pose, as his crutch is rather low. His pants are split open at the thighs. It is an impressive looking samurai, but not what I've come to expect of a quality collectible.
