There's always the honeymoon period where a new figure arrives and then after a few days you start to notice the flaws and the reality sets in. There's very few actual reviews of this figure online, and I felt like I was taking a bit of an expensive gamble on him, even with a good deal. I'm still haunted by the crushing disappointment of the Bandai Armor Plus Tekkaman Blade I bought years ago. Over a week later, how does Innovation Point's (IP's) figure hold up?
Quite well!... not perfect, but I'll get into that. Let's start with the good.
This thing is a BEAST. I have die-cast figures that are bigger and chunkier, but few are as hefty as this guy is. He is DENSE. My Hot Toys Iron Man feels light as a feather compared to him. This is both a curse and a blessing, as the positive is the metal materials look and feel great (the sheen on this thing is gorgeous), and the figure is engineered in a way that it can move quite freely without risk of damaging or chipping the armor pieces. I'll reference my Bandai Armor Plus figure later, but that too had diecast armor pieces, but the frame that supported it was plastic and weak, quickly making posing impossible as it just couldn't support so much weight being placed upon it. This thing is HEAVY, and I feared I'd have a repeat of that tragedy, especially at this scale.
Thankfully, he poses just fine. The frame is strong and supportive of all the metal attached to it. For the most part, no matter the pose, the metal pieces don't impact posing options. There are a few areas, chiefly around the legs, where a straight out kick starts to sag due to the weight and won't hold long-term. That might be an issue months or years from now, but it seems manageable. Where my Bandai figure can't even stand up anymore, IP's figure had zero issues. He comes with a stand and two support rods that slot into the bottom for more dynamic poses and for support if needed.
As for accessories and gimmicks, here's where he comes up a tad short, but doesn't exactly disappoint.
Tekkaman Blade comes with two blades that can fuse into his signature lance, his rear-skirt shield which attaches securely with magnets, a stand with two different poles, and three sets of hands - two geared towards holding the lances, and one set that has fully articulated fingers for some extremely dynamic hand poses. Ultimately, that covers all the essentials, though other figures include everything from his wire whip to his Tekset crystal to alternate armor modes, damage display options, etc. This is a basic Tekkaman Blade figure. I don't have the batteries acquired yet, but IP's version has light-up eyes and shoulder cannons (they light up both open and closed) with touch-sensitive activation.
There are also quite a few variations of the Tekkaman Blade design out there. This one is anime accurate and authentic, perfectly capturing the proportions and mobility from the show.
Now, about that scale. From head to foot, he's almost exactly 12 inches tall. Counting his head fins, he just tips 13 inches. Compared to most of my Hot Toys, he's comparable height and fits in perfectly on the shelf.
To be clear, this doesn't mean he's 1/6th scale. While unpowered, this angsty hero stands around 6 ft, his Tekkaman Blade form is around 7 to 8 feet tall. A truly 1/6 scale figure should be 15-18 inches. Is that a problem? Not for me. Anything taller and I'd struggle to pose him and fit him in my Detolf without rearranging my displays. The important thing for me is he's big, he looks great, he poses well, and nobody would think he looks out of place with the rest of my figures.
I'm actually really surprised how the Innovation Point figure has flown under the radar. It seems like everyone and their dog is making Tekkaman figures lately - we have Bandai, Figma, Sentinel, Threezero, Max Factory, Orange Cat, and others! - but IP was the only one to tackle it at this scale. For the briefest of comparisons, here's how he compares to some prior collection.
This is the Orange Cat model kit, which I highly recommend. Model kits may not be to everyone's liking (I do a LOT of Gunpla), but after the nightmare that was my Bandai figure, this thing was and remains a huge step up. It's about 8 inches, has a very modern redesign, and as a model kit is very light but easy to pose. Purists may not like how much it deviates from the source material, but he can still hold his own.
...Not so much this infamous figure. Before we were swimming in Tekkaman figures, Bandai's Armor Plus figure was one of the few available. And he wasn't cheap, especially for back then. He was my first $100+ pick, and while the show and character remains an anime favorite of mine, the figure is the biggest disappointment in my entire collection. It's a miracle I got him standing. He's a hand-grenade of shedding parts, floppy joints, missing pieces, and poor engineering. The plastic frame just can't support the diecast metal and has all but given up trying. Compared to this dated figure, IP's version is a complete masterpiece.
But that's ultimately an unfair comparison. Innovation Point did a phenomenal job with this figure even by modern standards. Their display booth showcased a 1/6th regular civilian figure, and teased a Tekkaman Evil, and both would be of great interest to me after they did so well with this offering.
On a personal level, the nostalgia for Tekkaman (or "Teknoman", or "Slade", or "D-Boy", whichever you prefer) is strong for me. I have a list of 12 characters I DREAM of having for my 1/6 scaled displays and never imagined I'd get a comparable and quality figure at this size and at this price point. Years from now, maybe some of that heavy diecast will take its toll on the body, but for now he's one of my favorite new inclusions to the shelf, and comes highly recommended. He's on BBTS for an outrageous price still, while I managed to snag him off GunDamIt for over 1/3rd off. If you like the show, or cool mecha figures, definitely recommended.
