Sunday, March 13, 2016

Review: Action Hero-Pro Part 2 - Blue Model

Figure Information
Manufacturer: Takara
Origin Series: n/a
Scale: Non-scale
Height: Approximately 16cm tall
Original Price: 2,500 yen


Ryukendo:

http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2016/03/takara-ahp-ryukendo-review.html

For those who do not know, Blue Model is part of Action Hero-Pro Ryukendo's packaged deal, so everything about Packaging and technically speaking, Blue Model's "accessories" can be found on Part 1 which is all about the Tokusatsu Hero, Ryukendo! Click on the image above or just click on the link I'll provide in here to go to Ryukendo's review: http://murakami-night.blogspot.com/2016/03/takara-ahp-ryukendo-review.html

Details:


As the title and photos above suggests, this is technically a review and look on the Blank Body beneath which I'll call as the Blue Model since Action Hero-Pro calls the other blank bodies "Model" as well. 

Details on this body is pretty plain in general, you'll see the elongated head but they did mold it enough to have a distinguished sculpted area for the eyes, nose and mouth which is neat if you want to customize this frame into something else.


Without all the Ryukendo Armor, you'll be able to see that the frame does indeed have a slight degree of muscular build to it though it's nothing really impressive but it does help identifying which part is which.


Additionally, the set is given a pair of blue feet and these are used when you transform Ryukendo into a plain Model. I feel the feet are just a bit too thin but hey they're long enough to actually provide the frame a great amount of balance.


What differs the Blue Model from the White and Black Models that were sold separately is the fact that when you strip the armor, Ryukendo's black lining details retains on the frame instead of seeing just a plain full blue body.


Additionally, while Ryukendo himself does have a lot of screws revealed, removing the armor parts certainly does reveal even more screws when viewing the figure at its back.


I've said this at part 1 but without any forearm armor, them man hands do stand out even more and is now even more odd to look at.


Size Comparison:


Losing all that armor does shorten the height just by a little bit, around.5cm to as a good approximation. And since you've seen Ryukendo standing next to different figures in Part 1, here's an additional comparison to see just how tall AHP frames are, below is a shot of the Blue Model standing next to the figma Archetype He and one look will definitely let you see the huge height difference between the two.


And again, just to refresh you guys, here is the Model standing next to an Ultra-Act and a rather tall S.H.Figuarts release.


Articulation Points:


I won't expound on the articulation that much anymore since the frame does move similarly to Ryukendo so do check it out in Part 1. What's new in the Blue Model is that you get a slightly better range for some parts after losing the armor such as the bending the elbow joints, stretching the arms sideways from the shoulders and making the feet bend or stretch to an even more unnatural looking state using the ankle hinge.


The new feet also features two hinges near the toes which is quite odd IMO since we usually just get one instead of two.


The rest is just the same as Ryukendo's and again, you can check additional explanation on part 1 BUT I will still leave you a photo gallery of the Blue Model's articulation tests, so, do enjoy the photos below!







Gallery:


The Action Hero Pro Model is definitely top tier in articulation given that you have no hindrances of sorts, this frame can do A LOT from normal human poses to dynamics like Shoryukens, Rider Kicks and whatnot. Additionally, while the hands are odd to look at, they do make a fantastic job of gripping other figures' weapons and can easily double grip sword-type weapons. Posing the Model around was definitely a fun task especially when having him interact with other figures.






Final Thoughts:

Having this along with Ryukendo as optional package was definitely a great additional aside from getting the hero himself. Playing with it definitely made me wish I got two so I can have a separate blank body or maybe I'll just have to find one of the Black or White Model releases for that matter. I might be getting repetitive already but there's definitely a huge charm on this frame's articulation though admittedly the proportions could have used improvements but Takara just killed off the line. Definitely a gold find for me for something that was manufactured in 2006.

While I did give Ryukendo a 4.5, I believe the Model itself deserves a 5 out of 5.

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