Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Review: 4inch-Nel Rockman
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Sentinel |
| Origin Series: | Rockman |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 10cm tall |
| Original Price: | 4,320 Yen |
| Packaging: |
I don't own much sentinel stuff since I only have the Pen Nemesis Prime/Black Convoy before these 4inchnel releases came but I can definitely say that Sentinel isn't really the best when it comes to making their boxes look desirable or even help sell the product at all but sentinel really has a great track record so that does forgive the box presentation. As you can see, it's straight up a plain looking box with enough window to actually inspect the figure inside; the only product shots you'll see in Rockman's box would be from both sides of the box, nothing more, nothing less so there's really hardly anything worthy of being noted at the box.
| Details: |
Unlike my previously reviewed Blue Bomber, this Rockman (Megaman) captures a more classic look as this one is based off more on the earlier arts of Rockman as in the first Rockman game designs. One look at his face easily brings out that bomb of nostalgia, no doubt!
For the most part, 4inchnel Rockman's details look very flat at best especially the red bits on hear earpieces and buster barrel (pic later on). A really weird design choice on his helm is that awful seamline somewhere near the middle; I say weird because you don't really need to remove the helm's front half to swap his faceplates.
Much like the D-Arts counterpart, everything's pretty plain especially the light blue body although the 4inchnel doesn't really have the detailed joints.
Paint is even more solid here as it's more consistent consisting of only 1 light blue color and 1 dark blue color throughout every detail.
Probably the biggest drawback on 4inchnel Rockman is the fact that for sentinel to actually make him almost perfectly articulated, they actually need to leave a lot cuts through Rockman's mold.
| Size Comparison: |
4inchnel Rockman is as they advertised as he stands just a few millimeters taller than 10cm and that gives this line a good scaling factor with the seemingly discontinued Rockman releases from Tamashii Nations. Now, to give a better visualization of that, here's 4inchnel Rockman standing next to D-Arts Rockman and Rush!
Another comparison is with the very first 4inchnel "Rockman" released which was Dark Rockman.EXE since he was released early being an event exclusive item.
| Accessories: |
4inchnel doesn't come with much but his accessory set sure is bearable enough, one of the more obvious accessories is the generic Sentinel base and stand which kinda works almost like your tamashii stages though with extra gimmicks such as locking points.
He also comes with an alternate teeth gritting face which is perfect for more serious scenes and it does look spot on as does with the default face; a worthy note is that exchanging the faceplates with this figure is ridiculously easy as it's a simple pop and push though that also makes the faces held mostly via friction which can cause his face to fall off if you're unlucky enough with your piece.
Rockman only comes with a single Rock Buster part but do note that it can be slotted in both of his arms though you'll only see it ported on his left arm in this review.
You are also given a pair of open hands that go perfectly when posing with his Rockbuster.
| Articulation Points: |
Here is where all those mold cuts will makes sense, Rockman's head range is really range when looking up and down and moving it to look up actually has some neat engineering going on the back of his helm. Making Rockman look sideways feels kinda awkward though as the movement itself isn't a flat out turn left or right thing, it moves his head diagonally until you reach the limit.
For the shoulders, you can raise Rock's arms to a little more than your average 90 and then fully rotate it the arms as well; additionally his shoulder section does sport the so-called butterfly joint which allows you to slight move his arms inward which would help greatly when doing buster poses. The rest of the joints for the arms comes with a fully rotatable bicep swivel, a more than 90 degree bend AND a ball wrist joint that actually works because you actually feel that the hands move inward and outward.
The cuts on Rock's torso also proves how well he can bend his body in both inwards AND outwards motion while at the same time using the the cuts as swivel points as well which does provide satisfactory rotation levels.
The hip joins does allow for an almost perfect sideways split, a near 90 leg raise and a slight backward movement while the thigh swivel only allows a minor but not non-existent rotation for the legs. Rockman's knee joints are actually double jointed and this really feels incredible as it features a full bending capability. Lastly, much like the wrist joints, you actually get to move Rockman's feet quite well as the ankle joints works their magic for this release.
| Gallery: |
Being an articulated figure, 4inchnel Rockman's frame is definitely a treat for any action figure lover, Sentinel definitely nailed it when it comes to posing Rockman around though we really could've used an extra faceplate or two. 4inchnel perfectly captures Rockman's iconic poses from jumping to sliding to running to shooting; there's definitely a wide potential with what the frame can do and to top it all off, Rockman even has a really good center of gravity, something which the D-Arts didn't have. Anyway, I hope you guys do enjoy the gallery below!
| Final Thoughts: |
I definitely cannot say which between 4inchnel and D-Arts Rockman are better as both have their own strengths and weaknesses but definitely the 4inchnel doesn't disappoint at all. It's a really great figure and is definitely the best Rockman out there IF you want extraordinary articulation; given the price it still is cheaper than most articulated figures by Japan these days so it is pretty much a bang for your buck in many many ways. And before I end this review, I did pre-order this figure from the awesome and sometimes wacky folks at Onegai Onii-chan!
| Special: |
Much like my previous review, a special article which compares 4inchnel and D-Arts versions is posted here in the blog very soon, check out the article by clicking the photo below!
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