Sunday, December 26, 2010
Review: [Bandai] Chibi-arts Hidari Shotaro
Figure Info:
Manufacturer:
Bandai
Series:
Kamen Rider W (Double)
Scale and Height:
Non-scale and approximately 10cm tall
The Half-Boiled Detective!
What is Chibi-Arts?
Hidari Shotaro is the left half of the title rider, Double. Though he has this belief that he's hard boiled, a detective that has an iron will and won't let one's emotions get in one's way, people in the series usually calls Shotaro "half-boiled" because his emotions usually get past almost anything when they deal with their enemies. Though it is this factor of Shotaro that makes him a strong individual and even getting approval from an AU of his late mentor, Narumi Sokichi.
What is Chibi-Arts?
Basically, chibi-arts is bandai's way of saying "we will be releasing nendoroids from our licensed series". It's a new line wherein Shotaro and his partner, Philip, are the first two releases from the line. So basically, this review will shed some more light for what chibi-arts will be offering. So far, series in the line includes Pre-Cures and Kamen Rider W.
Below is an image of how Shotaro looks like and how his getup looks like. Though it's not the exact clothes he's wearing in the figure, can't find a full body image of the same clothes as the figure. XD
So, here's an overdue promised review~
The review will tackle the same categories as that of my nendoroid reviews.
Accessories and Extras:
So, basically, similarly to nendoroids to start off with, chibi-arts has extra faces wherein you can change them in also a similar fashion: removing the hair piece and then swapping the faces, but in chibi-arts Shotaro's case, only heads are available and no neck joints included, you'll just have to bear with only one neck joint. The neck is also similar to nendos though chibi-arts looks more reinforced. Alternate heads include a serious face and the Kamen Singer face from the Fuutic idol episode where he and Philip sang "Finger on the Trigger".
Going to the accessories, Sho-chan has a number of them actually, but the catch is that accessories are pre-attached to his hands instead of inserting them the way you like. The list of Sho-chan's accessories are the bat shot, the stag phone, the joker memory, his black fedora hat and two versions of the double driver belt, the other being a driver with the Cyclone memory already inserted. An extra pointing left finger is also included as the only alternative left hand.
Last but not least are the stands. One's for Sho-chan's use and the other one, as a really nice bonus, is a speech bubble holder. The pack comes with 4 speech bubbles, 2 of 3 speeches (the last being "...") which I can understand. Speech bubbles are "...", "Let's go! Philip!", "It's not half, it's hard boiled!" and one more XD
Sculpt, Details and Paint:
Typically of Bandai, the paint is good enough, especially the brown-ness of Shotaro's hair. The body's nice as well, no problems with regards to details is visible and the sculpt is pretty solid such that like nendos, chibi-arts' heads also roll :p Hands are sculpted in a real chibi manner as they are just half-circles instead of miniature hands.
Poseability:
I'll start off with Shotaro's cons first. Like a handful nendos, Shotaro probably cannot stand alone with out, at least, his legs clamp. Major downside of Shotaro is because his body and legs are sculpted as one solid piece of PVC, thus removing waist and leg joints immediately. Though this case is exclusive to Shotaro as the Pre-cures will have those two missing articulation points. His hands are also swivel joints, similar to non super movable nendos. But basically he's still very very fun to play with due to the accessories and the speech bubbles included.
So, now, I got to the henshin pose.
"Let's go! Philip!"
To insert the Double Driver, you'll need to remove the and arms first and let the belt slide until it reaches his waist and then return the arms and head. Below will be the two different belts, if you can't see it properly click on the two for larger images and see that the actually has the cyclone memory already inserted.
Overall:
Well, Sho-chan is a tamashii web exclusive so, it pretty much is a painful deal if you don't live in Japan, especially since Sho-chan is pretty much restricted in the lower area. But still, it's nice to have a mini Renn Kiriyama (Shotaro's actor) in the collection and yeah, am a Shotaro fan boy since he's really cool in the series.
Remarks:
Accessories and Extras - 10/10
Sculpt, Details and Paint - 10/10
Poseability - 8/10
Price - 8/10
Overall: 9/10
So final remarks...
in case you need a little nendo & chibi-arts size comparison.
Well, I won't really recommend getting him unless you're a die hard fan of Shotaro and willing to cash out a little more for an exclusive. Besides, the biggest friggin part is... getting him means you will need to get Philip as well. Which happened to me btw :p
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Hm, so he's not much different from a nendoroid huh? Sclupt-wise I mean, and with the exception of the spherical hands. Seems more solid to me though than a nendo, albeit kinda a bit less poseable or customizable?
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