Toynami Naruto Shippuden 4-inch series 1 action figures review (PIC HEAVY)
I went to the Manifest 2011 (Melbourne Anime festival) two weeks ago. It was more to accompany a friend than anything else as I'm not that into anime made these days. But the things I stumbled upon there in the traders' hall made my trip totally worthwhile. Got myself a NECA "Duke Nukem Forver" Duke Nukem figure and Naruto from the line I'm reviewing now. I had never read the manga nor watched the anime. Bought Naruto mainly because the characer design looks appealing and the figure appears to have amazing articulation. Plus the packaging design is really inviting. After I opened him up I immediately regreted that I didn't pick up the whole set. Then I went out of my way to track down the other two and now the three figures in series 1 are standing on my desk looking good.:D
I have checked out the manga and anime a little bit since I got Naruto. For anyone that isn't familiar with the story, it is basically about an orphaned boy who has a powerful nine-tailed fox demon sealed inside him and his journey of becoming a great ninja. The anime, as many titles nowadays, tends to drag a lot but the manga is very good. I love the author's artistic style and who does not love some awesome ninja fight?? From what I heard Naruto (now the second part, Naruto Shippuden) has been the best selling manga title in the US for a long time, so it is only natural that someone comes up with some really good action figures. Mattel had their try couple of years ago and it was a total failure imo. Toynami put ou their 4 inch action figure line at the start of this year and I think, in a nutshell, this is one of the greatest action figure line to-date and THE best line in the 4-inch scale.
Sculpting and accesories:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n00.jpg
Naruto Uzumaki, the titular character, in his Shippuden costume. The unique proportion, his pudgy jumper bottom and details are spot on. The spikey hair do turned out reasonably well as in the manga and anime it is normally just portrayed as a flat shade of color. Naruto is packed with fists on him and comes with a pair of Jutsu hands and a pair of Kunai holding hands, and a clear stand is a series standard.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n01.jpg
Kakashi Hatake, the cool and powerful ninja sensei. He is packed with opend hands and comes with the simlilar Jutsu and Kunai-holding hands as Naruto, plus an extra head with his Sharingan revealed, and a left hand holding the second part, "Make-out Tactitics", of his favorite "Make-out" series of erotic novels. There must've been someone in the production team that really loved Kakashi that they gave him so much love.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n02.jpg
Itachi Uchiha, the powerful bad guy from the mysterious organization "Akatsuki". He has the least of accessories of the bunch, a pair of Jutsu hands.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n03.jpg
According to the info on the back of the card, the sculptor and paint designer of this line are japanese. They did a really good job on capturing the looks of these characters. Naruto's got his trademark smirk on his face, the tampo-on details and paint are crisp and look great. I only wish they included an extra head with a serious or angry expression that go well with attacking poses, and a pair of open hands so he can do the signiture "Rosengan" attack.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n04.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n05.jpg
Kakashi's two heads look good as well. Although the scar around his Sharingan seems a little off, the details on Sharingan itself are execellently done.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n06.jpg
Itachi's head sculpt is good. But the eyes are a tad big compared to his looks in the anime.
Scale:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n10.jpg
The internal scale is very good.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n11.jpg
Compared to American 6 inch and 3.75 inch figures. The scale is roughly between 4 and 5 inch.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n24.jpg
Compared to Japanese 6 inch scale figures. "Shonen Jump" trio.
Paint and details:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n07.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n08.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n09.jpg
The paint job is generally well done considering the size and price point (10-12 USD).
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n12.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n13.jpg
The plastic color blend in really well with painted parts and the difference is hardly noticeable by naked eye.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n14.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n15.jpg
Kakashi's "Make-out Tactics"m an accessory immediately gives the character soul and it works well in tons of poses.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n22.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n16.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n17.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n23.jpg
Members of the "Akatsuki" organization wear a robe/cloak thing. While good-looking, they pose limitations to action figure arcticulation. Itachi has the exact same leg articulation as Naruto and Kakashi, but the presence of the robe makes them pretty much useless. Fortunately from what I've seen so far, Itachi doesn't do that many dynamic poses anyways.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n18.jpg
The attention to detail here is great. Down to the tiny little ring and painted nails.
Articulation:
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n19.jpg
Articulation is where this line really shines. The package claims each figure has 25 points of articulation. This is particularly amazing considering they are only 4-5 inches tall. They can pose like Figmas and SHFs and all those Japanese good stuff, and they are smaller, and they are whole lot cheaper, at least for the Americans..
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n20.jpg
The neck and ankle joints are rotating balls with pegs on both sides. The ball joint shoulders are like figmas with one peg on the arm side and a ball-socket connection on the chest side. The hips are also figma inspired with ball joints connected to a T bar inside the crotch and pegs connected to the legs allowing thigh rotation. The elbows and knees are single jointed but work almost like double joints. Kakashi and Naruto also have ball jointed torso.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n21.jpg
Naruto and Kakashi's crotch piece and Kakashi's shoulder pads are made of softer plaster allowing some extra movement in those areas.
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n25.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n26.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n27.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...Naruto/n28.jpg
My verdict:
Toynami is not a big name like Hasbro or Mattel, but just like what Toybiz did with Marvel Legends, they've done a great job on this line. This is how action figures should be like. Roughly at the scale, G.I.Joes really look like a joke standing next to them. (Speaking of Mattel, I got a freebie 4 inch Sinestro by Mattel when I bought Green Lantern ticket online. I didn't even bother opening the package cuz figures from the early 90s probably had better articulation. The corporate heads in big companies just don't think for fans and collectors like Toynami and Toybiz do.)
These little figures have great sculpt, decent paint, and amazing articulation. Even if you are not a fan of the franchise, if you love highly posable action figures, I recommend at least check out Naruto and Kakashi if not all three. They will look good on your shelf with loads of ninja actions!:D
