ThreeZero Patlabor ROBO-DOU Ingram Unit 1

ThreeZero have been rocking it over the last couple years. They’ve upped their 1/6th game and are killing the Transformers high end lines for the movies in two different scales. Now they are taking some DNA from the recent DLX series of Transformers and applying it to other properties in the new ROBO-DOU line. These are 9 inch scale, highly articulated action figures featuring a metal skeleton with high end overlays and features. You can see our galleries for the DLX Transformers Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Blitzwing here. All of these use the same general tech as the new ROBO-DOU line, and the first one is what we are looking at today – Patlabor’s Ingram Unit 1.

If you wanna dig right into the pics and details for the new ThreeZero Patlabor figure, jump to the full story here!

More on Patlabor in general below:

Patlabor has been a property I’ve seen over the years as an adult collector, but never really drilled down into it. Since I was a kid, I always preferred my robots sentient, so Gundam, Macross and the like where humans pilot the bots – I always admired from a distance. Plus, since I was limited in international scope early on, I always thought they looked like Prowl. :).

That being said, I’ve seen some of the anime since then, and dig it for what it is – a cool alt universe future tech story with great animation. Big Mecha fights are always a bonus.

For those looking to refresh themselves on Patlabor – this website clarifies and organizes the series overall, including the backstory and different animation universes: Patlabor.info

Plus, here is a video overview showing it’s history, very well done:

So now that you are all caught up, let’s check out the figure courtesy of ThreeZero after the break!

ThreeZero ROBO-DOU Patlabor Ingram Unit 1 (Early Copy)

Pros:

Great in-hand feel, quality
Very faithful to the anime
Good articulation
Light up features strobe, well done
Paint clean, well applied

Cons:

Light pieces tend to come loose easily
Articulation points are very tight, requires focus to pose

Overall Thoughts:

I have been a big fan of the Transformers DLX series figures by ThreeZero, and this is a continuation of that style into new properties. That by itself got me hype. The figure feels of quality – a heavy, well painted piece with great accessories and faithful representation. As I said above, I wasn’t a huge Patlabor fan in particular, but I do dig big robots of all kinds and this fits the bill. Going on a refresher course and checking out videos was fun and I am definitely going to revisit the series in more depth soon.

All of the details are sharp here, paint lines and colors pop. All articulation is great, giving a wide range of posing options. The chest opens up allowing for the human pilot to fit in there, and his head is visible under the robot head just like the show. Lights on the shoulders are well done, they light up, bright, and strobe fast, which gives a great police vibe. Weapons are well done, the shotgun pumps and the arm brace flips out. The revolver fits into his leg like the show and his arm extends down to grab it, a nice touch. The battle mask is easily swapped in, but I prefer the regular look. You get two baton styles, retracted and extended, and the retracted one slips in the add-on shield piece for the arm, again touching on the show.

Spaces between the armor plates all over the body use a thicker textured fabric, which is meant to mimic the look in the show. They weren’t solid robots, they had some flexible cover and then armor layered on top. This allows for the metal skeleton underneath all this to really move and pose out great. It was a bit weird at first, but after I got used to it I barely noticed it.

Bottom line, if you are a Patlabor fan, you won’t be disappointed with this one. If you dig high end well done robots, same thing. I am excited to see what ThreeZero does going forward with their ROBO-DOU line of figures. Between Transformers DLX and this guy, they are off to a great start.

Check out some pics of the big guy in action below, courtesy of ThreeZero!

He is available to order now at our sponsors below and at ThreeZero direct!

BBTS, Entertainment Earth, TheToySource, HLJ