SH Figuarts with Seamless Joints
 

Tamashii Nations Announces Seamlessly Articulated S.H. Figuarts

http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/up...Figuarts-1.jpg

As a person who absolutely hates ugly joints on highly articulated figures, this is great news! I just hope it's not an excuse to use a bunch of awful looking softgoods clothing.

First official step toward toys with skeletons?

If it's not softgood clothes, then this is wonderful news!! (except the fact that they may re-issue many figures with this new joint system, and my wallet won't be happy about it)

No thank you. All I'm thinking of is Mattel's Swamp Thing. Just stick to what works. They're toys, NOT actual people.

And what if this new style works? I have no problem with visible joints (as long as they don't look absolutely awful), but if they've engineered a way to keep the joints hidden while actually allowing full articulation, what's the problem? No need to be a Debbie Downer on that.

Yeah. Absolutely hideous joints have kept me from purchasing a lot of Japanese (and some American) figures that feature a lot of articulation. Like that upcoming Revoltech Spider-Man. I don't even see the form of the character more than I see this segmented looking robot-thing that's painted with Spider-Man's costume. Anything that makes these things look more realistic is welcome in my book.

Broken rubber
 

Interesting but sounds expensive and Figuarts prices are already getting silly. Wonder if the rubber will deteriorate too.

My Mattel SDCC Swamp Thing is the only figure I have with articulation under a soft rubber covering. Works fantastically well for that figure, granted it has only a few points of articulation that I don't use. I've kept it in a static pose for years now, no breakdown of the rubber at the joints or weird creasing. I'd be kinda bummed if Figuarts goes this route but has to make soft goods tailored clothing. Maybe they can sculpt the rubber accordingly and then use the same UV printing they've been using for faces for the body. Or just glue on armor bits or plastic sculpted clothing. I'll be following this line with much interest.

sweet...i look forward to seeing one of these in person

Becuase the only way to do that is to use some type of rubbery skin that is going to wear and tear over time. Not to mention rubbery material feels awful and is harder to clean dust off of.

A giant no to that. I hope it’s another one of those experimental things they showed off over the years which never saw the light of day on actual releases.

Phicen has been doing this for awhile in 1:6 scale. They are amazing.

Oh NO! I hope they not stop making the S.H. Figuarts... I hate 1/6 scale toys! :confused2
what's wrong with toy companies!! why 1/6 scale what's wronge with 7" or 6"
I hope they not make the toys as Phicen or hottoys!
I feel it's like a doll not action figure!
I don't care about the points it's a toys not real people!:koopa

The scale is not changing, at least that's what I understood from the post!

Rubber would be awful. I would imagine they would eventually(sooner rather than later) end up cracking if you pose them much

I wonder if this is a reaction to the 1:12 soft goods stuff that has started to take off. I'd definitely give seamless or soft goods sentai and rider figures a look. Though exposed articulation never bothered me, if it looks good, I'm happy with it

the photo of the butt shows what looks like a skinsuit. the hip butt region is definitely a spot with alot of holes/gaps

Kind of funny that the company with some of the ugliest articulation comes out with this. Hmmm, I wonder if the price will go up ;)

I also agree that they're supposed to be figures, not real people. Just goes to show you how ridiculous people's expectations are getting of figures anymore. Before you know it, $100 will be a standard price for a 6-7" figure.

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I actually have no issue with seems and visible joints. In fact, it has a kind of charm to it for me.

These will be great, if you don't mind watching them fall to pieces in a decades time; if not sooner. But I guess there's plenty of people that don't think beyond the next day, so these will probably sell very well.

So these will be like 7" Phicen figures? Always with posing you have to be careful and almost immaculate with that. You know don't go crazy. I feel like the figures that last the test of time when it comes to poseability is Hot Toys. Hot Toys have pegs that can break off after some time but only when you try to modify something like me that happens lol.

This sounds pretty exciting overall. The poseability will still be apparent for the figure. You just have to take care, no offense but you can't really treat these as if they were like a Hasbro toy. If you catch my drift. Also the wide cost differences between both is telling you know. I'm looking to collect these Figuarts figures. I really dig the detail on them.

And you thought Figuarts were expensive before. I also can't see this allowing for FULL articulation. Maybe they'll surprise us, but somehow I doubt it.

I'm hoping we get more info and images soon. I'm actually intrigued. I was looking at some 1/6 scale seamless body figures. They looked incredible, so now I am thinking "Why not?" for these.

I have to wait and see when the figures actually come out to see if it's worth it or not. Hidden joints sounds great and all but they too have their own issues to deal with. Like sometimes the range of motion on the articulation gets limited because of the material they use as skin. Bending the articulation also tends to create wierd looking creases that makes it look unnatural.

If they can get around those issues or at least improve on them a bit then i might start investing heavy on them but until then it will depends on each release.