[Shogi]

The Good

Like I said, the sculpt is excellent. There's detail just oozing out of this figure. Even the tattoos are depicted all over the figure, including one that goes across the elbow joint and still lines up properly



One of the good points I'd like to really show with this figure is it's eyes. While kinda cartoony, I think these eyes are the best painted 3 3/4" eyes out there right now. I really was just hoping they wouldn't be cross eyed like many of the figures from other lines out there, instead I get eyes that almost look like they could show emotion.



The Bad

Look at the picture above, does it look like Ivan is embarrassed? For whatever reason, they added a wash over the face (probably to make it look dirty and such) but they didn't think to match it up to the body so now it looks like he's embarrassed or has been throwing a temper tantrum.

Also looking at the face I noticed the goatee looked like it only got half painted with the highlights. After looking at stills from the movie I noticed, this is actually how it looks. I feel this is one of the instances where creative liberties should have been taken to not make it look half done.

Hip articulation doesn't really work too well. I was able to get the legs to bend outward to the sides, but when I went to spin the hip balls around to allow a sitting position, it just wasn't happening. I though maybe it was due to the "skirt" so I took that off. That's when I found the real culprit. The hip balls have molded details in them showing folds in the pants. These molded details (which are covered by the "skirt" and therefore not seen anyway) block the hip ball from spinning around allowing the leg to go into a sitting position. (The right one is the worst at this as the left one can spin around 1/4 of the way)



The right knee is supposed to look like Whiplash's exposed knee but to me it just looks like a flesh painted knee pad. Maybe if the whole joint piece was cast in the same flesh tone as the elbows and if they made the kee itself a little smaller, the illusion would have worked better

Another issue is the silver paint. so much of it has chipped off after just a few minutes of play. Look at any of the pictures of his chest, see all the missing silver parts, that's what has just transferred to my fingers.

My last issue with this figure is a problem I've had with a lot of figures, the neck. The neck on Ivan is sculpted forward, which makes his head look downward, add in the fact that the head has long hair and now Ivan is just some emo kid staring at his shoes all the time



Final Summation, I really dig this figure. Lots of detail and a cool looking figure. I will however, have to get another one just so I can paint his clothes orange and try to make his head match the rest of his body.