by Christopher Troy
I have a love/hate relationship with Capcom. I love me some Resident Evil and Street Fighter, the original Devil May Cry was the reason I bought a PS2, and like anyone who reads comics and plays fighting games, I’m incredibly excited for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. But keep in mind the same company also released Devil May Cry 2, Dark Void, that terrible new Bionic Commando, and those god-awful live action Resident Evil films. Ironically, while waiting to go see the newest one, I stumbled into FPNYC to discover we actually had the new Devil May Cry 4 Playarts Kai in stock. This was the 2nd or 3rd time we had them in stock since July, as the line shipped with the Bayonetta line, but they have the habit of selling out within days. That being said, I snagged Dante, who until now, had 1 oddly sculpt Revoltech and a bunch of subpar figures, because I like the character something fierce.
Series Origin and Legacy: The original Devil May Cry debuted within a year of the Playstation 2’s launch, forever changing the way action games were to be played. Spawning from the same creative team that brought Resident Evil to the PS1, DMC was actually based on an early built of Resident Evil 4, but it eventually became it’s own thing. The game was a hit in Japan and the States, spawning 2 more sequels on the PS2 of varying quality, as well as a animated series through Madhouse that was brought over by ADV and later FUNimation, and as well as some manga and novels brought over to the States via Tokyopop a few years back. There’s also been the standard statues, figurines, t-shirts and messengers bags. Devil May Cry 4 dropped in 2007 for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 and was met with mixed reviews. The Playarts we’re looking are based on the 4th DMC game.
Looks and Appearances: One of my complaints with the Bayonetta Play Arts was that her sculpt was sacrificed for more articulation. With the DMC4 Play Arts, Square decided to stick with the FF13 method and focus on size and detail versus sculpt. Dante still has 20 somewhat movable joints, but he’s just not flexible as Bayonetta. However he shouldn’t be. In addition, he’s not as top heavy as Bayonetta, so there’s no need for a stand for help posing him, which is always a good thing when it comes to displaying the figure. And the sculpt is great, as no detail was spared when it came to his jacket, buckles and pants. I’ve included photos below.
In terms of alternate pieces and weapons, Square Enix did Dante right. He comes with a pair of alternate hands made to equip his twin gun Ivory and Ebony, as well as his sword Rebellion, with comes with a extended plug for his back to let Rebellion attach to. My only beef with the hands is that they don’t quite hold onto the guns, they have pegs the guns are suppose to slip onto. They are a pain to deal with, but are probably the only down side to this figure. Hard to hate on that.
Overall impressions: As someone who’s been dying to own a good Dante figure for sometime now, it’s hard to top Square Enix’s first crack at the man who makes devils cry. It’s a big figure, well articulated, and comes with a good selection of accessories. With my only problem being how it holds it’s weapons, Dante’s as good as it gets, especially since it retails for about $40. The figure flyie off the shelf within days we get him in (Nero not as fast, but he sells regardless!), so if you see him in stock, grab him while you still can!
