By Chris Troy
Happy Labor Day weekend FP Faithful (I assure you it was LD Weekend when I wrote this!). If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent your weekend drunk as hell in various locations (we’ll assuming everyone who reads this blog is of age) and catching up on various Netflix supplied programming and recent issues of your pull list regulars (If you haven’t been reading Dan Slott‘s “Amazing Spider-Man” or Rick Remender‘s “Uncanny X-Force“, you really owe it to yourselves to get caught up ASAP. Same goes for Robert Kirkman‘s “Invincible” ). And if you have some free time on your hands, swing by Forbidden Planet, where out import/Japanese toy section has received a ton of new merchandise in, which we’ll be looking at today.
“The Big O” isn’t exactly the hottest nor the biggest anime series on the market. Those who were brought up on the early Toonami/Adult Swim era of Cartoon Network remember the show as an tribute to Batman: The Animated Series with a mecha flair to it. Yes it’s as awesome as it sounds, and aside from model kits from back in the day, it didn’t receive too much merch, as it obviously pre-dates both the Figma and Revoltech lines by many a year. Luckily for us, Max Factory decided to revisit the modern classic by releasing a Dorothy Wayneright Figma for the 102nd entry of the popular line. You may be asking why not a Roger Smith (the main character, who I’m fairly certain is named after the dude from the Cure.) Figma, which does exist, but only as a Japanese exclusive because Japan and God hate me so very much. Regardless, Dorothy is a very cool Figma, despite being very by the books. A little pale in the color department yes, but fans of the show should not that’s fairly accurate to the character. Accessory wise, you get the standard amount of various faces & hands, as well as a base. plus a broom a kitty familiar to those who’ve watched the show. She goes for about $45 dollars, which is a fair price for non-deluxe Figmas. We only get limited amounts of Figma at a time, so if you want her, best be coming to grab her now.
I haven’t looked at a Square Enix Play Art release in quite some time which is a shame, as they usually put out some good stuff every so often. The 1st wave of the Dissidia: Final Fantasy line has hit our shelves, offering 2 characters we’ve seen before, and well as Cloud Strike, who’s been released a number of times in different waves, making him Square’s Batman/Wolverine. The Dissidia releases may look similar to their previously released counterparts, with subtle differences here and there (Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy 8 being the most obvious with his new shirt and little side skirt thing). Not to mention Cloud and Squall’s sculpts are a little more feminine/thinner than previous releases. And while the pretty boys from Final Fantasy 7 and 8 are going to the most popular with the fans, Final Fantasy 12’s villain Gabranth is probably the highlight of this wave. The sculpt and the amount of detail in the armor is really nice, surpassing the originals, which was the highlight of the FF12 line as well. Each figure retails for about $50, which yes, it pricey, but seeing how we already almost sold out of Cloud, shows people are willing to pay that much for these figures!
Nice, play arts have really stepped up the game between these and the arkham asylum figures, I hope they make a tifa