DSC_4607
Well another week has gone by, and I have to admit, between life and general lack of time, it took me much longer than anticipated to actually put this one together. Nonetheless, today, we take a look at the Revoltech Amazing Yamaguchi Magneto figure, which I purchased for $40 CAD off a seller in Vancouver. Yep, I'm still on Vancouver stuff.. you can probably see why I ended up with an extra suitcase of stuff by the time I came back.
Magneto is a character that needs no real introduction, especially since he has been featured in pretty much all of the X-Men movies over the past twenty years. Archrival and nemesis to Charles Xavier and the X-Men, Magneto is the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, a group dedicated to doing whatever it takes to ensure that Mutants are able to live in peace. As a character, Magneto evolves from pretty much focused on his one goal, to a character that is a bit more complex, questioning his methods and at times, trying to atone for his cruel ways. Magneto has the ability to control items of metallic composition, eventually working his way to controlling metals that are extraterrestrial in nature, as well as manipulating the magnetic field of Earth itself to do things like levitate and form protective shields around himself. There is, of course, several tomes of material that I didn't touch upon, but this should cover the basics.
This isn't the first Amazing Yamaguchi figure I've picked up over the years, as I do have Psylocke, whom I adore, as well as the Bleeding Edge Iron Man from a few months back. Both had one thing in common.. questionable joints and cuts in the body that allowed for some pretty spectacular posing.
So, I didn't get the back with this one, but the contents were generally there - the set comes with the figure, two faces total (neutral, gritting teeth), alternate head piece which is unhelmeted, a pair of open palms, two effects disks with built in magnets, and a dynamic stand. The figure set also comes with several alternate joints for use in increasing range of motion or strengthening joints by taking away some articulation. Each of the faces has eyeballs that can be moved by using a sharp pointed stick, which I didn't get with my figure, but a paperclip works just as well.
Magneto looks great, like an even more rugged version of the Magneto in the Capcom fighting games. Wearing his classic look of a red and purple suit, Magneto is probably the most swole 80 year old you'll ever see. Kaiyodo did a great job in chiseling out a very buff physique for the Lord of Magnetism, coupled with a face sculpt/head that fit the body - the face of a stern, focused man, with enough detail in the face itself so he doesn't look like a weird blow up doll like Psylocke does. There is some fantastic detailing on the figure, both in the face and the various muscles of the body, as well as in the glorious cape Magneto is adorned with. Given the overall style and look of the intended design, body proportions look pretty much spot on what I would expect him to look like.
Articulation is kind of where things kind of fall flat with this figure. As stated above, Magneto is part of the Amazing Yamaguchi line that produced figures with absurd levels of articulation, but I feel like the designers didn't get that memo for this figure. Magneto has full ankle articulation, toes, knees (single or double, depending on what you put in), knee armour pieces, thigh swivel, hip pivot, waist, mid torso, shoulders and elbows (again,single or double joint), wrists, head, along with another five joints dedicated to the cape itself, with the option move the cape pieces to any of other holes on the back of the mantle to make for more natural looking cape positions. This all sounds like a great time, right? Well.. no, not really.
You see, whereas Iron Man looked really bad standing upright, but an absolute monster when posed, I feel Magneto was designed with only a general floating pose in mind. The upper body itself is generally not bad, allow for generally a very good range of motion with regards to all points, including even the helmeted head as it has a segmented design, like Iron Man, that would allow for the head to pivot back further so more natural flight poses can be achieved. The feet on the other hand.. *sigh*. As my list mentioned, Kaiyodo did not give Magneto the ability to splay his legs out through hip joints, only to a very limited degree through the rotating of the thighs. Now, I know splaying is possible, even on a male figure, because Iron Man has it, and more importantly, even Wolverine has the function Rotating of the thigh itself is limited due to the cut of the joint itself. Basically, the figure is only really designed to do variations of Magneto kicking front and back, kind of like an old 1980s action figure. So, no epic ground pounds or superhero landings for Magneto.. though not that it would be possible anyway, because the cape of his weighs a ton, basically requiring Magneto to be plugged into his stand at all times if you're trying to put him into any position that requires an upright body. The stand also needs to be positions just right to handle the overall weight of the figure.
Thus, in my mind, the decision to forgo the splaying function could have been borne from the fact Magneto would never really be able to stand in a dynamic pose, at least without any real support.
It's unfortunate this issue with the articulation, because the paintwork on this figure is phenomenal. Black paint highlights the great muscle detailing on the body, and the overall quality of paint apps is wonderful, with generally a smooth texture to all paint applications, with minimal paint masking issues, having the only exception being the masking for the gritted teeth face is a bit off in the corners. The use of the glossy paints also works well in bringing a healthy shimmer to the overall product. Build quality and QC are on point, with no really issues with regards to poor finishes on any of the parts, nor are there any loose joints or poor tolerances to report on the figure.
In the end, Magneto is a beautiful figure, but is marred by the fact he is ridiculously top heavy, and basically has no game with regards to standing or kneeling poses. If Kaiyodo had given Magneto the articulation of other male entries like Iron Man and Wolvereine, I'm confident I would have found something that would allow the figure to be displayed in dynamic poses. Alas, with what we're given, I feel that Magneto didn't reach his full potential as an Amazing Yamaguchi entry. Still, as far as action figures go, this entry is still one of the better looking Magneto figures, and if you're willing to play around with the cape and the feet, he can pull off some pretty neat floating poses. As always, it's all about how much you pay for the figure, but buyer beware of the limitations of this piece.
DSC_4607
Well another week has gone by, and I have to admit, between life and general lack of time, it took me much longer than anticipated to actually put this one together. Nonetheless, today, we take a look at the Revoltech Amazing Yamaguchi Magneto figure, which I purchased for $40 CAD off a seller in Vancouver. Yep, I'm still on Vancouver stuff.. you can probably see why I ended up with an extra suitcase of stuff by the time I came back.
Magneto is a character that needs no real introduction, especially since he has been featured in pretty much all of the X-Men movies over the past twenty years. Archrival and nemesis to Charles Xavier and the X-Men, Magneto is the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, a group dedicated to doing whatever it takes to ensure that Mutants are able to live in peace. As a character, Magneto evolves from pretty much focused on his one goal, to a character that is a bit more complex, questioning his methods and at times, trying to atone for his cruel ways. Magneto has the ability to control items of metallic composition, eventually working his way to controlling metals that are extraterrestrial in nature, as well as manipulating the magnetic field of Earth itself to do things like levitate and form protective shields around himself. There is, of course, several tomes of material that I didn't touch upon, but this should cover the basics.
This isn't the first Amazing Yamaguchi figure I've picked up over the years, as I do have Psylocke, whom I adore, as well as the Bleeding Edge Iron Man from a few months back. Both had one thing in common.. questionable joints and cuts in the body that allowed for some pretty spectacular posing.
So, I didn't get the back with this one, but the contents were generally there - the set comes with the figure, two faces total (neutral, gritting teeth), alternate head piece which is unhelmeted, a pair of open palms, two effects disks with built in magnets, and a dynamic stand. The figure set also comes with several alternate joints for use in increasing range of motion or strengthening joints by taking away some articulation. Each of the faces has eyeballs that can be moved by using a sharp pointed stick, which I didn't get with my figure, but a paperclip works just as well.
Magneto looks great, like an even more rugged version of the Magneto in the Capcom fighting games. Wearing his classic look of a red and purple suit, Magneto is probably the most swole 80 year old you'll ever see. Kaiyodo did a great job in chiseling out a very buff physique for the Lord of Magnetism, coupled with a face sculpt/head that fit the body - the face of a stern, focused man, with enough detail in the face itself so he doesn't look like a weird blow up doll like Psylocke does. There is some fantastic detailing on the figure, both in the face and the various muscles of the body, as well as in the glorious cape Magneto is adorned with. Given the overall style and look of the intended design, body proportions look pretty much spot on what I would expect him to look like.
Articulation is kind of where things kind of fall flat with this figure. As stated above, Magneto is part of the Amazing Yamaguchi line that produced figures with absurd levels of articulation, but I feel like the designers didn't get that memo for this figure. Magneto has full ankle articulation, toes, knees (single or double, depending on what you put in), knee armour pieces, thigh swivel, hip pivot, waist, mid torso, shoulders and elbows (again,single or double joint), wrists, head, along with another five joints dedicated to the cape itself, with the option move the cape pieces to any of other holes on the back of the mantle to make for more natural looking cape positions. This all sounds like a great time, right? Well.. no, not really.
You see, whereas Iron Man looked really bad standing upright, but an absolute monster when posed, I feel Magneto was designed with only a general floating pose in mind. The upper body itself is generally not bad, allow for generally a very good range of motion with regards to all points, including even the helmeted head as it has a segmented design, like Iron Man, that would allow for the head to pivot back further so more natural flight poses can be achieved. The feet on the other hand.. *sigh*. As my list mentioned, Kaiyodo did not give Magneto the ability to splay his legs out through hip joints, only to a very limited degree through the rotating of the thighs. Now, I know splaying is possible, even on a male figure, because Iron Man has it, and more importantly, even Wolverine has the function Rotating of the thigh itself is limited due to the cut of the joint itself. Basically, the figure is only really designed to do variations of Magneto kicking front and back, kind of like an old 1980s action figure. So, no epic ground pounds or superhero landings for Magneto.. though not that it would be possible anyway, because the cape of his weighs a ton, basically requiring Magneto to be plugged into his stand at all times if you're trying to put him into any position that requires an upright body. The stand also needs to be positions just right to handle the overall weight of the figure.
Thus, in my mind, the decision to forgo the splaying function could have been borne from the fact Magneto would never really be able to stand in a dynamic pose, at least without any real support.
It's unfortunate this issue with the articulation, because the paintwork on this figure is phenomenal. Black paint highlights the great muscle detailing on the body, and the overall quality of paint apps is wonderful, with generally a smooth texture to all paint applications, with minimal paint masking issues, having the only exception being the masking for the gritted teeth face is a bit off in the corners. The use of the glossy paints also works well in bringing a healthy shimmer to the overall product. Build quality and QC are on point, with no really issues with regards to poor finishes on any of the parts, nor are there any loose joints or poor tolerances to report on the figure.
In the end, Magneto is a beautiful figure, but is marred by the fact he is ridiculously top heavy, and basically has no game with regards to standing or kneeling poses. If Kaiyodo had given Magneto the articulation of other male entries like Iron Man and Wolvereine, I'm confident I would have found something that would allow the figure to be displayed in dynamic poses. Alas, with what we're given, I feel that Magneto didn't reach his full potential as an Amazing Yamaguchi entry. Still, as far as action figures go, this entry is still one of the better looking Magneto figures, and if you're willing to play around with the cape and the feet, he can pull off some pretty neat floating poses. As always, it's all about how much you pay for the figure, but buyer beware of the limitations of this piece.