Ep21 How to Fix Shoulders on SH Figuarts Guts + Review - "The Dark Souls of Action Figures"
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 лип 2024
- 00:00 - Intro
06:53 - Packaging
11:29 - Unboxing
12:38 - Accessory List
13:54 - Sculpt
20:20 - Cape
25:04 - Details
31:20 - Part Swaps
37:53 - Sword
44:46 - Sword Posing 1
56:06 - Articulation
01:10:41 - Shoulders
01:19:26 - Sword Posing 2
01:25:36 - Mounts & Outro - Розваги
I love this channel. I wish UA-cam did more to support long-form, in-depth content like this.
Your comment is encouraging and that's great support for me. Thank you!
This makes me a little more interested in getting this figure. If you're looking to get into Berserk, check out the three Golden Age movies, but I will tell you there are still a lot of details and things they don't show from the Manga, but those 3 movies are a good gateway. Awesome review my dude, and great content.
I wouldn't recommend this one. The hands are impossible to stick on without them easily falling out. I couldn't get them attached even trying to use super glue. Very flimsy. I highly suggest the original art of war figures from the early 2000's however
How brazen of you to consider and ruminate on the positives of this figure and not just dismiss it offhand. The "community" shall be here to correct this flagrant misdeed before long.
Jests regarding the supposed and enforced false consensus of figure collectors as a monolith aside, I appreciate your nuanced take on this figure. He definitely has some issues, but I don't think it's fair to call him the worst figure of 2023 by any means (I think Zoro far and away earned that moniker more than Guts ever could), nor the worst SHF figure. He has a lot to offer, but for people who are already upset with one or more of the objective problems the figure has, they'll probably be persnickety enough to get additionally disgruntled over the subjective troubles, which just becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.
For me, it's really just two-three factors: the wrist situation, the holster on the back being so prone to breakage (akin to Figma Doom Slayer's shoulder cannon), and the inability to sheathe/carry the Dragonslayer on his back. Okay, and maybe the fact that he doesn't come with a stand, which he really should have in my opinion. Especially since Yamato (recent One Piece release) did. There's one other issue, but I don't count it because I knew about it from the promo shots and ordered the figure knowing it would exist: the way the elbow joint on the intact arm looks. It's not pretty, but it also didn't blindside anyone)
That's how I would summarize my actual qualms with it. Even if you provided a good argument for why the wrists are the way they are, it won't stop me from being vexed by the situation, by having them pop off constantly, only to see that he has maybe the shortest and least effective pegs I have ever seen on an SHF. Maybe that's petulant from me, but I feel like a character whose entire design is predicated on him handling a sword the size of his own body should've had more thought put into actually somewhat managing that. Yes, it's a conundrum, but at the same time I can't begrudge someone for getting increasingly frustrated with a figure where they constantly have to deal with pop-off hands.
The holster problem is really, really irritating, because I don't think I've seen anyone manipulate it for any extended amount of time without it breaking. It seems like a global issue, and I don't quite understand it? All of the pouches work just fine. If you keep running into them, they pop off, no breakage. So then why did they end up giving the holster a joint connection that almost seems tailor-made to break, and from what I could see, isn't removable to avoid these kinds of issues preemptively either. Should have just put it on a sturdy, removable joint. It's hard to defend a figure with a part that seems almost preordained to break, as if it's some kind of rite of passage for Guts owners.
The sheathing thing speaks for itself. Guts does keep the sword on his back, so it's a bit annoying that Bandai didn't think to include that as an option. Kind of just a weird and bothersome oversight.
I believe that the sentiment that a stand should have been included speaks for itself as well. There are figures with fewer posing and standing issues that have had them packed along with the figure. Guts was a prime candidate for one, especially given the price points. Speaking of which: I don't know if it's always fair to put Bandai down for the prices set by retailers. For example: the recent Metal Cooler, which was 120 on US P-Bandai and 175-180 on BBTS (I got it for 96ish shipped from NNG, though). The former is still a hefty sum for a single 6-inch figure that doesn't come with much, of course, but I saw far too many people commenting that "It looks good, but not 180 dollars good. Is Bandai INSANE???" And it kind of drives me nuts that some people are convinced that whatever exorbitant prices BBTS sets for a figure are Bandai's doing. Now, ultimately, I think the prices for Guts were relatively consistent across the board. (I forgot the exact number, but it was 10,240 JPY without shipping when I paid for it, which at the time was... I recall 75-ish euros? But is now 65 euro.
But I digress. Guts is a very conflicting figure in my opinion because he does have a lot of good things to offer. Had he been completely irredeemably awful from the sculpt, to the articulation, to the paint, to the accessories, to the engineering, then it would've probably led to less anger, because it would have created this sense of "meh" apathy. Nothing to like about it, no reason for consternation, other than it being a waste of money. But the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of things they did do right, and I can only assume that for a lot of people, that makes its failings that much more pronounced.
He has great face sculpts, but his whole collar system is a bit finicky (not bad in a vacuum, but on top of everything else, it presents just another avenue for chagrin). He has a great sculpt, but with all factors combined, it's hard to articulate him in an enjoyable way, and the issue with the holster creates some fear and concern when you move him. He has a great looking sword, but he can neither hold it with ease nor store it on his back. His knees are great, and his ankles are brilliant and have an absurd amount of range, but the joints aren't strong enough to support it. There are many reasons to write it off as a dud, but there are just as many reasons to think it's great and vice versa. In the end, I think the main issue is that it just isn't very fun to handle, and people really wanted a good Guts figure that is stable and sturdy enough to be fun to handle as well.
The shoulders, I've seen, are also a point of contention. The deltoid being cut so thin, the Revoltechy shoulder joint setup, and all that. Sure, I can see why it would irk some people. I don't agree with them, though. As you've demonstrated, it facilitates a great range of movement, and it isn't really visible IF you put any amount of care into it. It's always a bit weird when people crank the joints and deliberately pose the figure in such a way where gaps in the sculpt are as visible and prominent as possible and then go "WHY DID YOU MAKE ME DO THIS, BANDAI???" Goofy. If you want to expose the gaps and cuts in a figure's sculpt that exist solely to grant greater range of movement, then do as you wish, but you've plenty of means to hide it, and it was made exactly for you to be able to do just that.
I think the cape is acceptable, really. I'm not sure why everyone's so harsh to it, but I'd assume it's because of the aforementioned "being angry over other objective issues and therefore offering less leeway to the other parts of the figure" effect. But it's fine. It's light, does its thing, has a nice texture on it to mimick the manga art. The visibility of the wire is not ideal, but I also don't think it's that bothersome either. In the end, Bandai isn't big on soft goods, so I appreciate that we got something at all that wasn't some cumbersome, pre-posed and sculpted piece of plastic. It's more than practical and aesthetically pleasing enough, even if it isn't deluxe or pleasant to the touch. People who are calling it the worst cape ever are being patently absurd. If you want to see bad capes, look at the Figma Black Swordsman Guts "cape". Or maybe check out the polar opposite of a soft goods cape: Amazing Yamaguchi Batman's plastic articulated cape. Terrifying.
For my part, I still consider this the best 6-inch Guts figure around, but whether that's because of its own merits (which there are, don't get me wrong; they're just held back by the weaknesses), or because the alternatives just happen to be worse and more dated, it's hard to tell. I think the likeness is really good (even if people are unhappy with the proportions, they look accurate to the art to me. And trust me, I know human anatomy, and that his arms are far too long. It just doesn't bother me nearly enough, and I can tell that it's the result of adhering to particular manga art by Miura), I think the range for almost every part of the body is superb. The head can move well, the torso has an acceptable range at worst, the shoulders have an insane amount of movement, the upper legs, I think, have more range than one can realistically expect, the knees are really good and the ankles are sublime. For a figure as armored, bulky and encumbered as he is, this is an exceptional amount of articulation. I just wish that it was possible to put all these points to work without necessarily getting frustrated in the process. It's got its strengths, but it's just so hard to unconditionally love it.
Your video also taught me about the butterfly-not-butterfly joint, which.. well, I had no clue that it was there and I wasn't going to risk breaking things for a potentially nonexistent point of articulation. The sculpt itself screamed to me that it should have one, but with no indication of it on my copy and not a single reviewer pointing it out, I just figured it wasn't there. What a nice surprise. One that feels kind of like a "duh, of course it'd have one", but nonetheless delightful. Very, very good range, too. Insane range, even.
I have the other version on pre-order (Heat of Passion), and I expect that it will have many of the same problems ailing this one, unfortunately. I don't expect it to be able to handle the sword in a "toyetic" way, without you having to pre-plan and pop the hands and sword on at the end of the process, I don't expect the knees and ankles to have any more friction, and I don't think the cape will be different from this version. But at the least, I guess I don't have to worry about the pouches and holsters and various other doodads secured to his waist and back that might pop or break off. And the lack of bandolier might also give him a little more ab crunch. Maybe not. Call me a masochist, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Great points all around! I think you're right, the mismatch between look vs handling is driving a lot of the disappointment and negative reaction. I was just expecting him to be fiddly based on the design and physics. In hindsight, including a stand with a specific sword attachment seems like a very useful no-brainer and a great way to clue people in that he's not gonna swing it around like a lightsaber. I'll be curious if they change much aside from sculpt for Heat of Passion, and based on comments so far, I expect people will be blindsided by the swappable crouching legs.
Mixed feelings about the bow pouch. The collapsed bow kept falling out to begin with, and it was sort of just a fragile thing in the way of torso movement. If I hadn't seen so many people breaking it off, I probably would've tried to pop it off the ball joint and be done with it. I'm not glad it broke, but glad it's out of the way and no longer a worry.
Sword storage is an odd miss, especially when he's storing it that way in the reference art from their own blog post. Kinda reminds me of Luffy's hat. Is it supposed to go over or under his cape? My guess is it's one more fiddly thing to design on a guy with a million fiddly things, and they just ran out of time.
You mentioned Zoro worst of the year, and I probably agree based on secondhand reviews. Some truly baffling stuff going on at his waist, and in general the One Piece line looks like a lot of "how to make action figure" training going on, just seems like a very different experience level vs Berserk.
Tricky part about worst of the year is I just won't pickup figures that are truly in the running. Could probably throw DBS Pan into the mix. I like DBS, I like Pan, but that figure is way too close to a Funko Pop and I don't understand who they made it for.
Curious what you think of Griffith if you've got him. Responses to him seem a lot more neutral to annoyed-by-horse. I want a version of him, but not sure I can justify the cost and space for this version with the horse. Is this the version to get, or worth waiting for another that's more standalone?
Thank You, it is very informative and insightful!
I’m used to over engineered Bandai models. I mean after building mastergrades, and collecting SIC, Katokis fix figuration line, earlier SHF works along with the original shinkochou seihou lines and finally the movie realization line I can tell they really wanted to create something here but since it’s SHF it has its limitations. Well despite that the figure in my opinion is great! My foot came broken so I emailed blue fin and they literally sent me a whole new leg! lol
These types of videos are great. In the era of short videos, where reviews are getting shorter, this kind of content is appreciated. Obviously, I don't watch the full video that lasts an hour and a half, but I skip to the parts that interest me. Keep it up, excellent content. Best wishes.
Very interesting and helpful video, never would have thought this figure had such depth. Excited to get my own.
Alguma dica de como eu posso deixar a mão, sem cair kkk?
Não me desculpe
I’m so pumped for this. I’ve been eyeing the Berserk figs for a while but I’m on the fence 🥲