Musings of an Inkd Geek

From an ebay seller in China, I received the Dasin One Punch Man Saitama. I had seen several reviews of this on YouTube and I liked the look of it better than the Figma figure, so I picked it up. It’s a really nice figure with surprisingly decent articulation. I’d never heard of Dasin before, but if this is an example of the figures they put out, I definitely recommend them.     Saitama is from the Japanese webcomic and anime One Punch Man. I started watching the anime on Netflix some time ago and I really liked it, found it to be very funny and weird. He’s basically a super strong hero who can defeat opponents with one punch, and he grows bored because of it, wanting to find a worthy opponent. The anime is filled with lots of humor, offbeat characters and monsters, and a good amount of violence and bloodshed.   The articulation on this figure reminds me of S.H. Figuarts in many ways, especially the head, torso and legs. The points of movement are at...

Today’s box day brought the burrowing ant lion/beetle kaiju Antlar. He first appeared in episode 7 of the Ultraman series. I remember as a kid he was always one of my favorites, back then I always liked the bird/insect/crustacean kaiju most. He returned later for Ultraman Max, and has appeared regularly in Ultra series since then.   S.H. Figuarts did a great job with Antlar. They captured his look accurately, as well as the smaller details such as 2 pairs of antenna and his small beak-like mouth. The paint job is great as well, from the silver highlights of his giant mandibles, to the bluish spots on his back.   The articulation is just ok. Due to the body design, it’s limited and you won’t be able to get him into detailed, expressive poses like the more humanoid characters.   The head can move up and down a little, but turn around and side to side quite well. Also, the giant mandibles can open and close a fair amount, as well as adjust up and d...

    I was able to get an S.H. Monsterarts Space Godzilla for a pretty decent price (much cheaper than the $300+ that new one currently go for). I got it from a seller on one of those Facebook kaiju trading / selling groups. It's in great condition, no visible scuff marks anywhere. All the joints work well,  too. The right hand can pop off sometime but it can go back on easy. His head has thus far stayed on, no popping off issues like I've read in some reviews. The paint applications are very nice, the crystals on his shoulders and his crystal spikes are a nice pearl white. The eyes are painted great as well, no derp look. The accessories it comes with are his gold Corona beam and a stand with crystals to put it on. The stand is kinda clumsy and holds it ok, though I find that if you close the mouth it can be held in place pretty well without the stand. He's in scale with standard Monsterarts, Figuarts and NECA releases. He'll look g...

  Today was a double box day. From Amazon I got Ultraman Type A and from Bandai Online I got Pandon. I had pre-ordered Pandon several months ago, but had never gotten around to getting the original Ultraman. I recall seeing YouTube reviews of the 50 th Anniversary Set (with buildings and Baltan UFO) and Ultraman Type C, as they call it, and many complained about the very loose joints on the legs, in some cases being so loose that they figures had issues standing up. So I hesitated to get those. Then when Type A came out, I saw many reviewers noting the improved joint issue, so I got this one.     Ultraman Type A is based on the suit and mask he wore in the initial 13 episodes. The mouth in particular has more wrinkles and not the more streamlined edges that we saw in the later suit and other Ultras. There was always something slightly creepy about the Type A face (at least to me), but I actually preferred the way that one turned out than the other faces. ...

 My latest purchase is S.H. Figuarts Dan Moroboshi from Ultraseven show. Dan was the human host of Ultraseven, and one of the most popular characters in the Ultra series.  He was played by actor Kohji Moritsugu, and the figure has an accurate face sculpt and paint that it looks just like him. The details on the rest of the body are amazing, from the Ultra Garrison symbol on his suit, to the belt, design, colors and pattern.  The articulation is standard Figuarts, with move-able head, neck, torso, arms, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, knees, ankles.  Accessories include an alternate head with helmet that you can open and close, 3 pairs of hands, a gun, an extra hand holding his glasses that he uses to transform into Ultraseven, and a single pair of glasses.  He's in scale with most of the other Figuarts, about the same height as Ultraseven, a bit shorter than the kaiju. Dan is a fun figure and one of the best "hu...

 The latest film in the Conjuring universe (Conjurverse, as fans call it) is billed as "the darkest chapter". It features the character that was made popular in the 2nd Conjuring film, the demon Valak dressed like a Nun that terrorized Lorraine.  I've been a fan of the Conjurverse since the 1st film. I can say that out of the 5 films, this is the weakest one. Yeah, I even enjoyed Annabelle more than this, and that film was pretty weak (though Annabelle: Creation was surprisingly good). While this film does tie in nicely with the 1st Conjuring film, the plot and story are just haphazardly put together, resulting in a film that's low on tension and scares and could've benefited from a tighter script and better direction. James Wan did not direct this film and it shows. He has proven to be a talented horror director, starting 3 series that are still going today (the other 2 being Saw and Insidious). While the 1st Insidious film had moments that were ove...

Today I received Tamashii Nations S.H. Figuarts Freddie Mercury figure. It's another cool offering from that company. He's decked out in his outfit from the concert at Wembly Statium = Yellow jacket, white pants with red stripe, white Adidas with black stripes.     It comes with 3 interchangeable heads (1 serious and 2 singing faces), a mike, a mike and a mike stand, and 4 pairs of hands (closed fist, open, to hold individual mike and to hold mike stand).      The articulation points are the head, neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, hands, legs/thighs, knees and a bit at the ankles, and toe joint. The articulation is great, you can get a very good range of motion, making it easy to fit him into many different poses.   He scales well with other standard S.H. Figuarts, so if you own many (like I do), he will fit well with them. The S.H. Figuarts line has released some random but cool figures, including Bruce Lee (2 different types)...