The Bandai S.H. Figuarts/D-Arts/S.H. MonsterArts/Ultra-Act Thread

[Mommar]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

 

So exterior to all of the proper photographer talent you possess for great shots what is your setup to get such clean images?

[anubis20]

Really happy with how Black Widow turned out. 

 

[Lolicon]

1 hour ago, anubis20 said:

Really happy with how Black Widow turned out. 

 

She does look good. I think I'll sell my Age of Ultron Widow after I receive this one. I kinda wanna trim down my MCU figures too and will probably just keep their Endgame versions, outside the various Iron Man and War Machine armors.

I saw the Hulkbuster 2.0 in person a little while back and it was molded in metallic red plastic, and it looked terrible compared to painting it metallic red like they did on the first Hulkbuster. So I think I'll keep the earlier version for that.

[Big s]

I’m still weirded out by how her hair works. Are we supposed to believe that that red is natural and growing out with bleach blond hair at the end? Other than that I think she looks better red than blonde.

[Mommar]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

She does look good. I think I'll sell my Age of Ultron Widow after I receive this one. I kinda wanna trim down my MCU figures too and will probably just keep their Endgame versions, outside the various Iron Man and War Machine armors.

I saw the Hulkbuster 2.0 in person a little while back and it was molded in metallic red plastic, and it looked terrible compared to painting it metallic red like they did on the first Hulkbuster. So I think I'll keep the earlier version for that.

The Hulkbuster 2 does not look as good.  The paint is flat and it looks plasticy.  I'd keep the AoE Hawkeye as well, if you have it.  That's a fantastic costume design.

[Mommar]

7 minutes ago, Big s said:

I’m still weirded out by how her hair works. Are we supposed to believe that that red is natural and growing out with bleach blond hair at the end? Other than that I think she looks better red than blonde.

I'm not sure I understand what your issue is.  When women color their hair and then let it grow out the ends will still be whatever the color was they dyed it.

[tekering]

44 minutes ago, Mommar said:

I'm not sure I understand what your issue is.  When women color their hair and then let it grow out the ends will still be whatever the color was they dyed it.

The issue is confused by casting an actress we're used to seeing with blonde hair, dying that hair red to establish a character with a consistent hair color over seven years of movies, and then suddenly portraying her as a blonde.  Rationally, we can assume the character has decided to dye her hair blonde, but it's disconcerting... and subconsciously, we're thinking "Did someone forget to dye Scarlett Johansson's hair this time?"

I think it was a terrible decision for Infinity War, and apparently it's still causing confusion in Endgame (which is already confusing enough at the story level).  

[Mommar]

10 minutes ago, tekering said:

The issue is confused by casting an actress we're used to seeing with blonde hair, dying that hair red to establish a character with a consistent hair color over seven years of movies, and then suddenly portraying her as a blonde.  Rationally, we can assume the character has decided to dye her hair blonde, but it's disconcerting... and subconsciously, we're thinking "Did someone forget to dye Scarlett Johansson's hair this time?"

I think it was a terrible decision for Infinity War, and apparently it's still causing confusion in Endgame (which is already confusing enough at the story level).  

So none of you have the ability to differentiate between a character and the actor portraying them?

[Big s]

It’s also that it’s not a natural shade of red. No one has that color without dye. 

[anime52k8]

So when do we get a short haired captain marvel figure?

[hachi]

1 hour ago, anime52k8 said:

So when do we get a short haired captain marvel figure?

If ever they release one, I hope they set it for June/July. I made a bunch of online orders the past weeks and my budget is stretched.

If not, hopefully they keep that short hair for the 2nd movie (they will do one right?). Then for sure we'll have a short haired Captain Marvel figure.

[Lolicon]

6 hours ago, Mommar said:

So none of you have the ability to differentiate between a character and the actor portraying them?

I am totally baffled by this current conversation regarding Black Widow's hair color. 

[Kanedas Bike]

On 5/4/2019 at 10:10 AM, Lolicon said:

I am totally baffled by this current conversation regarding Black Widow's hair color. 

A lot of conversations that take place around here are baffling in the exact same way. 

-b.

[Darth Mingus]

The Spider-Men S.H.Figuarts are available for NA shipping at Amazon now, with a large markup, of course:

Spider-Man Upgrade Suit 6,480

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07QZ13L3V/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A2APQYNN45K1G6&psc=1

Spider-Man Advanced Suit 7,700

https://www.amazon.co.jp/S-H-フィギュアーツ-スパイダーマン-アドバンス・スーツ-Spider-Man-塗装済み可動フィギュア/dp/B07R3BZPDX/ref=pd_sbs_21_1/355-4574430-9353430?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07R3BZPDX&pd_rd_r=0d032f2d-70d8-11e9-83b4-25b26b95260a&pd_rd_w=paS7s&pd_rd_wg=zhsHY&pf_rd_p=ad2ea29d-ea11-483c-9db2-6b5875bb9b73&pf_rd_r=91D79AB04ZHP4H3XTPES&psc=1&refRID=91D79AB04ZHP4H3XTPES 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[Kuma Style]

 

[HG Blows]

Gogeta's droopy eyebrow really triggers the OCD in me.

I've seen 5-6 packaged (all but one had it), and most of the reviewed copies online have a noticeable droop.  It seems like most of the copies out there are gonna have it.  Kuma's isn't too bad though.

 

[Mommar]

Apparently a RotJ Vader and ANH Storm Trooper.

[Tking22]

Yeah I saw that, pass for both from me. Between the original Figuarts Stormtrooper and the Rogue One versions, I have 12 regular Figuarts Stormtrooper figures, I'm good. I am also plenty happy with the A New Hope Figuarts Vader, this has sculpt updates more in line with ROTJ, and the unmasked head accessory, but it's still a pass. Also, that sculpt for Vader STILL isn't quite right, all these Vaders later and Bandai still hasn't seemed to have gotten him correct yet.

[Kanedas Bike]

...way more interested in the Star Wars SH Figuarts that Bandai teased back in December. Like Bespin Luke, updated Clone Troopers, Han Solo in Storm Trooper disguise, etc.

-b.

 

[Mommar]

They might have convinced me to double dip on Vader if they had finally made his undergarments cloth goods as well.  As it stands a cloth cape over road cone under-robes doesn't cut it for me anymore.

I don't have a single SHF Stormtrooper, did the other versions come with the additional rifles too?

[Tking22]

1 hour ago, Mommar said:

They might have convinced me to double dip on Vader if they had finally made his undergarments cloth goods as well.  As it stands a cloth cape over road cone under-robes doesn't cut it for me anymore.

I don't have a single SHF Stormtrooper, did the other versions come with the additional rifles too?

The Rogue One Stormtroopers came with the heavy blasters as well as the standard blaster and hip/pistol blaster. Also, I think they came with shoulder pauldrons as well, updated sculpts and articulation too. THOSE were the Stormtroopers to get, these one look about the same they just come with less accessories.

[Big s]

The anh stormtrooper is all wrong. Who ever heard of a stormtrooper being right handed in the first film. Lol

[Mommar]

23 hours ago, Tking22 said:

The Rogue One Stormtroopers came with the heavy blasters as well as the standard blaster and hip/pistol blaster. Also, I think they came with shoulder pauldrons as well, updated sculpts and articulation too. THOSE were the Stormtroopers to get, these one look about the same they just come with less accessories.

Oh well, I'll just stick with my Hasbro one's I guess.  I like them well enough.

[mikeszekely]

Hey guys, dunno if I should ask here or in a more Godzilla-related thread, as this question is more SH Monsterarts adjacent. I kind of want a few Godzillas for display. The Monsterarts ones look amazing... but I'm not really ready to drop $150+ one the ones I want. I'm kind of more interested in the Neca ones. At the price I'm not expecting the Neca ones to really hold a candle to the Monsterarts ones, but I'm wondering if anyone with experience with both had any thoughts on how the Neca ones hold up, if they're with the money, that sort of thing.

[Kuma Style]

[Mommar]

On 5/28/2019 at 2:48 PM, mikeszekely said:

Hey guys, dunno if I should ask here or in a more Godzilla-related thread, as this question is more SH Monsterarts adjacent. I kind of want a few Godzillas for display. The Monsterarts ones look amazing... but I'm not really ready to drop $150+ one the ones I want. I'm kind of more interested in the Neca ones. At the price I'm not expecting the Neca ones to really hold a candle to the Monsterarts ones, but I'm wondering if anyone with experience with both had any thoughts on how the Neca ones hold up, if they're with the money, that sort of thing.

Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with the Neca figures.  They look pretty cool, and a lot of their figures are pretty great.  I only have three Monsterarts figures but I like them a lot.  Enough I’m putting out for the new King Ghidorah.

[Tking22]

On 5/28/2019 at 1:48 PM, mikeszekely said:

Hey guys, dunno if I should ask here or in a more Godzilla-related thread, as this question is more SH Monsterarts adjacent. I kind of want a few Godzillas for display. The Monsterarts ones look amazing... but I'm not really ready to drop $150+ one the ones I want. I'm kind of more interested in the Neca ones. At the price I'm not expecting the Neca ones to really hold a candle to the Monsterarts ones, but I'm wondering if anyone with experience with both had any thoughts on how the Neca ones hold up, if they're with the money, that sort of thing.

I didn't see this comment earlier or I would've given my take. I own every MonsterArts figure except repaints and retools, I have every Godzilla and enemy released, they're brilliant figures, and I'm a Godzilla superfan so I love them. I have owned 4 different NECA figures and they were fine for the money IMO. The key is you get what you pay for, and that goes both ways obviously.

I can say I didn't have any horrible QC issues with any of my NECA stuff, nothing broken or sheared off out of the box, the worse I had was paint issues, "googly" eyes, or eyes painted crooked, but to be fair, I've had that exact issue on two MonsterArts figures as well, and that sting was far worse then the much cheaper NECA stuff. The articulation is fine, there aren't a dozen segmented sections in the tails like MonsterArts, but once again, you get what you pay for. They look fine, molds and sculpts are usually really good, NECA always does good with that. Paint detail is fine, I think that's where you will run into QC issues if you have any, for the most part everything looked good, not as detailed as the Bandai MonsterArts stuff, but serviceable enough, and a fraction of the price.

I'd recommend them if you're just interested in some cheap, solid looking figures that display and look good enough. I only switched to MonsterArts exclusively because I'm a Godzilla superfan as mentioned, I don't mind paying more for better figures, but I would say overall I really enjoyed the NECA stuff, it was cheap and looked good enough. On Toyark I always see people comment when a MonsterArt is revealed they will wait for the NECA version, and vice versa, nothing wrong with that, NECA and Bandai seem to try to one up each other on releases, when one releases a certain Godzilla from a certain film, the other follows closely with their own reveal. The new King of the Monsters stuff looks cool, not sure which Godzilla era you were into or looking for, but I'd say the newest King of the Monsters stuff should be worth checking out, they seem to be doing a 6" and huge 12-12" line for the new movie.

[mikeszekely]

30 minutes ago, Tking22 said:

not sure which Godzilla era you were into or looking for

Heisei is my favorite (with the caveat that I've only seen half of the Millennium ones). Ideally I'd want a '54 Godzilla from the original film, an '84 Godzilla from The Return of Godzilla, a '99 Godzilla from Godzilla 2000, Shin Godzilla from said film, and maybe a version of the Legendary Godzilla, but ultimately my goal is simply to have one figure for each era.

I think the Monsterarts would have been doable if I'd started years ago and got them at retail but the aftermarket seems like it's $130-$200 for most of them, with some like Destroyah pushing past $300. I'm just not sure that's a can of worms I want to open when even the aftermarket for Neca is $20-$50.

Then again, I found the Neca from Godzilla vs SpaceGoSpaceGodzilla at my local Target and decided to try it. The tail was broke out of the box, which doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies...

[Tking22]

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Heisei is my favorite (with the caveat that I've only seen half of the Millennium ones). Ideally I'd want a '54 Godzilla from the original film, an '84 Godzilla from The Return of Godzilla, a '99 Godzilla from Godzilla 2000, Shin Godzilla from said film, and maybe a version of the Legendary Godzilla, but ultimately my goal is simply to have one figure for each era.

I think the Monsterarts would have been doable if I'd started years ago and got them at retail but the aftermarket seems like it's $130-$200 for most of them, with some like Destroyah pushing past $300. I'm just not sure that's a can of worms I want to open when even the aftermarket for Neca is $20-$50.

Then again, I found the Neca from Godzilla vs SpaceGoSpaceGodzilla at my local Target and decided to try it. The tail was broke out of the box, which doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies...

Well crap, that sucks. I never had a break with any of my NECA Godzilla stuff, just dodgy paint apps, that would definitely leave a bad taste in my mouth too. My experience with NECA in general is lacking to say the least, I had horrible luck with their Pacific Rim stuff, some Aliens and Predator stuff, and both versions of Pennywise from IT, but as I said, Godzilla stuff was mostly solid.

Maybe keep your eye open for a less desirable figure that's on sale, see if that does anything for you, then spend the money on one you actually want when you can. Bandai has been doing re-releases on some of the more sought after MonsterArts stuff, but like the original releases, once it's gone the aftermarket price sky rockets. Maybe start at the King of the Monsters line if you're interested in MonsterArts? Or at least grab the new Godzilla from King of the Monsters since he is still at retail, or start the King of the Monsters NECA line instead, much cheaper but they still look pretty good, NECA Rodan looks pretty fantastic.

[mikeszekely]

On 5/31/2019 at 1:06 PM, Tking22 said:

Maybe start at the King of the Monsters line if you're interested in MonsterArts?

Well, that's what I did.  And he arrived today.  And... well, he's not broken.  So I guess that's already better than NECA.

In all seriousness, though, I don't know.  I guess he's kind of what I expected.  The is fantastic, and the paint (where he has some) is top notch.  He's also made of ball joints, many of which like to pop off, but I gather that's kind of par for the course for Monsterarts.  I was a little surprised, though, that for all the joints he has that the articulation is kind of so-so.  Some of that seems to be the sculpt around the ball joints limiting their range, but in the case of his right shoulder I wonder if the joint is actually jammed up.  The rotation there is limited to maybe 90 out of 360 degrees.

So, ultimately, I just don't know.  At $70 I think it's fine.  The Monsterarts stuff just seem to have better sculpts than their NECA counterparts, so the premium is justified.  But in trying to track down some of the older ones at $150-$200+ then I'm starting to think that maybe the NECA stuff is good enough for what you pay for them.

I guess one nice thing is that the NECA figures and the Monsterarts are fairly similar in size, so mixing and matching isn't the worst thing in the world.

[tekering]

I'm waiting for the X-Plus "Gigantic Series" King of the Monsters:

When it comes to size, detail, or accuracy, nothing ever compares to X-Plus.

[Lolicon]

Anyone picking up the Endgame Hulk? Doesn't really look that great to me. Wish Bandai would have included the Iron Man infinity stone gauntlet. That face sculpted looks weird too. 

[tekering]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Anyone picking up the Endgame Hulk?

Yeah, I grabbed one.  Not sure I want it, but... when in doubt, click first and ask questions later.  

If there's one thing I learned from the last round of SH Figuarts pre-orders, it's that you can always sell off the figures you don't want and at least break even... but if you end up wanting figures you didn't pre-order, it's probably gonna cost you significantly more once they're in the wild.