How does he feel in person? Higher quality, like Hot Toys? Or cheaper, like Medicom?
That...is a great question.
So; my general impressions. To be honest I do not have much frame of reference for Hot Toys (outside Bandai/Hot Toys Char). I've heard tons of good things, no real hands on. I have experience with a 1/6 BM Kamen Rider....and it's bad! Gouki, on the other hand, overall feels solid. It also seems to NOT be plagued by the same BS QC issues of the medicom and BM figures.
No country for Play Arts Kai:
There's been several comparisons of this release to the flawed play arts Kai. I have a couple of PAK and the quality is hit or miss. I would have to say, however, even without owning the PAK Akuma, in terms of engineering and sculpt, they aren't in the same league. The only thing they share in terms of engineering is the ratchet joint system. Ratchet joints aside, this figure blows the PAK away hands down IMHO. Oh yeah.... LED eyes anyone?
Speaking of the ratchet joints, Gouki has them. Ratchet joints for me are the best and the worst thing about certain toys. Especially a toy of this size. The locking positioning of the joints makes it feel sturdy, but at the same time can force you to find just the right angle to position other body parts like legs and ankles. This is the case with Gouki, since this figure feels a little top heavy, but it seems to be unavoidable here. In order to achieve an accurate physical presence of Gouki, the figure tends to have some inconsistencies in terms of balance and weight. This makes it so you nearly have use a base accessory for simple poses like standing. I can really see there being some issues with some of the more dynamic poses. This is not to say that it's not a quality figure, just some general feedback to be aware of.
Nice to see it's not so shiny looking like in the promo pics.
Yes! In addressing the figures matte appearance, Gouki seems to be printed in a very soft pliable version of PVC in the upper torso, head, neck and feet. It feels slightly hollow on some areas, but doesn't feel "cheap" necessarily. I'd imagine that choice was made to in order to achieve that matte looking texture, and to give greater detail to the muscle tone. I don't mind it at all actually.
In addition to the Soft PVC material used on the upper body, the feet are also molded in the same fashion. This seems to be a deliberate choice in order to get the bendable foot gimmick to work.
I still have some time to spend yet with this guy, but overall I'd say he's worth every penny...so far!
PS: sorry for the wall 'o text!
