I collect figuarts, yeah some of them are pricier than motuc but the quality is unparalleled. Tamashii Nations makes the best figures in the world.
To each his own, "best" is subjective. I think if you're a big fan of the type of properties Figuarts tends to make figures figure (anime, power rangers, etc), then you'll definitely like them better.
What do you guys think of these filmation figures? I guess they're based on the simplistic animation of the series but I'm not feeling the looks of them at all. Kinda look like cheap chinese knockoffs of motuc.
That Skeletor head is sick tho...
The heads all look great, I like that everyone has hinged wrists. I'm interested to see how the final products look like, especially with the new (maybe resealable? packaging). I really like how closely the details (or lack thereof) match with the animation on the bodies of the figures. Beast Man especially looks like he stepped right out of the cartoon. Is it going to be for everyone? No, but there are people that have been waiting thirty years for these figures. I think they'll be a hit, people love Filmation.
Yes, Figmas, Revoltechs, and SH Figuarts tend to be smaller than a MOTUC figure. The only exception I've seen to this is SH Figuarts Broly, who's even bigger than MOTUC Ram Man. Still, I've never had a problem with them being smaller. I don't really get the "bigger than = better than" mindset that seems to permeate this hobby.
To me, MOTUC are the perfect size for a figure - big enough to feel nice and chunky in your hands, but not big enough to be overwhelming and huge space hogs (like Hot Toys). Most import figures feel a little small to me, especially when you look at the price. It's like, "I just paid $50 for a figure that's 4 inches tall?"
As far as articulation goes, Figma and SH Figuarts figures tend to do whatever I want without any issues. I've had some aggravations with Revoltech figures though.
I mean, the joints are there, they're mostly fine, but I don't know if it's the light weight or what, but they're just not very fun to pose around. They tend to be very finnicky and tough to get into good poses. The joints on Figuarts/Figma are often ugly too, with exposed metal rivets. The Figuarts shoulders are often awful as well - the weird disjointed shoulder pieces on the Power Rangers figures that always spin around, or the annoying sleeves on the DBZ figures. Usually the range of motion is awesome, but it's not without compromise.
And Revoltech joints are absolute crap, I don't know why anyone would chose to make figures like that.
Still, the average Figma will come with several different expressions, a highly posable body, some accessories, a rack of hands to hold all their accessories and give you more display options, a support stand to help with dynamic posing, and collector friendly packaging.
Honestly, I don't get the "more stuff = better" mindset that permeates this hobby. I usually find one set of face/hands/accessories that works well, and the rest of the stuff never comes out of the box. But I do like the collector friendly packaging and the stands!
Not only that, what you see for the prototype is what you'll end up with in hand. Max Factory has never cut corners on a production piece and then whined about rising plastic and labor costs in a pathetic attempt to justify shortchanging fans like Mattel has done.
Well, you don't hear whining, because you can't understand what they're saying
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But seriously, not many companies communicate quite as much as Mattel has with the fanbase (which is both good and bad - see people complaining about "whining"). And there are definitely changes between prototype and production. Just check out the DBZ thread to see all the latest drama about shading on DBZ Super Saiyan hair on production vs prototype, or the lack of paint apps on recent releases like Vegetto. And it's not even limited to them, from what we've heard from the Transformers Masterpiece developers, they also make cuts on scale, paint apps, parts, etc. due to budget reasons. All toy manufacturers are limited by the same laws of physics.
