S.H. Figuarts Star Wars

[guyver1]

This is why I love Figuarts



Woah is the bottom tunic removable ?

 

[FatHotei]

I'm gonna start watching this show now. I need more Star Wars in my life and I've heard great things about this show.

That was another thing I loved about Kylo. He was human and showed his emotions. His bouts of anger were amazing and hilarious at the same time especially when everyone around him knew it was best to just let him be.

Totally, and as Bane said, just skip around until you find an episode you dig. I usually read the description, watch the intro, and if I'm not feeling the story I just skip ahead. So far I'm focusing mostly on Jedi and clone trooper stories. The Jar Jar and Padme stuff is...*yawn*

Spoiler

When Ren loses his **** with his lightsaber and those troopers stop dead in their tracks and turn around...

 

[Rafael Arenov]

This is why I love Figuarts

It seems like that guy that keeps saying on this thread that the bs kylo is better isn't planning to say that again. I mean, come on! IMO this is light years better than the bs one.

 

[the angry orc]

Killer pics!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[FatHotei]

I'm kinda bummed I didn't order this base. It's so clutch. I don't even want figuarts Vader, just his stand. I could easily rig up a sick LED starscape for the window.



btw, this pic just proves my point that tamashii should make their lightsabers with white cores

 

[FatHotei]

I talked with a guy on fb who makes this Han carbonite display piece (not the white bit, just the carbonite block), and am ordering one to display with my model kit Boba Fett.



Another guy on fb made that custom stand for it out of foam. Pretty sick.

 

[prodigy1367]

I took some crappy pics on my phone in a makeshift "studio" which is really black construction paper taped to wall with another piece on my ironing board

Anyways, just so happens after watching Star Wars yesterday today, I receive Kylo AND my second Mafex Vader which wasn't supposed to arrive till after Christmas. The force is strong today.

Kylo in all his glory

I am not worthy, Lord Vader

You are weak. It is time I complete your training.

 

[prodigy1367]

I'm kinda bummed I didn't order this base. It's so clutch. I don't even want figuarts Vader, just his stand. I could easily rig up a sick LED starscape for the window.

View attachment 231020

btw, this pic just proves my point that tamashii should make their lightsabers with white cores

They sell the stand by itself on eBay. You best believe I kept mine when I sold my Vader. The only good thing about that figure imo

It seems like that guy that keeps saying on this thread that the bs kylo is better isn't planning to say that again. I mean, come on! IMO this is light years better than the bs one.

Honestly, it's kind of unfair to compare both lines. Two different price points and two different standards. BS is good for army building and while certain figures like Maul and Kylo are decent, they don't hold a candle to the mighty force that is S.H. Figuarts. Anyone that really thinks any BS figure is better than a Figuart is in denial

 

[prodigy1367]

Totally, and as Bane said, just skip around until you find an episode you dig. I usually read the description, watch the intro, and if I'm not feeling the story I just skip ahead. So far I'm focusing mostly on Jedi and clone trooper stories. The Jar Jar and Padme stuff is...*yawn*

Spoiler

When Ren loses his **** with his lightsaber and those troopers stop dead in their tracks and turn around...

I'm the type of person that can't skip episodes. For instance when I watch anime, I watch EVERYTHING, even the filler. Just the way I am

Also, that scene was exactly what I was referring to lol. People in the theater were cracking up

 

[Silrian]

@Fat Okay Fat, imma beg to differ in an extended fashion, because Lucas gets less credit than he sould imo:

Spoiler

Lucas does understand human emotion, that is exactly the point of why the jedi failed (who to a degree do understand it, but are blinded by Anakin's capacities. Capacities we barely see unfortunately and yes that is Lucas' error as a filmmaker). (Lucas was actively busy with the cw series.) That he's not good at a lot of things in terms of excution, doesn't negate that clearly his point with the prequels is to in fact show a prodigy who falls to the dark side because he is completely misunderstood, and cannot be what is asked of him. I think you'd be wrong to equate these jedis' views exactly as those of Lucas' when it comes to these characters. Lucas doesn't let Obi-wan say he failed for nothing. The jedi as whole fail, and Luke, having a true intimate relation to a dark sider, can understand why. Unlike the other Jedi, who essentially do not permit themselves to be humans on a personal level (yes partly because they are taken in so young, which on one hand I don't like for reasons you stated, on the other hand it also protects them from being damaged psychologically; protection anakin did not get because he was too old) and have lost the capacity to recognise that inability in Anakin because of what he can do and this prophecy that blinds them. And the end of the saga it is Luke making the real jedi statement of peace: refusing hate because someone has to break the cycle of the dark side, he willingly surrenders, having faith in his friends. Anakin as a traumatised individual who saw his worst nightmare come to pass cannot have this faith and acceptance of his own sacrifice for the greater good – until he sees his own son doing it. Anakin's psychology corrupts his belief system in validating becoming a dictator "for the greater good" which negates itself to nothing but tyranical order. Which is obviously not good in any moral sense, and not the jedi way. Jedis sacrifice themselves willingly as examples to break cycles of aggression and are as such peacekeepers. They protect and inspire, selflessly. Anakin coudn't because he was too traumatised and wasn't able to be an actual jedi in practice. He couldn't be selfless because he was too traumatised. And of note is that Jedi for that very reason are very selective in who they train, but they fail nonetheless. (Partly also because they cant stand against Palpatines manipulation of Anakin.) The jedi in the PT are naieve, overconfident, and blind to the dark side. Not just in terms of not being dark sided themselves, but not truly understanding how it can still corrupt their own system and anakin embodies the result. That IS the whole point of the story: that even a system based on good ideals, can be corrupted by psychology of the individual following it. (Cue all the religious nuts.) There isn't a 'religious genocide' in there for nothing either. Lucas makes the jedi and the entire galaxy pay for their faillure. And that is the point. Until an entirely new person, a new prodigy, less traumatised, willingly, becomes a jedi again. Anakin becomes a radicalist, and the jedi completely failed to see how and why until it was too late. That miscommunication, which is very much ongoing in reality, is what's imo the strength of the story (regardless of the movies' quality on a technical level, I don't rate them high, RotS is the only one I even give a pass grade.) You can look up plenty of interviews with lucas, if you don't go in assuming he's a moron, you can see he actually isn't. (Does he have flaws as filmmaker? Obviously. A hefty dose of bad taste? Yousa bombad.) But the ot and the pt are two extreme story arcs of a system of thought being corrupted, and then someone fighting with that corruption and freeing people of that corrupted belief system by breaking what corrupts it (the psychology of trauma that leads to anger, to hate, to suffering= trauma = cycle of the dark side). This is pretty much literally the cycle that keeps terrorism alive in the real world. People get hurt, their psychology corrupts their belief system and they radicalise and even forget what they're original intent was. They become machines of terror, which Anakin literally became. As much as SW is a world about gunslingers empires and whatever, the jedi/sith aspect is about religious corruption. There's little place for nuance if you wanna make a strong state,ent about that, and Lucas did. He wanted to show kids a morality tale about psychology versus belief systems. And there's no stronger more relatable way then a family story. He's completely clear about this in interviews.

I don't get why people assume that Lucas himself thinks like the jedi portrayed in the pt. He has them failing for the very psychological reason some people claim is lacking in the story. Execution is lacking, yes, but clearly he understands the story he wants to tell (just not always HOW to tell it.) i won't defend the pt as good movies technically on mostlevels, but the story behind them is fantastic, and Lucas entirely understands that. People let their bias and grudges toward him as a filmmaker blind them to what he says as himself and wants to say with his films.

Outside these core movies, others can bri in more nuanced and less clear, gray situations, and I hope JJ and Kasdan do (Bioware has ruled in doing so.) I havent seen TFA yet so please no spoiler replies. I put this in spoilers cause it's so long.

I hope this was nuanced enough to at least somewhat see the point I'm making, and not simply wave it away as fanboy stuff. And if you would, your loss in my eyes... (There's no negativity here ftr, may sound a bit like it in text, but there's no issue or anything, just saying.)

 

[Sachiel]

schizophonic9 - Kylo Ren
schizophonic9 - FO Stormtrooper

Woah is the bottom tunic removable ?

 

[FatHotei]

@Fat Okay Fat, imma beg to differ in an extended fashion, because Lucas gets less credit than he sould imo:

Spoiler

Lucas does understand human emotion, that is exactly the point of why the jedi failed (who to a degree do understand it, but are blinded by Anakin's capacities. Capacities we barely see unfortunately and yes that is Lucas' error as a filmmaker). (Lucas was actively busy with the cw series.) That he's not good at a lot of things in terms of excution, doesn't negate that clearly his point with the prequels is to in fact show a prodigy who falls to the dark side because he is completely misunderstood, and cannot be what is asked of him. I think you'd be wrong to equate these jedis' views exactly as those of Lucas' when it comes to these characters. Lucas doesn't let Obi-wan say he failed for nothing. The jedi as whole fail, and Luke, having a true intimate relation to a dark sider, can understand why. Unlike the other Jedi, who essentially do not permit themselves to be humans on a personal level (yes partly because they are taken in so young, which on one hand I don't like for reasons you stated, on the other hand it also protects them from being damaged psychologically; protection anakin did not get because he was too old) and have lost the capacity to recognise that inability in Anakin because of what he can do and this prophecy that blinds them. And the end of the saga it is Luke making the real jedi statement of peace: refusing hate because someone has to break the cycle of the dark side, he willingly surrenders, having faith in his friends. Anakin as a traumatised individual who saw his worst nightmare come to pass cannot have this faith and acceptance of his own sacrifice for the greater good – until he sees his own son doing it. Anakin's psychology corrupts his belief system in validating becoming a dictator "for the greater good" which negates itself to nothing but tyranical order. Which is obviously not good in any moral sense, and not the jedi way. Jedis sacrifice themselves willingly as examples to break cycles of aggression and are as such peacekeepers. They protect and inspire, selflessly. Anakin coudn't because he was too traumatised and wasn't able to be an actual jedi in practice. He couldn't be selfless because he was too traumatised. And of note is that Jedi for that very reason are very selective in who they train, but they fail nonetheless. (Partly also because they cant stand against Palpatines manipulation of Anakin.) The jedi in the PT are naieve, overconfident, and blind to the dark side. Not just in terms of not being dark sided themselves, but not truly understanding how it can still corrupt their own system and anakin embodies the result. That IS the whole point of the story: that even a system based on good ideals, can be corrupted by psychology of the individual following it. (Cue all the religious nuts.) There isn't a 'religious genocide' in there for nothing either. Lucas makes the jedi and the entire galaxy pay for their faillure. And that is the point. Until an entirely new person, a new prodigy, less traumatised, willingly, becomes a jedi again. Anakin becomes a radicalist, and the jedi completely failed to see how and why until it was too late. That miscommunication, which is very much ongoing in reality, is what's imo the strength of the story (regardless of the movies' quality on a technical level, I don't rate them high, RotS is the only one I even give a pass grade.) You can look up plenty of interviews with lucas, if you don't go in assuming he's a moron, you can see he actually isn't. (Does he have flaws as filmmaker? Obviously. A hefty dose of bad taste? Yousa bombad.) But the ot and the pt are two extreme story arcs of a system of thought being corrupted, and then someone fighting with that corruption and freeing people of that corrupted belief system by breaking what corrupts it (the psychology of trauma that leads to anger, to hate, to suffering= trauma = cycle of the dark side). This is pretty much literally the cycle that keeps terrorism alive in the real world. People get hurt, their psychology corrupts their belief system and they radicalise and even forget what they're original intent was. They become machines of terror, which Anakin literally became. As much as SW is a world about gunslingers empires and whatever, the jedi/sith aspect is about religious corruption. There's little place for nuance if you wanna make a strong state,ent about that, and Lucas did. He wanted to show kids a morality tale about psychology versus belief systems. And there's no stronger more relatable way then a family story. He's completely clear about this in interviews.

I don't get why people assume that Lucas himself thinks like the jedi portrayed in the pt. He has them failing for the very psychological reason some people claim is lacking in the story. Execution is lacking, yes, but clearly he understands the story he wants to tell (just not always HOW to tell it.) i won't defend the pt as good movies technically on mostlevels, but the story behind them is fantastic, and Lucas entirely understands that. People let their bias and grudges toward him as a filmmaker blind them to what he says as himself and wants to say with his films.

Outside these core movies, others can bri in more nuanced and less clear, gray situations, and I hope JJ and Kasdan do (Bioware has ruled in doing so.) I havent seen TFA yet so please no spoiler replies. I put this in spoilers cause it's so long.

I hope this was nuanced enough to at least somewhat see the point I'm making, and not simply wave it away as fanboy stuff. And if you would, your loss in my eyes... (There's no negativity here ftr, may sound a bit like it in text, but there's no issue or anything, just saying.)

Nice analysis, Sil. I agree with you that the prequels were written with those ideas at the heart of them, but as you said, Lucas's execution of these ideas leaves something to be desired. When I say Lucas doesn't understand human emotion, what I mean is he can't write human emotion. I mean...

 

[D4rkShaDoWz]

I really want this Kylo Ren figure... the force... it's calling out to me

 

[Bardoon]

Tamashii should start experimenting with cloth and wire. Though the texture and execution of the "cloth" areas looks stellar for some poses. It's fallacies are evident once you start demonstrating some extremely dynamic poses.

At the price-point for these figures, I think Tamashii can find a reasonable material that is both durable and great-looking.

 

[FatHotei]

They sell the stand by itself on eBay. You best believe I kept mine when I sold my Vader. The only good thing about that figure imo

I was quite excited when I read this but then I checked ebay and discovered you're a house of lies.

 

[prodigy1367]

Tamashii should start experimenting with cloth and wire. Though the texture and execution of the "cloth" areas looks stellar for some poses. It's fallacies are evident once you start demonstrating some extremely dynamic poses.

At the price-point for these figures, I think Tamashii can find a reasonable material that is both durable and great-looking.

Mafex is figuring it out. I'm sure Tamashii, belonging to one of the largest toy companies in the world, can make it happen.

 

[prodigy1367]

I was quite excited when I read this but then I checked ebay and discovered you're a house of lies.

Ooph, didn't realize how expensive it's gotten. They sell it, but damn is it pricey. A couple months ago I remember seeing it around $60 max.

Edit: Just realized it's with the figure included. Just keep a saved search for it and eventually one will pop up. I used to see dozens of these. Guess people don't wanna sell em anymore

 

[Silrian]

@Fat Lol was coming bck to edit that wall of text into sone structure but I see you got through it. Yeah it's clear that lucas left to his own devices as a writer is lacking, nd with your rephrasing I agree, but that is just bad writing, and is, actually, above all, BAD DIRECTING. Lucas is a terrible director for actors. I'm quite convincd that most good acting that's in there is from the actor him/herself. (Hayden has a few fantastic moments imo.) Lucas seems to be the opposite of David O. Russell. Because often, you'll actually hear nd find that a good director and good actor can sell an otherwise bad line. That said, that scene in particular is definitely an example of where it just misses the moment. A little before that, the dialogueless part where Anakin has to wait in the jedi temple, and looks outward, with thr music, is fantastic imo.

I'd go so far as to say

Spoiler

Lucas is a worse director than writer. He's fairly good at action, and he knows how to use music and get art design to great points, but I think a truly good director could've upped the quality of the PT tremendously, even with Lucas' actual scripts. Some dialogue couldve been tweaked on set, but dialogue reading couldve gone up massively. To the opposite: you can make a great script terrible through line reading and directing.

If for example, in the scene you linked, Anakin had stayed silent for much longer, lookking down, just in utter shock and his humanity draining from his face, and then suddenly look up, straight into palpatine's eyes, and reflecting that yellow in his own, and just seeing the emotion drain out of him, becoming the machine, the tyrant, the ruthless general part usurping anakin AND THEN, not slavishly, but downright heartlessly and Vader-like, said, with force, with cold merciless resolution and hate; "I pledge myself to your teachings, my master." without a pause, without weakness, because without humanity in general, but essentially through facial expression show how vader is murdering anakin right there (as obi wan metaphorically said), you'd have compleeeetely different, better scene. And zero dialogue change. Because Anakin is doing this out of egoism. The mistake in this scene is that he seems entirely forced, as if he has no choice but to obey palpatine. But he does, he simply needs him. The scene is entirely directed inconsistently with the fact that Vader half the time wants to overthrow Palpatine. He really wants to attack palpatine when he finds out hes a sith, he is betrayed by palpatine, vader hates him, but "I need him." "I have brought peace and stability to MY new empire." "Rule as father and son." That is a Sith. The Sith aspect is entirely lacking in these scene and it has nothing to do with dialogue. They play this scene as if anakin has a moral allegiance to Palpatine; he doesn't. He becomes a Sith, he foregoes humanity to get what he wants. They couldve shown in facial expression alone that here Vader sees anakin is weak ("what have I done!?") and his ego takes over ("just help me save padme."). THAT is becoming a sith, that is foregoing being jefi, and even being human (empathetically). This scene is ruined directing, not dialogue...

Not that Im a director, let alone a good one, but this is just as an idea that, directing, imo, is the biggest issue of the pt. not the story, not even the scripts. (Though directing also involves editing, cutting and therefor also writing.)

Edit: differentiating when a performance is the director or actor's is very hard. For all those scenes maybe hayden had another take and lucas chose the bad ones. You can blame that all on hayden, on lucas, or any percentage inbetween. I blame Lucas mostly. I think Hayden had plenty of chops. As I said, there's great moments in the pt from him imo. but do I know tht for sure? No. It's my estimation that it's mostly bad directing.

 

[FatHotei]

If for example, in the scene you linked, Anakin had stayed silent for much longer, lookking down, just in utter shock and his humanity draining from his face, and then suddenly look up, straight into palpatine's eyes, and reflecting that yellow in his own, and just seeing the emotion drain out of him, becoming the machine, the tyrant, the ruthless general part usurping anakin AND THEN, not slavishly, but downright heartlessly and Vader-like, said, with force, with cold merciless resolution and hate; "I pledge myself to your teachings, my master." without a pause, without weakness, because without humanity in general, but essentially through facial expression show how vader is murdering anakin right there (as obi wan metaphorically said), you'd have compleeeetely different, better scene. And zero dialogue change. Because Anakin is doing this out of egoism. The mistake in this scene is that he seems entirely forced, as if he has no choice but to obey palpatine. But he does, he simply needs him. The scene is entirely directed inconsistently with the fact that Vader half the time wants to overthrow Palpatine. He really wants to attack palpatine when he finds out hes a sith, he is betrayed by palpatine, vader hates him, but "I need him." "I have brought peace and stability to MY new empire." "Rule as father and son." That is a Sith. The Sith aspect is entirely lacking in these scene and it has nothing to do with dialogue. They play this scene as if anakin has a moral allegiance to Palpatine; he doesn't. He becomes a Sith, he foregoes humanity to get what he wants. They couldve shown in facial expression alone that here Vader sees anakin is weak ("what have I done!?") and his ego takes over ("just help me save padme."). THAT is becoming a sith, that is foregoing being jefi, and even being human (empathetically). This scene is ruined directing, not dialogue...

I completely agree. I'm sure you've put more thought into Hayden's portrayal during that scene than Lucas did. It's all about staging. Can you imagine was rehearsals with Lucas must be like? (if he even does rehearsals) Lucas's week point has always been directing. He never should have been a director. He doesn't have the patience or wherewithal for the process, which is laborious and exhausting. It's his own lack of apparent connection to the human process which makes him a mostly ineffective director. On the set of American Graffiti, Ron Howard asked Lucas advise because he was considering a career in directing. Lucas told him, "go into animation so you don't have to deal with actors." I will say though, American Graffiti is very human and honest and a New Hope is the reason we have all this, so not all is lost of course.

Most of his characters seem disconnected from the scene and the words they're saying. I mean even Natalie Portman, who is amazing, was as stiff as wood in the prequels. Nobody sucks the life out a performance like George Lucas. If a performance works on screen and Lucas is directing, it probably works in spite of him, not because of him. The stories would have much better served if he would have held back to Executive Producer on the prequels. Some actors, like Samuel L Jackson, are director proof. It doesn't matter what you throw at them, they're seasoned pros and they'll make it work. But young actors need a strong director to maintain a central line through their performance. It's not Hayden's fault.

 

[Silrian]

I see I was too late with the spoiler tags. You could edit them in fat, so not to annoy people too much.

In short, I agree, portman is probably the best example of a great actress ruined by directing, more even than dialogue. I defend Lucas as a storywriter, as a visionary, and partly as a filmmaker in terms of action and design. But yeah, he shouldn't have directed after ANH, when he had set the tone. Or, perhaps, have givin directing duties away after TPM repeating the process of the OT.


But stuff like "Lucas doesnt get what his own franchise is about" sorry but gtfo (Simon Pegg).