S.H. Figuarts Star Wars

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Totally different situations. Hasbro was bottom of the barrel, they had to make vast improvements (and still need to) in order to remain the main SW line. Figuarts has always been a niche collector line many Hasbro buyers never even heard about. Figuarts has made questionable decisions at times but not all of Hasbro’s offerings have been consistently better either. It’s a little unreasonable to assume that Figuarts intentionally drops quality due to lack of criticism and fanboyism. That’s absurd. They receive and request feedback several times and they acknowledge issues just sometimes they create new problems like with the ANH Vader. The blame should rest on the company not the consumers of the brand. Also, Hasbro is not killing it when they have met expectations (current) in general. Grievous is usually considered piss poor with many preferring the model kit. I do understand your reasoning to a point because I found myself preferring Mafex several times over Figuarts but Mafex seems out of the game.

I really believe that they've been dropping in quality do to being complacent. They've been the top dog among those who know more than Hasbro for a while. Untouchable in quality and value with rare misteps. But people became absolutely DEVOTED to them to the point that anytime you make a valid criticism on something they could have done better (in comparison to times when they HAVE done better, such as accessory count), people lose their **** lol. And I think THAT attitude is what lead to figuarts getting lazy and dropping from their standards. Because they could put out articulated dog **** and people would buy it because of their brand.

Hasbro stepped up their game BECAUSE of Figuarts, with stuff like photo real and added articulation. And Hasbro figures have been killing it now. Mafex, while they've stopped making Star Wars (for the time being), have stepped up their game in their other brands. I've seen a lot of die hard Figuarts fans choosing Mafex for their Marvel/DC needs lately because they're just doing a better job (usually) now

Huh? Are you referring to me, or making a general statement? Because I'm definitely not making excuses for them. Exact opposite, actually. I'm not an apologist for anybody or anything. SHF half-assed this Fett. There's no defending it.

No not at all. More of a general statement to reactions I see to figuarts dropping the ball. Like when the ANH Vader came out and people were modding the hell out of it, replacing the cape, skirt and sometimes even helmet with the mafex, model kit or black series and saying Figuarts did an amazing job with it in the same breath lol. Though I think people are starting to come around a bit. Look at Dooku, what happened, how did they get the colors so wrong on that? Thats an oldschool Mafex move, not a Figuarts one.

 

[Sachiel]

The Mafex Boba Fett did set the standard high with the "real life" aesthetics of the figure but it's not perfect in regards to sacrificing some articulation for that costume accuracy, particularly with the shoulder pads & the arms.

Judging these images, it seems like Bandai is working around the elbow joint for a greater range of motion which looks promising.

Even the other pictures on Tamashii's website show the shoulder pads out of the way in certain poses so that's another point in their favor.

The SHF has better range in some areas, but the MAFEX is not as impaired as you think. I can get the MAFEX to do all the poses in the SHF photos. Even the crouched pose.

The arms on the MAFEX can comfortably go straight out front and to the side. You can push them a bit higher due to the soft plastic used for the shoulder pads.

The elbows on the SHF look like they get the same amount of range as Jango. The MAFEX is the same. Dropped a cool detail for no benefit.

The MAFEX kills the SHF in sculpt and paint detail. It's like he came off the screen. Look at the SHF's oversized rifle.

I've seen a lot of die hard Figuarts fans choosing Mafex for their Marvel/DC needs lately because they're just doing a better job (usually) now.

I was surprised how far they went with the Dark Knight line. I wished they'd make more from the MCU. They were only doing Spider-Man and Iron Man. They just branched out with Black Panther. It's cool they jumped into the comics. I expect they'll do DC soon.

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Looks like someone's beginning to take an interest in your handy work

 

[Funtomaz]

I really believe that they've been dropping in quality do to being complacent. They've been the top dog among those who know more than Hasbro for a while. Untouchable in quality and value with rare misteps. But people became absolutely DEVOTED to them to the point that anytime you make a valid criticism on something they could have done better (in comparison to times when they HAVE done better, such as accessory count), people lose their **** lol. And I think THAT attitude is what lead to figuarts getting lazy and dropping from their standards. Because they could put out articulated dog **** and people would buy it because of their brand.

Hasbro stepped up their game BECAUSE of Figuarts, with stuff like photo real and added articulation. And Hasbro figures have been killing it now. Mafex, while they've stopped making Star Wars (for the time being), have stepped up their game in their other brands. I've seen a lot of die hard Figuarts fans choosing Mafex for their Marvel/DC needs lately because they're just doing a better job (usually) now

Look at Dooku, what happened, how did they get the colors so wrong on that? Thats an oldschool Mafex move, not a Figuarts one.

Mistakes do happen. For a line such as Star Wars such mistakes should not happen, because there is so much reference material out there. Not just promo photos, but also photos on set and often times the original costumes still exist as well. Dooku's lighter brown tunic is not the end of the world, but it's puzzling. The question is what kind of reference material did SHF receive? Does SHF have the same access as Hasbro?

But then again, the Hasbro Mace Windu figure also has a tunic with the wrong color, it's much too light (SHF Mace has the correct color, more or less). And Hasbro should have all the reference material in the world at their disposal.

I don't think SHF has gotten too complacent or worse. They do have a history of badly sculpted helmeted characters, often undersized and some of them even with very inaccurate sculpts, SHF just can't get the Stormtrooper right, for example. And their Darth Vader is just weird. And weathering has never been something SHF applied all that much to their figures. SHF has never been perfect, but their human figures usually look fantastic. Even Dooku looks great, despite a somewhat wrong tunic color.

The upcoming Yoda also looks great. As does the ESB Luke prototype.

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Mistakes do happen. For a line such as Star Wars such mistakes should not happen, because there is so much reference material out there. Not just promo photos, but also photos on set and often times the original costumes still exist as well. Dooku's lighter brown tunic is not the end of the world, but it's puzzling. The question is what kind of reference material did SHF receive? Does SHF have the same access as Hasbro?

But then again, the Hasbro Mace Windu figure also has a tunic with the wrong color, it's much too light (SHF Mace has the correct color, more or less). And Hasbro should have all the reference material in the world at their disposal.

I don't think SHF has gotten too complacent or worse. They do have a history of badly sculpted helmeted characters, often undersized and some of them even with very inaccurate sculpts, SHF just can't get the Stormtrooper right, for example. And their Darth Vader is just weird. And weathering has never been something SHF applied all that much to their figures. SHF has never been perfect, but their human figures usually look fantastic. Even Dooku looks great, despite a somewhat wrong tunic color.

The upcoming Yoda also looks great. As does the ESB Luke prototype.

Hey Funto! Yeah I guess we're still talking about Figuarts Achilles heel here, armored character's. But it's still weird to see them take steps backwards. Like the hoses being present on Jango. But poorly sculpted into the arm here on Boba.

They gave us a GLORIOUS Mimban Stormtrooper with great weathering and then previewed a pristine white Sandtrooper and a flat green Boba lol

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Over my dead body

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

"I've been looking forward to this"

Honestly this might be the most disappointing figure Figuarts has done in a while. And the web exclusive pricing makes it worse.

The cape, while a nice material with great detail in the clasps, is essentially a comforter/blanket cover. Its completely shapeless and would have at least benefited from having a wire in it.

His body is just a flat, texture-less brown with little to no shading that makes it look and feel almost like cheap plastic

The hands, at least on mine, don't seem to peg in very well and pop off the joint easily as you try and pose him. Not to mention the saber gripping hands have a loose enough to tap his weapon out of his hand grip. Its bad.

No bicep swivel means two handed saber poses are going to be tough (and theres not much rotation at the shoulder)

The faces are probably the best part. Theres little to no difference between them, but it definitely looks like dooku

And of course the obviously wrong coloring

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

"Dew It"

 

[NoenGaruth]

And of course the obviously wrong coloring

This one I'm not sure what you're referring to. His tunic and pants in revenge of the Sith were brown, it's not overly noticeable because the whole scene is quite dark but they're definitely brown as opposed to attack of the clones where he has a black tunic and brown pants which 90% of Dooku merch uses that version.

 

[Sachiel]

It's obviously a darker brown than the toy.

 

[NoenGaruth]

True, the hasbro 3 3/4 figure when ROTS came out had a better colour that I wish the Figuarts went with.

Maybe someone at bandai saw this picture and just went with it XD

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Yeah I've learned that the coloring is actually 100% accurate to his costume in 3 based on guidebook and bts pictures. But those aren't shot in the same light, on the same camera with the same editing as the film. In the film it's so dark it might as well be black. And because no one is displaying their figures under professional Hollywood lighting viewing their shelves through a camera lens, its frustrating to look at the massive difference in color

 

[Justcrash]

Yeah I've learned that the coloring is actually 100% accurate to his costume in 3 based on guidebook and bts pictures. But those aren't shot in the same light, on the same camera with the same editing as the film. In the film it's so dark it might as well be black. And because no one is displaying their figures under professional Hollywood lighting viewing their shelves through a camera lens, its frustrating to look at the massive difference in color

I agree, I think I touched on this in my Epi IV Obi Wan review as well. What works for colors at a 1:1 scale doesn't always work in 1:12 or as I pointed out in the review, 1:1400.

 

[Funtomaz]

Yeah I've learned that the coloring is actually 100% accurate to his costume in 3 based on guidebook and bts pictures.

The age old question of... how should something look... like I saw it in the movie or like it actually looks in natural light? I think the brown vs blue coat discussion isn't over yet either. You can find arguments for both. I am ok with Dooku having a tunic color that is accurate to the actual costume in ROTS. But it would have been also ok to give him a tunic color that matches what we actually see in the movie, with added color grading and studio lights. If I had a choice I would probably go for the latter.

 

[Yarlick]

Ok, so what the hell happened with Dooku?
I'm a figuarts collector and apologist, but these recent releases aren't THAT good.

Dooku doesn't look like Christopher Lee that much, what the hell is this cape? I'm in for some soft goods, but that's not the way it should be done.
Articulations feel really outdated too.

The color of the tunic is the right color but it's not as I remember it in RotS and AotC....It's supposed to be darker...

They really are botching the likeness lately, Obi Wan RotS didn't appeal to me, neither did Anakin RotS, I skipped those two...

It will be the third figure that I'm skipping.

Their future Boba Fett seems off compared to the Mafex one...

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Ok, so what the hell happened with Dooku?
I'm a figuarts collector and apologist, but these recent releases aren't THAT good.

Dooku doesn't look like Christopher Lee that much, what the hell is this cape? I'm in for some soft goods, but that's not the way it should be done.
Articulations feel really outdated too.

The color of the tunic is the right color but it's not as I remember it in RotS and AotC....It's supposed to be darker...

They really are botching the likeness lately, Obi Wan RotS didn't appeal to me, neither did Anakin RotS, I skipped those two...

It will be the third figure that I'm skipping.

Their future Boba Fett seems off compared to the Mafex one...

Well like I said, what I think is they got lazy at the top. Too many apologists letting them slide for sub par (by their standards) figures lol . And they just kept slipping

 

[LipSmack]

What happened is Endgame, they clearly put all their resources and talent on that line up, it sucks but Dooku is passable, as long as Yoda and fett turn out OK I'll be happy, if they don't then I'll start rioting

 

[dukefett]

What happened is Endgame, they clearly put all their resources and talent on that line up, it sucks but Dooku is passable, as long as Yoda and fett turn out OK I'll be happy, if they don't then I'll start rioting

Yeah, they can sell their Marvel figures everywhere, so they have more incentive (unfortunately for the SW line) to concentrate on Marvel. Especially at the pace they release movies.

 

[DakRen]

Well like I said, what I think is they got lazy at the top. Too many apologists letting them slide for sub par (by their standards) figures lol . And they just kept slipping

To be fair this is an older prototype. We have seen this for years now. It’s silly to consider Dooku as reflective of their current work. Also, I got Dooku today and looks like a mini Christopher Lee. It’s not perfect but nothing is and looks better in person. I can’t see Hasbro topping this at all.

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

To be fair this is an older prototype. We have seen this for years now. It’s silly to consider Dooku as reflective of their current work. Also, I got Dooku today and looks like a mini Christopher Lee. It’s not perfect but nothing is and looks better in person. I can’t see Hasbro topping this at all.

But that's a problem. It should have been updated to reflect their current standards. Not left as essentially the same prototype from years ago. Its lazy.