Tuesday, November 8, 2011

BLEACH Ichigo Kurosaki


Just a quick note, Anime Festival Asia 2011 (AFA2011) will be held this weekend from 11 November to 13 November at the SUNTEC Convention and Exhibition Hall Singapore. Click the link for details. *Open to public only on 12 November and 13 November. 

Having followed K-On! earlier this year, I developed an interest in anime. So I've watched and been following various series on Animax. They include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star and currently, I'm watching BLEACH. It's a good show, fun and engrossing. In light of AFA2011, I'll be posting about two figures from BLEACH. First up will be Ichigo Kurosaki.  


There's a number of different BLEACH figures out there. In the end, I chose to get the ones produced by Toynami. Some considerations were that they should be able to interact with some of my other toy lines (in other words, scale), availability and of course cost.   


The figures that I got are the Encore editions. Not sure if there are any differences between these and the original releases. Ichigo has a good likeness to how he appears in the anime. He's got a calm, focussed expression on his face. His spiky hair looks like a durian, but its really well done. He is dressed in Shinigami (soul reaper) attire. He is usually wearing this or something similar when in spiritual form. I especially like the sleeves which are big and billowing like. It gives the sense of spiritual energy. The lower half of his attire is well shaped. It is made of thin but rigid plastic. Which means that he has no articulation in his legs. The figure is well painted too. He can stand on his own but not steadily. Using the included base is recommended.    























For accessories, he comes with his zanpakuto (sword), one wrapped up and one unsheathed. There's also a wrapping extension for the unsheathed one. Its a nice addition but I prefer not to use it as it can get in the way and it distracts the view of the figure when he's holding his zanpakuto. He can carry the wrapped version on his back. The rock base is NOT included, I'm just using it a a prop. 


The look of his unsheathed  zanpakuto is how it appears in its Shikai (first release) state. Love it for its shape and size. Its painted half grey and half silver which gives it a gleaming effect. The tip of the zanpakuto is pretty sharp. The name of Ichigo's zanpakuto is Zangetsu by the way.   


He has limited articulation. His head can be fully rotated and can look up and down. Shoulders have only peg joints. Elbows swivel. And lastly, his waist can be rotated.


Ichigo is taller than normal sized Marvel Legends and DC Universe figures. He would be taller if he didn't have such a wide stance. Would have liked if he were the same size as them. I'll just attribute the height difference to his enormous store of spiritual energy.  


The lack of articulation aside, this is a good figure. 

Check back soon for Rukia.


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