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Post by mpchi on Dec 31, 2008 4:58:36 GMT -5
On a side note, just got the chance to finish the 5 movies finall (the last Kenshiro Den is up on youtube raw). Kenshiro Den is decent. Looks like it has the highest production value of the five, with drawings very consistent and detailed (not like some of the others that characters look different from scene to scene), and animation is smooth like what we see in Toki Den. But whats a bit of a let down is no good fights. They are so short and not significant, even though the story is somewhat interesting. After watching all five, I have to say Toki Den is still my favorite, and probably the best Hokuto anime made out there. Well drawn (though they simplified the shading a bit for better consistency), great animation with smooth movement (not like the stiff digital animation in the first 3 movies), and a really great retelling of Toki's story. Has some very 'manly' touching moments, and works well with the great theme song.
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Post by mpchi on Dec 31, 2008 5:22:31 GMT -5
If I have to rate the 5 movies, it would go like this:
Raoh Den 1 - 3.5/5 (Some great looking scenes, but not very consistent. Animation is very stiff and choppy with a lot of digitized tricks rather than great 2D animation, and feels that the storytelling could be a bit better.)
Yuria Den - 2/5 (Good story background to fill in gaps in manga, but the production value is all time low among these films. Even cool characters like Rei & Shin look like crap, and they managed to make Yuria look ugly in many scenes LOL.)
Raoh Den 2 - 3/5 (Great story, sub-par drawings & animation. Making the great last battle between Kenshiro & Raoh look like a really low budget anime.)
Toki Den - 4.5/5 (Great art, smooth animation, touching story, actually has some great fight scenes to break the trend. My favorite Hokuto anime thus far. Wish all Hokuto anime were done like this.)
Kenshiro Den - 3.75/5 (Well drawn, decent new story, but with very little payback at the end with no badass showdown and very little fight scenes.)
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Post by Cedar on Dec 31, 2008 20:49:07 GMT -5
What is with the pricing these days? $200 for the 200x Ken & Kokuoh the Horse is way too much.
I got my Toki today, unfortunately, he has two right upper arms, so emailed HLJ for help (they've been great about taking care of my many other QC issues with this line).
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Post by mpchi on Jan 3, 2009 16:09:39 GMT -5
Finally start collecting, and first up is Kenshiro. Like the outfit and the optional arm guard. Articulation is quite good, but very very tricky. I have a bunch of Revoltechs and familiar with the designs, but this one really give me a hard time to balance the legs and feet to stand, to a point I just give up and used the stand. You can get it to balance, but takes forever. The double knee joint tends to lean a little, so it can throw off the balance easy. So the stand is the way to go. And while the normal face is painted decently nice, the sleepy eyes still bothered me a lot. So did some touch up on them and scraped off some eyebrow on the sides to make it shorter and more manga accurate. Not ideal in terms of finish, but still better than stock, not sleepy and staring down all the time now. Does look better in person since the pics has the head blow up much bigger than it really is. The optional open mouth head however is...well...it creates more of a comical effect than anything else LOL ;D. I might still try to touch it up, but doubted it will help a lot. The expression is just so...funny, rather than serious and badass. Looking forward to get the rest, especially Shin & Rei.      |
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Post by abazou on Jan 6, 2009 15:31:57 GMT -5
nice review
its still one of my fav revoltech lines
i have all the released ones so far
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Post by mpchi on Jan 6, 2009 19:32:57 GMT -5
Oh, found out a small but convinient thing. The stands that comes with the Hokuto line is bigger than the normal stands, with the base a bit bigger and the stem taller. But for standard Hokuto figures around Kenshiro's height, using the normal revoltech stand's stem makes a stand with perfect height for Kenshiro standing up normal and touching the ground, while attached to the figure's back instead of the heel. Makes it perfect without leaving the figure hanging mid air if you don't want them to, without relying on the heel attachment alone.
So pretty handy if you have a bunch of other revoltech figures, but not using their stands much. The Hokuto guys can use them for sure, and have nice standing poses.
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Post by Cedar on Jan 10, 2009 21:12:54 GMT -5
That is a good idea mpchi. Also, maybe good idea to just trade the stand stems since most of the super robots will be hovering in the air anyway. Here are some pictures of Rei:    Look carefully and you can see the glue on Rei's forehead. Totally bothers me and I don't even consider myself that anal. HLJ already sent me a replacement head, but it had the same issue. I may just buy a new one at a local store here, it's bothering me so much! |
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Post by kamina57 on Jan 11, 2009 3:00:30 GMT -5
those pics r great man. but i wanna know somthing, r the revoltech revolution figures bigger than normal yamaguchi or fraulein revoltechs?
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Post by Cedar on Jan 11, 2009 4:00:36 GMT -5
those pics r great man. but i wanna know somthing, r the revoltech revolution figures bigger than normal yamaguchi or fraulein revoltechs? Thanks. I amazed even myself with how good the pictures turned out. I don't think I can take such nice photos again! Yes. They are taller. Almost 5-6 inches in height. They have the same weaknesses as Revoltech, but they are the funnest Revoltech figures I own. A lot of poor QC issues though. Everyone should open theirs and inspect for issues such as broken joints and duplicate body parts. |
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Post by abazou on Jan 12, 2009 15:45:58 GMT -5
just got shin today
nice figure as expected from the line.
looks like i need to buy another gang member to use that head
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Post by Cedar on Jan 15, 2009 2:29:55 GMT -5
I have two gang members myself. Thinking about repainting the hair a different colour for one of them, but then I thought really who cares, why devalue the figure, lolz
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Post by faiz625 on Jan 21, 2009 10:42:05 GMT -5
Next Revo HNK I'm expecting the horse(euh what's the name of the horse?}  |
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Post by mpchi on Jan 21, 2009 22:13:17 GMT -5
Just realized Jagi's gloved hands really completes the look of Kenshiro. Gave Ken the gloved hands and he looked so good, just like how he looked in the Hokuto Ryu Ken arc with Ain's gloves.
And for those that don't mind doing touch up work, just an Xacto knife and a grey Real Touch Gundam Markers can make the eyes of these figures really good. Use the xacto knife to scrape off some of the dark eye outline, thin them out where it needs to, and can scrape a small dot of reflection on the iris. Then a bit touch up with the grey Real Touch Maker to re-shape the upper lashes. It will look much more natural and you have contro on his expressions or correct a weird gaze angle, whether you want a sad tiring look on Toki, a slightly evil gaze on Shin, or a cool mean look on Rei. Now I really start to like these, knowing that their face can look a lot better with little work.
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Post by mechamasterj on Jan 22, 2009 9:14:03 GMT -5
got pix of examples?
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Post by abazou on Jan 25, 2009 8:29:06 GMT -5
man y is souther rleased that late
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Post by abazou on Feb 4, 2009 7:59:06 GMT -5
cool going to grab Raoh tomorrow  |
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Post by Cedar on Feb 6, 2009 21:43:18 GMT -5
I just got my Shin yesterday. Pretty tight figure! Also dropped another $35 bucks and got myself another Rei, this one with a cleaner forehead; had to do it.
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Post by Cedar on Feb 8, 2009 14:19:06 GMT -5
Shin comes with an axe and a sickle type weapon, he never used weapons in the manga, does he use them in the cartoon or something? Can anyone shed some light on why he comes with these weapons? Pics on the box don't display him with weapons either. Btw, anyone else find the RT joint doesn't fit all the way in his upper arms? I'm thinking of cutting about 2 mm off the joint to let it fit all the way snugly.
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Post by kamina57 on Feb 9, 2009 15:39:44 GMT -5
hey guys whats up with the gold kenshiro and raoh on the official website? it looks like theres points u can collect for prizes?
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Post by phoenixx on Feb 9, 2009 17:24:59 GMT -5
Raoh (just came in last Friday) comes with an insert that explains a little more...
The gold figures are a mail-in exclusive. The points that you need to send in are printed on the left end of the top box flap tab (though I've already stored my boxes away so I'll have to verify later and get back to you on that). Each figure is 7 points, there is a T shirt for 7 points, and a box/pliers/set of joints for 2 points.
I can scan the booklet sometime this week and post it if you would like, but the vast majority is in Kanji, so unless you read Japanese it won't yield much additional information for you.
Kinda disappointing that these are a mail-away, and will be impossible for import (US) collectors to get their hands on by redeeming points, seeing as how I have enough for one already, and since I plan on getting two horses I would have enough for the other by the end (supposed/assumed) of the series run...
Oh well, just another day as a foreign Revoltech collector...
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