Zero Gravity - Blood Blade Nezha
Dec 3, 2022 22:14:03 GMT -5
Chen, repairtechjon, and 5 more like this
Post by mpchi on Dec 3, 2022 22:14:03 GMT -5
Just got this "Mainland China Metal Build" recently, even though it has been released for about a year now. Has been interested for a while due to the very nice design and based on Nezha, one of the Chinese mythology characters I quite like. ShowZ had it on sale, for about US$150 shipped. So I pulled the trigger.
The figure is literally a Metal Build, just without tampo print decals. The engineering is very similar. Paint finish is excellent, though some of the joints are not as tight as Bandai's. This figure is very sharp, I mean literally. If you think SOC SKL is sharp, stand aside and hold Nezha's beer. All the pointy parts are sharp as a needle, and all the straight edges almost as sharp as a knife. While I can see the attention to detail in recreating the sharpness and accuracy of the sculpt, you can also tell the inexperience of Zero Gravity in terms of toy handling. The sharpness is way pass normal comfort level, and there are plenty pointy bits that can break easily with just a simple mistake. Afterall, this is Zero Gravity's first fully painted diecast release. Articulation is very good, something you would expect from a metal build. Figure is not too light, nor heavy, partly due to the slimmer build. But the hip and knees are chunky with lots of metal. It comes with 6 very detailed 'fin funnels' that you can either attach to his circular rim-like rack which the individual 'funnels' can glide along the track, very neat(rack partly diecast). Or you can attach them with the clear attachment arms on the base for various arrangements, which is cool. Those clear attachment arms are not that strong though (tightness varies and inconsistent), so you have to figure out how to display them without risking the 'funnels' falling over. The halberd weapon fits the gripping hands very nicely (flexible square rod slotting through square opening in the hand), and the fiery wheels it stands on looks awesome (though the attaching tab can't go all the way in somehow). But my favorite accessory got to be the Chinese red 'scarf', which is super long and has wire in it, really adding the ancient Chinese mythology aesthetics to the figure (even though this accessory was not even advertised in promo to be included). It also comes with a fiery Super Saiyan hair, and a Barbatos eyes effect LOL, which I didn't put on. This figure is very awesome as a display, with a lot of shelf presence. I really like it, especially for the price of half a Bandai Metal Build.
HOWEVER...my curse of getting defects won't let me off the hook that easy. And while I am very unlucky to get a bad sample (as usual), I think it has partly to do with the lower QC check from a much smaller China company, mistakes you may not see from Bandai or other more experienced toy companies. Let me point out some of the main issues:
- The clear blister tray for the main body is badly designed, to a point it allowed the figure to slide around, enough for the spikey head to completely destroyed the clear tray, making big holes and cracks, not to mention with some of the spiky antennae got damaged and broken, some shoulder pads fell off, an arm got dislocated, and just a whole bunch of pieces flying off, bouncing around inside the blister tray and got scratched up (tray taped too, but didn't help). They did not make the tray well, and allows significant damaged to the figure, regardless ShowZ packaged really really well for shipping. All the damage done is from inside...
- Figure just way too sharp, as mentioned previously. Putting on some loose parts or attaching the backpack is like playing with a durian, you get poke from all angles, and because of all the pointy and fragile parts, you almost can't find any spot to get a good grip of the figure to attach anything that needs a little bit of force. Some of the attachment tabs are designed unnecessary fragile as well, even though they have the size and scale to make them bigger and sturdier without affecting the aesthetics.
- The very crappy display stand. While it does the job securing the figure on display, it has a bunch of sliding notches and rotation locks to lock things in place. HOWEVER, there are no tabs, release lock, or anything to unlock things, nor does the instruction menu tell you anything about it. End up I have to strip a gear on the crouch pivot on the stand, pry it apart to make a one-time angle adjustment, almost breaking it just to adjust. Then on the stand's height extension, I cannot find any lock to lock its height, end up the figure's weight caused the height extension to collapse down, slamming the tail skirt armor against the stand and chipped a corner...damaging the figure in the process. It works now once I have everything in place, but all those supposedly adjustments end up being useless and confusing, and damaged my figure in the end.
- Low QC check, as the pair of red wings of mine got two 'Lefts' connector, instead of one Left and one Right, making the wing on one side sitting higher than the other. Also, the 6 clear 'fin funnel' arm attachment, one is missing a small connector to go onto the display stand. I was planning to plant all 6 funnels on the display stand, turn out I can only put 5 now and lopsided, so putting 2 on the figure instead, and just 4 on the stand in the photos.
- The paint finish is so clean and almost flawless, but they didn't paint some underside of parts you don't normally see, exposing small areas of white plastic on otherwise painted red parts. This is very minor though, more like a nitpick.
All in all, I really like this figure, and by itself, it actually is a steal for $150, if it didn't come with any QC issues. A full on Chinese Metal Build with crazy funnels, at the price of a small Metal Robot Damashii. But it does show some inexperience from Zero Gravity with some small flaws here and there that can really ruin the experience, to a point causing damages to the otherwise very well made figure. From what I hear from others, seems like Moshow is doing a better job than Zero Gravity, when it comes to design and QC. And of course, CCS Toys is leading the pack and winning our hearts with their awesome licensed releases. I hope Zero Gravity will get better, as I do see good potentials in them. It is like they did 85% really great, but failed in the remaining 15%.
The figure is literally a Metal Build, just without tampo print decals. The engineering is very similar. Paint finish is excellent, though some of the joints are not as tight as Bandai's. This figure is very sharp, I mean literally. If you think SOC SKL is sharp, stand aside and hold Nezha's beer. All the pointy parts are sharp as a needle, and all the straight edges almost as sharp as a knife. While I can see the attention to detail in recreating the sharpness and accuracy of the sculpt, you can also tell the inexperience of Zero Gravity in terms of toy handling. The sharpness is way pass normal comfort level, and there are plenty pointy bits that can break easily with just a simple mistake. Afterall, this is Zero Gravity's first fully painted diecast release. Articulation is very good, something you would expect from a metal build. Figure is not too light, nor heavy, partly due to the slimmer build. But the hip and knees are chunky with lots of metal. It comes with 6 very detailed 'fin funnels' that you can either attach to his circular rim-like rack which the individual 'funnels' can glide along the track, very neat(rack partly diecast). Or you can attach them with the clear attachment arms on the base for various arrangements, which is cool. Those clear attachment arms are not that strong though (tightness varies and inconsistent), so you have to figure out how to display them without risking the 'funnels' falling over. The halberd weapon fits the gripping hands very nicely (flexible square rod slotting through square opening in the hand), and the fiery wheels it stands on looks awesome (though the attaching tab can't go all the way in somehow). But my favorite accessory got to be the Chinese red 'scarf', which is super long and has wire in it, really adding the ancient Chinese mythology aesthetics to the figure (even though this accessory was not even advertised in promo to be included). It also comes with a fiery Super Saiyan hair, and a Barbatos eyes effect LOL, which I didn't put on. This figure is very awesome as a display, with a lot of shelf presence. I really like it, especially for the price of half a Bandai Metal Build.
HOWEVER...my curse of getting defects won't let me off the hook that easy. And while I am very unlucky to get a bad sample (as usual), I think it has partly to do with the lower QC check from a much smaller China company, mistakes you may not see from Bandai or other more experienced toy companies. Let me point out some of the main issues:
- The clear blister tray for the main body is badly designed, to a point it allowed the figure to slide around, enough for the spikey head to completely destroyed the clear tray, making big holes and cracks, not to mention with some of the spiky antennae got damaged and broken, some shoulder pads fell off, an arm got dislocated, and just a whole bunch of pieces flying off, bouncing around inside the blister tray and got scratched up (tray taped too, but didn't help). They did not make the tray well, and allows significant damaged to the figure, regardless ShowZ packaged really really well for shipping. All the damage done is from inside...
- Figure just way too sharp, as mentioned previously. Putting on some loose parts or attaching the backpack is like playing with a durian, you get poke from all angles, and because of all the pointy and fragile parts, you almost can't find any spot to get a good grip of the figure to attach anything that needs a little bit of force. Some of the attachment tabs are designed unnecessary fragile as well, even though they have the size and scale to make them bigger and sturdier without affecting the aesthetics.
- The very crappy display stand. While it does the job securing the figure on display, it has a bunch of sliding notches and rotation locks to lock things in place. HOWEVER, there are no tabs, release lock, or anything to unlock things, nor does the instruction menu tell you anything about it. End up I have to strip a gear on the crouch pivot on the stand, pry it apart to make a one-time angle adjustment, almost breaking it just to adjust. Then on the stand's height extension, I cannot find any lock to lock its height, end up the figure's weight caused the height extension to collapse down, slamming the tail skirt armor against the stand and chipped a corner...damaging the figure in the process. It works now once I have everything in place, but all those supposedly adjustments end up being useless and confusing, and damaged my figure in the end.
- Low QC check, as the pair of red wings of mine got two 'Lefts' connector, instead of one Left and one Right, making the wing on one side sitting higher than the other. Also, the 6 clear 'fin funnel' arm attachment, one is missing a small connector to go onto the display stand. I was planning to plant all 6 funnels on the display stand, turn out I can only put 5 now and lopsided, so putting 2 on the figure instead, and just 4 on the stand in the photos.
- The paint finish is so clean and almost flawless, but they didn't paint some underside of parts you don't normally see, exposing small areas of white plastic on otherwise painted red parts. This is very minor though, more like a nitpick.
All in all, I really like this figure, and by itself, it actually is a steal for $150, if it didn't come with any QC issues. A full on Chinese Metal Build with crazy funnels, at the price of a small Metal Robot Damashii. But it does show some inexperience from Zero Gravity with some small flaws here and there that can really ruin the experience, to a point causing damages to the otherwise very well made figure. From what I hear from others, seems like Moshow is doing a better job than Zero Gravity, when it comes to design and QC. And of course, CCS Toys is leading the pack and winning our hearts with their awesome licensed releases. I hope Zero Gravity will get better, as I do see good potentials in them. It is like they did 85% really great, but failed in the remaining 15%.
.
