I don't know about you, but my 2022 has been off to somewhat of a rocky start, with lockdowns and what not. But, light at the end of the tunnel is here, hopefully to stay. So I found the energy to press on with my task, which has been sitting on my desk for about 2 weeks now - The Pillar Mem. recently reissued.
The bulk of the Battle Tendency story arc revolved around the greatest Jojo of all, Joseph Joestar, training in the arts of Hamon Energy to defeat these guys, all to save the world and you know.. his own life. Originating from prehistoric times, Wamuu, Esidisi, and Kars belonged to a tribe that spawned the Stone Mask that would eventually be the reason why Dio became the worlds coolest Vampire.
The Pillar Men themselves, despite being the main antagonists of the story arc, aren't all completely on the same page, each with a distinct personality, and for Wamuu and Esidisi, a strange sense of honour, resulting in some truly epic showdowns which I'm hoping the anime gave justice to. Kars, however, is pure slime.
So, not exactly sure what happened here, but the three characters come in different packaging styles, though I suspect being the leader of the Pillar Men, Kars gets the prettier box. I don't want to drag out this post too much, so I'll summarize things where I can.
Each character comes with an alternative head, posing hands and a stand.
There are also some character specific accessories, with Wamuu having effects for his Divine Sandstorm attack as well as the crossbow he uses in his climactic battle with Joseph, Esidisi with special hands that has blood vessels he whips out for use in Heat Mode as well as that disembodied brain he turns into, and Kars with his wrist blades as well as the Stone Mask itself.
The three benefit from being built on the larger body that is used for Joseph himself. As such, proportions aren't really an issue *cough* Jotaro *cough*. Sculpting wise, very nicely done, with excellent detailing of musculature, hair, facial features, and other fine details. I'd say the outfit's are nicely done, but... lets be honest, there really isn't much to begin with.
However, due to the design of the waist/groin area, lets just say that bare asses don't exactly translate into figure form very well.
Articulation wise, it's no seamless figure but it's still very good. Range of motion across the three figures is basically the same, given they're the same body, with some limitations due to the outfit. This newer body benefits from butterfly joints, so you don have additional shoulder range to compliment the double jointed elbows and knees the body possesses. Overall, posing options are very good, especially if you actually use the stand for balance. Ab crunch would have been nice to have, and I don't think the aesthetics would have been an issue.
Paint Apps are up to the usual Medicos level of excellence, which generally means that paint is pretty good. In this case, the smaller details didn't have smudges or paint bleeds, and overspray is not a problem. Shading is nicely done. Build Quality wise, I mean, it all holds together fine, but the QC game isn't flawless. There are visible flaws on some of the parts, mostly seam lines resulting from less than stellar sanding jobs. I also found that the quality of the joints varied, with my Wamuu suffering from a loose shoulder and hip joint.
The Pillar Men may be gone, but they certainly live on in these figures. It's not likely they'll ever return, dead or not, as the series seems to have moved on completely from the good ol' Ripple master days. Toy wise, they're as good as we're gonna get, unless Medicos devlops a new body, so I'm grateful at the very least they were built on the best available body. The Battle Tendency story arc struck a chord with me, and I'm happy to give Joseph someone to beat the crap out of. While January is almost done, the year has only just begun. With delays and random stuff I order, it's always going to be interesting to see what I look at next.
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