I'm definitely not a purist in the collecting game, and I'll randomly give things a try even if it does end up being less than stellar. So one of the things I saw quite a while ago was a preorder listing for Asmus, who make the Lord of the Rings figures that many people seem to like. From what I saw their stuff could use some work, but it wasn't like they were Star Ace or anything. They were promoting the upcoming Trish figure for their Devil May Cry line, and I figured YOLO and bit.
The development cycle was filled with all sorts of updates, which lets you know they're working on things, but at the same time it was almost like they were telling everyone that they're improving things so please buy it. Figure eventually got released and by this point is probably in the hands of all who ordered.
Haven't seen too much exposure for this figure? Well, that's probably because people don't particularly like this figure.
Now I've never played the games, but I am familiar enough to recognize she's from the series, and that her look has changed drastically through the years. Her latest look isn't exactly her most iconic. I unfortunately forgot to do a photo of the contents, but it's what you'd expect, mostly - hands, guns, giant sword and her stand. There's a few more things, including a weapons rack that I guess you're suppose to combine with the pieces from other figures to recreate the one from the game (including the preorder bonus Marquee) but the thing required snipping and assembling, which I really wasn't into.
Out of the box there's a few things already that are worth noting. For starters, the body is seamless. What's funny is that the figure started off with a jointed body, then somewhere along the line they upgraded to this seamless one, which is great in theory but the issue is that it's a pretty generic build. iTrish s not thicc or voluptous by any means, but she's got some, more of a gymnast, along with some upper body and arm musculature. The Marvel Versus Capcom 3 model conveyed this quite well... this body, not so much. On the plus side, it seems that at least they sculpted the head the right size and the arms seem the right length as well.
The outfit isn't terrible, but is unfortunately made of that Pleather stuff that people like to talk bad about, though understandably so. The pants effectively feel like whatever Hot Toys made their Avengers Black Widow suit from. The pants hold up generally well to posing. The top is more of a standard fabric outfit but the problem is that it isn't fitted very well and tends to slip out of place when posing. Bust size aside, it's also a bit low on her.
Speaking of heads, you'll notice there's two of them. That's the other major change for this set. Originally it was just supposed tot he be rooted head. But they ended up including the sculpted "video game" head in there as well. Now, it we're gonna be fair here, these are not the worst looking heads I've ever owned - that still belongs to some of the crap TBLeague figures come with and some quality pieces from Star Ace. Having said that, neither of them are particularly accurate, and this has drawn some criticisms from the collector base.
As you can imagine, the one with the sculpted hair is a bit more difficult to pose, and certainly looks the least natural when its head is turned.
On the topic of the body, it feels like that Asmus had the opportunity to do something accurate, but just decided to take the easy way out of using some premade body cast. Now this isn't a full steel skeleton, but that isn't exactly unique. What is unique about this body is the wrist joint. It's still not perfect, but you can see that it is designed to actually do the full 180 across at least one plane, which allows for deeper posers, something that was an issue on all other seamless bodies I've handled.
The rest of the accessories look OK. I mean, they're not outstanding but they're certainly very solid work and will do the job. The handcuffs are actually made of metal, which was kind of neat. You know what would have made it neater? If they were functional.
The stand and "towel" on the other hand just look... eah. Like they phoned it in.
Bein a seamless body, it goes without saying that general posing isn't really much of a problem. The tailoring also supports movement... for the most part. Your challenge will be getting the ankles to cooperate, but at least these aren't those seamless ones that have no stability what so ever. As with most seamless bodies, it's ill advised to hold anything extreme for too long, but, but at least for that brief moment you can be proud you achieved something.
I just hope one day they'll have a softer but equally durable Silicone developed so the knees can full bend.
Paint Application wise, they're not aiming for Hot Toys level of complexity (and neither is the price) so it's a pretty basic paint job. Mind you, no amount of paint would actually be able to fix the fact the underlying sculpt is just off. The paint that is there, however, is solid, mainly consisting of the face and the paint on the weapons and base. Smaller painted areas like the buckles on her belt are equally acceptable. As with most seamless figures, there is a mismatch of skin tone between the body and other exposed flesh tone pieces.
Build Quality is always a wild card with new product, and this time was no exception. You'd think there's only so many ways to screw up this section, and then I find out new ones. Your typical one sixth head effectively has a cavity within, and they stick a properly sized rubber gasket within to ensure properly grip with the neck joint. Sometimes the hole is a bit big and the gasket slips out (like on poor quality offerings) but no big deal, you just put it back in.
This is the first time where I've received a head where the cavity is effectively a cavern probably twice to three times the size it needs to be, and the gasket in question is just super glued to the inside. This causes several problems, but basically it comes down to your ability to manipulate the head without ripping said gasket out, and, spoiler alert, I failed miserably. To add insult to injury, the resolution I was offered was to glue it myself, because I would have to pay to have this head sent back for any repairs, which means they would have super glued it there anyway.
The overall figure is inaccurate to the source material. If it wasn't for the stupid design of the neck, I could at least say that this was an average figure that just didn't look right. Instead, I get to say it is poorly made figure that just doesn't look right. Now, word on the street is that this sculpt on this figure is exceptionally bad, but I've not heard anyone say anything to counter the neck design. Not that it would matter anyway - it's not like Asmus is really pumping out anything that I'd get FOMO over. So maybe, one day, if the stars are aligned I'll revisit the brand but for now, there's plenty of other things to keep me interested.
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