Towards the end of 2023, people of course were throwing their lists for the year, which unfortunately included the "Worst of" entries. While I was puzzled at several of the Figuarts selections, I WASN'T, however, shocked when Guts and Griffith showed up. It's really a shame, considering how long collectors had been praying for an alternative to the Figma stuff. I haven't read or watched any of the episodes, but I understand this is one of those series that has a very strong fan following.
I didn't read into the specifics of why they sucked, as I would eventually have my chance to discover first hand. Not sure why it took 6 weeks to arrive from Spain when packages from Japan arrived within 2 weeks, but here we are.
As I mentioned, I've never actually immersed myself into the mythos, but my understanding is that things started off good, then things got really, really messed up. These characters, or more specifically their designs, are from the time period when things were good, and that Guts and Griffith share common goals and fought alongside one another.
Seeing as this is a double figure entry, I'm gonna really abbreviate it because at the end of the day, both of these figures SUCK. There's your TLDR. But the reasons why vary between the two. Here's another tidbit to shorten things - it's not the Paint Applications, which were well within reasonable expectations for a Figuarts product.
Both Guts and Griffith come with their trademark weapons, which in the case of Guts means several variations of his left arm. Griffith comes with a helmet, sword and of course that giant horse. Both come with capes of questionable effectiveness.
The actual faces on Guts are pretty good, backed up by some solid paint and decal work. Griffith, on the other hand, just looks weird. I mean, don't get me wrong there are other more prominent problems with Griffith, but the faces don't help, particularly the one that makes him look like Frieza.
So.. capes. Griffith has your typical two layer fabric with wiring around the edge. Nothing too fancy, and while it looks like a Comforter, at least it does the job right. Guts, on the other hand, feels like someone shave a pair of jeans and added a wire. I guess it's supposed to mimic canvas or something? It's not the coarseness that's disappointing, but rather the innate toughness of the material that makes it hard to drape and arranged.
The sculpting on both the figures is actually not bad at all. Both feature some good detailing on their outfits as well as their gear. With regards to articulation, again all things considered with regards to bulk, actual range of motion is quite good. Of course, the usual assortment of tricks to maximize range of motion, despite the obvious bulk, will generally get the job done.
So that wasn't too bad, right? I mean, it looks good, can pose, and is painted nicely, it's a done deal. Well, here's where I get angry.
The problem with Guts is very simple. The Build Quality is atrocious. The pretty much anything and everything you can attach to the body will pop off, with the exceptions of the cape (as that hooks onto the body) and the actual left forearm. The daggers and crossbow in compact form will pop off the body the moment you decide to do any real posing. The actual hands, especially the weapon gripping ones, will not stay attached to the wrist pegs. Then, there's the fact that the elbow and wrist joints are so weak, that you can't really pose the Buster Sword in any meaningful positions.
Griffith also has Build Quality issues, but they're not as bad as with Guts. The hair on my figure.. yes, you read that right... keeps popping off my figure at the slightest touch. The helmeted head is much butter but at the same time it's the helmeted head. I find that the sword handle doesn't like being inserted into the Sheath, and getting the handguard to stay attached can be an issue, thought it seems to hate being attached to Hilt more so than the full Sword. The most major problem isn't Build Quality, but rather cost cutting, as the horse has ZERO points of articulation, making it basically a better looking stand for Griffith. I guess at least Griffith has the articulation to actually sit down on the thing properly.
To say that I was disappointed is somewhat downplaying it. I was hoping that this would be start of a new line for me to collect, only to find out that Tamashii Nations dropped the ball on the two main characters. The figures have only been out for maybe two months, and even in Japan they're starting to sell these on discount. I don't even know if there's enough interest for them to continue with development of these figures.
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