MAZINGER Z AD 1901 - Fewture Models Mazinger-1901 action figure

 

I remember seeing this figure a year or two ago (I think it was actually Aflodai from the same line that I saw in a store) and thinking to myself, "What's up with that? That's not how it should look..." and blowing the whole thing off. I tend to be a purist when it comes to my figures, I suppose. I 've always wanted them to look the way they are "supposed" to look. In that sense, I've never been one to appreciate artistic license or reinterpretation of characters I love. So, what changed? I suppose that firstly, I've gotten a little bit older. In my age, I've learned to appreciate things for their uniqueness and creativity. Besides that, and more specifically, solicitation began this year for my single most anticipated figure of 2021: CCSTOYS Shin Mazinger Zero. It's absolutely the most amazing action figure I've ever seen (and I've seen LOTS). And that figure's design reminds me a great deal of this one...

This figure is nearly 20 years old (solicited for sale in 2002), which is shocking considering how amazing it is. The premise is that this was a line of Mazinger-world figures that could have been created prior to the actual Mazinger Z, in 1901. Fewture did a second line called Mazinger 1969, but those figures are mostly die-cast and are insanely more expensive than the 1901 plastic figure line currently is (and even that is insanely expensive). Figures in the 1901 line included Z, BossBorot (I don't think this one ever actually got released), Aflodai, Doublas and Garada. Each was supposed to come with a piece of the Z's scrander, and it looks like the Z and Aflodai figures had multiple re-paint versions. Expect to pay a good deal for any of these (in the $100 range for Mazinger and Aflodai, and upwards of $350 to $450 for Doublas and Garada). This review is taking a look at the "Hong Kong" version of Mazinger Z, meaning black painted forearms, hands and shins, and red breast plates. I have a "Repaint" version, as well, which sports metallic blue for the legs and arms.

The original version looks like it was black with gold breast plates. The packaging is pretty amazing for 2002. The figure is shown off front-and-center, while all of the accessories are easily seen within the angled side panels. There's a display stand and one scrander wing sealed to the back panel, as well.

Mazinger Z comes with one set of alternate "claw" hands (fists on in the package) which have slightly articulated fingers (they can spread apart, and the thumb can swing forward). The knuckles aren't articulated or anything, but it does give you enough to get a new look or two. There's also an interesting gimmick for the forearms. In the package, they have a cap shell on each forearm. These can be removed, and a rocket piece can be installed within. There's a second set of rocket's with iron cutter blades "out" that can be swapped for them. So, we can have a look at the "rocket punch" rockets within the forearms or the iron cutters, depending on what look we want to go with - pretty cool stuff!

The head/face design is, of course, the first thing that will either grab you or turn you off. It's a very evil-looking and sinister take on the Mazinger design. The face plate adds curves that the original didn't have and something about the eyes give it a very organic feel. Pair that with an enormous crown (solid) and extended spikes and you've got something that reminds me very much of the classic Frankenstein monster's look. The upcoming CCSTOYS Shin Mazinger is reminiscent of this wicked face design (though that one will have an opening jaw, which this does not have). The face plate on this figure can be removed to reveal a smaller mouth and chin area underneath but I don't care for the way that looks at all, and I worry that removing the plate will cause it to loosen and fall out of place, so I'm leaving it where it is.

Mazinger Z is a pretty large figure, standing 9" tall. Besides the striking portrait, the sculpt sports plenty of detail in the forms of rivets and panels to add to its mechanical aspects, and the tremendous traps alongside the neck combined with the bulbous shoulder pads give it a sense of imposing strength.

Since the head is solid, there's no place for a traditional pileder to dock. Instead, there are three doors that open in the back of the torso. Fold down the seat inside and the included pilot (Juzo Kabuto) can be pegged into it. The pilot makes you realize that this design is intended to represent a smaller mech (the package says 12 m in height) than the original Mazinger Z would have been.

Articulation is present, and isn't bad for a 2002 figure, but it won't be able to achieve dynamic poses or stack up to today's standards: v-cut hips, slight swivel waist, cuts at the elbows, swivel wrists, ball jointed shoulders, ratcheted knees, toe hinges, and a swivel at the head, and a hinge at the base of the neck. It isn't bad, but the heels are a little curved, and the space between the ratchets in the knees create a problem for me getting this guy to stand at all - he's prone to toppling over. Combine that with a lack of pegs or a support rod in the base, and I've always worrying that I'll find Mazinger Z-1901 on the floor with parts broken off.

One final word really needs to be said here about the extraordinary paint work on this figure. The red isn't red at all, but is a kind of metallic burgundy that works so well! The black is kind of a misty, hazy matte grey and really serves to give the whole figure a sort of ghostly atmosphere. The fine details are excellent, and sharp, with the exceptions of the raised panel fins on the forearms, which sport some very sloppily applied silver along their top edges.

All in all, this is a fantastic and unique take on a classic character. I love its aesthetics, in terms of sculpt and paintwork, it really is outstanding. The accessories are minimal, and the articulation is largely impractical, but for a display piece on a shelf it's a home run! I'm keeping an eye out for more figures from the line, but honestly I don't envision the price point working for me. So, I'll plan to content myself with what I have here, and not-so-patiently wait for my CCSTOYS Shin Mazinger Z to release...

GREAT MAZINGER - Bandai SD Cross Silhouette model kit action figure review

 

I just took a look at Bandai's Mazinger Z action figure model kit from their SD Cross Silhouette line, and now it's time to check out Great Mazinger, as well! This kit features the same quality of colored parts, detailed instructions and ease of assembly as the Z did. One thing I forgot to mention in that review is that these figures feature a gimmick where their proportions can be changed. There's a regular SD (Super Deformed) mode, where the connector pieces are shortened or removed, creating a squatter, more comical proportion to the figure. I personally don't care for the look, so I opt for the CS (Cross Silhouette) mode, which provides more elongated appendages, and a more proportional look. Neither is mutually exclusive, and the figures can be changed back and forth.

This is another nifty and fun kit! Great Mazinger can be posed to strike his Thunder Strike pose, some close approximations of Scramble Dash flight mode (with a non-included stand), and his Mazinger Blade is included, as well as a removable Brain Condor.

That's about it. I used the rocket punch effect from the Mazinger Z kit to get a sort of Drill Pressure Punch look (without the drill fins, of course), and you can take the breast fin off to simulate the Great Boomerang. In short, this little guy can manage a nice bit of posing, and can come close to duplicating most of his signature attack moves. It's a fun package, and at under $20 provides some excellent bang for the buck.

There's a Great Mazinger SD Cross Silhouette kit out there that I may still pick up, as well as a Getter Robo...

Thunder Break!!!

Great Boomerang!!!

Fire on!

Mazinger Blade!!!

Drill Pressure Punch!!!

My best approximation of the famous handshake...

MAZINGER Z - Bandai SD Cross Silhouette model kit action figure review

Bandai's SD Cross Silhouette line are "super-deformed" robot kits with snap-together pre-colored parts, stickers, interchangeable "gimmick" pieces and are nicely articulated. The build is simple, the final product looks good, and is a lot of fun to pose and re-pose. I've gotten a couple of Mazinger-universe figures, but most of Bandai's SD line seems to be Gundam-related. The kits sell for less than $20 each and would be a great way for youngsters to experiment with figure model building.

Mazinger Z comes with alternate hands, a rocket-punch effect piece, a detachable scrander and pilder with foldable wings. I think the finished model looks great, and I had a ton of fun putting it into different poses! I need to get a base for flying poses, and I need to color in the face mask grill with a black sharpie to add a little more detail. The sword is from the Great Mazinger model, but looks cool in Z's hand as well...

MAZINKAISER - Bandai Infinitism HG 1/144 scale Plastic Model Kit Figure

 

Mazinkaiser is the 4th action figure model I have built in the Infinitism line of plastic model kits. For those who don't know, these kits are similar to Gundam Gunpla kits. They include pre-colored plastic snap-together parts that result in a fully articulated figure, complete with accessories and a display stand. They tend to run in the $60 range upon release. The line began with two figures (Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger) whose design was based on the movie Mazinger Z: Infinity (hence the "Infinitism" moniker for the line). The figures must have done well-enough to warrant an expansion into giant robot characters who were never included in the film. Grendizer was the third release, followed by Mazinkaiser, Getter Dragon and the upcoming Steel Jeeg. All of the figures have a similar internal structure, and follow the heavily-panelled look of the Infinity designs. In terms of construction, they go together fairly easily, most of the sprue snips are pretty well-hidden, and the articulation even features some of the gimmicks you'd find in a real, quality action figure. For instance, the hips can pull down to allow for a greater forward kick, and the elbows feature hidden panels within the forearms allowing for a huge range of flex motion. The finished kits are sturdy enough to make messing around with them and reposing them fun, but they are very light and feel more fragile to me than a 1/100 scale Gundam kit. I wouldn't suggest these would hold up to play - just very careful posing.

One of the absolute highlights to the entire line is the incredible artwork featured on the box fronts. These are so beautifully done that I'm planning to cut them out and frame them at some point. There's also a neat ongoing "story" told on the outside of the box, as well as within the excellent instruction booklet (they are referring to the models as "Infinitism novels" and it looks like their storyline will somehow expand to incorporate the robots from various properties into one cohesive tale).

Mazinkaiser ends up standing around 8 to 9 inches tall when complete. He features a truly enormous Kaiser Scrander, which measures almost 18 inches from tip-to-tip once expanded. The Kaiser Scrander has wings that can be articulated, and the entire thing can be easily removed via a peg that fits into Mazinkaiser's back. The downside to this enormous accessory is that it adds a good bit of weight to a figure that's already pretty light. So, having the stand certainly helps to keep him...well, standing.

The jewel in the center of his chest features a sticker underneath, giving the builder 3 different possibilities of symbols (I chose the boring "Z", but it looks really cool). The jewels in the giant Final Kaiser Blade have matching Z stickers. There are two additional, slightly smaller Kaiser blades, as well as 2 alternate hands to allow for the figure to hold them. You get two different versions of the Kaiser Pilder - one in docking mode and one in flight mode. There's an additional arm stand for mounting a Turbo Smasher Punch, along with 2 flame effects. I do wish we had 2 of the thinner armature stands to do a dual Turbo Smasher Punch, but I was able to use the main stand to kind of get one going (though the main stand is so big and obtrusive, it kind of ruins the look).

I love these Infinitism model kit figures! They are fun to build, they are pretty fun to pose and re-pose, they come with lots of cool stuff, and they look incredible on the shelf. I'd highly recommend them to anyone looking to get into the figure-building hobby, or for anyone looking to save money on a cheaper substitute for high-end Chogokin or Metal Build figures. I'm hoping the line continues on past the next announced figure, Jeeg, who I knew absolutely nothing about, but decided to get just because these are such great fun! I'd love to see Infinitism versions of Shin Getter and Devolution Getter...

The final pose for Mazinkaiser on my shelf...

Escaflowne - Good Smile Company Moderoid figure model review

I remember watching a couple of episodes of Escaflowne a long while ago (maybe 20 years?) on something like Cartoon Network, but never really got into it. At the time, I was really into Gundam Wing, and was looking for giant space battles. Escaflowne came across as more of a knights-in-armor kind of thing, so it didn't grab me at the time. That said, I did always think the main mech was cool looking and very unique (though now it sort of reminds me of Tallgeese).

Spending more time at home for the majority of 2020 reignited my old hobby of model kit building. I built quite a few during the year, and even took a couple of forays into areas I hadn't been brave enough to try out before. As a result, I've been looking at some snap-together, pre-colored figure kits. When I spotted the Moderoid version of Escaflowne, I was interested enough to add it to my wish list. A generous relative caused it to show up on my doorstep.

I just recently completed the build, and wanted to preserve my thoughts here. As with just about anything, the Moderoid Escaflowne has some strengths and some weaknesses. The box art is beautiful, and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. The kit is a relatively simple and quick build, and you end up with an articulated Escaflowne at the end of it. There aren't many figures of Escaflowne that have been produced, and the ones I can find tend to be on the more expensive side. I figured this would be an acceptable substitute. 

On the down side, the finished mech is pretty small, standing about 5 &1/4" tall minus the helmet spike. The detail is soft and sparse - even if I were to try to panel line this fellow, there just isn't much to line. There are some noticeable gaps at the seams of some parts that won't go together any tighter, and other places where parts fall off easily. The articulation is hindered in many places because of the suit's design, but the model doesn't really try to incorporate any engineering to overcome that. What I mean is that with the Infinitism models, as well as with 1/100 Gundam models I have built, there is some really creative engineering within the design of the arms at the elbows, or at the legs in the knees, where panels slide out of the way and allow for additional movement. Not so here.

Most frustrating to me is the paint work, or lack thereof. Significant paint apps shown on the package and prototype pics are absent: the plastic cape is red on both sides though it's shown as red/blue in the package, while the cloth version is red/dark blue (or black- can't really tell). The cloth is pretty vinyl-feeling, and I don't think it will drape the way I want, though I honestly haven't tried it attached yet. There are no gold highlights anywhere on the model, so any spots you see gold on the package or prototype pics were customized (the majority of the sword hilt, for instance, is supposed to be gold, but is actually just grey plastic, and the bottom tips of the cape, and the ribbons on the back have gold highlights in the box pics, but none in reality). 

In short, the model feels really cheap. In no way does this compare to a MG Gunpla or to Bandai's Infinitism series, despite a price tag hovering north of $60. If I had it to do over again, I would have passed on this and picked up an Infinitism Getter Dragon instead. I may opt to add some paint details over time, as well as some additional spots of glue, but overall this is a disappointing figure that I would not recommend to anyone who is not completely enamored by the anime it is based on. However, for those who love the source material, you may be very happy with this figure, and I'm sure that with a little work and patience, it could be customized into a much better looking replica.