When it came to articulation, the designers went all out. Samus’ head is on a swivel/hinge joint, while her neck attaches to her body with a ball joint. Her shoulders are on ball joints, while the pauldrons are articulated separately on their own ball joint. Her elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists are all swivel/hingels, while her mid torso and hips are ball joints. Samus also has a hinged toe joint, which isn’t too common on a Figma. All these joints give you the ability to replicate most poses from the games or art of the series.
Samus comes with five alternate left hands: fist, holding, palm flat, splayed fingers, and a thumbs-up. The first four do a great job of portraying most actions or emotions, while the thumbs-up hand is just a perfect little bonus that makes the figure even more fun.
Samus’ gun arm also comes with an alternate piece. You can remove the standard tip of her cannon and replace it with the opened up missile launcher look. This is a really great option, and I’m glad they included it, but I wish they would have also included a missile firing effect for it. It seems a little lackluster without one.
Speaking of effects pieces, Samus does come with two. Both are energy beams that can be attached to the end of her cannon. One has a single burst of translucent red energy, while the other has a double burst. These are nice looking effects, but I don’t really know why two are necessary. I would have gladly given up one for a missile effect instead.
Last, but not least, Samus comes with her Morph Ball mode. This cool sphere is colored the same way as her costume and can be attached to a Figma stand for motion effects. I really love the center translucent-like green stripe, and I’m really glad they added this as an accessory since it’s a major part of her character. The only thing that would have made it better is if they also included a couple of bomb accessories.
All around this is the Samus Aran figure that fans have been waiting so long for. That’s not saying I wouldn’t mind getting her in a couple of other suit designs, including a Zero Suit. But if I were to only have one figure, I would be entirely happy with this Figma. I’ll probably buy just about any Nintendo character that Good Smile makes, and if they all turn out this well then we’re in for an amazing line of figures.
-Vault
Excellent review and fantastic pics of a really sweet-looking figure I’ll never own. I’m glad they included her “bowling ball of doom” mode as well. Where’d the jellyfish-thing come from, by the way? (And am I remembering correctly that said coelenterate-beastie is called a Metroid?)
I’ve only ever played the original Metroid, never having owned any form of Nintendo system myself. But I do remember spending time at my buddy Dave’s house as a kid, trying to bomb-blast a curled-up Samus (with her hair sticking out of her helmet) up a wall.
Thanks, Beedo. That’s a Metroid figure from the new Zero Suit Samus statue by Good Smile also. The statue is about nine inches tall, the the little Metroid she comes with is in scale with the action figure and fits perfectly on a Figma stand.
http://www.itsalltrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/samu13.jpg
It’s almost like they planned ahead! };D
Link is big too, I could say even a bit bigger… At least in photos… It’s not in scale with Samus
Ah, that’s too bad. Hope they don’t look too weird together on the shelf.
Figma is pretty good at scale when it comes to their figs.
Here’s some specs>
Link Size: Appx. 140mm Tall (NON Scale)
w/Base
Samus Aran Size: Appx. 150mm Tall (NON Scale)
I’m not sure… I did a search and saw the figures (Pit was not painted and in one level so I can’t say anything about his size compared with the others), and Link was a little bigger compared with Samus… she looked really thinner than him and a little bit shorter
Awesome pics, and a great review.
Before I received Samus, I thought Guts was the tallest Figma I had. He’s still pretty tall, but Samus is up there too now. I haven’t actually lined them up since Guts is still boxed, but I have the Figma Griffith on the way and I’ll be opening both up when I receive it. Then I’ll see who’s the tallest of them all.
I’m pretty excited for that Link, and I’m hoping this will lead to an eventual Captain Falcon with a Falcon Punch accessory (though I don’t think Good Smile is looking to recreate the Smash Bros. roster).
Thanks, Bigbot.
I never got Guts, so I totally forgot all about him. Are they about the same size?
Captain Falcon would be a fun figure to get, and I’d love it if they just started moving down the SSB roster!
Just opened up Griffith and Guts. Griffith is about her height, probably a couple millimeters shorter. Samus goes up to about Gut’s nose/eyes. He is definitely taller than Samus.
Wow, that may make him the tallest.
Thank for the info, Bigbot!
Forgot to add I really like pic #11 of Samus. You really pulled off that running/transitioning into the Morph ball.
Thanks!
Another excellent review Vault, as expected. 🙂
So have they ‘retconned’ Samus’ design some? I recall her suit looking not quite so girly-shaped, it was supposed to be a shock that there was a girl inside the killing machine, remember?
If you like the design aesthetic of this Samus, I strongly suggest you take a look at the anime series Tekkaman Blade:
http://www.amazon.com/Tekkaman-Blade-Complete-Vols-Eps/dp/B0035CP4LA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344345470&sr=8-1&keywords=tekkaman+blade
It’s really ‘old school’ in tone but it’s one of my favs. Grab it before the company loses the rights and used copies develop insane prices!
(and hm, there’s people selling the Tamashii/Bandai Tekkaman figures for CRAZY prices and where the hell did all the bootleg wallscrolls come from all of a sudden?)
Thanks, Steve.
Her suits change a bit from game to game. Sometimes it’s a design change and sometimes it’s a plot device. Although her current costumes are a bit more curvy, I still don’t think it really screams female. I also wonder if her original costume looked more male because of the limitations of eight bit.
Tekkaman looks pretty interesting. I’ll have to check that out.
It’s a good timing thing too because there’s a Figma Tekkaman Blade and Evil coming this month.
http://www.hlj.com/product/MAX06225
For me, they’re a bit ‘off’ because they seem to be modeled on the image from a slightly different interpretation of the chara. Were I to try and define it, it looks more like the original designer’s thinking rather than the slightly changed, slightly simplified design required for weekly animation production. I’d rattle off which specific episodes this look appeared but then I would be boring everyone. 🙂
One thing I love about Japanese toys? When I first picked up this Samus figure, I darn near drew blood from my finger on one of the spikes at the back of her boots. Love this figure! Only wish I have is that they could have included an unmasked head.
Lol, yeah there’s definitely a few sharp edges on her.
An unmasked head would have been great. Hopefully we’ll get a Zero Suit Figma which will take care of that issue.
Wow Great review vault!
I’m loving those boxes you have been using as backdrops!
where did that little metroid come from?
Thanks, Doc.
Those boxes came from Hobby Lobby. They’re the perfect size storage containers for multiple toy scales. I’ve been thinking about writing a quick review on them.
That little Metroid came from the Samus statue that was released at the same time as the figure. Check out the picture in my first reply to Beedo.
Yeah I saw that pic cool stuff!
I may have to order some of those boxes
Ohhhh, Ohhhh, Vault you sneaky S.O.B., I see what you did there!
Picture 5.
Mostly pupil-less figures, huh? Yeahhhh, busted. BUSTED!
Walk the Road of Shame! 🙂
I swear that’s just a coincidence!
I take no part in Noisy’s anti pupil campaign. 😛
JET JAGUAR HAS NO PUPILS!
LOL!
Man, can’t escape it! 🙂
I wish there had managed to be a Revoltech Jet Jaguar.
You and me both! Hopefully Bandai will deliver though.
hey… great pics! do you have any of the popco nintendo pvc or vinyls to give comparison shots with?
Thanks, Prfkt.
Unfortunately the only other Metroid item I have is that Dimension Diver figure.
Sorry about that.
So glad I bought this. Should be getting it soon… Great review mate, & great pics!
Thanks, Mario!
is it me, or does anyone else ever sit and wonder who samus avoids boob-chafe in all that armor? i mean, sure, it’s supportive, but the girls clacking around in there… her nipples must feel like they’ve been in a wood chipper after a 10 second jog.
It’s the Zero Suit she wears underneath. It’s slippery like a dolphin! 😀
that’s even kinkier than the stuff i came up with! well done sir.
I have to admit this figure is a beaut. The pictures don’t do the paint job justice. Seriously. This is one toy you need to see in real life to really appreciate.
Yeah, the pictures don’t quite do justice to her luminosity.
The sculpt on the resin figure is so fantastic! Actually i like it a little more – could be the nice matte colors though.
That Dimension Diver figure is still great, but its limitations are really magnified by the Figma.
I’m glad you like it, but sadly that matte look is really just my laziness/indecision poking through. All the “official” pictures of the kit show her with a nice glossy coat of paint. But I really couldn’t decide how I wanted to do it, plus I didn’t want to mess up and ruin the figure. So she stayed her molded colors.
For whatever wacky reason, this review didn’t make it into the Review index.
Also, am I crazy, or did you have a review of Link up at one point? I can’t find it, now.
The review index is scheduled to get updated every two weeks. Stuff still on the front page generally won’t have made it on to the index yet!
Nah, Link’s not out yet. But I will be getting him. He’s supposed to ship in late October, but he could get delayed.
Incidentally, this was (sadly) sold out at BigBadToyStore until today, when they re-listed it. Did I instantly pre-order it with a crazy person’s fervor? Because I think I did.