{"id":23514,"date":"2013-05-23T10:52:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T15:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23514"},"modified":"2013-05-23T12:03:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T17:03:06","slug":"vault-review-d-arts-charizard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23514","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Pokemon
D-Arts Charizard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I received my second D-Arts Pokemon figure last week and I have very mixed feelings about it.\u00a0 While I wouldn\u2019t call Charizard a bad figure, I really feel like they could have done a better job.\u00a0 So let\u2019s take a look at the good and bad of Charizard.<\/p>\n

I never really felt like the various creatures in the Pokemon series were given much of a personality in the original games.\u00a0 That\u2019s why most of my affinity for the characters comes from the anime.\u00a0 Charmander and Charmeleon were at best annoying and at worst incompetent, especially when compared to the impish Squirtle or the headstrong Bulbasaur.\u00a0 But Charizard was entirely different with his dickish attitude, bringing an interesting level of strife to the series for Ash.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sculpt wise, Charizard looks fantastic most of the time.\u00a0 Like Mewtwo, the figure feels like it just stepped out of the game or anime with its extremely simplified cartoon-like look.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean they skimped on the details.\u00a0 Little details like his heavy horned brow, nostrils, and even pad-like markings on the bottom of his feet help to add a bit of realism to his design.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My biggest issue with the sculpt has to be his height.\u00a0 Standing straight up he\u2019s less than five inches tall.\u00a0 He seems even more miniscule when standing next to Mewtwo, who\u2019s almost a head taller.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t want Charizard to be Monsterarts King Ghidorah tall, but I do think his height should be a little imposing to other Pokemon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Probably my favorite aspect has to be the flame at the tip of his tail.\u00a0 This thick piece of translucent plastic has been molded yellow and given red highlights to add depth.\u00a0 The piece looks fantastic and makes me want a slew of fire effects parts like this for my other figures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charizard\u2019s paint job is also very sleek and cartoony with its bright orange and yellow colors.\u00a0 But if you look closely there is some very subtle dark orange airbrushing around his muscles and raised bone structure.\u00a0 The airbrushing is even more evident on the blue parts of his wings where you can see the lighter colors in the center.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charizard has a hinged mouth, and two hinges on each wing.\u00a0 His head and elbows are swivel\/hinges.\u00a0 Aside from those, every other joint is a ball joint.\u00a0 This gives him decent movement, but similar to the first Monsterarts Godzilla figure, Charizard was articulated to move within the character\u2019s range instead of giving him full mobility and allowing the collector to decide what poses look best.\u00a0 This is most evident on his knees and feet, which are basically stuck in that position even though they\u2019re articulated.\u00a0 His wings also have this issue where they attach to his body.\u00a0 The ball joint is limited and won\u2019t allow them to be bent backwards in a resting position.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charizard comes with one accessory, a fireball effects part.\u00a0 This piece was done the exact same way as the flame on his tail.\u00a0 I think the translucent look is even better here because the body doesn\u2019t cast any odd reflections onto it.<\/p>\n

Charizard also comes with the same Pokemon base as Mewtwo.\u00a0 This time it seems to be more for holding the flame effect since the figure is definitely too heavy for that tiny arm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a huge Pokemon or Charizard fan, I definitely encourage you to buy this figure.\u00a0 This is probably the best looking and articulated figure they\u2019ll ever make of him.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not a Pokemon completist, and Charizard is far from my favorite.\u00a0 The issues I had with him may be small but they\u2019re enough to push me into cherry picking this line, probably making D-Arts Charizard the last Pokemon figure I\u2019ll be buying for a while.<\/p>\n

-Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received my second D-Arts Pokemon figure last week and I have very mixed feelings about it.\u00a0 While I wouldn\u2019t call Charizard a bad figure, I really feel like they could have done a better job.\u00a0 So let\u2019s take a look at the good and bad of Charizard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10],"tags":[445,1783,1773,454,1781],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/charTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-67g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21608,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21608","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":0},"title":"Tamashii Nations 2012 Armchair Coverage","date":"October 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While convention season is pretty much over stateside, Japan had a big one up its sleeve with Tamashii Nations 2012!\u00a0 Bandai of Japan has been garnering a large portion of my collecting interest over the last couple years, and the 2013 reveals make it blatantly apparent that my wallet doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Event Coverage"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tamf3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23624,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23624","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":1},"title":"Top Reviews for May & Updated Review Indexes!","date":"June 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"IAT got a little back in the groove, or at least Vault did, in May with some great MOTUC & DC Universe reviews. A could Transformers, a random Joe, and some imports rounded out the Top Ten. We\u2019ve got the full list plus updates to both the IAT & Battlegrip\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23527,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23527","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":2},"title":"May Review Round-Up (May 1st-15th) 151 Links!","date":"May 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Two weeks again? Already? I\u2019ve been to & from Florida, made two trips to Kansas City, and hit up Mizzou for my brother\u2019s graduation... and boy are my arms tired. Geez! But enough about me, I\u2019ve got plenty of links from the last two weeks! Not as many from IAT\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23169,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23169","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":3},"title":"Vault Review: D-Arts Pok\u00e9mon Mewtwo","date":"April 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems like Noisy and I could do a month of Transformers reviews if we combined our purchases, but that would get pretty boring for everyone.\u00a0 So today I\u2019m taking a break from my growing pile of TFs to take a look at my newest Japanese import, D-Arts Mewtwo. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/mwtw1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23370,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23370","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":4},"title":"April Review Round-Up (April 15th-30th) 157 Links!","date":"May 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re still working out this week\u2019s schedule with me in Florida. I had to leave in a bit of a hurry, so instead of a second review from me, we\u2019re going to shuffle things around and post the Review Round-Up today. Ideally, I\u2019ll get back in time to have a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23682,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23682","url_meta":{"origin":23514,"position":5},"title":"Vault Review: S.H. MonsterArts King Kong","date":"June 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"DSC00993","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/DSC00993.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23514"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23526,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions\/23526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}