As a series, Digimon doesn't really get the love and respect it deserves, no doubt due to the marketing power of Nintendo. But as far as stories go, Digimon was certainly much more interesting. Even as concepts went, Digimon trumps Pokemon in my eyes, as the evolutions were completely unpredictable.
Like with Dragon Ball, Bandai pretty much owns the vast majority of the character goods, so it's no surprise over the years that they've done some Figuarts. Recently, BBTS had a clearance on Dukemon, a character that made an appearance in Season 3, I think. It looked alright - actually, it looked pretty good.
At any rate, it made it home and I finally unpacked it.
The Japanese MSRP on this figure was 9,900 Yen, or just shy of $!00 CAD, whereas the BBTS asking price was North of $100 USD, which when discounted, brought it back to MSRP, but I'd save on shipping. A relatively simple set as it pertains to accessories, consisting of only two pairs of hands, a fabric wired cape, extension of the strap on the head, a Lance, a Shield, and a Base/Stand, along with two different adapters to connect the stand to the figure itself.
As mentioned, this is a gorgeous figure in terms sculpting and painting. The metallic paints used complement the pearl finish of the primary White/Grey on the body. Paint work is incredibly crisp and as a higher end figure, there must have been sufficient budget to basically coat everything in some sort of paint.
Well, 99% of it. I think the grey joints might not be painted.
The figure itself, I have to admit, was much lighter than I expected. I think that, despite its size, that it weighs less than comparatively smaller Figuarts, though I suspect it had to do with having to user lighter materials in order to get the various angles to turn out right on the figure.
Wired cape works relatively well, and it's not some flimsy piece of single layer plastic.
In terms of Articulation, not shabby at all. Unfortunately due to the strange mass distribution, Dukemon is prone to falling backwards when being posed. I like how the hips can pull outward fo rmore range of motion, and the Pauldrons can be maneuvered for a better view of the head, but the back arch and head articulation leaves much to be desired. Ankles also pop out for some more foot articlaution, but I don't understand why the toes only fold inward and not the usual curling upward.
Paint I've already covered, but Build is a funny one. You see, the hands keep falling off. Like the peg wasn't deep enough or something. But yeah, you breath on the hands and chances are you'll be trying to find where they dropped on the floor. Fortunately, the Lance and Shield actually replace the entire hand and joint assembly, so once they're in they're incredible stable.
Overall, a visually impressive but strangely flawed release.
