Figma Hulk Resurrected!

After all this time, a painted Figma Hulk has shown his beautiful green face at WonFes Summer 2015.  I can finally complete my set.  Even though it was first shown in 2013, I'm happy to see the angriest member of the Figma Avengers family finally painted.

About time.

New Gundam Series Announced!

The countdown timer on www.g-tekketsu.com has finally ended.  A new Gundam show has been announced.  And with it, a giant-mecha-sized plethora of action figures, gunpla and other related toys.  Let's take a sneak peek at where this seminal anime/toyline is going ...

The Key Visual

The show is called Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.  The "Iron-Blooded" part is a translation of the Japanese word, Tekketsu, which is why the show is called G-Tekketsu for short.  It begins airing on October 4th, 2015.  As is the tradition for Gundam series, it is part of a certain timeline, the all new "Post Disaster Era".  (The original Gundam was part of the Universal Century timeline.)  The implication here is that this show is an all-new universe, not part of a previous Gundam show.  The designs and themes might be similar to what has come before, but it is starting its own canon.

The last few Gundam TV shows have been very kid-friendly, many with a heavy gunpla element within the show.  I believe this was Sunrise's (Bandai's animation department) way of capturing younger fans along with older collectors.  (Kids come for the child-centric story, gunpla fans come to see the new customized versions of older kits they loved as kids.)  Well, G-Tekketsu seems to be a bit more mature and is shying away from the gunpla-as-plot-device formula.  Don't misunderstand me, there will be TONS of mecha in the show, and almost every one will receive a kit, but the show doesn't feature an overly fantastic version of the gunpla hobby as its core theme.

Compated to Reconguista, Tekketsu looks much more gritty

G-Tekketsu looks grittier and more grounded than recent Gundams, contrasting the recent Gundam Reconguista in G.  Tekketsu's blocky, military designs are opposite of Reconguista's organic, fanciful mechas.  For me, this is a welcome change, and reminds me of some of the great militaristic designs from Gundam 00's first season.  The least military-looking design in Tekketsu is the main Gundam itself: Gundam Barbatos.  This is to make the lead mecha stand out and seem more advanced, and according to the press releases so far, it is.  A leftover from an old war, Barbatos is far more powerful than any of the current mecha shown so far.

The gimmick for the gunpla and figures seems to be that Barbatos has a inner frame that allows him to steal parts and weapons from his foes.  This is most evident in the 1/100 scale barbatos kit, which is indeed includes a complete inner frame with numerous armor and weapon pieces that can be attached.  No doubt future kits in the line will have swappable parts, utilizing a modular-designed system.  Depending on how believably this is implemented, this could bring a lot of cool customization to the gunplas.  I, for one, think it is an exciting idea.

Also shown were 1/144 HG kits, super-deformed NXEdge Style figures and Gashapon Senshi DASH capsule toys.  What an exciting time to be a Gundam fan!

New SHFiguarts Naruto Figures

Live from San Diego Comic-Con 2015!

EDIT:  I guess there was an error, I had to re-publish today.

Convention Exclusives

With San Diego Comic-Con coming up, my newsfeed is abuzz with convention-exclusive figure announcements.  Companies are slowly rolling-out previews in waves, with a new batch of exclusives announced every few days.  It really builds excitement for the exclusives and the convention.  SDCC is really a mecca for action figure collectors.  I've already started my google doc list of which figures I'll be picking up.

Convention exclusives are, by and large, becoming more popular and involved.  It seems like only a few years ago, each figure booth would have one or two exclusives each; the bigger companies having a few more.  Nowadays, it seems every place has long list of exclusives and even longer lines to get them.  Even the exclusives themselves are getting better.  Most are more than mere redecos now, featuring awesome, exclusive packaging, and new toolings or accessories.  Some are entirely unique figures.

From Toynami's Naruto Shipudden line.
This 2011 SDCC exclusive was the only way to get any version of Minato.

Toymakers use conventions as an opportunity to produce figures that otherwise wouldn't be financially worthwhile to market, ship and stock in stores.  They also drive con-goers to their booths and create unique, memorable souvenirs of fun convention experience.

Unlike online or retailer exclusives, convention exclusives are much harder to come by.  This is a bit of a problem now that they are becoming more unique.  Exclusives are becoming less of an interesting version of a regularly available figure and more a new figure, in-and-of themselves.  If you can't make the convention to grab that figure, it'll either be expensive (on the secondary market) or, if available online, sell out almost immediately.  This isn't so bad if the figure is a version your collection could easily skip, but if it is a unique character, you might really want it.  I recommend asking your local action figure store owner if he or she is going to convention to grab you one.

Waiting at your laptop online, or in a line at the con for an exclusive can be quite time-consuming.  If left unchecked, I could easily find myself spending the entire time queued up for once-in-a-lifetime figures.  It is a lot of fun to run around an collect these rare figures.  I am always tempted to buy a few extras to scalp online, but I'd rather leave them for a con-goer behind me in line to pick up.  He or she might be a scalper, but maybe they were really looking forward to that figure.

What figures are you excited about this convention season?  Have any horror stories of exclusives you just needed, but weren't able to get?  Leave a comment below.

Funko's Legacy Collection

I have (and love) several of Funko's Legacy Collection figures.  This line is fairly new (debuted at Toy Fair 2014) and is really impressing collectors, including myself.  They're doing a few really interesting things that I think other figure makers could do well to imitate.

The first thing that strikes me about the Legacy collection is: how diverse the line is.  Similar to its predecessors Funko Pop! and ReAction, the Legacy Collection has figures from video games (for example, Evolve), card games (Magic: the Gathering), movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and TV (Game of Thrones).  While Game of Thrones continues to be one of the most popular franchises around, Funko is also reaching back and doing Legacy figures of cult-classics like Firefly (from 2002!) or the Rocketeer (1991!!)  Such a broadly focused line, being in-scale and of similar style, makes each figure look great on the shelf, whether chillin' with his fellow show-mates, or breaking fourth walls down and battling a figure from another universe.  Legacy's 6-inch-scale (aka 1/12 scale) is also the most common scale of figures I collect, meaning any Legacy Collection figure will fit right in on my shelves with the others.

ReAction, Legacy Collection and Pop! Rocketeers

Value is another high point.  $19.99 for 6" of highly detailed, accurately painted and well-articulated plastic is a deal.  Being able to get all 5 colors of Magic: the Gathering planeswalkers (plus evil Garruk) for under 120 bucks is amazing.  This nexus of price, quality and scale is mimic'ed by Hasbro's Star Wars 6" Black Series figures, which I also love.  Both lines come in nicely decorated plastic and cardboard boxes, and do not require a katana and bloodshed to open, unlike NECA's go-to packaging: the dreaded plastic clamshell.  And like Funko Pop!s, the Legacy Collection maintains extremely similar box dimensions across its different franchises (even though the overall designs change) meaning they stack quite nicely for collectors who do not like to open their figures.

Looks great in or out of the box!

Unlike the Star Wars 6" Black Series, Funko has also done a great job making these figures readily available.  I've seen a sizable and diverse spread of Legacy figures on store shelves, even in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble.  This is not a case of the least desirable figure warming store shelves and preventing restocks of the short-packed favorite.  (I'm looking at you, Boba Fett!)  In fact, awhile back, Funko and Target teamed up to create the "Collector's World", which are aisle end-caps showcasing toys marketed specifically for adult collectors.  Legacy figures take a well-earned place on these end-caps.  Being taken seriously as an adult collector, by the manufacturer as well as the retail store, is a new feeling, and a welcome one.

I really enjoy the Legacy figures I already own, and I'm very excited to see what Funko has coming down the Legacy line in the future.

The Collector's Itch

If you collect anything, you know the feeling.  The powerful drive to acquire that item that is missing from your collection, and the wonderful sense of fulfillment once you have.  The accomplishment that comes from finally finishing a set is second to none.   For me and many other action figure enthusiasts, it is one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby.  
My "collector's itch" was really honed by the genius marketing that was displayed on almost every toy I got as a child.  On the back of a figure's blister pack was not only some art and a short bio of the figure included, but (and here's the genius) pictures and names of the other figures in the series.  Here's why it is so clever:

From the moment you hold a figure in your hands in the toy aisle, you're confronted with the concept that toys can be part of a larger collection.  The other figures shown on the packaging could be the rest of the set, figures from other stories that are part of the same line, or maybe only one wave of figures from a much larger series.  As you take that figure home, you realize you've only bought a fraction.  No doubt it's an amazing, fun, exciting fraction, but hovering over that excitement is the itch to "Collect Them All!"

This isn't an inherently good or bad aspect of collecting.  Like most facets of a hobby, it can become good when tempered by moderation.  When it gets out of control, only then can it turn an otherwise healthy hobby into a bad idea.  Every collector must, at some point in his collecting career, decide how to manage the powerful urges his or her hobby gives them.  When diversion becomes obsession, an activity meant for fun can become harmful (and sometimes, stop even being fun).

Here are some of the ways I mitigate the strong impulses of being an action figure guy.  Ask yourself these questions when having a tough time deciding on a buy:

--- Do I really want the figure, or am just in the mood to buy something?  I'll often find myself excited at the prospect of buying a new figure, although there are none I really want.  But as the yearning to purchase rises, figures I had previously decided I did not want start to look more and more desirable.  You've got to ask yourself, "Do I want a figure, or this figure?"

--- Can I afford it?  Now, this might seem like a matter of, "Is the price acceptable for the toy?", but there is actually more to it than that.  A heavily discounted figure might still be out of your budget, and therefore is, despite the huge value, a bad idea.  Budgets also fluctuate, meaning a figure that, at one point, was not within you means, has now become a worthwhile purchase.

--- Do I have room for it?  Another resource you have to budget is physical space.  Do you have the shelf or storage space for the figure?  If you do not, consider not getting it.  It will only become a stressful item until you find a place for it, which might never happen.  A shelf with too many action figures on it only serves to detract from the majesty of each figure.

--- Can you subdivide the collection?  If you feel pressure to complete a set because you want or already have parts of it, see if you can make subsets from within the set.  Maybe you can realize that it would be fun to only collect the heroes from the set or only one figure from each wave.  A figure that is part of a large set can bring a lot of baggage.  Buying your favorite Justice League Unlimited member, Batman, might be a fantastic idea, but will having only him compel you to buy the entire series?  Breaking such a set down into smaller chunks you can really shrink the collection commitment a figure can bring.

--- Is it, or will it become, redundant?  I love the anime Gundam 00, and have a large Gundam 00 collection repping that show on my shelves.  But, I soon found I had many, many different versions of the main character's mecha.  I had the super-deformed version, the hyper-mode version, the damaged version, the model kit, the gashapon, the prize toy ... and they all looked so similar.  I really only needed a few versions (or maybe even one).  So now, no matter how cool the newest release of that same mecha looks, I consider that I already have numerous, almost identical figures before deciding.

There you have it, my heuristics for deciding if a figure is good enough to make it into my fabulous collection.  Do you have any other tricks you use?  Have you gone too far down the dark path of obsession?  Not enough?  Let me know in the comments.

Tips-N-Tricks: Acrylic Risers

A few months ago, I decided to upgrade my action figure displays with some acrylic risers.  I googled, I eBayed and I poked around hobby shops in my area.  Nothing was nearly affordable enough to be practical for a collection of my size.  "Oh well", I figured.

Flash forward a few weeks, and I found myself at a Hobby Lobby.  I headed to the frames aisle to see if they had any glass cases suitable for placing over one of my more beloved figures.  While the didn't have that, they did have a ton of these:

Clear Plastic Baseball Case

For $2.99 a piece, they are significantly cheaper than any acrylic riser of the same size and they look great.  The edges are sharp, the plastic is crystal clear and they are quite sturdy.    When I got home with the twenty-something I bought, I found an even more amazing discovery:  to open, they split into two "U"-shaped stands, made from three sides each.  Each baseball case worked as two risers, each with less visible plastic than as a cube!  Now we're talking $1.50 per riser.  Combine that with Hobby Lobby's frequent 40-50% off sales, these are an amazingly affordable find.

They are 3" x 3" x 3" and work great to boost any back-row figures on a shelf or simulate hovering.  For smaller figures, they also sell Clear Plastic Golf Ball Cases (which are 2" x 2" x 2") for $1.99 each.

Clear Plastic Golf Ball Case

The Baseball cases are strong enough to hold up my Super Robot Chogokin GaoGaiGar, with his Goldion Hammer and a Tamashii Stage Act 5.  That's a lot of plastic and diecast, and it boosts it without any bowing or bending.  Seriously, I love these things.

S.H.Figuarts Darth Vader Photoreview

Tamashii Nation's take on the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader arrived on my doorstep today.  Let's open him up and take a look!

The box is very nice.  Lots of gloss and metallic paints.  The shininess of the clear plastic does make it hard to see the figure, in this picture and up close.

Backside shot.  Shows some neat poses and has some copy in English.

 Anakin removed from the box, and without the tray cover.  A good amount of plastic slips between some joints (to prevent them from rubbing in the box) including a hard-to-see and harder-to-remove slip around his lower torso.  

 Basic pose.  The cape is molded to sway slightly to the figure's left.  This picture shows it's neutral position.  It doesn't wrap around the sides of the figure very much, which is great for action shots.  For shots of Vader standing still, however, it doesn't look very convincing or screen-accurate.  This is my biggest gripe with the figure.

 Pretty good posability!  I could have probably have gotten him even lower, but his skirt hits the ground.  The skirt is seperated into three overlapping pieces which allows for much more range of motion on the legs than if it was just one.  The skirt as well as the cape are very soft, and can be moved out of the way off limps pretty well.  They also really help the figure to balance while standing, making posing off-center poses really easy.

 This is what you get in the box.  Figure, lightsaber (ignited), lightsaber (off), two open hands, two closed hands (which work great for force chokes) and one sliced off hand.  His right hands have hinge and peg joints while his left hands are only ball joints.  This allows his right hand to bend more for two-handed lightsaber holds.  The right hand pegs go through Vader's cuffs, holding it on.  If you remove the hand, the cuff can come off, making room for his "sliced off" hand accessory.

 Close-up of the head.  There's a lot of different finishes on Mr. Skywalker here, adding depth and realism, especially, the helmet.  By using different plastics and paints, he doesn't look like a black blob; you can easily read his form.  Along the back of his neck, you an start to see the gray electronics that connect this his helm to his mask.

The cape is molded to the chain around his neck.  There are pegs in the back (right around his shoulder blades) that can hold it closer to his body (for standing poses) or can be pulled out to make it flow more behind.  This is a really cool feature, and avoids the issues of some other Vader figures, namely, awkward-looking capes. 

Despite being a bit "hero"-stylized, he tends to look pretty lifelike and screen-accurate.  His left hand here is his lightsaber-grip hand, but works perfectly well as a force-choke.

Vader's hips can adjust, making him slightly taller or shorter.  In the shorter configuration, the hip joints are covered by his cod-armor, but lack range-of-motion.  In the taller way, they can bend much farther, but you can see the joint.  This is also very useful with regards the cape.  If can touch the ground when the hips are tucked up, or not, if they are pulled down, which is super useful when posing.  The cape would be much more restrictive if not for this feature.  I'm really glad they put it in.

The lightsaber blade is clear red plastic.  It tapers a bit towards the end.  Mine was ever-so-slightly curved, but not too bad, and was easy to fix.

His shoulder pauldrons have joints and can easily get out the way for poses such as this one.  They can be placed above or below his cape and chest armor.  If you watch closely in the movies, this is how his armor works.

This one's a bit blown-out to show the details.  The cloth of his costume is ribbed, like the films and has some creasing molded into it.  His elbow joints are pretty big and noticeable, despite having the ribbing and creasing molded on them as well.  There are tons of brightly painted lights on his chest controls and belt.  They really stand out, which I like.

The sliced off hand works well.  The wires poking out are all the same color of gray, despite being different colors in the movie.

The first-run bonus is huge!!  Its box eclipses the figures.

It assembles really easily.  The instructions are on the back of the box.

Inside the tray.  It truely is massive.

Here it is with Anakin on top for scale.  The shiny bits on the back wall are very reflective.  The stairs and back wall do not actually connect, I just placed the stairs flush with the back wall.

I can't wait for the S.H.Figuarts Luke, so they can duel on this amazing stand.

This is really cool: there are holes that fit Tamashii Stage pegs all along the sides of the diorama base!  That's very clever thinking on Bandai's part, and vastly increases the type of scenes you can make.

 Final thoughts.  This is a great figure.  The proportions, paint apps and posability are all on point.  (Alliteration bonus!)  The cape and skirt material, though flexible, is a bit thick for my tastes.  I also would have really appreciated a way to make the cape hang over his shoulders, either through a replacement cape or joints or something.  The iconic look of Vader with his huge cape draped over his front is not really feasible with this figure.  The face sculpt is great, looks just like him and with matte-finished eyes, you'll swear you can almost see David Prowse's eyes behind them.  A great figure, overall.

Toys-to-Life

The upcoming 3.0 version of Disney Infinity is set to be released in late 2015.  Just as 2.0 introduced the Marvel Universe to Infinity, 3.0 will be incorporating Star Wars favorites as playable characters.

The Disney 3.0 Starter Set

While exciting because, well, it's Star Wars, I'm also excited about what this means for the future of toys-to-life.  Star Wars is a big ticket property, one that draws both children and collectors.  The Variant Play Arts Kai Star Wars figures got a lot of press, and will undoubtedly draw new collectors to the hobby (see my post about it).  The same will happen now that Star Wars has invaded Infinity.  This new wave of toys-to-life collectors will pump up this already ballooning industry.  Considering that many will be adult collectors, it might also start to steer the future of toys-to-life to a style that caters to both young and adult collectors.

As it stands the big three toys-to-life lines are Disney Infinity, Activision's Skylanders and Nintendo's amiibo.  Infinity and Skylanders are both fairly simple platformer beat-em-ups, and, while great for kids, they are not particularly challenging or stimulating for less causal players.  I'm sure over time, these and other toys-to-life lines will continue to appeal to kids, but also engage older collectors as well.  (Beyond collecting the figures, that is.)  Disney Infinity does have a "Toy Box" mode, which allows for user generated content.  This opens the door to creative modders to create experiences that might  better engage more hardcore players.  Amiibo does a better job at working for both collector types, but their gameplay depth is still somewhat lacking (see my post about it).

As figures, all three lines are outstanding.  Infinity and Skylanders are fairly stylized and cartoony, while amiibo's stylization level depends on the franchise.  Skylanders is an original property (save for Spyro and possibly a few other characters) so this style is simply the style of the world of Skylanders, and it looks great.  Cute enough to look fun, but cool enough to inspire a sense of adventure.  For Infinity, which is entirely comprised of classic characters from a myriad of mediums, this uniform stylization serves to unite the otherwise divided looks of the various properties involved.  Jack Sparrow (a live-action character) is similarly styled to Sorcerer Micky (a 2d animated cartoon) and Jack Skellington (3d stop-motion puppet).  It works fantastically.  The chosen style looks great.  It is bit squared-off, with exaggerated proportions and expressive faces.  The bases of figures from one particular property are genrally the same, creating great sub-sets within the line as a whole.

Definitely captures that Sparrow "swag".

Smash Bros amiibo offer a wide selection from across Nintendo's huge library of characters, but Disney Infinity, especially with 3.0, has taken it to the next level.  There are literally thousands of beloved characters across Disney's repertoire.  I'm talking Sam from Tron fighting alongside Spider-man.  I'm talking Wreck-it-Ralph racing Princess Leia.  Too cool.  If you've played Infinity, then you know that these cross-world mix-ups are only possible in the Toy Box mode I mentioned earlier.

While, at first blush, this might seem like a limiting factor that detracts from the game, I think it is actually an intelligent decision.  The game worlds that only allow certain characters can then be tailor-made to the set of figures.  In terms of the narrative, they can stay within one "reality" and that permits them to reference connections between the player characters and the world instead of having to go for sweeping generalizations that fit any and all possible figures.  From a gameplay design standpoint, it also allows a great array of powers for the figures.  They can feel free to give Marvel's The Falcon flight abilities, and not have to worry that he breaks every platform-jumping level in the Star Wars playset.
Overall, a very exciting time to be a toy collector and/or a video game enthusiast; I'm sure this is only the beginning of a cool new age for both.

Accessory Figures

When I recently pre-ordered my Tamashii Effect Thunder (Blue Ver. and Yellow Ver.) I realized how excited for them I was, as well as the whole Tamashii Effect series.  Accessories like these are unique in that, they do not belong to specific character or even type of figure.  They promote creativity by allowing you to use them in many different ways and with almost any figure.

The blue one's going straight to my Sasuke Uchiha figure.

There are three levels of specificity for an accessory.  It can be intended for one particular character/figure, a subset of figures, or, as is the case with the Tamashii Effect series, be designed to be usable by the widest range of figures possible.  While the first two levels are necessary to accurately represent most fictional universes, I'm quite surprised how few companies are producing accessories of the third level.  Figure bases (the accessory type this blog gets its name from) are common, but this new wave of accessories is much more exciting to me.

Robot Damashii Strike Gundam is the king of character-specific accessories.  (Most pictured above are sold separately.)

They give new ways for collectors to display figures they already have.  While obvious, this fact is an amazing value.  Having new life breathed into an older action figure is a feeling difficult to come by.  Even after you've posed your favorite mecha figure a hundred different ways, by surrounding it with billowing flames, you can instantly transform the familiar "feel" of it into something much different, thereby reinvigorating the figure in your eyes.  Its presence in your display will increase as well, letting you shine a new spotlight on an old favorite.

Accessories such as this also give new dimensions of creativity when used with other figures.  New potential poses and dioramas become available, letting you set new scenes with believability.  Then, when you're bored of those scenes, the accessories seemlessly transfer to new figures, multiplying your whole collection's value and fun.  You're not buying just one new toy; you're buying an incremental upgrade to your whole collection.

Needless to say, I'm super stoked for the future of action figure accessories such as these. 

Realism vs Stylization

When designing a figure, one of the bigger decisions the artists have to ask themselves is, "Where along the spectrum of Realism vs Stylization will I design for?"  All figures fall somewhere along this spectrum, and none fall squarely on one extreme or the other.  No one side is superior to the other, they are simply aesthetic choices to appeal to one type of collector, or the other.

Stylizing a character removes real world details and replaces them with fun, cool or fierce features.  This moves the figure's representation of the character away from purely physical to something more interpretive.  Take the Power of the Force Luke Skywalker figure.  Hasbro greatly tweaked his physique away from that of Mark Hamill's, to something more demonstrative of Luke Skywalker's inner-heroism.  Collectors of stylized figures appreciate an action figure's ability to deviate from the source material's visuals, while still being recognizable.

Star Wars x He-Man

When an action figure line uses similar stylization throughout the line, it can have several effects.  If can represent deeper themes about the entire world the figures hail from, or create a sense of design cohesion throughout a collection.  Just take the popularity of Funko Pop!s.  There is obviously a desire in collectors for cohesive designs across multiple characters.

This is only a small, small, small sampling of the world of Pop!

Realism is usually a measure of how true-to-life something is, how accurately is portrays the actual world we live in.  In the case of action figures, however, this term can become a bit more complex.  Realism, when referring to action figures, can mean several different things.

The simplest case or realism in action figures is when a figure represents a real life person.  If the figure looks and poses similarly to the person, then it can be considered "realistic".  Figures of live-action TV or movie characters are also straightforward, but in the case of special effects, the designer has a choice between accurately re-creating the effect as seen in the movie, or as it was intended to be interpreted by the audience.  For example, is a figure of Godzilla that includes the zipper in the back of the suit, which can be seen in several of the earlier movies, more or less realistic?  It is more realistic to the Earth we live in, but less to the Earth we are meant to believe in those films.

This Microman Godzilla Final Wars figure has a zipper ... and a fully articulated person inside!

Even more interesting is the relationship of realism to a figure of an already stylized character, such as a cartoon character.  A "screen-accurate" figure of Spongebob Squarepants would have a smooth yellow surface and big, soft eyes.  A "real world-accurate" one would have the surface of an actual sponge with oversized human eyes.  Eerie, indeed, but that's what an anthropomorphized sponge would look like if you bumped into one on the street.  Considering how drastic a change from Spongebob's cartoon appearance it is, one could argue this hypothetical "real world-accurate" Spongebob figure is, itself, stylized.  Not stylized to look different from the real world, but stylized to look different from the world of Spongebob Squarepants the cartoon.

But what if you stylize an already stylized character?!

It is because action figures are an interpretation of an already interpreted character that this double-lens effect can happen.  A character is designed (a form of interpretation) for it's initial medium, then re-designed a second time as a figure.  The different possible levels of realism versus stylization in both of these interpretations leaves lots of room for possibility and interesting figures.

Darth Vader Mania

There sure are a lot of Darth Vader figures running around these days.  Lets have them battle it out, and see which Vader is truly the Lord of the Sith(s).

The contenders:

S.H.Figuarts Darth Vader

Manufacturer: Bandai

Price: 5500 Yen

Height: 155 mm

Revoltech Darth Vader

Manufacturer: Kaiyodo

Price: 5500 Yen

Height: 170 mm

Mafex Darth Vader

Manufacturer: Medicom

Price: 4500

Height: 170 mm

Black Series 6" Darth Vader

Manufacturer: Hasbro

Price: 19.99 USD

Height: approx 165 mm

Not included: Variant Play Arts Kai Darth Vader and Movie Realization Darth Vader (both are too redesigned).  Also, Bandai's model kit, as this is an action figure battle.

We will compare them based on several criteria.

1.) Price

Winner:  Black Series
Even without factoring in import pricing and shipping, the Black Series Vader is the clear winner at 19.99 USD.

Loser: S.H.Figuarts & Revoltech

Even though they are tied for most expensive, SHF is the shortest and Revoltech has so few accessories?  Not a lot of plastic for your buck.  (Unless you count the 1st-run exclusive stand SHF comes with.)

2.) Size/Scale

Winner: Revoltech & Mafex

Both are 170 mm tall, accurately portraying actor David Prowse's huge stature at 1/12th scale.

Loser: S.H.Figuarts

Too darn short.

3.) Accessories

Winner: S.H.Figuarts (with caveat)

If you count the 1st-run exclusive base, then this is a clear win for SHF Vader.  If not, most are pretty comparable, except for ...

Loser: Revoltech

With no severed arm and no Anakin head, Revo loses this category.

4.) Look (YMMV)

Winner: Mafex & S.H.Figuarts

If you're going for screen accuracy, Mafex looks the most like the films.  If you want a little more stylized, SHF is the way to go.

Loser: Black Series & Revoltech

Black Series looks almost as real as Mafex, but the helmet is oversized and Vaders' lenses are too reddish.  Revoltech looks strange, with a squished face and lumpy, segmented cape.

5.) Posability

Winner: Revoltech

Based on Revoltech's history, joint tech and the official photos of Vader, it is obvious this Dark Lord is the most flexible.

Loser: Black Series

With far fewer joints, the American contender just can't cut it.

6.) Announced/Released Star Wars Figures

Winner: Black Series

There are already dozens of Black Series 6" figures out, with many more on the way, including in-scale vehicles and creatures.

Loser: Mafex

Only a Mafex Stormtrooper to keep Annie Skywalker company.

7.) Size of Figure Line

Winner: S.H.Figuarts

As one of the largest figures lines in the galaxy, SHF Darth will fit in with the hundreds of figures Bandai has done in this line.

Loser: Mafex

Darth Vader can mix it up with Spider-Man and some Batman characters, but that's it.

OVERALL

S.H.Figuarts: 3 Wins*, 2 Losses

Revoltech: 2 Wins, 3 Losses

Mafex: 2 Wins, 2 Losses

Black Series 6": 2 Wins, 2 Losses

*1 win based on 1st-run exclsuive

Those results align with what figure I pre-ordered (SHF, obviously) but many of these categories are pretty subjective.  I'm sure they're all great figures.  A lot of which one you should go for depends on how you weight the categories.