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REVOLTECH HOKUTO NO KEN REVOLUTION 012: THOUZER
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Ridureyu is back with another
look at a Revoltech figure - take it away, Ridureyu!
Before I begin, a word on translation:
The Japanese language is very elegant and beautiful, but also extremely
limited and rigid in form, especially when compared to
English. The language is phonetically-based, and also certain
sounds that we are familiar with simply do not exist - hence the L/R
problem, or S/TH/Z, or even B/V. This is why "McDonald's" in
Japan is "Makudonarudo." Thus, when a character in Japanese
media has a "foreign' name, translation can be quite
difficult. Sometimes there are cues - Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z
is named for "Vegetable,"
and that is why we do not say "Bejiiter." Now, there is a
character from Fist of the North Star whose name could conceivably be
translated as Souther, Thouzer, Thouther, or even Sauzer.
Looking at the evidence:
*He is the master of the South
Dipper Phoenix Fist, one of the styles of the South Dipper Holy
Fist.
*He is one of the Six Sacred Fists of the South Dipper.
*His symbol is the Southern
Cross.
*Shin, another member of the Six Sacred Fists of the South Dipper founded
a city called Southern
Cross.
*The South
Dipper Holy Fist itself stands in opposition with Hokuto Shinken, the North
Dipper Holy Fist.
*His empire is in the South.
*He is occasionally compared to the Southerly wind, also
known as a Souther.
*He bears a surprising resemblance to the American musician, J.
D. Souther.
So, how does Revoltech translate his name? THOUZER.
TO be fair, he was Souther in nearly every translation since the 1980s,
save the recent arcade game ("Thouther"), the new PS3/XBox 360 game
("Thouzer"), and this figure. The old 1990s Kaiyodo toy even
called him Souther, and Revoltech is part of the same
company! The 2008 spinoff anime series also translated his
name as "Souther," and I will continue to call him that for the
review. But the Revoltech figure officially calls him
"Thouzer." And now on to the actual review:
Souther is the sole inheritor of Nanto Ho-O Ken (South Dipper Phoenix
Fist), the strongest of the Nanto (Southern Star) arts. His
specific style is passed from father to son, and can only be practiced
by one master at a time. Souther's teacher, Ogai, adopted
him, and they loved each other like a real father and son.
Thus, when Ogai tricked Souther into killing him to uphold the "one
master" ideal, it emotionally devastated him. Souther
reasoned that he only felt so much pain because of love, attachments,
and emotions, and thus denied them all. Later, he declared
himself The Holy Emperor of the Southern Star, and conquered a huge
portion of land after the nuclear bombs dropped. Souther
decided to build a gigantic pyramid mausoleum to honor both himself and
his deceased master, and exclusively used children as slaves to do
it. Souther's immense cruelty often bordered on parody - he
refused to eat unless there were starving orphans watching, and he
often gave would-be assassins free shots at him if they were willing to
sacrifice their families first. Souther kind of took things a
little too far. His fighting style, Nanto Ho-O Ken,
specializes in the same cutting and stabbing motions as the other Nanto
schools, although his is far less fancy. He has no stance,
because to have a stance implies defense, and Souther's technique is
all about offense, speed, brutality, and practicality. But if
you actually harm Souther, you will find that he does indeed have a
stance just for special occasions. He likes to leave
cross-shaped wounds on his victims, although significant ones merit a
formal execution on top of his pyramid. For a man who
"rejected all emotions," Souther was quite capable of letting out a
good evil laugh whenever he felt like it.
Souther was born with <i>dextrocardia situs inversus
totalis</i>, meaning that his heart (and pressure points)
were reversed, making him essentially immune to Hokuto Shinken,
Kenshiro's (the hero) martial art. Raoh (the series main villain)
refused to face Souther, and he actually defeated Kenshiro on their
first meeting. Ken recovered and learned Souther's secret in
time to defeat him, but not before Souther brutally executed Shuu, one
of the most kindhearted characters in the series. Ken used a
"merciful" attack to finish Souther, which helped him realize the error
of his ways before he died. This doesn't make him any less of
a jerk.
Souther is one of the most famous villains from Fist of the North Star,
and appears in some form in almost every adaptation or
toyline. Most recently, he has been featured in one of the
remake movies as well as being selectable in all recent video
games. He is also apparently the favorite fictional character
of Goto Yuka, a famous Japanese actress, who actually has people call
her "Thouther." As long as she doesn't enslave any children
for her pyramid-building project, it's all right.
Revoltech (That's "Revol-Tech" as in "revolve," not "revolt") is a
Japanese toy company owned by Kaiyodo that is known for their
innovations in articulation, particularly the "revoltech" joint, a
unique kind of ratcheting ball-and-socket combination. Most
of their toys are robots, although they have recently branched out into
more humanoid figures, such as their Fist of the North Star
"Revolution" line. These toys have covered most major and
minor characters of the series, even including a few exploding punks
just for the fun of it. Souther is figure #12 in the line.
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Packaging
- ***1/2
Souther's packaging is the same as others in this line - a fairly large
cardboard box with an interior plastic tray, and a clear plastic cap
over that. It uses no twist ties or rubber bands, but Souther
and all his parts fit nicely into their slots. The packaging
seems a little large, but it does an excellent job of protecting
everything without making any of the parts hard to remove.
The back of the packaging contains some information on the character,
his accessories, and Revoltech-style joints, but these won't mean
anything to non-Japanese speakers.
Sculpting - ****
The sculpt captures Souther perfectly. He wore a couple of
different outfits during his tenure in the series, but this is
recognizably the one he had in both fights with Kenshiro.
Souther is a tall, blonde man with generally heroic features (the
irony!). He wears a light armor cloth shirt, ordinary slacks,
and fairly ornate boots. The sculpting is rather good,
catching details like the straps on the back of his shirt, or his large
eyebrows, or even the Bindi dot on his forehead. The
inclusion of the Bindi is odd, as there is no indication that Souther
is Hindi, but the dot can signify anything from spirituality, caste or
marital status, or religious affiliation. In his case, he
probably wore it to signify his "holy" emperor status. It
also makes for a nice pun with his generally-aryan looks.
Souther's facial expression is a very nice touch. He is
giving a smug little smirk, which is how he looked about ninety percent
of the time. if you tilt his head up a little, the angle
makes him look thoughtful, which is close to his appearance right
before he died. His clothes are well-sculpted, especially
that shirt - it looks like a breastplate most of the time in the
series, but then tears like cloth near the end. His
musculature is also good, keeping the original style without making him
too beefy.
Souther is 6" exactly.
This is somewhat odd, as most 6"-scale figures are slightly above
that. He will fit in nicely with MOTU figures, however,
although he isn't as bulky as most of them. Scale might be
slightly annoying, as Souther is meant to be a tall person, but will
seem a little short when compared to most 6" lines, such as Marvel
Legends or DC Universe.
Paint
- ****
Souther's paint is immaculate. Every single detail seems
perfect, from the rivets on his shirt/breastplate to the Bindi on his
forehead. His eyes are also quite well done, helping to
encapsulate his absolute smugness. Work on the hair is also
noteworthy, as Souther is blonde without the paint obscuring sculpt
details of his hair. There is also a light wash over his skin
to allow the musculature to stand out. I could not find any
paint slop on the figure, either - everything was precise and on the
mark.
Articulation
- ****
The Revoltech line is known
for its articulation, and it delivers on its promise.
Souther's articulation is the same as most other figures in the line,
although his movements may seem freer due to the lack of things like
shoulder pads getting in the way. They all seem sturdy,
although I would recommend testing each joint first before really
moving them. Remember, Revoltech joints are ratchet-based, so
there will be some resistance between clicks. Most pieces,
such as his wrists, knees, or chest can come apart easily rather than
break, which offers some nice durability for the figure. I
was impressed with how many poses this figure can take - Souther's
fighting style may not have been very fancy, but there are a few
specific positions for him that would be very hard for an action figure
to reproduce. The only one I had trouble with was his
introductory pose - seated, legs crossed, slouching a little, head
resting on hand. Souther's closed hand just barely misses
reaching his chin, but that is far better than any other toy I've
had. Most importantly, you can pose him in any of his attack
positions, including the Tensho Juji Ho (heaven-Soaring Cross Phoenix)
stance, or his subsequent aerial diving attack, or even about to throw
the spear he used to kill Shuu. If you can find a pyramid
topper in the right scale, feel free to pose him on top of
it! Remember, Nanto Ho-O Ken has no set stance except for the
Tensho Juji Ho, and relies mostly on blinding speed and freeform
offense. Most poses would fit his fighting style, so feel
free to experiment!
Revoltech joints are fairly hard to hide, but the sculpt generally did
a great job of it. His wrists will look bad almost no matter
what you do, but the shoulders (the other main problem area) are very
well-disguised.
Accessories
- ***
Souther outdoes many figures in the Revoltech line when it comes to
accessories, but still feels slightly short. He comes with a
whopping five pairs of hands - closed fists, open fists for holding a
weapon, open hands, flat palms, and the Tensho Juji Ho hand
gesture. You can mimic absolutely every hand gesture Souther
used in the series, and that is saying something. The flat palms are
also incredibly good - the majority of Souther's attacks were cutting
motions, and thus you will need them for nearly any attacking
pose. The "Tensho" hands are useful for the aforementioned
stance, but he also used them during parts of his aerial dive or a few
other attacks, and they can be used to hold small objects
easily.
Aside from the hands, he comes with his mask, the spear used to kill
Shuu, a typical two-part Revoltech base, and an orange plastic coin,
and an orange box to hold everything. That box is welcome, as
it also has room for another figure's smaller accessories, since not
all of them come with one. The coin serves no purpose except
to advertise Revoltech. The mask is an odd anomaly.
In the anime, he wore it for all of two scenes, and in the manga he
technically never did - it made an appearance on a chapter title page
as well as in the background to hide Souther's identity, but he never
actually used it. Oddly, that single page also gave him a
sword, which he held for a grand total of five seconds in the
anime. The old 1990s figure gave him that, too, allowing you
to dress Souther <i>as he never actually
dressed.</i> It's a cool mask, though, and fits decently
on his face or in his Tensho hands in a nice alternate use for
them. But the mask highlights a problem with this figure - no
cape. Souther wore a white cape whenever he was not fighting,
including the only times he was seen with that mask. Its
absence is very odd, especially considering that he has his
mask. The spear is quite nice - it comes in two pieces so it
can slide into his open fists, and fits very, very snugly.
Its sculpt and paint are just as good as the main figure and mask, and
looks good in his hands. He only used it once and briefly,
and it technically isn't his spear at all (it belonged to a henchman),
but that one use is iconic enough that they've made throwing it a
special move for him in both recent video games. For the most
accurate pose, one of Souther's open hands works well as his "aiming"
hand before he threw it. The lack of his cape is worth a full
star, but everything else is quite good. The Revoltech base
is standard for the line. it offers good standing support,
and can suspend him in the air, too. Again, test the
Revoltech joint in the top of the base - it is made of more brittle
plastic than the figure, after all.
Value
- **1/2
I hate how much Revoltech toys cost, although $30 is only $10 more
than, say, the average MOTU Classics figure (and it's less than you
will probably have to pay on E-bay). For your money, you do
get a high-quality toy and a ton of accessories, at least. On
the secondary market, Souther retails for anywhere from $30 to
$50. He is often sold out, but I found mine for $30 before
shipping, and that was quite recently! Keep your eyes out and
check most Japanese importers. If all else fails, there's
always E-bay, or even Amazon if you don't mind swallowing an insane $45
price tag.
Fun
Factor - **** or ***
For fans of Fist of the North Star, this figure is a
must-have. Souther is one of the most powerful, prominent,
arrogant, dramatic, and delightfully despicable villains this series
has to offer, right up there with Raoh. However, to people
who don't know anything about the series, he is just a blonde guy with
a spear. Despite the potential scale issue, he does fit in
with 6" figures, and his look is close enough to MOTU that he can fit
in with those guys as well. What saves him if you know
nothing about the series is the extreme poseability of the Revoltech
joints and general quality of his sculpt and paint. Just
understand that if all you want is a Revoltech, there are likely other
and more visually-exciting options out there. Amusingly, he
looks enough like a hero that most kids would probably make him one in
playtime. Just don't ever tell them how Souther built his
pyramid!
Overall-
**** or ***
Whether you are or aren't a fan of Fist of the North Star, this is a
good figure. If you like the series, this is a fantastic
figure! If not, Souther may seem a little visually boring, if
solid. He definitely needed his cape, but that isn't a deal
breaker. After all, Souther fought his final battle without a
shirt, but we don't have a naked torso for him, and don't really need
one, either. He certainly looks great in any Fist of the
North Star display, as well as a few others.
Where to Buy -
Again, many places that import Japanese figures, such as Yes Asia or
PowerAnime will probably have Souther, as well as Amazon or
E-bay. The best way to find one is to search on Google
(Remember to search for "Thouzer") and compare prices, as they vary
widely across the board. It's worth hunting for a deal -
remember, he was meant to retail for about $30, so that's where you
should aim. The character is popular and the figure is
well-made, so beware markup or unavailability.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Ridureyu.
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