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Revoltech Fist of the North Star - Shew
Kaiyodo
"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 a look at
another of the cool Revoltech Fist of the North Star figures - tell us
all about it, R!
In real life, blindness is a crippling disability, requiring lots
of adjustment, and even learning a new written language.
American
laws exist to provide amenities for the blind, requiring braille
versions of textbooks in many states, or braille markings on elevator
buttons and door signs, and Canada actually prints paper money with
raised markings to assist the visually-impaired. Even then,
loss
of eyesight is a challenge, and makes life difficult for many.
In
fiction, blindness is awesome and gives you super powers.
You've
got Daredevil, Zato-Ichi, Toph, Eli, Doctor Mid-Nite, Kenshi, Rutger
Hauer, Master Stick, Master Po, and probably a whole bunch of
others. The list goes on and on. To be fair, there
are some
blind martial artists in real life, but their technique involves
compensating for their lack of sight, not becoming more powerful
because of it. Don't get me wrong, overcoming disability is a
noble thing, but it's kind of funny how blindness in fiction is more of
an asset than anything else.
After that lengthy introduction, it
should be no surprise that Shew is, in fact, a blind warrior, and his
lack of sight really doesn't impede him at all. Shew (alt.
spellings: Shu, Shuu, Shuh) hails from Fist of the North Star, a
classic anime that really, really doesn't specialize in
subtlety.
He's one of the five masters of Nanto - the Fist of the South Star,
having mastered Hakuroken, the White Heron Fist. His
technique is
primarily kick-based, specializing in handstand kicks, flying attacks,
a few attacks that utilize his hands, and even some illusionary
moves. He is known as the Star of Benevolence, destined to
live
his life only to protect others. In his first chronological
appearance, Shew sacrificed both his eyes to save the life of a young
Kenshiro. Later, he led the resistance against Souther's
(Thouzer's) army, and proved instrumental in Kenshiro's defeat of the
tyrant. Blindness clearly did not slow Shew down, and the
series
makes a point of it - several thugs tried to mess with his hearing so
he couldn't target them, and Shew promptly kicked their heads off.
"My eyes may not see you, but my heart knows where you are!"
Shew
challenged Kenshiro to test his strength, and then accepted his
assistance in fighting Souther. After ken lost his first
fight
against Souther, Shew's son sacrificed his life to rescue Ken, and Shew
took Ken in to try to nurse him back to full health until Souther
attacked.
However, Souther defeated Shew by distracting him with
some hostages, cut the tendons in his legs so he could no longer fight,
and then used him to carry the capstone of his pyramid.
Kenshiro
arrived just in time to see Shew reach the summit, and then get shot
first with several arrows, and then a spear thrown by Souther
himself. He spoke to Ken one last time, and heaven restored
his
eyesight as a gift right before he died. His sacrifice helped
fuel Kenshiro's rage against Souther, and his compassion helped convert
many of Souther's former soldiers to justice.
Revoltech
(pronounced like "revolver," not "revolt") is a company owned by
Kaiyodo which specializes in a very specific, modular ball-and-socket
joint. Their figures universally have great articulation, and
can
be pulled apart or swapped around to accommodate alternate hands,
heads, or whatever. This figure is Number 10 of the Fist of
the
North Star line, not one of the newest ones. This is somewhat
problematic, as the character is very popular, and the figure is often
hard to find. It's kind of a running theme with Shew - he's
not
playable in Ken's Rage, although he is clearly the most-requested
character. He's also the only Nanto master missing from the
arcade fighting game, and is the top-requested one for the
sequel. His Revoltech figure tends to sell out really fast
whenever someone has it in, and can go for exorbitant prices on eBay.
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Packaging
- **1/2
Revoltech
toys have a standard packaging design, which applies to Shew.
He
comes in a window box with a plastic tray designed to hold everything,
and the pieces all fit without twisty-ties, rubber bands, tape, or
excess force needed to remove them. As Shew doesn't come with
much, there is nothing taped beneath the tray except for a small flyer.
Sculpting - ****
As
with others in the line, this figure is sculpted by Ken Matsuura, and
it's just as good as the rest of his work. Shew's likeness
matches his appearance in the manga, anime, remake movie, and anything
else he may appear in. His costume has remained largely the
same
with each appearance, only having a color swap for the remake and some
very minor alterations for Ken's Rage. He wears fairly basic
Fist
of the North Star clothes - shoulder pads, a loincloth, but otherwise
nothing too fancy. His clothing looks somewhat worn, as it
should, considering the post-apocalyptic setting. More so for
Shew, in that he can't be expected to choose clothes based on how they
look. The little details, like his tiny gold necklace, are
included, which makes his costume more identifiable and less generic.
Shew's
head sculpt is quite good, with the face matching his appearance, scars
and all. Shew clawed his own eyes out, and the figure
reproduces
his scars with remarkable detail - they are sculpted as well as
painted, with appropriately ragged edges. His face is also
good,
and it is distinctive even beneath the scarring. His eyes are
also half-open as they usually were in the series. Shew's
hair is
good, as well, illustrating why a mullet may look good in a comic or
cartoon or on a toy, but it is not a hairstyle that anybody should
attempt in real life. It's like the neon spandex of hair -
just
as most traditional superhero outfits look great on the page but
terrible in live-action, so does the mullet. At least it
doesn't
look bad on the figure.
Of course, there is the typical Revoltech complaint - these figures are
6" scale. Exactly
6". Most 6" figures, such as Marvel or DC's offerings, are
actually in 6 1/2" scale. Shew will look a little short in
most
mixed displays, although he positively towers over 5" figures.
Paint
- ****
Despite Shew's
fairly plain wardrobe, the figure's paint job is outstanding.
Most of his clothing is drab - faded, grayish blue, with a red shirt
underneath. The anime made his clothing bright blue, the
remake
movie made it pale yellow, but most adaptations agree on faded dark
blue. His few video game appearances confirm this, even with
his
(barely) altered costume in Ken's Rage. A really nice detail
that
I did not immediately notice is the faint dusty brown wash over his
outfit. Of course Shew's clothes are dirty! He's in
a
desert wasteland, and he's not really going to care about how pretty he
looks! It's ingenious, and I love that detail. This
simple
wash is actually more than most Revoltech Fist of the North Star
figures get. It's subtle, but surprisingly realistic, and
helps
the figure stand out, turning his colors from merely drab to weathered
and worn.
The paint on Shew's head is flawless. His scars
are exact, with the light pinkish paint following each scar's ragged
edges without any visible slop. His eyes are white and blank,
and
his eyebrows light gray. His hair is also gray, with a very
faint
bluish tinge - Shew's hair is supposed to be gray, although the anime
made it bright blue. It's nice to see that tiny little nod
toward
the adaptation, while still keeping his hair color at least somewhat
realistic. The gray is nice and mottled, matching with the
excellent work on his face.
Articulation
****
Revoltech
articulation is pretty standard. It's also very good,
although
not absolutely perfect. Shew in particular had no stuck or
difficult joints, which is a bonus. Although his hips and
thighs
are swivel joints and not the trademarked ball joints everywhere else,
you can still put him in just about any pose. Revoltech
articulation takes a second to get used to, but when you realize how
each socket joint works, and how to pull them in or out for more range,
you're fine. It's a slight downside that the joints are so
visible, but they aren't as bad as in most hyper-articulated
lines. Shew is particularly important, as he kicks.
A
lot. He flies through the air a lot. He slashes
through
enemies like butter while performing acrobatic feats. Most of
the
pictures I took for this review try to reflect this, depicting Shew's
handstand kicks, handstand split kicks, and a variety of flying
kicks. The included stand seems a little too tall to properly
balance him for a handstand kick, but it is possible. if
worse
comes to worse and you have other Revoltech figures, you can also use
one of the "shorter" stands that come with a few of them (Example:
Hokuto Musou version Raoh). I tried, and successfully
replicated
nearly everything he did in the series, including that one scene where
he stood on two thugs and karate-chopped a third. A note,
though
- he won't stay in that position without some help, as bad guy heads
aren't very stable. You can make him flip back, kick up, do a
heel drop, kick behind himself, do the splits, twist in mid-air, or you
can just pose him in the middle of a Capoeira-esque spin
kick...
and of course, you can put him in a Crane stance to make Mr. Miyagi
proud! Not many characters from Fist of the North Star specialized with
kicks, so this figure is your chance to go nuts. It's also
not
very difficult to pose him in the arial lunging chop he attempted to
use on Souther or Kenshiro, which goes without saying.
Speaking
of scene-specific poses, I did not have much trouble posing Shew and
Kenshiro in a dual-blocked kick, which happened in their sparring
match. Oddly, Shew's legs posed more easily than Ken's,
despite
this being an older figure!
And one last note: All of my
attempts to pose SHew holding up something like the pyramid capstone
failed, because any object of the appropriate size would be too heavy
for the figure. You also can't jam a spear into his torso
joint
very easily, and it might damage the spear. But if you
suspended
a pyramid, you could manage it.
Accessories
- ***
Shew
really lacks in the accessories department. He comes with a
standard Revoltech stand, closed fists, open hands to hold an
accessory, flat open palms, slightly different flat open palms, and a
spiked morning star weapon. I understand that there isn't
much he
could have used, and applaud the mace - he held the object once, for a
few seconds, when testing Kenshiro. It's really there to hand
off
to one of the generic Punk figures for some variety. The
chain is
real metal, and the two spiked balls separate so you can put Shew's
hands around any of the handles. It's a tight fit, but he
holds
it well. it's a little loose in the Zeed Gang Member's hand,
but
servicable.
So, what else could they have given him?
Souther/Thouzer has the spear, but a few arrows wouldn't be a
problem. Perhaps a second, bloody head, or an unmarred head
with
both of his eyes. The only other things I could think of
would be
replacement legs for after Souther cuts him, but that isn't
much.
If nothing else, they could have included some poisoned food, matching
another scene, but again, there isn't much that I can think of. A
pyramid capstone would be about the size of Shew's packaging, and isn't
feasible.
This figure came out before Revoltech toys started
coming with little orange boxes to hold their accessories, or the coin,
so they aren't here. No complaints, as they were not a
concept
yet.
Value
for money - **1/2
STANDARD
REVOLTECH BLURB: At $25-$30 on average, these figures will make your
wallet hurt. But then,you're really not paying that much more
than you would for a MOTU Classics figure, and the quality difference
is tremendous. These Revoltech figures showcase the same
level of
quality as high-end 6th scale figures, which does help soften the cost
a bit. A little.
SPECIFICALLY: Shew is going to be
expensive. Expect to pay $35-$40 for him if you hunt
around. The character is popular, his figure is well-done,
and I
had to hunt a lot to find one that was affordable. Be
patient,
and you'll be fine - and please, for the love of all that is holy,
IGNORE the eBay listings at $80-$100. This toy is not worth
that. You can find one for $35-$40 without that much
trouble. You can also find them for $25-$30 if you are
lucky. I'll explain more in the "Where To Find" section.
Things
to Watch Out For -
The
price, really. Also, since his weapon's chain is actually
metal,
check if you can to make sure that it hasn't rusted or broken in the
package. I haven't heard of any of this, although mine has a
rusty patina. That might be the weapon's actual paint job...
or
it might not be. There really aren't any quality control
issues
that I can think of with this one.
Overall
-
***1/2
I've been
reviewing Revoltech Fist of the North Star figures for a while
now. Of all of them, Shew is one of my favorites, up there
with
Jagi. Everything about this figure just came together so well
-
good articulation, great paint and sculpting... and the only complaint
is that he lacks accessories, but as previously stated, there isn't
much else he could have come with. It's an awesome character
with
an awesome toy. Now they just need to make him DLC in Ken's
Rage,
and all will be well.
And finally, don't forget to check out my other Fist of the North Star
reviews!
Where to buy
This is tough. I found mine on eBay
- $9.99 with $20 shipping from Hong Kong. Expect to find the
figure at $30-$40, and if youg find it at the low end of that
(including shipping), snap it up. At the time of this
writing,
it's sold out on Amazon
(though that may change), as well as PowerAnime, HLJ, 1999, and
Play-Asia. Your best bet is to do a Google search for
Revoltech
Shew, Revoltech Shuu, Revoltech Shu, and Revoltech Shuh. Be
patient, and you'll find one. This dude sells out fast when
he
does show up, though, so be careful, and good luck!
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This product was purchased for for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Ridureyu.
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