mpchi Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 Protect Gear Kohakumaru Chuichi figure to be exact. Just came out and low stock at HLJ. From all the reviews at Toysdaily in HK, there is literally no complain on quality or QC issues, but really high praises on this release. Very good design for good mobility regardless of the heavily equipped gear, very detailed, and many named it to be the best 12" figure of 2006, beating all the other Medicoms or previous Takara releases (there were a lot of great releases this year...BM Rider The First, Rocketeer, Jack Sparrow, Takara Batman, DX Kikaider...etc). If the figure is as good as they claimed, it might even beat my favorite 12"(in terms of detail and quality) Medicom MGS3 Snake. Here is a pic comparing it to other previous Jinroh releases from other companies. Obviously no competition there. Can't wait til HLJ ships mine. Quote
Veritas Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 Wow, That is one nice figure. Looks pretty accurate too. Speaking of which I just picked up a Medicom Snake not but 2 months ago and I was pretty impressed. What you’ve said about it possibly being better than the Snake though doesn’t really seem like an understatement. Any idea how many are/were released? Quote
BoBe-Patt Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 wait, the MGS3 Snake from medicom is out already?!?! Quote
mpchi Posted January 5, 2007 Author Posted January 5, 2007 wait, the MGS3 Snake from medicom is out already?!?! Made sure you didn't mistaken it as MGS4. Its MGS3 Snake, which was out a couple years already. In terms of the Takara one, its the 2nd of the Takara Jinroh series, with a female (Cool Girl body) one released last year. There will be 4 more variations to come. But this one is awesome enough for me, even though I probably will only buy one. Expensive stuff man! Quote
bsu legato Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 The PICS on HLJ look unbelievable. Which version of the Protect Gear is this, anyway? It's not the live action, and not the Jin Roh version. Quote
BoBe-Patt Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 Made sure you didn't mistaken it as MGS4. Its MGS3 Snake, which was out a couple years already. In terms of the Takara one, its the 2nd of the Takara Jinroh series, with a female (Cool Girl body) one released last year. There will be 4 more variations to come. But this one is awesome enough for me, even though I probably will only buy one. Expensive stuff man! ah damn, that's right. lol. I have the MGS3 ones already. I'm thinking about MGS4 lol. Ok whew! I really want to get that one and I thought I just missed it or something. Sweet. I sooo want to buy these new Jin Roh type figures as I have the ones that were released by dragon and the cy girls one. These are pricey and cost as much as a 1/48. Sigh... soo many things to buy and so little money.. Quote
mpchi Posted January 5, 2007 Author Posted January 5, 2007 The PICS on HLJ look unbelievable. Which version of the Protect Gear is this, anyway? It's not the live action, and not the Jin Roh version. I believe the Takara ones are brand new designs, which are slight modifications of the original. But Mamoru Oshii is involved in the designs, so its official. Just a fresher new look. But so far, only this new one has been shown to the public. The other 4 upcoming Takara designs are still unknown, other than their names. Quote
rnurmin Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 How's the comparison of this Takara release against the old Dragon Jin-Roh? Is it better? Quote
KingNor Posted January 5, 2007 Posted January 5, 2007 hey..... where can i get the bare model from inside this thing? are those available? Quote
mpchi Posted January 5, 2007 Author Posted January 5, 2007 How's the comparison of this Takara release against the old Dragon Jin-Roh? Is it better? From what I've heard, the quality on Takara is way better. In terms of the bare body of Takara's, don't think its available by itself. Though Medicom sells the RAH301 body. HLJ will restock them in a few months. Though Medicom's body in general is a tad shorter than other brands. More like 11.5". Quote
KingNor Posted January 6, 2007 Posted January 6, 2007 mpchi, just wondering what name would i use to find that body in the hlj pic? i use them for my art classes Quote
mpchi Posted January 6, 2007 Author Posted January 6, 2007 (edited) mpchi, just wondering what name would i use to find that body in the hlj pic? i use them for my art classes http://www.hlj.com/product/MEDRAH-301 (Normal) http://www.hlj.com/product/MEDRAH-224 (Massive - with more muscle) Unfortunately, looks like HLJ closed these orders again and labeled it 'discontinued'. You might need to look around if you need them soon. But if you are not looking for particular these Medicom ones(harder to find) and just need it for classes, Hot Toys also has some pretty good 12" body you can get it decently priced on ebay. Just look for the more recent versions. Edited January 6, 2007 by mpchi Quote
rikiryou Posted January 6, 2007 Posted January 6, 2007 WHAT? It's OUT?! Dammit. Totally missed this; I saw a new recent Medicom one and got confused, but remembered that this was supposed to come out. If memory serves me right, this Protect Gear also uses the Genx Core body which was in their Batman Begins action doll, huh? I think that body alone is what makes these figures look so great, the proportions are quite good, namely the broad shoulders unlike Medicom's which are quite slanty. Quote
KingNor Posted January 8, 2007 Posted January 8, 2007 I'm talking about this guy: is this the "Genx Core body"? Quote
rikiryou Posted January 9, 2007 Posted January 9, 2007 Yep, it is. It's not available on its own as far as I know, sadly. It's certainly an impressive body, particularly the ankle ball joints which I haven't really seen in other doll bodies. Interesting to see it naked though; it's pretty damn skinny. I was under the impression that it's more masculine when I handled the Batman Begins in GC. Hmmm. Quote
mpchi Posted January 9, 2007 Author Posted January 9, 2007 Yep, it is. It's not available on its own as far as I know, sadly. It's certainly an impressive body, particularly the ankle ball joints which I haven't really seen in other doll bodies. Interesting to see it naked though; it's pretty damn skinny. I was under the impression that it's more masculine when I handled the Batman Begins in GC. Hmmm. Yeah, its skinny alright. Wish it has a bit more mass on the torso/rib cage to give my Batman a wider body like it was in the movie. And the shoulders on Takara's doesn't allow back and forth movement like in Medicom's RAH body. But Takara's, as well as their Cool Girl bodies are definitely top quality stuff. None of my other 12" figures can stand as stable as the Takara's, due to their superb ankle design. HLJ just shipped my Protect Gear figure today! Yay! Quote
mpchi Posted January 15, 2007 Author Posted January 15, 2007 The hype has ended. The wait is over. The figure is at hand. Is the figure really as good as people say? Well, lets just put it if there is a 12" figure of the year for 2006, it would definitely be this one. Not really a big JinRoh fan myself, therefore holding off for a really long time on getting a figure of the Kerberos Protect Gear, let alone an expensive 12". But as I saw news on this one months ago, I thought this might be good enough to be the one to get, especially when I like the updated design better than the previous look. And as I open my very well packaged Takara box, and open up the magnetic bookend design window box, I was impressed. No more cutting(ruining) of the box to unleash the parts like in Cool Girl or Batman. Even there are extra empty compartment to store the assembled gun & backpack. Great! Then I start taking out the figure and test the joints. Nice and tight. Cool! Then the assembly of the armor parts one by one. All fits in tight and sturdy, while post no fear in snapping anything if you want to disassemble them. Sweet! With everything in place, I go for some simple posing and see how good the weight balance is. To my surprise, the huge backpack doesn't cause any top heavy issue. And with the help of 'the best design 12" figure ankle/boot ever', this figure stands super stable, way better than any 12" I've come across. Even more impressive than the previous Batman(same body) since this Protect Gear guy has so much more gear on his body than batman's rubber suit. This is just awesome! Then on with the more extreme poses, to see how bad the armor get in its way...and to my surprise, almost none. Below is one of the action pose I pull off, to show the flexibility of this guy with all those stuff on... Perfect feet contact on such a wide stance, and still stands like a brick with no help from display stand. It won't even fall if you try to push it. Shoulders can raise really high and wide, without the huge shoulder armor get in the way. The double jointed elbow also can come into good use to bend a really wide angle as shown on his left arm. Neck can also rotate in very wide angle. Skirt armor is so mobile that the legs can do even much more extreme poses as shown in this pic. And of course, 'the best ankle boot ever' design made all these craziness still stand perfectly well balanced. Here is a comparison to the mighty Medicom MGS3 Snake, which was among the very top quality 12" figure in my book. The Medicom RAH301 body does has its advantage on the double jointed shoulders, allowing forward backward movement on shoulders to make it more natural. Also the double jointed neck seems to post better than Takara's single jointed one. However, Takara's has a slightly better range on the shoulder in terms of bending range of how high you want to raise the arms sideways, as well as a slightly better elbow. While Takara's wrist joint and ankle blows Medicom's completely away. As you can see, Snake doesn't have very good floor contact, and will fall with a touch of a finger in that pose. And given that the Protect Gear figure can still pull off poses (with all the armor and double layer leather) almost the same degree as the almost naked Medicom Snake (even excels over Snake in some areas), its quite an impressive statement! While Snake is still one of the very best 12" figure when it comes to quality and details (love those small metal rivets, buckles, and tiny prints on the sleeves), Takara has made a toy engineering marvel in the 12" realm, just like the SOC Gunbuster being an engineering marvel among other diecast robot toys. Other goodness on this figure includes the awesome machine gun it came with. It has quite a few movable parts on it, with a spring-loaded recoil, and a long bandoleer. Takara went so far that even using the exact same 'spare barrel' you can mount on the backpack hidden inside the enclosed gun, which you could only peek in from the numerous circle holes the outer gun barrel has. A kind of detail that I would have totally missed, have I not re-watched the Jin-Roh anime movie last night, when Fuse was assembing his gun in his room. The armor has a very nice matte plastic finish. Though like all matte surface, its prone to scratches. So be very careful, unless you don't mind adding a couple battle damage mark on the pristine armor. In conclusion, this Takara Protect Gear 12" is as good as 12" figure can get, surpassing Medicom's Snake (or many current high quality 12") in a number of ways in terms of costume design, complexity, poseability, and accessories. I got many Medicoms with thin super hero outfit that can't even pose as good as this. If you are a 12" collector, or just a collector of random cool toys, it would be really really hard to find an example that can beat this one, maybe even in years to come. Getting it or not, its up to you. Quote
mpchi Posted January 15, 2007 Author Posted January 15, 2007 A nice gallery from fellow Mr. Elljay's blog. http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/elljay-besttoy/...3&next=1377 Quote
BoBe-Patt Posted January 15, 2007 Posted January 15, 2007 friggin nice! I really wanna buy one, but I gotta save money for the macross stuff. Quote
Guppy Posted January 15, 2007 Posted January 15, 2007 jeee wowzer that looks amazing. I've got the one which is 2nd in from the right side in the top pic and this new one looks a million times better. Quote
mpchi Posted January 15, 2007 Author Posted January 15, 2007 (edited) friggin nice! I really wanna buy one, but I gotta save money for the macross stuff. Don't mean to sound like a blasphemy, but you might actually get quite a bit more satisfaction out of this one than our normal dose of Yamato Macross goodness. Given that we are quite used to what to expect out of Yamato's valk releases. Are the fingers bendable/jointed? No bendable fingers, but with a few pair of extra swapping hands instead. Bendies for 12" fingers usually don't look that great and can't hold weapons well, similar to the Hot Toys bendy hand from the Rambo figure. Though Takara's hands are one of the best. Secure connection to the arm, awesome 2-axis ball joint rotation wrist, and good posture. Also no paint rub-off like some of the Hot Toys painted hands. All of them are molded hard PVC with a matte rubbery feel, which gives weapons a good grip too. Edited January 15, 2007 by mpchi Quote
Lynx7725 Posted January 15, 2007 Posted January 15, 2007 Hmm.. From the pics, it's a substantial build up from the CoolGirl Midori Protect Gear. Noticably different in terms of face mask, artillery Luger hoster, chest armour, shin armour and of course the backpack. Hands look to be the same, but boots looks to be different (Midori Black, IIRC, had steel-capped boots.. or was that GITS Mokoto?). Looks to be quite good, but a bit pricey for me. The MG, I'm not sure. Is it really any different from a Dragon MG-34? The Dragon MG has a removable inner barrel (under the cooling shroud) and a spring loaded cocking mechanism, so your description sounds to be roughly the same. I've already got two Midori blacks (one is a kitbash from parts..) and I've outfitted one with a MG34 with metal rounds (heavy buggers!) and both with Panzerfausts (overkill...), so I'm not sure whether I want to pick this up. It'll be nice, of course. Quote
Akilae Posted January 15, 2007 Posted January 15, 2007 Isn't the MG Fuse used in Jin-Roh the MG-42? Why the change here to the MG-34? Quote
mpchi Posted January 15, 2007 Author Posted January 15, 2007 Isn't the MG Fuse used in Jin-Roh the MG-42? Why the change here to the MG-34? Fuse's Protect Gear in Jin-Roh movie exist in a earlier timeline in the Kerberos Saga (1950s of an alternate Japan). The one Takara just released is of later days (year unknown), therefore a different weapon. There are quite a few different versions of the Protect Gear appearing in different live-action films, manga, and the anime. At one point, the MG34 gun was used in the life-action films The Red Spectacles (1987), and Straydog (1991), while Takara labeled this new version of Protect Gear "Type-92", which I guess is a supposingly updated version of the "Type-92" Gear appeared in manga (1988). I do like the MG34 look better than the MG42. Thanks to the Wikipedia, these background info of the Kerberos Saga turned out to be quite interesting. Quote
VF-1James Posted January 19, 2007 Posted January 19, 2007 I'm talking about this guy: is this the "Genx Core body"? What's the cheapest way to pick up this body? Quote
rikiryou Posted January 19, 2007 Posted January 19, 2007 You can't, unless you buy the Batman Begins or this Protect Gear doll and strip them out, which is probably a bad idea, lol. For one thing, the Batman Begins in GC is kinda glued on the body. Dunno about the Protect Gear, I'll find out very soon as I go pick it up from the post office. Both run at roughly the same price (one cheaper than the other slightly, I forget which). The Genx Core body isn't available separately at the moment. Quote
VF-1James Posted January 20, 2007 Posted January 20, 2007 You can't, unless you buy the Batman Begins or this Protect Gear doll and strip them out, which is probably a bad idea, lol. For one thing, the Batman Begins in GC is kinda glued on the body. Dunno about the Protect Gear, I'll find out very soon as I go pick it up from the post office. Both run at roughly the same price (one cheaper than the other slightly, I forget which). The Genx Core body isn't available separately at the moment. So those are the only two figures that use this as a base body? Shame, I was hoping there'd be a much less expensive way to get it (like a $50 figure, instead of a $150 figure). Quote
ShadowerV2 Posted January 20, 2007 Posted January 20, 2007 Fuse's Protect Gear in Jin-Roh movie exist in a earlier timeline in the Kerberos Saga (1950s of an alternate Japan). The one Takara just released is of later days (year unknown), therefore a different weapon. There are quite a few different versions of the Protect Gear appearing in different live-action films, manga, and the anime. At one point, the MG34 gun was used in the life-action films The Red Spectacles (1987), and Straydog (1991), while Takara labeled this new version of Protect Gear "Type-92", which I guess is a supposingly updated version of the "Type-92" Gear appeared in manga (1988). I do like the MG34 look better than the MG42. Thanks to the Wikipedia, these background info of the Kerberos Saga turned out to be quite interesting. Actually the MG42 was used in Kerberos Panzer Cops: Stray Dogs. Quote
rikiryou Posted January 20, 2007 Posted January 20, 2007 Yummy. So many damn straps everywhere on this thing. Quote
holytoledo69 Posted January 20, 2007 Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) Got mine today too!! I had more fun with this than I had with the YF-19!!! By the way, You can move that MG34 bi-pod closer (attached by a clip) to the beginning of the barrel so he'll have an easier time holding it. Edited January 20, 2007 by holytoledo69 Quote
mpchi Posted January 20, 2007 Author Posted January 20, 2007 (edited) Got mine today too!! I had more fun with this than I had with the YF-19!!! By the way, You can move that MG34 bi-pod closer (attached by a clip) to the beginning of the barrel so he'll have an easier time holding it. Even more interesting, the gun outer barrel can be twisted open at the section shown in this pic, to take out the inner barrel (just like in the movies) and place your second one on the backpack. Do need to be careful not to break the hinge though when try opening. It twists one way, but not the other. Though I don't have the thing with me at the moment to tell exactly which way to open it. And that explains why the backpack has 2 slots for inner gun barrels, even though only 1 came as accessories. Check the MG34 gun section on the second link, with a pic showing the opened gun barrel. http://www.takarahobby.com/kaihatsu/0612kerberos/index.html http://www.takarahobby.com/kaihatsu/0612kerberos/0002.html Edited January 21, 2007 by mpchi Quote
rikiryou Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 Ahhh, yeah I heard about that feature today, but I was scratching my head before and thinking why there was a spare while the instructions didn't mention how to use it. Lol. Quote
holytoledo69 Posted January 21, 2007 Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) Even more interesting, the gun outer barrel can be twisted open at the section shown in this pic, to take out the inner barrel (just like in the movies) and place your second one on the backpack. Do need to be careful not to break the hinge though when try opening. It twists one way, but not the other. Though I don't have the thing with me at the moment to tell exactly which way to open it. And that explains why the backpack has 2 slots for inner gun barrels, even though only 1 came as accessories. Check the MG34 gun section on the second link, with a pic showing the opened gun barrel. http://www.takarahobby.com/kaihatsu/0612kerberos/index.html http://www.takarahobby.com/kaihatsu/0612kerberos/0002.html Hey, thanks!! I didnt know that one. Thats a real amazing piece of work. Kudos to these guys at takara/tomy. Edited January 21, 2007 by holytoledo69 Quote
Roy's Blues Posted January 30, 2007 Posted January 30, 2007 Mine arrived yesterday. Very happy with it. It's a little bigger than a 1/48. Quote
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