A few years ago I started watching One Piece pretty religiously, I was on the train every day from Esbjerg to Copenhagen and there wasn’t much to fill the hours of the almost three-hour ride to Copenhagen and the three-hour ride home. A friend of mine suggested I watch One Piece figuring I would like it. They were right.
This pirate tale about Luffy, an aloof, not quite there, future pirate king was the perfect medicine for my soul on the commute. Luffy partners with a rag tag bunch of thieves, shitty cooks, sword fighters, cowards, talking reindeer, beautiful archaeologists, and cyborgs. If they’re not pissing off each other, they’re pissing off everyone else around them, starting wars, fighting, and getting lost. It’s a fantastic crew and wonderful storytelling.
When S. H. Figuarts announced they would be selling One Piece figures, I was in love. S. H. Figuarts is Bandai’s 6-inch line of action figures that are super poseable and feature some fantastic sculpts. This was the perfect vehicle for the line. It took me a while to get to Luffy; I started late with Nami and eventually got to Luffy. I still need Sanji, shitty cook, and, at some point, I have to invest in the Soul of Chogokin Franky. And then wait for Bandai to make the rest of the crew in S. H. Figuart format.
Luffy here sports a ton of articulation, toes, swivel feet, jointed ankles, swivel calves, double knees, swivel thighs, ball hips, jointed crotch, ball waist, ball abs, double ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, swivel forearm, jointed wrist, swivel hands, ball neck, and a ball head. The hands are removable and can be switched with other hands, the face is interchangeable, the hat comes off, there are two vests, and he comes with a big-ass hand, or gear third attack. He can also be posed for gear second.
The articulation and joints are spot-on for this figure; none of the joints are loose, none are too tight, he can be posed and can hold just about any pose out there. In contrast to Nami, she is tougher to pose; her heels make posing challenging, but that’s not the case with Luffy. He is hand candy.
The paints are great. When I first got the figure I thought he was too orange to Nami’s white, but, the fact is, the colors are correct. It made photographing this figure challenging and I had to go through post edits twice since I thought I was off. But as you see in the pic with Nami, those are his colors.
Bandai is keeping the paints simple, there is no heyday of Marvel Legends paint apps, no Spawn Toys-level paint apps. There is simple shading, that’s it. The sandals, pants, straw hat, and face have the most paint with the hat probably being the most complex.
For those who love accessories, Luffy is loaded. A base four faces to choose from, three sets of hands, another vest, gear three hand, and some meat for Luffy to snack on. He can never have enough to eat.
Switching the accessories out gives me the shivers. I feel like every time I switch a hand the joint is going snap off. I would recommend treating these delicately. Gear third switches out at the right bicep swivel and is so heavy that Bandai supplied you with a stand to hold the arm. With some patience you can get some decent poses, but it will require some patience as the stand weebles and wobbles, and every time you move the hand Luffy moves. Take your time.
The faces are great and for people who like to have different looks, or want to have open-mouthed figures, then the removable faces are perfect. The bangs pop off, allowing you to remove the face and switch it out.
This was an excellent purchase and one that I do not regret. Luffy is an amazing character and having an action figure to pose and play with is that much sweeter. I strongly recommend fans of the manga or anime head out and pick up this figure while you still can. He’s still available on amazon.com, but you never know for how long
As always, you can talk about this figure on the Fwoosh forums. https://thefwoosh.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=85351
Additional Links
U guys need to lobby to get this line brought back from the dead
I know! I need Zorro and Usopp!
Robin and Franky!
And Chopper! Both forms!
Great figure! Bought one immediately after its release and was really happy with what Bandai did! One of the best action figures out there! Now if only they complete the set and release a New World set! Hail Monkey D. Luffy, the Pirate King!!!