A few weeks back I brought up the classic 1986 Bandai/Tonka toyline Spiral Zone: a briefly popular but often overlooked line of 6-inch figures that had impressive articulation and cloth goods, a combination mostly unheard of until recent years.
While Spiral Zone didn’t make it out of the 1980s alive, it did give life to an interesting spin-off line over a decade later. Known as Full Action Figure, or just Action Figure Series, this odd collection of 6-inch figures was produced by Yutaka over just a couple years.
Clad in very plain (although now it’s kinda vogue) black boxes, there were four figures in total, ranging from Bio Hazard’s (Resident Evil) Leon Kennedy, Armored Trooper Votoms’ Chirico Cuvie and King of Fighters’ Kyo Kusanagi to… a shoeless ninja. Eclectic is a nice way to put it.
I’ve managed to come across Leon and, uh, Tootsie here on eBay for pretty cheap — Chirico’s rubber suit doesn’t do much for me and Kyo goes for some coin — and had intended them for fodder, but after having them for a little bit, I decided a little review for posterity wouldn’t hurt anything.
Both figures are built on Bandai-styled Spiral Zone bodies. Actually, in the ninja’s case, he actually has a Bandai 1985 copyright on him, so he may very well BE a Spiral Zone figure. Leon appears to be more of a knock-off, and there is some difference in quality — Leon’s shoulders come out of the peg holes very easily.
But the articulation is nothing short of modern on both figures. Double joints, abdominal joints, hinged fingers, everything would be right at home on a much newer figure. And the range of motion on both figures is sufficiently impressive, again, very much in keeping with a modern 6-inch figure.
The draw for these figures for me was the uniforms. The ninja’s pajama suit is an excellent base for custom work, made of a nice quality spandex-ish blend that holds up nicely and fits the existing figure really well. He also has a hood, but, much like his lack of shoes, it feels incomplete. Like I said, these are more black pajamas than a ninja costume.
Leon’s uniform is much more intricate and pretty impressive. There’s multiple textures and fabrics used to emulate his shirt sleeves and vest, and, really, other than the vest, they all pull it off really well. His RPD rig would have benefited from being made out of something more rigid, but it’s still a decent attempt. I especially like the detail done on his arm patches; there’s some great detail for a scale this small.
Leon also gets better accessories, in addition to shoes. He comes with a pair of pistols (a decent H&K and DEagle), a cruiser-style shotgun, and Chris Redfield’s flamethrower. I can’t turn down perfectly good accessories; it’s just a shame the Ninja got gypped so bad.
Overall, these figures have a great deal of charm to them today, but at the time of their release they would’ve been very much cutting edge. Again, like the original Spiral Zone, I can’t help but wonder where this line might have ended up had it continued. Taken as they are, though, they’re a quirky little add-on to a Spiral Zone collection, but worthy of a look on their own merit, particularly if the actual properties hold any sway with you.
