Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was without doubt one of the most fantastic games of the entire franchise. Continuing the prequel-of-sorts tale of the ultimate soldier, Mr. Big Naked Venom Punished Boss Snake, the game continued to build a most visually striking character of all time, adding some new injuries and appendages that just scream for action figure treatment.
And so Kaiyodo stepped to the plate with their new sub-line Vulcanlog to take a crack at a 6-inch version.
Now, this figure is essentially an improved example of the traditional Revoltech-style figures they’ve done in the past. What I mean by that is that the joint system is still very “Revoltech,” but the style and implementation has grown and changed a bit. For example, Venom Snake is considerably larger than most of the other import MGS figures, and as such becomes a much more viable candidate for use in a 6-inch scale collection.
Articulation is plentiful, but some works better than others. Revoltech has long since moved to building proprietary hip joint systems for individual figures, but this one has a kind of wide stance and some limits, mostly in favor of the sculpt. The double-jointed shoulder sections, the segmented torso, the multi-jointed head and neck, as well as the wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles all work extremely well, with that positive clackity-clack of the Revoltech joints.
The suit chosen here is the newer-model sneaking suit, and it has a great mix of molded body armor-like pieces, as well as baggier flight suit-style ones. The belt and rigging is excellent, and he even has the cassette player clipped to his waist.
I would also have to say that this is without doubt the best Snake head sculpt to date, showing all of the scars he obtained following Ground Zeroes, including the shrapnel in his forehead.
His good eye can also be repositioned using the little proprietary tool. Just pop the head at the secondary head joint and adjust to your needs. It also stays in place pretty well. Not a feature I see myself using much, but cool nonetheless.
Another place this figure really shines is the accessories.The guns included here are the Wu Silent Pistol (which I would say resembles a Ruger Mk2 or AutoMag), the G44 rifle (a FAMAS-style bullpup), and the AMR-7 (maybe a Lynx(?)-styled .50 sniper). Also included are a fighting knife and comm, as well as a folded or deployed bi-pod for the rifle. If I may complain just a little, I kinda wish they had included the SVG-76 rifle, but that’s just because I’m partial to franken-AKs.
He can also store a fair amount of his gear at once, by pegging either rifle into his back (looks very “in-game”), as well as a “hiding” holster for his pistol — it clicks in under the closed sculpted holster.
The knife also sheathes in the back of his belt.
There is also a buttload of hands: four for each side and a rocket punch arm, just for funsies. He even includes his cigar, for burning time between opportunities to strike.
Overall, I’m still hoping for a more inclusive line, where we get some additional characters and suits, even better if we could get something akin to the 1/6 figures, but this is still a great figure that can be had at decent import pricing. It does still have some of the old Revoltech drawbacks, but the quality and presentation here is really solid. No pun intended.
