The S.H. Figuarts Bruce Lee was my favorite figure from last year, so I was really excited when the Game of Death version was announced at the 2016 SDCC. The figure definitely lives up to the success of his predecessor. Let’s take a look at the S.H.Figuarts Bruce Lee!
Bruce comes with quite a few accessories, including four face plates, five sets of hands, two nunchaku, and a bright green bao stick.
The weapons are scene-specific and fit in the gripping hands nicely. The nunchaku are especially soft plastic and there is one with a straighter rubbery string piece and a bent one so they can be posed both ways.
The heads are pretty classic “Bruce Lee.” I especially like the smirking face with side-eye. It seems particularly cocky, though not as self-confident and the full-on smile.
The screaming face is really cool because I can almost hear the “WOO!” sound that Bruce would often make.
Finally, there is another side-eye face that looks like he’s figuring out his next move.
The face plates do not swap easily with the first S.H.Figuarts Bruce Lee; however, the heads are on ball joints and can be popped off and swapped fairly easily.
The original head is slightly smaller, but it looks passable to me. You can also use the unique hands from the original Bruce Lee on this figure.
The sculpt is pretty fantastic, with a great likeness to Bruce Lee and some realistic clothing folds.
The figure is slightly larger than the original, but still a little short for 6-inch scale.
The articulation is pretty great with the following POA:
- Ball-jointed head, neck, pectorals, upper chest, waist, wrists and ankles
- Double-hinged elbows
- Swivel-hinged shoulder and hips
- Single-hinged toes and knees
The figure moves well, though the rolled up sleeve piece does impede elbow movement a bit. The only real issue I have is that the hips aren’t drop-down and they don’t quite get to splits. The head and neck allow for really expressive posing and the pectoral ball joints allow for the figure to reach across it’s body really well.
The head plates all feature the Bandai face printing technology which can sometime look grainy in photos but looks really nice in hand at a normal distance/magnification.
The jumpsuit is a nice flat yellow and doesn’t appear to have any shading.
Overall, this is really great figure, and I feel like the posing possibilities are almost endless, especially with the ability to add pieces from the original figure. I also like how it’s a little bit taller.
I wonder if they will continue to make annual Bruce Lee S.H. Figuarts figures. I could go for one in one of his uniforms from Fist of Fury.
