You know the drill. You either love the Amazing Yamaguchi line or you hate it. There is wiggle room though. Like, say, you get frustrated with it at first, trying to get Gambit into poses, or parts won’t cooperate. But then you nail that pose and BOOM, love it! Revoltech is an emotional roller coaster.
Now, let me tell you about video reviews…
I shoot mine as kind of a “first reaction” type situation. I like going in cold. After opening the figure I mess with it a bit, take some pics, but it’s still pretty fresh when I start going over it in front of the camera. I discover things. Figure things out, if you’ll excuse the pun. But I’ll be damned if that method doesn’t bite me in the ass every time when it comes to the Amazing Yamaguchi toy.
There’s just so much going on. Joints all over, hidden articulation, slight issues that may gum up the works. It doesn’t help that Kaiyodo doesn’t stick to one exact articulation scheme. It’s always changing, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So when I can’t get something to work I chalk it up to bad QC or an inherent flaw.
Take Gambit here. In the video I absolutely could not get the ab piece to go into the crotch. I knew it would make for a better crunch but it wouldn’t bypass it. Even attempting to pull it apart, wouldn’t budge. So I mentioned it and moved on, and you’ll notice some of the pics below are a bit stiff. After several comments of “It’s supposed to work” I went for broke and tugged harder. It worked! The lower torso now moves forward, allowing the crotch to float, which in turn freed up the legs for more upward and outward movement. One little thing gumming up the works.
Also dampening first impressions is the frustration factor with this line. I can already hear it. “Well, maybe you should practice more.” “This line was MADE for posing, if you don’t like it, stop buying them!” Yeah yeah yeah. I don’t care who you are, the fourth or fifth time that shoulder pad pops off, or the umpteenth try to keep the faceplate on, you’re going to get a little annoyed. The joy is in the final product, the fruits of your labors. THAT is the basis for this line. Extreme expression through exasperating effort.
I mean, this should have been my first clue…
Even in the package it was taunting me.
So in the span of the video I didn’t give myself the proper cool down time. I failed to take the time to really rip it apart. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem tearing my figures limb from limb, but when it feels like it won’t budge, I don’t push it. The result is a slightly negative outlook on the figure, even though I liked it overall. But after fixing some of the problems I had? I like it a WHOLE lot more. Well, except maybe the jacket tails, and even those can be used kickstand style, so not terrible.
Before I forget, the package is oh so fun. Not only is it the usual Amazing Yamaguchi wackiness and odd quotes, in Gambit’s case we get a lot of little cut-out playing cards. We knew about the inner flaps having them, but the OTHER inner flaps were a surprise, and then you can also use the ones strewn around the back of the package. There are at least twenty single cards and several bunches of cards. I probably had more fun than I should have finding them all and cutting them out. My collection is getting ready for a big poker game. Bullseye is pretty happy.
So yeah, even though all the irritation, I still like the figure. It’s hanging on my shelf already in a crazy pose along with the rest of the line.
And that makes it worth it. I don’t want to touch it for a few weeks, but still. Worth it.
Package
Playing card scavenger hunt
Figure
Alternate face
Hands
Accessories
Comparisons
Action
