Neutron Jammer: Review: Tsume XTRA

I'm back again with another Tsume XTRA. This time we'll be talking about XTRA 05 - Uchiha Sasuke. Thanks to Figmation for giving me a copy of this figure. Although this is the 5th figure under the XTRA product line, this is the 3rd XTRA figure based on the Naruto anime/manga series. Let's check it out.

I assume that you have already read my reviews for XTRA 01 and XTRA 02. If not, I suggest that you check them out as I would be using those two figures as a reference for this review from time to time. Also check out some introduction to Tsume company and their product lines on my XTRA 01 review. You can also check their website on this link.

This figure is a different take on Sasuke. Most of the Sasuke figures out there are based on his usual post time-skip outfit. This time, Sasuke is sporting an Akatsuki cloak. So the figure is based on the time he started working with Akatsuki under the guidance of Tobi. He still wearing his short sleeve dark grey shirt underneath though, but you can't really see much of it.

Unlike XTRA 01 and XTRA 02, this figure wasn't really released to compliment another Tsume XTRA. It is a stand-alone figure. Although you can really consider displaying him along with Pain, showing some Akatsuki team-up with similar wardrobe.

Again, like the first two XTRA, this is said to be limited to 3000 pieces and price is the same, 44.90 € inclusive of tax. I don't really know how much is cost outside Europe, but I assume it's about double the original price considering it's a limited edition. It was released December of 2013.

Uchiha Sasuke stands 175 mm, taller than XTRA 01 but shorter than XTRA 02. Like Naruto, I was able to compare it's height against the Figuarts ZERO and G.E.M. Series.

Tsume XTRA 05 and Figuarts ZERO

Tsume XTRA 05 and G.E.M. Series.

These photos above will give you a clear idea on the size of these 1/10th scaled figures.

Box Art and Contents

(click any photo to launch the images in Lightbox)

Box art follows the same design as the other XTRAs.

The box is about the same size as the XTRA 02's box, measuring 70 mm x 120 mm x 170 mm, and weighs about 200 grams.

As usual, front has the prototype photo, character and series name and tells that it's XTRA 05 and at the back are those french wordings that I couldn't understand.

Left and right part of the box has the XTRA 01 and XTRA 02 respectively, promoting the other two Naruto XTRA figures.

Top of the box has the same cereal box style seal.

And here are the box contents. The chokutô sword, the lower and upper part of the body, and the base. Notice that the sword is bent, probably due to some stress in the packaging.

Bringing the Parts Together

(click any photo to launch the images in Lightbox)

Notice the base? In XTRA 01, both pegs re on the feet of Naruto. In XTRA 02, both pegs are on the base itself. This time, one of the pegs are on the base and the other, under Sasuke's right foot. I wonder what is Tsume thinking and the peg placement aren't uniform on all the figures.

So as usual start from the base, then the lower body followed by the body.

To easily put the chokutô sword in his right hand, you can actually detach the whole right arm. And then there's the problem, the bent sword. You wouldn't want to display it like this right?

Fortunately, it can easily be fixed with a hair dryer. Good thing my wife has one. I just set the hair dryer to hot air, and blow it towards the bent area. Once it started to become soft, I just bent it to the opposite way. It just required a a few seconds to a minute then it's fixed.

I don't think normal hair dryer can't really melt the PVC plastic even if you let it blowing hot air on it for a few minutes. If you don't have hair dryer, another way of fixing problems like these is to dip the PVC plastic in hot water. I haven't really tried that but I saw some guides online on how to do it with hot water.

After that, Sasuke is ready to kick butt.

Personal Impressions

The whole face may not be really spot-on to the likeness of Sasuke, but it's the eyes is what is making him, well... Sasuke. The hair is what really annoys me, it lacks details on the front side. It looks like a hat to me more than a hair.

The chokutô sword is not in the right color. The hilt maybe fine but the blade should be white or silver. It was never a dark grey or black sword.

The pose is actually based on a illustration, but somehow it doesn't end up nice it is it on the reference illustration, specially on certain angles.

The cloud pattern on the Akatsuki cloak is well painted. You'll also notice some gradiation on the edges of the cloak.

The hair has some light blue shading at the edges. Sasuke seems to be pulling the sleeve of his cloak, probably revealing his wrist bands to reach out for his shuriken.

That blue wrist band has some subtle shading as well, giving it a nice cloth/rubber material look.

Somehow, the back of the hair looks a lot better than on the front. Notice the hood of the cloak? There should be some separation between that hood and Sasuke's grey shirt. With the way it looks here. I looks like the shirt is a part of the cloak.

You may notice the vivid navy blue cloth that is hanging from his stomach to his knees. Believe me, the color isn't this vivid in personal. It just turns out this vivid in the photos. Same is true with the purple.

My impressions? Well, there maybe a lot of nitpicks and may not be a stand out Sasuke figure, but it's still a good addition to a Naruto (series) figure collection. Like I mentioned there's not much Sasuke in Akatsuki cloak figures out there. Well I don't really know any other actually.

It's not as great looking like XTRA 01 and XTRA 02, but its not really bad either. Let's just say that if you're into Naruto figure collection, then this one is a great addition. But if you're just looking for a good Sasuke figure, then you can easily skip this one. But remember that this is considered a limited edition and it's very rare. If you're planning to get all the XTRA series, then this is a must.

That's all for now. I don't have anymore XTRA figures for me to review. But watch out when a new one from this product line is released. For now, I have two HQF (High Quality Figures) waiting to be reviewed - Vega and Chun-li from Ultra Street Fighter IV series, also sent to me by Figmation. So watch out for that.