This is my first Figuarts ZERO, my first Bleach figure and the only figure out there that's shows Ichigo in his Final Getsuga Tensho form as as far as I know.
Kurosaki Ichigo is the main protagonist of the Bleach anime and manga series (more details here). But this appearance is not how he looks like normally, so if you're following the series and you haven't reach this part yet, please excuse a few spoilers.
I like to relive the moments when Ichigo kicks Aizen's ass in this ultimate form during their final battle. Bandai immortalized it with this figure. This was released along with Sosuke Aizen in his Hogyoku Fusion form, but I am a bit hesitant to get that figure due to some reasons about the figure itself. Both were based on the illustration by Tite Kubo himself (the author of the Bleach manga series), see the promotion image below.
Too bad that the anime production has decided to end the anime after The Lost Substitute Shinigami arc was finished. The last episode was aired last March 27, 2012, but the Bleach manga is still ongoing and now on it's final arc, which is The Thousand-Year Blood War. I hope they will still animate this last arc once the manga ends.
Anyway back to the figure. This was released late December 2011 with a price of 3,465 yen. I pre-ordered it and got it at a discounted price from HLJ. It's height is approximately 170 mm. I don't have any decent photos of the box art yet but I will post them also once I have a chance to take photos of it, so for now you can just view the gallery below.
Photo Gallery
There is not a lot of things goin' on the face since only the eyes are exposed, but it is detailed nicely considering its small size. The face shape though seems a little pointy towards the chin, not too obvious when you look at it generally on the head and on other angles, and also because it is being shadowed by the black hair. The hair strands is made of transparent black plastic that has gradient shading from top to bottom, I'm not sure if these applies for the rest of the hair also because the top part is painted pure black. As far as I know this is the only Figuarts ZERO that used clear plastic for the hair.
The eyebrow expression is a little different from the prototype. The prototype has a frowny angry eyebrow expression. The mass produced figures has a more relaxed face. I think this is better since in the anime/manga, Ichigo has a very cool and relaxed expression, indicating that he is too powerful to defeat Aizen without much effort as he unleashes the Final Getsuga Tensho (I sounded geeky there). The pose is also fine since as I have said, he doesn't need too much effort. But I think it would be better if he is posed in a more dynamic battle stance.
As you can see, Ichigo stands fine on itself without the base. The base stand is shaped hexagonal just like the ones with the Naruto series. It has his name printed and has some japanese characters that I can't read (for those who can read, please tell me) with fire like design.
The feet and toe details are nicely done with black bandages on it. The bandage like details on the body and the paint shading is well done, it stands out looking kick-ass. The black-reddish fire-like effect parts were made of clear plastic, seems a different material than the one they used for the hair as these are more softer and easier to bend. These things add a lot to the figure as it made the form complete.
When I got this figure out of the box, I noticed that these black-reddish fire-like effect parts that extrudes from his fire-like skirt is leaning towards his head, messing the overall looks, it does not look like those in the photos. I decided to fix this by using a hair blow dryer. I heat them up and as soon as it starts to soften, I mold it so that it will go away from it's head and little bit straight upwards, holding it until it dries up and hardens again, it took me just a couple of minute for this. Now it looks like how it should have been. If you're planning to do this on your PVC figures, be careful not to over heat it because it will literally melt. I guess that's the pros and cons of PVC figures, you can fix some mold issues but don't let stay too long on hot environment like direct sunlight because it will ruin the figure.
Ichigo's Final Getsuga Tensho form appeared in the anime for just a few minutes, but it has become my favorite. I wished Tite Kubo brings back this form and be shown much longer. But for now let's just cross fingers for the animation of the final arc. I'm wondering if Megahouse will release a GEM series version of this figure, that'll be awesome and definitely a must buy for me (and my wallet cries).
So far this is my favorite of all my Figuarts ZERO's. Really happy to have this. I hope you enjoy this gallery. Thanks for viewing.
Looks really cool!
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