Neutron Jammer: POP Sailing Again

A fellow POP collector requested that I do a photoshoot of my POP Sailing Again - Usopp. I guess I'll just have to feature this first before the previously released ones. So now I'm presenting one of my recent POP acquisition, the sniper of the Strawhats from Syrup village, Usopp. This is my 15th POP and my 9th from Sailing Again series. And being under the POP Sailing Again class, Usopp is depicted in his appearance after the two year time-skip.

Usopp is the sniper and the fourth member of the Straw Hat Pirates. He is the son of Yasopp, a member of the Red Hair Pirates who also himself is a sniper (more on Usopp here). Of all the Strawhats, I think he has the most changes both in appearance and personality after the time-skip and MegaHouse made those changes shine in this POP.

Let's talk about the changes first. Usopp has grown his hair longer along with a little goatee. He now wears a white suncap on his head and some ear protectors that looks like headphones. He's got a new pair of goggles that is totally different from what was using before. He now wears a loose yellow pants that is rolled-up from the bottom and red-brown suspenders paired with yellow-brown boots. He is now carrying a red-orange satchel instead of yellow but he retained his white/blue wrist band.

And more importantly he isn't the skinny and cowardly Usopp the we knew before. He had grown a bit taller and his body built has grown manlier and more muscular, comparable with Roronoa Zoro. He isn't head over heels coward anymore though he still isn't as brave as the "Monster Trio" as observed from the Fishman Island arc.

I found out about this figure back in mid-February, when I was looking for some upcoming POP releases. I stumbled upon this amazing Portrait of Pirates: The Collection blogsite where they featured the Jump Festa 2012 event. That event was the time when, POP Sailing Again Usopp, Brook, Nico Robin and Franky were first announced and shown to the public. Though the photos that were shown there were the figures in uncolored prototype stage, I was blown away by the sculpt of those upcoming releases

Judging from what I have seen on the POPs previous releases, I'm sure that those would look really awesome in fully completed form. I already have my POP Sailing Again - Nami at that time and thinking that they would all look good together, it was then I decided to complete all the POP Sailing Again Mugiwaras.

A fully completed prototype of POP SA Usopp was exhibited during the Megahobby EXPO Spring 2012 event. As I expected, it is truly awesome. It was then announced as June 2012 preorder, along with POP SA Roronoa Zoro re-release. It was a pain for me as I don't have SA Zoro from the first release yet. What's worst is that Usopp and Zoro has a release date of September 2012 coinciding with the release of POP SA Nico Robin. That makes three POP releases for the month of September.

POP SA Usopp has an SRP of 7,980 yen. I found a good deal for its first release at Hobby-Frontier so I preordered it from them along with POP SA Roronoa Zoro early June 2012. I already preordered POP SA Nico Robin a month earlier from Animarket. The three POPs were then released by MegaHouse last September 2012. I received and paid for those around mid-October. That's was the bloodiest September for me, I hope it wouldn't happen again.

POP SA Usopp is scaled as 1/8 and it stands about 210 mm (based on my actual measurement), that's from head to toe including the hat, making Usopp's actual height to be 168 mm. Take not that he isn't standing straight. According to Eiichiro Oda, Usopp's height is about 176 cm after the time-skip. The difference probably makes up for his wide stance.

Below are the height comparison against POP Sailing Again - Tony Tony Chopper and POP Sailing Again Brook.

POP Sailing Again - Chopper, Brook and Usopp

Brook and Usopp are both in battle ready position, while Chopper looked lame beside them. I think this shot would look so much better if I would put the Kung Fu point point version of Chopper in place of this ordinary SA Chopper. But it's not released yet. It will be released by the end of this month of November 2012, I can't wait for that :)

Notice that Chopper and Usopp can stand fine by itself without the base stand. But for POP SA Brook, I was not able to make him stand without it. I haven't played much with it though, so maybe I'll be able to make him balance some time.

Box Art and Contents

(click any photo to launch the images in Lightbox)

Size comparison against a regular DVD case

The box size is about 320 mm x 290 mm x 220 mm. It's quite huge but has a lot of excess space that it can even fit in some POP Mild boxes in front and back. That's because of his dynamic pose. That's the problem with poses like these. The more wider the stance, the larger the box is. This was proven by the boxes of SA Brook and DX Arlong. It's fine with me as long as the figure looks dynamic as this and is not just boringly standing. Good thing I ordered this locally so I didn't have to worry about shipping costs. There is a comparison with a regular DVD case so you can have a much better idea of the size.

POP Sailing Again boxes are all nice to look at. Cool designs with character referenced colors. In Usopp's case, its green. Why? That must be because of his POP Greens, those seeds that he use as ammunitions for his weapon which turns into monstrous plants. Makes sense, right? SA Zoro's box is also green, but SA Usopp's box has some green leafy patterns but it still have the similar design as the other Sailing Again boxes.

It has the usual windows on front, top and both sides so lights can easily come in and you can see the whole figure. It has a silver TOEI sticker of authenticity which means that this is an international version. Hobby Frontier sells mostly international version.

Some still says that Japanese versions are better than the international versions and a lot of collectors are preferring those against the latter even though it's more expensive. For me it doesn't matter, because its totally the same. Those stickers are just some kind of distribution scheme.

My personal rule is this, if you have an option between the international and Japanese version, get the cheaper one. If they are about the same price, get the Japanese version. Why still get the Japanese version when they are exactly the same you may ask. Well, this only applies when you are planning to sell it sometime later. Since people believes that Japanese version is more valuable, it indeed becomes more valuable and they will pay higher price for it. For me, being just a collector and not foreseeing any plans of selling my figures in the future, it does not matter that much. But who knows, I may someday decide to quit and sell all of them for some reasons. You can't really tell.

Anyway, back to the figure. Out of the box, it comes with a number of optional parts and a base stand. I'll talk about it later as I go through the figure details.

Personal Impressions

My quest in completing the Sailing Again Mugiwaras means that I had to get this POP Sailing Again - Usopp. Yes that's true, but that's not the only reason. This POP is totally wicked! It mean it's so awesome, that it stands out of all the earlier released POP Sailing Again. Heck it has beaten all the previously released POP Usopp. The only POP SA that maybe able beat this awesomeness is the upcoming Sailing Again Franky. Let's get closer in to details, shall we...

Usopp was known to be a coward, a liar and a funny character but not a cool warrior as Zoro and Sanji. After the time-skip, Eiichiro Oda not only redesigned him but he made him a bit more powerful. And this POP, absolutely captures that essence.

Usopp's pose is one huge factor in this figure, it made him look totally cool. The figure has different optional parts to be displayed in different arm poses and facial expressions. This is the default one (though this is not the attached left arm the first time I took the figure out of the box). He's in a battle ready stance, aiming with his "Black Kabuto" (or "Kuro Kabuto", Usopp's custom slingshot) ready to shoot. This pose made him stretched all his muscles and that's the opportunity for MegaHouse give a nice muscular sculpt to this figure.

The only problem is the seam on both arms separations. MegaHouse used the muscle contours to make this separation, but it's still too obvious. That's the downside of having a lot alternate parts on a bare body. But I believe MegaHouse did good since I myself can't think of a better and cost effective way to do this. Yes, they can just include a alternate upper torso as a whole to do away with this problem, but that will make it more expensive. We don't want that right?

A close up shot on the face. Very Usopp. This facial expression is perfect with the aiming pose. It's just like he's taking his time to get the accurate aim, while exerting force pulling the strings of his slingshot. Frowny eyebrows, wide open eyes with dilated pupil, and lips that shows a bit of like a grinding teeth makes the overall impact of the expression.

The goatee is shaped accurately as how it looks like in the anime/manga, unlike the Figuarts ZERO version where the shape isn't really defined. The nose which is the most distinctive part of Usopp's face is also well done and properly proportioned with the rest of the face.There are very little paint issues but none of it is too obvious in this photograph.

The white suncap is molded nicely with it's waving edges. Painted in dirty white color and has some subtle shading.

The "Black Kabuto" is painted in.... guess what? There'a reason it's named Black (or Kuro in Japanese) right? MegaHouse did the color right, unlike the Figuarts ZERO version, where the "Black Kabuto's color is green, funny isn't it?

The figure comes with two "Black Kabuto", this is the one with the stretched elastic strings to get him in his aiming pose. Notice how the strings were painted here, light in the middle and darkens gradually as it gets near the edges. It gives an illusion of being stretched elastic strings. Nice touch.

The pocket of the "Black Kabuto" looks very accurate as the real thing. The fingers are molded perfectly but the fingernails colored lightly in.... pink? Now that's not too manly :)

I don't know if this is accurate in the series because I haven't seen any images of Usopp's fingernails. Though it looks a bit odd that he has pink fingernails, it does not bother me as you won't really notice it.

Nevermind the pink fingernails because this right arm has a totally superb sculpture. Adding that color and paint shading, it looks like a real arm. But again, there is an obvious seam line near the shoulder that takes away the sense of realism.

Also notice the nice trunk muscle sculpt here. The chest, the abs, and the side body muscles are well defined and delicately shaded to bring out the details.

A shot at the back of the figure. The seam line on the arms are still obvious but not too annoying in this angle. The muscle features are amazing even at the back. The stretched pose really brings out all the details. The suspenders has a leather look with it's semi glossy brown paint with some shading.

Taking off the the goggles that's around his neck would require pulling his head off. Decapitating Usopp (and removing the slingshot) would make him look like this. This is what will happen to them in the "New World" if they won't be able to keep up :)

Here are the two Goggles that comes with the figure. One is complete with head band and one without. The one without the head band is the one that is wearable on Usopp's eyes. Notice that the wearable one isn't totally transparent while the other one is transparent with red lenses.

Here is a shot at the back of both goggles. Notice the transparencies of the lenses. Both has the same translucent plastic on the front, but at the back, one is completely covered with white paint.

Here is Usopp, still using the default face but now wearing his goggles. You can't see the eyes here since this particular goggles, as I have mentioned, is non transparent. I believe it may look odd if it isn't transparent, that's why MegaHouse did this. Take note of the higher nose bridge when putting the goggles. But anyway, you be able to tell by yourself if you placed it in a wrong way.

This time, let's replace the face with another one. To do that, we need to take off his hat. And then he would look like this. Now he looks like a Samurai :)

These are the three faces of Usopp. It has a number designation at the top. The first one is the default face. The second face is kind of silly laughing face with his eyes close. And the third face is like an angry or shouting expression with constricted eyes.

Here is Usopp in third face, the shouting/angry face with constricted eyes. This one is also really nice. It works with the aiming pose as he looks like he's angry on someone/something and he is ready to kick-ass. Not much paint issues on this face as well.

This is third face with goggles. His expression was changed a bit just by concealing his eyes. Now he doesn't look too angry.

Let's replace the arms as well. By doing so, we need to pull off the left and the right arms. This is how it looks like without the head and arms.

These are all the removable/alternate parts. Two "Black Kabutos", one with stretched and one with loose strings. The three faces which you have seen earlier, the head/hair part, the suncap, the two goggles, two left and two right arms, and one "open thumbs" fist.

Here is the alternate left arm with closed fists. The wristband has some minor paint issues between the two color of the stripes but not too obvious.

Still the same alternate left arm, but this time with the open thumbs fist pointing towards him.

This is the second face, the silly one that seems to be laughing and with closed eyes. It does not look appropriate with the aiming arms pose. So its best paired with this arm/hand gesture. A funny looking face and also well done. Same as the other faces, no noticeable paint issues as well.

This is the same silly face but with goggles. Now he doesn't look too silly. Those goggles really gives another expression to those three faces. It seems like we're getting not only three, but six different facial expressions for Usopp.

This is a close up shot of the other "Black Kabuto", the one with the loose strings. Also looking impressive as the strings seems to be swaying.

A better shot of the upper body part. Again the seam line is a little annoying. Notice that the color of the face is a little darker than the neck, but this only shows on photos, it is really unnoticeable on the real thing.

A side view shot on the upper body. You can see the ear protectors clearly. It has some paint scratches but nothing too serious. You can also see how long the nose on this shot, it's neither too long and nor too short.

Notice the part where the goggles and the ear protectors meet. It does not get much closer than this, but you won't notice in most of the time anyway, unless you would always display him sideways.

The suspenders and the shoulder strap of the satchel are also seen clearly here. Both painted but in different colors an finish. While the suspenders were painted in shiny brown and made look like a genuine leather, the strap of the satchel is painted in dull silver, which makes it looks like a synthetic leather belt. A very nice material separation there.

The muscular features are nicely defined in this shot. Again, those annoying seam lines on his biceps/triceps.

A shot on the lower part of the body. Another amazingly detailed part, but I wonder what are those on the wool-like things along the upper edges and around the middle leather. Anyway, its still looks nice with all those stuff. There is a noticeable defect on left suspender buckle, maybe I can fix it later on.

Nicely shaded pants and good material finish separation as well. No significant paint issues.

Another close-up shot of the "Black Kabuto" with loose strings.

Really nice detailing.

The hair of Usopp is longer now and it's tied in a pony-tailed fashion. But since his hair is too curly, it forms a round-ish hairball at the back of his head. That effect was accurately applied in this figure. And those small curls were really well defined. This feature was missing in the Figuarts ZERO version.

Notice the dry brushed painting technique applied on the hair in this shot. Nicely done.

The boots has a brownish-yellow color. It's painted with some kind of dirt pattern effect. It looked small against Usopp's pants. But then again, Oda's designs we're really eccentric.

A close-up shot of the satchel. Looking nice but it has some minor paint issues on some areas.

Another close-up shot on the satchel. Really nice detailing. By the way, this satchel is not removable. It is attached and seemed to be glued to the pants. The reason is probably so it wouldn't move around.

Another awesome shot at the upper back.....

.... and the lower back.

More muscular details

A totally cool shot.

This is the base. It's about the same size as the bases of some other POPs with wide stance like POP Neo-DX Luffy, though thinner this time. It's colored in green as the box which is referenced on "POP Greens" projectiles/ammo for his weapon. It has the same embossed prints as the other Sailing Again POPs except for the name "Usopp".

I have mentioned a lot of things already with regards to the awesomeness of detailing of this figure. And I still can't say enough. From head to toe, pose wise, detail wise, coloring, painting application, facial expression, this figure is amazing. There are some very minor paint scratches here and there but nothing really serious. Yes, the seam line on the arm separation is obvious but it isn't really a deal breaker.

Having said that, this one has become my favorite POP. Yes, it beats POP SA - Roronoa Zoro in terms of how much detail MegaHouse have managed to put on this figure, how dynamic his pose is and the numerous option parts. But as I have mentioned, this awesomeness will probably be beaten by the upcoming POP SA Franky, though that will be so huge and pricey.

Price wise, compared to some other POPs, it got a very good quality to price ratio. Adding to the overall value are the number of optional parts. A very well made figure by MegaHouse indeed. No POP collector or One Piece fan should miss this. If you haven't got this figure yet, don't worry too much, this is just the first release, it will be re-released again soon as most Sailing Again POPs were. That is if you can wait :)

So far I already owned all the previously released POP Sailing Again Mugiwaras. But SA Franky is still missing and I'm still waiting for its release. It will probably show up completed on the upcoming MegaHobby EXPO 2012 Autumn and preorders as well as the release date will be announced afterwards. I'm excited and looking forward to seeing all the SA Mugiwaras finally completed on my display shelf.

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