New Release Photo Review: Figuarts ZERO - Monkey D. Luffy (Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk - Battle ver.)

The much awaited Figuarts ZERO - Monkey D. Luffy (Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk - Battle ver.) has been released by Bandai last Friday, 15th of June 2013 along with Figuarts ZERO - Hordy Jones. As usual we get some nice early shots of the figure to talk about regarding the quality of the final production release - the ones that you will get out of the box.

For those who are excited and having much anticipation for this figure, I'm sorry to break your bubbles cause I can't say that I ain't disappointed with the final production release. It isn't a very bad release, but it's clearly not as what you are expecting if your deciding factor of getting this are the promo images. Check the comparison image below.

Left: Official Promo Image
Right: Production Release Photo

You can find the all the promo images here, but here's a quick comparison against the its production release. I can't say it's just the lighting as there are clear obvious differences. The first thing that you would notice is the skin color. The promo image seems to be fully painted in a nice flesh skin tone while the production release is very yellowish. It seems that it is the PVC color itself with just some few shading added in to it. That color shading is not as fine as the promo image specially in the abs and the face. The red vest and the blue pants has a different color shade and nowhere near as detailed as that of the promo image, specially on the edges of the pants. The hair is too shiny. The shaprness of the mouth details were lost. Just as most Figuarts ZERO figures, the sash details were also left out. The fly area of the pants has too much yellow shade that it seemed like Luffy just pissed on it.

The effect parts seems to be less transparent but it's still acceptable. It has some clear plastic support rods. I'm not sure if it can be displayed without it like on the promo images. The great news is that there isn't any annoying paint mistakes and we get a new base design. Well it isn't really new since we get the same base style from Figuarts ZERO - Naruto series and Figuarts ZERO - Bleach series, but this is the first hexagonal base from One Piece Figuarts ZEROs.

In general, the figure isn't really bad actually. It's just that we are presented with false advertising. The figure on the promo images (or in other words, the prototype) has been clearly given a lot of attention with regards to the paint and detailing. What's more is that these promo images were post processed to produce a really eye catching and nice looking details. Most of the Figuarts ZEROs has been given this kind of treatment.

I can't say that I should have not preordered it since for 3,360 yen, it's still a good buy. I'm not new to Figuarts ZERO so the quality of this release isn't really surprising for me. I was just disappointed cause I hoped that it would looked a little better and closer to those promo images. This is just another realization that Bandai's Figuarts ZERO product line are a hit or miss. So don't be fooled again with those promo images.

This may be not be a perfect figure, but I can assure you that this is selling like a hot bread. If you haven't preordered but still considering of getting it, think fast and act now while it's still available. Don't hold back too long for it will become a thing of the past.

So much for babbling about it's quality, I'll let these picture below talk for itself (courtesy of blog.livedoor.jp)