January Loot: The Bad and The Ugly
Maybe I had my hopes too high, but the new Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Play Arts Kai figures are really dissapointing. I'm a huge FMA fan, it's my favorite anime. I have the Medicom RAH dolls, the old figures, trading figures -- so I was looking forward to the new Play Arts Kai figs because they looked kind of like FMA Figmas. Previews showed interchangable hand, accessories, heads. I love Figmas and thought these would be similar, or at least along the line of Revoltechs.
At first glance, all looked well:
Close-up of Ed. You will notice the black specks of paint on the face. This is the second head, the first one does not look like Ed to me -- maybe like Ed grown-up.
You'll also notice that he's not wearing his red coat. It comes with the figure and you can take it off and replace his arms with automail, the black sleeves etc. Originally I wanted to pose him in his red coat, but there was a big problem -- the red sleeved left arm elbow does not bend at all. This is clearly a manufacturing error, the whole joint is encased in plastic and can't move.
Close-up of Roy. Paint was flaking off of all of these as I tried to manipulate them. The joints are loose and keep popping out.
I didn't take a close-up of Al, but I had to pose him sitting for the picture because he doesn't stand up on his own without help. There's an included figure stand -- see below.
Ed's leg pops easily out of his hip if you try to move him even a little. The "sword" arm cannot be attached because the hole does not fit the peg.
A close-up of the defective hole. Excuse my hand dermatitis.
This is the arm that won't bend, hopefully you can see the plastic fused on the elbow. It's hard to pose Ed in a natural way with one stiff arm.
Now on to the figure stand. This may be the ugliest figure stand I have ever seen. It's huge, bigger than the figure itself. It takes so much space to display. Basically, it's useless and fugly.
Huge!
Eep.
So what have been your figure disappointments? Anything like this? These were from a reputable site, and just released, so I don't think they are bootlegs. Just very disappointing!
Make me feel better by sharing your disappointment stories below.
I was thinking of buying the Alphonse figure, but your post now makes me wonder if its a good idea...
Anyone can confirm the (bad) quality of these figures ?
That's a shame. :(
When I first saw the pictures of them a while back I wasn't to crazy about them.
I'm not sure why, but they just don't look right (to me anyway).
I would really like to get the older ones if they weren't so hard to find.
I was planing to buy The Alphonse and Edward figure but now I'm a bit disapointed on the Edward figure but how about the other figures which is Roy and Alphonse , Are they okay ?
That Stand looks like a Monster than an actual stand .
Roy and Al are also poor quality. The problems are less noticible than with Ed though -- I think the broken elbow joint on Ed really pushed that one over the edge. The paint does flake on Roy. Al can't stand on his own, and I really don't want to use the monster stand, so he'll have to lean on something.
Oh wow thats pretty bad I don't think I want to get these anymore I always wanted to get more Play arts figures and I was thinking of getting these because I love FMA. I was hoping these would be as good as my Cloud Daytona play arts figure because it doesn't have any defects like these but these look like play arts just shot them out fast just to make a quick buck but then again I only own that one play arts figure so I can't say much on how their other figures are.
Wow... that doesn't bode well for Squeenix's 'improved' Play Arts Kai line. From early rumors (and confirmation, it seems) of an increase in size - making them incompatible with most of the older figures - to very noticeable double joints that stand out too much, and now seemingly shoddy quality when compared to the older figures...
That old quote is becoming more and more appropriate: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." :(
Wow, you wasn't kidding about that stand... Geez @_@
I wish I had seen this before buying the Ed figure. The promo pictures looked good but they're meant to make it look good. I got mine just a few days ago and regretted it when I took it out the box.
I wanted the Roy one but it wasn't in stock. There hasn't been any other Roy figures though (I've not found any) so I kinda still want to get it.
Yeah, it's really tough when there are so few figures of your favorite characters. Do you want Roy to be posable? I actually like the vinyl statue or Roy that I have much more, despite the fact that you can't change the pose.
Oh, and of course I love my RAH 12" Roy Mustang with real clothes -- but he was very very expensive.
Oh man do I want the 12" figure of Roy. Everywhere seems to be sold out though.