Revoltech is a line of poseable action figures created by Kaiyodo. The line creates various poseable action figures of things from numerous sources of media, including Japanese anime, video games, and even American television characters like movies and TV series. Their coverage is very broad, and they do things from monsters, to mecha, to actual characters.
Revoltech is a portmanteau of the worlds Revolver and Technology, this is due to the main feature of the line and brand, the Revolver Joint, or as people call it, the Revoltech joint. This joint consists of 2 semi circle halves each with a cylindrical peg at the end, with the two halves usually on a ratchet joint. These can swivel at either pegs and bend at where the two semi circles attach to each other, this means that Revoltech figures can get into a wide variety of poses, and Kaiyodo takes full advantage of these joints by almost always using them for poseability. While this can be a good thing, Revoltechs do have problems with these joints. One of them is that the ratchet joints in most of these joints might not have enough "clicks" for a certain pose, and might make doing certain poses hard. It is worthy to note that Kaiyodo does sell individual revoltech joints, and a variety of them too for different types of figures.
Revoltechs are usually made in a soft, almost squishy PVC plastic, with the Revoltech joints being solid ABS. I'm not the hugest fan of the soft plastics used with Revoltechs, as they don't feel really solid, and it makes me a little anxious when handling them, because i'm worried I might tear the plastic. Revoltechs are also known to have a few QC issues, like with paint appliance and leakage, as well as the problem that their molds might not be consistent, which brings me to the next issue. Another thing is due to their handsculpted nature, Revoltechs don't usually have symmetrical molds and also minor bits that might be a little weird. Their figures look a bit awkward when standing casually more than often due to the lack of "clicks" in the Revoltech joints, as well as the asymmetrical molding with these make it so that their figures can look quite awkward.
However despite these problems with them, Revoltechs are good figures for collectors. Ignore the asymmetry, and most of these molds are quite impressive pieces. These figures can go from being very clean to very detailed depending on the thing the figure's original source. Most proportion and asymmetry issues can be negated with dynamic posing for these figures, which Revoltechs can typically do very well due to their Revoltech joints. In fact, the asymmetry and proportions usually are stylised for the very purpose of creating natural looking action poses and dynamic poses, as it looks more natural in said poses. Revoltechs usually also come with a selection of accessories pertaining to the figure, like numerous swappable hands and weapons. Some Revoltechs also come with stands which have their own Revoltech joints, which allows for some better posing, although balance is still a minor issue.
Revoltech also have numerous sublines too. The main one and most well known one is the Revoltech Yamaguchi line, named after the molder of these figures. This is the core of the whole Revoltech line, where it all started, and the line that 80% of their products are released as. However, there are a few other lines that don't get as much attention or releases. the lines Revoltech Street Fighter: Mouse Generation, Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star, Queen's Blade, SFX / Tokusatsu, Extra Revoltech Muv-Luv Alternative, and finally Pixar, are all smaller lines for certain franchises.
The Other lines, Revoltech 2G, Mini, Fräulein, and Assemble Borg are all special revoltech type lines. Revoltech 2G, or 2nd Generation was an early branch of the brand, which don't feature accurate representations, and allow certain sculptors to modify the designs of the figure to their liking. Revoltech Fräulein with redesigned female characters to have more "womanly features", but I personally don't think the figures look that great, and look more like creepy dolls with their face sculpts. Assemble Borg is a special line from Revoltech, which features figure "frames" dotted with universal pegs to have interchangeable armors and sections, so people could make their own cyborgs.
Revoltechs do have their flaws with their minor paint mishaps, soft PVC plastic, asymmetrical molding, and awkward joint angles in certain posing due to the ratchet joints of Revoltech joints, but for a collector, these are far from a bad line to collect. Revoltechs have a huge variety, and have so many figures to offer, especially the main Yamaguchi line. Another thing worth noting is that despite the limits from ratchet clicks, getting these figures into good looking dynamic poses can be quite easy since they have so many points of poseability, and with most of them having a stand, the ease increases a lot. Another great thing about this line is that Revoltechs can be relatively cheap compared to other toylines, so you don't loose too much in what you pay either. In the end, Revoltech might have it's problems, but as a figure line, it's definitely got some good positives going for it, and as a collector, this is a fine toyline to get a few figures from.
No comments:
Post a Comment