Despite what my collection habits may have you believe, the S.H. Figuarts line isn't just about tokusatsu toys. Other than the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises the toyline has also played host to a number of anime franchises including Dragonball Z, Pretty Cure, One Piece and, more recently, Code Geass and Sailor Moon. This review is of a one-shot figure that was released back in 2011 to roughly coincide with the release of a Robot Damashii figure from the same series. I give you the Galactic Pretty Boy himself, Takuto Tsunashi from Bones' underrated Star Driver.
Takuto's packaging is pretty simplistic in terms of colours and layout, but certainly has the flare and elegance befitting of the Galactic Pretty Boy. The predominantly white front features a star shaped window, with the figure image all red save for his yellow hair section. The writing is in a very nice red foil, and the bottom has the series logo above a rainbow backdrop. The back however is much more like the show, with the figure posed on a back drop of the "zero time" the mecha fight scenes take place in.
Out of the box we can see that Bandai have adequately replicated Takuto's spindly frame, which works both to the figure's advantage and disadvantage. On the plus it makes the sculpt that more accurate to the show model, but unfortunately it means posing him can sometimes be a bit of a pain - especially with a billowing soft plastic tailcoat that has next to no articulation. However it seems Bandai anticipated the posing difficulty somewhat and made some attempts to fix it, as we'll see further down in the review.
As a figure that's now over two years old, you can also see just how far Figuarts have come in terms of engineering. While the shoulders and elbows still offer a similar amount of articulation to their more modern counterparts, looks-wise they are far more intrusive. The other annoying thing about the shoulders is that the pads almost constantly pop off when moving the arms - its just a ball and socket so not hard to pop back in, but annoying nonetheless. These old style joints aren't quite as sturdy either, so while Takuto can hold a decent amount of poses there is a fair bit of floppiness at the same time.
While not completely overloaded with accessories, Takuto comes with more than enough to keep a Star Driver fan happy. We have 3 alternate faces (standard, smiling and screaming), 9 swappable hands (including one of the Glittering Crux' "KIRABOSHI!" pose), a normal sheathed sword and finally Takuto's signature weapons - the star swords Emeraude and Saphir. These star swords are smaller versions of the ones included with the Robot Damashii Taubarn, and while they aren't a whole lot to look at detail-wise the coloured translucent plastic is really nice.
But that's not the only surprise in store! Outclassing most BETTER Figuarts, Takuto also comes with his own signature Tamashii stage. I say signature, it's the same one included with Taubarn - made of translucent red plastic and with a 5-point star base. I really like this stand, so I was glad to see it included again with the figure. Plus its a massive boost to the set as a whole since Takuto isn't so great at holding dynamic poses under his own weight (blame a huge coat and spindly anime legs).
Takuto is a great figure, but one that falls noticeably short of the usual S.H. Figuarts standard. Whether this is due to its age, build or simply the fact Bandai hadn't quite nailed poseable anime figures in this line yet, he certainly doesn't measure up to the numerous Rider and Sentai figures I have. Still, poseable Star Driver figures are something that are very hard to come by and there's unlikely to be any more in the future so if you're as big a fan of the series as me this is definitely one worth getting - either to nicely compliment the RD Taubarn or simply look fabulous on a shelf alone.
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