Play Arts Kai: The Top 5 Most Overrated Figures of All Time

I recently did a survey in our group - Play Arts Kai Philippines Trading Group, regarding what my comrades there believe as the 5 MOST OVERRATED PAKs ever released. I have my personal take actually but i wish to get input from them to be fair. I certainly received a lot of picks and, though i may disagree on some, there are inputs that actually changed my personal take.
First let me define Overrate (general term), courtesy of Webster's Learner Dictionary:
over·rate /ˈoʊvɚˌreɪt/ verb
over·rates; over·rat·ed; over·rat·ing

[+ obj] : to rate, value, or praise (someone or something) too highly
▪ The coach tends to overrate the players on his own team.

— overrated adjective [more overrated; most overrated] 
▪ (disapproving) That movie was disappointing and highly/very overrated.

Applying that to the context of Toy/Action Figure Collecting: Overrated figures are those figures who get more attention or praise than what they actually deserve and/or figures that everyone's looking for/and will pay insane amount of money to acquire even though, in reality, they are simply not that good (discounting all the PAKs that are generally panned by fans). Most of the time these figures are way too overpriced though i want to point out that being overpriced isn't exactly a sign of being overrated. Also, it is also different from being just a terrible figure(like Superman) or those with lots of QC issues. I'm afraid some missed the meaning of my query...

Soooooo...with that out of the way, let's get started. (In NO particular order...)

Play Arts Kai Liquid Snake Review - Metal Gear Solid

One of the most anticipated figure on my hitlist for 2013 barely made it in 2013. Yeah, that's the bad-@$$ Evil half of the Twin Snakes, product of Les Enfants Terribles, the dominant clone with inferiority complex and daddy issues: Liquid "goddamn" Snake! And oh, he really hated his twin brother, believing he's got all of Big Boss' recessive traits. Well, I'll be reviewing this figure a bit late...AGAIN, and i'm gonna blame it on the Holiday Season...AGAIN.

If you are an MGS fan and you are reading this i don't think i still need to convince you to get him, i am 99% sure you got him already. If you have Solid Snake you simply need to have his brother and even if you are collecting MGS on a budget Liquid Snake is still an important piece together with Solid, Solidus and of course, one of the many incarnations of Big Boss.

Play Arts Kai: The Best & Worst of 2013

It's that time of the year again Boys and Girls where we rank the BEST Play Arts Kai releases (for last year, of course) and as an added twist, since i'm feeling kinda like Sid the Sloth (goddamn holidays!) i'll be including the absolutely HORRIBLE and disappointing ones from the depths of the PAK hierarchy - residing beside the Commander Sheps and Sheva Alomars in the bottomless pit. Majority of the entries are personal picks (yeah, so what? write your own article if you disagree, LOL) though i did get some opinions from my comrades @ Play Arts Kai Philippines Trading Group. You'll be surprise that the turnout is pretty much unanimous...minus some which are obviously written down by damn fanboys.

5. BEST - Play Arts Kai Liquid Snake - Metal Gear Solid & Captain Harlock

"Did you like my sunglasses?"

Photo courtesy of Edzy Santiago

It's about goddamn time! The "superior" Twin from the Les Enfants Terribles Project barely made the 2013 deadline but what a photo finish it was. His likeness and details are awesome, typical PAK Metal Gear figure. Do i need to elaborate further or do you want his Stinger to do the talking?

TOP 5 Events: Angels & Summer Year-end Round Up 2013

As the flames of the year die-down to mere embers, let's take a look back at significant events for Angels & Summer blog and the local Play Arts Kai scene in general.

#5. Arigatoys Collectibles Inc. Sponsorship (Revoltech Philippines) & Christmas Toy Fair

Photo courtesy of Arigatoys Collectibles Inc.

Photo Courtesy of Arigatoys Collectibles Inc.

Play Arts Kai Raiden MGRR - Comparative Review of the 5 Variants

And so it has come to pass that by good grace i was able to complete the 5 variants of Play Arts Kai Raiden. It's not really an easy thing to accomplish, at least for me, and i certainly had to rely on lots of luck (3x to be exact) to acquire some of the pieces you see below. I'm just glad that i'll be able to move on to other constructive things; just one more review, one more damn round-up and i'm done with the Revengeance Jack...well, until the best PAKs of 2013 article...

 

Fondly called the "Raiden Rangers," the MGRR Jack Custom Body variants definitely made perennial variant god Sora proud. Oh, they are better than the Soras by the way but don't expect me to pose them ala Power Rangers. No way man! If, however, you do not have that insane amount of patience to complete these 5 (overpriced, some of them at least) variants let me do the honor of ranking them from the least interesting to the most impressive. I based this wholly on my opinion (and some of my fellow members @ PAKPTG) so you're FREE to do your own ranking. Ahem! Let's get this over with, shall we?

Play Arts Kai Liquid Snake and Raiden Painted Prototypes

This might be old news now to PAK collectors lurking around the web over the weekend but we finally have the painted prototypes of Liquid Snake from MGS and Raiden, well, when he's still about 90%  human, from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. All pics are from Mr. Hidemi Matsuzuka of Square Enix.

 More pics after the jump...

Play Arts Kai Raiden - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

I was caught off-guard by the sudden arrival of the Play Arts Kai Raiden from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance game. I thought he's still at least a week away, well, anyway, seems like they prefer to strike while the iron is hot and quickly followed up with an awesome figure days after the release of an equally awesome game. 

And the packaging alone oozes with awesomeness...

Back in January of this year, i christened a new "King of Kais" when Solidus Snake made his appearance but seems like his reign would prove totally short-lived. As Jack took over the throne and the crown of his adoptive godfather. Simply put, "Raiden is the BEST Play Arts Kai figure from the Metal Gear line" so far.

Play Arts Kai Liquid Snake and Raiden from Sons of Liberty Prototypes

Master Touya of Final Fantasy Merchandise made my day with these pictures. D@#n i'm so freakin' excited: prototypes of the upcoming Play Arts Kai Liquid Snake and Play Arts Kai Raiden!

Here's Jack first, you'll see his accessories and the Superior clone after the jump:

Photo courtesy of Touya of FFM

TOP 5 Play Arts Kai Figures of 2012

With another year gone by and everyone's looking forward to the very interesting releases coming soon, which will be draining our funds for 2013 - Yes! that would be Play Arts Kai Raiden, TTT2 Kazuya and TDKR Batman for me - let's take a look back at the best figures released last 2012. Of course these are based on the humble opinion of Yours Truly and some invaluable insight from my Play Arts Kai brothers-in-arms @ PinoyToyKolektors. Feel free to give your opinion on the comments section. Enjoy. 

5. Play Arts Kai Vergil - Devil May Cry 3

REVIEW HERE. Play Arts Kai translation of noted and well-loved antagonists are somewhat rare and far in between so Vergil is definitely a must-have especially if you already have the currently HTF DMC4 tandem of his brother Dante (if you're not that impressed, as i am, with the DMC3 Dante) and newcomer Nero. It's also good to see he's packaged with his 2 most iconic weapons in the game. Now that something Play Arts Kai Kratos should have done. 

Play Arts Kai Meryl Silverburgh - Metal Gear Solid Review

"Good things come to those who wait" indeed, i have misgivings about the latest SQEX release: Play Arts Kai Meryl Silverburgh from the Metal Gear Solid series so i did not include her in the priority list, (with DMC3 at her heels and Solidus) but then an "unexpected SALE" came up and i decided to give her a shot. 

Play Arts Kai Raiden painted prototype @ SDCC 2012

This seems to be an afternoon full of surprises, word just got to me of the painted Play Arts Kai Raiden @ SDCC 2012. Aside from Play Arts Kai Meryl and Play Arts Kai Solidus this is another figure which i cannot afford to miss.

Finally! Play Arts Kai Raiden. Photo courtesy of Touya of FinalFantasyMerchandise.com

More pics after the jump.