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 Bane - The Dark Knight Rises Trilogy Review

I really have no plans of getting the "Caped Crusader's" masked nemesis from the third film of Nolan's critically acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy. In fact, i even made fun of his accent during my review for Play Arts Kai Batman. Hehe. Well, sorry about that Tom Hardy, you just talk funny for such an imposing fellow.  This is an old figure review already but i hope to "influence" some people to get into the Play Arts Kai TDKR Trilogy line. Ahem, so why did i end up getting Bane?

Play Arts Kai Ibuki - Super Street Fighter 4 Review

This is a rare instance of me doing a review of a character i'm not really familiar with so i have to do some research on her. Apparently, Ibuki is a very famous character in Street Fighter since i have reasons to believe that SQEX is using the old "Popularity Poll" to decide which Street Fighter is worthy of a Play Arts Kai incarnation. Considering Ibuki is released on the 3rd Wave with the Play Arts Kai Guile figure and, notably, ahead of Ken and Sakura, she must be very famous, well, at least in Japan. I did not find that surprising since a rather hot "kunoichi" is a sure-fire hit for the guys (Kasumi anyone?).

Play Arts Kai Guile - Super Street Fighter 4 Review

I just noticed that my last few reviews were full of recollections especially the characters from the older games that i know well and though i would like to make an exception for the Play Arts Kai Guile figure, i don't think it's possible. To be honest, Guile is the first Street Fighter character that really left an impression on me. Perhaps because "Sonic Boom" is a more coherent phrase during playtime instead of "Hadouken" and i am a big fan of his Flash Kick which i fondly refer to then as "jack-knife," for some reason only an 11 year old will understand.

The future of the Super Street Fighter 4 Play Arts Kai line doesn't look good after the release of Akuma and Cammy. I actually thought they will discontinue the line when there are no more news of a follow-up and all we got are a bunch of recolors. I was surprised when they displayed a prototype of Guile, Ibuki, Ken and Sakura. The collector in me rejoiced at the news...even as my wallet groaned in dismay.

Play Arts Kai Jun Kazama - Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Review

Oooook, first things first, i'd like to thank bro Anton Aldon of Play Arts Kai Philippines Trading Group  for trading his Play Arts Kai Jun Kazama figure to me, making this review possible. It is only fitting that i prioritize this review over the Play Arts Kai Guile though Guile's pics have been on the waiting area for some days now. Ok, on to the review...

Jun is one of the few characters that i remember well back from the Playstation 1 days of Tekken, maybe because she regularly beat my guys (King & Heihachi) - on a side note, my brother is very fond of using her and her son, (Jin in Tekken 3) who inherited some of her moves so i'm certainly not a newbie going against her. To be honest, i'm not particularly excited to see her on the 1st Wave of Play Arts Kai TTT2 alongside Kazuya, though i imagine it's unavoidable since she's the "Unknown" Final Boss in the game. I have no plans of acquiring her, actually, but after seeing what they did to Kazuya i figured she's worth a try.

Play Arts Kai Kazuya Mishima - Tekken Tag Tournament 2

The Tekken franchise lost it's hold on me over the years, but man, was I a fanatic back in the day. Though i do hold the controller again once in a while i never really used Kazuya (i'm a Ling Xiaoyu guy by the way). I read though that he won the latest Tag Tournament of The King of The Iron Fist. To me, Kazuya is to the old Tekken games what Ryu is to Street Fighter and  I wouldn't miss him for the world. Besides, everybody loves a good anti-hero.

The Tekken line of Play Arts Kai took quite a while to get here after the convention previews last year. Kazuya and his ex-lover Jun Kazama graced the initial wave and i do hope they continue making the rest of the Mishima/affiliates line - Jin, Heihachi, Lars, Devil Jin, et.al.. For one thing, the Play Arts Kai translation of Kazuya is pretty impressive indeed...

Play Arts Kai Lara Croft - Tomb Raider

My brother (*i only have 1 brother back then) and i got into the Playstation craze back in the mid 90's and one of the first games we've ever played was, predictably enough, Tomb Raider. It's a pretty revolutionary adventure game back when side-scrollers still sell and 3D Polygon is a new thing. The game's heroine, (back when girls are only in the game to be saved  and/or annoy the hero) Lara Croft, has always been a favorite of mine and her striking visage is deeply rooted in fond memories of late-night treasure hunts on old Roman ruins, deep sea dives in the Atlantic and trekking through snowy Himalayan peaks. Unsurprisingly, when the seemingly stagnant franchise did a reboot of the game we decided to (re-)jump (into) the bandwagon.

It was an excellent game indeed and, since EIDOS is now under SQEX, we know it's only a matter of time before they do a Play Arts Kai version. And truly she did not disappoint, somehow...

Play Arts Kai Robin - Arkham City Review

While waiting for the lovely, rebooted Play Arts Kai Ms.Croft and the Kazama-Mishima couple i decided to (lowers voice in shame...) present this very late review of the Play Arts Kai Robin from Arkham City. I'm quite surprised that little Timmy here is pretty hard to find locally while the more popular, albeit lesser (quality-wise) version of Bruce is still running rampant at the local gaming store. 

The only logical conclusions i can draw are, 1-one, most collectors are sticking it out with their Arkham Asylum Batmen over the AC Bats and, 2-two,  see number 1-one. LOL. Seriously, there are more Batmen options than Robin so i guess that's that. It took me a while to locate him also and it went down to the last 2 pieces i can find about a month ago.

Play Arts Kai Batman - The Dark Knight Rises Trilogy Review

And so it begins, the first figure from the first movie license acquired by Square Enix and what a start it was! I'm not a really huge fan of The Dark Knight Trilogy or, more accurately, i'm a late bloomer,  but IMHO this is the best story arc/representation of Batman on the silver screen and perhaps the most believable.

The Dark Knight Rises Trilogy Batman is actually the Third Batman figure i've covered, you can read the Arkham Asylum version Here and the Arkham City Here, and, if you haven't seen the movie you can search for it online - Torrent or somewhere else. Go ahead, you can't proceedwith the review if you haven't seen it yet (Man, you really need to go out once in a while...). Also, to avoid confusion with the numerous Batmen running around i'll lovingly refer to him as "Baleman" from time to time.

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 Leon Kennedy & Helena Harper - Resident Evil 6

D@#m! What took you so long guys? NYTF brought us a ton of Play Arts Kai surprises: DC Universe, Super Street Fighter 4 Ken and Sakura, etc. but the real highlight for me are the Play Arts Kai forms of Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper of Resident Evil 6 (honestly, i would've welcomed Ada Wong ahead of Helena but what the heck!? Bring them on SQEX). Zelu1984 of Final Fantasy Merchandise provided the first prototype pics of these much awaited figures.

More pics after the jump...

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

Play Arts Kai Batman - Arkham City Review

The joys of not having a working deadline...anyway, coming on the heels of that excellent Play Arts Kai Catwoman figure from Arkham City i'd like to present a late review of the Play Arts Kai Batman. I already established the fact that the first Batman from Arkham Asylum is better than this figure but i would like to justify that he's just as solid as the AA Batman and a worthy piece on your collection especially if you're not really interested to shell out extra bucks for the Arkham Asylum version or to try the "Ultimate" PAK Batman modification. 

Play Arts Kai Bootleg Dante - Devil May Cry 3?

Last January 14, 2013 i think i already mentioned anonymous reports of "alleged" bootleg figures of Devil May Cry 3 Dante and Vergil. Someone spotted them two days prior locally at our friendly-neighborhood bootleg haven. I asked for pics from anyone who would personally see them and David (sickout - from blogger as well) responded. David's been hanging around here for a quite a while and we've been exchanging emails about his findings. Props to you bro! All of the photos are credited to David (sickout).

Here are some of the pics of the "alleged" bootlegs together with the "authentic" ones.

The left pic is of the "authentic" Dante and the one the right is the "alleged bootleg" Dante. Just click on the pics to make them larger. notice the different paint apps and the missing shading. The eyes of the left-hand Dante are also more defined compared to the overlapping blue paints on the Dante on the right. The paint on their upper body are also different and once again the shadings are missing. In fact, the right-hand Dante's body paint reminds me of the face paint on the bootleg Battle Dress Snake figure i encountered. 

More findings after the jump >>>

Play Arts Kai Batman (THE Ultimate version)- Arkham Asylum & Arkham City

Years ago (approx. a couple of decades or so) i would pick up a really, really cool action figure, say a G.I. Joe (particularly Mercer) and he would become an instant favorite. Together, eventually, we'll clock in a phenomenal play time log. Later on, however, i would realize that the orange vest and blue pants of his are getting old to my 7 year-old eyes and not really to my liking in the first place. What i would do is tear him limb from limb, get a couple of Joes wearing combat fatigues (say, Hit & Run or Falcon), get all the cool body-parts, then reassemble the figure using Mercer's head and Voila! instant new Joe. It's pretty d@#ned impressive for a kid back then and less complicated. Honestly, i never really grew out of that "idea" and was always looking into it from time to time as you may have noticed while reading my Play Arts Kai Solid Snake review where i mentioned a Snake Eyes custom using Solid and Kaz Miller's alternate head.

Sadly, I never got to develop that skill though i met someone who did. Check out his latest piece.

Photo courtesy of Touya

You're seeing that right, and no that's not factory defect. Blaze a.k.a. Touya, one of the decorated moderators of Final Fantasy Merchandise forums actually concoct a new and better Batman figure using a combination of the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City figures. I refer to it personally as "THE Ultimate" Play Arts Kai Batman though Touya find the reference not really to his liking. Well, i'll take the windfall for you bro so no worries.

Play Arts Kai Yuna - Final Fantasy X FIRST PICS!

Was just randomly visiting forums i frequent a few minutes ago when i stumbled upon this very interesting news from Final Fantasy Merchandise courtesy of GHOST (bless you my friend!). This has got to be one of the best news i've heard in months regarding Play Arts Kai. Take a look at this...

cue the "Hallelujah" Chorus! 

Yes that's definitely her! And here's an ominous prophecy that made itself known to me while i behold the vision of Yuna!

And with Yuna comes Tidus 

and with X comes VII 

and VII begets Cloud, Tifa, Aerith and Sephiroth

That which made VIII exist

Where Squall and Rinoa came to be...

Let the speculation begin - i personally like to see Kefka, Terra, Kain, and the guys from FF 6 below. Seems like we'll see the Kai form of the older Final Fantasy Series characters. As an FF fan who missed out on the older Play Arts line this news is welcome indeed. Details are still up for speculation but seems like, logically, these figures will be in the same scale as the upcoming FF7: Advent Children Play Arts Kai figs. Still hoping that this time they will be bigger, around the scale of Metal Gear Solid PAKs or at the very least in the same scale as the Batman: AC figures. One more pic after the jump.

Play Arts Kai Catwoman - Arkham City

Well, this Play Arts Kai Catwoman review is pretty late already but i guess i got to make up for lost time. I originally intended to pass up the Play Arts Kai Arkham City line in favor of the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises line but an opportunity presented itself and i was able to get my hands on these wonderful figures. Thanks a lot Greattoys Online.

I mentioned a couple of articles ago that the Play Arts Kai Catwoman figure is one of the best Play Arts Kai figures of 2012 and the new "Queen of Kais." I am not going to change my stance now that i've seen her up close. Definitely, she's one of the best we have seen so far though, honestly, i have a few misgivings about her. Let's start with the basics first, shall we...