[Den-O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaijuUltraFan

I'm so torn. I've been watching this guy on BBTS for a couple months and planned on getting him,..but I think his shoulders just look terrible, like he's wearing a vest and has giant round balls for the front of his shoulders.

I really like Hongo he's probably my most favorite Kamen Rider, but for $60. for the figure and basically no accessories but the henshin effect,..and those crazy looking shoulders, I'm having a really hard time talking myself into buying him.



honestly those shoulders just look awful and really weird the way they cut into his chest like a vest. Very unnatural and bizarre looking. For $25.-$30. I'd probably jump on this figure, but for $60. I'm having a hard time getting excited about what was a very exciting figure when I first found out about it.

While i agree the shoulder joints do break up the sculpt of the jacket somewhat, I can't really imagine it working as well as it does and being designed differently. It's hard to get figures dressed in regular civilian clothing to function as though they're wearing actual clothing without this kind of design compromise. Dan was executed really poorly in that department. And despite how good Retsu looks he doesn't quite nail it either. Hongo is a fair balance of form & functionality.

And a new figuart for only $25-30, you have to realize that's absurd. Cost of production alone would put nearly any new release over that price point. Thats just unrealistic. The $60 price is a bit erroneous as well. Original retail was admittedly 6264 yen which is roughly $57.38 before shipping. However, most any import retailer would offer this figure at a discount. Amiami for instance had Hongo on 28% discount for their price which is 4490 yen, or $41.13, If you're buying this one figure, SAL shipping would still bring it in at around $50 total or slightly over that. And if you're ordering another figuart or two, the bulk SAL or EMS breaks down enough to keep it near that. Domestic retail price here in the states could certainly put it near $60, but that is a bit of an exaggeration even including shipping.

I want toys to be cheap as well, but it's unrealistic to think of them in that way as well. If you want to take a chance you can always wait out a sale at HLJ or Hobby Search etc. But I doubt you'd ever find it that cheaply is all.