[SPLIT LIP]

So I recently watched Kuuga and it was awesome. Always loved the design but now I love the show, too. I loved it so much I decided to look at some of the SS Figuarts and... yeah. I know I said earlier that SS Ultimate Kuuga was pricey but they kind of all are. Guess I'm glad I got Rising Mighty when I did because I don't think I saw any of his forms in stock for under $100. It's insane.

But I did notice the old Kuuga Figuarts, and they're cheap. Like, absurdly cheap. $20-30, if not less at times. So I decided what the hell and got a couple. So far I have Mighty, Pegasus, Ultimate and Daguva.

Gotta say, I'm impressed. Despite the age and lack of accuracy these are damn fun figures. Way different than the old W I started with way back when. I hated that figure because of how unfun to pose it was, but the Kuuga body feels more contemporary than it is. If I had any gripe it's that the hips are a bit limited but not terribly so. The metal feet feel good and actually aid stability unlike my old W. (I wonder where that guy even is)

The biggest downside seems to be their age. I've heard a lot of the Kuugas can suffer discolouration, namely on the arms. So far all of mine are good in that regard but the eyes are a different story. Ultimate's black eyes are cracking and Pegasus' are fogged, but on the latter it's not that noticeable but on Ultimate it's very obvious. Though IMO it actually looks kind of cool because the cracking happened behind the lenses and it looks like a cracked mirror effect or something.

But the thing I still can't get over is the price. Between Mandarake and Yahoo auctions these things are so damn inexpensive. I'm paying less for a quality painted, fully-articulated action figure than I am for a modern Deluxe TF. I could conceivably completely the entire lineup of original release Kuuga forms for less than a sealed SS Ultimate Kuuga by itself. Plus unlike my actual SS Rising Mighty I feel confident handling these as desk toys without fear of ruining finishes.

I bought these with low expectations and was pretty surprised. I thought I'd be getting the cheap alternatives just to have some versions of these characters... now I think I might go all-in. ('^ ^)

Oh, and while I was on the prowl for Kuuga I decided to finally get SS Black. I have the Renewal and the model kit, and since I love the character so much I figured I'd have to have this version, too. The listing didn't mention any damage to the rubber shoulders so maybe I can just take really good care of it and avoid cracks.