Figuarts Darkness Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Hello, Fuck
the Box fans! I am Schala, Orin's girlfriend and fellow toy
collector. I've been invited to write up review of the
Figuarts Darkness Barnaby Brooks Jr. Just as Orin adores Wild
Tiger and his dark counterpart H-01, I'm a big fan of Bunny
and both his suits. This variation was a special edition
release at Tamashii Nations 2011 and I finally managed to get
my hands on him for a decent price. The words “Box Damage”
have never been so lovely as when it nets you a rare figure at
one third the list price.
As for getting that
great deal, he is actually the first figure I've purchased
from Mandarake. I have used them for
doujinshi before and was really delighted by how easy the
process was for a figure. I know the site is popular with
figure collectors and I can really see why.
He certainly comes in an interesting box with notes about him
being from Tamashii Nation 2011. Personally I think H-01 got
the better design though. You can see a bit of the box damage
on the top right corner but to me that's really nothing.
And back of the box. Not too much different from the front,
just plainer. Oh yes, and more of that pesky, value-sucking
box damage that scares off other collectors.
I mainly took this shot because I love that little Bunny
design but it also shows what probably caused him to go for so
low - the box had been opened at some point. But as we shall
see, that didn't really effect anything.
And now we can finally take a look at the figure
himself. He comes with far fewer accessories than H-01.
Really, he's more in line with the standard figures than his
companion limited edition. And even though the box had been
opened, the figure himself had not been touched with the stand
and everything all nice and neat.
Out of the plastic and out to play! This poor boy hasn't been
really handled since he was made so he was a little stiff at
first, especially his right knee. But a little bit of work got
him moving pretty easily. Like all the Figuarts I've owned so
far, he's got really great articulation and balance. He's on a
leather ottoman and has no problem at all standing up on his
own.
However, the stand comes in handy for attempting action poses.
Not that I am very good at action poses, but maybe
creating some super hero battles will inspire me to get
better. Switching out hands proved to be quite easy so here he
is with open hands rather than his partner face-punching
fists.
And just a quick shot of the stand since I've always been a
fan of the T&B Figuarts stands.
The extra head was one of the cooler accessories that came
with the figure. Even if the only extra one was the creepy red
eyes of the open visor version of the helmet. I know there
have been pictures of a version with the helmet off but I'm
happy with this version for the moment. (Besides, T&B
faces can be a little hit or miss from what I've seen.)
As for the other accessory... I don't know if it was the fact
that he's been sitting around for so long or if it's just me
and my bad luck with Good Luck Mode but it was stupidly hard
to switch out legs. It was mainly the normal leg that gave me
trouble since the joint kept popping off the wrong end. After
a number of tries, I took some heat to him and gave him a good
wiggle and finally manged to get that leg off and the Good
Luck Mode leg on. Once on though, it preforms very well with a
nice amount of articulation for its size. And of course - just
to piss me off or something - it comes on and off like a
charm.
My frustations with legs aside, as for the paint job, I'm
pretty happy overall. Darkness Bunny has a far more complex
paint design than his normal version and they did a good job
on it. There are some uneven edges but that's to be expected
of a figure this small. As Orin noted on H-01, that special
black paint is a bit of a dust magnet but it looks so very,
very shiny.
So shiny that it requires an ASS SHOT! Because you know, this
might be a guest review but we're still at Fuck the Box. And
Darkness Bunny did have some glorious ass shots in the series
and given how shiny it is, the creators' clearly wanted to
draw attention to this booty.
Speaking of the creators, they are truly sneaky bastards. When
I first saw the pink hands that came with Darkness Bunny I was
rather confused as they didn't go with the rest of the figure.
But then it dawned on me – They knew I would have a
normal Bunny figure and would want the hands for his iconic
salute so they snuck them into the limited edition figure.
It's almost evil in its brilliance...
Boys, boys, you're both stupidly pretty. You don't have to
keep posing now.