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Did a review of this guy over at Mecha Guignol. There's a gallery link there. But anywho, here's the text portion of the review (and some pics).
Time for a wild review!
So this here is the inaugural exclusive to Mecha Guignol toy review thingy. We’re kicking off with the SHFiguarts version of Wild Tiger from Tiger & Bunny. If you wanna know what’s up with that series, well, just click on that there link. So onto the toy itself.
Alright, let’s start off with getting the bad news out of the way. We have two items of badness. The first is the price, which isn’t cheap, even for an imported toy like SHFiguarts. All in all, this guy cost me about 55USD. Granted, I bought ‘em from a shop that tends to sell stuff a little pricier than most other shops, but at the original retail price (4500 yen) plus shipping, you’ll be paying thereabouts that amount anyway. That is, if you can find this guy online. He sold out on pre-order pretty quick, like, in just a few hours. The point is, he’s expensive and he’s hard to find.
The second thing of note are his hips. They’re both too tight. On mine, the right hip in particular, is/was super tight. The problem isn’t that I don’t like tight hips. In fact, most collectors probably prefer tighter joints. The problem is that they’re so tight that they might cause breakage when you move them. I’ve seen a picture of a broken hip prior to getting my Wild Tiger, so I made sure to check for stress marks on his hips prior to purchase. My Wild Tiger’s left hip creaks when moved, whilst the right hip was nearly unmovable out of the box. Fortunately, I had some WD-40 to lubricate that hip. There’s a little squekiness when I move the right hip now, but at least I don’t feel like I’m putting too much strain on it now. The reason for the overly tight joints is that the sockets for the ball joints are too small, so there’s just way too much friction. Since these are ball joints, in time, wear and tear will loosen the hips naturally, but for now, I gotta lube Wild Tiger up as a preventive measure.
So those are the main bad points with Wild Tiger. Should they prevent you from getting him though? Nope! (Well, unless you really can’t afford it. Don’t be too financially irresponsible kids!)
So here’s why you should get Wild Tiger anyway. One, he’s Wild Tiger. I mean, honestly, that’s a pretty damn good reason why you should get this guy. Not only should you get him simply because he’s Wild Tiger, but he’s a SHFiguarts toy and he’s pimping SHFiguarts on his right shoulder. Save yourself some STDs, skip a couple 20 dollar whores and get SHFiguarts Wild Tiger instead. It’ll be good for the economy, which in turn is good for your financial outlook, which translates to being able to afford pricier but better whores in the long run (or you can use that hypothetical money to buy the upcoming SHFiguarts Bunny instead).
Hips issue aside, this is an excellent toy. The hips issue can be fixed in a variety of ways, WD-40 is just one option. But once fixed, you have yourself an excellent action figure. He looks great, he’s a representation of a character from a terrific if somewhat relatively obscure show, he’s highly articulated and he’s got a good range of extras. I think he also has die-cast, ‘cause his lower body feels rather heavy, but there doesn’t seem to be any or much die-cast on the surface. So it’s possible he has die-cast metal hidden in his lower legs or something, so as to provide a lower center of gravity and better balance in general.
For his extras, he comes with a display stand tailored for his character. He has a pair of gun thingies to represent his Tiger Shoot grappling cables ability. He comes with 2 extra pairs of hands, one pair of which is ostensibly to hold the Tiger Shooters, but totally look like they’re meant for holding motorcycle handles. I’m guessing they plan to release his bike eventually. Last but not least, Wild Tiger comes with his “Good Luck Mode” forearm/fist of coolness.
So the hips can be fixed. But what about the high pricing? Is he worth the price? Well, no. He’s almost worth the price, even as a standalone figure, but unless you’re a huge fan of the show, he’s objectively slightly more expensive than he ought to be. If you ARE a fan and you have enough disposable income for the purchase to be affordable, then yeah, Tiger’s worth it. But if you’re financially responsible, it’s a bit hard to justify the purchase. Me? I’m crazy, I plan to get the entire Heroes line up, but that’s me.
So, Wild Tiger is recommended as a figure, but not necessarily as a purchase. Also, it’s imperative that you be aware and fix the hips. I think there’s a high probability of breakage if you don’t take preventive measures.
Time for a wild review!
So this here is the inaugural exclusive to Mecha Guignol toy review thingy. We’re kicking off with the SHFiguarts version of Wild Tiger from Tiger & Bunny. If you wanna know what’s up with that series, well, just click on that there link. So onto the toy itself.
Alright, let’s start off with getting the bad news out of the way. We have two items of badness. The first is the price, which isn’t cheap, even for an imported toy like SHFiguarts. All in all, this guy cost me about 55USD. Granted, I bought ‘em from a shop that tends to sell stuff a little pricier than most other shops, but at the original retail price (4500 yen) plus shipping, you’ll be paying thereabouts that amount anyway. That is, if you can find this guy online. He sold out on pre-order pretty quick, like, in just a few hours. The point is, he’s expensive and he’s hard to find.
The second thing of note are his hips. They’re both too tight. On mine, the right hip in particular, is/was super tight. The problem isn’t that I don’t like tight hips. In fact, most collectors probably prefer tighter joints. The problem is that they’re so tight that they might cause breakage when you move them. I’ve seen a picture of a broken hip prior to getting my Wild Tiger, so I made sure to check for stress marks on his hips prior to purchase. My Wild Tiger’s left hip creaks when moved, whilst the right hip was nearly unmovable out of the box. Fortunately, I had some WD-40 to lubricate that hip. There’s a little squekiness when I move the right hip now, but at least I don’t feel like I’m putting too much strain on it now. The reason for the overly tight joints is that the sockets for the ball joints are too small, so there’s just way too much friction. Since these are ball joints, in time, wear and tear will loosen the hips naturally, but for now, I gotta lube Wild Tiger up as a preventive measure.
So those are the main bad points with Wild Tiger. Should they prevent you from getting him though? Nope! (Well, unless you really can’t afford it. Don’t be too financially irresponsible kids!)
So here’s why you should get Wild Tiger anyway. One, he’s Wild Tiger. I mean, honestly, that’s a pretty damn good reason why you should get this guy. Not only should you get him simply because he’s Wild Tiger, but he’s a SHFiguarts toy and he’s pimping SHFiguarts on his right shoulder. Save yourself some STDs, skip a couple 20 dollar whores and get SHFiguarts Wild Tiger instead. It’ll be good for the economy, which in turn is good for your financial outlook, which translates to being able to afford pricier but better whores in the long run (or you can use that hypothetical money to buy the upcoming SHFiguarts Bunny instead).
Hips issue aside, this is an excellent toy. The hips issue can be fixed in a variety of ways, WD-40 is just one option. But once fixed, you have yourself an excellent action figure. He looks great, he’s a representation of a character from a terrific if somewhat relatively obscure show, he’s highly articulated and he’s got a good range of extras. I think he also has die-cast, ‘cause his lower body feels rather heavy, but there doesn’t seem to be any or much die-cast on the surface. So it’s possible he has die-cast metal hidden in his lower legs or something, so as to provide a lower center of gravity and better balance in general.
For his extras, he comes with a display stand tailored for his character. He has a pair of gun thingies to represent his Tiger Shoot grappling cables ability. He comes with 2 extra pairs of hands, one pair of which is ostensibly to hold the Tiger Shooters, but totally look like they’re meant for holding motorcycle handles. I’m guessing they plan to release his bike eventually. Last but not least, Wild Tiger comes with his “Good Luck Mode” forearm/fist of coolness.
So the hips can be fixed. But what about the high pricing? Is he worth the price? Well, no. He’s almost worth the price, even as a standalone figure, but unless you’re a huge fan of the show, he’s objectively slightly more expensive than he ought to be. If you ARE a fan and you have enough disposable income for the purchase to be affordable, then yeah, Tiger’s worth it. But if you’re financially responsible, it’s a bit hard to justify the purchase. Me? I’m crazy, I plan to get the entire Heroes line up, but that’s me.
So, Wild Tiger is recommended as a figure, but not necessarily as a purchase. Also, it’s imperative that you be aware and fix the hips. I think there’s a high probability of breakage if you don’t take preventive measures.
