Post by legios on Apr 12, 2008 21:36:50 GMT
As rather a fan of the "Mobile Police Patlabor" franchise there was little doubt that I would end up springing for one of these, so it is off little surprise that Ingram Patlabor Unit 01 is sitting on my desk as I type.
(see : www.hlj.com/product/KYD01164 for some decent images of it)
Standing about 6 - 7 inches tall the Revoltech version is not by any means the largest Labor toy that has been produced, but is a fairly good example of good things coming in small packages.
The sculpt is very impressive, being pretty much dead-on to the line-art of the movie Labors. It would have been very easy to just repaint the TV series versions that they had produced before. But instead Kaiyodo have produced something that is in line with the slightly more complicated Movie animation model. They have done a very nice job in capturing the look of the Ingram Labor. The shape of the head with its swept back antenna is especially nicely captured.
It seems almost churlish to note, especially considering the small scale of the the toy, that it lacks a cockpit and pilot. The area where the open cockpit of the Ingram should be is instead occupied by the neck of the toy. Understandable given the degree of "anime magic" that is involved in that area of the Ingram's design, but I still would have wished for a little cockpit with Officer Izumi's head visible in it.
Nevertheless though, this is a nice rendition of the designm which does a fantastic job of capturing the look of the Ingram design.
It is also blessed with a phenomenal amount of articulation. Although slightly overstated by Hobbylink Japan (those 40 points of articulation are more like 40 planes of articulation), the Revoltech joints do give the Ingram a huge range of movement at each joint. You can get an awful lot of poseability out of it. Pretty much anything the Ingram can do on-screen, this version can replicate (it can't always stand up in the process of doing so admittedly, but that is par for the course. The toy can't move and doesn't have an Auto-Balance system like the real thing....). For a ten-pound toy the degree of articulation this thing has is rather impressive - hips, knees, ankles, waist, shoulders, elbows, a head that is articulated as much as the Ingrams design allows. I certainly can't fault in on those grounds.
The package is well supplied with accessories as well. In the package the Ingram comes mounting a closed fist for each hand. However, there are a range of optional, fixed pose, hands supplied that can be swapped out - open left and right hands, left and right hands molded to fit the pistol grips on the weapons, and a left and a right hand clenched to hold the shock baton. These are good sculpts, considering the price point, but can be difficult to get into the sockets on the wrists. A certain amount of force was needed to get them into place initially.
As well as that there is an alternative swappable head supplied - sulpted with the armoured visor down over the Ingram's sensors.
All those hands need something to put in them, and the Ingram isn't short of hardware. I equipped Unit 01 with the riot prod in its right hand (essentially a mecha sized collapsible baton), which looks good on the toy and is much in keeping with the thinking of Noa Izumi, the pilot of Unit 01. The package also contains three Revolver cannon (essentially giant 30mm revolvers - the Ingram is, basically, armed like a giant version of a Japanese policeman), one normal one, one moulded with the cylinder swung out for reloading, and one which is specifically designed to slot into the opening leg compartment on the toy in storage mode. I suppose in theory that you could stick one in each hand, seeing as the have thrown in enough pistol-grip hands. However, it didn't seem in character to me so I settled for one in the off hand which looks pretty good anyway.
Not content with that Kaiyodo have thrown in the riot gun as well. Not a piece of hardware that Noa uses in the first feature (although the slightly demented Ota, piloting Unit 02 makes free with it). She does use it in the second featurem but sadly this toy doesn't come with the reactive armour jacket that the Ingram wore in that film. I think the riot gun will remain stowed away somewhere. (Unless I pick up a Unit 02 - because the temptation to give Ota a shotgun in each hand for comedy value will be quite strong).
To round things off the set comes with a two piece stand. The Ingram is stable enough with both feet on the table that it can be stood up without the stand. It does come in handy, however, in giving the Ingram the stability to manage a broader range of poses.
This isn't a perfect toy however. In one or two places the paint applications are a little ragged. It's most noticeable on the red paint that they have used for the lightbars on each shoulder. The edges of these should be crisp and straight. Instead they are a little bit feathery and uneven, on mine at least. The green paint on the sensor slit also doesn't quite cover all the area it should - a little bit of the recessed area is left white. Mind you, given the low price point on these I am not entirely surprised to find some flaws in the paint job.
All told, and considering the price point this is a nice little toy. It may be small but it could be said to be well-formed and has a nice little range of accessories.
Worth having if you have a liking for "Patlabor", or for the more "mundane" end of the mecha genre in general.
Now, I must try to convince myself that I don't need to pick up Unit 02 so that I can have Ota around to back up Noa.....
Karl
(see : www.hlj.com/product/KYD01164 for some decent images of it)
Standing about 6 - 7 inches tall the Revoltech version is not by any means the largest Labor toy that has been produced, but is a fairly good example of good things coming in small packages.
The sculpt is very impressive, being pretty much dead-on to the line-art of the movie Labors. It would have been very easy to just repaint the TV series versions that they had produced before. But instead Kaiyodo have produced something that is in line with the slightly more complicated Movie animation model. They have done a very nice job in capturing the look of the Ingram Labor. The shape of the head with its swept back antenna is especially nicely captured.
It seems almost churlish to note, especially considering the small scale of the the toy, that it lacks a cockpit and pilot. The area where the open cockpit of the Ingram should be is instead occupied by the neck of the toy. Understandable given the degree of "anime magic" that is involved in that area of the Ingram's design, but I still would have wished for a little cockpit with Officer Izumi's head visible in it.
Nevertheless though, this is a nice rendition of the designm which does a fantastic job of capturing the look of the Ingram design.
It is also blessed with a phenomenal amount of articulation. Although slightly overstated by Hobbylink Japan (those 40 points of articulation are more like 40 planes of articulation), the Revoltech joints do give the Ingram a huge range of movement at each joint. You can get an awful lot of poseability out of it. Pretty much anything the Ingram can do on-screen, this version can replicate (it can't always stand up in the process of doing so admittedly, but that is par for the course. The toy can't move and doesn't have an Auto-Balance system like the real thing....). For a ten-pound toy the degree of articulation this thing has is rather impressive - hips, knees, ankles, waist, shoulders, elbows, a head that is articulated as much as the Ingrams design allows. I certainly can't fault in on those grounds.
The package is well supplied with accessories as well. In the package the Ingram comes mounting a closed fist for each hand. However, there are a range of optional, fixed pose, hands supplied that can be swapped out - open left and right hands, left and right hands molded to fit the pistol grips on the weapons, and a left and a right hand clenched to hold the shock baton. These are good sculpts, considering the price point, but can be difficult to get into the sockets on the wrists. A certain amount of force was needed to get them into place initially.
As well as that there is an alternative swappable head supplied - sulpted with the armoured visor down over the Ingram's sensors.
All those hands need something to put in them, and the Ingram isn't short of hardware. I equipped Unit 01 with the riot prod in its right hand (essentially a mecha sized collapsible baton), which looks good on the toy and is much in keeping with the thinking of Noa Izumi, the pilot of Unit 01. The package also contains three Revolver cannon (essentially giant 30mm revolvers - the Ingram is, basically, armed like a giant version of a Japanese policeman), one normal one, one moulded with the cylinder swung out for reloading, and one which is specifically designed to slot into the opening leg compartment on the toy in storage mode. I suppose in theory that you could stick one in each hand, seeing as the have thrown in enough pistol-grip hands. However, it didn't seem in character to me so I settled for one in the off hand which looks pretty good anyway.
Not content with that Kaiyodo have thrown in the riot gun as well. Not a piece of hardware that Noa uses in the first feature (although the slightly demented Ota, piloting Unit 02 makes free with it). She does use it in the second featurem but sadly this toy doesn't come with the reactive armour jacket that the Ingram wore in that film. I think the riot gun will remain stowed away somewhere. (Unless I pick up a Unit 02 - because the temptation to give Ota a shotgun in each hand for comedy value will be quite strong).
To round things off the set comes with a two piece stand. The Ingram is stable enough with both feet on the table that it can be stood up without the stand. It does come in handy, however, in giving the Ingram the stability to manage a broader range of poses.
This isn't a perfect toy however. In one or two places the paint applications are a little ragged. It's most noticeable on the red paint that they have used for the lightbars on each shoulder. The edges of these should be crisp and straight. Instead they are a little bit feathery and uneven, on mine at least. The green paint on the sensor slit also doesn't quite cover all the area it should - a little bit of the recessed area is left white. Mind you, given the low price point on these I am not entirely surprised to find some flaws in the paint job.
All told, and considering the price point this is a nice little toy. It may be small but it could be said to be well-formed and has a nice little range of accessories.
Worth having if you have a liking for "Patlabor", or for the more "mundane" end of the mecha genre in general.
Now, I must try to convince myself that I don't need to pick up Unit 02 so that I can have Ota around to back up Noa.....
Karl
