Back in March, I reviewed the S.H. Figuarts release of Barnaby Brooks Jr. and mentioned wanting a Wild Tiger to go along with him. Turns out, I didn't have to wait long!
I picked up Wild Tiger several months ago, and these pictures were taken around that time. I've haven't had much time to unbox figures lately, although I'm still getting new ones. I promise I'll have a more recent figure review next month! Still, I love being able to talk about releases from one of my favorite shows, and this is also a figure that's become more readily available recently. Also, although I didn't include boxshots in my Barnaby review, I did want to bring them up this time around since I find the highlighted points on the back particularly funny. Only a Tiger & Bunny figure would treat "product placement" as a feature!
After being blown away by Barnaby's quality right out of the box, I had pretty high expectations for Tiger. However, a lot more of the usual flaws that you see in figures of this scale and price range showed up this time. There are some marks on his legs that you can see in certain lighting, the paint around his collar is a bit messy, and there's a scratch on the internal piece of the clear part of his helmet, which is very obvious when you look at it from above. In contrast, the advertisement logo decals are flawless (of course).
The joints were also stiffer than what I was expecting, to the point where I wasn't sure if I could move them at all. You'll notice that I used the stand for a lot of my shots this time around. This was because I wasn't aware that there were joints in his ankles until after I was done, and he couldn't stand on his own for some of the poses. His feet felt solid as a rock otherwise, and I always try to avoid potentially harming my figures. That said, in solidarity with Bunny, it only took me five minutes to break one of his hip joints in the same place where I broke Barnaby's in his review. So at least that's one mystery solved; that piece is incredibly flimsy, and if you want to pose these figures at all, expect to break it.
However, those were the only real problems that I had with him outside of some fiddly bits that I'll get to below. Tiger also had a barebones release, with only two accessories and optional hands made out of a softer plastic for easy swapping. His stand has his superhero name and signature color as well.
The first accessory is the grappling hook that he uses in the anime, which attaches to his arm. This may sound simple enough, but where it's supposed to connect is hidden underneath his armplates. You have to take those off first, attach the accessory, and then somehow get the armplates back on without breaking either piece. I honestly don't remember how I did this, just that it took a lot of time. I probably won't be touching this piece ever again for that reason.
The other accessory is his Good Luck Mode Arm. This is probably his one big advantage over Barnaby, since I never managed to figure out how to attach his leg. This piece is heavy though, and not very good for action shots unless you plan out the weight distribution beforehand. The stand becomes more of a necessity at this point as well. However, it's pretty nicely detailed; the clear parts came out really nice, and it certainly doesn't lack a presence.
While Tiger doesn't have quite the same range of articulation that Barnaby has, I'm still impressed by how easy it is to convey the character behind the mask. Even with the few flaws that he came with, he still easily holds his own next to Barnaby and I'm happy to have both of them. I highly recommend both of them to fans of the series or those who have one but not the other.
This version of Wild Tiger was nearly impossible to find after it came out, but after two new versions of this same figure (the movie version and the open-helmet version, among others) and time passing since the end of the anime's original run, this figure has been popping up at secondhand places for decent prices if you don't like Bluefin's price point. A quick check on Amazon brought a listing up for me, although at a little higher than what I paid for him. It's a solid release, so if you missed out on him before, now's your chance to grab him!
Images by me.
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