For Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to giant monster movies, the licensing has been distributed to multiple companies. For the first film, it was mainly NECA who produced figures, and that line ran for quite some time, spanning over 30 figures across size classes. This time around, the main licensees are Diamond Select Toys and Bandai/Tamashii Nations. With the latter, there will be numerous releases set up for the film, across different figure lines. Those include Robot Damashii (Robot Spirits), Soul of Chogokin, Model Kits and SOFVI Spirits (for the Kaiju). This different size classes allow for Tamashii Nations to have figures available at multiple price points. Today, we are sharing an in-hand look at the first three Robot spirits and the first SOFVI Spirits Pacific Rim: Uprising Figures.
The first round of releases includes Gipsy Avenger, Titan Redeemer, and Bracer Phoenix in the 6″ scale Robot Spirits line. For the SOFVI Spirits, we have Raijin, one of the featured Kaiju from the trailers for the film. Bluefin has provided us with the figures, and we have 90 photos and a full review. Check them out by reading on.
Pacific Rim: Uprising – Robot spirits Series 1 and SOFVI Spirits Raijin
Pros
- Nice sculpts all around on the Jaegers
- The Jaegers have excellent range of motion
- Gipsy Avenger is a steal at this price point
- Easy to swap out parts on Jaegers
- Good quality control
- Raijin looks amazing in hand
- Price is just right
Cons
- Raijin has very little articulation
- Jaegers could use some paint and weathering
Overall
The Robot Spirits figures come packaged in small, collector friendly window boxes. Each box contains large character art on the front, with photos of the figure and some of the included accessories shown on the back. The figures sit on plastic trays along with their accessories. They can easily be removed and put back in for storage on display. Gispy Avenger includes interchangeable hands, an interchangeable blade arm, and an interchangeable cannon arm. Bracer Phoenix includes an extra set of interchangeable hands and gun parts for his chest and back. Titan Redeemer includes an interchangeable right hand and a small “Scrapper” Robot.
The original Pacific Rim film was not a hit in North America. However, NECA’s line of action figures ran far longer than pretty much anyone expected. They released a wide assortment of figures and variants for both Jaeger’s and the Kaiju. While the line did have it’s QC issues at times, there were a lot of fans who really enjoyed the line, especially for the massive monsters they produced over the years. For Pacific Rim Uprising, the licensing has been split to multiple toy companies. One of those companies is Bandai/Tamashii Nations. One of the ways they are releasing figures is in their Robot Damashii (aka Robot Spirits) line. All of the Jaeger’s will be released under this umbrella, with a new line of vinyl figures, known as SOFVI Spirits, being produced for in-scale Kaiju.
After spending a few days with the figures, testing the articulation, the quality control and the accessories, I think fans will walk away mostly impressed by these. The big draw for fans here will be the far wider range of motion compared to NECA’s Jaeger offerings. These figures can bend into nearly any shape, with a big of traditional ball joints and hinged parts for elbows, knees and more. There are some instances, especially on Titan Redeemer, where the character design will get in the way of articulation, but it’s not too restrictive. Joints are perfectly tight on all the figures, allowing for dynamic posses to be held without any issues. Hands swap out very easily, as do the forearms of Gipsy Avenger. Speaking of that Jaeger, this figure is easily the best of three very good releases. His design allows for an insane amount of motion, and he includes the most interchangeable pieces of the three figures.
There were a couple things that I felt could be improved a bit, hopefully in variants down the line. The three Jaegers have pretty much no paint on them. Much like a Hasbro Transformer, they are molded in colored plastic, with only a bit of additional details, such as call numbers on them. There’s no paint washes, scuff marks or weathering of any kind. Ever piece is pretty much a solid color. This will be a personal preference to any collector, as I prefer the more weathered look as opposed to the fresh off the giant robot assembly line look.
Raijin is a big figure that looks awesome in hand. The sculpted details and the paint work are spot on here. However, fans hoping for a fully articulated monster will be disappointed. There’s about 6 spots of articulation, with the arms moving up and down, the wrists able to rotate side to side, and the legs able to swing back and forth at the hips. It has the same vinyl feel of a large Pop! figure from Funko.
In the end, I think fans will definitely enjoy the Jaegers. At between $20 to $25 each for the Jaegers, these are really easy on the wallet. They’re fun to pose, have great potential for dynamic displays and have no quality control issues. And, if you can find him, Gipsy Avenger is an absolute bargain at that price point. Check out some select photos below and the full gallery below that.
Robot Spirits and SOFVI Spirits Pacific Rim: Uprising Figures - Toyark Photo Shoot
Loving the poseability on these figures. Unlike on the NECA ones they had very limited poseability. Definitely want to pick up Gypsy Avenger.
Too small.
As nice as these are, I already have the whole line of NECA Jaegers, these are just too small to be in the same display. Here's hoping the Diamond Select Toys ones are more in scale.
Cool pics! I fully agree with this review.
When I first heard about these, I was shocked at the price point. I knew there had to be something left out...the paint! Soon as I saw your pics, I was like “Where’s the paint?”
The size is a bit small as well. I like the articulation, but if sucks to sacrifice the paint. It makes them look kind of cheap, like the lower end Hasbro Transformers. After seeing a review of the DST versions, and the lack of paint on these and the articulation on the Kaiju, I’m not sure how long these lines will last.
The first movie may not have been a hit, but I think they NEED the sequel to do well.
idgaf what that box says, a soft vinyl is called "Sofubi" seeing that Bandai has gone with "Sofvi" as the "official" romanization makes me twitch uncontrollably.
I’ve got all the NECA Jaegers and all the NECA kaiju bar Trespasser and Scunner.
They had more articulation but was it Better articulation?
Take Leatherback, his little back legs had, what, five joints? They only worked in two positions, any of the other ways you posed him made him look like he had space polio.
I’ll take a good looking neutral pose any day.
Full Thread: Tamashii Nations Pacific Rim - Toyark Gallery
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