FIGMA LINK: A LINK BETWEEN WORLDS VERSION (DX EDITION) - Figure Review.

To be perfectly honest, I never thought I would come to posses the original Skyward Sword Link Figma. That changed when for one of my birthday's, my buddy Nick got it for me. I was very impressed with it and at that point, the Figma bug bit me.
When the next figure in the line, Link from the Nintendo 3DS game 'A Link Between Worlds' was announced, I knew I had to get it.

As decent looking and cheap as the World of Nintendo Zelda figures are, Max Factory's Figmas completely blow them away!
This figure is absolutely amazing!
I'm pretty sure my pictures for this review can't do it enough justice. (Bad lighting aside)
Looking at the figure's sculpt, details, coloring, everything about it is just great!

Link's head is especially stands out for me. He has a great looking face with the wonderfully painted eyes and the expression. The hair piece is very nice looking, the side pieces are a bit flexible so it doesn't impede on head articulation. Same can't be said for the hair on the back though. And I think this has the nicest looking hat on any Link figure I've ever seen.

The rest of the body is very nicely sculpted, there are a fair amount of wrinkles and creases in the Tunic and Boots.
Once again, I've gotta give mention to the paint work on this figure, it's bright, very much how it looks in the game, and it looks amazing!

Link comes with stellar articulation.

The head can turn/tilt left and right. It can look down, but as I said, the hair prohibits the head from looking up. Also, the back of the hat can be rotated.

The arms can move outward, and rotate at the shoulder. The hands and elbows can bend and rotate, leading to a ton of creative poses.
There is rotation at the waist and you can sort of get him to bend Link forward and backward.

The legs can move forward/backward and rotate at the hips, surprisingly the tunic doesn't really hinder the movement. The lower part of Links tunic is separated into 2 individual parts, which I think is brilliant.
The knees can bend. The feet, can bend up, rotate and pivot. The front part of the foot can also move upward.

Since this happens to be the Deluxe Version of this Figma, it comes with a few more accessories than the standard edition (some you have to search the whole box to find). All of these look great, even down to the smallest detail. A figure stand is also included which can lead to a lot of dynamic poses.

One of the more obvious ones would be Ravio's Bracelet, which can be removed by taking off the hands. 

One thing to note though is that when you do remove the hands, sometimes the connecting joint piece will pop off attached to the hand instead of the arm. You'll probably need to use a pair of pliers or your finger nails to get it reattached to the arm.

Link also comes with an added face piece, which gives Link a more determined and ready for action expression.

A variety of different hands are included. You have hands for holding items, closed fists, open hands and open hands with an added peg for holding certain items.
Items included are as follows:

 Tornado Rod (w/ a spinning part)

Bomb

A Rupee (w/ a stand)

A Pot

 Hook Shot (w/ an extended piece)

  A Baby Maiamai

 And a Wall-Merged Link piece. The stand included for it will only stand up if attached to the figure stand, otherwise it'll fall over on it's own.

And of course, no Link figure would be complete without his signature weapons, the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.An instruction manual is included for the purposes of showing you how the items attach to the hands. The manual is in both English and Japanese, for your convenience.
Now, a lot of these accessories do come apart into several small pieces so make sure you are in an area where you can easily keep track of them without getting them lost.

The Link Between Worlds Figma stands at about 4 inches. Being a younger Link, it stands a bit shorter than the previously released Skyward Sword Figma.

Standing next to the World of Nintendo 'Ocarina of Time' and 'Skyward Sword' Link figures.

Figma has created another superb Link figure that I am proud to have in my collection. The accessories included in the Deluxe Version definitely make it the preferred buying option.

However, if that's not your cup of tea and you wanna save a few bucks, you can go with the standard version which only has the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, the extra face, hands and the Wall-Merged piece.

But which ever version you end up going with, you're still getting one of the best Link figures ever made!
At least until the Twilight Princess Figma comes out. I really NEED that one!

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!
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SHIN GOJIRA (a.k.a: SHIN GODZILLA) | Gryphon's First Impressions

-SOME SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW!-

Toho has quite a history of saying the Godzilla series is over.

1975's 'Terror of Mechagodzilla' was supposed to be the last one, then in 1984, 'The Return of Godzilla' was released and after a series of successful films, it was decided that the series would end in 1995 with 'Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah'. The filmmakers went so far as to kill off Godzilla.

Then 1998 happened and Toho wasn't having any of that. So they started a new Godzilla series the very next year, concluding with Godzilla: Final Wars in 2004. For the longest time, that WAS the last Godzilla movie, Toho even demolished their big pool where they shot all the water scenes.

And now, history has repeated itself. A new Godzilla movie was released from an American studio, but unlike the 1998 film, Godzilla 2014 was largely successful both financially and critically.
This was a great time for me and my buddy Kaiju Kidd, for the first time in a while, Godzilla was popular again. And Toho took notice of this and decided they were gonna start making their own Godzilla movies again.

But this one was gonna be a very different beast. First of all, this was the first real reboot of the series, not following any of the previous movies, not even the original 1954 film as most reboots did.

And Godzilla was given a complete head to tail makeover, looking drastically different then he ever has.

And after waiting through 2 and a half months of hype and spoiler dodging since the Japanese premiere, Shin Godzilla now has an American release thanks to FUNimation. But...did I like it?

The answer is: Yes, I did like it. However, I don't feel like I can place it on the same pedestal as I do the original film, The Return of Godzilla or even the 2014 film.
At least, not yet.

This is by far one of the most politically charged Godzilla movies ever, I don't think I've seen a Godzilla movie that looks as deep into the political side of a Kaiju attack since 'The Return of Godzilla'.
The Cabinet meets to decide on everything in this film. If you were to play a drinking game where you take a shot every time someone in the movie says "Prime Minister",
YOU.
WILL.
DIE!!!
But I thought those scenes are portrayed very well and realistically. Certainly better than our own government.

Hiroki Hasegawa and Satomi Ishihara are, by far, the stand out actors to me in this entire movie. Acting over all is great, despite a few displays of ham scattered throughout.

In a previous blog, I said I felt happy that Godzilla was still a guy in a suit. Well, it turns out that I got fooled. Godzilla is mostly brought to life entirely through CGI, and I still think it looks damn good.
Most of the time.
When you first see "Godzilla", the CG is kinda laughable, like 'CG GMK Ghidorah' laughable. Most of the audience laughed, I sat there shocked with my mouth open. But fortunately, the CG gets better and Godzilla himself looks better. But looks aren't everything.

One critic quote I kept seeing on the poster for this movie said this was "A reboot that is unquestionably Godzilla".
That's an interesting quote to me, I can say that the movie I saw was indeed a Godzilla movie, with Godzilla in it. But Godzilla himself was very hit or miss with me.

On the one hand, his third form doesn't bother me that much. I'm willing to accept that it's not a fully, realized Godzilla and if there is a sequel to this (and the ending slyly suggests that there will be) we might get a Godzilla that looks more like the traditional Big G we all know and love. And the purple atomic breath does look very nice.

On the other hand, while I'm on the subject of the Atomic Breath, it coming out of his Dorsal Fins and Tail, I find it to be a little...overdone.
That being said though, the scene where he does use the Dorsal Rays to turn Tokyo into a sea of fire and rubble is probably one of the most exciting and intense moments in the entire film.

Another thing I need to mention is the music and sound work. Aside from a really great and haunting original score composed by Shiro Sagisu, the movie is littered with stock music from previous Godzilla movies. And while it was great hearing those tracks from Akira Ifukube, I would've loved to hear more original music.
And if your familiar with previous Godzilla movies, you may recognize certain sound effects of buildings being smashed and artillery being fired.
Maybe that's what that one critic meant...

Overall, small gripes aside, I still really enjoyed watching Shin Godzilla. I don't know if I can quite put it in my top 5 or 10 Godzilla movies just yet, I may need to let it sit for a while and give it a few more watches on Blu-ray before I make my final decision.
But if you are a big Godzilla fan, go see this movie if any local theater is showing it. It is always a great experience to see a Godzilla movie on the big screen with a group of people, especially those who cheer at the appearance of the Toho logo.

The only other thing I can say is: #patterson2016

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/