Hello again. Sorry I haven’t had a new toy up in a while. I was away on vacation, and now I’ve finally gotten around to bringing you more weirdo toy goodness.
Speaking of weird, here’s a little something i recently ordered from Japan. It actually arrived a couple of weeks back, but I’m just now getting around to posting it. Sure, this guy doesn’t look too much out of the ordinary, but wait until you discover his little “secret.”
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So, what we have here is the second in a new series of Hokuto no Ken – Revolution figures. In America, Hokuto no Ken is better known as Fist of the NorthStar. This character is a apparently a member of the gang called Zeed (some bad guys from the series).
I am vaguely familiar with the Fist of the NorthStar series, but I’ve never been a fan of it. In fact, the only first-hand knowledge I ever had of the series was gathered in the old days of my playing Game Boy as a kid.
I had the mediocre Fist of the NorthStar fighting game. It was a pretty dull experience, but I really loved drawing the characters from the game booklet.
Well, if I knew then what I know now, I would’ve been even more disappointed in the game. From what I’ve recently gathered, Fist of the NorthStar is a Manga and Anime series that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by a bunch of bullies trying to take advantage of the weak and innocent. That’s where the main hero, Kenshiro, comes in. He’s your iconic, mysterious wanderer who comes into town, seeks out the trouble, and like most kung-fu movie heroes, he kicks ass.
Well, maybe it’s not “ass kicking” as much as it is “face punching.”
You see, Kenshiro has a gift. He can pummel the crap out of these bad guys which initially shows no effects… but a few seconds later, the bad guys’ bodies realize they have just been clobbered… which usually results in a spontaneous and gratuitous explosion of gore.
Check out this clip. It should make things a lot clearer for you.
That is where this toy’s secret comes in. Not only is he a decently poseable, post-apocalyptic gang member of Zeed…
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… but he’s also a recent victim of Kenshiro…
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… which means he has an awesome-exploding-transformation action feature. Now kids can reenact the brutal demise of this Fist of the NorthStar baddy. Good times!
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Rewatch that video clip, and pay attention at the 2:08 mark. I looks like a Zeed member explosion in action.
Isn’t this disgusting?
I love it.
Look at the details on this guy –
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– splattering blood and flailing spinal column
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– separate, broken ribs
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– flying intestines
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– punched-in head w/ brains oozing out
It doesn’t get any better than that.
Lemme share just a few more things. Like I mentioned before, this toy is a Japanese import, but I think it’s coming to the U.S. soon. If I’m not mistaken, it will be available Dec. 30, 2008 (I couldn’t wait that long. Plus, I wanted to show you guys).
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Once I received the toy, I was pretty excited. the figure is smaller and more light weight than I expected. I think it’s about 8″ tall with several swivel and ball joints. The figure has a bunch of hinges too which are made to be loose. They come apart easily, but I think it’s just a safety precaution, so we don’t end up breaking the toy while transforming it. The figure also comes with a support stand (which i didn’t wanna use) and a bloody axe accessory.
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One of the coolest things about the import is the box. It’s covered in a bunch of “gibberish” I don’t understand, but it looks cool. Plus, the box is re-closeable, which is great. Hopefully, the American release will do something similar for those that are “hard-core collectors” or whatever (I wasn’t really that worried about it).
So there you have it. The world’s first exploding action figure. It’s kind of like combining the fun of Transformers with the gore of McFarlane Toys figures. There should be a whole toyline of figures like this.
Transforming mutilation. That’s a bit sick isn’t it?
Another great find. No wonder the paint job is taking so long. Keep up the good work. The fans of this Blog won’t
be disappointed.
holy crap!! i want this toy.
The best action feature ever!
Watching an animated exploding torso is disgusting by the way.
Also, the part of the clip where Kenshiro’s clothes disintegrate, after he flexes his super muscles, is hilarious.
thanks for sharing.
I know!
It’s funny to see the guys standing there after the fight… saying “ha. you didn’t hurt me.” Then they explode.
If he kills them all like that, how can there be a cast of characters? They all explode.
This kind of gimmick was a long time coming. Great stuff.
Yeah, I played the game long before I watched the cartoon also. That figure is definitely a better portrayal than the game. I love it.
That figures definitely going to be one to watch out for.
Don’t know if you know about this, but years ago Kenner made a line of Beetlejuice action figures, one of which was Exploding Beetlejuice. You have him there in his striped suit, but squeeze his legs together and his back, front and two arms go flying off, whilst his head becomes some sort of giant fly thingy. Worth looking for. I have it, but it’ll probably take me a while to find all his different parts.
Same with kenner’s “Scorpion Alien” from the 90’s Aliens series, and the crash dummies figures. But never anything this epic.
(PS: Any Northstar fans looking for a non-ass game try Godhand for the ps2, it’s sort of a conscious tribute to the excessive ridiculous-ness of Fist, make by the Okami & Viewtiful Joe guys. Also: Poison chiwawas!)
Retro cartoon that was banned over my end but the comic was around. Didn’t really like the series personally and when the toy is out, I skip it. I think they was a live action movie of that before in the late 80s.
Dang — this guy would have been the star masterpiece of my many, many action figures when I was growing up…curse you for coming out now, Exploding Member of Zeed!!
Hello! So does this guy like explode, or do you manually have to switch his parts?
He doesn’t explode as much as you twist and turn his body parts to create the appearance of mid-explosion. You don’t have to remove or switch parts, but you do have to manually “transform” him. Hope this helps.