Revoltech Sanada Yukimura Part 1

Crimson Demon of War
The return of Revoltech figures on this blog, after about a year of absence since the review on Revoltech Fraulein Pocco. ^^

I'm quite a fan of the Revoltech series actually, given the many mecha and non-mecha, moe and moeru series it's playing from. In terms of detailing, especially for human characters, the quality is arguable not as good as Max Factory's Figma series. In terms of playability however, Revoltech is a lot more durable - the ones where Revoltech joints are involved I mean. I have Fraulein Yoko and the shoulder joint that isn't a Revoltech joint has a serious flaw. ^^; But in general, Revoltech figures can display some really crazy action poses with ease.

I do like the Figma series as well, just that it's focusing a lot on female characters that I have no idea about, ^^ so the number of purchases is less as compared to Revoltech in my collection.

The first figure to be featured in this "Revoltech review reboot" (XD) on this blog is Sanada Yukimura from Revoltech Yamaguchi Sengoku Basara series, which was first released in November 2009. A special note on this review: this will be a double feature review that will go back-to-back with another Revoltech Sengoku Basara release: Date Masamune, which was out the same time as Sanada Yukimura. I got them the same time as well, and looking at how they were always shown as a rival pair from the many promo images before their release, I always wanted to do a double feature for them. ^^



Looking the serial number of the releases, Date Masamune (No. 79) should come before Sanada Yukimura (No. 80), but that's not a fixed rule to follow, and I do like red more than blue, so I'm jumping the numbers here ^^

Anyway, as a non-gamer, I never played any titles from Capcom's "Sengoku Basara" or "Devil Kings" series where this character comes from. I do know a little bit about the actual historical character of Sanada Yukimura from the Japanese feudal era. The reason for the purchase, along with Date Masamune is purely admiration for their designs, playability and gimmicks, stuff that you'll definitely see in this review series. ^^

A powerful samurai in actual history, Sanada Yukimura was nicknamed "Crimson Demon of War" (from Wikipedia). I can't find the exact Japanese phrase for that nickname, but it was recorded that his banner color was red ("武田家伝統の赤備えで編成した真田信繁隊は" - link). Perhaps even more so, it was mentioned that he wore all red armors in his last battle of Osaka Castle in the summer of 1615 ("茶臼山に真っ赤なのぼりを立てて、赤一色の鎧兜で固め" - link). So this character as depicted in the game does show his true color, no pun intended ^^

Anyway, a look at Sanada Yukimura from "Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes", which was a PSP release.


Video clip is from Youtube. Follow this link to the website if you can't see anything.
By the way, the voice actor for Sanada Yukimura is Soichiro Hoshi (保志総一朗), who also voiced Kira Yamato from "Gundam SEED" and "Gundam SEED Destiny". It's almost undetectable actually, as I could never imagine how a very hot-blooded Kira would sound like. ^^;

Together with Date Masamune, the first batch release of this Revoltech figure came with the special prize of plated treatment for the tridents (and plated gold for the moon crest on Date Masamune's helmet), which is absolutely fantastic given the size of those two items. ^^ The shininess of the weapon will make an impact in various action poses I'm sure. ^^



RevolChip shown on the top right corner of the box.


Revoltech's usual practice of having a band at the bottom of the box promoting for various upcoming release (in my case, old releases ^^;)


Also shown is Kaiyodo Power Shop's limited white costume version of the two characters. Already released in January last year.


Images of Sanada Yukimura at the bottom left corner and top portion of the box.



Very generic design for both sides and bottom portion of the box.




Introduction of the figure behind the box.


Clash of the two characters in the game.


Box open.



Front and rear views of the content.


Content is organized into 2 layers.


Top layer contains the figure itself, tridents, option face part, option hand units, RevolContainer and RevolChip.



Smaller plastic wrappers on the skirt armors and between the knee joints to be removed.
Notice the red Revoltech joints used for the elbow and knee, and the really shiny leg armors as well. ^^



The "incomplete" figure straight out of box.


Bottom layer contains the poles for the tridents, hair parts, headband parts and effect display base.


Some tiny strings binding the poles to the plastic trays.



Promo booklet that focuses on introducing the Sci-fi Revoltech series, which was an upcoming release back in November 2009 (first release of Alien was out in April 2010)


Announcement of Revoltech Fraulein's restart with Mari Illustrious Makinami.


Some of the already released Revoltech figures.


The typical clear display stand is also included.
Introduction on Revoltech Date Masamune in the next posting.