[Toy Review] RED - figma (Pokémon)

I was a huge fan of Pokémon when I was a kid, now I'm just a casual fan. I played the first gen Pokémon game (Blue Version) but not the remakes: FireRed and LeafGreen. I also played the trading card game and I had a huge collection of Pokémon trading cards. Now, what I got here is a figma action figure of Red (not Ash) the silent protagonist of the first Pokémon game.

"... ... ... ... ... ... ... ..."
~ Red ~

PACKAGING

Front of the box.

The package design is pretty simple. It's red and white with a huge window in front. You can already see the figure and its accessories. The sides shows one product shot of Red.

Back of the box.

The back shows more of Red's product shots in different poses and using its accessories. Red is figma #356.

Out and ready to start his Pokémon journey.

Packaging includes:

- Red action figure

- Backpack

- Poké-ball

- Bulbasaur static figure

- Charmander static figure

- Squirtle static figure

- 1x interchangeable face

- L/R open hands

- L/R gripping hands

- Right Poké-ball gripping hand (firm grip)

- Left Poké-ball gripping hand (relaxed grip)

- Right pointing finger hand

- Right cap visor gripping hand

- Display stand with extender

- Spare wrist joint

- Instructions

THE FIGURE

Viewing Red in four sides.

This is the FireRed/LeafGreen version of Red. The design is really simple and have a smooth texture.

Why so serious, Red?

The face shows the serious and determined side of Red, a face that's uncommon to the protagonists from different generations. The face is painted really well. The hair looks really good too. I don't see any shadings on the whole head.

Nice hat.

Red's cap looks pretty good. The white logo is a bit fuzzy though.

Red's threads.

Red is wearing a red and white vest and a black shirt underneath. It's made of soft plastic. It looks nice and got a smooth texture. There are some wrinkles for detail. The white paint in the middle is fuzzy, still a nice paint job overall.

Red's back.

The back looks very simple. It got a peg hole for the display stand.

Red's right arm.

The arms looks nice and have nice skin tone. Both arms have black wristbands and their paint job is good.

His blue pants are baggy.

Red's blue baggy pants looks very basic. It got a smooth texture and got some wrinkles for detail. The floating crotch piece is made of soft plastic and have a cut on both sides for better leg articulation.

Red's shoes.

The shoes looks nice hand have three colors that were painted nicely: red, black and white. No shoelaces or any detail.

ACCESSORIES

Red have a very nice amount of accessories.

Red's stuff.

Red got his backpack and Poké-ball. For interchangeable parts he have an extra face and a total of eight extra hands.

Three Gen 1 starter Pokémon.

What's really awesome is that Red have three Gen 1 starter Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle static figurines included in the packaging.

Red's backpack.

The backpack looks nice, painted really well and it's pretty heavy probably because it's a big chunk of plastic (not hollow) sculpted to look like a bag. This might cause some balancing issues on the action figure. It got a peg hole for the display stand.

Backpack straps.

The straps of the backpack are soft so that it's easier for the Red figure to wear it. It got a gadget-looking thing on the left strap. I haven't played the Gen 1 remake so I don't know what that is, but it looks nice. To equip the bag, first, remove the figure's left arm then slide the right strap through the attached right arm then peg the bag in the figure's peg hole, adjust the backpack straps then put back the left arm.

Poké-ball

The Poké-ball looks nice well painted and it's glossy. It's small but a little bit bigger than an airsoft bb bullet. Be carefull not to loose this accessory.

Bulbasaur

Now for the Pokémon figurines. First, Bulbasaur. It looks very nice with clean paint job.

Bulbasaur's bulbed back.

Bulbasaur's back shows more dark-teal spots and his giant bulb.

Charmander

Charmander also looks very nice the paint job is very clean on the head. The nails on its toes have some chipped paint.

Charmander's back and tail.

The fire on its tail looks nice. It would be more awesome if its made of transparent plastic.

Squirtle

Lastly, Squirtle. Again, this one looks very nice and clean.

Squirtle's back.

Its shell are sculpted well but it got a small white paint drop. The tail looks nice too.

Red's shouting face.

Now for the interchangeable accessories. Red's interchangeable face have a shouting expression. It shows that he really like to win and make his team stronger.

Extra hands.

Red got eight extra interchangeable hands. He got a pair of open hands for posing. I don't know the purpose of the left/right gripping hands unless Red got a bike. He also got a pair of gripping hands for the Poké-ball with each having different gripping/holding style. Lastly he got a pointing right hand and a cap visor holding hand for specific poses.

figma stand.

He got a standard figma stand, I recommend using this one especially if Red is wearing his backpack.

Figure stand extender peg.

The stand have an extender peg, a nice addition but I'm cool with just the stand.

ARTICULATIONS

Challenging you to a Pokémon battle.

Now let's talk about Red's articulations. His simple character design makes him highly poseable and that makes this figure fun to play with. But there are some parts that have limited articulation.

Holding a Poké-ball.

The head can look left and right well. It got some trouble looking up because of his hair getting caught by the shirt's raised collar even though that it's soft. No problems when it's looking down. It can also tilt side to side.

Wearing his backpack.

This is the first time that I saw a "reversed" upper torso articulation where the chest part goes in to the stomach when it does the crunches. Sorry, I can't explain it well but I hope you get what I'm saying. Anyway, the articulation is limited when doing ab crunches. It moves when when moving back but if Red is wearing the backpack the moving back articulation is gone.

Red with Charmander.

Waist articulation is pretty good in my opinion so no problems there.

Red with Bulbasaur.

The arms moves really well, they're on a ball-joint and hinge that makes the arms shift around. They can raise sideways well and can fully rotate. The shirt have cuts on the armpit area that gives the arms more movement range. They also got bicep swivel.

Red with Squirtle.

The elbows have a realy nice bend and can also swivel on this part.

Ready to switch Pokémon mid-battle.

The hands are on a ball-hinge and doesn't have any problem when moving.

Running around.

The legs can kick up forward well and can go back a little. Red can't do the splits but he can do a high side-kick. The legs can also swivel/twist a bit.

He's about to catch a wild Pokémon.

The knees are on a single hinge it doesn't look bad when the legs are bent. The bagginess of the pants help the knee joints look better.

Red with his Pokémon.

The feet are on a ball joint (not ball-hinge). They must have made them that way because of the baggy pants. Sadly, even with that compromise the feet have limited movement when pointing up and down. No problems when moving side to side and they can pivot well. The feet have toe hinge.

SCALING

Let's compare the figma Red figure with some of my figma action figures.

Red with D.Va and Joker.

Red is the shortest in this picture with D.Va (Overwatch) and Joker (Persona 5).

Pikachu, go!

Some Takara Tomy's Moncollé Pokémon figurines are compatible with figma figures. Check out this picture of figma Red with Moncollé Pikachu.

QUALITY ISSUES

I haven't found any issues on the Red figure that I got. The waist joint is kinda loose, they're wobbly but the torso and legs doesn't flop down when you hold the figure's legs/torso and parallel to the ground.

CONCLUSION

This figma action figure of Red is great. It's fun to play and pose this figure because it's highy articulated even with some parts having limited movement and it got nice variety of accessories and interchangeable parts. And some Pokémon figurines like Moncollé figures (mostly small-size Pokémon) by Takara Tomy. I think the price of this figma Red figure is good enough, because you get a lot of nice stuff in the box, I mean you get three starter Pokémon figurines for Red. So I recommend this figure especially if you're a Pokémon fan.

Red's early journey photo with his team.

Cheers and Happy Collecting!