Duke Fleed
Review by JoshB
Wether you know him as Duke Fleed or Actarus, this toy of the pilot of Grendizer is something that there needs to be more of.
This piece is the second "Chibicolle" vinyl produced by HL Pro and distributed in the Middle East. It takes the nostalgic style of the old removable-helmet bullmark vinyls and ressurects it in the modern day.
Duke Fleed comes bagged with a header card. As far as I'm concerned the only way to sell toys like this is bagged. A nostalgic style vinyl in a box just isn't right.
The toy stands about 10 inches tall, about the same as the vintage ones. But they never did super robot pilots back in the day. I think this is a brilliant idea.
The whole thing is made out of quality soft vinyl. The paint, fit and finish are great. The joints need to be unstuck when you first remove it from the package, but after that no issues.
To me, the head sculpt is a little odd. I can't quite place it, but I think its the eyes. It's not bad, but it seems out of place on the rest of the body.
Fortunately, a helmet is included. Unfortunately, it's a bitch to get on and off.
While the figure is soft vinyl, the helmet almost feels like rubber. It needs to stretch significantly to get it on and off. The material seems slightly.. rubbery.. so I would be concerned about displaying the figure with the helmet on for long periods of time.
Overall I love the vintage style, and I would love to have more super robot pilots done in this fashion.
Comments
2 comments postedVery nice!
I agree the face seems like it was sculpted by westerner who was trying to anime style.
It looks more late 80s Disney than 70s anime.
But overall it's a great item, would be a nice addition to anybody's collection!
LF
To me, Duke's face here sorta reminds me of the late and great Osamu Tezuka's aesthetic on the design, especially those eyes...
Now if only the Toys R Us that's near where I live had these kinds of vinyls, I mean Bandai's godzilla vinyls are nice and all, but I want these kind of vinyls of the Anime I like, like Grendizer....*sigh* Oh well