Wild Tiger
Wild Tiger is the main character in the anime series Tiger & Bunny. The show is set in the near future in a city called Stern Build. Within this universe humans have started developing super powers and are referred to as NEXTs. These heroes appear on a reality TV show competing for the title of King of Heroes. Because the heroes are on TV they have sponsors, whose logos appear all over their costumes.
The show is a lot of fun and has some really great character designs so I was VERY EXCITED when I saw that Bandai was releasing characters from the show in the S.H. Figuarts line. All I have heard and read over the years is how great this toy line was. The fit, finish, paint apps, and quality are supposed to be the very best that Bandai offers in the scale of posable figures.
The package is nice but pretty standard four color box with a window on the front. The figure and all the parts and pieces are neatly laid out in its vacuum formed tray. I noticed immediately that they actually included a stand with the release. A nice touch! Also included are several different hands and his grappling hook/wire launchers
As soon as I get the figure out of the package I immediately notice there is some sort of misprinted spot/stain right in the middle of Wild Tiger’s chest…
Well, so much for flawless QC and paint applications. At this point I was a bit annoyed and I shelved the figure for a bit.
After a few days I start fiddling with the figure a bit more, and despite the glaring smudge on the front I am pretty impressed with the overall figure. The rest of the paint applications are excellent and the figure just feels really good in the hands.
Articulation is excellent. Joints are located everywhere they should be and no pose is too tough to get him into. I especially like that the waist “extends” out a bit to allow a wider range of motion.
You can remove his right arm at the elbow and replace it with his “Lucky Mode” version. Since all the arm joints are nice and tight he can hold up his over-sized arm no problem.
So at this point I am really loving the figure. Other than the smudge on the front it’s really nice. I figure, I just lucked out and got the 1 in 10 that would have a misapplied paint application. I go to get one more pose of the character before wrapping up my photo shoot with it when…
…um… did his right leg just fall off?? Does it pop back on? Nope, it’s completely sheared off the joint post that attached to the leg. As I bemoan this on Twitter I start getting a flood of folks telling me that it is a known issue with the Wild Tiger?! Sigh…
Well this turned out to be 45 dollars worth of disappointment…
They were unable to get me a replacement and Bandai told them they wouldn’t replace or fix it either. So, I am left with a broken main character for a new series.
Yeah I cancelled the rest of the line and I am strongly suggesting you stay away from this sub-line of the S.H. Figuarts line no matter how big a fan of Tiger & Bunny you are.