“The only thing standing in front of the apocalypse, is us.”
In the 5 years since Pacific Rim first rampaged it’s way across theater screens, fans have been rabid for a sequel to this giant robot love letter. Meanwhile collector’s have been desperately hoping a better option for merchandise and collectibles for the franchise. Well Tamashii Nations has finally come to rescue to provide fantastic action figures and toys at multiple price points and functionality from Pacific Rim Uprising! Today we’re taking a look at the very first release in their Pacific Rim Robot Spirits (Damashii) line with Gypsy Avenger!
Kicking the line off in fantastic fashion, is the heroic mech central to Uprising’s plot, Gypsy Avenger. The slimmed down successor to Gypsy Danger, Avenger comes to us at an insanely affordable price point (only $20!) and is one of the best and most functional figures we could hope for at that price. Armed with her Gravity Sling & Chain Sword, Gypsy Avenger can go toe to toe with the toughest Kaiju, giant robots, or otherwise huge heroes in your collection.
We’ve attached the full 70 image gallery of Robot Spirits Gypsy Avenger to this post. You can also read our extensive (and positive) review of the figure by clicking “Discuss on the TokuNation Forums” at the bottom of this post. And, we’re gonna continue to cancel the apocalypse off and on for the next month as we review the other 5 Pacfic Rim Robot Spirits that make up the rest of waves 1 & 2!
Fans have waited nearly 5 years for successful Pacific Rim, and we've finally been treated to just that this week with the release of Pacific Rim Uprising in theaters. And for all that time, fans of the franchise have also waited patiently for a new toy company to finall get their hands on the license and produce proper high end quality collectibles like we've always wanted. Thanks to Bandai Japan/Tamashii Nations we finally have that! So has the apocalypse finally been cancelled? Find out below!
Packaging
Pacific Rim Robot Spirits are actually going in a totally new direction this toyline hasn't really done before in terms of packaging. Each figure comes in a box with a punched tag to hang it on a retail store hook. It's definitely a new thing for Robot Spirits/Damashii to so openly market these figure at mass market retail. But perhaps their appeal and simultaneous release in both Western & Asian markets contributed to this decision? In either case these boxes are very unique and totally their own thing within the line. Even in regards to how slim and tall they are. I really like this new direction.
Main Figure
Let me just start by saying, are you kidding me? $20? That's it?! Affordability & playability have always been relative terms for collectors. Typically the more cash you drop, the more functional of a toy you're getting. This is one of those rare instances where an insanely functional toy has been made available at an incredibly affordable price. With that preface out of the way, I think you know my thoughts are going to be very positive.
So where to begin? Gypsy Avenger is the first release in the Uprising line from Tamashii Nations and thankfully it's set a high bar. Robot Spirit's aren't something I typically collect anymore but I'm certainly glad to have picked this one up. Gypsy is a very flexible robot with a few caveats that leave it just short of perfect. The way I often see it described (and Uprising in general) is Pacific Rim with more Evangelion. A descriptor that irks me to no end. What I see in Gypsy Avenger, is a much needed streamlining of the over-bulked stereotypical design we saw in Gypsy Danger. This is a sleek and dynamic looking robot for a new generation of heroes. And much of it's dynamism is owed to the implementation of it's leg articulation.
For starters, Gypsy has balljointed ankles with a ton of open range thanks to the way the ankle armor is designed around them. You'll find this mech can pull off very wide and stable poses thanks to these ankles and balances very nicely. Another one in the win column is Gypsy's knees which are very flexible, allowing you to bend the leg back far enough that the calf touches the back of the thigh. The hips & waist though are quite an oddity. Each thigh has a rotating section within it attached to the hip ball joint. These rotating sections let you turn the leg in or out, but they themselves are also attached to another balljoint down within the thigh meaning they have even more play to them. Double jointed thighs are not a thing I was expecting. Stranger still is the way the hip balljoints are attached to the interior of the waist on a shared gray panel. One which move's independently of the blue waist/crotch itself. This entire assembly can swing in and out of both sides of the waist allowing for maximum movement. Lining things back up perfectly can be a pain, but I will never complain about excellent articulation. All of these features add up to some incredible legs as whole.
The upper body, while not as dynamic, is sculpted beautifully. We get the traditional upper and lower torso pieces, the upper body on a "floating" joint Allowing you to rotate it within about a 90 degree range. You can basically get Gypsy looking directly sideways thanks to this joint. The reactor in Gypsys chest is also cast from a really nice clear orange plastic that can capture light very well, giving it a sort of glow. The ab section is attached to the waist so it won't move independently, but still looks great. On Gypsys' back there are some peg holes that you can plug his shoulder wings/binders into, to complete the basic look out of box just go ahead and throw them on. I actually really appreciate this upgrade to the design over the Danger. No more big dumb bulky shoulder and back armor, just nice streamlined shoulder blade protrusions. These remind me of many a super & real robot from the 80's.
Gypsy's arms to leave a little bit to be desired. In a similar fashion to the thighs, the shoulder joints are double jointed. There's a ball joint in the shoulder and one within the upper arm giving you an exceptional range of motion up and down. The issue lies in the way the shoulder pads have to maneuver between the torso armor and wing binders on the back. Depending on how far up or down the arms are positioned and where the shoulder plate is at the time, it can be a little difficult to give the arm proper clearance. Because of this armor you do lose the potential to extend the arms straight out to Gypsy's sides which is a shame to me. To the side you're limited to about 45 degrees, pointing forward the arms only get about 30 degrees of movement. Luckily a swiveling bicep helps alleviate some issues with posing. We also thankfully get a double jointed elbow, which is a by-product of the toys ability to swap forearm weapons. I should mentioned removing the forearms is quite easy to do. The wrists are the only other real letdown of the arms. The wrist guards block the hands just enough to impact the fists and keep them from getting in a few standard poses.
"And I'll form the head!" Gypsy Avengers head is the last component to touch on. As with the rest of the design, I find the sleeker version of Gypsy Danger's head very preferable. Avenger has a very super robot-esque looking head that puts me in mind of the occasional frame of Ginrai from Masterforce because of the small antennae protrusions on the side. Like the arms and legs, the neck is on a double ball joint. So you get movement within the chest and at the neck joint. And there's only minimal impact with any of the armor around the head to worry about.
Overall this is a very well balanced (in more than one sense) figure. Excellent articulation, combined with a fantastic design, and solid paint apps, and an unbelievable $20 price point makes this one hell of a great figure. The dark ages of NECA are finally over for Pacific Rim. I've included a shot with NECA's battle damaged Gypsy Danger for a size comparison as well so that you can get a sense of the size difference between the two lines.
Accessories
Accessories are a bit lite on the Robot Spirits Jaegers but Gypsy comes with just the right balance of items:
2 - open palms hands. I would have like maybe one more set of hands at least, like a pair to hold things, but these are fine. I do wonder why they're molded with the wrist bent back though. It can make the number of poses they're good for fairly limited.
1 - Chain Sword forearm. The classic weapon of it's predecessor, Gypsy Avenger of course wouldn't be complete without one of her own. It's attached to a replacement forearm that's very easy to install on the right arm. As with the other included weapon, Gypsy should really come with two of these. But if leaving one out kept the cost down to this very affordable introductory price, then I'm all for it. Sadly this arm is not compatible with Obsidian Fury's Chainsaws. It wasn't designed to be able to plug these on in a similar fashion to the film. Now I believe the Diamond Select toy of this Jaeger does include them but I don't plan to collect the DST releases either. I imagine there will be another Avenger Spirits release outside the upcoming Blueprint exclusive to rectify that at some point.
1 - Gravity Sling forearm. Though the Avenger does feature a successor to Gypsy Dangers Plasmacaster cannon arm, and technically this accessory can double as either arm weapon, it's meant to be the Sling. I appreciate the built in energy effect of this arm, and again, the ease with which you can install it.
That may not seem like much, but just taking in the sheer value in the figure alone and it's low low retail price, the accessories are really well balanced for it.
Final Thoghts
I'm honestly just floored. I really enjoyed the first Pacific Rim film and I wanted so badly to own good toys from it. But we all know how that went with NECA. The usual easily broken & frozen vinyl joints, the inconsistent paint applications, and frankly very poor articulation especially on the early releases. When it was announced that Bandai Japan had acquired the master toy license for this franchise I was overjoyed, and I have to say I am not disappointed. For their initial outing they've knocked it completely out of the park. As I stated above, this is the perfect balance of functionality & affordability. Robot Spirits Gypsy Avenger is a must own item for a fan of the Pacific Rim franchise.
Part 2
- Gravity Sling
- Chain Sword
- Big friends
You're fucking kidding me, these are only 20 dollars? Fuck me, I gotta import one of these for a friend
People can say all they want about the movie good or bad but Gypsy Avenger is a BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL. successor jaeger to Gypsy Danger. The design is simply nice and oozes an aura of "I am protagonist, so kiss my knuckles punk".
I really need to find this. Its affordability is a huge selling factor and it looks like it's working for them.
Hope they get to the first movie at some point too... While Avenger's not bad, Defender's still the Gypsy for me.
Honestly, I prefer the Saber Athena and the Guardian Bravo, but I'd still get this. $20-30 for a Robot Damashii is even better than the usual $40 or so for the Gundam Robot Damashii offerings. And the Pacific Rim ones are bigger!
Saw the movie today and I liked it a lot. So I need to buy this.
This figure is amazing, it was the first figure in a long time that convinced me I needed to get more figures from a line, and even made me tempted to grab th neca ons (but I'll wait and hope that bandai does movie 1 figures in the robot spirits line).
My biggest gripes are that the arms can't go into a t-pose, and that it's hard to move the shoulder socket joint that's inside the torso (though O have no idea if it's suppose to movs).
Keep reading: Robot Spirits Gypsy Avenger Pacific Rim Uprising Gallery - Page 2
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