D-Arts Classic Mega Man/Rockman Review

With Bandai already having released a slew of successful D-Arts figures from the Mega Man X series, the next logical thing to do would be for them to step into the regular Mega Man series, right?  Thanks to Mega Man’s 25th Anniversary being this year, we finally have a D-Arts figure from the classic series, but it might not be what you were hoping for.  Unfortunately, Mega Man himself just doesn’t cut it as a figure, but thankfully Rush and Met are there to pick up a few of the pieces.  Check out below for the full review on the Blue Bomber!

The first thing I noticed when I got Mega Man out of the packaging was how small he was.  I knew from previous information that he was going to be smaller than the X versions, but this guy is freaking tiny.  Now I can see why Rush and Met were included to help justify the price.

Although he’s tiny, this Mega Man actually looks pretty damn accurate to the games and art.  I’m a huge fan of the original Mega Man designs be Keiji Inafune, and this is no exception.  The colors are amazing, the faces look great, and the sculpt is phenomenal.  The head is pretty well articulated on a ball-joint, so kudos to Bandai there.

I was actually pretty impressed with Mega Man’s shoulders, too.  While they’re obviously damn small, Bandai still managed to pull off the same amount of articulation that you find typical in an S.H. Figuart by using the same joint.  He’s also got a bicep swivel at the top of the elbow joint.

While the elbows are decently articulated, I think like a lot of the figure, they’re just restricted due to the size.  I think Bandai did great with what they were working with, but it’s just a little too difficult to try and get some good poses with the arms, most notably the infamous one with Mega Man’s hand bracing his Mega Buster.  The hands plug into the wrists via ball-joints, so no issues here.

Mega Man does have a couple articulation points in the chest and the waist for some swivel and bending action.  While the waist joint seems to be the most movable, it’s still nice to have that little added bit in the chest for some twisting poses.

Where the figure kind of falls off the deep end is in the lower body.  While the hips are actually pretty well done (once again using a smaller version of a joint you find in a typical Figuarts) they’re really the only good part about this section.  There’s no thigh or knee swivel to speak of, and the knees don’t have the great est amount of articulation.  While the feet/ankles do have some articulation, it’s not even close to the amount the X figures have.  There’s only a tiny bit of front to back movement and ankle rocking movement, and every time I gave the foot a push to be rocked to the side, I felt like I could break something. I mean come on, Bandai, it’s the year 20XX for crying out loud.

Thankfully, this package comes with some pretty badass accessories.  Of course, everyone’s favorite Reploid dog, Rush is included, along with a Met, the Mega Man series’ cannon fodder, as well as some other accessories for Mega Man.

Honestly, Rush is my favorite part of the whole package.  I really only thought he might have a few articulation points and be more of a statue, but I was pleased to find out that he’s more than that and is decently articulated!  He’s got swivels on his shoulders, standard hinged elbow joints with a little swivel movement, ball-jointed feet, a ball-jointed head and a movable tail.  Pretty damn awesome in my book.  Met doesn’t have much going on, which is expected, but his helmet is removable to give the illusion he’s underground.

Other included accessories for Mega Man are: 3 faces, two pairs of hands, a Mega Buster for his right hand, a normal arm for his left, and an effect part w/ Mega Buster adapter.  While everything seems to be working pretty well for me, I did have some issues with getting the effect part to stay put in Mega Man’s left gun.  The weight of it kept giving me problems pulling out the tip that holds the effect in the gun.

Overall, I can’t really recommend this toy to everyone.  While it’s cool to finally have a D-Arts Mega Man from the classic series, and even with Rush, this just doesn’t seem worth the price unless you’re a huge Mega Man fan.  I wouldn’t say this is as big of a fail as Terry Bogard for the D-Arts, but it’s definitely not as good as the Mega Man X D-Arts.  There’s no doubt that this version of Mega Man looks great, but he just falls too short of being a good figure in my opinion.