*Reported earlier by Dennis.
The coating of the joints seem to be made of real fabric. ^^
Yamato announced that it's currently developing a 1/24 scale Patlabor Ingram Unit 1 action figure, which is scheduled to be released by winter 2008. The completed figure will stand 33cm tall. No information on the price yet.
Ingram Unit 1 is the lead mecha in Patlabor. For the anime, although there were OVAs and at least three theatrical version, I only watched the TV series so far. The first time I know of Patlabor was on TV when I was in primary school many many years ago. Back in those days when robots and huge mecha were all that mattered to me, I didn't really enjoy the story because the fight scenes were too little in several of the episodes I watched, and most of the action was with a not-so-cool stun baton anyway. ^^;
Of course that was many years ago. When I got to re-watch the entire series again not too long ago, my opinion about the anime was totally changed and I really enjoyed the drama and the characters in the series. While the major plot line of Patlabor the TV series is about Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2's fight against Griffon, majority of the episodes are about the daily work of those policemen, which can be watched without following the chronological order. As a matter of fact, the story of Patlabor is actually very humorous. What more can you say, when the villains faced by our police heroes in the series include unknown wild beast, military Labor, ancient dragon, huge crocodile and even ghosts! XD
Anyway, back to this 1/24 Patlabor action figure. ^^; Currently Yamato's website is running photo review on the features of this action figure:
The visor can be lifted to protect the main camera. No more part swapping as seen in the MG version (for the entire face some more).
Plenty of details for the body unit: headlights, windscreen, cockpit hatch in the neck area, and even slidable pilot seat - can be lifted close to the neck, or sank into the chest.
Individually movable fingers! And retractable forearm...
... used for its signature move - grabbing the revolver from its leg.
Details of the backpack - not much difference as compared to the MG version, but there's a panel which can be lifted to show the recharger slot (?)
Functional wire grappler! o_O
A different material is used to make the bottom of the feet to allow the figure to stand more firmly when displayed.
"Screws" on the shield to attach it to the forearm ^^
The stun baton's retractability has been implemented. It's a feature not available in the MG version.
The Revolver Cannon is another major attraction: movable hammer and trigger, even the cylinder can swing out, and you can load bullets into it.
Really sophisticated ^^
As with the MG version, the revolver seems proportionally small as compared to Ingram 1, but such design is for it to fit inside the leg container though.
Looking at the details so far, I believe this is the best Ingram figure at the moment. Hopefully the price won't be too high for Patlabor fans to grab this as Christmas present. ^^
All images from Yamato Secret Section:
- Part 1,
- Part 2, and
- Part 3.
On the other hand, Wave have come up with their own action figure of Ingram 1 in a much smaller scale (1/48), smaller than the MG version as a matter of fact. Made of ABS, PVC as well as some die-cast parts, the price is quite expensive - 12,600 Yen (inclusive of tax). All the screws used for the joints are carefully hidden to emphasize on its sense of realism. It will be available in Late November.
Images from Amiami.
