Remember when I talked about how Good Smile didn't make an Inuyasha Figma but Kagome did? Yes, they did not make a poseable action figure for the titular character. I know Japanese merch always favors female characters, but what kept them from making a figure of Ol Mutt Face himself? Was the outfit going to be hard to do despite it being comparable to Goku, whose numerous figures had baggy clothes that can still retain their look in spite of added articulation? Anyways, 13 years after Inuyasha: The Final Act came out, Dasin Model remembered the iconic anime protagonist and made a seemingly legit yet surprisingly unofficial figure of Inuyasha. So sit, boy; we're going to review what we should have had back in 2010.
Here we have Inuyasha in-hand. This figure uses cloth goods rather than sculpting his outfit in plastic. I personally never felt sure if I would be a fan of this approach; I never grew up with the Mego line, and I do find the approach works much better with the Hot Toys line than I do figures in this scale. It's just the doll-like compromises that make him feel less compelling than a statue or poseable figure. Sure, he has a body underneath all those cloth goods that is more poseable than the average Mego or Barbie doll, and I could see it being inspired by the articulation that Mezco uses for their Marvel and DC characters; it's just something you'd call an acquired taste. Given how puffy Inuyasha's design sort of looks with those robes, this may have been easier to with than compromising him with articulation cuts. To his benefit, the stitching is generally good on him, and the size of it at least fits his character design better than on most figures with cloth goods. While his hands are swallowed underneath his huge sleeves, at least his feet are visible AND don't make him fall over too easily.
His head sculpt takes a few cues from the Ranma Figuarts by adding a bit of a shadow in the tops of the eyes, and I appreciate how the hair has a bit of paint applied to make it appear less plasticky. I believe the lighting adds an effect where it fades from white to grey at the bottoms in a naturalistic look. I also dig that the ears are painted with the pink underneath to simulate the skin. His accessory trays include a yelling face, a happy face, two different demon faces, a collar-like item known as the Beads of Subjugation that Kagome uses to control him, his Tessaiga sword in sheathed, regular, and enlarged forms, and 10 pairs of alternate hands. He also comes with a display base with two necks and claws each in different sizes.
The articulation on this figure isn't as hard to calculate as much as I anticipated, even with the cloth goods. He has a ball joint at the head and one for the neck, shoulders on rotation cuffs a la McFarlane's lines, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, wrists on rotation and hinge joints reminiscent of Figuarts in general, a double diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh rotation, double jointed knees, and ankles that swivel, hinge, and like my concerns on this figure's cloth goods going from hesitant to relieved, pivot.
The stitching seems to hold up so far on my copy, though I still recommend being careful with this figure as you would with any action figure that uses cloth goods. Same thing for the swords; they're durable and undoubtedly non-kid friendly compared to the flexible materials most mass retail companies use for their action figures, so be sure not to snap them! I like that we got him either in a neutral stare, yelling, or laughing, though a smirking one would be neat.
As for the demon faces, they appear almost similar at first, though the one in the pic on the left is staring off at one direction with a growling mouth while the other one is a bit more neutral. They're still a neat way to let you simulate those rare moments when Inuyasha became corrupted and was saved from this transformation when Kagome's love kicks in. Certainly a way to contrast the tone of this series compared to the rest of the Rumicverse.
With the faces and both parts of the hair being removable, and the locks on ball joints, I kind of wish there was a optional human Inuyasha parts to represent when he was under the influence of the New Moon, giving him black hair at the cost of his dog demon powers. Would have been a great way to simulate that brief yet memorable look with the way the head is assembled, no?
Of note, my copy's flight stand can't work properly. The base's peg holes are so tight that it's leaving me wondering what the hell is wrong with the pegs. Meanwhile, the figure turned out to stand fine enough without any aid, so I guess it's a bonus for anyone who lucked out.
Here he is behind fellow Rumicverse characters Lum Invader and Ranma Saotome. Did you know both male Ranma and Inuyasha share a voice actor in the form of Richard Ian Cox in the US dubs as well as Kappei Yamaguchi in the Japanese originals? As for Cox, he also voiced Goku but he is not from the Rumicverse but you'll see him in another review after this! This figure is taller than both the Figma and the Figuart, what with Inuyasha being 1/10 scale and the others being 1/12 scale. Inuyasha is 5'6", male Ranma is 5'7", and Lum is 5 feet; with that logic, Ranma should be slightly taller than Inuyasha while Lum should not be that short in comparison. Honestly, this figure turned out a lot better than I anticipated. I was happy to see a fully poseable Inuyasha figure after Figma only made Kagome for some reason. Very strange when you consider who's the titular character in the series but I digress. Dasin Model's Inuyasha is an unofficial item so you'll have to find this at any site run by Chinese sellers, or at least get a legitimate eBay seller in that country to help you for any aftermarket deals. Good luck.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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