Akira & Miki Tribal Fusion double-pack – Devilman

Been wanting to buy this for some time, but with it being marked as SAL parcel only, I ended up waiting until I had another SAL parcel item I wanted. This turned out to be Urara, so I added this to my order.

Here they are, out of the box:

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The table isn’t part of the set – this was bought at a car boot sale, around the same time as this parcel arrived, but it made the perfect place to display the book. Miki does currently lean a bit – these sets are a bit prone to the plastic bending, so it’s not a big surprise that there’s some bending for a set made around 2000. The interesting colours attracted me to this set – Miki’s shiny outfit and Devilman’s translucent red body. 

Let’s take a closer look at Devilman:

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The translucent body is kind of nostalgic to me – reminds me of old kid’s toys of the late 90s/early 00′s where translucent plastic wasn’t uncommon. However, this I think is far better done that other items of that era – the sculpting is good, and the varying translucency gives it a better look. 

Also the flame pattern on the bottom of his trousers – that’s definitely of another era! 

Left:

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His muscles are well-sculpted and show well, especially given the translucency. His trousers also have cuffs, showing the detail put into this figure. 

Right:

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Here we can see the metal accessories have unfortunately gone a bit rusty over time. Isn’t too bad though. Tattoos on his arm and neck look good. Oh, and he’s leaning a bit too. Is a bit of a theme of these Fewture figures. 

Back:

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Here we have his pants disappearing into his backside… Not sure I’m a fan of that look, but the flames on his trousers are looking rad. Neck does look a little overlong from some angles. 

Now for Miki:

Here she is, bending to her left. Her outfit is very shiny and pink. She also has copper hair to complete the gaudy look. I like the fact her nails are painted, but her hand angles are kind of awkward for posing. 

But what’s that pattern showing through the see-through skirt?

A little skull. Interesting choice of underwear there, Miki! 

Left:

Here we see her backpack, which was separate in the box. It sits OK on her shoulders, but looks  a bit odd from the side. Might be possible to reduce the issue with some heat and careful bending. The book will fit neatly in her backpack. 

Right:

Her boots are nicely painted, but it would’ve been nice to have a bit more accent painting, such as the recess in the sole. Love the little skull detail on her armband. This picture shows off the glitter in her outfit quite well.

Back:

The backpack has a nice silver accent, and has a smooth and solid opening and closing action. Here we can see some creasing in her skirt, but nothing but copyright info on her stockings. 

Alternative head and mask for Devilman:

This head can be used if you wish to equip the mask onto Devilman. 

Book:

For such a small item, this book is very nicely detailed. I do like this addition to the set, and seems a shame to store it in Miki’s backpack. It looks great on the table I bought though! 

Overall I’m happy with this set. I can see this being a polarising set, with the very distinctive look. However, I enjoyed this recolour more than some others I’ve seen, due to the distinctive and nostalgic look. Overall, I’d recommend the Fewture figures to action figure collectors, though be prepared for them to lean forward a bit – they do bend with time, and the stands only have one peg, which doesn’t help with standing the figures up. Also the limited articulation that older figures have – no ankle-rockers here.