Tag: battle break

Battle Break – Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of the Battle Break figures. Let’s see what the last few boxes bring us!

Here we have a Sphinx, Spin-X (スフィン-X):

Robo-sphinx! I love the design of this one, and he’s nicely painted. Looks like some of the green may’ve smudged a bit onto the middle of his wing by mistake. The colours work well together, and fit the Egyptian theme. 

Front:

Here his front is dominated by a large cannon. I like the ornate design on the end of it.

Back:

The bottom of his back looks a bit odd, with the way his legs are attached to it, giving to a strange, bulbous look. Back of his head looks OK. 

Ranch Lizard (牧場トカゲ):

A big one and a little one, aww. The overall design is reminiscent of a triceratops. The sculpting is decent, and the colour scheme works. 

Back:

More of the same. Paint looks OK for teh most part, but could do with a bit more dark paint on the brown part of the tail. 

Head:

Yup, don’t want to have this guy headbutt me. Thinking that’d hurt with that chitinous protrusion. 

So, if you’re a rancher, this is apparently the lizard for you!

Adams! (アダムス):

And now for something completely different… an alien beaming down! Loving the classic alien design. The colours work well together, and the sculpt is decent. This is probably one of my favourites. 

Side:

Here we can see the beam is translucent, and can just about see the alien through it. 

Back:

If you just want an alien craft beaming something down, this is the view for you. I think this figure has been well-sculpted and painted. 

And lastly, Waterline (ウォータリアン):

Here we have a water-based dude, with water protruding from his head. I like the colour scheme on this one too, and the purple parts seem to have been painted neatly on this one. The water on this one is a lot more effective than the foam stuff on the Horse Whale, and wish they went for more of this look on the Horse Whale figure. 

Side:

I like the design of his armour, and his watery hairstyle. The wave and foam have also been painted well, and it does look like a cresting wave. 

Back:

Yup, looks like a wave back here! Not too much to see, but the sculpt and paint are nice. Overall, I really like this one, but he is a bit hard to display so you can see him well due to the wave surrounding him.

With this set overall, I’m pleased with what I got. Some of the figures aren’t that great, but I think there is enough inventive designs here that they work as display pieces as well as game counters. Could also see these being re-purposed for another board game, if these characters fit the theme. 

Battle Break – Part 3

Three more figures from the Battle Break set. 

Starting with Horse Whale (ホシクジラ):

Yep. You read that right. Apparently this is a horse whale… Does look like a whale from this angle… but I’m not getting horse. There’s some foam added to the figure, but it looks more like clouds or ice formations. 

Left:

From the sides, it definitely looks more like a squid-whale than a horse-whale, with the squidlike appendages on its back. The foam has some pretty weird dark blobs on it, where it looks like the paint was incorrectly applied, which I don’t like. The creature itself has a nice design though.

Right:

I think the foam looks better on this side, but is still kind of ropy, and I’d prefer if it was waves instead of seafoam. The slots on the upper part of his head make it look like it might’ve been crossed with a submarine, and the regular spacing of the elements give it a machinelike feel to me. 

Back:

I like the patterns on the finlike protrusions on its back. Foam still looking kind of “eh” to me. I think the solidity of it is what ruins it mostly – if they used transparent plastic here, I think they could’ve achieved a better effect that wasn’t so solid. For a cheap figure it does the job, though. 

Overall, I like this one, and do like the creature’s design, but not so fond of the added parts.

Crow Teng (クロウ・テング):

Here we have a not-so-black crow. Which made me thing “eagle” prior to translating the name. Here we have an interesting battle pose, and a wandlike weapon, which makes me think this dude is a caster. Whichever, he’s a mean looking-dude. 

Right:

I like the sculpted texture on his body, but I think they’ve been a bit miserly with the light blue paint here, and it doesn’t highlight some of the key features, which makes look a little odd overall. I think the part on his leg could’ve been directly painted, instead of giving him a wash, and it would’ve improved the overall appearance. He does have a red beady eye, which is a nice focal feature.

Back:

Looks like he’s had a run-in with a tin of paint. Here the wash is VERY sloppy, and I kind of wish they didn’t bother. Makes it look like a statue in disrepair instead of acting as highlights. 

From the front, this a nice looking piece. From the other angles… not so much. 

Killer Panda (キラー・パンダ):

Vicious and cute. The colour scheme isn’t really befitting of a panda, but I do like the paint apps. The fading has been done well on his body, and most of the painted highlights are done neatly. They’ve even given him some grass to sit in. 

Left:

Paint between his parts didn’t get blended… oops. Looks a bit derpy from the side. We also have some paint chips, which aren’t great. 

Back:

His palms have been painted to match his feet, which works well. Faiding is done well on the back, so he looks good from this angle too. Just a shame about the paint chips on the left.

Overall, he’s not a very inventive character, but he is well-executed, apart from some paint issues on the sides. 

Battle Break – Part 2

More Battle Break figures! 

First one for today is One of Nine (ワン・オブ・ナイン):

A little ninja dude! I do like the purple-green colour scheme, and he also comes with a small piece of scenery. The painting looks OK from the front, but you can see some parts where they are a bit rough. 

Top-side:

Here, I think the grey parts of his helmet are likely intentional, but there seems to be a scuff on his shoulder, and uneven application on the outstretched arm. Arm blade looks decent though. His helmet has a suitably techno-looking plume on his helmet.

Left:

I do like the way they’ve got him running and leaning forward. Does make for an interesting pose. Here’s some more uneven paint though. 

Back:

His back is dominated by this ludicrously large ninja star… Not sure what he intends to do with it, but it does look cool! The sculpting and painting is nice on this part though. 

Bazooka infantry (バズーカ歩兵):

Fairly straightforward… a dude with a bazooka! Looks almost like some kind of golem, with him painted in green. 

Sides:

The sculpting job is nice, and the paint job is decent. 

Back:

The design of his suit does also give weight to him being a golem/stone warrior – the screwlike part makes me think more golem than human. 

Imo, he’s an OK figure, but not very interesting compared to the others in this set.

Aiai (アイアイ):

I love this cute dude… and certainly lives up to his name, with all the eyes… wondering if it should be translated as eye-eye. Whatever, he certainly has an eye on you! The colours work well together, and the painting is mostly decent, though there is a bit of wandering paint on its hair, in the middle.

Back:

No sneaking up on this dude! Big bit of stray paint on his lower left ear. Colour scheme feels well-balanced from the back too, and he is nicely textured in the sculpt.

Rather like this little dude. Don’t think he’s my favourite, but definitely like him more than some of the others. 

Battle Break – Part 1

and Another thing I added to an order on a whim – it worked out as £10.63 for 15 mini-figures

(would’ve been slightly less if the retailer didn’t screw with my order…), which is pretty cheap. These figures are supposed to be for a board game called “Battle Break” but isn’t something I’m going to play. 

Looking at the sides of the box, there were 17 possible figures, and I got 13 of them, which is a good innings for random-boxed items. 

First up, Lion King (獅子王):

This is the guy on the front of the boxes, and he does indeed look spiffy, though  he does lack lower legs and feet. I love the hair and mane parts, and I think the colour scheme works well.

Side views:

Ah, silly-sized weapons… gotta love ‘em. I think the design is pretty inventive, and I like the claw theme, which fits with he character. Here we get a good look at his hair, and I like the way it is sculpted. The eye adds a nice contrast to the rest of the figure. 

Back:

I do like the texture on his cape – has a rustic feel to it. Almost like a thatched roof type-thing. 

Overall, I think this miniature is nicely sculpted and painted. 

Leviathan (リヴァイアサン):

Here we have a green semitransparent dragon-y dude. I like the water effect included with this figure. What I like less is the super-obvious seam lines that don’t fit well. Not entirely convinced with the angles of his wings and head from this view. With him having a line of spikes on his stomach as well as his back, it makes it hard to notice we’re looking at the underside of his body here, which makes him look abnormally twisted until you look closer imo. 

Sides:

I really like the head of this figure – the shape and colours both look nice. There is a seam line on his head, but it is a lot less obnoxious than the one on his body and the wings. The translucent effect works well when viewing his right-hand side. 

Back:

Here I think his pose makes more sense. The coloration looks better on the back of his wings, but we do seem to have some of the sea colour creeping through on his right one.

Overall, and OK figure. Not my favourite. 

Lizard Magician (トカゲ呪術師):

Not a big fan of this brushed shading effect, but his sculpt is OK. The colours work, but aren’t anything special to me. The green ball came out well imo, and I like the design of his head.

Back:

Here we have a decent amount of sculptwork, though there seems to be some missing lines on his tail – we have indentations on the right, but not the left which looks odd. The back of his frills is nicely rendered though, and so is his spines. The other details are a bit “eh”. 

Overall an OK figure, but I don’t feel it’s anything special. Fine for Poundland fodder, lol.