Now onto EVA-02… in beast mode. Decided to go for this one over the normal EVA-02 as it is a much more interesting look to it. 

So here she is outta the box:

Grragrarrrgghh. I love the cores popping out of its back, and the hunched pose. Though working out what to do with the feet was a bit problematic. It doesn’t pose very easily imo, and feels a bit of a strain to get it looking good. I love the paint on the legs, and the overall beastly look. 

Close-up of the face:

You can leave the blood off the top of its head, and there is a picture on the box, including the issue of doing so – you’re left with an odd, flat bit and a hole in the head that doesn’t look good if the top of its head is showing. 

Here we can see some of the sloppy paint – a white dribble on its chin, and some orange creeping out from underneath. Overall, there’s a few lines that aren’t neat here, giving the overall painting a bit of a scruffy look. The jaw does move though, so it has that going for it. 

Another effect for the head:

This one is a little awkward to get into place,  but looks cool once done. Fire! 

From the top:

Gives a good feeling of motion, and the paint jobs are done nicely on these effect parts imo. 

Left:

I think the hunched-over part of its back has been done very well, and I love the blending of colours here, plus the shape. You do get a sense of the inorganic giving into the organic. Looking at that arm in the foreground, I am definitely seeing some wandering grey paint. Also a paint chip on its back – recessed part, near the reflection. There are a couple of paint chips, and the paint feels like it could be easily chipped. It’s part of why I’m not so happy with these Evangelion figures – they’re not finished to a high standard, which doesn’t make them look as good as they should close up. It leaves me kind of frustrated, as there aren’t many options for articulated EVAs, and they’re figures I feel work well with articulation. I like the size of these too – you can fit a few in a display, unlike my model kit EVA-01. 

Right:

Still liking that blood splatter from the head – at least I think it looks good on the figure. The colour blends look good on this side too. Also we have the equipped “claw” – I did have both equipped at one point, but needed to remove the other as it was getting in the way of photos. 

Close-up of the “claw” swipe-lines:

These are supposed to be giving the hands motion, to show The Beast clawing at things. I think they kind of work. However, putting them on the hands is a bit of a tricky challenge, but once all four fingers are in, they stay on OK. I think it’d be cool to have two EVAs fighting, and use this effect. 

Back:

Here we get to see the cores closer… and that damn scratch. I’ll just keep looking at the cores/rods… yeah.. I like them. 

EVA in the box:

Now for some first impressions time… I love the way the figure was presented in the box – the pose looks really good and certainly looked good when it was boxed. If I saw it in a shop, I’d definitely pick it up and look at it, even if I didn’t know Evangelion. And now for the other thing… a bunch of large accessories, and no small ones. No spare hands, no extra arm parts or anything like that… but you do get a blood splatter for if you tear its arm off! Or a part of your choice! I do like this idea, and is worthy of losing some accessories for this one. However, the swipe claws I would’ve liked to see something else tbh. Some more hand poses could’ve been interesting – maybe something with the fingers outstretched and the thumbs flat/backwards, for posing in a crawling pose. The dirt smash accessory I could take or leave – I think it’s a decent idea, but I just don’t like the look of this splat. 

Overall, a bit of a mediocre figure. I still love the design of it, just the execution could’ve done with some more work, as it feels kind of half-baked. I can’t really see this one going up much in the aftermarket, but I think it’s decent enough.