Sci-Fi Revoltech #032
Legion
5 Inch Scale
By: Kaiyodo
$50 (price varies)
To say that the modern Shusuke Kaneko Gamera trilogy was massively different than the kid friendly 1960's Gamera films would be an understatement at best. If 1995's Gamera: Guardian of the Universe still seemed a little men in rubber monster suits for you, Gamera 2: Advent of Legion destroyed any preconceived notions about the genre and the character.

What is Legion? The film never explains too much, he's simply an alien hybrid thing that comes down to Earth and unleashes hell. Not in the typical giant Kaiju way, but in a much more visceral, the entire planet is truly in jeopardy way. Eventually Gamera defeats him, but not before Gamera is nearly killed and whole cities are literally obliterated from the face of the Earth.

The Gospel of Mark, 5:9, describes the following:

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

In short, Legion is badass in biblical proportions. Kaiyodo's Revoltech line seemed to be headed to the past, but now we're back to the more modern era with the release of supposedly the "biggest Revoltech yet" in Legion. It's an odd choice, in the sense that Legion isn't exactly a character that has a huge following, nor does he fit the typical action figure mold in any fashion.

Much like the character, Legion's figure is unlike anything we've ever seen in this line before.

Packaging:
By now you know that Revoltechs have nice collectible quality boxes. Legion's is no different in that respect, except that it's HUGE. At first it might seem that this is a similar box to the others, but it's actually almost twice the width.


There's a good picture of Legion on the front and usual assortment of stuff on the back.


The inside panel has plenty of details in Japanese. There aren't too many good shots of Legion in action, but then again, we didn't see Legion very well in the film because of the cityscapes he tended to be standing in as he destroyed them.


Legion is safe inside.


Comparing the boxes, it's still good for display, but it's gonna need a bit more room.

Sculpt/Paint:
We have a different sculptor for this monster, Watanabe Yuuki. Whoever they are, they've done an incredible job as I'm doing the same thing with this figure as I did when I watched film. Asking myself, "What exactly am I looking at here?"... I do not know!


Getting to look at a perfect small scale recreation of Legion like this, just lets me know how utterly creepy this character is. He's got all these bug traits, insect-like qualities and yet, some aspects like a crustacean or something too. He freaks the crap out of me.


Looking him over, I find myself noticing lots of things I never paid much attention to in the film. Like the fact that he has arm pincher things, coming out of his thighs. Whoever designed this guy definitely conjured up something from the stuff of nightmares.


That said, the sculpting and paint are superb. There's nothing left with any sort of bland detailing. Nope, this is all excellent.


He's just covered with little fibers and pods and crevices and other freaky areas. You know, like your great Aunt Edna!


There are a couple of neat translucent areas, which sort of glow when they catch the light right. That's cool, especially since his eyes and such sort of did the same in the film. It'd be even better if we could swap out the eyes for red eyes, but maybe that's just asking too much.


There's a little bit of everything in this guy.


The different colored Revoltech joints are not a flaw, as Legion actually had brown joints. It's a pretty genius way to work those in.


Scale wise he's okay. He works well with the Gamera 1995, but that Gamera trends a bit small. Kaiyodo actually released a smaller "to scale" Gamera statue to have posed with this figure. It's a statue though... And I don't buy statues. Plus it costs almost as much as a Revoltech, so whatever... I'm fine with him being a tad smaller than he should be.

Articulation:
Legion is super articulated. When I say that, I mean it. Basically every little piece on his body moves in some way. Most move in several ways. Everything is either a hinge or a Revoltech joint.


The amount of joints here is staggering. Mattel can barely get ball jointed shoulders into Megator and Tytus, but the Japanese can cram 58 moving parts into a Revoltech.


That said, he's not really that poseable. Say what? See, the thing with Legion is his design. He's not nimble. He basically just stands there, maybe lumbers around a bit.


So while he has 500 billion joints, you've only really got two or three variations of the same pose for him to do. Which is why I said this made for an interesting choice for a Revoltech figure.


And unfortunately, in a lot of ways, all the joints work against him. Each of his tiny arms on his head have three or so joints in them. Which means just barely touching it will cause it to move out of place. Multiply that issue by ten (the number of "arms" on his head) and you're in for some frustration.


Basically, you should get Legion into the pose you want him in and then don't mess with him. He's not something you're going to fiddle around with at the desk. I mean, you could, but it'll be tough to get him back into that beauty shot pose.

Accessories:
Because of his size, Legion doesn't come with much. At the pricepoint, that stings a bit.


Legion doesn't have a stand (not that it's needed) or any force effects. That's disappointing because Legion spent most the movie shooting shit at Gamera. But we don't get any of that. Legion does have the nameplate, if you need that.


GET THEM OFF!
What we do get is a bunch of the mini Legion soldiers.


They're actually quite detailed for their size. Speaking of their size... They appear to be accurate scale.


Honestly I can't tell you how small these guys are. I've picked things out of my nose that's bigger.


So while it's nice to have seven of them... They're not something you can just leave laying around. Also, why seven? What an odd frickin' number to pick!


The coolest accessory is the small flying Gamera. This one is different than the others we've gotten in this line. It's not to scale, I don't think. Although Legion is supposed to be huge.


It's got a great sculpt and paint work for such a tiny item.


And that's pretty much it. Well the stupid orange box, yeah, gotta have one of those.


Value:
Legion trends higher than any of the other Gamera Revoltech figures. Of course, he's also one of the newest figures and he's rather large. Most of his size comes in the form of length, though and his accessories are a bit light. Truth be told, this is only for hardcore Gamera fans or someone who just wants a strange creature on their shelves.


Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 10
Paint - 8
Articulation - 8
Accessories - Name plate, 7 Mini Legions, Flying Gamera, Orange Box
Value - 7
Overall - 8 out of 10


Legion gets a mixed 8 out 10 here. On one hand, he's absolutely perfect in the sculpt and paint department and it's hard to complain about the articulation because it's NOT bad articulation. It's not like, stupid articulation that Toy Biz would cram on a figure. It's good that these things move. However at the same time, they don't add a lot to posing and having to fidget with 97 limbs can be a bit daunting.


If you love Gamera or just want to complete the collection, then pick this guy up. Otherwise, he's actually probably worth a pass. This is not the figure you want to make be your first Revoltech.