Review: Play Arts Kai Cyborg Ninja

A friend of mine helped me pick this guy up from the comic store in downtown. It is the Play Arts Kai Cyborg Ninja from the Metal Gear Solid series. I've been waiting for this figure to come out for a looong time and I finally have it in my hands.



My first impression of this figure right out of the box: DISAPPOINTING!

The paint apps on this figure is incredibly bad. It reminds me of Hasbro's Marvel Universe line (at least the first few waves). But this big guy here was $70 so I was definitely expecting some cleaner paint apps. From the outside of the box, it is hard to tell because of the reflection of the plastic cover on top. But there are a lot of paint blotches, paint runs, poor panel lining, paint marks all over the figure.

Let's show off the ugly of this figure...

One big blotch on his chest...


On the insides of his legs...


And the outside...


And the back...


And his back...


As you can see above, you can tell I was pretty disappointed with this figure especially since it was $75. The first Play Arts Metal Gear figure I bought was the Sneaking Suit Snake and his paint apps were much cleaner and he only cost $50. With the price increase, I thought at least there would be some improvement. But it looks like Square Enix is going down the path of Hasbro; lower the quality and increase the price to maximize their profits.

Although as I messed with the figure more, some of the initial disappointment started to rub off. After all, he is a Ninja AND a Cyborg, what's not to like? Especially since I just saw this character while playing Metal Gear Solid 2 last night! (same suit but different characters)

If you can forget the poor paint apps (just think of them as battle damage), he is not a bad figure.


There are a lot of fine details all over his exoskeleton suit.


He only comes with a few accessories though, the sword and the hand that needs to be switched out to hold onto the sword.


And a gun that can be switched with his arm.

Another issue about this figure is that he is very hard to balance. I had to use a stand on several of these pictures just to get him to stand up without falling.


Overall, I think this is an okay figure. If I had to give it a rating I would give it 3/5 stars. The biggest issue with this figure is the poor paint apps, especially at this price range. I mean, if it were only several small spots here and there, I'd understand since everybody makes mistakes right? But the mistakes are all over this figure which is unacceptable in my opinion. The only reason I would give it a 3/5 stars is because I love this character and I am a big fan of the Metal Gear Solid series. If you are not a fan and just want to pick up this figure because it looks cool, I suggest you pass on it.

Although this maybe just an isolated incident, maybe it was the last figure of the day and the painter just wanted to get home so he/she rushed through it. If you want to pick up this figure, I suggest checking the paint apps as carefully as you can before buying it. I didn't think I would get such poor quality from Square Enix so I figured it would be fine for my friend to pick it up, but obviously not.

Now that he is in my display case, he looks pretty good...from far away LOL

See the paint mark on his chin? =(