I just had the chance to take a good long look at a Kotobukiya Juggernaut statue in person today and I have to say, I wasn't as impressed as when I saw all of your photos of it. Here are my thoughts:
Pros:
- This thing is HUGE!
- Musculature is highly detailed
- Good overall paint application
Cons:
- I hate that he's looking down. I had to crouch and go eye level to appreciate the statue more.
- Helmet is removable. Yes, that would be bad. Especially if the guy's face is so unpleasant that you can't unsee it even if he has the helmet on. I get that Erick made Juggy's features exaggerated so that you could still appreciate them even when the helmet is on, but man...that face.
- There's something wrong with the anatomy of the torso when you look at it from the side. It's just too wide. He also doesn't have any neck muscles at all. His huge pectoral muscles makes it look like he's wearing a suit of armor too big for him, but when the helmet is on it's not noticeable and is not so bad.
- Musculature needs to be toned down in areas where he's supposed to have clothing on. But I've observed that Erick Sosa almost always does that to every statue he makes so I guess that's just his style. I'd still prefer it to be toned down though.
- Base's paint looks dull.
- The shades of brown that they used on the chest part and stomach part of the suit are too close and therefore just wasn't distinguishable from each other. It ended up looking like he was covered in one shade of brown. Although, I really liked the gloss on the pants and the color and texture of the boots.
I know that it really depends on the collector's taste but I just thought that it looked better in photos than in person which is not good, for me. All in all, the negative things about this statue overshadowed the good things that I saw. That, plus the fact that it was commanding such a high price in my LCS made me decide not to buy it in the end.
On the flip side, I think I might be able to score a Bowen Action Juggernaut. Fingers crossed.
PS:
Koto and Erick Sosa fans, don't hate. I'm one of you. I just wanted to be truthful and not sugarcoat anything.