Asuka + flying for no reason = look out Shinji
So I guess I only do an Eva strip every time a Rebuild movie comes out.
Which means it’s that time again, and coincidentally it was also my birthday, so my wife got me a Revoltech figure of Asuka Langley-Sohryu Shikinami, because she knows I have this thing for Asuka. I cannot help it! It’s not my fault! She’s just too awesome. This is just the way of things.
This is a figure of her new plugsuit that she wears starting halfway through the film (no additional spoilers here). On the plus side, there is additional orange. I love orange. On the downside, apparently the orange is like a translucent torso window. I was about to type that somebody in NERV loves fourteen year old girls a bit too much, but then I realized the Internet would implode from the sheer unrivaled obviousness.
The best thing about this Revoltech figure, really, is the little box that it comes with that you can store all of Asuka’s extra parts in. Oh my god that’s so wonderful. I lose accessories like people lose skin flakes. The parts kind of have to settle in just the right way for the lid to close, but it’s certainly a far cry better than just having to keep the packaging tray forever to store all of the tiny hands.
In addition to all of the extra hands, Asuka also has two additional faces. This would be most excellent, except the face I would like the best, the angry shouting face, doesn’t really look like such when you plug it into the back of her cranium and slap her bangs back on. See, the bangs cover up her eyebrows. In anime, usually the eyebrows are drawn through the hair, eliminating this visibility problem, but this is a three-dimensional object. With the eyebrows covered up, it just looks like she’s happily shouting. That’s her wearing the angry face in the suspended-by-the-display-arm image, for reference.
She's on the phone with 2002 Destro.
Another difficulty is how the hands swap out. I really have no idea what I’m doing with most of these pieces. Some of the extra hands have the wrist-joints connected to them, and some of the extra hands have to connect via an extra wrist piece. On top of this, there are two different sets of wrist-cuffs or whatever to place over this set-up like a washer. Why is this done this way? I do not know.
The actual figure is great, of course. It’s a Revoltech figure, and so it’s a big pile of ratcheted joints. That’s what Revoltechs do best, is be a big pile of joints. Hell, even the hair is jointed. It splits up into three parts, so you can have it fly in the breeze however you please.
Thanks, wife!
The wife and I still need to find the time to see Evangelion 2.22 together. I have seen it in English, as Asuka sounding like anybody other than Tiffany Grant is just wrong to me, but Maggie cannot stand any English dub of anything. This is one of the few things in which we are incompatible. So when we get some time I’ll have to brave through the English subtitles. Which is fine by me, since it was a pretty crazy/awesome movie that I don’t mind seeing again.
I have a relative who refuses to watch the English dub of anything. This incls things that were originally recorded in English. She will hunt down Japanese dubs specifically because she thinks that they’re always better-acted than English.
And no, she does not know Japanese.
Man, I hope Tiffany starts wearing this plugsuit to cons now.
Am I the only one who at first glance thought it was one of those weird ‘anime girl’ figures DC does, representing Firestorm?
I’ve never understood that considering how often the Japanese voice acting is as bad or worse. Granted, some things show their age badly ( BGC, Slayers ) but my only real complaint is it seems like the talent pool used for most dubs is just too small and doesn’t have enough range.
Depends on the series. Most US Dubs tend to have worse acting. Much worse. But it is likely not the Voice acting alone. There are often all sorts of edits, terrible music etc.
Unless you’re watching something aimed at kids on broadcast TV, major edits and music changes are pretty rare these days.
Well, yes, some of the stuff aimed at Kids is quite good.
Or do you think TFA is aimed at Adults? XD
The first time I saw the “Advanced Fanservice” plugsuit, I thought it had to be from some porny fan-comic. But no, it’s official.
I look at stuff like this and go “really, guys? Really? This is what we’re doing now?” At least when Anno was trying to suck us down into his nihilistic doom-pit, he wasn’t this… crass about it.
http://twitpic.com/4jlqet
But no, I have a hard time buying that the original Eva was less crass about fanservice. There’s a scene in the TV series where it’s literally just Asuka in a two-piece, groping herself and talking about her boobs getting bigger.
Plus in Rebuild, Shinji doesn’t touch his clone-mom’s boobs every fifteen minutes.
Shinji masturbated over a comatose Asuka.
Case closed.
Okay, so I’m wrong and Eva always has been (and apparently always will be) completely fucked up. Got it.
Hmmm, yes, I can see the not liking dubs point. A lot of those are terrible. Like the Digimon Dub. But not just english dubs in some cases. Japanese Beast Wars Dub is terrible aswell. And I really can’t get myself to watch the German Dub of Animated…
I actually have found myself watching a lot stuff in the Original Language lately.
Dubs are almost a necessity for stuff like Dead Leaves (the sub is horrible because it’s completely serious anyway) and Redline. Unless you’re some kind of AWFUL person who doesn’t give a shit about animation.
I do not understand – what’s the problem with subs and animation?
Though, I virtually always watch my anime alone, and when I do I keep handy that ‘instant replay’ button so as to be able to catch anything I may have missed, due to reading the subs or anything else, so I may be an exception case. If I couldn’t do that, I’m not sure I read fast enough to watch subs – even though I find them preferable in virtually all cases in practice, and absolutely all cases in principle.
I’d rather hear gunshots coming from my kids’ elementary school than Evangelion’s English dub.
I almost exclusivly watch subs, but Evangelion is one of the few dubs I actually like.
The problem I have with dubs is they have about a dozen total actors who play every role and can’t emote. When I watch subs, I can, you know, hear emotion in the voices.
Ghost in the shell is one of the few series i’ll always watch the dub of if possible(well except for the stand alone complex amlgam movies since for some stupid reason funimation didnt hire the usual cast and as a result its doesnt sound right), as the english cast just sounds better than the japanese ones to me, pretty much every other anime show i’ll try to watch subbed though if only so i dont hear the same 3 people over and over.
Revoltech?
should have gotten the Figma.
@KaGAmi, nope i live in Australia and we have an event called reel anime in cinema’s like the dendy, and i watched redline,summer wars king of thorn and both eva movies on the big screen subbed. And let me tell you it was absolutely amazing, there really is no comparison hearing the japanese dubs in comparison to the english ones. Eva is a rare case where the english dub’s arent awful, but even myself and my friends who went to the event growing up with the english dubs and only subsequently watching the subs (the dubs actually initially put me off eva but im a rare case) admitted the japanese subs were much much better.
You only think that subs are better because you’re impressed by anything that you have difficulty understanding.
I’m flexible with the sub/dub thing. If it’s something as visually stunning as Evangelion, I don’t want my eyes to be constantly pulled to the bottom of the screen. And I say that as a fast reader. But if I’m watching something live action – recent perusals of Swedish movies “Let the Right One In” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” come to mind – I like letting the actors keep their own voices and keeping the subtitles on.
I like watching dubs with subtitles turned on and watching characters communicate the same idea through two wildly different phrasings.
(I wish I could do this with Pretty Cure.)
I love watching Hong Kong movies with subs. It’s great fun whenever a character speaks English and the subtitles say something totally different, because the English subs are always translated from the Chinese subs.
“DO NOT WANT”
I demand a comic of Asuka communicating with 2002 Destro!
MARS Industries and NERV; a merger made in Hell.
Which is subsequently interupted by SG Ravage pouncing in, waving then sharing the ‘deets in tweets for all da peeps! Lol!
- a_o_t_8.
Evangelion is one of the few anime that I can watch dubbed or subbed, only because I saw the dubbed version first. Usually, the Japanese versions just sound more “correct”, and if I see one subbed first, it never sounds right in English. I suppose it’s because the way characters emote just seems to fit better. Works that way for Godzilla films, too.
I generally prefer subs, because the Japanese voice actors are usually better. English anime voice actors are usually terrible, though as it’s become a bigger business this is changing. Cowboy Bebop is one of the few series where I’d say the English dub is better than the original. And I have a soft spot in my head for Robotech, but that’s fueled by pure nostalgia.
I almost broke with a friend over lisening to dub, I cant imagine how would be to have a girlfriend (least a wife) who wouldnt read subtitles, or who is a fan of dubing, or worst a fan of english dub (English usually dont care for good translations cause now everything is in english).
If I was in the cartoonist wife position I would ask for divorce
Asuka created my hatred for this anime standard, I think. The standard where “high school boy” is constantly tortured by “horrible BITCH high school girl” and never says a friggin’ word about it. I mean, if she’s a bitch, then that’s who she is. Cools. I also know Shinji is timid ‘n such…it’s just that, you’d think he’d have a breaking point a little sooner with how much she slings the BITCH-BOMBS. I mean, back when I watched the show in high school, I could see a lot of Shinji’s faults in myself but DAMN, boy, stand up for yourself and SLAP that bitch sometimes! Good lord.
The problem, I guess, is that I got tired of it in Eva, and then I saw that convention used in countless animes afterward. The Japanese just have a friggin’ hard-on for the bitch who doesn’t let up and complains about every single tiny, little thing that even slightly bothers them about the main guy character – then the reaction the guy has is just…dead. Nothing. No reaction but “WHAAA! OH NO I FELL ON YO BOOBS!”
The funny thing is that it wasnt a convention until Evangelion did it. It became convention because NGE was a huge success and everybody ushed to rip elements off and tap into some of that $$$ (or rather ¥¥¥).
Eva wasa inversion of a lot of then-prominent anime clichès. Instead of the “average” protagonist surrounded of a harem of hotties who inexplicably are all in love with him, he’s surrounded by hotties who are indifferent or openly hostile to him. Instead of a kids getting to pilot giant mechs being a heroic adventure, it’s throwing child soldiers into a war zone.
Well, to be fair Shinji does snap at her, eventually. Seen the scene in End of Evangelion when he strangles her?
Ugh, that stupid suit. Nevermind the obligatory scenes where there’s a close up of a 14-year-old’s ass. This movie has some great qualities, but it would have made my year to not have the fan service in it. Hope the next movie isn’t as ridiculous that way.
so.. is NERV hiring?
Srsly you just brought up an excellent point, I was WONDERING what it is that doesn’t look right about a lot of figures, and that’s it.. lack of transparent fringe!
The Evangelion dub is meh. Spike Spencer and Tiffany Grant don’t know what “subtlety” means.
The Rebuild dubs are a little better than the TV series dub, at least.
Man, your name links to a site with “otaku” in the title. How can I take your assessment seriously? It’s like an anti-He-Man tirade posted by somebody from Skeletor.com.
Well, to be fair, Orko’s voicing of Rei WAS pretty atrocious.
Brina Palencia in this recent movie was pretty decent. I think overall it was a huge improvement over the series dub. Funimation has had a pretty good track record recently.
Wait, Funimation? As in, Dragonball Z with “HFIL: thc Home For Infinite Losers” because you’re not allowed to say “hell”? A good track record?
Have I landed on Bizarro World?
Apparently the company that censored “hell” for afternoon television is the same company that now repeatedly drops the f-bomb while putting robots on crosses and drawing nipples everywhere.
Gwalla, that was a network limitation. The second they started dubbing for cable (or direct to DVD), they went MUCH less childish. Basing your entire perception of a massive localization company on something they were FORCED to do back in the 90s is… bizarre.
Dude. I love this figure. I got this and a figma from my Girlfriend for our anniversary. I was so geeked. Also, the Japanese version of the movie is interesting, Kaji trying to speak English is funny as hell.
In the specific case of Eva 2.22, your wife is in the wrong. Kaji and Mari have the most PAINFUL Engrish you’ll ever hear outside of Black Lagoon. You don’t want to be laughing at this movie (with it sometimes sure) or worse, groaning at it. Also, the dramatic finale is much better in English, the Shinji actor puts some feeling into it. Don’t get me wrong though, Gendo in Japanese is quite good and Mari has a good VA in the original when she’s NOT speaking terrible, terrible Engrish.
(Misato is also waaaaay better in English, the Japanese VA is too cutesy for her character/background/skills/personality).
*sigh*
I hate the new plugsuit, but I hate what the movie did to Asuka’s character even more. It reduced one of the most complex and interesting individuals in anime down to some bare archetypical traits and fan service. Obviously, she didn’t have enough screen time to be fully fleshed out anyway, but it’s like the writers went out of her way to make her generic and poor.
Awesome comic. I really liked that scene from 2.(whatever version preferred). I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the new Eva stuff myself. Also, I’m with those who see that figure and say “AWESOME!” Good stuff.
Subs? Dubs? I have no opinion: never seen an episode in my life… yet.
I’d toss out that old line from “Dazed and Confused” or the saying “it’s okay to look at the items on the menu…” but then I’d sound weird and might end up on that website Randy Milholand’s old chum was trying to show him to due false pretenses.
So, is the transparent orange really see-thru plastic for the figure over top of her chest & bra? Or are you saying its an animation only thing? :/
And that creepy looking doll accessory! Whoa! :O WTH?! Can you plug some of Asuka’s extra hand into it and make it choke other figures or what?
On the figure, it’s not actually translucent, but it represents something that’s translucent in the animation.
Ah. Okay. Gotcha. Thanks. My eye sight must not be doing too well due to the BlackBerry fuzzing up the pics when I try to zoom in…
Woulda been neat if it did have translucent plastic but still *is* a cool looking figure, none the less.
Good score, bub!
Only figure I’ve got is Black Lagoon’s Revy ( http://img142.imageshack.us/i/0rv01204ir8.jpg/ ), so maybe I’ll get her Asuka for a “sparing partner.” Cheese knows she has a few weapons to spare! Har!
I was going to say that you were a bit early for destroying the Internet in 2012.