Tenjho Tenge Gashapon Part 2

Product Information/Specifications

Introduction

Kaiyodo & avex mode teamed up to make a long product line for the Tenjho Tenge Gashapon series.  Each series was released a month at a time.  There are a total of three parts & each of them are different.  This is part 2 of the gashapon lineup.  This set contains five figurines.  The design for this lineup is mini action figurines.

Some of the pictures aren't clear & good.  If I have time, I'll redo the bad ones & repost them.

The Review

Tenjho Tenge Part 2 Figure Paper & Paste Board

The set contains of 2 Maya Nastumes, Chibi Maya, Aya Natsume, & Emi Isuzu.  For ¥300 a piece, you would expect above average gashapons; especially from Kaiyodo.  I believe the design of this set holds true to its retail price.  I think this is a first for Kaiyodo to do mini action figures in a gashapon product & this is a first in the gashapon market.

The assembly work on these figurines were a bit of a pain in the rear.  Because it uses a ball-peg system for the joints, some of the piece didn't fit in snuggly.  I had to really force them in.  I had concerns about the pegs breaking off, especially the waist areas.  Assembling the heads on was difficult too.  Some of them require the back hair pieces to be put on first, then the head afterwards.  At times, they didn't hold in place well.

All of the figurines, except Chibi Maya & street clothed Maya, come with a base & you really need those bases!  They can't stand on their own, especially if you want them to do some medium to high kicking poses.  I found the school uniformed Maya to be hard to put on her base.  Because there are joint movements on the ankles, she swings to her heaviest side easily.  She fell down many times already.

The joints that allows articulations are the elbows, knees, ankles, legs, head, & waist.  For some figurines, the hands & hair can be moved.  However, the articulations are very limited.  Looking at these gashapons, they look similar to the FLCL Haruhara Haruko action figurine I had which was made my Kaiyodo.  I think Haruka's design was used for these gashapon figurines, but improved.

As for extra accessories, only the teenage Mayas have them.  The street Maya has extra parts of the Renki.  You can change it from its sheath appearance to its blade.  Both teenage Mayas come with an extra pair of hands.  They are not pictured here since they are put away & I didn't feel like taking them out.  Nothing to really say about those parts anyways.

Another thing to mention is the size of these gashapons.  They are quite small than average.  I think it's because of the capsules they are packaged in.

Blades of death

The details done on these gashapon figurines aren't bad.  I think it's safe to say it's much better than Part 1.  Looking at the Renki, the paint job is good.  No noticeable huge bleedings, but has some unevenness.  Isuzu's daggers are done well.  Very smooth paint job; better than the Renki in my view.  As you can see from the pics, they are all bent.  This can be easily fixed, but I'm too lazy to do it.

For the clothing, the details were pretty much the same or a bit better than Part 1 which was good.  Very minor paint bleeding & unevenness.  The blade sticking out of Isuzu's arm is very good in detail.  The other clothing on the girls don't need to be explained since they are mainly 1 solid colour.  As a side note, the mini skirts of Isuzu & school uniformed Maya "fly" up due to the chi energy they are producing from their feet (the base).  However, only Maya has panties while Isuzu is wearing spandex shorts.  I guess this is a downside for people that like those panty shots.

The bases have chi energy forming parts you use to decorate.  I must caution you that some of them are quite sharp.  The chi parts didn't appeal much to me since they were so small.  The one Maya has is really strange.  Bandai makes a better job out of this department with their Naruto gashapons.  But, I never really like those things anyways.  Since we are talking about bases, look at why Chibi Maya doesn't need one in the pic above.  The back part of her kimono looks longer than how kimonos are.  Thus, giving her some stability for most of her poses.

The faces of TenTen's most popular girls

I'm not too fond with the face designs, but they look better than Part 1.  These ones are more mature looking & somewhat is closer to the manga designs.  I really like how much detail was put into them & how sharp it looks.  The eyes aren't too bad, but the paint seems a bit on the heavy side; especially the black.  I didn't like Chibi Maya's eyes much since it looked more on the mature side & almost didn't fit her child body appearance. The hair of all the figurines are transparent colour molds which is quite a nice touch.

Overall Conclusion

Tenjho Tenge Part 2 is quite an interesting set.  Not only are the details done well, but the idea of making gashapon sized action figures is really good.  I believe these are the prototypes to K&T's (Kaiyodo & Takara) Dead or Alive Trading Figures.  They have the same design, but it looks like DOA have a better articulation system than this gashapon set.  Plus, I think they larger in size.  I had TenTen Part 2 in a display case with parts 1 & 3 together.  But I threw them away when I tried to sell them away & ended up breaking some of the figurines due to some joints being stuck together for a long time.

Out of ten, I rate this set an eight.  The paint & detail work was excellent & the design idea was a driving factor.  Problem with this set was the limited articulation you could do with it & the joints being a bit either on the loose or hard side, especially the ankles being loose. 

If you want to get TenTen Part 2, chances of finding it can be slim.  I have seen some Hong Kong sellers selling this set for a low price, but beware.  Some, or else most, of them are bootlegs.  If you look closely at them, even with the pics shown, they are missing a few joints.  One area of interest are the legs. They are only moveable at the hamstring area.  No ankle or knee movements.  I would advise you to stay away from those due to the very limited movements, regardless of how cheap they are.

Photos were taken using Sony DSC-F828 digital still camera & HP scanjet 4470c scanner.

Last updated on May 27, 2008