Tag Archives: Uma Thurman

#0496: Kill Bill Minimates – Masters of Death

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

BEATRIX KIDDO, BILL, HATTORI HANZO, & PAI MEI

KILL BILL MINIMATES

“I’m calling you a killer. A natural born killer. You always have been and you always will be.” – Bill

I didn’t see Kill Bill when it was first released. In fact, I didn’t see Kill Bill for several years after it was released. On the outside, Quentin Tarantino’s movies never really appealed to me. But then, Diamond Select Toys got the license to make Minimates for a few of Tarantino’s films, Kill Bill among them. And, seeing as both parts were up on Netflix, I figured it was as good a time as any to watch the movies. And I really quite enjoyed them. The first two sets in the Kill Bill Minimates line were firmly based on the first film, specifically its final scene. While I certainly enjoyed the first movie, I think the second is the stronger of the two, so I was happy to see that the third set would be delving into that movie. So, let’s see how this set turned out.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The third set of Kill Bill Minimates is officially titled “The Masters of Death Set.” Unlike the previous two sets, it isn’t based upon a particular scene or sequence from the movies. Instead, the theme of this set is the Bride and the three men who helped her hone her skills as a killer.

BEATRIX KIDDO

Okay, spoilers: the Bride’s name is Beatrix Kiddo. Bam! Mind blown, right? This is the second figure of Beatrix in the line. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation, although most of the leg articulation is rendered inert by the skirt. The first Bride figure was based on her look from the first movie’s climactic battle with the Crazy 88s. This one is based on her look from the second half of the second movie, which includes the sequence where she fights Bill. It’s not quite as distinctive as the yellow tracksuit, but it’s an important look nonetheless. Beatrix is constructed on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for her hair, jacket, and skirt. The jacket is a reuse from the Marvel Minimates Series 22 James Rhodes, which is a pretty great leather jacket piece. The hair and skirt are both new. The hair seems a little on the bulky side, but it’s not terrible. The skirt is pretty accurate to the source material; the details aren’t the sharpest, but they’re decent. Beatrix’s paintwork is overall pretty clean. The colors are nicely matched to the source material, and the leather jacket is appropriately shiny. The sash on her skirt piece shows a little bit of bleed over, however, it’s nothing too severe. The detail line work is all very sharp and clean, and the face has a passing resemblance to Uma Thurman (I thought the last one was a bit better, though). Beatrix includes her Hattori Hanzo sword with a scabbard to match, a handgun, a spare set of sleeveless arms, and a clear display stand. The sword and scabbard, it should be noted, are the same as those included with the first Beatrix, which means the scabbard is still upside down.

BILL

So here’s the guy the Bride was out to kill. It says so right in the title! Bill is presented here in all of his Bill-ish glory, depicting the character as he appears in his scenes at the end of the second movie. Though, to be fair, Bill looks about the same for pretty much all of the second movie, so this figure works for just about all of his appearances. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall, with 14 points of articulation. Bill is constructed on the basic Minimate body, with add-ons for his hair and jacket. The jacket is the same basic suit jacket that DST had been using since way back in the Back to the Future Minimates “Enchantment Under the Sea” Marty. It’s a good, standard suit jacket, so the re-use is certainly warranted. The hair is new to Bill, and it’s a fairly decent approximation of his hair in the movie. It’s sculpted with some rather nice fine detail work and the bottom has been handled in such a way as to not impede articulation. Bill’s paintwork is pretty good. It’s sort of a subtle sort of a paint job, that looks pretty basic at first glance, but actually has quite a bit of detail. His jacket has the proper detaiing at the top, which could have easily been overlooked. His shirt is also fully detailed, with wrinkles and such, and you can even see some of his chest hair. The best part of the paint is definitely the face, which is a pretty great likeness of David Carradine. It’s very definitely Bill. Bill includes a Hanzo sword, a revolver, a bamboo flute, and a clear display stand.

HATTORI HANZO

Hattori here is the only figure in this set who hails from the first movie. That being said, his role in the first movie is pivotal to the second, and he and his work as a sword maker are brought up quite a lot in the second film. So, he’s definitely not out of place here (although being pretty much the only genuinely good person in the set does make him a little out of place). The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and sports 14 points of articulation. Hattori is based on his appearance when he first meets the Bride, while working in his sushi restaurant. He uses the basic body, with add-ons for his headband, sleeves, and the lower portion of his robe. The sleeves and lower robe are both fairly standard pieces that we’ve seen many times before. They are well chosen and do their job admirably. The headband is a new piece; it’s a fairly straightforward piece, and it captures the look from the movie nicely. Overall, the figure’s paint is pretty good, but there’s one rather annoying issue. The figure’s skin tone on the body is appropriately warm and lifelike, but for some reason, the skin tone on the head is more gray. It doesn’t look right, and it clashes with the rest of the figure. Other than that, the paint is nice and clean, and the figure has some wonderful detail line work. Hattori includes one of his own swords and a clear display stand.

PAI MEI

Pai Mei is an intriguing character. He’s a very important character to the story, but his role is entirely in flashback. By the actual time of the movie, he’s been dead for some time. He also portrayed as a positive figure in Beatrix’s life, while at the same time being one of meanest characters to her in the movie. Seriously, she’s treated much better by the people who are actively trying to kill her. But, he’s key to her training, and, more specifically, her defeat of Bill. This is Pai Mei’s first Minimate, but it’s the second Minimate his actor, Gordon Liu, has received for Kill Bill. His other character, Johnny Mo was one of the Crazy 88s featured in set #2. Pai Mei is about 2 ½ inches tall, with 14 points of articulation, although, just like Beatrix, the leg articulation is restricted by the sculpted parts. Pai Mei is constructed from the basic Minimate body, with unique forearm pieces, as well as add-ons for his hair, beard, and the lower half of his robes. The robe piece and forearms are re-used from the Marvel Minimates Series 52 Mariko, and they are definitely a reasonable re-use. The beard and hair are both new to Pai Mei. They are decent pieces, though the eyebrows could stand to be a bit more distinctly separate. As it stands now, he sort of looks like he’s got a very strange haircut. Also, on my figure, the left strand of hair was stuck between his head and his torso, causing it to be misshapen. It can be fixed pretty easily, but it’s still annoying. Pai Mei has pretty good paintwork. The black/white contrast is nice and bold, and there’s plenty of fine detail work. Pai Mei includes his distinctive staff and a clear display stand. I do kind of wish he’d had a spare beard piece that could be held, but oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Godzilla set, I got these four from my very favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. I was fairly excited for this set. It’s nice to have a Bill for Beatrix to… uhh… kill. And, Hattori is one of my favorite characters from the movie, so I’m definitely glad to get him. The one thing I will say about this set, is that it and the next set feel like their release order has been reversed. This set featuring both Bill and the final battle version of Beatrix kind of makes it feel like it should be the final set. But, as long as they all get released, it doesn’t really matter in what order they’re released.

#0315: Kill Bill House of the Blue Leaves Set

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

THE BRIDE, O-REN ISHII, SOFIE FATALE & GOGO YUBARI,

KILL BILL MINIMATES

KillBill1a

My love for Minimates is no secret. They are, without a doubt, one of my favorite toylines. I am such a fan of Minimates that I sometimes buy Minimates from movies I’ve never seen. In some cases, I’ll even go so far as to watch the movie, as a further excuse to buy the Minimates. That’s kind of the case with today’s Minimates, based on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Based on the fact that there were going to be Minimates, coupled with a recommendation from a few friends, I finally got around to seeing the movie. And then I HAD to have the Minimates. So, here they are. By nature of some of the pieces and details in the set, this review contains SPOILERS for Kill Bill Vol. 1.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The first set of Kill Bill Minimates is based on the battle at the House of the Blue Leaves, the climactic battle from Kill Bill Vol. 1. The set includes The Bride, O-Ren Ishii, Sofie Fatale, and Gogo Yubari. The cool thing about this set is that it’s entirely made up of female characters, which is a pretty serious rarity for not just Minimates, but toys in general.

THE BRIDE

KillBill1bThe Bride is the main character of Kill Bill, though not the title one. In the first film she just goes by “The Bride” until her name is revealed at the very end, so the Minimate is just “The Bride” as well. The Bride is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on the character’s yellow jump-suited look during the final battle in Volume 1, which is in turn based on a similar outfit worn by Bruce Lee in The Game of Death. She makes use of the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a brand-new hairpiece. The hairpiece is well sculpted and does a nice job of translating The Bride’s hair from this point in the movie. Most of The Bride’s details are handled via paint apps, which look great. The black detail lines are all nice and cleanly applied, and the Uma Thurman likeness is superb. The Bride is meant to represent her mid-fight with the Crazy 88s, so in addition to the basic jumpsuit details, she also features quite a few blood spatters. The spatters are all really well detailed, and they seem to line up pretty much perfectly with the stains from the movie. The Bride includes her genuine Hattori Hanzo sword and a scabbard to match, as well as a clear display stand.

O-REN ISHII

KillBill1cO-Ren is the first person on the list of people she has to kill before getting to the eponymous Bill (though she’s actually the second person on the list we see The Bride kill. Yay flashbacks!). She serves as the primary antagonist of Volume 1. O-Ren is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation, though the skirt renders the leg articulation mostly useless. O-Ren is depicted in her white kimono from the final battle at the House of the Blue Leaves. She makes use of the base body as a starting point, with long sleeved lower arms in place of the standard ones, as well as add-ons for her hair and the lower portion of the kimono. The kimono pieces are re-use from Mariko, released in Series 52 of the Marvel Minimates line. They’re basic, but that works pretty well for the desired look. The hair appears to be a brand-new piece, and it accurately represents O-Ren’s look in the movie. O-Ren’s paint apps are nowhere near as complex as those seen on The Bride, but they’re not bad. The kimono details on her torso wrap all the way around, plus she has full detailing on her feet. Her face is the spitting image of Lucy Lui, who portrays O-Ren in the movie. One issue, which I am certain is exclusive to my figure, is that there’s a slight malformation of the hair, which has been painted with a flesh tone, making it extremely obvious. It mars an otherwise great figure, but it’s nothing a quick dab of paint can’t fix [EDIT: an astute reader has pointed out that this spot is more likely meant to be the flower present in O-Ren’s hair in the movie, meaning it’s not a mistake at all!]. O-Ren includes a sword with a scabbard, as well as a clear display stand and an alternate hairpiece, depicting her…final moments.

KillBill1d KillBill1e

SOFIE FATALE

KillBill1fSofie Fatale serves as O-Ren’s right hand woman. She’s also one of three people to make it out of the fight at the House of the Blue Leaves alive, though she certainly doesn’t come out of it unscathed.  She stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and sports 14 points of articulation, but once again the leg articulation is constricted by the skirt. Sofie is presented here in her gray-blue dress from the fight at the House of the Blue Leaves. It’s not the most interesting look, but it’s in keeping with the rest of the set, so it’s a good choice. She’s built on the usual body, with a basic long skirt add-on, as well as a new hairpiece. At least, I think it’s new. It looks sort of familiar, but I can’t find any previous uses of it. It’s a well sculpted piece, and does a nice job translating Sofie’s tightly tied back hair. Sofie ends up with the least painted details in the set, with only some basic work on her face, the front of her torso and her shoes. Everything seems to be pretty cleanly applied, which is good, but it’s not the most exciting Minimate. Sofie includes a cellphone and a clear display stand. Yep, in a set full of swords, she gets a phone. I do kind of wish we had gotten some sort of wounded arm accessory, just to spice the figure up a little, but oh well.

GOGO YUBARI

KillBill1gGogo is O-Ren’s personal body guard. She also happens to be a Japanese school girl, and is one of the most ruthless characters in Kill Bill. Which seems about right for a teenage girl, if I’m honest (I kid). She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Gogo is depicted here in her schoolgirl outfit, which I believe is the only thing she’s ever shown wearing, so there. She makes use of the standard Minimate body, with short skirt and hair add-ons. Both pieces ore re-use. The hair is from the TRU exclusive Gwen Stacy from the first Amazing Spider-Man, and the skirt I believe originated on BSG’s President Roslin. Both pieces work well for Gogo, so it’s a good re-use. Gogo’s paint apps are quite nice. They aren’t quite as clean as those on The Bride and O-Ren, but they aren’t bad, and she has some tremendous detail work on the skirt, which is plaid, and the jacket, which has faint pocket lines. Gogo includes a flail, which I believe is a new piece, a clear display stand, and an extra head with blood running from the eyes to depict her death scene. It’s kinda cool, but also a bit morbid, which seems right for the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this set was initially announced, I wasn’t really all that interested. It just seemed a bit boring. However, once I actually sat down and watched the movies, I was immediately eager to get this set. Initially, I just wanted this set for The Bride, but actually having them in hand, I think the whole set is really worth the purchase. This is probably the definitive version of The Bride, plus you get O-Ren, who’s pivotal to the first movie, and Gogo, who’s just kinda cool. Sure, Sofie’s not the most interesting Minimate, but she’s not terrible. Add to that the impressive paint apps on all of the figures and the cool extra pieces, and you’ve really got a winning set!