Formerly Brandon Heat, Grave was once a high ranking and trusted member of the Millennion leadership. Gungrave opens shortly after his resurrection, fifteen years after his death. Throughout the game Grave's past is told through the use of flashbacks in the form of anime cutscenes as Grave recovers his memories. Grave is a silent protagonist, receiving his mission and carrying it out without a word. As a result of his transformation into an undead soldier, his body must be sustained by periodic blood tranfusions or else he becomes weak and his body will collapse. [source: wiki]
Now from Inflames Toys comes this 1/6 scale The Cowboy from Hell action figure who looks a lot like a 1/6 scale Grave figure from the Gungrave video game. The words read "I am back from the hell just for you. When all over I will be back to the darkness. B. Heat" It can't get any more clearer than that.
Beyond the Grave carries a tremendous (though technically small, as it is not the size to hold a body) metal coffin on his back which contains a variety of weapons that can be only used as special attacks. Grave can also use the coffin to strike nearby enemies, and if timed correctly deflect projectiles fired from a distance, destroying the enemy that fired them.
The manner in which Grave carries and uses the coffin bears a strong resemblance to the cross carried by the wandering priest Wolfwood in Nightow's manga series, Trigun. It is also directly inspired by the 1966 movie Django in which the main character carries a coffin with a Gatling gun inside.
The Coffin contains all of the same weapons as the trio of Mariachi in Desperado, which Grave (at the beginning of each mission) retrieves his handguns from like El, has a missile launcher (in which he strikes the same pose when firing as the Quino) and the Gatling / machine gun that Campa held.
Cerberus is Beyond the Grave's twin handguns, named for the three-headed hound of Hades. Grave has an unlimited amount of ammo with these, and never has to reload. If the player allows Grave to stand still during a fight, he will begin to target and shoot every available target on screen without looking.
This is certainly a different kind of figure from what we are usually used to seeing and it has a lot of Japanese influence in the look and feel. While Gungrave was given moderate ratings due in most part to its short length and minimal replay value, the anime stylings of creators Yasuhiro Nightow (of Trigun fame) and Kōsuke Fujishima (of Oh My Goddess! and You're Under Arrest fame) gave the game a very distinct and unique look and feel that impressed many critics.
Gungrave (ガングレイヴ Gangureivu) became a Japanese animated television series based on the video game of the same name, created by Yasuhiro Nightow. The series is directed by Toshiyuki Tsuru, from a screenplay by Yousuke Kuroda, and produced by Madhouse Studios. Gungrave aired on TV Tokyo from October 6, 2003 to March 29, 2004, totaling twenty-six episodes.
The Coffin is very elaborate and is quite an accessory ;p lots of stuff inside and out. Scroll down to see more pictures of this incoming Inflames Toys 1/6 scale The Cowboy from Hell 12-inch figure which is obviously inspired by Gungrave.
Certainly not a run-of-the-mill figure and one that truly stands out against the flood of Batman, Iron Man and Terminator action figures. Let Hot Toys and Enterbay duke it out for the coveted prize of champion of those three done-to-death lines with repeats and repeats of 1/6 scale Christian Bale, Tony Stark and Arnold Schwarzenegger head sculpts while the other companies concentrate on producing and releasing more unique and fun figures for collectors like us :)
Why pay good money for Hot Toys / Enterbay's ultra-detailed figures with extremely fragile parts that in the end stay in the box or are taken out but posed little because one is afraid to scratch the paint, break some small part or do anything more that would cause the supposed value to drop?
I would rather buy a figure that I can play / pose with and have lots of fun and enjoyment out of it without worrying about its high cost / price and end up just taking it out, making it stand (very carefully for fear of it falling and breaking some part) and then putting it back in the box or display. With Hot Toys and Enterbay price points, I can buy two figures instead of just the one with little or no accessories.
But hey, that's just me and everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion :) And since this is my toy blog, I am entitled to express my opinion hahaha
But seriously, go out and buy a figure that you like that is NOT made by Hot Toys or Enterbay (God forbid NOT Medicom) i.e. not expensive and play with it, pose with it, re-pose it, take pictures of it and admire it and see if you cannot get some enjoyment from it without having to spend lots of money for it.
If you buy a toy or action figure in its box and keep it in its box (plastic prison) without ever opening it, taking it out and admiring the work that went into making it, then what's the difference if the toy / action figure stayed on the toy shelves at the shop where it was before you bought it? I understand some people have limited display space but I believe they still take the figure out to admire it before putting it back into the box for display later when they finally have more space opened up :)
If I cannot wait to open the box, then I probably shouldn't have gotten the figure in the first place and it should have stayed in the box and remained at the shop. That's how I gauge how much I want the figure ;p and HOT TOYS increasing prices have really made me reconsider every figure they put out.
Companies like Inflames Toys, Phicen, ACI, DAM, Soldier Story, DID, Art Figures, Foxbox Studios etc are providing me with the fix I need because they give me stuff that is value-for-money, FUN and totally enjoyable.
Scroll down to see the rest of this upcoming Inflames Toys 1/6 scale The Cowboy from Hell 12-inch figure and the crazy amount of details they have put in as well as the beautiful accessories included.
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