Up for review are Mega Man, Proto Man, Guts Man, and Magnet Man. I was unable to locate Bass as of yet, and I had no intention of buying the red Mega Man variant. So, here we go:

Packaging - ***
Basic packaging- shows off the figure, and looks half decent doing it. Nothing to write home about. It’s not bad packaging, but it’s not terribly great packaging. Decent photo of Mega Man blasting his arm cannon, at the top, you can see the figure clearly. All in all, decent. It’s not the type of packaging that’ll stand out from everything else in the toy aisle, but if you know what you’re looking for, you won’t have a problem with it. Another reason I gave it the score I did- it’s generic packaging…I probably would’ve GIVEN a higher score for more individualized packaging.

The back of the card shows all 6 currently available figures, against a nice background. Nice layout, though I wish they’d also have thrown in shots of the deluxe figures, available. But regardless, still decent.

Sculpting - Mega Man ****, Proto Man ****, Guts Man ****, Magnet Man ****
Now THIS is what I’m talkin’ about! All the figures are BEAUTIFULLY sculpted, taken STRAIGHT from the source material. They look EXACTLY the way they’re meant to. Literally, I’m just at a loss for words- they ARE that amazing! I don’t know what more there IS to say about the sculpting, really.

Actually, there IS one minor thing worth saying….I believe in the cartoon, Guts Man IS a bit bigger and bulkier than Mega Man, including him being a bit TALLER- I don’t think they succeeded in this particular incident with the figure, but otherwise, I’ll overlook it JUST THIS ONCE cause I just REALLY like the job they did on him.

Paint - Mega Man ***½, Proto Man ***½, Guts Man ****, Magnet Man ****
Well, it looked like it was already running away towards absolute perfect, right? Well, not quite. Here come the paint ops. Overall, I’m very impressed. For the most part, the paint ops are overall very nice on each figure. They look JUST the way they’re supposed to on the show. Give it to a kid, he won’t notice a single flaw….then there’s the oh-so anal nit-picky collector, the likes of you and I…yeah…you’ll notice it…there IS some paint bleed. It’s minor, but once you first notice it, you notice a bit more. Like I said, it’s not a major thing, but it’s something you can’t AVOID noticing.

I found some paint bleed where Mega Man’s helmet and his face meet, as well as his shoulder pads, and INCREDIBLY miniscule on the lines on his sides. Again, not much of it, but it’s there. 

On Protoman, the paint bleed is quite noticeable on the chest area, and the sides of his face where his helmet meet look a bit rough.

Here’s where things get better- on Guts Man, and Magnet Man, while it’s there, it ISN’T as bad…at least not as bad on the ones I got. There’s some on Guts Man’s shoulder pads, and I really didn’t see much any else of it. 

Magnet Man, I could barely find any of it on there. It’s ironic- the one figure I was least thrilled with because of the way he looks on the show, and THAT’S the figure that I get the best paint job on…go figure.


One minor note about Mega Man’s paint op I DID think well worth the effort to address: I wish Mattel would have maybe darkened his facial features like his mouth, a bit more…when you’re the anal nit-picky collector, you want to make sure they did it right, and you don’t want to shove your figure under a light-up magnifying glass to do it…and yeah, they did it right, otherwise. :)

Paint Wash - Mega Man ****, Proto Man ****, Guts Man ****, Magnet Man ****
Once again, I’m BEYOND impressed! Just the right amount of paint wash was used on the figures, and they come out looking great! Once again…I just don’t know what more to say! 

So in light of this, let’s move on to….

Articulation - Mega Man ***½, Proto Man ***½, Guts Man ****, Magnet Man ****
Mega Man has neck, shoulders, elbow, wrist, waist, thigh, and knee articulation- that’s 12 points of articulation. VERY impressive…so why not four stars you ask? Maybe I’m not being fair, but after learning about the Japanese versions of these figures, I figure they could’ve at LEAST given us ball-jointed arms and legs. Otherwise, I love the articulation. I think Mattel did a GREAT job on it, overall.

Proto Man has neck, shoulders, elbow, wrist, waist, thigh, and knee articulation, as well. And due to the way his body is made up, it actually works better for him, slightly, IMO, than for Mega Man. 

Guts Man has neck shoulders, elbow, ONE wrist, waist, thigh, and knee articulation- that’s 11 points. So what, you may ask, happened to the OTHER wrist? A-HA, but you see, HERE is where he makes up for the lack of accessories! Much like Mega Man’s arm cannon, Guts Man has an action feature built right in- he can fire off his left arm! I don’t really see the overall point to it, but it’s definitely a nice feature, and definitely, IMO, makes up for the lack of accessories.

Magnet Man apparently SHINES in this department. In the cut joints department, he has shoulders, elbow, wrists, thigh, and knee articulation. Now here’s where it gets good- he has a ball jointed HEAD and WAIST! It’s about time Goust’s NetNavi came roaring back with SOMETHING! :D

Accessories - Mega Man ****, Proto Man ****, Guts Man ****, Magnet Man BUPKIS
Mega Man comes with a set of interchangeable hands, his arm cannon w/ projectile, a wide sword, and a Battle Chip that can be used for a separate electronic PET device. I think the inclusion of the Battle Chip is a neat idea for the kids who want to use the PET handheld device. I don’t know too much more about it, so I can’t comment much more on it. But otherwise, I think that’s a nice array of accessories.

Proto Man comes with a set of interchangeable hands, a long sword, a wide sword( much like Mega Man‘s), and a Battle Chip.

Guts Man comes with only his interchangeable mallet hand accessory, and a Battle Chip. So why did I give him four stars? What he lacks in accessories, he sort of makes up for in another area, but I’ll get into that later.

Magnet Man comes with his Battle Chip, and the two polar ends of his magnet body, which in my opinion are a poor and pointless attachment, though I AM glad I got them with him. This figure isn’t all that exciting as it is, so I’m not overly thrilled with getting nothing WITH him, except the Battle Chip.

Value - ***1/2
I paid $7.99 for each figure. Considering the current market prices and all, I think I paid a decent amount. Personally, I’d have preferred them to have been about a buck or two lower, but in all honesty, $7.99 a piece was overall worth it to me.

Overall - ***1/2
Yeah, I really WAS impressed with these figures. Considering the pricing, beautiful sculpts, and all, these figures are definitely worth the buy. Of course, you do realize this advice IS coming from a HUGE Mega Man fan, so you may not see it that way, but I wouldn’t hesitate on buyin’ em if I were you- they really ARE that good. And if you’re only gonna get three from the 6 available, make it Mega Man, Guts Man, and Bass- I don’t know why, but something about Mega Man and Guts Man just REALLY blew me away over all the others. As for Bass, he just looks that phenomenal on the card back, so I’m thinking he’s probably just as cool. As for whether or not they’re in scale with the other Mega Man figures released to date, I couldn’t tell you, cause I’ve never bought them, nor would I likely ever, so in all honesty, at least regarding American figures, stick with these, for now. For those desperate to know, however, how in scale they are with OTHER figures, pictures at the bottom of this review regarding that. :)


YA HEAR THAT JAZWARES?! IF MATTEL CAN DO THIS WITH MEGA MAN NT WARRIOR, WHY CAN’T YOU DO IT WITH MEGA MAN, OTHERWISE?! C’MON, HERE! SAME APPLIES TO YOU, BANDAI, WITH ASTRO BOY! C’MON! ‘B-)