I ushered anime figures out of my life about 2 years ago to make a commitment that I would no longer obtain any more plastic sculptures in the interest of acquiring larger model cars. Come 2 years later, a desire for statue had been revived through one online shop browsing session. During the past figure collection phase, Monster Hunter products have been a low-key interest of mine. What's amazing about fictional beasts are the designs that the illustrators come up with, and seeing those 2D (or 3D digital) works be translated into a physical form. The scales on a dragon make for an easy path for sculptors to capture plenty of details, and I loveeeee details. This is Barufaruku, or otherwise known as Valphalk in English or Sky Comet Dragon. I bought myself the variant version of the figure. Normally the character is entirely silver, but in Rage mode, parts of its body change colour. And to me, that extra layer of colouring is the extra details needed to pick this over the regular version.
Like any sculptures, there are limitations to what you can capture to its truest self. Those red flame-like liquid elements protruding from its wings are like the exhausts of its energy. Valphalk can use its unique trident-shaped wings like thrusters to travel at high speeds, can turn its wings around and shoot out fireballs at its enemies.
If you're reading this because you're looking for product reviews, the one big thing the regular has that this doesn't is noticeably blue eyes. Maybe it's the black layering that covered it up, maybe the blue just happens to stand out better on silver over the black, but you can barely make out the eyes with the Rage variant. This seemed to be the case based on the crude low-resolution product photos, and I can confirm it today. It is by the far the most outstanding drawback of this variant. Maybe I'll just touch in the eyes myself later.
What is nice is the touch of red on the back of its head. I've been noticing red accents here and there, and sometimes it was the reflection of my sweater I was wearing during the picture-grabbing. What I tend to avoid in any crafted object is when the painting merely does a single coat of paint. Sometimes it makes complete sense to do only a single colour for a plain-body figure (or car), but at the same time cheaply-made toys also look like this. So it was nice to see the extra work that went into this part.
I usually say that if you can't present it well, then it's better to aim for something where everything you present is at its best. Can't say I am blown away by the use of transparent material to create the impression of flames, but I sure as heck can't think of a way to make it any better.
I will admit a part of the reason why I liked this so much is how the movement of the flames flows with the movement of the wings. There is a sense of unity without creating blatant symmetry.
Some parts seen here still make me think $13 action figure. I do plan on detailing the base more to give it a further layer of texture. I can probably see myself adding a touch more black to the crevices between the scales.
And that's the base. It has a healthy amount of chiseled forms, as well as multiple brown tones to avoid looking completely flat, but it could still use more in my eyes. It has about 2 obvious layers, and I can totally see a third making its way in there. And it should. When you compare it to the dragon, you can see there has been less work done to it.
Lastly we end off with dark backdrops. I had envisioned something more different going into this... like black background, bright blue eyes staring deep into yours, lighting focused on the head, calm but serious, breathing like it's about to strike... I'm going to have to try at this again in the future. But alas, this is also good. Enjoy.
