Ah... Junglevet. When the promo pictures of the Retail Exclusive Adventure Kartel were released middle of 2011, this figure immediately caught my eye. The weathered green camouflage suit with the white "corporal rank" arrow decals across the chest worked for me. I liked the fact that the left hand was painted to an EMGY yellow, while the right hand seemed to be a pale Deep Powder white. The promo pics also showed that the head had a blue base with yellow highlights, much like the Deimos colour scheme...
Alas, for the actual product, the right hand was changed to a brownish colour scheme with red highlights on the index finger and thumb. I don't think it is a change for the better, but I don't think it is motive enough for one to want to bash Wood about. There isn't much in this figure that is original, as it is really a kitbashed sum of parts of earlier figures that were released by ThreeA. The head, base body and boots were from the original Ankou, who's traded their iconic clamp-hands for hands with articulated fingers, belonging to the WWRp Armstrong. He carries a pistol, borrowed from Bleak Mission. The pistol was probably designed for Bleak's sculpted hand, which has tinier fingers that could actually fit into the trigger guard. Good luck trying to fit Junglevet's index finger in though, cause either the pistol or the finger is going to break. They're just not designed for one another... so Junglevet can never fire his pistol, and can only hold it in "safe" mode with his finger out of the trigger guard. Lame.
So what's new for this release is really the boiler suit, slightly modified with a hood. The hood does change the look of the original Ankou significantly, and I'm glad that a wire has been sewn into the trimming of the hood, so that the hood opening becomes "poseable". Unlike the wire in Hot Toy's Superman's cape though, this one you can definitely feel the thickness and the wire's ductility. I must say the hood complements the Ankou's head very much. Ankou's head is like a small version of the Nabler (or the Nabler's a large version of Ankou's head...? I'm not too sure which one was conceptualized first). The proportions of the bucket head and cyclop eye gives the character a funny, comic look. I smile everytime I see an Ankou head... just can't take him seriously. The hood lends him some sneakiness... not the ninja spymaster kinda sneaky, but more the naughty, kinky flasher kinda sneaky.
The paint apps on the figure are great. The weathering are all pretty much on par with what ThreeA has been doing so far. This applies to both the figure itself and its clothing. I believe this is the first time we've seen this particular camouflage fabric being used. It is similar to what has been used for Ono, only in bigger patches, which I prefer. For my figure, I actually took the trouble to remove all the pouches, and then put them on one by one as I weaved the belt through all the belt loops. I think that helps to keep the whole string of pouches more securely in place, and in a nicer position.
Ankous are the first to ditch their clamps for articulated fingers from WWR robots. Soon, we shall see Ankou Ex-es do the same. Next would be the Zombots, ditching their sculpted hands for articulated ones. There's an obvious trend here... and I'm thinking to myself when all these kitbashes will finally tire me out. Really, really hoping to see more original sculpts being created for 2012. C'mon... we've already sped past the 1st quater... So looking forward to Nom Sup Com full reveal.
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