Chasing Kyuu

Snagged one of my first 'grail' not too long ago. Been eyeing this one for a long while, and finally chanced upon a decent local deal. It's one of those things that don't pop up often, overseas offers are a killer on shipping thanks to the size, while local eBay sellers ask for the sky. 

Front of box

Kyuu was a 3AA exclusive released in 2010. As far as I know based on my limited knowledge, things released in 3A's first two years, '09 and '10 tend to be pricier. Kyuu retailed for USD 150 back then, I got mine for nearly triple the price.

Nowadays a lot more of their newer products are floating around on the secondary market, and I've seen newer stuff go below retail price. The prices for new products seem a bit pricier too. I mean, Johan for USD 130 on a blister card and two Zombs for USD 200, versus Kyuu's big, heavy box for USD 150. The contrast is stark.

But economic ramblings aside, let's get back to the prize.

The box size is humongous! Much bigger than anything else I have. It's more than double the size of my WWRp Bramble box and maybe about the size of 4 standard 1/6 boxes combined.

Side view

Sham's box placed on top for comparison. Her box is taller but much narrower.

What you see just before you lift the flap.

Voila! The big reveal!

Kyuu + bothead is encased in two halves of a clamshell. The bulk of the size goes to the bothead, it would seem. Then there's the tank for the electrified blades. Hence their namesake - TK Slicers.

There's the standard Baka version and the ultra-rare Interbaka version out there too. Both not really my cup of tea, and Interbaka has gone for a sweet 2k plus, waaaay out of my budget. I've pre-ordered the AP Kyuu too, but skipped the 3-pack with the Inter. Once you start collecting one, you might end up chasing all. While APs are cute, AP TKs go for way too much on the secondhand market and I'm not willing to pay that kind of money just to round things up. Seems like I'm full of money talk today huh. But I digress.

The set also comes with a poster.

And their catalogue, which is more like an archive for me by now.

Kyuu comes with 21 grenades assuming my seller didn't lose any, his tank plus swords, and himself. I must say his clothing looked a lot darker in the promo photos - I thought it was black and that was what snagged it for me. In real life, it's more patches of grey/green weathering than black, a little bit of a let down. I'd prefer  if the whole getup was in the shade of his face cloth. 

Kyuu's hair is also very wet, apparently an issue with most Kyuus, so I'm told. Mine has some bits on the hair, presumably stuck onto the wet paint from other things that I don't wanna know. I've left him in my display cabinet for a week now, and some parts are slowly drying up. I'll try to tidy that hair once everything is almost dry. 

The standard assortment of 3A pouches. The more I look at the clothes, the more they look like some kinda of dark-coloured camo pattern.

A closer look at the tank itself. It has straps for Kyuu to wear them on.

Swords are blunt and completely rusted. Guess it doesn't matter when they're electrified.

The grenades. Nice details on the pin. I'd be curious to see how they reproduce this on the 1/12th version, these are already small and a little of a hassle to clip on.

My favourite part of Kyuu - his face cloth! You can also see the scar above his left eye. And yes, we both love modern girls! Hehehe.

A few poses of Kyuu in the shades that I prefer. Darker, more sinister looking. Random thought - his legs are black, but his head is pale flesh coloured.

Joints are tight, but the wet hair makes posing a little difficult as I was trying to avoid touching it. The small grenades keep popping off as well. I've only slung on the 10 loose grenades and keep the other pack sealed.  Balance needs to be adjusted slightly to compensate for the back-heavy bias thanks to the tank. The swords are not attached by wires but some kind of plastic cord, so I can't really twist and shape them the way I like it.

The bothead itself. Not really a fan of botheads, but I'll keep it for now. Some of the paint is still wet.

Flesh is fucked. I like that sentiment bot, but too bad you're the one who got fucked. =P

And that's all I have for Kyuu at the moment. Bothead is back in box, will see if I have space on my display to break him out sometime for some some play time.