Eren Yeager

McFarlane made one of these, too, but I've already learned my lesson about not supporting crummy toys. Swearing revenge on the Titans for destroying his home and devouring his mother, teenage boy Eren Jaeger joins an elite group of soldiers known as the Scout Regiment to help combat the Titans and take back his world. Eren's drive makes him impulsive, hardheaded, but passionate to protect humanity and free them from the fear of the Titans. Eren Yeager (spelt "Jaeger" on the cartoon, like the Pacific Rim robots, but for some reason Americanized like the test pilot in the original manga [and therefore also on this imported Japanese toy]) is the main character of Attack on Titan - which is why it's such a surprise when, in only episode five of the first season, he gets an arm and a leg bitten off, and is then eaten by one of the Titans. NOM! Ha ha ha! Misdirection! Obviously this toy shows him in happier times... assuming he was happier alive (if penned in like livestock) in those first four episodes than he was being digested in a pool of monster stomach acid in the fifth. Figma Eren dresses similarly to his adopted sister, with a tan Survey Corps jacket over pale trousers and shirt. His pants are nearly white, while the shirt has a cream color; it's barely even a tint, but there's just enough of a difference between the two to make it clear they're not one connected garment. And while Mikasa wore a collared shirt that buttons up the front, Eren is in a tunic-type thing that slips over his head and has laces at the neck. Of course, he's such a slender, willowy little thing that he and his sister could probably trade clothes if they felt like it. As mentioned, Eren's family took Mikasa in after her parents died. It was a traditional adoption: she was kidnapped by slave traders because Asians are rare, then tween Eren came along and tween-murdered the hell out of them like a frigging psychopath. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen! Anyway, like Mikasa, Eren has three different faces to choose from: the calm/determined/angry face he's packaged with, then one yelling furiously and one gasping in surprise. There's never been a Figma with bad articulation, and Eren wasn't going to be the one to break that trend. He moves at the toes, ankles, knees, thighs, hips, waist, chest, wrists, elbows, biceps, shoulders, neck and head, and most of those joints are the Revoltech-inspired style that have a hinge with swivels both above and below it. Since very little of Attack on Titan takes place at ground level, the set also includes a clear stand with an articulated arm - peg it into the figure's back, and suddenly he's airborne! During his brief interval of alivitude, Eren was apparently a world-class master of the Omni-Directional Maneuvering gear: during training, he kept falling flat on his face, but eventually managed to stay upright for a few seconds; he was just about to be sent back to his job farming dirt, when the instructors realized he'd been given a faulty set of gear, so even balancing briefly was a huge accomplishment. The ODM gear with this toy is the same as Mikasa's, which makes sense, since it's standard equipment issued to the military - making a different set for him would be superfluous. Eren gets all the same extras Mikasa had, as well, beginning with the grappnel lines and the puffs of gas that fit into the launchers at his waist (of course he also has the swords, but those go without saying). It's impressive how dynamic a few little pieces can make the toy's poses look, considering they're solid and unflexible - it's just small details that make the toy better. And we can say that with confidence, because McToys did really make an Eren (though you'll be hard-pressed to find it anywhere), and it both A) lacks those things and 2) isn't very good. That's science! For times when the grapnels have already found their target, we get two strings. Each is about 17" long, and features tabs that will fit into the hip-holes on the ODM gear. The distal ends are clear plastic hooks, so you can hang Eren off something - if you just let him hang freely, he'll end up horizontal, so your best bet is to brace his feet against something, like he's pausing half way up a wall to survey his targets. You have the option to give Eren the green cape the members of the Survey Corps wear to protect themselves from the weather - simply pop off his head and slip it over the neck. It looks very nice on, and not only because it helps conceal his giraffe neck. It blows to the side in some imaginary wind, and is printed with the regiment's winged logo. The only thing missing is an alternate raised hood. A clear plastic tab under the cape fits up against his back, allowing it to be held securely in place by the figure stand (or, if you don't intend to use it, by the short clear peg included in the set). Just be careful that it doesn't scrape the logo on his jacket. Finally, you can remove a little cap on the back of the ODM gear, and replace it with a long plume of smoke or steam or what have you. This represents the clouds that puff forth whenever the ODM gear is activated, and again, it's a small thing that makes the toy look more natural than it really is. So much fun! Like most Figma releases, Eren comes with a bunch of extra hands - he's wearing fists in the package, then there are also a pair to trigger his ODM controls, a pair with a more normal grip, a pair with the fingers splayed, and a pair that's more of a "clawing" look. Those last ones work great either with the scared face, like he's emotionally broken and pleading with the heavens, or with the angry, mouth-open face, if you wanted to pose him about to bite his own thumb. For some reason. Eren Yeager is a Figma, which means he's a good toy. That almost goes without saying. And while it's a shame there are no Titans for him to attack, consider his scale: the character is said to be 5'7", and the toy is about 5½" tall, seeming to create a very close 1:12 scale; at that scale, a 6' tall human would equate to 22 meters in height, which is fine for a Titan. So strip yourself naked, tuck your genitals, tape shut your butthole, and fight your toys! Surely the neighbors won't think you're weird, nor will you end up on any special watchlists! -- 01/06/18

Tweet