Lightning Fury Raiden!

The San Diego Comic-con, not only produced a furry Sonic the Hedgehog, it also produced a glow in the dark Raiden figure.  Ever since Scareglow, I have made it a little mission of mine to get my dirty little hands on any Glow in the dark action figures I can find.  And now I have Raiden from Mortal Kombat in a 6 inch sizing and made by Jazwares, who also do Sonic the Hedgehog figures.  So, beware, for I have now finished the introduction for

 

LIGHTNING FURY RAIDEN!!!

Raiden comes in a fairly standard looking blister card set up.  It has an SDCC sticker on one side, a TRU ticker on the other.  All is not as standard as the other 6 inch MK figures.  His backing card is a different colour featuring a lot more blue and lightning over the red and flame of the others and the name plate at his feet has him classed as ‘Lightning Fury Raiden’ as opposed to Raiden.  The biography on the back is the same as the standard Raiden. 

 

 

However, considering the name, it is understandable that Raiden is in his glow form, as he is angry and electrified (being the god of thunder and all).

 

 

 

Considering how this would be a fairly limited run of figures, I am pretty pleased that they made so many changes to the packaging. 

 

 

Ok, so now that I have him out, let’s have a look at the figure.  I will say, that I had an interesting time taking the photos.  I knew that it would be tricky, having done Scareglow before, but I found capturing the details on him very hard.  At least Scareglow had some paint to help me find focus and details.  Raiden here only has the lightning bolt down his body.  So it took some experimenting to get the photos I desired.  Even then some of them I am not entirely satisfied with.

 

The sculpting of the figure is pretty impressive, textures for the clothes, armour and even his face impress.  I really like that you can actually take his hat off and he has the covering underneath.  This is a nice addition and allows him to use Kung Lao’s fatalities if you so desire.  He has the Kanji for lightning on his shoulders, which can be seen nicely and a flat circle on his chest, which I wasn’t too sure what was going on with, but having recently acquired a regular Raiden, I see that there is a sticker in the spot.

 

 

I really like the detail sculpted onto his shoulder pads.  Even the hat comes with ‘weaved’ texture.

 

 

Smooth muscular back, check out those buttons on his shirt, amidst the lightning.  Even his greaves have some nice detail on them.  Oh and Ninja socks as well! 

 

I am quite surprised as almost all of this guy is glowing plastic.  Only a few areas, usually in the middle of joints is not glowy.  It is a well matched white though.

 

 

And then, some parts are soft plastic.  It isn’t hugely malleable, but it is soft enough to avoid the horrible act of having a nice addition that hinders articulation.

 

 

 

Speaking of articulation, this figure has a surprising amount!  Ankles, thighs, hips, wrists, shoulders, ribs, neck, you name it (except the waist) and you will probably have it!  One slight problem I have with the figure is although generally a minor one, probably the largest for this guy.  Due to his greaves, his feet can’t be angled forward unless you move them out to the side.  Small whinge, but noticeable.

 

Okay, enough blabber.  Let’ see that glow!!

 

Ooooooh! See that pretty blue glow!!  And the lightning bolt comes up quite nicely as well!  It’s nice to have a blue glow to go against Scareglow’s green.

 

 

With the right lighting, or lack of, you can still see the sculpting detail in certain areas.

 

 

And he can be carefully balanced on one leg!!

 

 

And my attempt at copying Johnny Cage’s moves…

 

 

Ah ha ha ha.. yeh.  Ooookaaaay!

 

And now, just because glow in the dark stuff is incredibly AWESOME!!!!

 

Scareglow Vs. Raiden, round 1

 

 

FIGHT!!!

 

 

 

 

Uh oh, Scareglow’s angry.  Off comes the cape!

 

Hey! That’s my hat Dammit!

 

God damn these toys are sooo coooool!

 

Go wiggle that somewhere else.

 

 

Winner: Tets.

 

I had so much fun taking those photos.

 

So I guess in the end this is a pretty good little figure, even without the glow feature it is impressively articulated and very nicely sculpted.   It makes me a bit sad to think that Raiden doesn’t get as much love as he deserves.  But luckily the figure makes up for that.    It’s also nice to see some glow in the dark plastic used, which I think doesn’t get quite enough love either.  I would love to see it in some Transformers!  Aside from Marvel Crossovers…