Figure Name: Chibi-Arts Kotetsu T. Kaburagi
Figure Maker: Bandai
Retail: ¥3,000
Available at: HobbyLink Japan

Kotetsu's box is mostly green, with pictures all around. The size and formatting is very much like that of Bandai's S.H.Figuarts line - nice and compact.

Once he's out of his box, you've got a tray stuffed with accessories. We've got Kotetsu's food bowls and a bottle of mayo, a doll, two extra faces and an extra hair piece (so you can lose the hat), and a few extra arms. Behind the tray, there's a packet with the usual sign post and little speech bubbles, along with two spare neck joints in case you get a little too excited and break one.

Here's what Kotetsu looks without doing any part swapping after fixing him onto his base. He's got his confident smile on and his hands are at his hips. Of course, he's poseable, but I just left him that way for now.

The arm that keeps him propped up on the base attaches to the back of his head. It's just as well, given how tiny his body is compared with it, so once you figure out how you want to pose him, he stays put. Nice and solid.

Kotetsu has his signature shirt and vest on. The paint job is pretty spot-on, and looking at the back he's got some nice detail with that buckle and the pants. Even his butt is molded.

He's got a few bracelets on both hands. His right has a green bracelet, and his left has a ring, a purple beaded bracelet and then his watch. They've all been molded over the skin before paint was applied, which is a plus.

On to the face swaps. There are directions in the box for all the parts swapping and accessories, but it's pretty intuitive. Pull off the front hair piece to free the face after popping it out of his body, and just put it all back together how you want him to look. This is his cool hero face. You can pose him saying hero-like things, and change his right arm so he's got the cool guy gestures going on.

My favorite face though, is this speaking with the eyes shut look he's got. He looks so smug and confident while he explains something related to mayonnaise. It gives the figure personality!

I always love it when figures come with food accessories, because food is awesome. Well, that and, you could always use them to play around with other figures. Too bad for me though, this figure is actually going to be a prize for August's Megapixel contest, so one of you readers will have the pleasure of owning these to play around with.

Overall, I really can't recommend the Chibi-Arts figures enough. Especially now that Bandai's been releasing them for a while, they're solid and well painted, and they come with enough accessories to be worth the dough. If I had just one measly complaint about this figure, it's that the alternate hair piece didn't quite snap in flush with the back piece, but it isn't that big a deal. I also didn't force it too much, so maybe this figure's next owner will get it.

What I also love the Chibi-Arts figures is they come with those quote bubbles so you could display them with their catch phrases or reenact scenes from the anime. The sign pole could probably serve other purposes though, like holding your own custom quote bubbles or little toy-sized posters.

Thanks to HobbyLink Japan for providing Tomopop with this review sample! Check out the gallery for images that didn't make it into the main body of the review, and keep an eye out for our next contest so you can try and win this figure.