Pop Up Parade Seto Kaiba by Max Factory

October 25th is Seto Kaiba's birthday. And since I haven't done much in terms of work all day because I was maybe messing around and drawing and doing other things, I have admittedly slacked a bit on what I wanted to put out on my site for said birthday. No matter. We're still getting things in on time, even if it is just barely (considering it's about to be 10 PM.)

Pop Up Parade figures tend to be one of my least favorite lines of figures out there these days, and I say that despite owning several because I keep caving to my inner demons as I try to collect specific characters. Between the quality of them wildly varying, the prices not being that great, and just the horrible boxes on the regular ones, I'm just not crazy about this line. Sure, it's not the worst, and speaking with one's wallet is definitely part of the problem. So the question here is "Is the Seto Kaiba PUP an exception?" I suppose we'll figure that out.

I got this figure as a gift last year during a clearance sale for a Memorial Day sale or something like that. He came out to around 25 USD + Tax + 4 USD shipping. So he was probably somewhere around 33 USD total. These days, I'm unsure of his price. I see him floating around on Mercari US for inappropriately pricy prices, but I do not recall his price on places like Mercari JP or Surugaya. I can't imagine it's much but who knows. Considering the aftermarket of his Figma and the only Banpresto prize figure of him, I could only imagine.

At first glance, he's honestly not bad. Considering this was a gift and I took a fair amount of pictures of him when I got him, I was very pleased at first. I think over time, the fact that I've collected quite a few figures of Kaiba has made me a bit more critical of him, but being critical is never a bad thing.

Unfortunately for this figure, I did not take my box out. I looked at the tower of boxes in my closet, said "huh, I don't think I'll be doing that," and called it a day. That means you're not seeing blister shots either. Maybe another time. But I just don't feel up to taking everything out of my closet right now.

That means we're onto the 360 view and... man I have some feelings about Kaiba figures sometimes. So, it's not that the figure itself looks bad. As you can tell, most of the paint work and sculpt is pretty decent at every point on the figure. It's just the posing that makes things awkward. Kaiba figures always have a heavy sense of motion, even for items that are static. Most of the poses are pretty dynamic and are very evocative of a duel stance. I think Kaiba's flare for drama really does show through in them, especially with the motion that is almost always captured in the coat. Hell, the coat alone, I would argue is what gives him this sense of presence. Like there's a lot going on in his design and that makes the way the coat falls something you have to pay attention to while portraying Kaiba. I think that's naturally what draws people to figures of him. Because he is very much the epitome of a cool character and the design elements reflect that about him. But the way they translate into figures is so... awkward when you start looking at him from different angles. From these pictures, you can tell which way he was intended to be displayed. Flipping him in other angles looks pretty wrong and a bit unnatural. You could almost argue "Oh, they didn't check their work when they made this figure" and my response to that is just "No, this is just a Typical Kaiba Figure Issue." And you're going to see that complaint show up in more than one of these reviews. And if your response is that "Huh, you weren't nearly as harsh on the Megahouse Kaiba figure, so why are the others getting graded this harshly?" It's because unfortunately you're unable to see the problems on the Megahouse figure because of how spectacular the rest of it is. These however, you can turn to whatever angle you want with ease, and thus it sticks out a bit easier. Especially when you're trying to make a multi figure display. It's unfortunate, but I suppose that's just a design woe if anything.

Okay, I'll stop droning on about the pose. Let's look at those detail shots.

Alright, so I already griped about the angles issue. Onto my other gripe here. It's the seamlines. Specifically the hair & the shoulders. Now, I understand that Kaiba's hair and seamlines are a match unfortunately made in heaven, and there's really only one figure I can think of that doesn't have them that isn't a resin or polystone statue of a much larger size. And I just don't want to continuously bring that figure up in reference to every other Kaiba figure. But the thing that's more glaring than the unescapable hair line seam is the shoulder seams, specifically under the coat. Now, I get it, you can't really see it from the angle you're supposed to be displaying him at, or even from top down. But they're pretty egregious. Like even from the front, the ones that are more visible are kinda big gaps. Basically, I just really wish they did better with that. There's some seams on the back of the coat as well, and that's unfortunate, but from far away they look like folds. I'll give them a pass because of that. He also has an issue where his arm feels like part of it is lose or just wasn't connected properly, but that seems more like a manufacturer error rather than an overall figure problem. You can't really tell in most pictures, so I can't look at others stuff and go "yeah it's there" just by looking. Mostly because the arm is all black.

Anyways, most of the other details are fine. There's definitely a few paint errors, but I'm going to be a bit more generous on that because he's a prize figure. For the most part, it's in the lines. If you can forgive all his flaws, he's not a bad figure.

Also, as a given, he does not have much of anything on his cards. This is common for YGO figures though.

Base is yet another woe with this figure. I hate the gigantic hexagons. Points for it being blue and translucent, but that's the only luxury I'm willing to give. I kind of want an alternate base for him, but that means making one myself. Maybe I'll consider doing that one day, but I doubt it'd save any sort of space with him, so for now, this will do.

Despite my woes with this figure, I still generally like it. A Kaiba figure is a Kaiba figure, and this one isn't bad. It's just not too good either.

The Positives

• Overall, he's probably the most affordable Kaiba out there that's not super rare minus the Nendoroid.
• He's on the smaller side, despite the amount of retail he'll take on your shelf. Aside from other Pop Ups and smaller prizes, he'll probably fit in well among the Figma line or any sort of posable monsters. I've seen quite a few shots of him & the SH Monsterarts and they fit pretty comfortably.
• For lacking shading, his painting is vibrant and colorful.
• The pose is nice, despite the fact that you can really only display him in a single way.

The Negatives

• A decent amount of flaws related to seams, and quite a few paint errors as well. Luckily most of them aren't as noticeable.
• Looks awkward displayed at most angles.
• A spacehog for sure. Even for a regular PUP he's one.
• Awkward aftermarket. I'd say if you see him for around 30, that's not a bad price.
• No Duel Disk.

Considering he's the figure that jumpstarted my collection again, I obviously wouldn't get rid of him, and despite that, I still wouldn't. Would I recommend him to others? Possibly, if they see him for a good price and in a good condition. But for the most part, I think if you want a Kaiba figure that's affordable, you should just get a Kotobukiya scale if you're able to spare the shelf space. I know I've seen some argue "well the PUP is the perfect space saver" but he really doesn't save any space. But that's a flaw that pretty much any Kaiba figure has once you start getting to a certain point. So I suppose the thing setting this one apart is his sculpt.