It took a long time for me to warm up to Kuma as a character. He looked cool so I was happy to pick up the statue (despite the absurd shipping!) but with all the other things I had to review, I didn’t have the urge to crack him open. After the time-skip business in the manga, it was totally time to check him out. Let’s take a look at the Megahouse Portrait of Pirates Kuma statue!
The first thing to mention is he’s huge. I’ve been a lazy ass and didn’t do a size comparison shot (don’t worry, they’ll happen far more often!) but he’s about 13~ inches tall compared to the 9~ inches of most other characters. That’s the reason his shipping was expensive, even though he doesn’t weigh much, he’s in a big box.
I’m sure taking a look over the pictures, you can see why I felt he was visually appealing. You’ve got this giant dude that’s covered in panda print with a huge target on his stomach. One of the reasons I enjoy One Piece so much is the unique character designs that take elements that have nothing to do with each other, yet work together so well. Kuma is a great example of that.
One thing I noticed was that the paint on his stomach/chest was sloppy compared to most Portrait of Pirates figures. This series isn’t known for dynamic paint, it’s usually simple with minimal shading, but they nail the look more often than not and keep it at a proper quality level. It was a little disappointing to see them dip below that, at least on my particular statue. You can see what I mean on most of the close-up shots. On the plus side, only the stomach was sloppy, the rest is just fine.
Kuma comes with an extra face, 2 sets of hands, and the bible. His arms can be moved back and forth, so you do have some different display options. Though the way the arms stick out, you can’t realistically move them much without it looking awkward. All the alternate display options are nicely sculpted and painted.
The pose isn’t terribly exciting but this is basically the only pose you ever see him in, can’t fault Megahouse for that! The base is the standard Portrait of Pirates one. I believe the scale on this is also off but I’m pretty sure making him another 2-3 inches taller would’ve made the price completely outrageous considering he’s not that popular, so I didn’t mind at all.
4/5. Paint issues aside, I can’t imagine a better Kuma will ever be released (I’d be surprised if another is released at all, except in the much smaller figure lines!).
Buying Options : Check on Ebay. Don’t pay the outrageous $400 some guys are asking, wait until one comes up for bidding, you should be able to grab him for slightly above retail ($100~). You can also check Amazon. He’s available right now for $140 + shipping, maybe he’ll be less later on.
