This week, I’ll be reviewing one of the more unique statues from Megahouse’s Portrait of Pirates line, Carue. When this was announced, many people within the One Piece community were rather disappointed. During a time of slow releases, they seemed to think that this bird was holding up other characters and he was too expensive at $50+, compared to the regular price of $35-$45 for most characters at the time (ah, those were the days for collectors!). I thought he was fantastic from the first time I saw him and considering how much he kicks ass in the series, he was an easy buy. Considering the price he goes for on the secondary market, a wise decision.

When you open him up, you realize just how large he is compared to most of the characters from this line. The Portrait of Pirates line has always had a few scale issues, but he matches up well.

Megahouse decided to make him an even better value by including some alternate display options, which unfortunately, I didn’t have time to get photos of. They include a closed mouth and an injured wing, which is accurate to the series as well as looking pretty cool.

The sculpting on him is spot on, as usual with Megahouse. He looks pretty much like the anime come to life. His wings and legs are nicely detailed, the helmet and harness are simple but look as they should. His expression is exactly what I wanted.

Much like the sculpting, I had no issues with the paint. He’s bright and comes off quite vibrant, no paint drips or other annoyances that I ran into.

5/5. You have to ask yourself, do I like the show enough that I want a big bright yellow bird in my collection? If you do, you’ll never get a better version than this one. Great companion piece to Vivi.

Buying Options : Try Ebay, since he’s only available on the secondary market.

Fairly comprehensive gallery of the new One Piece releases.

Here’s another Megahouse Portrait of Pirates release, Vivi. She was originally in the third wave of these statues and was re-released as a “Neo” figure with a fair few improvements. The most obvious improvement is the dress itself, it’s much nicer. The pose itself has been slightly altered and improved as well.

Vivi here was an important character during my favourite story arc of the series and I was pleased that any figure was made of her, let alone a good one, then a re-release that was even better. After they released the companion piece of Carue, which I reviewed last week, she became a fantastic part of a One Piece collection.

You know, I always want to complain about her size and shape. As in, her tiny waist and enormous breasts. But then I remembered that that’s how most One Piece females look and she’s actually pretty accurate. Although in this case I think they overdid the breasts a little bit. She’s a very good representation of Vivi, though I think another pose might have suited her better. The improved transparency on the dress is surprisingly cool, though I can’t remember if it was exactly like that in the series or not.

The paint is excellent and I have no issues with it. Very nice colours.

4.5/5. Minor flaws aside, she’s a great purchase for a One Piece fan.

Buying Options : As with any Portraits of Pirates figure, check HLJ first to see if there’s a restock. If not, off to Ebay. As usual with the PoP line, be careful of bootlegs.