#styling based on 2003 chinese anime legend of nezha

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

cosplay of daji妲己, a famous ancient chinese beauty transformed from the famous chinese yaoguai, jiuweihu九尾狐, i.e. nine tail fox (coser is shiba chongchuan十八重川)

[allspark]

Flying into the Allspark studio today on wind fire wheels is Chinese youth deity Nezha! Will he protect all the professional drivers in your collection, or will he grow up, settle down, and drive a rideshare for the rest of eternity?  Tune in after the break to find out?

When it comes to Chinese religions, I know next to nothing, sadly.  That meant being completely unaware of who or what Nezha was prior to seeing this figure on the interwebs.  The show looked a lot like Cyberverse and was clearly aimed at the younger generation.  I decided to check out the TfWiki and found out that Nezha had his own series in 2003, called Legend of Nezha.  There still does not seem to be a lot of information about the fiction at this time, but as the TfWiki states, it clearly meshes that previous show with some of the animation models we have seen in Cyberverse.  Looks like I need to do more digging.

When I started to read a little about Nezha himself I began with this article on Wikipedia.  I will let you read for yourself, since this is a toy review.  What I will tell you is that I am seriously wanting to dig deeper into the lore of China’s religions after this.  There seems to be a deep well of folklore that could be adapted for some amazing movies, shows, comics, and toys.

So far, I have only seen 8 figures from this line.  There are 4 neat Brickformers, 3 smaller, limited articulation figures of which a version of Nezha is one, and the Nezha figure from this review.  I really hope all of these figures find a way to commercial markets outside of China, because they look like a lot of fun.  The Brickformers in particular look better than anything we have seen in the West.  The figure in this review appears to be similar in style to the Elite Class Bumblebee from Cyberverse, the one that has the battleship parts for armor, but I cannot say that it is in any shape form or fashion a remold of that figure.

Nezha Figure

Nezha is a youthful deity from Chinese folk religion.  He is typically depicted as a youth, travels on “wind fire wheels”, and is seen brandishing a fire tipped spear in his right hand.  The figure is based on the animation model from the eponymous show which is inspired by the religion.  Nezha himself is tiny.  He stand about 3.5 cm/1.5” tall.  He has 5 points of articulation: swivel hips, swivel shoulders, and a ball jointed head.  He look is based on folkloric styles.  He wears a traditional Chinese hairstyle (which will cause some westerners to mistake him for female), purple pants, a pink shirt with unpainted sash) a red chest armor, gauntlets (also unpainted, sadly) and ribbon tipped earrings.

Nezha fits inside his robot Transtector’s chest, and I LOVE this play pattern.  It is fun placing Nezha in the larger robot mode, and I would really love to see a version of this play pattern make it into Generations as some sort of a sub-line.  It would be epic!

Car Mode

Nezha’s car mode is car mode is based heavily of his look in robot mode.  He is mostly red, with purple, black and yellow highlights.  His windshields, while clear, are heavily opaque black plastic.   The wheels are plastic, not rubber.  There is a fire motif on the sides of the car, reminiscent of the characters powers.  There is no Autobot symbol on this character (no need for it), but there is a symbol somewhat resembling a ram’s head on the hood.

Again, this mold appears to use the same style and a similar transformation scheme to Elite Class Bumblebee from Cyberverse, but they do not appear to be the same mold. The spear and “Qiankun Circle” connect to the top of the vehicle for storage.  The vehicle mode is mostly solid, though the doors have a slight tendency to pop out with too much pressure.  The car mode is fairly kid friendly, so I can see why there is interest in this figure outside of China.

Robot Mode

The robot mode for Nezha is based on his “human/deity” form.  It comes in at about 15.5cm/6” in height.  The color motifs carry over well, and with the robot head’s resemblance, there is no mistaking who this character his.  The spear and the Qiankun Circle fit nicely into his hands with little effort and stay placed firmly during posing.

Articulation from this mode:

Double jointed ankle swivels (with limited tilt range)

Knee swivels

Above the knee swivels (approximate thigh movement)

Double-jointed hip swivels

Clavicle swivels (due to transformation)

Ball-jointed shoulders

Bicep swivels

Elbow swivels

Wrist swivels

Ball-jointed head

    The mini Nezha figure fits securely inside the chest compartment of this “Transtector” for him to pilot.  The articulation, as mentioned above, is more than what is seen on most Cyberverse molds, and he can be posed in numerous action stances.  The figure has a handful of limitations, however.  The ankle tilts are limited, which does complicate posing and leaving him in some action stances on a shelf.  Adding to that is the design of the feet, which sometimes requires placing the “heels” in an arch instead of flat so that he can stand.  These are minor annoyances on an otherwise fun to pose action figure, and they do not spoil the experience.

  Overall Thoughts

I give Nezha 9.5/10 wind fire wheels!  He has bright colors, a unique look, and includes a “Transtector” play pattern that I would love to see done outside of China, perhaps with Mini-Cons/Microns instead of humans/deities.  You can find this figure online in various places for anywhere from $40-$50 USD.  It would make a neat gift for that young Transformers fan in your family, or the older collector that is looking for something to make their collection stand out.  Highly recommended!

  “Nezha: Transformers” Nezha Gallery and Review! Flying into the Allspark studio today on wind fire wheels is Chinese youth deity Nezha! Will he protect all the professional drivers in your collection, or will he grow up, settle down, and drive a rideshare for the rest of eternity?