P-Bandai Vifma Practice type

Update: 11/3/17

I have made a video review of this figure. It is more up to date on my thoughts on this particular figure.

Quick note: I am testing out different cameras with this review, so please excuse the inconsistency with the picture quality.

Hello and welcome! Today we are looking at something special! P-Bandai Vifam Practice Type. Now the first thing you are asking is, what is Vifam? Vifam is from a 1980’s anime known as Ginga Hyōryū Vifam, or Galactic Drifter Vifam. The anime is about a group of kids who become the lone survivors on a battle ship going into enemy territory in search of their parents. One of my personal favorite 80’s anime. Vifam is the title mech of the anime. It really isn’t nothing special, no super powers or transformation. It is just the latest weapon to take on the Astrogaters.

Now that the background information is out of the way, let’s start the review.

First off, the box came in a different type of box. 

The brand and the name of the figure are printed on said bland box.

Opening the cardboard box, we are given a more traditional Tamashii box. This box, however, lacks the cutaway to the figure.

Now let’s open the box.

Here we have what all the figure comes with.

Vifam x 1

Beam Rifle x 1

Trigger hand x 1

Closed fists x 2

Open hand x 2

Alternate Open hands x 2

Barrel support hands x 2

Stand adapter x 1

Alternate Stand adapter x 1

Escape Pod x 1

Landing gear Escape Pod x 1

Hard plastic head antenna x 1

Here is a 360 of the figure

Articulation is as follows:
The arm is on a socket ball joint, which allows 360 movement all the way around.

The ball joint also allows slight movement.

The arm is also on a hinge that allows it to come out of place. Very nice for when posing.  

The arm can extend this far out to its side.

It can also rotate at 360.

The elbow can bend at 90 degrees.

Then even further!

The wrist is on a ball joint. Doing a 360 spin.

The shoulder is where we have some different articulation. The base of the should can slide down.

In addition to that, the front and back covers of the shoulder can spin around.

The neck is on a ball joint and can do the standard up and down movements.

It can also do a full spin, but it gets a little difficult to turn all the way around due to the back pack.

A word of warning, the neck will move around too, and it’s kind of difficult to put back into place.

The legs can move this far up.

And this far back.

The waist can extend.

The knee can bed to 90 degrees.

And this far.

The feet have a fair amount of articulation.

A ball joint inside the ankle allows for limited rotation.

The thrusters around the legs are all on ball joints.

While no actual waist articulation, the upper torso can lean up and down.

 

The backpack can fold up.

And is removable.

Inside the torso of the Vifam, is a hole.

If you open the hatch in the front you can see the hole.

What fills the holes? The Escape pod.

You get two variations. The landing gear version and the non-landing gear version. The one without the landing gear goes into the Vifam. On a side note, the detail on these pods is amazing.

They are very very tiny.

Speaking of detail, the inside of the hatch around the Vifam’s midsection is pretty detailed.

Back on topic, the pod slides into the back of the Vifam.

The backpack is then closed.

Again, here is a size comparison of the two.

Now moving on to the swappable parts. Starting with the hands. We have one trigger hand.

Then the beam rifle.

Here is the gun by itself.

When moving the hand out of the opposite arm, I noticed that the ball joint peg pops out of the arm.

It’s an easy fix, but still.

The next sets of hands are all pairs.

We have an open hand.

A variation of an open hand.

This particular open hand can have the gun rest in it.

The next hand can help hold the gun by the handle on the side of the barrel.

The only thing odd about this hand is, we only have one trigger hand that only works with the certain side. We do not have a parallel trigger hand, which makes the parallel of this particular hand useless.

Next, we have the stand. On the back of the rear end is a removable slot.

You can put in the stand that goes in the back.

Which gives this type of look on a stand.

Or you can use the stand that just latches to the bottom of the figure.

DSCN3345_wm

On the top of the head is a rubber antenna.

You can swap it out for a hard plastic one if you choose.

As for detail, it is very much a plain looking figure, but the one part that really catches my attention is the camera detail behind the green lens.  

The difference with the regular release and the P-Bandai. The regular release comes in a blue color instead of yellow. It comes with a shield and flight pack. Over all, you get more with the retail release than you would with the P-Bandai. One day if I get the retail I will review it. The P-Bandai comes in a yellow practice color and that is about it.

Pros:

-       The Vifam has a great amount of articulation in the upper body.

-       The detail behind the green lens is a very nice touch.

-       The detail on the escape pod was unexpected.

-       The simple design is really captured from the anime.

-       Very sturdy.

Cons:

-       The hand ball joint pops out.

-       The neck can get a bit out of place.

-       The legs seem standard.

-       Only one trigger finger.

Final thoughts. The P-Bandai Vifma Practice type, while an amazing figure on the upper half, the legs just feel standard. The number of accessories it comes with is lacking compared to its retail counterpart. A few cons I listed above aren’t enough to break the value of the figure, but unless you are a very hardcore fan of Vifam, I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to get it. Go for the normal retail release of it. All the pros about the details will still be there. It is honestly the detail of this figure that I find amazing. With this in mind, I do recommend this figure but go with the normal retail release.

-       Zeroconvoy