Well, this is certainly unexpected! Cowboy Bebop is a show that those in the United States have loved for quite some time after its premier on Adult Swim years ago, but it never quite caught on as much in Japan. As a result, we never really got many figures from the show, but now, Square-Enix is filling that void with Play Arts Kai figures of Spike and Vicious! I’m actually quite glad to see these be in the Play Arts Kai line as the fluid nature of the animation in the show really plays perfectly into a poseable figure and from the pictures here, these both seem to be quite poseable and able to re-create all of the iconic scenes and shoot outs from the show!
Spike’s face could use quite a bit of work as he looks a bit like Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury with an afro, but hey, considering we’re getting a Spike figure at all, I’m not complaining. Vicious looks a lot better and closer to his animation design and I love that even his crow comes with extra posing options; it’s a great touch. Both Spike and Vicious are going to retail for ¥6,800 each and will be available in October, and currently they are only available via the Square-Enix Japanese Webstore and not other retailers yet, but their retail pages also don’t mention them as exclusives, so expect them to hit other stores and U.S. release like other Play Arts Kai figures. I really hope that Square-Enix continues this line with the rest of the Bebop crew and more side characters as well and I’m glad to see a company taking a chance on an older property.
[via Square-Enix' Japanese Webstore: Spike | Vicious]
