Astro Toy

Super Action Statues Dio and The World

Awakened Dio and The World
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Maker: Medicos
Price: ~$50 each

Astro Toy's been a little adorable lately, don't you think? Ice fairies, squid girls, love machines, even: I need to tough it up again around here. Are there bad enough dudes to save Astro Toy?

I'm talking about dudes tough enough to pull off heart-shaped kneepads. This week I'm blatantly abusing my authority as author of this column - last time was with Temjin - to go back to Hirohiko Araki's masterwork JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In particular, we are returning to Medicos' wonderful Super Action Statue line. Why? Because these are great toys and I don't see why not!

Dio Brando is the villain of the third Jojo story (and others), Stardust Crusaders. He's a vampire who's so unkillable he's hijacked another guy's body (with his head!) in order to stay alive. We did the same thing with the protagonist Jotaro and his Stand over a year ago, and I thought it would be cool to complete the rivalry (if not the set: Jojo's fans must have very deep pockets, because there are a lot of these figures).

This Dio is the “awakened” version seen in the final fight with Jotaro in the manga. As you can see, what Dio has been awakened to after a drink of fresh Joestar blood is the idea of removing his jacket and trying out even heavier glam rock makeup than he was wearing before. It's a fashion awakening.

And would you take a look at that made-up face, by the way? The level of detail here is really something: this whole figure is colored and shaded just like one of Araki's drawings, in his singular style. Every detail, from the elf boots to the Joestar family birthmark to the power mullet, is perfect. Most action figures don't come close to capturing the character like this! The Super Action Statues are in the same price range as Figma and Revoltech, so it's entirely fair to say that on sculpt and painting, these kill those.

The World - who looks in parts like a man of stone, in parts like a masked Japanese superhero, and in parts robotic - is the “Araki-specified” color variant. This is kind of a funny statement. As readers of the manga are aware, Araki colors his characters however he feels like doing for individual illustrations. It's one of the reasons there are so many color variants of these figures floating around: there isn't really an “official” color. There are absolutely no gimmicks in The World's box aside from the usual collection of hands and alternate face. It's merely a damn good-looking action figure.

Together, of course, this wacky team pummels people into puddles of blood. Posability is just below Figma level, with the added benefit of never having to worry that the limbs will fall out. With stands that can hoist the figures in mid-air effortlessly, the physics-defying “is he supposed to be floating?” posing for which Jojo characters are famous is a go.

Now Dio is a modern vampire. He thinks that consuming blood the old fashioned way, with fangs and such, is just messy and passé and not nearly fabulous enough, so he just pulls it right out of the body. This extra hand is from the very scene when Dio “drinks” down a certain character's blood. The Medicos Jojo line is very fond of including these little series-specific details: for another, sillier example, the Polnareff figure even comes with his “I can see your panties” hand signal.

“Oh my god!” - Joseph Joestar

What manner of accessory is this? Dio's famous screech of “WRRYYYYYYY” (which the Internet really took a liking to: you're much more likely to know the internet meme than Jojo itself) is so important that Medicos has stuck a giant plastic word bubble into the package. This is no flimsy strip of perforated paper. The letters (even the katakana!) are embossed. This is legit. It comes with its own stand, and you could mount it on your wall. As usual for the Super Action Statue line, there isn't a huge amount of stuff in the package, but everything that is in the box is top quality. Even the novelty word bubbles.

So at the end of the day, am I really willing to put down $50 of my own theoretical money on these figures? “Yes I am!” - Mohammed Abdul. Hell, I think they're some of the best action figures (of any character) you can get in that price range. I might be able to go without the Stand, but one seems lost without the other, right? And really, if we look at this in a completely rational way, weren't Jotaro and Star Platinum lost without their mortal enemies? Right? Aren't I justified? Right?

We got Dio and The World for $100 in a single Amiami order, but by now these particular versions of the characters are on backorder and sold out respectively. Locally, Kinokuniya NYC has a nice collection of Medicos Jojo's figures, but expect to pay up.

I better suggest some alternatives! Dio fans may also be interested to know that the regular version of Dio comes with his knives and a street sign, and a papercraft steamroller (!!) in scale with this figure exists. As a final note, Di Molto Bene's PVC Jojo stuff is off the chain.

“Give me a break...” - Jotaro Kujo

When he isn't killing time on fighting games and mahjong, David Cabrera gets hype about anime, manga and gaming at Subatomic Brainfreeze. You can follow him on Twitter @sasuraiger.