Revoltech Eva: An Overview
My display case is full of my scale PVCs, as they are (A): the priciest and (B): the most fragile of my collection, and generally the most impressive as well. But fully 20% of my collection is my Evangelion revoltechs (and my first figure was actually Revoltech Eva Unit 01.) I've heard a great deal of complaints about quality control in the paint on a lot of revoltechs, but whatever your opinion may be I love mine and don't regret a cent of what I've spent on them.
Keep in mind that my only experience with the revoltech line is the Evangelion figures and a single Frauline Revoltech, which I won't be discussing here. All the Evas are from the Revoltech Yamaguchi series.
There are in total four generations of revoltech, at least in the Evangelion line, and they generally show steady improvement from the older to newer.
Interestingly, because I have multiple copies of some Evas I can see via the figures how their designs have been altered from original series to the Rebuild movies.
For poseability and durability even earlier revoltechs are superior to figma in virtually every respect--circular joints allow for superior swivelling and the torsos on the new "Eva Evo" line are bendable like a real spine. Even the tips of the toes are articulated on 3rd and 4th gen, something figma has only recently caught on to with Samus and Link. The wrists of 2nd gen and 4th gen revoltechs use their own tiny ball joints which makes them less likely to break, and the large hole-and-peg design for 1st and 3rd gen even less so. The click-joints take much, much longer to become loose than a figma's joint and you can buy revoltech joints of all sizes in bulk for very little cost. In fact, I keep a collection of joints in each available size in black in case I lose a joint and for scratch-building projects. Unfortunately they cannot be used to replace figma joints owing to the different shape.
There are only two kinds of joints, single and double, and the double are fairly uncommon. Only 2nd and 3rd gen seem to use them, as far as I can tell.
The stand adds an extra posing arm and joint from 2nd gen onward, and the appearance of the stand changes from black to clear from 3rd to 4th generation, but the basic design of the stand differs little. It cannot be tightened as a figma stand can because it has no screws, but all its flexibility is from the joints that make it up, so you are unlikely to break it. I have broken 2 figma stands but never broken a revoltech stand.
The 1st gen Evas can be attached to the stand either via a hole in their crotch or the hole where the umbilical cable attaches. (The mass-production Evas only have the first hole because they use no cable) The bottom hole is drilled into harder plastic and I don't see it distorting, but you will want to be careful with the hole for the cable, as it is made of softer plastic and if you put pressure on it in the wrong direction is likely to stretch and warp. Just put the joint in slowly and make sure it's at the proper angle. I also recommend moving the joint into position before you put it in the Eva because the cable hole is a stress point.
For whatever reason 2nd and 3rd gen Evas only have the umbilical cable holes, but 4th gen Evas have restored the hole in the crotch.
All generations also have a small hole in the heel of each foot and an equivalent sized peg on the flat part of the stand. When properly balanced this provides more variety in posing and is basically necessary for a lot of standing poses.
My seven 1st gen Evas are all specifically from The End of Evangelion. I have the EoE Unit 02, and six mass-production Evas; two of the old "wing version," one of the old "weapon version," and three of the rereleased "complete version" that came out not long ago and have all the accessories of both the wing and weapon versions. (Given the amount I spent getting a hold of my single "weapon version" I rather wish I'd just been patient, but there's nothing to be done about it now.) I intend eventually to pick up three more mass-production Evas so I can have all nine.
1st gen revoltechs are admittedly primitive in some ways. The joints are large and not particularly well-hidden, at least on Unit 02, but owing to the design of the Evas themselves this isn't particularly distracting for me. The hands are a MASSIVE PAIN IN THE ASS to attach because they use a simple hole-and-peg system which requires unreasonable amounts of force to "lock" in place. Naturally all the flexibility of the wrist on these is rotary and it can't bend. However, the hands and the hand pegs seem exceptionally durable, so I have no fears about snapping the wrist as I do with figma. The torso is two pieces with a single large joint in the middle. The neck uses a single large joint. The hips use simple swivel joints but allow a surprising amount of poseability.
Above is the bottom section of my revoltech Eva display tower.
I have one 2nd gen Eva, the first figure I ever bought, which is an edition of Unit 01 that was released a bit before the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie. The joints are a bit better-concealed and the hands now make use of their own tiny wrist joints. The torso now uses a double joint and is made of three pieces. The knees also use a double joint. Now the neck has a small joint that allows some superior up and down movement, and is better concealed. These small differences make the 2nd gen look more polished than the 1st. Curiously, despite its release this Eva looks like the original series version and not the Rebuild of Evangelion version.
Middle section of the display tower, has the 3rd gen and 3 4th gen figures.
I have only one 3rd gen as well, the "Awakened" Unit 01 from the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie. This one for some reason goes back to the peg-hand design and retains the double joint in the knees, but adds the toe joint and makes use of two tiny joints for the neck and head. The torso is back to a single joint but is comprised of three pieces instead of two. The head and neck can be moved independently. At this point the design has switched to the lankier, thinner Rebuild version.
I have five 4th gen figures, and these are all part of the "Evangelion Evolution" line. They have the most dramatic differences and it really shows in their amazing poseability. They have switched back to the single joint for the knees and torso, although the torso is still made of three pieces, but differences in the construction of those pieces allow the spine to bend to an incredible degree. The hips use a complicated system with a joint on each side and two interlocking pieces that allow the legs to be bent in almost any direction. The neck uses the two-joint system and the hands once again have their own tiny wrist joints. Everything about the Eva Evo line looks polished and refined--I use these figures as references for drawing the Evas and they can accomplish basically any pose I might need.
Top section of the tower, with two 4th gen and the one 2nd gen.
Keep in mind that my only experience with the revoltech line is the Evangelion figures and a single Frauline Revoltech, which I won't be discussing here. All the Evas are from the Revoltech Yamaguchi series.
There are in total four generations of revoltech, at least in the Evangelion line, and they generally show steady improvement from the older to newer.
Interestingly, because I have multiple copies of some Evas I can see via the figures how their designs have been altered from original series to the Rebuild movies.
For poseability and durability even earlier revoltechs are superior to figma in virtually every respect--circular joints allow for superior swivelling and the torsos on the new "Eva Evo" line are bendable like a real spine. Even the tips of the toes are articulated on 3rd and 4th gen, something figma has only recently caught on to with Samus and Link. The wrists of 2nd gen and 4th gen revoltechs use their own tiny ball joints which makes them less likely to break, and the large hole-and-peg design for 1st and 3rd gen even less so. The click-joints take much, much longer to become loose than a figma's joint and you can buy revoltech joints of all sizes in bulk for very little cost. In fact, I keep a collection of joints in each available size in black in case I lose a joint and for scratch-building projects. Unfortunately they cannot be used to replace figma joints owing to the different shape.
There are only two kinds of joints, single and double, and the double are fairly uncommon. Only 2nd and 3rd gen seem to use them, as far as I can tell.
The stand adds an extra posing arm and joint from 2nd gen onward, and the appearance of the stand changes from black to clear from 3rd to 4th generation, but the basic design of the stand differs little. It cannot be tightened as a figma stand can because it has no screws, but all its flexibility is from the joints that make it up, so you are unlikely to break it. I have broken 2 figma stands but never broken a revoltech stand.
The 1st gen Evas can be attached to the stand either via a hole in their crotch or the hole where the umbilical cable attaches. (The mass-production Evas only have the first hole because they use no cable) The bottom hole is drilled into harder plastic and I don't see it distorting, but you will want to be careful with the hole for the cable, as it is made of softer plastic and if you put pressure on it in the wrong direction is likely to stretch and warp. Just put the joint in slowly and make sure it's at the proper angle. I also recommend moving the joint into position before you put it in the Eva because the cable hole is a stress point.
For whatever reason 2nd and 3rd gen Evas only have the umbilical cable holes, but 4th gen Evas have restored the hole in the crotch.
All generations also have a small hole in the heel of each foot and an equivalent sized peg on the flat part of the stand. When properly balanced this provides more variety in posing and is basically necessary for a lot of standing poses.
My seven 1st gen Evas are all specifically from The End of Evangelion. I have the EoE Unit 02, and six mass-production Evas; two of the old "wing version," one of the old "weapon version," and three of the rereleased "complete version" that came out not long ago and have all the accessories of both the wing and weapon versions. (Given the amount I spent getting a hold of my single "weapon version" I rather wish I'd just been patient, but there's nothing to be done about it now.) I intend eventually to pick up three more mass-production Evas so I can have all nine.
1st gen revoltechs are admittedly primitive in some ways. The joints are large and not particularly well-hidden, at least on Unit 02, but owing to the design of the Evas themselves this isn't particularly distracting for me. The hands are a MASSIVE PAIN IN THE ASS to attach because they use a simple hole-and-peg system which requires unreasonable amounts of force to "lock" in place. Naturally all the flexibility of the wrist on these is rotary and it can't bend. However, the hands and the hand pegs seem exceptionally durable, so I have no fears about snapping the wrist as I do with figma. The torso is two pieces with a single large joint in the middle. The neck uses a single large joint. The hips use simple swivel joints but allow a surprising amount of poseability.
Above is the bottom section of my revoltech Eva display tower.
I have one 2nd gen Eva, the first figure I ever bought, which is an edition of Unit 01 that was released a bit before the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie. The joints are a bit better-concealed and the hands now make use of their own tiny wrist joints. The torso now uses a double joint and is made of three pieces. The knees also use a double joint. Now the neck has a small joint that allows some superior up and down movement, and is better concealed. These small differences make the 2nd gen look more polished than the 1st. Curiously, despite its release this Eva looks like the original series version and not the Rebuild of Evangelion version.
Middle section of the display tower, has the 3rd gen and 3 4th gen figures.
I have only one 3rd gen as well, the "Awakened" Unit 01 from the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie. This one for some reason goes back to the peg-hand design and retains the double joint in the knees, but adds the toe joint and makes use of two tiny joints for the neck and head. The torso is back to a single joint but is comprised of three pieces instead of two. The head and neck can be moved independently. At this point the design has switched to the lankier, thinner Rebuild version.
I have five 4th gen figures, and these are all part of the "Evangelion Evolution" line. They have the most dramatic differences and it really shows in their amazing poseability. They have switched back to the single joint for the knees and torso, although the torso is still made of three pieces, but differences in the construction of those pieces allow the spine to bend to an incredible degree. The hips use a complicated system with a joint on each side and two interlocking pieces that allow the legs to be bent in almost any direction. The neck uses the two-joint system and the hands once again have their own tiny wrist joints. Everything about the Eva Evo line looks polished and refined--I use these figures as references for drawing the Evas and they can accomplish basically any pose I might need.
Top section of the tower, with two 4th gen and the one 2nd gen.