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Lotus- Spaw, The Dark Ages; Samurai Wars Meat and Potatoes; 3.0 Perks; 3.0 Homer Factor; 3.5
					Description; If only all samurai looked this good.  McFarlane meets Akira Kurosawa meets the Sports Illustrated Swim-suit Issue. Very svelte figure without being too gratuitous.  Approximately 6" tall, with very detailed battle-armor comprising breast-plate, hip-guards, ornate shin-guards, and a very well-done head-piece.  Figure has very limited articulation, comes with a giant spear which can be mounted on the back and two swords permanently attached to Lotus' hands.
	Aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  ... ya know, these guys can be SO hard to figure out sometimes.  One moment you have a figure that is EVERYTHING you could ask for, incredible articulation, super-detailed sculpting, the works, like Samurai Spawn and Jyakku.  Completist that I am, I decided to get Lotus.  What's Spawn without Angela, right?  The promo pieces I've seen and read show a very well done figure that probably has VERY limited articulation.  Ok, that's expected.  Something this curvaseous isn't designed to carry 14 points of articulation... unless you actually LIKE seeing so many pins and joints on it the figure looks like a Borg.  Well, then I got the piece, and well...... The meat and potatoes are total extremes, and are a perfect example of what rocks about a McFarlane piece... and what can drive you BONKERS about a McFarlane piece.  The sculpting, naturally, is first rate.  Like the other Samurai Wars figures, the attention to detail is incredible, capturing everything from the seams in her armor to the knots on cords on her legs.  On the other hand, articulation is... well, it's rather wretched.  Press releases said about 5 points of articulation.  Fine, five is logical for something this thin.  I figured neck, shoulders, both hips.  Nothing great, but SOME possability.  Uh uh.  Ok, the NECK moves, but only ONE arm actually moves, the left arm, and not in the usual rotation to duplicate a chop but this weird side-to-side motion.  The right arm doesn't move at all.  The waist does rotate, but beyond that, I'm still trying to find the other points of articulation.  Ugh. The perks... well, they COULD have been outstanding.  Lotus comes with two swords and a large spear.  The spear can be mounted on her back, almost like a battle-flag, looks rather cool.  The swords... on the other figures, the weapons are separate from the figure, so you can either have them in the figure's hand, or just around, whatever.  Granted, one more chance to loose something, but looks cooler.  Well, Lotus' weapons are sculpted into her hand.  She looks very cool with two katana in her hand, ready to nail somebody, but they cannot be removed.  Ooooooooookaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Homer Factor... oh, what could have been.  Considering how much I love the other figures for this series, I was looking forward to getting this.  Ok, so I'm not going to be doing Jackie-Chan-esque fighting stances with this thing, but I was looking forward to SOME flexibility and motion.  Hey, it looks GORGEOUS, and will at least bend a little, I'll deal.  Well, I was hoping for something a bit more then this.  All in all... oh boy.  It really depends.  If you HAVE to get the entire set, go for it.  The figures sculpting is absolutely amazing, no question.  But if you're looking for something with more playbility... save your quarters, folks, save your quarters.