Rocket Toy Reviews: Nendoroid Jack Frost

Welcome to Rocket Toy Reviews, Rocket Chainsaw’s foray into the world of video game related collectibles and action figures. For our first installment, I’ve got the adorable Atlus mascot and recurring Shin Megami Tensei ice demon, Jack Frost. While this isn’t the first collectible that’s been made in Jack Frost’s image, this is the first time he’s been made into an action figure, so to speak. Note that this is an image-heavy post, and you can click on the images to enlarge them.

Figure Name: Nendoroid Jack Frost
Figure Maker: Max Factory
Retail Price: ¥3,048 / AUD$38

Jack Frost is one of the recent releases in the popular Nendoroid toy line, which is mostly famous for their quality action figures of super-deformed (or “chibi”, if you prefer) versions of popular anime characters. Nendoroids are produced by Max Factory, who also handle the excellent Figma toy line. While I own quite a few Figma, Jack Frost is my first Nendoroid, but I had an inkling of what to expect.

First up, the packaging. It’s quite standard for a Nendoroid, although the snowflakes are a neat touch. Photoshopped pictures of Jack casting Bufu and generally being adorable frame the box.

The inner packaging is a plastic shell that cocoons Jack and all his accessories (which I’ll talk about more later).

I was very impressed with Jack’s articulation, with ball joints in his arms and legs that almost allow for a full range of motion. I found that the joint on my Jack Frost’s left arm was a little stiff and popped out whenever I forced it into my desired position. A few seconds under a hairdryer fixed this up nicely though. There’s also a big ball joint where his neck would be which is impressively flexible. It’s for this reason that they’ve made his spiky neckpiece quite flimsy, which causes it to shift around a lot and occasionally sit at an unflattering angle (as you can see in the picture below), but it’s a suitable compromise for the remarkable head articulation.

Jack’s tail and hat pieces can rotate too. If you look hard, you’ll also notice that there are smiley faces on the joints.

Jack Frost’s mischievous countenance is captured perfectly in his Nendoroid form, which stands at about 10cm tall. The proportions which result in a real super-deformed look for most characters suit him well, with the big head and smaller body being natural for his character design. However, Jack’s large head does make it quite tricky to stand up and sit down. Fortunately, a couple of accessories help out with these issues. The first is a stand comprised of a base and a connector, which slots between Jack’s legs and held by his removal tail. While it doesn’t allow for very dynamic poses, it’s unobtrusive and cleverly designed, shaped after his iconic hat.

The second accessory is a pair of hands that allow Jack to sit down without toppling over, while retaining his innocent, childlike manner.

Jack comes with two other accessories as well: another hand that puts him in his “curious”/”thinking” pose, and a little cube of ice that can be attached to a separate stand. “Who should I throw this at, hee-ho?”

Given Jack Frost’s very clean character design, it’s no surprise that the paint job is fantastic. If you really wanted, it wouldn’t be difficult to make yourself a Black Frost action figure with a custom paintjob. The only things I noticed are little nicks and seams in the plastic, as well as a little bit of sloppiness on his right ankle (as circled in red), but these faults are largely unnoticeable.

Overall, Jack Frost is an excellent figure and given the reasonable price, is a must-have for any lover of Shin Megami Tensei or Nendoroid collectibles. It’s also great to see the Nendoroid line moving into the realm of video game characters; slated for release further in the year is Teddie, from Persona 4. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll be purchasing him, but Jack Frost has confirmed for me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea. To cap it off, here’s a picture of two of the cutest mascots in video game history: