WHS Takao's Replacement Base

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale! Recently upon delivery of their newly released Wonderful Hobby Selection Takao: Heavy Armaments Version, Good Smile Company received several complaints regarding a manufacturing defect in Takao's stand/base. Instead of awaiting a request from those affected, the company instead decided to ship out replacement bases to all those who had pre-ordered the figure from their online store. Seeing as how the Heavy Armament Version was only available for pre-order in Good Smile's Online store, this meant that the company had a list of every individual who purchased this figure.

Inside each box, customers are first greeted by a letter of apology addressing the manufacturing defect and with a commitment to improving their products. When spending a hefty sum of cash on a premium scale figure such as Takao, one would rightfully expect everything to have gone through proper quality control checks. The fact that Takao was part of their Wonderful Hobby Selection series does not bode well too. Fortunately, GSC has been quick to admit their mistakes and this letter included with each replacement base aims to restore that good faith in the brand. 

Cushioned between two air pillows is the light blue base itself. For a fairly large box, the contents inside are fairly simple with just the replacement base and a set of instructions on using it. 

Together with the base is a simple manual detailing the method to pose both Atago and Takao together. Despite being entirely in English, the instructions are simple and no understanding of Japanese is required. Part of the selling point for these two figures was the ability to pose them together with combined bases. As such, it was of utmost importance that the bases worked well to begin with.

I made a quick inspection to ensure that the base is fine. Just by looking at it, there appeared to be no visible issues and the pegs for Takao's foot looked to be mounted properly. 

With all the delays and this particular manufacturing defect affecting the development and release of this figure, there is little doubt in my mind that Takao may have actually incurred a lost upon GSC. Perhaps the Light Armament Version would fare better? Either way, if you are planning to get a Takao: Heavy Armament Version from the reseller's market, it is very important that you are aware of this issue with the base. Even now, the price for a mint Takao is a good deal more than the sticker price of the original figure. Knowing that, you would want to be extra careful before dropping large amounts of cash to add this figure into your collection.

With that, we come to the end of this article. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them in the comments section below. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!