Banpresto Treasure Cruise World Journey Vol. 1 Luffy - Review

I saw this figure online somewhere and instantly got obsessed. Why was he a cowboy*? I didn’t know or care, I needed this figure. (*the answer’s because of a gacha game miserably this is the worst. I wish he was just a cowboy because they got bored of making normal Luffy figures.)

I really do like this figure, it’s got so many details. The gun he has, the sculpting on his belts (one’s a holster but it looks like a belt dammit), the details on his vest, gloves, hat (which isn’t even his normal hat! Why did they change that?) is so cool, and the TWO (that’s right! Two!) bandanna's he has.

The painting’s pretty simple but the sculpture easily makes up for it. His pose is fun too, it’s simple but I like it. :) The only issue is if you display him below eye-level you can’t see his face. He’s sitting next to me right now, on my desk, and I can’t see his face :(

Back to the sculpting since I have him so close to me again, I’m really impressed how much detail is in here, the gun is fully sculpted and it really looks like it can come out of the holster. I just tried to wiggle it around to make sure it wasn’t a separate piece, and it isn’t. It’s fully sculpted in there.

I was about to complain a lot about his belt buckle, because I thought it was just scribbles. I am so deeply pleased to tell you I was incorrect, it says (in cursive, it looks like) “MDL.” The reason it was hard to notice is the M is sideways and the D is only half written but I’m 100% sure that’s a lowercase cursive L, so I’m pretty confident this was the intent.

I still kind of wish they let him have two hats but I get why his straw hat isn’t here.

And now for the con. Just one, but man if it’s not a massive pain in the ass. This figure is addicted, in a way that makes it feel like it’s possessed and the ghost has one singular goal, to falling over. I wish it was a ghost possession, but unfortunately the issue isn’t that whimsical. His pose is slightly leaned forward, and while he’s on a flat surface he can stand up fine even without his stand (I have things to say about this damn stand, I’ll come back to it trust me) but if literally anything in the same room as him moves the floor at all he will fall over. Without fail. I’m typing this out and watching him shake a bit next to my computer from how I’m typing.

Now usually, you would think well this makes sense, figures tend to be unstable without their stands. This is why they have them, of course. And normally you would be right! However, whoever made this stand was not thinking about the logistics of “what if someone wants to display this figure in a room where half the floorboards will shake when that person leaves his bed” (something I’m sure applies to more people than whoever this someone is) because this stand is hollow and is trying to hold up a figure that’s leaning forward a bit. Which means it doesn’t work.

I’ve had a figure fall and break once before (something I didn’t think would happen because unfortunately my room is carpeted, so I assumed it would cushion the fall for things while it’s collecting as much dust as it physically can), and I really like this figure and don’t want him to break so this is a horror movie for me.

Naturally, I have a terrible solution. Because I was in art school for five years of the one life I will ever get, I have a shit-load of kneaded eraser combined into one massive blob of goop now. Kneaded eraser is functionally sticky tack, to me at least (not google results though), so I have destroyed** the stand of this figure by filling it with sticky tack and functionally gluing it to a display stand that another figure is also displayed on.

**Don’t worry it’s really easy to clean up. You just have to get more eraser to smack off the stuck-on eraser.

Anyways since kneaded erasers are made from rubber its fine, since its Luffy and he eats that for power (People who haven’t read One Piece trust me on this one, I have never lied once in my life).

Final Thoughts:

I like this figure, I think it has a weird, strange charm to it. Do weight it down somehow if you want to display it on any unsteady surface ever (every surface in my room is unsteady, because I’m in it and I run everywhere all the time. My rooms like 10 sq ft).

Do I recommend this figure?

Oh absolutely, its such a bizarre figure to me. Who doesn’t want cowboy Luffy (who inexplicably has two bandanna’s one of which is literally flagging which is so funny. If you look up what that means be aware its an 18+ subject)?

figure specs source:Myfigurecollection.net