Takara Tony Thanos Upgrade Kit

I’ve never purchased anything from Takara Tony, but his fans seem to love his work. He grabbed my fancy with this Thanos upgrade kit. With that in mind, and me being in the market for a respectable Endgame Thanos figure, I thought my maiden voyage through Takara Tony-land was now a must. I had to have the Takara Tony Thanos Upgrade Kit.

Like most 3rd party customizers, purchasing from him was a little tricky. The first step was following him on Facebook. He doesn’t have a business page, so you have to send him a friend request on his personal page.

Being the kind of guy that loves discussing toys, I had no issues adding another like-minded individual to my friend’s list.

The next step involves messaging him directly and filling out a spreadsheet. Once you enter the product(s) you want, you have to message him. You must also screen capture the receipt for payment, and maybe even the spreadsheet itself, and send it to him.

Yes, it is a convoluted process, but I’m not in the guy’s mind. Maybe it makes sense for him, so I can’t complain.

Especially when the work is phenomenal. Even the packaging (which is usually all but non-existant with 3rd party products) on this Thanos upgrade kit is eye-catching.

I’m a sucker for nice artwork in a package.
Other side of the smaller card.

I am hoping he will re-release the Thanos Upgrade Kit for people who missed it the first time because this is a great addition. If you’re a serious collector and you own the Figuarts Endgame Thanos figure, you need this. It corrects the horrible concept art inspired two-sided sword Thanos came with, and it offers replacement left hands SANS THE GAUNTLET THAT HE NEVER WORE IN ENDGAME. Dammit, Bandai, just try harder.

I know I mentioned it in the EG Thanos review, so I won’t beat a dead horse here (too much) but seriously, I’m ok with a bit longer wait, Bandai, if it means I don’t have to purchase aftermarket components to build a correct figure I already overpaid for in the first place.

There is a 1 to 1 match of left vs right hands.

Upper left, the rock you can put his sword in.

Now we have a suitable non-Infinity Gauntlet hand. You get a left fist, holding hand, and neutral hand. The color may be a shade lighter on mine than the Bandai release. It isn’t too noticeable, and frankly, it could just be a lack of a gloss finish. The only real difference I see between the Bandai forearm and the Thanos upgrade kit forearm seems to be a lack of gloss finish (the upgrade looks like a flat paint was used on it). The differences are too slight for the casual observer to notice. Extra points awarded because each replacement hand comes with its own balljoint. Now you don’t have to fight with the hand every time you swap one out.

The forearm replacement.
Fists
Holding hands.

It comes with a Tesseract that is nicely detailed, and slightly bigger in circumference than the one that comes with Corvus Glaive and Loki in the two-pack.

Neutral/splayed hand
The cube from the Corvus Glaive/Loki 2 pack on the left, the upgrade kit on the right.

Also in the box is a nicely molded/painted rock (queue Peanuts music) with a slit up top for you to put in his blade.

El Rocko.

And what a blade it is. I have a couple of aftermarket replacements for the inferior Bandai one and this one tops it all. It just looks nasty, in a good way. You can easily see this weapon tearing apart Cap‘s shield like it was paper mache. The bad news was, I broke mine almost immediately. Snapped at the handle. Don’t know why or what I did wrong, but did I ever snap it clean in two. I glued it, and it’s functional, but I’ll never be able to split it apart and give him one for each hand. Frustrating, but totally my fault. None of that matters to me, because this blade looks incredible.

The blade fits nicely in the top of the stone.
Close up of the line work.

Overall, I am glad I stumbled upon the preorder because this thing is worth every penny. I have a MK85 upgrade kit on PO also, and I am now really looking forward to it. If you get a chance, give Tony a try.