JakaLite Luke Cage! (Patreon)

This little lite fig was well overdue for a review! It’s also my first of Jaka’s sub-brand JakaLite! Talk about a double whammy!

[disclaimer, I don’t know what a double whammy is]

So JakaLite is a new thing JakaBrick started a while back where the idea is, it’s a more accessible way to get a hold of custom figs without breaking the bank. I for one am all over that concept! Not every character needs seventy-nine layers of ink to get the vibe right!

So Luke Cage here is a nice and simple fig that was cheap! If you consider $50 cheap in this capitalistic hellscape we're living in.

While I really want to praise the concept, who am I kidding here? Just two torsos and a head could have easily been closer to $35. Hell, they could have even cut out the whole plastic card-backed packaging to save another chunk of change.

Now… all this is sounding kinda bratty though isn’t it? I mean, isn't that the whole selling point of JakaLite? “Coulda been cheaper” could have meant no extra bells or whistles. No die-cut, cardstock backed shipping containers.

Just the fig, some lil baggies, and an clamshell is all I’m saying 🤷🏻‍♂️

Anyway, enough about politics, let’s talk plastic!

Jaka as always has perfectly captured the likeness of Mike Colter’s Luke Cage. I would have also loved to have gotten a secondary expression… but I get why there isn’t one being a “lite” fig. Still, there’s not a lot to go on here.

The show in a lot of ways stripped this flamboyant character to just the basics. I mean a yellow tee shirt and a hoodie fits the bill pretty well and it’s not too complicated to get wrong on Jaka’s part.

It’s simple linework, nice wrinkles, not too overly complicated.

I do wish the bullet holes on the hoodie were a bit larger, or possibly brighter around those little dark grey pinpoints. You can see in certain lightings that there’s black ink around them to simulate torn fabric, but I still think this fig could have benefited from an alternate darker grey around those areas instead.

But as the name suggests, that’s it! Nothing more to this fig, with plenty more to improve upon! I mean just look at this fig next to a figbarfed Luke Cage using all official parts!

Even the hoodie torso benefited from some minor upgrades (I’d love to also add the new yellow hood piece if I can get a hold of one)

But what do you think? I hear that a lot of folks thought it was a positive move for Jaka, while myself being the old grump that I am, remember when $50 was the high standard for a custom fig.

Perhaps I’m just bitter…? 🤔