Afro Samurai (DC Direct)

Afro Samurai
DC Direct
2008

Afro Samurai was a dream project come true for creator Takashi Okazaki. He first started doodling black samurai characters in his teenage years, and later developed the character Afro Samurai. It was after a friend of his decided to create a small batch of action figures based on the character that a Japanese producer for the company Gonzo would propose adapting it into an anime. While in the works, Gonzo developed a trailer which landed in the hands of Samuel L. Jackson who took a great interest in the project. The rest as they say, is history.

The story of Afro Samurai revolves around the wearers of the number one and number two headbands. The lore of the headbands is that whoever wears the number one headband will be granted God like powers. Only the wearer of the number two headband can challenge the wearer of the first, and anyone can challenge the wearer of the second. Thus life for the wearer of the second headband is a constant struggle for survival.

It's in this vicious rules above that it would come to be that Justice, the wearer of the second headband would defeat and behead Rokutaro to claim the first headband. The head rolls towards his son Afro, who is told by Justice to seek him out when he wants to challenge a God for his revenge. Thus the stage is set for the series.

The anime was a huge success both in Japan and United States, and quickly found a spot on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. Since then, it has only grown in more popularity for both its appealing charm to young American otakus, and because of Samuel L. Jackson's voice over work.

With so much popularity surrounding it, DC Direct procured the license to develop a small series of figures based on the anime. Four figures in total were produced for the basic line, as well as a relatively unknown exclusive two pack. It was a fairly small, yet fairly solid line that seemed to cover most of its bases.

 Afro Samurai

 Justice

 Kuma

 Ninja Ninja

Many collectors of the Afro Samurai line don't seem to be aware that fye/Suncoast received an exclusive two pack. Granted the figures were no different from the basic line beyond blood splatter covering them. The set is not easy to find, and as such we don't have a benchmark for what it would cost if you tracked one down. The last one we saw was for an opened / loose Afro Samurai (didn't include Kuma), and that sold for $45.00.

Afro Samurai and Kuma (Bloody) - fye/Suncoast Exclusive

As far as the basic line of figures, they sell for roughly $30.00 to $60.00 each (mint in package) depending on the character. Afro appears to be the rarest of all of them to find, so he typically sells closer towards the sixty dollar range.

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