Pocco comes in a compact box with a cut out window to show the figure. One side panel has an image of the figure; the other explains the Revoltech jointing system. The back shows the figure in various poses and contains a whole lot of kanji that I can’t read. As near as I can tell, Pocco is based on original character artwork by Shunya Yamashita, which appeared in the book Sweet Dreams. Despite being out of my element here, I am familiar with Shunya Yamashita’s work and I’m very much a fan of what he’s done for Koto’s Bishoujo line. Granted, it’s a line that I collect only sporadically, but I do happen to have another one coming in next week.

Open the box, and the figure and accessories slide out in a clear plastic tray, with the figure stand concealed behind it all. The figure rests beside her sword, with four extra hands in little compartments below. Mine seems to be missing one hand, but she was free, so I can’t complain. All in all, I like the packaging here. It’s simple, compact, and serviceable and it’s totally collector friendly.

Aesthetically, I really love this figure. The sculpting is excellent and she’s brimming with detail. She’s got a steam punk vibe going on, what with the goggles and the mechanical wings, and her outfit is made up of scraps here and there. She’s probably got more covering her arms and legs than any other part of her body. Oh yeah… BOOBS! Pocco is very much in line with what I love about the artist’s Bishoujo statue designs and that makes this figure’s aesthetics a win in my book.

The coloring on this figure is another major coup. Obviously, she’s showing off a lot of flesh, which is clean and uses a good flesh tone. The colorful nature of the outfit contrasts beautifully with her skin, adding a lot of purple and red to the mix. The silver on her wings and arm armor is just the right level of matte, and there’s some fine paintwork on her face and on the decos for the scarf tied around her waist. The intricate and precise paint works well to bring out the various little details in the sculpt. It seems like every time I study the figure, I find another impressive little something about her outfit that I didn’t notice before.

And then there’s the articulation. I’ve played around with a couple Revoltech figures before, and I didn’t like the jointing system. Pocco here exhibits every reason why I don’t like it. Until you’ve spent time with the figure, it’s tough to gauge the range of motion of each joint. In some cases, like the shoulders, you’ve got quite a bit of movement. In other cases, like the hips, you have hardly any. Take any joint even a hair past its intended range of motion and it’ll pop right out on you. Granted, that’s better than breaking, but it’s damn annoying to have the limbs constantly coming off in your hands when you’re trying to pose the figure. And while we’re on the subject, Pocco’s left elbow will come off just by looking at her. The design of the joint looks like it can be fixed with a dab of glue, but unless it’s a surgically precise repair, it will cripple the whole joint, and I don’t want to take that chance. I realize that this is an older figure, but I can think of loads of articulation styles that give you a better range of motion with less fragility to the joints. On the plus side, Revoltech’s system does allow for a decent amount of movement without adversely affecting the sculpt.

Besides her sword and extra hands, Pocco comes with a black figure stand, with a post and a clear clip to go around the figure’s torso. It’s a cool stand, but the clip is situated just a hair too high for comfort. In truth, Pocco stands remarkably well on her own, but the figure stand comes in handy for capturing some of those really dynamic action poses.

Apart from being guilted into taking the time to write about her, Pocco was free to me, so I can’t really complain about the value. A little research tells me that she’s still readily available for around $20-25. It seems like a pretty good deal for an import figure of this quality. Most Revoltech figures seem to be more in the $40-55 range nowadays, but they’ve also overhauled a number of their joints since then, so it’s probably not fair to make comparisons. I like Pocco well enough that I’m willing to give the line another chance. My friend sent me some recommendations, and maybe the next time I’m a little slow on acquisitions, I’ll heed her advice and order another.