I’ve been dropping my bucket into Koto’s Bishoujo well a lot this past month and now that I have some momentum I’m really starting to aggressively fill out the missing pieces in my collection. Today we look at Koto’s sexy anime take on that blue shape-shifting femme fatale of the X-Men… It’s Mystique!

Hey, we’ve seen the Bishoujo line’s packaging here plenty of times and apart from being the smallest box in my collection, it’s business as usual. The box is mostly white with generous windows to show off the goods, although the statue is wrapped in plastic and snugly nestled between two plastic trays so you can’t get the full effect until you get Mystique out of there. She comes separate from her display base, so you just need to plug her in and you’re good to go. As usual, the artwork is gorgeous. The first thing I always enjoy doing with these statues is scrutinize the statue and the source art. It’s fun to do and it rarely disappoints. And just to show you that I always read all the copy on the back of the box, I actually learned something here. Mystique first appeared in Ms. Marvel in 1978. I like to assume I know a thing or two about the Marvel Universe, but that little nugget of knowledge was new to me.

I usually discuss the pose first, but in this case let me start by saying how happy I am that Koto went with the classic look here, as opposed to the more modern black outfit. It’s not that I dislike the newer look, but with X-23, Black Cat, and Black Widow on my Bishoujo shelf, I’m all for adding a little more color and Mystique teams up with the likes of Power Girl and Wonder Woman to brighten things up a lot. Besides, this outfit is far more iconic to me. That having been said, Mystique is posed on her knees, her back arched ever so slightly, Uzi submachine gun in one hand and her other hand running through her wild hair. It’s a fantastic pose, very seductive, and giving off a come hither look… come hither so I can murder you with my submachine gun! Also, since she’s shorter, she fits nicely in the front row of my display beside X-23 without blocking the view of statues in the back.

I really dig the portrait here, although I do find it borderlines on being a tad creepy. It’s all in the eyes. They’re appropriately yellow and marvelously unsettling. The paintwork on her lips and razor thin eyebrows is excellent and I’m impressed by the way her sculpted hair falls all around her shoulders and her left arm. There may be a little too much of the translucent effect on the hair for me here. I would have liked the hair to be a tad more vibrant, but I’m nitpicking. The adorable little skull on her widow’s peak finishes off the portrait perfectly.

The body features a gorgeous pearlescent plastic for her dress, gloves, and stiletto boots. The stitching and wrinkles are perfectly reproduced and remind me a bit of the Power Girl statue, although Kara’s outfit looked like heavier latex, whereas Mystiques looks like a lighter, shimmery material. If you look closely enough at the boots, you can see a subtle texturing that contrasts nicely with the smoother texture of her skin. It’s that little attention to detail that I love so much about this line. And speaking of skin, Koto used the perfect shade of blue. Even when displayed on a shelf of a dozen excellent statues, my eye is usually first drawn to the pearl and blue beauty of this piece. The skull belt is a separate piece and it hangs loosely on her hips, and the gun is removable from her right hand.

About the only let down to this piece is the display base. It’s a simple clear disc. At first, I thought Koto might have included an insert like they have with their Tekken Bishoujos, but alas no. Virtually all the pre-production shots featured this statue without a base at all, and I always wondered why. While there are tabs on the front and back of her dress to hold her in place on the base, you can actually display her without the base at all. I’ve recently come to appreciate the uniqueness and personality that Koto has given many of the statue basis in this line and quite frankly, I wish they had done something similar here.

Quibbles about the base aside, Mystique is another homerun for Koto and their Bishoujo line. The sculpt and pose really captures the essence of the character while still introducing the quirkiness of the anime stylings that this series is all about. She’s also still readily available at a lot of e-tailers and at pretty good prices too. I picked up mine for under fifty bucks and in a market where quality statues are usually closer to $100 and up, I find her to be a great value.