Jul 30 2016

Figma “Arpeggio of the Blue Steel” Iona by Max Factory

By now, y’all know how much I love me my Kantai Collection and the exploits of the Fleet Girls. Well, then it should come as no surprise, that I’m also extremely fond of Arpeggio of the Blue Steel. It too has WWII style ships, a naval war against alien fleets, and some adorable girls at the helm. In reality the two series are really quite different, but they’re both near and dear to my heart. Figma didn’t go too deep with AotBS, but they did produce a figure of Iona, the Mental Model of the renegade Fleet of Fog submarine I-401. Not to be confused with the I-401 from KanColle that I looked at last week. See? Similar, but different.

Iona is #263 in the ongoing Figma line. She comes in one of the smaller and more compact window boxes with a blue and black deco. The window gives you a glimpse of the figure and all the goodies inside. As always, it’s collector friendly and even has one of those branded Figma ziploc bags to help you store all those parts if you don’t want to keep the box. I’ve been really pressed for time this week, so today’s Feature will be relatively quick, but Iona is a fairly simple figure, so I think I can do her justice in a short amount of time…

Here she is out of the box and looking pretty sweet. If you’re familiar with the anime, than the obvious thing to point out here is that this is not her better known, dark blue outfit. I actually like this look a lot, but I think it was an odd choice to go with for what will likely be her one and only Figma. Her outfit and hair consist of a matching powder blue, white, and lavender, all of which conspires to give her a very pale and almost ghostly appearance. That having been said, the detail here is quite nice, particularly on the laced boots and the straps that hang off her top and down across her hips.

Of course, you get a standard Figma stand with the articulated arm. From the back, you can see that her long hair is articulated to allow the arm access to the peg hole in her back. If you look closely, you should be able to make out the Fleet Insignia printed just above her butt.

It wouldn’t be a Figma figure if it didn’t come with a whole bunch of hands. In this case, there are four pairs, including: Fists, relaxed hands, splayed finger hands, and accessory holding hands. You also get a pointing right hand, and another right hand that is permanently attached to a little tea cup. One thing to watch out for are her teeny-tiny wrist cuffs, which will fall off when you swap out the hands. Iona also comes with three different swap out faces, which include a surprised expression, a neutral expression, and one with a slight smile. Switching these is as easy as always, you just pull off the front hair piece, pull off the face, tab in the new face, and replace the hair. All of the expressions are pretty damn adorable, and her large green eyes are immaculately printed on each portrait.

As if all that wasn’t enough, Iona also comes with an alternate lower half, which has her sitting down. This piece requires you to pop the boots off of her legs and attach them to these legs, then pull the figure apart at the waist and attach the upper half of the figure to this piece via a ball jointed peg. Here’s where I like to use the teacup and saucer that she comes with to have her taking some time off from running the I-401 and enjoy a nice cup of tea. Fair warning, the “tea” in the cup isn’t fixed in place and will fall out if you turn the cup over. If that happens, good luck finding it again!

Iona comes with one other accessory and that’s a little pink starfish. She was rather obsessed with the squishy little animals in the series and those accessory holding hands work pretty well with it.

And last, but not least, Iona comes with a complex system of parts to replicate her holographic interface with the I-401. In the series, this consisted of three bands of data displays, which encircled her. Here it’s recreated with three translucent plastic strips that are attached to a special arm on the back of the figure stand. It works… sort of. I give Max Factory major credit for trying, but in the end, I had mixed results with this set up. It’s also extremely frustrating to work with and I could never get the data rings positioned just the way I wanted. A cool idea, nonetheless.

Iona is a very nice figure and I’m glad that the Figma line threw some support behind this anime, because I really do enjoy it a lot. At only 12 episodes, It’s a short run, but I’ve probably been through it three or four times. If you want more, there’s also a Manga and a couple of films. Obviously, I would have liked to see more of the Mental Models recreated in figure form, or even some of the crew of the I-401, but if they were only going to do one figure, Iona was the logical choice. She doesn’t come with as much stuff as a lot of my other recent Figma purchases, but at around $35 the price certainly reflects that. If I had one gripe, it would be the choice of costume, but I’m already eyeing some other figures of her, to get that more traditional look.

Jul 23 2016

KanColle: Aircraft Carrier Submarine I-401 (Day Off Figure) by Taito

Hey hey, it’s Saturday. Anime Saturday. And that means more KanColle! Ok, I’m done rhyming now. I had originally planned on looking at a new Sailor Moon Figuart today, but time caught me up, so I had to fall back on another Prize Figure from Kantai Collection. This Saturday, I’m back to Taito and another “Day Off” Figure, and like the last “Day Off” Figure, this one is from the Kantai Collection video game and not the Animation Sequence. She’s Aircraft Carrier Submarine I-401… but you can call her Shioi!

As usual, Taito presents the figure in a colorful, fully enclosed box, which gives you plenty of shots of the figure inside. There’s not a lot of English, but the figure is identified on the top panel. I have to say I think this box is especially cool. There’s something about the art style that makes it look like a vintage pin-up and reminds me a bit of the old Vargas Girls art. As a character from the game, I’m not as familiar with her as the anime characters, but I tend to go in and read some of their dialogue as an indicator. In this case with phrases like, “CAN I DIVE YET? CAN I DIVE YET?” and “Please don’t touch my hangar tubes that much!” indicate that she’s adorable.

It doesn’t take long to get Shioi ready for display. You just peg her feet into the base, peg her submarine gear into her tushie, and peg each of the tiny planes onto the carrier deck. Toss the tiny crab (which I already lost!) onto the base and she’s ready to go! The “Day Off” figures are pretty self-explanatory, as they depict our fearless Fleet Girls enjoying some down time. In this case, Shioi is strolling along the beach in a one-piece swimsuit with a cover up that resembles the school uniforms they usually wear. She shoots a side glance as she brings a bottle of icy cold water (or perhaps Ramune?) up to her lips. The sculpt here for the costume is very simple, but the colors are excellent, particularly the soft skin tones, the deep blue, and the bright white of her cover up.

I was particularly anxious to get this statue because there aren’t any submarines in the anime and that seems like a missed opportunity. At the same time, I get excited whenever I see a reference to the Japanese I-400 Sub Aircraft Carriers, because they’re such a wonderful curiosity. As I understand it they saw virtually no action in the war and even as someone who enjoys doing a fair amount of reading about WWII, I rarely ever encounter any mention of them. The very concept of a submersible aircraft carrier still sounds like something out of science fiction. It’s just damn cool.

The sculpt for the submarine component is solid but not exceptional. It looks a little soft, and there isn’t a whole lot of detail on it, but there’s enough here to get by, and it’s perfectly acceptable to me for a figure in this price range. On the other hand, they did a very nice job sculpting the three tiny Aichi M6A Seiran aircraft that perch on the launching gantry. Most of the Sub Aircarft Carriers were designed to launch recon planes, but these babies were meant for attack!

The portrait here is very simple and functional, She’s cute, but nothing fancy. Shioi features large brown-printed eyes, short hair, and a wide smile. Her bottle is cast in translucent blue-green plastic.

While the majority of the Taito Prize Figures in my collection have simple, featureless bases, Shioi’s is crafted to look like a stretch of beach, half sand and half water. The water surface has sculpted ripples and is cast in transparent blue plastic with the sand painted and textured. I haven’t lost hope in finding that tiny crab, but alas he remains MIA for this review.

The I-401 “Day Off” figure set me back just under $20 shipped and I’ve got no complaints. In terms of sculpt, Shioi herself is probably the least impressive of my KanColle Taito figures. There’s nothing bad here, but the sculpt just isn’t quite as sharp and detailed as the others. On the other hand, the paint is quite solid and the execution of the submarine component with the planes and the beach environment on the base takes what could have been a very average figure and raises it up a couple of notches. Not too shabby!

Jul 16 2016

KanColle: Aircraft Carrier Akagi “Premium” Prize Figure by SEGA

What’s that? You can’t get enough of me droning on about Kantai Collection figures on Saturday mornings? Well, alright then, let’s check out another one! Today I’m turning my attention back to SEGA and the first Aircraft Carrier in my KanColle collection… Akagi!

Akagi comes in a window box, with just the one window on the front panel. This makes the box fairly durable, but without the top or side windows to let the light in, it’s hard to really scrutinize the figure from inside the package. You get the Kantai Collection logo on the top panel and character art on the side panels. I really like the gradient pink to blue coloring on the box. Other than “Aircraft Carrier” there’s virtually no English copy on the box at all, not even Akagi’s name. Before opening her up, it’s worth noting that this is a Premium Figure and not a Super Premium, so she is not in scale with the Destroyers from SEGA, which I looked at a little while back. Those were full on 9-inches, where Akagi here is closer to 6-inch, putting her more in line with Taito and Furyu’s KanColle releases.

And… here she is! Besides the usual plugging her feet into the base, Akagi involves some assembly before she’s ready to go. She comes with her Yumi (bow) in two pieces, seven arrows on a sprue, a packet of fishing line for her bow string, and a sheet of stickers for the arrow feathers. I’ve heard horror stories about setting up the bow and how fragile it is, but I didn’t have any issues. You just feed the larger piece into her left hand from the bottom and tab it into the grip. The shorter bow piece pegs into that one. You pass the string through the notch on one end, wrap it a few times and pass it through again, draw it as tight as you want it, and then do the same on the bottom. The excess that I snipped off is enough for another bow string should I ever need it. The stickers for the arrows are easy to put on. One arrow is meant to be held in her right hand and the others go into her quiver. If you aren’t familiar with Kantai Collection (I’m sorry!) the Aircraft Carriers fire their arrows into the sky, which then turn into squadrons of airplanes (bombers, fighters, or scouts) to engage the Abyssal forces.

Akagi stands at attention with her Yumi held at rest in her left hand and her right hand clutching an arrow to her chest. I strung the bow a little snug to show its curves. Like all the Fleet Girl Carriers, Akagi’s costume is strongly influenced by Kyudo garb, which ties in with the fact that the Carriers in KanColle function as archers with long-ranged attacks. Sculpted details feature some nice touches, including the strings that hold the armor pieces in place, the ruffling of her loose top, and even little wrinkles in the knees of her stockings. The coloring here isn’t terribly vibrant, but the combination of red skirt and quiver with the slightly off-white blouse and stockings is attractive enough. You also get some very neatly applied silver fixtures on her belts and straps.

Her quiver has the mast aerial attached to it and it’s sculpted with a strap that “holds” it in place around her shoulder, although in reality it is permanently attached to her. Unlike the Destroyers and Battleships, Akagi doesn’t have a lot of bulky ship parts on her. Besides the quiver aerial she just has a component on her right hip that she wears almost like a handbag. The quiver itself is a simple tube and all the arrows can easily fit inside. On her feet, she wears a pair of Zori (sandals), which have what look like miniature super-deformed carrier hulls under them, allowing her to skate across the surface of the ocean.

On her right arm she wears her Carrier deck in place of a shield. These are also used to recover her planes, assuming they survive their sortie to make a return trip. The printing on the deck looks particularly nice.

I do have one little quibble about this figure and that’s the look of the plastic in a few areas. The feel of the quality in hand is fine, but it does give her face and blouse a waxy complexion in certain light. Granted, this is a pet peeve of mine that I point out whenever I see it, even though it’s hardly noticeable when she’s standing on my display shelf under normal room lighting. There’s also some rather obvious seam lines throughout, but then I have to keep reminding myself that this is a relatively “low end” piece.

The base here is a simple black plastic disc, which is rather compact, so it doesn’t hog up a lot of real estate on the shelf. Of course, the Yumi extends out pretty far, so this is a figure that’s still going to need some space to display.

While the quality of the plastic here feels like a notch below Taito’s work in this scale, it’s really a minor quibble over a figure that goes above and beyond to impress. The figure itself is fine, but it’s the gear and extras that makes Akagi such a noteworthy piece. Besides the great sculpt and nearly flawless paint, the extra bits like the strung bow and the arrows for the quiver are just fantastic. Keep in mind, this is an import that usually sells in the $20-25 range and I got mine for $22 shipped. Besides being a great showpiece, Akagi was an important and memorable character in the anime series, not to mention Fubuki’s girl-crush, so adding her to my KanColle shelf was a huge win! And maybe someday I’ll pony up for her Figma too!

Jul 9 2016

KanColle: Repair Ship Akashi (Day Off Figure) by Taito

Yup, Anime Saturday may stray now and then, but it’s going to keep coming back to Kantai Collection quite a bit for the foreseeable future. I’ve gone on before about how enamored I am with Taito’s line of Prize Figures and today I’m looking at another one of their KanColle releases, this time with Repair Ship Akashi, a character from the video game rather than the anime series.

Boy, do I love these packages. Simple, attractive, enclosed boxes. There’s no windows to scratch or dent and the boxes are made of pretty heavy stock so they will actually protect the figure if you need to pack them up. There’s hardly any English on the package, but I know who I’m buying, so I actually prefer it that way. It adds to the charm of the import. Inside, the figure comes wrapped in plastic and this one requires just a little bit of assembly as well as the placement of some accessories.

It’s Akashi’s Day Off, so she’s taking some time out from repairing and upgrading her fellow ship sisters and just chilling out a bit. She’s seated on a bit of repair gantry, which pegs into the base. Her feet also peg into the base and between the two she’s quite stable. While she only measures about 5-inches and change, she is reclining and that puts her in scale with Taito’s other KanColle Prize Figures. She’s winking at you while enjoying a tray of dumplings, with her equipment strewn on the floor beside her.

Akashi is wearing the typical sailor-inspired school uniform, which includes a white blouse with blue collar and cuffs, along with a pleated blue skirt with red trim. She also has white and black thigh-high stockings with pink bows at the top. The sculpting here is very well done, particularly the ruffles in her blouse and the pleating on the skirt. The paint is also a solid effort. If I get in close enough, I can see a little bit of spray or inconsistencies, but for a piece in this price range, I’m very happy with the quality.

The portrait is very charming, thanks in part to her wink and beaming smile. Her one open eye is beautifully printed with a fetching shade of green. Her pink hair is tied into two bunches in the front with red ribbon and cascades out the back and fans out around her. There’s some really nice work on the bangs. The general wildness of the hair adds just the right amount of energy and excitement to a statue that is otherwise very relaxed in its composition. I will say that the skin tones on this piece are a little bit on the waxy side, but considering that she isn’t showing a lot of skin, it doesn’t really detract from the figure too much.

Akashi holds a small bowl of dipping sauce in her left hand and is holding a dumpling in chopsticks in her right hand. Damn, now I want to go drive around the block and get an order of steamed dumplings.

The figure comes with three loose accessories, and by loose I mean they don’t attach anywhere, so you can place them wherever you want. The first is the tray of dumplings, which in the box art is just sitting on the gantry beside her. A peg or something to secure it would have been helpful, but I’ve found as long as I don’t bump the shelf, it will stay put.

You also get a wrench and welding mask, which can just be placed anywhere on the base. The base is a simple, black base, although it is rather large to accommodate Akashi’s outstretched legs. She takes up a fair amount of real estate on the shelf, but that’s usually the case when the figure is orientated in this fashion.

Akashi set me back a whopping $16 shipped, which I think is a fantastic value for an import of this quality. She displays very nicely beside Taito’s Light Cruiser Yahagi. And while I’m not nearly as familiar with the characters that didn’t appear in the anime series, I really like the idea of having a Repair Ship in my KanColle display to offer a little variety among all the Destroyers, Carriers, and Battleships. In fact, I’m kind of bummed now that she wasn’t included in the anime. I think she would have been a good addition to the cast of characters.

Jul 2 2016

Figma “Gargantia on the Verderus Planet” Amy by Max Factory

I find it terribly frustrating when I love an anime and there’s so little merchandising connected to it and that’s certainly been the case with Gargantia. There was potential for several characters to get figures, not to mention Ledo’s mech (which, admittedly did get a rather limited and pricey release), but in the end, Amy was really the only breakout star to get the plastic treatment and even there we just got a statue from MegaHouse and today’s featured Figma figure. Wow, try saying that five times fast! And while I would have loved to get Figmas of Ledo or Bellows, I’ll happily take Amy because she remains such a tremendously endearing character.

The packaging here is fairly typical for the Figma line. It’s a simple window box that manages to be pretty compact, despite the wide range of stuff inside. The deco is a lot more conservative when compared to the Sword Art Online figures. It’s not flashy, but it gets the job done and is totally collector friendly so you have somewhere to store all of those extra goodies. The figure and accessories come on one tray with a second tray for Amy’s hang-glider behind it.

Amy looks as adorable as ever and comes donning her little tribal outfit with cut-off top, skimpy dress, sandals, and shoulder wrap. There’s nothing terribly complex about her costume, but they certainly nailed it for this figure. The shoulder wrap is made of soft plastic and the strap that is meant to hold it on is only attached to one side to give it a little more leeway when posing the arms. The paint here is nice and clean and the skin tones are warm and consistent.

In addition to a whole passel of hands, Amy comes with three different portraits. The standard one features a big open-mouth smile, large beautifully printed eyes and perfectly captures the character. The second has her eyes closed and another big grin, this time showing her sparkly whites. The final one has her looking slightly perturbed, which is about as angry as Amy gets. While three portraits are standard for your average Figma, I would have liked something a little more neutral in there, but then again, I wouldn’t swap out any of the ones she came with to get it. Besides, who am I kidding? The standard face is going to stay on this figure most of the time, anyway.

Amy features your standard Figma articulation, which means it’s pretty damn great. The skirt is a little bit more restrictive to the hips than I would like, but you can still get a decent range of motion out of them. In fact, the only thing I really couldn’t get her to do is stick her hands through the shoulder holes in her wrap like she does a few times in the series. If this was a Figuart, they might have included a pair of static arms to swap in for that pose and it would have been cool, but I’m not going to knock off any points for that. Besides, I don’t even give points!

In addition to all the hands and extra faces, Amy comes with her messenger bag and her faithful little buddy, Grace. The bag is cast as a single piece of plastic with some excellent paintwork. It can be slung comfortably over her shoulder, allowing her to make her deliveries to the different ships throughout the flotilla. Grace the squirrel is a remarkable piece of work simply because she is so damn tiny and yet features so much detail. She’s posed with one paw stretched ever so slightly out and her bushy tail up.

And then there’s this beauty! Max Factory could have easily packed in everything we’ve seen so far and Amy would have been a solid release, but nope. They decided to cram a whole hang-glider into that box as well as some extra components to the stand to allow for different display options. The glider itself is composed of three pieces that easily tab into each other and can easily be taken apart. There’s a special clear connector that goes into the middle of the glider to hold it up, and a second connector to plug into Amy’s back and clip onto the arm of the stand, allowing it to support both the figure and glider. It’s clever and the whole thing goes well above and beyond.

Amy comes with some gripping hands that can be wrapped around the bars, but I’m happy enough just using her pair of relaxed hands for it.

I think she looks great posed coming in for a landing, but the extra stand bits make it so you can also get her horizontal and in mid flight. Working with all these connectors and getting the figure posed just right can be rather fiddly, but the addition of this glider takes what was a solid release and dials it up even higher.

It should come as no surprise that I adore this figure. Sure, I would love to see more figures from Gargantia, but if they’re only going to focus on one character, then it might as well be Amy. She’s been on the market for a little while now, but unlike a lot of Figmas, her price has remained ridiculously reasonable. I paid $40 for mine, which would have been a great deal even if it weren’t for the giant hang-glider accessory. I honestly feel like I’m in the minority when it comes to my love for this series, and while it’s a shame it doesn’t get more appreciation, at least it means I was able to get this Figma for pretty cheap!

Jun 25 2016

Strike Witches: Charlotte Yeager 1/8 Scale Figure by Furyu

It’s been a bitch of a work week for me, but now it’s Saturday and that means I get to open another anime figure! Today I’m trying to mix up the nearly unending flood of Kantai Collection with some Strike Witches. Because what’s better than a bunch of chicks with warship parts stuck to them? A bunch of magical chicks with animal and fighter plane parts stuck to them! OK, not really better, but still plenty cool! There’s a fair number of companies that have done Strike Witches merch, but today I’m checking out Charlotte Yeager from Furyu.

The packaging is pretty typical for this kind of thing. You get a window on the front and top panels and shots of the figure on the side panels. I particularly enjoy the 501st Joint Fighter Wing / Strike Witches insignia on the bottom. Alas, my box is really beat to hell. Apparently good packing is a trade off for bottom feeding on the price. But, so long as it’s authentic and not a bootleg, I don’t care. Charlotte comes between two plastic trays and there is a little bit of assembly required on the base as well as putting her Browning Auto Rifle in her hand. I’ll confess, I was pretty surprised at the size of the box and figure when I got her. At $23, I wasn’t expecting a full 1/8 Scale figure of this quality.

And what a beauty she is! Shirley dons her brown jacket, green tie, and very little else besides her Striker Unit, which is based on the P51D Mustang. She poses proudly with her left hand on her hip, her Browning Auto Rifle resting on her right shoulder and her chest puffed out. Little details like her belt buckle, the wings pinned on her chest, are nice touches. The girls of the 501st don’t believe in pants, which helps facilitate the copious amounts of fanservice shots that pepper every episode. I’d suggest a drinking game based around that, but it would probably kill me, and I ain’t no lightweight when it comes to booze! The M1918 BAR is a separate piece that fits in her hand. It’s not easy to get in there, so I doubt I’ll be taking it out again. It is a nicely sculpted and painted piece, but the barrel is made of pretty soft plastic that is prone to warping.

Her portrait is solid, although the skin tone on her face and elsewhere is a little pale and flat. It just doesn’t have that soft and realistic skin coloring that I see on a lot of better statues. She does have perfectly printed eyes and a cute little smile. I think they did a very nice job on her hair, which blows off to her side, and is, of course, topped off by her rabbit ears. I never did quite understand why she doesn’t sport a little cotton tail instead of the rather long bushy one she has, but to be honest, I’m willing to suspend a lot of my questions while watching an anime like this one.

The paint on the upper body isn’t terrible, but there are a few flubs here and there. There’s an obvious spot on a couple of her blowing strands of hair, the necktie could be a little sharper, and there’s a little bit of spray here and there on her jacket. These things would be unacceptable on a higher end piece, and to be fair companies like Taito and SEGA can pull off better paint at this price point, but I’m still really picking at things.

Down below, the Striker Unit mostly impresses with sculpted and painted panel lines and rotating propellers. In fact, there’s only one area where the paint lets me down and that’s the black and white stripes on her left knee area. They’re notably fuzzier than the ones on the right. Other than that I love what they did here. The silver paint looks particularly nice and shiny and the registry numbers and star emblems are sharp, as is the yellow and orange deco near the props. I like the fact that they went with actual propellers, rather than the clear discs to make it look like they’re spinning fast. I just prefer it this way. The base is clear plastic and designed to hold the figure and be noticed as little as possible. The simple disc cradles the left tip of her Striker Unit in a little cup while an arm holds the inner leg. It works well and allows the figure to be removed and held fairly easily.

While there are a few areas for improvement here and there, it’s hard to complain when you’re talking about a fully scaled 9-inch figure for under twenty-five bucks. And as far as the few areas of problem paint, well that could admittedly just be on my piece. It’s not like I can go into a store and scrutinize three or four different ones and choose the one with the best paint. The truth is this is a great looking piece and she has definitely encouraged me to continue collecting this line. I don’t have the budget right now to be hunting down the Bandai or Figmas of these characters, but Furyu’s line will do quite nicely.

Jun 18 2016

Figma (FigFix #001) “Kantai Collection” Shimakaze (Half Damage Version) by Max Factory

It’s an exciting (and somewhat delayed) Anime Saturday today, because not only am I checking out a new KanColle figure but also my very first Figma FigFix! FigFix is a relatively new(ish) line, which I believe started in 2014, and the best analogy I can make is that these are sort of to Figmas what Figuarts Zeros are to Figuarts. In other words, non-articulated. But keep in mind, that’s coming from someone who has yet to own a Figuart Zero, so that analogy could be flawed. Anyway, I picked up Shimakaze because she’s a real hoot in the series and right now her actual Figma is netting prices that are a bit too rich for my blood, so I thought this would be a good way to get her into my collection, at least for now.

The package is very similar to that of a regular Figma and distinguished mainly by the brighter colors. You still get a window looking in on a tray with a lot of parts. If it weren’t for the FigFix on the box, I’d be hard pressed to identify this as something different, at least at first glance. Shimakaze is the very first release in this series! Let’s get it open and set her up.

Shimakaze is displayed on a standard Figma stand, which is necessary because her pose has her hovering with legs bent and not able to stand. I really enjoy the fact that Figma went with the “half-damaged” version here, because it still allows room for this and the regular Figma release in any display. Speaking of which, Shimakaze is not only perfectly scaled to display with regular Figmas, but her face is also removable and compatible with the faces of the regular Shimakaze Figma, so if you have the other figure, you can change her expression. Again, I really dig the way they made the two able to interact and compliment each other.

Shimakaze is clad in what’s left of her familiar uniform. Her top has mostly been obliterated leaving behind just enough for a smidgen of modesty. Her low riding skirt shows that one of the straps on her underwear has snapped, and her colorful, candy-striped stockings have holes in them. About the only thing that’s survived intact are her rudder boots and her gloves. As always with Figmas, the paint is bright and clean.

On her back, Shimakaze is armed with her five-tube torpedo launcher, which sets her apart from Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi who all wear their torpedoes on her hips. This also makes her attack style rather distinctive and I love the way she drifts to the side and bends forward to unload these babies into the water. The launcher assembly is removable from the figure and the arm for the stand pegs right into it.

The portrait is excellent. She has a hilarious surprised expression as if she still can’t believe she got hit. her detached anchor is sculpted to part of her hair as if its been blasted off. Even her bunny ear hair ribbon is tattered. The skin tones on the figure are smooth and even and she even has a little bit of red in her cheeks showing that she’s embarrassed the enemy scored a hit on her. The neck is the only articulation on this piece, and once again, you can change out the expression if you own the regular Figma of the character, although I think the expression here is perfect.

Of course, you can’t have Shimakaze without her posse of Rensouhou-chan backing her up. These adorable little animated gun mounts come in three different sizes and have some articulation in their heads and guns. The smallest pegs into an arm that curves up from the main stand to allow him to hover just over her shoulder.

The other two have their own stands with ball jointed arms to allow you to customize your display exactly the way you like. Each of these little buggers are also depicted in damaged mode with their guns bent and the look of anguished defeat on their adorable little faces. The crossed band aids on the biggest of them is a wonderful little touch. Of course, these little buggers will make excellent accessories for the regular Shimakaze Figma as well.

I really had no idea what to expect when I ordered this, but in the end it really is exactly what it claims to be. It’s a Figma without the articulation. It sounds like a ridiculous concept, since Figmas are all about the pose-ability, but I’m proof positive that these serve a purpose. Shimakaze’s regular Figma tends to go for around $75-80 these days, whereas I was able to pick up the FigFix for closer to $40. I wouldn’t normally find these non-articulated versions to be acceptable replacements for the regular ones, but it does offer a nice alternative in this case. I haven’t actually featured any of the regular KanColle Figmas here yet, but I have a growing collection of them and at the very least now I can display Shimakaze with them and she’ll do fine until I can track down the regular version.

Jun 11 2016

DX Girls Snap Collection (One Piece): Nami (Vol. 1 and 2) Figures by Banpresto

I’ve been covering a lot of figures from properties that I’m passionate about on Anime Saturdays, but not today. Today I’m going back to my drunken guilty pleasure, One Piece. It’s a show that I only watch when I get back from a crippling night at the pub, and when I watch it, I’m usually simultaneously hunting Nami figures online in an inebriated stupor. Multitasking! So let’s check out some Nami figures from Banpresto’s DX Girls Snap Collection…

If I’m going to engage in drunken online anime figure shopping, I could certainly do worse than the DX Girls Snap Collection. These roughly 7-inch tall figures are simple and inexpensive, so when the package arrives a couple days later, I don’t have to panic and worry about what damage I did to the bank account. The figures come in matching window boxes and while they’re certainly serviceable, they feel flimsy and arrived to me in rather shabby condition. I much prefer the fully enclosed box that Banpresto used for the “Sea Nymph” Nami that I got a couple months back. These boxes are collector friendly, but I sincerely doubt I’ll be keeping them. Rather than go straight to the fan service, I’ll start with Nami in her Alabasta Kingdom outfit…

As the “Snap Girls” name suggests, these figures are all about mugging for the camera and that’s exactly what Nami’s doing here. It’s a glamour shot with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head and her dress is blowing out beside her and she looks really great. In fact, I only have one negative thing to say, and that’s the ragged cut of her dress looks more to me like a fault in the mold than something intentional, but that might just be me. Otherwise, this is a surprisingly solid piece for such a low end figure.

Donning the native dress of the Alabasta Kingdom is a big change from Nami’s familiar jeans and bikini top, but I think it makes for a distinctive figure and allowed for a lot more creative license in the sculpt. Both the dress and the half-jacket that she has tied around her top are separate, permanently attached pieces, so there’s a nice feeling of depth and complexity here. The billowing of the dress adds a bit of energy to the pose and allows the figure to show off a little leg… or a lot of legs, depending on which angle your viewing her from. The detail on her arm bands and bangles is appreciated, and while the portrait is pretty simple, it’s undeniably Nami with short cropped hair.

The paintwork is quite good. There’s some faint blue used on the dress to make it look like thin cloth even though the plastic used is actually quite thick. The blue paint on her waist fringe and ornamentation on her top is all neatly applied. I’ve certainly seen worse examples on far more expensive figures. The eyes are printed on, so no worries there, and they even bothered to paint her toenails. The skin tone is also even and natural looking with none of that awful waxy finish I’ve sometimes encountered in budget figures. All in all, a very nice figure. And now for the fan service…

Awww, yeah! If exotic Eastern dresses aren’t your cup of tea, here’s just plain old Nami walking along in a bikini and enjoying a refreshing ice cream cone. Nothing wrong with that! There’s not a lot of wardrobe to talk about here and by extension not an abundance of paint operations or unique sculpting. Nami looks as fit as ever and, the skin tone here is again quite good and I’m happy to say there’s no ugly seams to ruin it.

Despite the simple and skimpy outfit, the paint and sculpt still feature some nice flourishes. The tied strings for her bikini top look good as does the ornamental waist chain that rests on her hips. And uh-oh, she looks like she’s slipping out a bit in the back. I also think it’s funny that Banpresto put the copyright information across one half of her backside. I guess there was really nowhere else to put it. The paint is excellent with a very nice shade of blue for the bikini and some sharp patterns on the top. And of course her tattoo is neatly printed on her left shoulder.

The portrait is very similar to the Alabasta figure, but this time she’s licking her lips and the hair, while still short, is a completely different sculpt. The ice cream cone in her left hand looks good enough to eat! Also, both figures feature the same plain black disk with peg holes to hold the figure in place.

At around sixteen bucks a pop, drunk or not, how could I go wrong? These Namis are damn great and I can wholeheartedly endorse having them even now that I’ve sobered up. Sure, I wouldn’t mind having a better example of her in my collection, but my confidence is still shaken from the dreaded Bootleg Nami incident of 2014. These are nice enough that I could have easily Featured these figures separately, but the truth is I have so many anime figures to go through that it would take me a ton of Saturdays just to get to them all. I’m still thinking about looking at my Figmas and Figuarts during the week and saving Anime Saturdays just for statues and prize figures. Now, with that having been said, next Saturday I’m going back to Kantai Collection with a look at a relatively new(ish) line from Figma… FigFix!

Jun 4 2016

KanColle: Light Cruiser Yahagi (Preparation Figure) by Taito

If it’s Saturday then it must be time to open another anime figure and I’m sticking with Kantai Collection for just one more week before turning my attention elsewhere. Today I’m checking out another one of Taito’s Prize Figures, this time, however, I’m looking at a character from the game and not the anime series. It’s Yahagi!

I love the packaging for Taito’s Prize Figures. They’re colorful, fairly compact, and fully enclosed boxes. You get pictures of the figure on front, back, and side panels and the text is even somewhat Western friendly with the name of the character appearing in English, in this case “Light Cruiser Agano Class No. 3, Yahagi.” That’s extra helpful in this case since I’m a lot less familiar with the game then I am with the anime series. The figure inside comes wrapped in plastic and requires some minor assembly. Just peg the Yahagi into her base, along with the two pieces of equipment, and you’re good to go.

Yahagi measures about 7 1/2-inches tall, which puts her in scale with the other Taito figures I have. She features a simple but sexy pose, as she kicks her left foot back and rests it on her gun mount and has her arms up, tying a ribbon into her long hair. She’s sporting an adorable two piece outfit, which looks like it pays a little homage to the school uniform, what with the sailor-style collar, anchor tie, and short pleated skirt. The term “preparation figure” points to the fact that she’s in the process of getting ready for battle, which was one of the things that drew me to this figure. She has her rudder boots on, but the rest of her gear is lying on the ground waiting to be equipped.

While her pose is fairly passive, there’s a lot of energy in this sculpt, particularly in the way her long hair snakes around her. It’s one of my favorite things about the composition and a complexity I don’t usually expect to see in these “lower end” Prize Figures. Plus, she pulls it off beautifully. You also get a bit of wind whipping up that skirt for a little helping of ubiquitous fan service.

Both the quality of paint and coloring on this figure are superb. You do get a fair amount of gray and black, but it’s perfectly balanced out by the bright white top and that sumptuous deep crimson paint used for her skirt and the rudders on her feet. There’s also a little bit of metallic orange on the inlays of her belt and the purple on her hair ribbon. The skin tones are absolutely perfect and they contrast nicely with the cold gray of her munitions.

The portrait is simple but lovely. Her large hazel eyes are perfectly printed. Her mouth conveys surprise to me. Maybe she just received some troubling orders pertaining to her mission. I’ve already commented on how impressive her hair is. In addition to the long snaking strands, she has more of it spilling over her shoulders.

The base is a simple clear disc, and I’m happy with that. Her gear includes her twin gun mount, what I assume is her backpack, and a pair of white gloves draped over it. These are simple sculpts, but look fine. They were a little difficult to get pegged in properly, due to a tight fit, but I’d rather have them fit securely than be all loose and falling out.

I’m tempted to say that this is one impressive looking piece for a Prize Figure, but I don’t even feel I have to qualify that. She’s just plain impressive and that’s been par for the course with the majority of my Taito figures. The pose, sculpt, and coloring all come together to make for a beautiful display piece. I had originally promised myself that I would stick to figures from the anime series, but when I saw Yahagi I fell in love, and for under $25 shipped, that was a promise that was easily broken. Next week, I’m going to change things up, possibly with some One Piece, but I’ll likely be coming back to Kantai Collection before too long, because I just can’t get enough of it.

May 28 2016

KanColle: Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi “Super Premium” Prize Figures by SEGA

In case you missed the memo, Saturdays at FFZ are all about the anime figures now. And that’s convenient, because I am on a serious Kantai Collection kick and have been picking up a lot of figures from this series. Today, I’m not looking at one, but rather three figures from SEGA’s “Super Premium” Prize Figure series. Yeah, I couldn’t decide which one of these gals to start with, so I just figured I’d do all three Destroyers from The Third Torpedo Squadron.

The figures come in pretty standard window boxes and with hardly any English… nope, not even the character names! Just the full title of the series, “Fleet Girls Collection KanColle Animation Sequence!” Yeah, that’s a mouthful. The boxes are color coded to match the girls within, so Fubuki’s blue and Mutsuki’s green match their school uniforms. And Yuudachi’s is pink, um… because… Poi? There’s some nice character art on the side panels and overall, these look nice but the boxes are a little on the flimsy side and prone to shelfwear.

It’s worth noting that SEGA isn’t kidding around when they call these “Super Premium” as the boxes measure 10-inches high and the figures, at about 9 1/2-inches from the base to their masts are a full 1/7 Scale. No, they’re not your average Prize Figures, and I was positively shocked by the size of them. The gals come all assembled. Just peg them into their bases and they’re ready to launch! Let’s start with Fubuki…

Special Type Destroyer Fubuki is clad in her blue and white school uniform and all geared up and ready for battle. It’s a pretty passive pose (as is the case with all three girls), but I like hers the most out of all three. Sure, something a little more action orientated would have been fun, but I think this pose works especially well when displaying them together. She has a pretty neutral expression, although definitely the most serious of the three, and I like how her hair is blowing just a little bit off to the side.

The sculpt is all around solid, albeit a little soft on the hardware pieces. Her armaments include two 61cm triple torpedo mounts on her hips and her 12.7cm twin gun mount held at her side in her right hand. Her rudder heels look great as does the tower, smokestacks, and mast assembly on her back. Next up…

Mutsuki! Besides the coloring, Mutsuki’s uniform features some nice changes from Fubuki’s, including a different collar and a button down blouse, and full stockings. She also has a slight smile and her right hand raised to her chest. Nothing about Mutsuki’s character really stuck with me from the series, other than her being Fubuki’s sidekick for most of it.

Her armaments include two 61cm triple torpedo mounts on her hips, although these are different configurations than Fubuki’s, with the tubes exposed and criss-crossing straps securing them to her legs. She wields her 7.7cm machine gun mount on her left hand, held down at her side. I really dig her smokestack and mast assembly, as it comes equipped with two racks of depth charges. Mutsuki’s heel rudders aren’t nearly as pronounced as Fubuki’s and only one can be partially seen. And that brings us to…

Poi! Yuudachi is without a doubt one of my favorite characters in the series. She’s just hilarious. This is Yuudachi before her sudden remodel. Her mostly black uniform is more distinctive than those of her fellow Destroyers, but the white trim and red stripes help add a little color. I really dig the way they sculpted her long blonde hair fanning out around her. She also appears to be the most cheery of the three Torpedo girls.

And speaking of torpedoes, Yuudachi sports two 61cm quadruple torpedo mounts, fitted out with oxygen powered payload. As for her hand weapon, I believe this is the 10cm twin high-angle gun mount. The way she holds it across her chest makes her look like she’s the most ready for action of the three. Her backpack is the simplest of the three, with just the one stack and the mast. It’s very cool that the girls each have unique masts.

The paint on all three figures is good, although not as crisp and clean as one might expect from the pricier figures. For example, there are a few stray spots of white on Fubuki’s right sleeve. With that having been said, there’s nothing else that stands out as bad at all. In fact, there’s even some lovely little touches like the tiny anchors on Fubuki’s socks, the deco pattern on Mutsuki’s stockings, or the fine striping on Yuudachi’s collar and sleeves and on Mutsuki’s skirt. The three Fleet Girls all come with the same style base. It’s a simple pentagon shape cast in translucent blue, which is appropriately suggestive of the water. The figures peg into the base with satisfying clicks, which holds them perfectly.

I can’t say enough good things about these figures, particularly when you bring the pricing into the mix. When they arrived, and I first saw the size of these figures in the boxes and equated that with the average price of $20 each, I was afraid the quality wouldn’t be there to back up full-sized figures. Remarkably, these gals pull it off quite nicely making these possibly the best values I’ve ever picked up in my somewhat modest years of Japanese figure collecting. SEGA also did two of the Carriers in this line, Kaga and Akagi and I’ll certainly be getting to those in the near future.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: anime

Figma “Arpeggio of the Blue Steel” Iona by Max Factory

KanColle: Aircraft Carrier Submarine I-401 (Day Off Figure) by Taito

KanColle: Aircraft Carrier Akagi “Premium” Prize Figure by SEGA

KanColle: Repair Ship Akashi (Day Off Figure) by Taito

Figma “Gargantia on the Verderus Planet” Amy by Max Factory

Strike Witches: Charlotte Yeager 1/8 Scale Figure by Furyu

Figma (FigFix #001) “Kantai Collection” Shimakaze (Half Damage Version) by Max Factory

DX Girls Snap Collection (One Piece): Nami (Vol. 1 and 2) Figures by Banpresto

KanColle: Light Cruiser Yahagi (Preparation Figure) by Taito

KanColle: Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi “Super Premium” Prize Figures by SEGA

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