Yep, here’s one from out of left field. Once upon a time I was a real fighting game whore, and while SNK and Capcom were my mainstays, I used to really enjoy me some Tekken. I spent a ridiculous amount of time with Tekken 3, but the seminole moment for me was being totally blown away by the introduction of Christie Monteiro in Tekken 4. By the time Tekken 4 came out, I was more of a casual gamer and didn’t have the time or motivation to dig deep into the move sets and that’s where Christie came in. Not only was she animated perfectly, but she brought a fierce and furious style to my gameplay that felt really comfortable, accessible and looked outrageously cool on the screen. I got my first Bishoujo statue a while back [See my feature on Ghostbuster Lucy] and have been meaning to pick up another for a while. When Koto showed off Christie here, I pre-ordered her right away.

The packaging for Koto’s Bishoujo line is attractive and serviceable. There’s a lot of great artwork on the box and the front and side windows tease a bit of what you get inside. Unfortunately for mint-in-box collectors, the statue is wrapped in varying layers of plastic wrap, so you really need to take the statue out to get a good look at everything, and believe me, you want to see everything. The packaging is, however, quite collector friendly, so you can always pop the statue back in the box for storage or display. The front corner of the box displays the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 logo and the back panel of the box has a nice, lengthy story about the character, artists, and development.

The first thing I noticed, as I removed and unwrapped my statue is that Koto changed the base and stand from black to clear. I was really thrilled with this decision as the clear is less distracting. I could argue that I would have preferred a diorama base, but if all we’re getting is a straight base, this is the way to go!

There’s a reason that Christie has turned up on so many lists of hot video game girls, and Koto’s statue captures just about all of them. Christie is posed magnificently, up on the tiptoes of her right leg, with her left leg drawn up and bent at the knee. She’s gracefully twisting at the waist with her right arm drawn up with palm out and her left arm trailing down behind her. Her hair is perfectly sculpted, trailing in midair to simulate the twisting movement of her stance and the loose cords on her belt are made of stiff wire, suspending them in the air to further simulate her graceful motion. Her facesculpt is really pretty, although you really need to pick up the statue to get a peek because she’s looking down and her sculpted bangs cover it a bit.

Christie’s outfit, or what there is of it, consists of a unique take on her traditional costume. Her capoeira pants have been turned into flared thigh-high silver leggings as an excuse to put her in a thong. Her top consists of just a gold band across her breasts that ties off in a bow around her neck and is punctuated by a butterfly on the small of her back. She has emerald bands on her biceps and fingerless gloves. Again, the sculpting here is really nice, particularly the fishscale pattern on her pants and top.

Statues tend to be expensive, especially good ones, and that’s one of the reasons I don’t stray into this area of collecting all that often. Nonetheless, Koto’s Bishoujo statues are some of the best deals in this market. They’re durable, very attractive, and I think they’re perfectly sized. Christie set me back just under $65 with shipping and she really feels like a great value. The use of plastic may not give you the satisfying heft of a coldcast or polystone statue, but you can’t deny that this medium allows for intricate detail and beautiful colors. She’s another amazing piece and the best endorsement that I can give is that I’m even more stoked now to pick up more Bishoujo statues.