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.

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 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.

May 21 2016

KanColle: Abyssal Fleet Airfield Princess By Furyu

Anime Saturday has become a trend around FFZ as of late and I think I’m going to keep that going because I have a ton of these gals to look at. Today I’m taking a little break from Sword Art Online and turning my attention to KanColle, short for Kantai Collection, or if you prefer… Fleet Girls Collection KanColle Animated Sequence! That’s a mouthful! Originally a Japanese web-based browser game, KanColle has also produced a rather entertaining little anime series that I has quickly become an object of my obsession. It ran for 12 episodes and chronicles the adventures of the Fleet Girls, girls with the souls of warships, who skate over the ocean surface into battle with bits of ships attached to them and fight against a horrific race of ocean going demons called Abyssals. The animation is great, the characters are endearing, the battles are really cool, and the series takes time out between them to chronicle dorm life and curry cooking contests. And yes, they even find time to for the ubiquitous fan service swimsuit episode. I’m kicking things off with the Abyssal Fleet Airfield Princess from Furyu. I don’t usually start out with the villains, but I just love the crazy designs of the Abyssals. These things are like a cross between Hellraiser and The Blue Meanies from Yellow Submarine.

The figure comes in a squat window box, which is most definitely not Western friendly at all, as there’s hardly any English on the package. That’s not a criticism, just an observation. What is a criticism is how boring the box is. The red grid and circuitry pattern doesn’t really makes sense and aside from a small KanColle logo and a small piece of character art on the back, there’s nothing at all reminiscent of the series. And to make matters worse, my box arrived in pretty poor shape, like it was kicking around a shop in Japan for a long while. But it’s what’s inside that counts. And seeing as this is my very first figure from Furyu, I’m pretty anxious to find out what we’ve got.

Oh yeah, this is some fine nightmare fuel here and I love it. The Airfield Princess measures about 4-inches tall, but she’s reclining, so I’d say she’s roughly a 6-inch scale figure. She also comes out of the box all ready to go with the figure permanently attached to her base. You do get a little transparent cube to put under the jaws of the gun to prop it up, but it really isn’t at all necessary as it balances just fine on its own. The Princess reclines on her “throne” encircled by an airstrip and with twin cannons jutting out from the armrests. Beside her is the behemoth gun… with teeth…. three sets of them. I really dig the way the figure rests her head on her arm as if the calamity of war and killing bores her. Also, those piercing red eyes are superbly printed and are really freaking me out.

She has two devices on her head, which I’m going to assume are some kind of radar, because the Fleet Girls where similar headgear to receive signals and detect enemy fleets. The Airfield Princess’ copious white hair spills out behind the base and check out those spikes on the bottoms of her boots.

The gun to her right practically overshadows the figure itself. It’s mounted on what looks to be the prow of a warship with open jaws and several rows of human-like teeth. The whole jaws and teeth motif is pretty big among the Abyssals, as both their aircraft and surface warships all look like demonic sharks with guns coming out of their mouths. The designs in this series are just awesome.

In terms of quality, this piece is very solid but not exceptional. This would still be considered a Prize Figure, so it’s far from a high end piece, but the sheer size and heft along with the complexity of the base makes it feel like something more. And as such, it’s possible I had higher expectations. The sculpting is perfectly serviceable, particularly for the gun and its giant teeth, but the sculpt breaks down in relation to some of the finer details, like her right arm, which looks fine from a distance, but pretty rough as you get in close. The same could be said for the paint. The gradient red on the gun’s teeth looks amazing and I really dig the way the gun itself looks like its hot from being fired. The airstrip markings are sharp as well. But the figure itself could have used some sharper lines and the white could have been cleaner. Of course, this is all just nitpicking for a piece that cost me less than $25. It’s also possible that I’m a little spoiled by how great the Asuna Taito Prize Figure was that I looked at last Saturday. Truth be told, I’m extremely happy with this one for the money and I’d certainly consider picking up some more of Furyu’s figures in the future.

Next Saturday, I’m sticking with KanColle, but it’s back to Taito!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: kantai collection

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

KanColle: Light Cruiser Yahagi (Preparation Figure) by Taito

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

KanColle: Abyssal Fleet Airfield Princess By Furyu

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: