Thursday, 5 December 2013
Hello again! For this post, I'll be covering figma #005 Nanoha Takamachi Barrier Jacket ver. - StrikerS!
Though I've known of them for years, this'll be the first figma in my collection, and my first order from Mandarake! Before we get to the review, some information on on the figma line (info from MFC):
figma is widely regarded the most affordable line of anime action figures. Their retail prices are around 3000yen, I got this figure for 1000yen - roughly £6, for one with an opened box. For orders under 5k, Mandarake adds a handling fee of 500yen, and I chose the cheapest shipping option, which was about 200yen. In total, the figure only came to about £11!
The box she arrived in was massive! It was, however, very well packed with plenty of paper and bubblewrap. The box then had then been resealed and had a plastic wrap around it.
Figma (フィグマ) is a Japanese action figure line produced by Max Factory and distributed by Good Smile Company. A large number of the figures are based on bishōjo anime characters, and are available with various accessories, such as exchangeable faces. Figma focuses primarily on humanoid figures, and due to the high amount of articulation and small joint sizes, Figmas tend to be fragile.
figma is widely regarded the most affordable line of anime action figures. Their retail prices are around 3000yen, I got this figure for 1000yen - roughly £6, for one with an opened box. For orders under 5k, Mandarake adds a handling fee of 500yen, and I chose the cheapest shipping option, which was about 200yen. In total, the figure only came to about £11!
The box she arrived in was massive! It was, however, very well packed with plenty of paper and bubblewrap. The box then had then been resealed and had a plastic wrap around it.
Nanoha arrives in a box of typical figma-style. The sides feature Nanoha, and the back, information on the series (I'd assume). The front has the figma logo, and the figure's name and number. Nanoha is figma 005, so she's really early in the series - released in 2008.
Onto inner packaging! Since she's pretty early in the series, Nanoha doesn't have that many accessories when compared to modern figmas. However, there are still quite a few optional parts - The box includes Raging Heart (with interchangable heads for regular and Shooting Form), a smiling face, alternate fringe part, hand parts, Accel Flier wings and the standard figma stand.
Here, though, I'm going to take a moment to talk about how awesome Nanoha's box really is! The inside features a sky pattern, and the window features Nanoha's very well known midchilda magic circle.
Raging (Raising) Heart's original form. I love how Raging Heart looks - the paint and gem are perfect, and resembles the anime counterpart really well!
I unfortunately don't have a picture of the hand parts, but there are four sets of extra hands; pointing/shooting, clenched fists, open hands and normal. There's also a set of hands that can both hold Raging Heart.
The gradient paint on the Accel Flier wings are gorgeous, but mine don't fit the figure. Infact, I've got the same problem with the figma stand. I assume this is due to her being so early in the series, and I should be able to sand the pegs down to make them fit, but it's still a little frustrating.
Nanoha in all her glory! Overall, her quality and posability is awesome, even compared to newer figures. There are no painting mistakes or smudges or anything of the sort. However, her original fringe part doesn't attach properly, and falls off with even the slightest movement - but apparently this is a very common problem with her. Her left (right? Nanoha's right.) twintail also detaches, though I don't believe this is intentional.
A big, yet very common problem with her is the paint transfer for her cape! It's removable, but leaves lines of black paint on her torso if you're not lucky. It's possible to remove it in a way that minimises the paint transfer, but overall it's almost impossible to avoid. Even if you don't remove the cape, there's still a chance of transfer occurring.
Overall, Nanoha is an great, yet affordable figure. Her accessories and optional parts are a little lacking, but she was, after all, released very early in the figma line. As a fan of Nanoha's, I really love this figure.~
