Kotobukiya’s PANIC! Tamaki Kousaka

She's got more curves than...uh...(insert Daytona reference here).

Tamaki here is from a Japanese visual novel series called To Heart 2, which involves an all-girls school and, from what I can only assume, lots of sexualized shenanigans. The series has since expanded into an anime, a manga, and probably other things that I haven’t really cared to keep up with. Tamaki, despite having a supporting role in the series, is one of the most popular figures to sculpt. I knew that, eventually, I’d end up with a Tamaki figure, and I’m happy it was this one—which I got for a freaking song on Amazon. I had been eying Tamaki’s “Temptation” figure, but it was more expensive and I really didn’t like the stupid chain around her waist (which could easily be cut off, I realize). Then I saw this “PANIC!” statue—which seems to be a moment-to-moment sequel to the Temptation figure—and I had to have it. A conflagration of features caused forced my hand: the expression, the dynamic pose, the hips, the waist, the bust. Tamaki is a study in curves, which I appreciate.

She looks shocked that her breasts are bigger than her head.

The gimmick here is that it appears that her top is about to fall off. For reasons I’m wholly unsure of, her bikini bottom has also come loose. Realizing this fact too late, Tamaki’s cheeks have turned bright red, her eyes have gone wide, and you can almost see the words forming in her head: “Oh shit!” I absolutely love it—as a moment caught in time, it’s a wonderful sculpt.

Good view of the twist in the torso here.

It’s wonderful for a lot of reasons. You readers know that I really like detailed figures, and Tamaki is no exception. Let’ start with her hands—her fingers are individually sculpted and painted, with nail polish and creases in the palms. There is notable musculature morphing where the bicep and forearm meet. There’s sculpting between her left shoulder and her left breast, showing the muscle connection line up through the armpit. Brilliant! And check out that sweet neck—we’ve got clavicles and sternocleido-mastoids! And at the bend in her back, there’s a crease. Absolutely wonderful.

Here's the closeup. I love the muscle line going up the arm.

Moving down, we come to Tamaki’s most obvious assets—her mammary glands. Different sculptors give Tamaki different-sized endowments. Most of the time, she’s portrayed as busty but not stupidly so. Other times, she’s got a pretty average bra size. Here, however, and in the “Temptation” figure, the sculptor gave her breasts that seem larger than her head. I don’t really have a problem with that, but this Panic! statue has an interesting side note: I don’t think Tamaki’s dirty pillows don’t look ridiculously enormous from the front, but from the side they certainly look too big. Part of the reason is that they don’t conform to the laws of gravity–I like to think she’s momentarily twitched with surprise and they’re in mid-bounce. But admittedly, they’re pretty substantial. One nice feature, not unexpected, is that her bikini top outlines her nipples.

There's an unfortunate seam between the bikini strap and cup.

As you can see, they seem a little bigger from the side. You can also see a flaw with the molding: there’s a definate suture between the strap of her bikini and the cup. It’s also obvious from this angle that Tamaki picked the wrong-size bikini–significant underboob. Another nice detail, though: Tamaki’s breasts actually connect up by the armpit, as they should, and that nice crease shows that they DO ultimately conform to gravity.

She's got a lot of hair.

She’s got a helluva hairdresser. Tamaki’s dark red hair is really one of this figure’s centerpieces, draping gently every which way. It almost…almost…looks like horrible squid tentacles reaching down to grab you, but then again not really. The two “ponytails” on top of Tamaki’s head are clearly glued on and don’t really conform to the rest of the piece, but whatever–her hair is pretty spectacular.

The breasts make the figure look a little ridiculous from above.

See? Her hair is actually made of four distinct pieces–the bangs, the two ponytails, and the rest of it. However, since you, like me, would display this figure from the front, you probably won’t really notice the ponytails or separation between bangs and the rest of her hair, because they won’t be immediately noticable unless you get Tamaki down and start inspecting her head. So I don’t mind those suture points–they’re much more obvious on Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo Black Widow, for instance. Also from this angle, you get a further sense of the pure heft of Tamaki’s breasts. They are truly impressive organs–I suspect she could go for months without food and live off those large fat stores.

See how they seem bigger from the side?

As I said before, one of the reasons I like this Tamaki figure so much is the dynamism. A lot of Tamaki figures are just kind of standing there, looking pretty. This Panic! figure, though, has angles all over the place–there’s a real sense of movement here, as you can see from this photo. Her right leg isn’t just bent at the knee, it’s angled outward. Her waist is bent, both arms are moving in different directions, and of course her hair is all over the place. Tamaki is my most dynamic girl by far. The photo also shows the unfortunate result of putting all your fat reserves into your chest–the ass is definately malnourished. Oh, real quick, check out the popliteal on the back of her knee–the sculptor even managed to sculpt the giant tendon on the inside of your thigh, at the top of the knee (hamstring?).

You can see the ties here, and also the crease of Tamaki's hips.

Another lovely feature? Tamaki’s hips. She has hips because she also has a little bit of a belly (above). Thus, you can see the thigh muscles reach up to hit the pelvis, and then where the external oblique muscles reach up and also hit the rectus abdominis (abs). Although you can’t see it from this angle, Tamaki has (unsurprisingly) a bit of cameltoe, which is an unfortunate tradition among Japanese bikini figures. Sorry, I didn’t take a photo of that. Cameltoe isn’t really my thing. When we get to Kotobukiya’s Venus on the Beach Kasumi (long name), that will be a prominant “con” in the discussion.

It would seem that her bikini bottom has suddenly rebelled.

Threw this picture in just to demonstrate that, rather than an actual ass, Tamaki’s thighs merely meet at a certain point. However, it’s interesting to note that Tamaki has sacral dimples–you know, those indentations just above the pelvis that show up on a lot of women (haven’t seen ‘em in dudes). I’m not really sure how those originate, or what their internal structure is. If you do, dear readers, please let me know! So what we have hear is an assless figure who still manages to have adorable (though virtually invisible) sacral dimples.

Those seem like they'd be heavy.

So sue me, but this is an interesting picture for a few reasons. First, if you can manage to look below her giant mammaries, there’s more impressive abdominal musculature–including the Serratus anterior on either side of the torso, which actually meet behind her breasts. Fun fact: although breasts are supported from above by the Pectoralis major muscles, they are mostly collagin, elastin, and white fat (adipose tissue). They retain their shape largely through Cooper’s ligaments–which are unique to mammalian breasts.

I'm repeating this picture because I didn't take enough pictures in the first place.

I look for a lot of things before I buy a figure (they’re not cheap): dynamism, anatomical accuracy, a reasonably-sized bust, and a pretty face. Tamaki’s got all that in spades, and I couldn’t be happier with her. She’s a larger scale than I usually buy, just because she’s kneeling down (on a strange pillow that was included in the box). I imagine if she were standing up, she’s be taller than Velvet. This is a great figure to have, and she’s reasonably priced on eBay and Amazon if you’re interested. Definately worth a look. I also apologize again for the lateness of this post–I went back to the hospital and now I’m on long-term antibiotics. It’s been a helluva summer, but I hope to get into a better posting groove as autumn wears on. Not sure who I’ll review next, but I’m leaning towards my most recent acquisition: Eleanor Mercer, my first and only topless figure.

Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo Wonder Woman

Well, it was either this or Tamaki Kousaka, who I will eventually get to, I SWEAR. But Wonder Woman is shiny and new, and I got her right before my ridiculous hosptialization, so she’s fresh in my (injured, swollen) mind. You’ll recall that these figures are conceptualized by Shunya Yamashita, and in Catwoman’s case, I liked the concept art better than the final figure. It’s the opposite here, and to a larger degree. While this is not the final concept art, it is pretty darn close to what ended up plastered onto her box:

I don't like anything about this concept art.

I mean, look at her. Her hips are wider than her shoulders, she has no waist, her left leg appears to be longer than her right leg, and she’s…flat. This is just a bad drawing of Wonder Woman. Whoever the actual sculptor was on this thing, I have to give big props for vastly improving the design. While the basic form pose is the same, everything…everything about the final sculpture is infinately better than the initial or final concept art…Thank Cthulhu. Now, we all know Wonder Woman, right? She just got a costume change (and an enormous retcon), in fact, designed by Jim Lee.

Seriously, is it any worse than her traditional costume? No.

This costume gets a lot of hate. So much, in fact, that I think they got rid of the awesome 90′s X-men jacket. I don’t understand the irritation with this costume. When you compare it to her usual outfit, it’s far less ridiculous and a lot more practical. I’m not saying that superheroes should all wear practical things (I’ve mused in the past about how they get in and out of their skintight leotards) but the more practical the better is what I’m saying. At any rate, based on the initial concept art, I had absolutely no intention of buying this figure. After all, I already have the Ame-Comi version of Wonder Woman (one of the three original good Ame-Comi figures). Well, eventually, a prototype figure started showing up on websites and it looked significantly better than the concept art. I wasn’t entirely sold on her, though: differences do exist between the prototype and final product (as happens). It wasn’t until I saw an actual final figure review up at Tomopop that I decided to drop the hammer on Diana of Themyscira.

Wonder Woman, aka Diana Prince

This may be my favorite Bishoujo girl. She’s tall, distinctly posed, colorful, and powerful. You can easily see the differences between the sculpt and the concept art. She looks whistful and bizarrely proportioned in the concept art, but the sculpt looks determined and imposing. Even her costume–which is traditionally kind of silly–works here. Well, works better.

Diana don't mess around, kids.

I think her expression really sells the whole thing. She’s not modeling (like Rogue) or posing (like Catwoman). She looks like she’s thinking about something, perhaps on the field of battle. She’s not entirely engaged with the viewer. You can see that in her eyes, mouth, and the way she’s turned her head to the side. Her hair, billowing with the wind, is sculpted in semi-transparent material, which gives it a light, airy feeling. I love the muscle tones in her neck and shoulders.

Overall, a very clean, colorful sculpt.

Her Lasso of Truth is wrapped through both hands and is pulled semi-taught across the back of her thighs. We’ll get to this better in a second, but from here you can start to appreciate the musculature of her legs, especially around the knees. This is the part where I whine about how stupid the Lasso of Truth is. Most of Wonder Woman’s core concepts are pretty ridiculous, and I’m convinced that why we’ve never gotten a good WW movie or TV show (the old show wasn’t that great, kids–we were all just in love with Linda Carter). If anybody is going to make a convincing Wonder Woman movie, she needs to basically be redesigned from the ground up. Lasso of Trush? Throw that shit out. Invisible plane? Are you kidding me? Also, for modern viewers, please use her current costume.

There are lots of subtle angles going on here. The hip, the arms, the legs, the back...

As the picture caption suggests, which this may look at first like a fairly straightforward sculpt, there are actually a lot of angles to appreciate. I thought there could’ve been more definition in the back where her arms connect to the body, but given the rest of the figure’s quality, it’s not such a big deal. Besides, it’s not like I’m posing her so that she’s facing away from everyone. Check out that badonkadonk–it’s not stupid big, but it’s definately toned (like the rest of her) although it looks a little like a Speedo bottom. I think it’s really impressive how you can basically make out the shape of her hip bones from this angle, too.

Nice detailing on the...tunic? What do you call that?

Diana’s top is nicely sculpted with the traditional “W” stamped on the front. I can’t really tell what kind of material it’s supposed to be (looks similar to Power Girl’s outfit) but it’s textured differently, which is nice. I’m not entirely sure how it stays on, given the low scoop in the back (see the last picture). I imagine Aquaman’s always hoping that WW spills out of her top. Aquaman is such a douche.

Note the little clasp for her lasso, and the sculpted belt.

You might think the fact that her belt has a bellybutton is wierd. So do I. The itty-bitty lasso clasp is strange too, given the size and length of her Lasso of Crap. More muscular detail where her legs meet her…bajingo. That’s appreciated, I guess!

Check out the nice bunching of the boot fabric! I love it!

The base is pretty sweet. There’s some kind of cape lying on the ground with a spartan shield. There are holes in the back of the shield so you can insert the three spears. That helmet, which is in the picture at the top of the post, doesn’t attach to anything (like Catwoman’s cats) and isn’t balanced well, so it’s always falling over. The base itself looks like sand or dirt. Wond Woman’s boots are impractically high-heeled, but what part of her costume IS practical? I like the color scheme, and I like the bunching-up of fabric by her does and by her ankles. But seriously, she must have miniscule feet.

Chun-Lee? Is that you?

Be still, my heart: there’s even detailing around her knees. You can also see her silver bracelets here, used to deflect bullets. I guess that’s a pretty cool power…at least, compared to the invisible jet. You can see her Lasso of Truth in better detail here. It comes in two parts, and the loops come apart themselves so you can slide them through WW’s hands. The two halves of the lasso join up behind WW. It’s the one thing I don’t really like about the figure. The lasso isn’t textured like rope–it looks like plastic, and it’s fairly lifeless in her hands. Also, it’s the Lasso of Trush. The Ame-Comi WW is holding a giant goddamn sword and a bitchin’ shield.

It's like she's staring into your SOUL.

LOVE the expression, as I’ve said. She’s powerful and determined. The flowing hair ain’t bad, either.

See, she can usually fly in the comics...

Star-spangled earings, too. That’s something about WW that’s traditionally bothered me. She’s an Amazon from the island of Themyscira who fights evil in the World of Man, not the World of Uncle Sam. Her insistance on wearing United States patriotic colors has always bothered me, largely because Superman has always filled that role. Now, I understand it’s probably because of the time our girl was thought up, and patriotism was all the rage, but WWII is over. She needed that costume redesign for a long time. Anyway, back to the figure itself. You’ll recall that the concept art made her look flat as a board. And, in fact, the prototype wasn’t especially busty, either.

She could knock you out by turning around.

Again, props to the sculptor for turning that right around. The instability of her top is even more obvious now, what with those puppies yearning for release.

Yeah yeah, one more gratiutous chest shot.

I mean, seriously. Diana might be one of the bustiest characters I have given her overall height. It was completely unexpected but certainly appreciated. Stop staring, Aquaman!

Aaaand here's another full frame shot. Enjoy it.

The Kotobukiya WW is totally worth it. She’ll cost you between $65 and $70, though I got her for significantly cheaper thanks to my oodles of store credit. She’s my favorite Bishoujo girl right now (they’ve really got to get on a Power Girl figure). Like most of the other Bishoujo girls, WW is 9″ tall (including base). I’m going to have to rearrange all my girls to put all the Bishoujo figures next to each other. Right now theyr’e really spread out. Okay, next review? Tamaki Kousaka, sweartogod.

P.S. Sorry this post took so long to…finish. I actually had all the photos up a month ago, but between all my follow-up doctor’s appointments, catching up with work, and having in-laws up, I haven’t had a lot of time for ANYthing. The next figure review will come significantly quicker!

Sorry for the Delay, and Help?

I’ve been gone awhile! What’s been going on? Long story short, I was in the hospital for eight days getting a brain abscess cleaned out. Then I came home and got to laze around for about a week. I’m still on heavy medications but I’m back at work and I’m taking pictures of my girls again. So I’m not dead! Yay! But while I’m getting the next post ready, I was wondering if you readers could help me with something. First, observe the horror:

Injured by repetitious cast-offing, Kokoro now has horrible black scars.

This is Kotobukiya’s excellent “Venus on the Beach” Kokoro, in posterior view. Please not the black splotches on her thigh, shoulders, and neck. These come from removing (or putting on) her alternate costume, which is something I don’t do anymore for this reason specifically: it ruins her paint job! My question for all you readers is this: is there a way to paint over or clean off the offending splotches? I imagine it would be extremely difficult to get an exact match for her skin tone paint (especially since it darkens or lightens along the body). I can’t see this stuff from the front, of course, but it annoys me to know it’s there. Am I screwed, or is there a way to fix this? Thanks in advance for any help you all can offer (if any)! And I promise to get a full figure review up within the week! It’s either going to be the new Bishoujo Wonder Woman or Tamaki Kousaka.

Kobotukiya’s Bishoujo Catwoman

The great outdoors, made better by Selena Kyle.

One of my favorite figure lines right now is Kobotukiya’s Marvel and DC Bishojo (“pretty girl”) series. These are iconic Marvel and DC heroines interpreted through the pin-up lense of Japanese character artist Shunya Yamashita. The sculpts are more or less faithful to his concept art. While ten or eleven Bishoujo figures have been or are in the process of being produced, I’ve only jumped at five of them. Catwoman here is one of my favorites so far. The level of detail has been increased by comparison to earlier Bishoujo girls like Rogue, and besides that, I like DC characters more than Marvel ones.

"Oops, is this not zipped all the way?"

I said that some of the figures in this line adhere to Shunya’s concept art more than others. Catwoman is on the “less” end of that scale, although I can’t really pull up any full pictures of his concept art on the internet. The main differences between his art and the sculpt occur in the face and in the breasts. As you readers will quickly pick up on, mammary glands are of some importance to me when it comes to choosing and purchasing figures. I’m not saying this sculpture’s breasts are incorrect, per say, just they are better–in my twisted mind–in Shunya’s concept art. So sue me. AT ANY RATE. Let’s get on with it.

Com'on little miss, and do the Twist!

Selina Kyle has been Catwoman for as long as I can remember. Her costume has gone through some major changes over the years–it was once green and purple and hileous, whereas her current costume (shown here) is all-black, seemingly made of latex, and includes large orange goggles. Selina has always been Batman’s girl on the side, but during the Hush storyline(s), Bats gave away his secret identity to her. I haven’t really kept up with things since then–with all the reconning that happens in comics, she might’ve gotten amnesia or something since and forgotten about it. Anyway, she’s the only non-member of the “Bat Family” to know Bruce’s identity (although the Riddler figured it out too).

Selena's got that honkey-tonk badonkadonk.

This version of Selina is a little more full-figured than you usually see. This girl’s got hips, which I appreciate, and a lot of ass. In fact, out of all my Bishoujo girls, Catwoman would easily win the badonkadonk prize. The figure is dynamically posed, balancing in mid-stride on a bizarre gargoyle with an arched, twisted back and a turned head. She’s biting her whip (actually more like a cat o’ three tails), which itself can be bent and molded any way the collector sees fit. There’s a lot going on here, so much so that Selena can be displayed from a wealth of angles–like Velvet. The dynamic pose is pretty awesome, and it’s far more energetic than any of the previously-released Bishoujo girls.

Is this a photo of her ass, or the whip?

The whip is perhaps the most complicated part of the figure. She’s holding the handle in her left hand, but biting it close to the base and pulling whip taught with the right hand (above). Whip then angles back toward her ass, where it attaches via a tab-and-slot peg, and then the actual cat-tail whips are made of thinly-coated wire–you can really go crazy with them. I opted for the conservative approach due to space concerns but also because that’s what the concept art looks like (I’m a stickler for artist/author intent).

Are her boots made for walking or kicking ass?

Everything about this girl is finely-detailed, even her boots. I like the double-straps just above each ankle and the very heavy high-heels, which are both impractical and look very heavy. She could probably kill somebody by kicking them with those heels. If you look at any of the pictures, you can see the impressive creasing at every joint of Catwoman’s latex suit–it’s a small detail but I love seeing it in a figure. It reminds you that the bodysuit isn’t just painted on–it’s an extra layer.

It's like a fossilized demon Batman. Eh.

Really, the only aspect of this figure that doesn’t blow me away is the base. It’s a gargoyle in the shape of…well, it’s obviously supposed to be the Dark Knight, but it doesn’t really work for me. For one thing, the lower jaw has a very obvious seam where it’s glued onto the rest of the figure, and the whole thing looks like it’s sinking into a tar pit. A more traditional gargoyle would work better for me, not this wierd amalgamation of gargoyle and Batman and a demon. It can’t figure out what it’s supposed to be.

You know, from a practical standpoint, latex is terrible choice for a bodysuit.

The figure features a lot of little extra pieces if you take the time to look (unfortunately they’re all black). There’s a little utility belt on Catwoman’s left thigh and tight straps under her gloves. The utility belt on her thigh looks a little awkward from the front, as it cuts into her leg and almost looks like she’s got a turnaquet on. Her main belt is pretty basic but features a nice silver clasp. I don’t really understand why she has a collar on. I’m going to chalk that up to some kind of S&M “thing.” I do like the silver ring zipper. Oh, you can’t see it from the picture above, can you? Well, we’ll just have to rotate her around…

No, look at her zipper. HER ZIPPER.

Artists who draw Catwoman in this costume (most notably Adam Hughes), seems to like drawing her with the zipper down. Amanda Conner once drew a version of Catwoman storing a valuable necklace in her cleavage…can’t blame her. Here, as in the comics, Catwoman is portrayed with her zipper down, but here to a larger degree than normal. The collar at her neck is holding things together up top, and her belt is holding thing together down below, but her breasts are doing their damndest to break free in the middle. I have to say I’m not super-happy with how her breasts and shaped and sculpted. In Shunya’s original art, they’re a bit flatter against the body–large but more realistic. Big natrual breasts lie flatter against the ribcage. Viewed a bit from the side, this sculpture’s rack looks a bit torpedo-ish.

My larger point continues to elude me.

It’s a subtle thing, but it does bother me. It wasn’t terribly clear in the reviews I’d seen online, either–few people would think to check the specific gravity of their girl’s rack thinking that somewhere, some reader might find that detail important. More importantly, it is a clear break with the concept art. But as I said, they’re not bad breasts, they’re just not conforming to how big breasts are affected by the laws of physics. That said, here are some more pictures of Catwoman’s breasts. Hopefully they further illustrate my point.

This is where Power Girl would say "My eyes are up here."

It’s worth pointing out that Catwoman’s breasts kind of angle apart. That’s probably due to them being contained by either side of her latex suit, but it looks somewhat unnatural. But hey, while you’re fixated on her cleavage, you can also see more wrinkles and creases in her suit. I also like the subtle indent of her abdominal muscles (and it ends where the ribcage would begin). The detailing on Catwoman’s clavicles is nice, but they seem a little too prominant–maybe she has a thin neck?

She sank your battleship.

With the right lighting, it almost looks like her breasts are falling out of her top–which they are, honestly. But proper lighting also somewhat takes care of the “torpedo breast” problem and just leaves you with “she has really big breasts.” Which, I mean, she does in the comic. Just one more, I promise.

Well, at least she

See? This is what I’m talking about. They heave outwards in a manner suggesting silicone enhancement, which is a huge downer to me. A tight latex suit should press her breasts against her chest, not bow outward. ARGH! Okay, I think I’ve made my point.

Emote, goddamnit!

The other huge break from the concept art is in Selena’s face: it’s spicier in the original art, with a raised eyebrow and a devilish grin. Here, Selina looks pretty unresponsive–playful but not obviously so. Even something as simple as painting her right brow lower would’ve made a huge difference. She just looks kind of unemotive here, maybe because there’s a leather whip in her mouth, but still. Give us something, Ms. Kyle. Although I’m not dwelling on it as much, the lack of an expression is more irritating to me than Catwoman’s seaworthy ta-tas.

She's got cat class, and she's got cat style.

Despite my gripes, this is an excellent figure with great production values. Catwoman’s always been one of my favorite characters in the DCU, ever since I became hooked on the 90′s Batman: The Animated Series, so to have her in figure form is a dream come true. She’s almost ten inches tall including the base and is taller than any of my other Bishoujo girls, even Wonder Woman, who I bought just last week. I should mention that Catwoman comes with two small cat figures (one black, one grey) which you can theoretically stand against or on top of the gargoyle, but they usually just end up falling over, so I don’t really pay much attention to them. They’re impressively sculptured considering their tiny sizes and the paint job is nice, but they’re just not functional. A quick eBay search shows that she’s selling from anywhere from $48 to $72 dollars, so there’s plenty to go around. What follows are more pictures just because I toook excessive pictures.

Selina would win races not by a nose, but by a rack.

And if it were a "run backwards" race, she's win by an ass.She might suffer back problems from bending at a 90 degree angle.

The sculptor did seem to have a singular focus...

"We fall over a lot!"

There you have it. She’s a good figure, plagued by some breaks with the concept art and two useless cats. She was my favorite Bishoujo girl until Wonder Woman came along, but she’s still no slouch. Hey, I figured out how to improve the pictures, too: when I upload them onto the computer, they come out HUGE and, at that size, a little blurry. If I shrink them down to 25% their original size, they’re much sharper and upload to the blog much quicker. Sorry for the lighting differences between pictures. When I started taking pictures, the sun was out, then it got swallowed up by the sun. Such is spring in Alaska. I know I said this post was going to be about Tamaki Kousaka, but the next post probably will be. I’d like to take her pictures on an actual beach, since she’s in a bikini. Anchorage doesn’t have pretty beaches, though…I’ll figure something out.

Velvet (SIF EX Version) from Odin Sphere

Little Red Riding Witch

 I can’t blame you if you have absolutely no idea who Velvet is. She’s from an obscure Atlas action/RPG called Odin Sphere. The fact that it’s an Atlas games means that it’s already a niche title, but Velvet was not the primary protagonist in that game and any character your mind may dredge up in association with mentions of this title are probably Gwendolyn. Velvet is Gwendolyn’s half-sister, a witch from the fallen kingdom of Valentine. Like all the other player-characters in the game, Velvet carries Psypher jewels, which absorb enemy spirits (Phozons). Phozons act as experience but also power your magic attacks. Odin Sphere is a beautiful, excellent game that is unfortunately hampered by unfortunate, dare I say gamebreaking, faults. First and foremost, the PS2 hardware can’t actually run it the game. Every time a handful of enemies gather onscreen, the framerate drops to a crawl (especially once you start attacking). Additionally, there’s way too much inventory management and alchemy/cooking crap. Odin Sphere is all about giving you options, but there’s something to be said for simplification. I’ve heard rumors of a fixed-up port appearing on PSN, but nothing substantial has come out of that. It would be nice, though.

Little Red...Belly Dancer?

Velvet was one of those girls who I first saw over at Tentacle Armada. Actually, that’s not entirely true—I probably first saw her on Kotaku or Tomopop or a similar nerd news site. But Tier’s was the first review I read, and boy did he sell me on this girl. As a consequence, Velvet was the first figure I special-ordered. Now, I put my name down for plenty of pre-orders. Bosco’s only gets a small number of Bishoujo Marvel/DC girls, and I always put my name down on their initial orders for those. But they weren’t even aware of Velvet, so I had to ask for her. Problem is she cost a pretty penny. So much that I had to put down a down payment of $36. I was comfortable with that, and it didn’t take too long for Velvet to come in (about a month and a half). Happily, I paid down the balance but Bosco’s forgot to subtract my $36 credit from their computer system—a fact I would not learn for almost a year afterward. This basically meant that I used that $36 credit on another figure later on, so I ultimately saved that moolah.

Straighten up those elbows, sister!

Anyway, let’s get on with the review. Velvet is based on this character art from the game, and I think they nailed it. She is produced by Yamato, and her full title is “Velvet (SIF EX Version).” I paid (in total) somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 for her. Aside from Brandy, she is currently my priciest figure. Totally worth it, though: Velvet is absolutely stunning from every freaking angle. While most of my girls emphasize their most mammalian traits, Velvet is more reminiscent of a certain ZZ Top song: she’s got legs. She is affixed to her base via pegs holes in her shoes. The base is nicely decorated, but definitely flimsy. Oh, I know what you’re thinking: that base looks pretty solid! Well guess what? It’s just vaulted plastic. You really have to shove her down onto the pegs to keep Velvet grounded.

Velvet’s echinoderm-esque base

You readers must know that I love it when a sculptor puts in insane little details in the anatomy and clothing of a figure. Velvet raises the bar in this regard. Her skirt alone has innumerable creases and folds, as does her hood. Everything about her screams “quality craftsmanship.” If you look in the space between her hood and her head, you can see (and feel) more frills of her…uh…bonnet (is that black thing a bonnet?). It’s absolutely insane, and Velvet is the by far the most exquizitely detailed of all my girls.

Whips and chains excite her.

Her Phozon chain is a single unit. Well built and seemingly made of actual metal, it is cold to the touch and weighty. However, it must be tethered to Velvet’s arms somehow if we’re going to match up with the concept art, so Yamoto threw in two little half-circle rings that are supposed to snap to our girl’s wrists. These rings then snag onto the chain links and keep the chain from sliding off her hands. This doesn’t work very well.

Barely functional, easily lost

The reason? The cuffs don’t tighen around her wrists, so you have to snap them onto the widest part of her wrists–where her carpels would be, right above the metacarpals–or they just slide right off. The only real solution is to super-glue them onto her wrists, but I’m not super-excited about that prospect. Besides that, the little prong on each cuff that’s supposed to capture one of the chain links isn’t even long enough to get all the way through a link. The chain stays in position more because of gravity than anything else, and if you jossle Velvet around at all, everything falls right off. While irritating, it isn’t a huge deal because I never really…you know…move her.

Eyes front, Miss!

One of the many things that makes this figure stand out from the rest is the sculpt and paint job on Velvet’s face. The picture at the top of the page is probably better than this one. Her eyes have a dusky quality to them–she looks suspicious  but calm. Her head is turned so that her face is almost as a right angle to the front of her body, so you can display Velvet from many angles and still get a strong look at her face, either from straight on, lateral, or an oblique angle. In all three, her expression seems to change. Again, I must credit the sculptor about her golden locks. They come apart toward their terminal ends and knot up as they go back in the hood. Her ears have carved, impressively detailed pinnae, and if you look closely enough, you can see some muscular definition in her neck.

This seems wrong, somehow

How could I forget to mention Velvet’s cast-off-ability?  Like a few of my other girls, Velvet can be brutally torn asunder in pursuit of an alternative costume. Thankfully, the task is pretty simple here: you just pop her top off (literally). Hey, check out the detailing on her abdominal musclature while we’re here. Not only that, but she has a very distinct ribcage! I get way too obsessed with these little details, but you’d be surprised how many figures lack them. I also think it’s neat how the tops of her stockings kind of squeeze the thigh.

You don't often see jewel-encrused undies

All that trouble so you can slide the skirt off her torso and reveal her…shapely ass. They seem to be literally painted on. Now to be fair, it is a NICE ass, with lots of definition on the back and above the hips, but I’ve just never been a huge fan of this “costume.” It seems to be (read: is) mindless fanservice, and you never–as far as I’m aware–see her without her skirt on in the game, so…whatever. I’m sure there are plenty of collectors who appreciate this view, so I’m glad Yamato went with it, but her skirt stays on over here. Now then, here are more photos before I wrap this up.

Put your skirt back on, honey

Check out the detail on those fingers!

That hood looks pretty heavy

Getting Velvet proved a bit more difficult than I imagined it would, and she did cost more than I thought I’d be paying, but I don’t regret a dime of it. According to eBay, she’s retailing for between $150 and $240, so if you want her, I suggest grabbing her while the grabbing’s good. Whether you’re a fan of the game (like me) or just like beautiful women lining your dresser, Velvet’s a can’t-miss. And as always, thanks to Tier for convincing me to buy her.

Until next time, collecteers! I’ll probably take a look at Tamaki Kousaka next…

POSTSCRIPTO: I’m gonn have to shrink the photos or something next time. Try clicking on them. See? Too big, too fuzzy at that size. I’ll work out the kinks…anyone have tips?

Hello, Everyone!

First post. It’s a big step.

I’ve had three blogs in the past. My first, When Pigs Fly, was a comic-based blog. That is, I posted my own comics on it. Eventually, I started getting more into paleontology news, and the blog’s subject took a definate turn. About two years into the blog, Google decided that my password didn’t work anymore, and I couldn’t access my own damn blog. So I started a new blog, When Pigs Fly Returns: Part Deux, but ironically forgot the password literally two days later. So I started a third blog, When Pigs Fly Returns, which I’ve managed to keep alive for something like four years now.

But once again, my focus has changed. WPFR has been very on-and-off lately, due in large part to my job. I just don’t have the time anymore to devote to sit down for two hours and write a lengthy, detailed blog post about the latest interesting paleo story. So the blog has been living on random pieces of art, excuses, apologies for not posting more often, and my newest habit: collecting “girlie figures,” as I call them. I’ve always been a fan of pin-up art, and one day–many years ago–I picked up an on-sale figure of Dead or Alive‘s Kasumi (the BOME version). Something about it hooked me, and now I have fourteen such girls sitting on my dresser, with more to come. I’m not entirely sure what compels this habit, but I know I like it, and my wife doesn’t seem to mind it.

As I struggle to determine the “next step” in WPFR’s life, I know that figure reviews don’t really belong there. Hence, this new blog. My fourth, and hopefully, my most quality venture. Now, a note about the blog’s title. I had settled long ago on “Figure This Out,” but that was sadly taken. I almost went with “The Way I Figure,” but it seemed too long. Then, inspiration struck: a friend of my one the Nintendo World Report forums commented on one of my unboxing blogs that my newly-acquired statue Michael Ford (star of The Conduit) was surrounded by “dirty little statues.” I loved it. So thanks for that, ShyGuy. I changed my title to “figures,” though, because that’s generally what they’re called. Statues are big and very expensive. I collect figures.

With that, I leave you readers to it. Here’s to the future! Now let’s get with the pretty pictures…