Elwing from Shining Wind (Goddess of Forest Version)

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

You know, character introductions can be really tough for me to write sometimes, especially when I don’t know jack about a character’s background. When I do, it’s pretty easy, but for a character like Elwing here, I don’t really know anything about her and I’ll sit in front of the keyboard trying to come up with something witty to write, but in this case, I want to go back to playing video games and admiring my new pillowcase, so I’m just going to say that I like Tony Taka’s art, I like big figures, I like cheap figures, and I like figures where the subject isn’t wearing many clothes. Put all those together and you’ve got my attention, and that’s why I have Elwing.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Elwing is one of the main characters from Shining Wind, a game that I haven’t played and don’t intend to play due to my suspicion that it’s a bastardized rebooted obscenity of a game in comparison to the Shining Force games I played as a kid.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

One odd thing about Elwing is the inconsistency of her name; some people say Elwyn, some people say Elwing. It appears that Elwyn is the official name now, but I like the name Elwing, which is the name of the elven wife of Eärendil the mariner in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth mythology. She is the mother of Elrond, which I suppose technically makes her the grandmother of Aragorn.

At any rate, we in the United States live in a democracy (of sorts) so putting this to a vote via Google (the arbiter of all disputes) reveals that a search for “shining wind elwyn” returns 48,300 results and a search for “shining wind elwing” returns 125,000, so Elwing it is.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Elwing is manufactured by Kotobukiya in a mighty 1/6 scale – a real 1/6 scale, not a remedial math Orchid Seed 1/6 scale. At 32 centimeters tall from her left toes to right fingertips, her stature is impressive indeed.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Like a a number of recent Kotobukiya figures, she comes affixed to her base right out of the box. In this instance, three small screws hold her stable. Despite having one foot in the air, she feels quite steady with no discernible wobble, which is heartening as she’s a weighty figure.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Elwing is clad in some sort of two-piece swimsuit. More apropos of foliage than fashion, it looks loose but seems to be affixed to her body. You wouldn’t want to remove it anyway as there’s a very ugly join line running over her right hip where the leg attaches. Her bikini does a reasonably good job of hiding it but it’s glaringly obvious when viewed from a high angle.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Besides that, though, Elwing looks very nice. She has a long, lean body build which works very well for this sort of pose. The sculptor went so far as to sculpt fingernails and toenails as well as scribing lines in the palms of her hands, which is a welcome level of detail. Her paintwork is subdued, much more pastel than vibrant, and it gives Elwing a sense of tranquillity that is a bit at odds with the movement of her pose.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

At the risk of sounding base, I wish that the sculptor had given Elwing’s backside more definition; she’s flatter than Nebraska back there.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

As nice as Elwing looks, my favorite aspect of this figure is its size. I like big and Elwing sure is big. This is a very nice figure that will make Shining Wind fans, elf lovers, and those partial to half-naked anime girls happy indeed.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Kotobukiya is making a matching figure of Xecty which I am waffling on at the moment. On one hand, Xecty looks quite nice, but I think it would have made for a more compelling figure had they made her facing the other way as Elwing. On a shelf, Elwing and Xecty would be more pleasing if their symmetry was mirrored; as it is, it looks sorta like they’re meant to sideways-spoon each other, which sounds hotter than it really is.

Curiously, Max Factory is unleashing a lineup of these very same Shining Wind girls in beachwear very soon. They’ve unveiled Seena, Kureha, and that blonde girl, uhh Clalaclan or something (I always think of the catgirl from Outlaw Star when I see that name). I dunno why, but they don’t seem all that exciting to me. It’s a real tragedy, I think, when a man can’t get excited by cute underaged girls in bikinis.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

I’ve got this odd urge to listen to Tsuki no Ie now. Dunno why.

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

Kotobukiya Elwing from Shining Wind Figure Review

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16 Responses to Elwing from Shining Wind (Goddess of Forest Version)

  1. Leonia says:

    This is a warm figure. Amazing and great ^^ She is sensual and faithfull to Tony Taka illustration ^^ Nice picture, I love the first !

  2. lu-k says:

    Gorgeous =)
    This first picture is really amazing! great job!

  3. VF says:

    Cool, you got your Elwing already! I’m still waiting for mine, I wonder why HLJ hasn’t shipped mine out yet since she’s been in stock for a week or so now? I was thinking about cancelling the order though, but I think I’ll keep Elwing after seeing your review. I don’t think I’ll get the Xecty version though, she just doesn’t seem to have as much grace Elwing.

    I love that first shot with the water – I was planning on doing a shoot similar to that effect and with some forest like backdrop. =D

    I also put in a pre-order for the beach figures, actually I only wanted Seena but my disorder kicked in and I just had to complete the set. 🙁

  4. Ashlotte says:

    Those orangish BG ones are win…I want more pictures with orange!!! (Did I mention its my favorite color… >_>)

    Very fun review though! Quite a few lines gave me a good laugh. ~_^

    Were these shots taken with the new camera?

  5. Blowfish says:

    Hmmm…I really wonder how you did that first picture:

    a)You stood behind the cam and a buddy was pouring water upon her
    b) You set the timer on your cam and poured the water yourself hoping that your timing and timer are the same.
    c)You used a remote with the one hand while the other one poured water on her.

    Anyways I wonder how wet your workspace looked afterwards XD

    The Freezing Water with a fast shutter speed effect has been done to death but in combination with the figure it looks incredible.Who wouldnt want to take a shower together with her?

    A real 1/6 figure? Nice! Havent seen a genuine 1/6 in quite some time and Ive gotta say she looks quite nice for a Koto figure.Too bad that shes an Elf which I have no use for except when theyre Kinky Elves

  6. Tier says:

    >> Leonia
    I’m happy with the way she turned out, especially coming from Kotobukiya; I usually think that MF and Native do the best job translating Tony Taka’s artwork to sculpture, but Kotobukiya did a fine job here.

    >> lu-k
    Thanks! I had hoped to get more pictures in that vein but I got really tired of pouring water on my desk, not to mention having to clean it up and pour it back into a cup for another shoot.

    >> VF
    I’m not sure … Golden Week delays, maybe? Man I wish we had three holidays in a row here in the States … well, I guess Christmas is sorta like that … it’s so far away though 🙁

    You should do that, I was trying to get a more interesting background going but I found it hard to do due to small space and my own inexperience with flashes. It would’ve been easier to pour the water outdoors but then you would get a nice lovely background with my neighbors’ houses, cars, fences, and barbecue grills, and I am thinking that that would really detract from the photographs.

    I’m thinking I might just get Kureha … maybe Seena too … dunno about Clalaclan though she has the coolest swimsuit and the best chest … probably Blanc Neige too if and when they announce her.

    >> Ashlotte
    Orange is a good color, I like orange as it’s one of the colors of my school. Yeah, I used the new camera here, I’ve actually had it for a couple months. One thing I notice about this camera versus the Rebel XS I used to use is that it doesn’t have a continuous shooting option with the self timer; I’ve used that mode on my old camera and it would have been helpful here (I guess I could have just used the old camera, but it has a slightly slower flash sync speed than the 7D which is a bit undesirable).

    >> Blowfish
    Option B is the correct answer; actually, I’ve used a 2-second self timer on virtually every figure picture on this site. I’ve got shaky hands which no doubt are not helped by my daily diet of Mountain Dew and other sugary, unhealthy foods. In this case, I set the timer to ten seconds and counted down in my head and started pouring the water at around three seconds remaining.

    It was a mess indeed; I propped Elwing in a big bowl to catch most of the water but I was pouring the water on my hand to get some bigger splashes and it sprayed all over my desk. I put up a plastic sheet (the same sheet I use for reflections) on my desk and protected my computer monitor with a big sheet of foamboard so cleanup wasn’t too difficult.

    Kinky elves would be good. I wouldn’t mind if Elwing had a nipple chain or something like that.

  7. Aka says:

    She’s quite the tall figure, I’m still a bit er.. well I wish I hadn’t cancelled her at times, but I’m happy that I did.

    I’m looking forward to at least the Seena swimsuit figure by Max factory, but CLalaclan is just… so very meh. Kureha I ordered but not sure about, wished they’d included Elwing instead of say Clalaclan, I know Xecty is coming up though. I’d also like to get the Xecty in the military garb.

    Anyway, nice shots, meh on the figure but I do like me some elvin near nudity, I think the world needs more.

    Also, breasts too big etc…

  8. Tier says:

    Yeah, she is really tall, she’s sort of in scale with Kotobukiya’s 1/6 scale Rachel from Ninja Gaiden now that I look at them, and she was pretty big for that scale, too.

    I’m waffling on those MF figures … I feel like I ought to get them but yet I like the Shining Wind girls in their normal outfits (well, Seena’s schoolgirl outfit, anyway), and that seems really strange to me.

    Breasts … too … big … this does not compute. It’s like Wintermute in the book Neuromancer, he was that who could not know the word, and I cannot understand the meaning of “breasts too big.” They look like a good size to me! Still wouldn’t mind if they were adorned with a nipple chain, though.

  9. BioToxic says:

    I’m not really liking the Goddess versions of Elwing & Xecty. Especially Xecty, her neck and shoulders just don’t look right. I think the big cloth “lump” doesn’t help either.

    Although I am looking forward to the swimsuit releases of the girls. I’ve got Seena & Kureha on PO and hope for Xecty. I’m not too interested in Clalaclan.

  10. softz says:

    The effect from of the first photo is great. It brings out the life in her 🙂

  11. Pingback: Elwing ~ Goddess of Forest ~ 1/6 (Kotobukiya) review | Exelica Meteor

  12. Tier says:

    >> BioToxic
    Yeah, I think her neck is a bit too slender for her head, plus it tapers downwards towards her feet when it should be widening.

    Still waffling on the MF ones. I see Hobby Search has shut down preorders for Seena so I guess I’d better decide quick. Also, looking through Max Factory’s product list, those K-ON Figmas scare the hell out of me. Especially the girl with the eyebrows.

    >> softz
    Thanks! There were a couple of things I was hoping to do with that setup that didn’t come out quite right, but overall I’m happy with how that picture turned out.

  13. Chag says:

    Bah, somehow I let this gem slip past my radar during my overseas scramble. I may be a few weeks late in the game, but I have to say: those are some mighty fine photos you got there!! I especially love the shots on the brighter background, as the lighting in those shots makes Elwing look so very soft and alive.

    Saw this figure on my visit to the local figure/model joint a few days ago, and WOW, she IS big indeed! Big enough to use as a striking weapon to fend off burglars. Plastic hotness and home defense tool rolled into one — I like it.

  14. Tier says:

    Thanks! I need to take shots on a colored background more often, I definitely need the practice since I’ve only ever done black or white backdrops before.

    Haha, yeah, she’s gloriously large. And solid, too. Although you could also distract an intruder, too, kinda like Splinter Cell, where you could whistle or bang on a wall or something to get a bad guy’s attention before you clobber them. Hey, if it works for Sam Fisher, it’d work for anyone else, right?

  15. Wolfheinrich says:

    She looks hot! What a babe!

  16. Tier says:

    Indeed she is! Gee, Xecty or no, decisions, decisions … hmm …

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