Sara Pezzini from Witchblade (XM Studios Version)

Sara Pezzini from the Witchblade

Occasionally we look at figures that are aimed at the Western audience. Or in this case, made from a Western property; one would think that this figure is targeted at the US market but it’s actually manufactured by XM Studios, a relatively small company based in Singapore. As such, it’s not actually widely distributed in North America. Another odd thing about this statue is that while comic book properties are wildly popular these days, most of the most lucrative products are derived from movie adaptations, such as Wonder Woman and Deadpool. Witchblade – the figure obviously depicted here – is essentially a retired title at this moment, as it completed its 185-issue run in 2015. And one more unusual thing about this figure is its price; at $780, it is likely the most expensive figure in my collection.

Sara Pezzini figure

Witchblade has been an enduring franchise; never the most well-known or best-selling comic but popular enough to have received a modestly successful television series on the TNT network in 2001 (cancelled after two seasons largely due to the lead actress’s acute alcohol addiction) as well as at least one movie pitch, though it seemingly never got off the ground. The adaptation most familiar to this site’s readers will likely be the anime version produced by Gonzo in 2006, which starred the likes of Mamiko Noto and Nana Mizuki. That show spawned a number of figures, including one reviewed on this website years and years ago (I have a size comparison picture further down).

There were actually two more Japanese adaptations; a manga titled Witchblade Takeru which starred a Japanese schoolgirl named Takeru Ibaraki (whose Witchblade suit was rather more like the version seen here on Sara Pezzini than the one Masane wore) and a light novel (of all things) titled Witchblade Lost Generation which focused on a girl named Yuri Miyazono. The manga did receive an official English publication (with the predictable graphic quirk of placing the Witchblade on Takeru’s left hand, as the images were all reversed for the American release) but as far as I know, the light novel has not.

Sara Pezzini figure

The Japanese anime and the American comic book ostensibly inhabit the same fictional universe. While seemingly unlikely given their vast differences in plot and tone, this arrangement offers a modicum of plausibility due to the anime being set in futuristic Tokyo whereas the comic book occurs mostly in contemporary New York City. And while the supporting characters in each series are quite different, the protagonists are quite alike in personality. The comic stars Sara Pezzini – a New York policeperson and the lady depicted here – and the anime features Masane Amaha, an unemployed mother. Each character is kind, hard-working, intelligent, a bit compulsive and hot-blooded, and willing to battle the forces of evil and injustice. Both also struggle with living with the Witchblade, and their attempts to find normalcy within extraordinary circumstances is a major theme of both works. And both also try to cope with unexpected motherhood; Masane’s parenthood constitutes the most important thread of her series, whereas the birth of Sara’s child leads her to divest herself of the Witchblade to a blonde millennial named Danielle Baptiste for a time and leads to the events that conclude the comic’s story.

Sara Pezzini figure

This statue is manufactured by XM Studios in 1/4 scale. It stands at least a colossal 52 centimeters in height, including the base (I measured the height with the hair-down head; the alternate head – with the hair flowing upwards – would be even taller). Just to repeat, this figure is over half a meter tall. The manufacturer lists its weight as 7.9 kilograms (or a little over 17 pounds), and while I don’t have a scale to verify that, I can certainly believe it after moving it around.

The figure includes two different heads – one with hair up and the other with hair down – and two different left arms, one with a large polearm and one without. A bound full-color instruction manual supplies steps for assembly, and a large print of the source illustration (credited to Studio Hive rather than a single artist) is provided. 600 units of Sara were produced; mine is #399.

I purchased this statue from Secret Compass, a specialty retailer in Colorado. I had never ordered from them before and I always feel a bit of trepidation when I drop this much money at a store that I’ve never shopped at, particularly when I have to place a deposit to secure my preorder (which was not surprising or unusual to me). Happily, my order was processed and delivered with no problems and I’d have no worries about shopping there again.

Sara Pezzini figure

Sara mostly owes her appearance to the talents of the late Michael Turner, one of Top Cow’s best-known artists and the comic’s original penciller. Later artists (such as Stejpan Sejic, who drew nearly a quarter of the issues in the series’ run) would put their own spin on her look, but her brown hair, massive right-hand gauntlet, and skimpy armor were hallmarks established in the first issue. (Michael Turner died in 2008 at the age of 37 due to cancer. Having been a fan of his work on Witchblade, Fathom, and Soulfire, I was very saddened when he passed away.)

Sara Pezzini figure

When Witchblade was started up, the Bad Girl era of the 1990s was in full swing, and no doubt Turner’s design sensibilities were informed by the trends of that time. Witchblade earned a reputation for sexualizing the look of its main character, though the interior art was usually far more tame than the cover illustrations. A decade later, film adaptations of comics became a hugely profitable enterprise and the online social justice Taliban found a welcoming (and echo-prone) home for their screeds on Tumblr and Twitter; comic book heroines in abbreviated outfits subsequently ceased to be a big thing (Sejic drew the Witchblade armor as an elaborate and complex bodysuit that covered everything but Sara’s face).

Sara Pezzini figure

You wouldn’t know that from looking at this figure (or, frankly at most figure adaptations of comic book characters), though. Here, Sara is dressed in the most well-known version of her Witchblade outfit, the one that bares most of her torso and upper legs. An ornate pattern of green-tinted metal comprises her suit, resembling organic lingerie designed by a fashion house in Mordor. Her right shoulder is covered with a big spiky pauldron and her legs are sheathed in high-heeled thigh-high boots.

Sara Pezzini figure

The Witchblade itself is not actually a blade but the gauntlet on her right hand. It is also quite spiky and features a few gems in primary colors, the blue and red ones being larger than the gold one.

Sara Pezzini figure

The sculpting is done really well; the larger size of this statue allows the detail to be easily visible and while some 1/4 scale figures skimp on this type of complexity, XM Studios does not.

Sara Pezzini figure

The left hand can be posed holding this large pole axe. I don’t actually recall Sara using a bardiche of this type but she has one nonetheless. It has the same green color as her suit and the base which makes it a little less visible than I would like, but it is impressive once you notice it.

Sara Pezzini figure

She comes with two heads, one with her hair down and the other with her hair billowing out and with her lips parted. I like the hair-down option better, but the hair-up head has its charms, too. This head reminds me a bit of a Cindy Crawford poster I had when I was younger.

Sara Pezzini figure

The standard head features an affable demeanor, with Sara flashing a friendly smile. She is wearing a good deal of makeup, which might look a little trashy to some people. Personally, I think she looks great. I should note that the seam in her neck where her head detaches is not disguised in the least, though I don’t find it too noticeable in real life.

Sara Pezzini figure

A more conspicuous sculpting quirk is the massive arch of her back. From the front, she appears to be standing upright but the profile view shows that she’s actually striding forward, and so her back is strongly curved to keep her upper body straight.

Sara Pezzini figure

This anatomical quirk has some unusual ramifications. It tilts Sara’s head down quite a bit – though again, this is mainly noticeable in profile. It also makes her ass look smaller than it really is.

Sara Pezzini figure

Speaking of which, her backside is fully visible should the viewer be behind the statue, thanks to the largesse of the Witchblade design. Her armor tapers back to a thong, fully in keeping with the design sensibilities of the rest of her suit.

Sara Pezzini figure

The base is an impressive affair, with Sara stepping on the skull of some type of demon thing while green tendrils writhe around her body.

Sara Pezzini figure

There’s a magnet in that skull which keeps Sara steady while she lords over it.

Sara Pezzini figure

To further emphasize how big Sara is, here we can see the two Witchblade wielders, Sara and Masane, meeting up. Keep in mind that Kotobukiya’s Masane is a big figure, being 1/6 scale and about 26 centimeters in height. Nonetheless, she looks like a Nenderoid when placed next to Sara.

Sara Pezzini figure

This statue was expensive as hell but I have no regrets. On the contrary, this figure is now one of my favorites. I’ve been a Witchblade fan for a long time and seeing this statue is a delight. Sara looks very sexy and the rendition of the Witchblade suit is perfect. The large size of this statue is highly impressive and the optional parts make a fantastic product that much better. This really is a superb figure, one of the best in my collection.

Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
Sara Pezzini figure
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32 Responses to Sara Pezzini from Witchblade (XM Studios Version)

  1. Carter 05 says:

    As a side question: how good or bad was the 2006 adaptation of gonzo? Just to be clear, this is the first time I’ve ever heard about this serie.

    • Tier says:

      I thought it was pretty decent; not fantastic but entertaining enough. It starts out as a monster-of-the-week affair before the second half starts focusing more on the plot and like most >20 episode anime, I liked the first half better. I enjoyed the Witchblade: Takeru manga, too (there’s an English compilation published by Top Cow that collects the whole series); it’s a bit darker in tone than the anime is.

  2. TomTheCat says:

    This figure looks super awesome! For its size, 780 bucks seem fair. (Only a figure collector could say this, lol) I remember a couple of years ago I bought an issue of a Witchblade comic or two. I bought them for the covers, I can’t remember anything of the content…

    Speaking of big, expensive figures, I recently had my eye caught by Prime1Studio’s Harley Quinn statue from Suicide Squad. I’m strongly tempted, but that amount of money (More than 1500 Euros) really scares me off. I probably could srape that much together, but when I think of “useful” things I could spend it for, I’m afraid I’ll take a pass. Sorry, Harley…

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, prices for 1/4 scale comic book statues seems to be in the $500-1000 ballpark these days. That would probably freak out many PVC figure collectors, and would almost certainly shock many Figma collectors. But I am very satisfied with what I bought XD

      Ouch, that would be a huge hit to the wallet XD I haven’t checked but I have to assume that there are additional import fees in Europe. Our politics are lousy and we seem to be getting hit by hurricanes and engulfed in wildfires as of late, but at least the US may be one of the cheapest places in the world to collect figures.

  3. Elixir says:

    This figure is amazing! Thank you for sharing her images with us. I have to admit I’m a little jealous.

  4. Philip Brownlee says:

    Looks great!

  5. TheDuskwalker says:

    Damn, that is one amazing looking figure.

    I’m mostly familiar with Witchblade from the anime (although I did see the TNT series too), and the 2 games based on the spin-off, The Darkness. Not much of a comic reader, but have wanted to read Witchblade since Sara is sexy as hell. Also liked that Witchblade rip-off character, Nagi, from the terrible Bloody Roar 4.

    • Tier says:

      Ahaha, I had to go look that up. I have never played that game (or any game from that series) but I do remember seeing this game’s cover a lot back when I used to hit up all the local Gamestops to browse through their used bins. (Some games always came up, like various Madden titles, Gran Turismo 3, and this one. That’s probably not something that speaks well of it.) I kinda wonder if Sumita Kazasa played that game since his design for Takeru’s Witchblade armor in the manga adaptation actually looks a lot like one of Nagi’s outfits …

      • TheDuskwalker says:

        The original 2 PS1 Bloody Roar games were pretty decent button mashers. 3 was a sidestep but not totally awful. Then they made the best installment with Primal Fury for Gamecube (although it was still a turbo button masher), which had new visuals and anime cutscenes for arcade mode (story wise it was a side story set between 3 and 4), instead of making 4 multiplatform they instead released a slightly enhanced Primal Fury for XBOX (dubbed Extreme, which was also Primal Fury’s Japanese name on Cube) the same year as BR4, in which they replaced the anime with pre-rendered 3D cutscenes.

        Then Bloody Roar 4 outright killed the franchise, and BR4’s cutscenes were all in game and the visuals were way below Primal Fury/Extreme. Which also begs the questions on why they wasted money on adding pre-rendered cutscenes, instead of just reusing what was already there from Gamecube, to a dated port of a side game instead of adding that quality to the main game, that was exclusive to a far more popular platform. Really weird.

        Last I heard of the devs was when they co-developed Tatsunko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I know they’ve not went under yet though and still around, just no clue on what they’ve made recently.

        Anyway since I liked Primal Fury, I got 4, and rip-off Nagi was my main while I had it, but I sold it rather quickly. Only notable thing about 4 was Career Mode, which was pretty unique for a traditional fighting game at that timel, and it was the only rated M installment.

        • Tier says:

          I am not sure why WordPress no longer e-mails me whenever someone posts a comment. Oh well. Ha, it’s a sad thing when a video game franchise jumps the shark. Especially since the game I’m thinking about right now is Soul Calibur 5, which I suppose either killed the franchise or put in deep hibernation, at least so far as consoles go (I would not be surprised in the least if the franchise is continuing on mobile phones or something).

          A career mode in a fighting game sounds pretty neat, actually. I guess this wasn’t strictly a fighting game, but I really enjoyed the career mode in EA Sport’s Fight Night 3. I’ve always liked it when fighting games do something a little offbeat in addition to the standard arcade and versus modes, like the peculiar but fun strategy mode in Soul Calibur 3.

          • TheDuskwalker says:

            Too bad the production values were really bad for it’s career mode. It was basically going in a line of fights on a grid, upgrading your character and unlocking hidden characters.

            Yeah SoulCalibur seems pretty dead after the bull they pulled with SCV. SCII Online Edition, there FTP PS3 game, and there mobile SC game all bombed as well. They’re all about licensed anime fighters now, with Dragonball FighterZ being there big game. Which is made by the developers of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, Guilty Gear Xrd specifically.

            They only have Tekken now, which is mainly because of Japan and Korea arcades as that game is profitable even before the home version is released. They did kind of SoulCalibur V the home version of Tekken 7 in terms of single player content however. Not quite SCV bad, but still a lot cut or downgraded modes from previous Tekkens (also the only fighting game to lock a mode behind a paywall, ugh). At least treasure battle was one of the best single player modes in modern fighting games, but Capcom have set the bar very low for modern fighters.

            At least graphics are good and it plays well. It’s also one of like 3 fighting games in which the PC port was actually good, and the only one in which the PC version is outright the best version. Lili is also still queen sexy.
            http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ns5BGVBGKMU/maxresdefault.jpg
            http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NxKPqSUEEgI/maxresdefault.jpg

            That reminds me, I’m kind of suprised Lili’s Queen’s Gate statue from Hobby Japan is not a statue that ever caught your eye.
            http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kPGh9cWd6ew/T0tlZ9BQCnI/AAAAAAAAAs4/dlarGstmSvI/s1600/IMGP0401.JPG
            http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GOJw4r52VvM/T0tlbE2fU7I/AAAAAAAAAtA/rmc7CGgAfFk/s1600/IMGP0402.JPG

            It’s one of my favorite statues I own, only rivaled by the “Capcom Figure Builder Creators Model” Morrigan Aensland from 2 years ago (thanks to a amazon mess up I got this for half of what it’s supposed to cost, hehe!). The Noel Vermillion from Vertex is probably my 3rd favorite (although you got the best Noel statue, the Alter Memory Mu-12 statue).

          • Tier says:

            That is all very unfortunate. I might see if my old original Xbox still works; I built a joystick for it just to play fighting games. It might sound a little odd but I kinda think the Xbox might have been the best platform for fighting games ever, being that it had SF3, CvS2, MvC2, GGX2, KoF 2003, and DOA3, among others.

            Yeah, I actually went around looking for that figure a year or so ago. I never got it as it wasn’t sold through normal retail channels if I remember correctly, and I’m not too familiar with the newer Tekken games (actually, the only one I really played was Tekken Tag Tournament). If they had made a figure of her in the Oh Great-designed wedding outfit, I would have definitely bought that, though.

            Funny timing, I recently found out that a UK company is making a 1/4-scale Taki statue. Taki wasn’t one of my favorite Soul Calibur characters and I have no idea whether this company makes good products, but I’m seriously leaning towards buying it (well, the regular version, anyway, as I see the exclusive version appears to be sold out).

  6. BostonBrandon says:

    The Darkness/Angelus/Witchblade “saga” was one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Despite being part of the eye roll inducing era of comics published in the 90’s I still find myself interested in these characters. Glad to see that I’m not alone.
    If you’re ever feeling nostalgic I’d recommend checking out the 4 issue run of Nick Manabat’s Cybernary that ran as a backup story on Jim Lee’s Deathblow.

    • Tier says:

      Haha, yeah … some of those 1990s comics are pretty hard to read now. Or look at, in some cases (like Rob Liefeld’s artwork on X-Force).

      Thanks for the recommendation, Cybernary definitely looks like something that would interest me (and I’ve somehow never heard of the series until you mentioned it). Poking through some webpages, she looks kinda like Rogue, or rather, a combination of the 1980s big hair Rogue and the 1990s Rogue where just her forelock was bleached instead of having the long skunk stripe.

  7. Aya says:

    Amazing figure, about the wicthblade merchandise I guess the Japanese version figures is more widely sell in the market( thought I remember once they us witchblade action figure in card packaging) and this version is impressive statue, thought for such price I can’t believe this only 1/6… I expect to be like 1/4,but again I guess last time I see you review such figure is the smashed sideshow psylocke XD and this have much better details on those armors

    • Tier says:

      It is 1/4! XD She is very very huge. The Kotobukiya-produced Masane Amaha figure is 1/6, and you can see how small she looks in the comparison photo up above. Haha, I still have those smashed-up parts. I put them in a bag and forgot about them, and every now and then I find that bag and think to myself “Why is this bag so heavy?” before opening up and seeing the naked torso and disembodied limbs.

  8. wieselhead says:

    Nice doll… eh, figure ^^
    She is certainly big, I like the detailed figure and her nicely articulated pose. The face is nicely styled, she really has this expression how men imagine a hot blooded italian woman.

    Her face reminds me Rouge from the old X Men animated series, that character was actually too seductive for a kids cartoon. When thinking of Witchblade I only remember the cute and sturdy anime protagonist, I liked the anime, but the end was a bit too dramatic for me 🙁

    Generally I prefer the cute look of anime figures, I could imagine to buy a more realistic styled figure, but then it must really be my “type”.

    You really paid that much !!?
    ok, basically that are just 3 Cinderella Girl Idols from Alter + shipping XD

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I would have preferred it if the Witchblade anime ended on a different note. I guess the ending did wrap things up, though; there are quite a few anime series that fail to close up the plot even after a >20 episode run.

      I did in fact pay that much! XD I think I actually paid more for a vmf50 doll way, way back in the day, possibly when the dollar-to-yen exchange rate really sucked, but this is the most expensive figure I’ve bought (though I’ve got a few more 1/4 scale figures that come close to this, including a couple of Japanese ones).

  9. icelava says:

    With that size, the sort of statue one would place next to one’s indoor living room pond.

    • Tier says:

      Indeed! Heh, that reminds me a bit of a story in the real estate section of the local newspaper. It showed a very nice house owned by a retired couple; however, the photo of the couple showed a statue of a naked woman lying on the floor. The story didn’t explain what that was about.

  10. TheDuskwalker says:

    I honestly think you’re the first person I’ve ever seen say that since it lacked in major exclusives compared to PS2, with DOA3 being the standout exclusive, and most people complained about the controller. It having actual online for a lot of these games was definitely a big standout compared to PS2 however, that a lot overlook.

    Yeah, Lili was a mail order like Queen’s Gate Noel Vermillion, although Hobby Japan had 135$ pre-orders on ebay for the West. However the black outfit version was a normal release, which I found on amazon one day for 93$, which came as a shock as I when I went to amazon to get it it I was ready to pay up to 140$. Wish the face was slightly better, but otherwise was a really great figure thanks to the leg details, which is very important when it comes to Lili. Also got her kotobukiya, which was okay but kind of amateurish in spots, and barely looks like Lili (that outfit doesn’t even exist in game).

    Funny enough, I wasn’t too big on the old Tekkens. It was actually Lili that got me into Tekken. She’s hilarious and super fun to play, although was a little rough around the edges when it came to her moveset in her debut (Tekken Dark Resurrection on PSP, which I have to say is the best handheld fighting game ever made, and about the most content packed fighter in general). She was also one of like 4 characters that Capcom didn’t half-ass in Street Fighter X Tekken.

    I’m not familiar with that company either. Hopefully they’re good as it’s rare to see figures of her, I think she was one of the few Queen’s Gate characters that didn’t get a Hobby Japan figure. I used to be very big on Taki myself, loved her 2P outfit in SCIII

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I have to imagine virtually no one agrees with me. I liked the controller, personally, and I didn’t mind the original controller, which everyone derided as being too big. I have stereotypically small Asian hands and I thought it was comfortable to hold, and if I remember right the directional pad was okay for fighting games, unlike the Xbox 360 controller, which had an awful cross pad.

      I think that exclusivity was a big reason I didn’t buy Lili, that and I had less money back then. I’ve never been a big huge Tekken fan, either; I did enjoy playing TTT when I stayed over with some friends in college, but when I bought it later, I mainly played it for Tekken Bowl.

      It’s a little strange that Taki never did get a Queen’s Gate figure, and now that I think about it, I’m not sure she ever actually got a scale-size figure from any of the Japanese companies. It’s odd that I can think of two Western-produced products (the First4Figures one and a 1/6 scale doll that Triad Toys produced a while back) but none from the usual Japanese manufacturers.

      • TheDuskwalker says:

        Yeah, it was fine for 3D fighters. Only thing when it came to 2D fighters was I remember having issues with DP motion specials and certain super moves. The white and black button not being on top, to make shortcuts easier, was worse.
        360 was abysmal, however in the final 360 years the newer model controllers fixed the looseness and I thought was finally much better than OG XBOX (could even get DP’s consistently now), a bit too late, but at least I could finally play the few fighters and sidescrollers (and backwards compatible stuff) I had properly.

        Tekken Bowl is also in Dark Resurrection, with some additions, I played it like crazy too. Ticked me off when it was locked behind a paywall in Tekken 7.

        I don’t blame you. I didn’t think 3D fighters really became good until DOA2 and SoulCalibur, really ugly and clunky compared to 2D fighters during PS1/Saturn/N64 era, and Tekken Tag was just Tekken 3 with the missing Tekken 2 characters (even the arcade versions graphics were unchanged from Tekken 3, I don’t think there was even any rebalacing for T3 characters). Apparently Tekken 4 was a development hell game and so had busted gameplay. So I put Tekken on the bottom of 3D fighters at that time.

        However it’s became my favorite since the Tekken 5 overhall of the gameplay. They’ve also added some DOA lite elements to some stages in recent installments too. Tekken 7 has added some 2D stuff like super moves, and some 2D style characters like Eliza the vampire, Akuma from Street Fighter, and soon Geese Howard from Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, who have more 2D fighter motions, combos, and stuff.
        http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gjUeR9xhJLI/maxresdefault.jpg
        Okay, and them challenging Koei Tecmo in sexy since Tekken 6 does help too. 😛

        I think they stopped doing them after Lili and Noel Vermillion, who were also the last characters added to the Queen’s Gate book line before the PSP video game (well Noel’s book was released slightly after the game came out, but she was in the game to replace Kasumi as Koei Tecmo refused to allow her in the game). I noticed all the characters that got Queen’s Gate books after the game never got figures, and I think they stopped doing them around a year after the game come out, and just went back to strictly Queen’s Blade. I wonder if there was a breakdown with Hobby Japan and collaborators?

        • Tier says:

          Yeah, I never did play a lot of fighting games on the 360 because of the d-pad. (And also because there weren’t a lot, from what I remember.) That was sort of unfortunate for me since I think I bought BlazBlue three or four times and I never really got into any of the various editions just because I couldn’t play them very well. I did like the Mortal Kombat reboot though, and as I recall the directional inputs were extremely forgiving, which helped a lot. I once planned on building a joystick for my 360 like I did for the original Xbox but I never got around to it.

          Yeah, a lot of 3D games really have not aged well, particularly compared to 8-bit and 16-bit games. I did enjoy Fighters Megamix on the Saturn, though maybe that was just because it was such a novel game for the time. I didn’t have a Playstation so I missed out on all of the PS1 fighting games and never got to play the early Tekken games. It is pretty neat to see that they are going for the fanservice like Tecmo, though. If we ever see them do a volleyball game, we will know that they are going all-in on that. Netherrealm could take some cues from that, the way they toned down MKX, which was a big disappointment for me.

          Yeah, I wonder what happened with the Queen’s Gate lineup, it seemed like it was going well. Maybe they just decided to focus on their own properties, since they did a whole bunch of new series (7 Deadly Sins and Bikini Warriors and such) with big figure lineups. It’s kind of a shame since Marie Rose and Honoka are kind of tailor-made for that sort of exploitation. (I have to admit I kind of resent those two characters for taking over the DOA franchise. Lisa was probably my favorite character in the series, and I also like Rachel and most of the older and original female cast, so it was kind of annoying to see a lot of them get chopped out of DOAX3 in favor of those two and Nyotengu.)

          • TheDuskwalker says:

            MKX was a result of the Western PC police that call everything sexist since some of them complained over Mileena in MK9. *sigh*

            I hope they do…anything for less clothes for Lili. He..he….

            Yeah a lot of people are ticked over those 2 characters and how they’re forced on everyone (along with Ayane), despite that Marie Rose is massively hated outside of Japan and Hong Kong, with Koei Tecmo using them placing top 2 in certain Japan polls to justify it. They of course ignore polls when results don’t go there way (or most hated character polls that Marie always wins). Plus, despite still being most popular girl and main character (along with most played character along with Ryu Hayabusa), they won’t allow Kasumi in any non Warriors crossovers….. Like they just announced Ayane, Marie, and Honoka for Senran Kagura, yet as I said Namco were told no for Queen’s Gate: Spiral Chaos when it came to Kasumi. If the massively underperforming sales of Warriors All Stars is anything to guy by, people might actively not be buying games with them now to protest.

            Also I love Nyotengu, so I can’t agree with that part. Also when they released character themes of all the DOA females for purchase on PSN, Nyotengu was the only character besides Kasumi, Ayane, and Honoka that was top 5 highest in all countries, so she’s a pretty big deal.
            Just look at that face.
            http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PCYP4VbGL1M/maxresdefault.jpg
            Just try to look into those eyes and tell her she didn’t deserve DOAX3. 😛

            These themes are also what determined the DOAX3 roster by the way, however they put in small print that only Asia theme buys counted as votes, and conviently left Japan open for 2 weeks longer than the rest of Asia for Marie Rose.

  11. Tier says:

    Yeah, I thought that criticism regarding character designs was pretty silly. The game revels in excess, it’s peculiar to criticize it for doing what it has always done.

    She’s not one of my particularly favorite characters but I like her more than Marie Rose and Honoka, particularly so she’s not pandering to the fetishes of the playerbase in as obvious a way. I’m a little surprised that they stuck to their word and never added the other characters in as DLC, since that would have been a fairly easy way for them to make extra money. It’s a little disappointing as I actually did enjoy the first game a great deal and I liked the second game (though not quite as much as the first).

  12. Paul Liew says:

    BTW how did you find out about this figure anyway? I did not see it coming in any of the popular figure sites .

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