Category Archives: Figure Review

Luna from Epic Seven

Luna from Epic Seven

I’ve mentioned several times that Epic Seven is now my primary game. I’ve also said that one of the reasons I enjoy gacha games are the attractive character designs generally intrinsic to the genre, and that I am looking to collect more figures of gacha game heroes. Strangely, while there’s no lack of figures from games like Azur Lane, Girls’ Frontline, and Granblue Fantasy, there are virtually no figures of Epic Seven characters: this figure is the only one. It’s a strange state of affairs, and one that I hope is amended in the future, as I think it has excellent character designs, though in my opinion none are better than the dragon knight Luna.
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Mordred from Fate/Apocrypha (Saber of Red Version)

Mordred from Fate/Apocrypha

I’ve written a lot about my newfound fondness for mobile games – specifically, gacha games. Besides Epic Seven, which is my main game, I’m enjoying Counter Side, though I know little about its game mechanics – a rather liberating circumstance, in actuality – and I gave Genshin Impact a try, though I’m not sure it’s the game for me. I still play Azur Lane every now and then, and there’s a few newer games – like Girl Cafe Gun and Nier: Reincarnation – and a few older games – like Arknights and Langrisser – that I’m curious about. However, there’s one gacha game that I have zero interest in playing and that’s Fate/Grand Order. From what I can tell, it’s not a newbie-friendly game. Nor is it a particularly modern game, and I’ve heard its gameplay systems are not one of its strengths (that said, I did enjoy the old PSP RPG Fate/Extra, a game whose combat was basically a randomized rock-paper-scissors system). On top of that, its summoning system lacks a pity mechanic, and I’ve heard of unfortunate players who’ve sunk over a thousand dollars chasing a particular character and came away with nothing. It’s difficult not to think that those funds would be better spent elsewhere – on Fate figures, doujinshi, and dakimakura covers, for example.

While I have no emotional connection to the Fate franchise aside from a residual curiosity as to whether I might actually like some of its series (this has not yet been the case with the anime adaptations that I’ve watched), I do very much like the character designs. That brings us to this figure; this is Mordred, the son of King Arthur, or Artoria or Altria as she is known in the Fate universe. I’m not entirely familiar with how gender works in the franchise – I assume it has something to do with servants not being human – but that’s not what we’re here for, anyway.
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Charlize from Lineage II: Revolution

Charlize from Lineage II: Revolution

As Hemingway wrote, my descent toward becoming a degenerate mobile gamer occurred in two ways: gradually and then suddenly. For much of the last thirteen years, I’ve spent most of my gaming time playing World of Warcraft, to the complete detriment of other games as well as the updating of this site. However, I’ve since acquired a distaste for both the game and its creators, fueled partially because of the deteriorating quality of the game and also by the recent revelations regarding the conduct of Blizzard’s employees. It’s difficult to remain sanguine about a pack of men whose behavioral maturation process can be traced in a direct line from the crib to the frat house.

I began playing Azur Lane during its global launch in August 2018 as sort of a respite from my grievances with Warcraft’s gameplay systems, and I started playing Epic Seven a year later for much the same reason. Both games gradually eroded my enthusiasm for playing Warcraft and consumed more of my gaming time over the successive years. When Shadowlands launched late last year, I felt that it was time to throw in the towel; it’s now been ten months since I played World of Warcraft and I feel much the better for it. Epic Seven is my primary game now, and those who are familiar with it know that it carries with it its own rage-inducing idiosyncrasies, but as yet I find myself unable to muster the same level of negativity towards it, even during its worst moments, as I felt for much of the last few years I spent playing Warcraft.

This discursive diatribe actually has some bearing on the content of this site. Some of my favorite figures are ones from relatively obscure visual novels and eroge. That’s due primarily due to the distinctive and attractive visual designs of their characters, and I think many mobile games – particularly gacha games – appeal to the same sensibility. Certainly it’s a major reason why I play both Azur Lane and Epic Seven, and it’s why I’m curious about similar games such as Arknights and Counter Side.
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KOS-MOS from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

KOS-MOS from Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Some time back, Good Smile Company released figures of Pyra and Mythra from Monolith Soft’s popular role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles 2; they sold out quickly and subsequently commanded impressive markups in the secondary market. Happily for collectors, they’ve since been re-released and were stocked by a number of retailers in both Japan and the United States. However, in contrast to that level of demand, this figure of KOS-MOS has, as far as I know, been in stock at Amiami since it first shipped last year. That’s a little surprising for an impressive figure of a telegenic character from a fan-favorite video game, but I suppose it’s also provides a long-lasting opportunity for anybody on the fence – or who wasn’t aware of this figure at all – to consider picking her up.
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Scathach from Fate/Grand Order (First Ascension Version)

Scathach from Fate/Grand Order

Continuing our look at non-pornographic figures (those reviews are coming … eventually. I did get a bunch of Native figures recently, so I have no shortage of lewd figures to cover), we’ll take a look at a figure that isn’t particularly new but that I received only relatively recently. This character is, of course, Scathach from the phone game Fate/Grand Order, and we’ve reviewed a couple of her figures here already so I think we can dispense with the usual biographical discussion. I would mention that, having weaned myself off of World of Warcraft thanks to its present state of putrescent decrepitude, I’m now a degenerate and inveterate gacha game player – but not once have I thought about playing FGO. I do still like the character designs, and I’ll admit that’s the only way that I want to enjoy the Fate franchise, but I’ve heard enough things about the game’s poor gacha rates to know better than to give it a shake.
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YoRHa No.2 Type B from Nier: Automata (Moonlight Studio Version)

2B from Nier: Automata

So this statue and this post both require a bit of explanation. I hadn’t intended to review it but it looks pretty good, even if it does take certain liberties with 2B’s design, and I thought it might make for an interesting review. The principal thing here is that this statue is in no way an officially licensed product and I’m generally a little reluctant to review such things unless they are doujin products whose production is largely motivated by a desire to display artistic creativity and to express an affinity for the originating material, and being that this statue is the product of some enterprising individuals in China, I’m inclined to think that its existence owes more to its potential commercial viability rather than aesthetic concerns. But like I said, it looks pretty good and hey, its producers may very well have an appreciation for both the character and for the female form, as we’ll see. Also, there actually is a licensed 1/4 scale statue of the Nier: Automata characters, produced by Prime 1 Studio. However, they’ve made the somewhat shady move of requiring consumers to buy the very expensive full set of all three characters if one wishes to display 2B without her skirt; the standalone statue doesn’t have that feature (though I imagine a brave collector could remedy that with some hand tools). Given that situation, and combined with my lingering resentment towards Square – undiminished even after a quarter of a century – for helping Sony destroy Sega in the game console business, my qualms regarding the unlicensed nature of this statue are largely mitigated.

So I’m going to put up some pictures of this statue – this is going to be a brief review, without as many pictures as usual and a great deal more explanatory text, since some people might be curious about this statue and others like it. This statue comes with a ton of optional parts, including her sword, another head, and different arms. The configuration I have her in here is the way I wanted to display her, so the other parts are back in the box.
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Kouhai-chan from Arms Note

Kouhai-chan from Arms Note

After a long string of featuring figures of girls in leotards, we’ll switch things up slightly and look at a figure of a girl in a racing swimsuit instead. This girl is Kouhai-chan from Ryousuke Fukai’s illustration series Arms Note. Kouhai-chan is the second scale-size figure in this series, following Bionic Joushi Kousei and some Figmas, and like the other characters in the series (some of whom can be seen in this Pixiv article), has no given name, letting us wonder about her background.
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Lacia from Beatless (2018 Version)

Lacia from Beatless

I usually review figures in no particular order other than what I feel like photographing, but today we’ll take a look at a figure that was released relatively recently: Lacia from the light novel, manga, and anime series Beatless. She was released earlier this month, making this one of the few times I’ve reviewed a figure in the same month of its release. This will likely be even less common in the future, since many of my figures are being shipped by surface mail and are thus taking a long boat ride from Japan to the east coast of the United States.
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Eileene from Seven Knights

Eileene from Seven Knights

Today we’ll look at a Korean figure from a Korean gacha game: Eileene from Seven Knights. I vaguely remember downloading Seven Knights a long time ago but I didn’t spend more than a few minutes with the game. From my admittedly limited research, the game looks somewhat similar to games like Summoners War and Epic Seven, though the graphics seem very dated, somewhere on the level of the original PlayStation in quality, with the chibi styling of its characters particularly reminding me of Final Fantasy VII and Tactics. There’s apparently a sequel out, which looks far more modern and ditches the chibi artwork for a far slicker, modern, and more realistic aesthetic reminiscent of Korean MMOs such as the Lineage, TERA, and Black Desert series.

A couple of additional notes regarding Eileene: she also appeared in the mobile game The King of Fighters All Star a few months back, which is kind of an odd and nonintuitive pairing, but mobile game collaborations often are, seemingly. There’s currently a Seven Knights anime airing on television, but I do not know if Eileene shows up; my guess is that the principal cast are original characters, though I’m not sure about that. I haven’t followed any anime series in years and I’d be interested in hearing if this show is any good.
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Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal (Lucrea Version)

Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal

We’re looking at another telegenic girl in a leotard: this time it’s Kasumi Yoshizawa, one of the newest additions to the Persona universe. I’ve yet to play Persona 5, despite it being a game that I was very much looking forward to, despite the fact that I own two copies of it (the original game and its expanded Royal release), and despite Persona 3 being one of my favorite games of all time (I rank it third or fourth, behind Phantasy Star II, Wasteland, and alternating spots with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic depending on how I feel on any particular day). In lieu of actually playing the game, I can at least appreciate the look of its cast, starting with Kasumi here.
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