It’s yet another prepainted kit from E2046, but unlike the prior two reviews, this one does not come from an anime. Indeed, Jian Xue may be an original figure; E2046 often sculpts characters from existing properties but I do not think I’ve seen this character design anywhere else. She looks vaguely reminiscent of something from Dynasty Warriors, or perhaps from Sana Takeda’s artwork, but I dunno. I do know that this is an outstanding figure.
Jian Xue is sculpted in 1/6 scale, and for once the manufacturer may be understating her size; at around 26 centimeters tall, this is a very large, impressive figure. She comes swaddled in protective foam and plastic bags. Several of her parts are loose; her left arm, hair, a couple of hair ornaments, and of course her base. Her arm and hair fit to her body very well, but I’m probably going to have to glue her hair ornaments down.
Speaking of the base, E2046 upholds their tradition of giving their ORI figures a unique base by giving her one made from clear plastic. Meant to simulate ocean waves, it looks very nice, giving the figure an additional level of distinctiveness. However, it’s not particularly stable; Jian Xue won’t fall over on her own, but as the weight of the figure is concentrated towards its right side, she’s prone to tipping over if jostled. I wouldn’t place this figure anywhere where she might be bumped (I won’t be putting her in my Detolf cabinet either, since it shakes quite a bit whenever I open the door).
The sculpt is stunning. She’s given an action pose where she rides the waves, her discus-like weapon ready. She’s got the ever-popular hair-over-one-eye look with her majestic tendrils of hair whipping behind her. If anyone’s curious, her left eye is fully painted.
Her paint job is similarly fantastic. Her clothing is painted glossy navy blue and gold, a classic color scheme that’s worked for the University of Notre Dame, the Washington Wizards, and the US Navy. Her hair is painted a charcoal color rather than straight black, a choice that I particularly like. She’s got a touch of eye shadow, delivering an extra sense of realism.
She’s also got a couple of tattoos. I’m not normally all that fond of girls with ink but the crane tattoo looks awesome. At least, I think that’s a crane; it also looks a bit like a dragon. The rose doesn’t look quite as good; it would’ve been better if it weren’t quite so bright and colorful.
Jian Xue is billed as a partner of Fei Yan, whom I didn’t buy. Fei Yan looks aight but isn’t nearly as striking as Jian Xue.
Jian Xue is a nice change from the anime girls that I’ve received recently. I have quite a few figures from E2046’s ORI series, and this one is just as amazing as the rest of them.
The white background really did not turn out nearly as well as I had hoped in these photos. Oh well. I’m going to have to figure out how to use something other than a white or black backdrop one of these days.
That is such a gorgeous figure.
Great tattoo.
To be honest, I prefer the white background to the black. Almost every figure review, I have some parts of the figure where I can’t truly make out the details, because the lighting comes from one side, and parts of the figure are left in darkness. Heck, I want to see the figure in all its detailed glory every picture 😛
The white was a bit too stark though.
The tattoo is awesome, had to say so again. I love free-hand drawing, and this style of drawing in particular. I have a friend who designs tattoos like that, and an RPG book (actually two), where all the monsters are drawn in this style.
Nice base, but yeah, probably need to add more weight to it. Consider gluing a small magnet to it and placing it on something metalic?
P.S. Can we get a close-up shot of her engraved knife?
Nice shooting, I prefer black background, because figure’s colors are more beautiful. It’s a nice figure, and you take really great picture. I have not gathering for the moment, but I want old gathering (Wai Fung, Raquel, Asuka Shunya Yamashita version..).
She’s gorgeous^^
She reminds me of someone I’d choose as a character in Dynasty Warriors.
>> Brucey
It is! I knew this figure was going to be awesome the moment I saw the character design sketches.
>> Guy
Haha, yeah, I see what you’re saying. It’s a bit of a tough choice between shooting photos that are illustrative versus shooting for artistry. I used to purely do the former on some of my old pictures and they came out kinda blah, but that’s more because I had no clue what I was doing.
For now I’m just going to put her on a shelf high enough that I’m not going to knock her over again (she fell over several times while I was taking pictures). The magnet idea sounds pretty cool; I might also use some double-sided tape or something. That reminds me, I need to look for double-sided duct tape the next time I go to the hardware store.
>> Leonia
Thanks! I think the black background adds a bit more drama to the pictures. I really like the Asuka figure they did, but I didn’t get it since I have the Yamato Rei figure and I wasn’t sure how well they’d match. Now that I think about it, that seems like a silly reason not to buy a figure.
>> Jem
That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the character too. I never did play much Dynasty Warriors, though. I need to go give Kingdom Under Fire a whirl sometime; I’m told that its gameplay is similar.
The work of E2046 is really striking. Their creations are impressive, including base, an area where they are kings. (But if the figure is not very stable .. it scares me … it’s so fragile).
This base makes very majestic figure.
The tattoo is particularly successful.
Thank you for your photoshoot, it is brilliant.
Thanks! That was my reaction when I saw this figure too; whether this figure is one’s style or not, she is definitely eye-catching. She’s also surprisingly tough; I knocked her over a couple times while taking pictures but she wasn’t damaged.
One Word:
Awesome!
E2046 should do their Ori Projects more often.They have so striking results and as of lately the price of a Gathering figure and a AAA PVC is nearly the same.
MAy I snag her from you? ^^
Hopefully they’ll make more stuff in this vein and not things like Sailor Moon. There is a curiously rabid fanbase for Sailor Moon on the E2046 message board.
Ha, you may not! You have gots to get your own, my man.
Most of those Rabid Sailor Moon Fans seem to be German Fangirls ^^;;;;
Atleast it was worth a try right?
It was! Jian Xue is definitely worth all the effort it takes to acquire her. Looking through Tsuki Board, it doesn’t look like there are many Sailor Moon figures around. That could mean that the fans are right in that she deserves more figures. However, I think that this fact acknowledges the lameness of that show and puts her in her proper place, as a short-lived fad consigned to obscurity.
Got her and Fei Yan yesterday, and I must say they’re quite stunning. I originally liked Fei more when I looked at the pictures, but after seeing them in person Jian Xue is definitely more striking. One rather curious thing I noted about Jian is that from a certain angle (maybe it’s the lighting) her eyes look teared up. It’s a rather cool effect, but like I said it only looks that way when viewing her from one side. I noticed that in your pictures she doesn’t have the armor plates on her legs. Do you just not use them, or did she not come with them?
Yeah, I just don’t use them, I’ve got them stashed away now. I didn’t want to hide her legs; I’m a less-is-more sort of person when it comes to females and armor.
I really hope E2046 shows off a painted sample of Ming Yue soon, she looks like she’s going to go great with Jian Xue.
Jian Xue and Fei Yan are really amazing figures and I wish to add them to my collection.
I did an order from E2046. They charged money from me and everything looked to be ok. But then they asked me to send photocopy of some document (passport, driver licence …) and of my credit card in order to finish transaction. I consider this as non standard and dangerous operation so I refused to send it. Probably I will not be able to take these beautiful figures (and maybe some others I have planned). Do you have similar experience?
Hmm, that is strange. I’ve never had to do that, though I always have to input my Verified by Visa password whenever I pay by credit card. I haven’t had to deal with their customer service too often but they seem to be responsive, so hopefully you can settle things out favorably (or at least get your money back without a hassle).
Thanks for reply. I agree their custommer service is responsive and it is not a problem to take answer from them. However I decided to reject the verification process so I missed these figures. Good thing is that thay returned my money without any delay.
That’s good at least. It’s unfortunate you can’t get the figures though. I usually pay by Paypal and I recall there’s a way to link your credit card to a Paypal account; maybe that could be an option (unless you’re opposed to using Paypal, which is certainly understandable, given the things one hears about them).
Sorry to dig up an old thread. Is the 1/6 really 1/6? How does it compare to Alter, and GSC figures. Say, side by side with GSC Saber Excalibur Triumph?
It’s all good. Yeah, I’d say she’s really 1/6 scale. I do not have GSC’s Saber figure, and it’s actually 1/7 scale, but I think they’d look somewhat comparable in size if they were next to each other. Jian Xue has a relatively realistic body build which is a bit more defined than GSC’s Saber Lily, particularly in the torso and legs, but Saber Lily has a much larger head.
Incidentally, I also got the Ming Yue figure today and it has about the same proportions as Jian Xue.