I hadn’t planned on buying Sheryl Nome, but after seeing early reviews of her, I decided that she passed the eyeball test and that I should acquire her. To my consternation, she was sold out everywhere I looked. HLJ and Hobby Search briefly restocked her the day that she was released; she sold out hours later literally as I was removing my credit card from my wallet (one would think that I’d have my number memorized by now). As I resigned myself to the reality that she wouldn’t be entering my inventory, I took a look at BeNippon, a retailer that I hadn’t ordered from before, much less heard of. Hope was rekindled as they listed her as in stock with one unit left, and I quickly paid up and now she’s here.
A word about BeNippon; they shipped very fast via EMS, and they packed the shipment very well. They wrapped the box in bubble wrap and cut cardboard pieces to size so that the figure box wouldn’t bounce around inside the shipping box. Definitely a nice job there, and I’ll be adding them to to the list of Japanese hobby retailers that I like to order from.
Sheryl, I am told, is one of two heroines from Macross Frontier. Having not seen this show, I’m guessing that they are vying for the opportunity to woo and procreate with the male protagonist, whom I assume is a valkyrie pilot. Love triangles are sort of a staple of Macross, with the original series having Minmay and Misa Hayase battling for Hikaru’s affections, and Macross Plus featuring two dudes and a girl.
My own interest in Macross goes back around twenty years when I watched Robotech as a kid. Most annoyingly, the local AFRTS station stopped showing the Macross saga at around its midpoint and only showed the first two episodes of the Invid Invasion segment. They did broadcast all the episodes of the Southern Cross saga, which I’m not a big fan of. I’m not much of a fan of Harmony Gold but I still fondly remember Robotech. I also watched the Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie with the famously bad English dub. I thought it was hilarious as a little kid but even at that age I was impressed by its animation quality.
Anyway, let’s look at the figure. Sheryl Nome is from MegaHouse and is in 1/8 scale. She’s on the large end of that scale, and could pass as 1/7 scale from manufacturers of lesser integrity. She has two outfits, one that looks a bit like a fascist military uniform and the other being a rather naughty boob strap and shorts ensemble. I’ll be honest, she looks rather like a ho in that getup, which I certainly approve of. I’ll probably be displaying her that way.
Like Mirim, she features numerous removable parts.
Lots and lots of parts. I forgot to remove them for this picture, but her suspenders, head, and boots can also be detached from her body.
The sculpt is fantastic, and is what really prompted me to buy Sheryl. Despite her placid pose, her hair is whipping off to the side, and she’s got a bit of a mysterious smile on her face. Speaking of her face, it’s nicely done. I like her mouth; she’s one of the few anime-based figures I have that includes lips, and they’re sculpted with a realistic bird-wings shape.
In cast-off mode, I wonder if her outfit is made from electrical tape. Her shorts are open and don’t fully cover her backside. Therefore, she looks awesome.
I didn’t do a great job putting her clothes back on to take photos, so there are some prominent gaps where the pieces detach. That’s mainly my fault. I did notice a bit of a dark smudge on her back, which I think is from one of the pieces; if you frequently remove or replace her clothing, you might want to put a thin piece of plastic in between her skin and the clothing part to prevent paint transfer.
I tried to think up some ideas for an interesting background but I couldn’t come up with much. I briefly thought of putting her next to a stripper pole but I guess that probably wouldn’t have been all that classy.
Now that I have her here, I’m very glad that I was able to buy her. She looks outstanding, and while I’m not at all familiar with the source material, I like her a lot already.
For another review, you can go look at Dancing Queen’s writeup for great photos and a distinctive perspective on Sheryl. And there’s a review of not just one but two Sheryls on The Inferno Project. Sheryl seems to be pretty popular so I am sure there are more reviews, and I’ll add them here as I come across them.
Nice shooting, with nice background effet. I don’t like this figure because I don’t like her clothes ^^ But it’s a great sculpture
Amusing, coming from you 😉
How much did BeNippon charge you for shipping? I might be tempted to move a couple of pre-orders from Hobby Search there for the SAL option, and yes, I know they shipped your figure EMS.
Here‘s Tommy’s review of the figure. And yeah, I’ve seen like 4-5 reviews of her the last week or so.
>> Leonia
When I first saw the promo pics, I was like, “Wait, this is a Macross character and not a stripper? Are they sure about that?” One day, I need to make some time to watch Macross Frontier and see what it’s about.
>> Guy
Indeed! I had two ideas for a background, one was a concert stage and the other was rather more risque. I’ve ordered a Miku figure and I figure she should get the concert stage. I had some ideas for the latter, but I need to acquire a Billy Herrington Figma first, and I don’t even know where to get one of those.
Shipping was 2800 yen, which I guess is around average for a box of this size (she’s got a pretty big box because of all the accessories).
EMS of 2800 yen? That’s not expensive. To the USA.
I think I might move my pre-orders from Hobby Search, need to calculate how it pans out, once you add that Hobby Search cuts you the tax, and adds “points” to your orders.
You can get a Billy Herrington figma from Tokyohunter.
I’m still waiting for mine to arrive. My supplier says that he expexts it within the next few weeks along with my revoltech Reycal!!
But Sheryl is one of my fave characters both in design and her actual character. My only gripe is that she has quite a few costumes in the show (at least 8) but most figures, including GK focus on this one. Well, I’m sure I’ll have others by the end of it. I’m building up a bit of a sheryl collection at the moment!!!
Impressed, filled with wonder… this series at photograph is splendid!
Sheryl is development admirably by your photographs!
I am happy to discover your site. I add you in my bonds.
Cheer!
>> gundamjehutykai
That sounds promising, I should definitely watch Macross Frontier sometime then. I guess I can see why figure sculptors seem to like this costume a lot XD
>> Lylibellule
Thanks! I wasn’t really sure how I wanted to photograph Sheryl, but I’m glad that the pictures came out alright.
“I’ll be honest, she looks rather like a ho in that getup, which I certainly approve of. I’ll probably be displaying her that way.”
Dude,are you my long lost brother? ^^
Totally dislike that military/fascist outfit :/
I could be! Granted, as far as I know none of my family members have been to Europe in over fifty years. Stranger things have happened though!
I’m glad they didn’t make the uniform black … I’m not all that politically correct (as you can see from my Obama doll usage) but even I wouldn’t have bought this figure if it were.
I also noticed that my Sheryl had two very tiny black marks underneath her tube top (backside). They were easily removed with a little soap and water. Besides, it’s almost impossible to see with all of Sheryl’s hair in the way.
I hardly purchase figures but I just couldn’t pass this up. Megahouse did an EXCELLENT job with this one. I’ll probably pick up their Ranka Lee when it’s out.
IMHO this will be the Sheryl Nome figure to top. It’s also nice to see that everyone is praising it too.
It’s good to know the markings are easy to remove; I haven’t tried wiping them off yet. I hadn’t bought any Megahouse figures until just recently but I’m definitely liking them a lot; I’m not sure if I’ll pick up Ranka though (being unfamiliar with the series still, I don’t know much about the characters). I’m looking forward to their next Sheryl figure; it’s certainly distinctive and appealing in a “I can’t believe they did that!” sort of way.