The battle bikini is one of the most stereotypical tropes in fantasy art but if you ask me, it doesn’t get nearly as much appreciation these days as it should. For example, when Sega resurrected the Golden Axe franchise, they did the right thing in selecting Tyris Flare as the heroine but then they revealed an appallingly lowbrow taste by giving her pants. To be fair, her famous battle bikini is unlockable, and since the game seems to have been quite awful I doubt anybody else cares, but the mere option of pants still demonstrates the disrespect this timeless battle uniform receives. Also, when Wrath of the Lich King was released, Blizzard inexplicably made all of the armor sets as puritanical as could be, despite having gone entirely the other way when they designed The Burning Crusade. Now, one could argue that a battle bikini might provide inadequate protection in a frozen wasteland, but I have my doubts that a heavy suit of full plate is any more practical for trudging about in the arctic. Furthermore, if realism were really the name of the game, all of the characters would be wearing fur coats and mukluks, as even a full-body cast iron tuxedo ain’t going to protect nobody when a hundred foot-long dragon decides to step on you.
Fortunately, the beauty, utility, and elegance of this piece of equipment is still apparent and to that end, we have here an homage to the battle bikini in the form of Wind Goddess Rafale. I don’t see anything here that validates her divinity, but I will take the manufacturer’s claim for what it is worth.
When I think about Beat, the first thing I have to think of is this review of Choun Shiryu. That figure started out full of promise but ended up as perhaps the biggest atrocity Japan has committed since Unit 731. Being quite unfamiliar with the company, that quality of that figure was enough to give me pause, but I figured that Rafale was simple enough that it’d be pretty hard to screw her up; her pose is straightforward and the sculpt isn’t particularly elaborate, so what could go wrong?
This figure was sculpted by Amaha Minatogawa and I have no idea who he is. A search through Tsuki-board indicates he’s done a few other figures of similar theme, and it seems he’s also done a few garage kits of characters from Sailor Moon and Lunar: Eternal Blue. At any rate, I don’t think Rafale has a character background or anything.
There’s not a lot to say about Rafale’s sculpt. She’s posed with one foot forward, or perhaps in mid-stride with a nice thigh gap. She’s got bits and pieces of armor which include high heels (always the footwear of choice for the discerning warrior). One peculiar aspect of this figure is the limited articulation of her arms; her right arm can swing left and right at the elbow and her left arm can rotate to reposition her hand.
Rafale has a swappable chestplate if you want to show off her boobs, which are sizeable indeed. Switching them out is straightforward; after popping off her head and removing her shoulder armor, the chest pieces are plug and play. Her other accessory is her bardiche, which was quite annoying to get into her grasp. I sort of rolled the handle of the weapon under her fingers starting from her pinky and moving up. It would’ve been more convenient if her weapon’s shaft was detachable like the vast majority of weapon-wielding figures I own.
Oh, a note on her extra naked chestplate; rather than hiding it from view, it’s packed right in the front of the window box for everyone to see. That doesn’t bother me much but I wonder if certain fascist elements working for customs departments around the world might object.
The paintwork is rather shabby. Close up, the biggest problem is her eyes; her pupils aren’t centered, which gives the disturbing impression that she’s looking in two directions at once. She also has some strange pinkish eyeliner which doesn’t look too untoward from a distance but gives her a clownish appearance when examined closely. Her armor is shiny but nobody is going to believe that it’s metallic.
Then again, I didn’t buy this figure for its technical excellence; I bought it because it’s big and I’ve got a thing for fighter girls in thong underwear. Sculpted in 1/6 scale, she’s about 27.5 centimeters tall and I note that with an asterisk because she’s leaning to her left quite badly. I don’t remember if she’s supposed to be this way or not; I’ve had her out of her box for a month but I barely looked at her during that time. I guess I’ll have to give her the hairdryer treatment some time soon.
So what we have here is a figure that’s sort of boring, not painted particularly well, and of somewhat limited appeal. Since I do fall in that group of people that like this sort of thing, I’m fairly happy with this figure, particularly since it wasn’t too expensive for its size. If you like the bikini armor look, this might be a figure that would interest you but then again, you might be better off just getting a Queen’s Blade figure instead.
There’s another version of Rafale in different colors, but I didn’t like it quite as much as this one.
I’m thinking that maybe a black background wasn’t the best choice for this figure. One of these days, I’ll learn how to shoot a picture on something other than black or white.
She’s quite good-looking but i can’t get used to her face. :/
But her overall look is gorgeous especially her buttocks. If i had to expose her i would turn her face to the wall to only see her ass looooool
Too bad this figures was not designed with more care or it would have been a pure beauty. Lower body, feet to above the waist, is the most successful.
Haha had to laugh at the WoW comment…Yea I stopped playing my female Nelf war because of that. I remember when I was leveling up in vanilla and most of the good plate drops was a bikini top and panties…good times good times… *sigh*
These days it looks like Asian MMOs are the only ones that aren’t PC and have the balls to still make half-naked heavy armor for female characters. :p
Ah well either way interesting to see how this turned out…I had her pre-ordered at one point, but I’m not really a fan of big breasts so I eventually canceled. But I do absolutely love those armored thigh highs with the heels…
Like Katsura said if I had got her she’d be turned around or maybe to an angle to admire her backside and that foot wear. :p
Hi!!! well.. this figure is not very cool but it has its atributes… a big atributes i say jajajaja..
her bubs are a bit strange .. they are soft?? i can see they are.. i think.. jak
well , cool review
Saludos..
atte.
Marcucho..
>> Katsura-chan
There’s not much of a spark in those eyes, is there? With most figures you can get some sense of the character’s personality, but Rafale sadly looks as brainless as a Barbie doll.
Presently I have her turned sort of sideways so that both T and A are on display XD
>> Lylibellule
Yeah, this one could’ve been quite nice with a bit (okay, a lot) more thought and effort, but as it is, it’s cheaply made and cheap to buy.
>> Ashlotte
Back when I played Warcraft, running my alts through Sunken Temple to get the warrior’s embrace was a tradition when they hit level 49. I think my favorite set of armor from that game was still the energized chestplate and elemental rockridge leggings combo, even though my shaman had full visible tier 6. I only played WotLK for a month before the lack of bikini armor caused me to quit (okay, in reality I was way burned out from raiding and about to start a new job and had no time to play the game anymore). I am going to put my foot down here and boycott MMOs until they give us our rightful bikini armor. Other than maybe Star Trek Online if they ever get it working okay, maybe.
>> Marcucho
Indeed they are impressive. In fact, I was looking at my figure collection see where she’d rank in terms of bustiness, but I think she loses out to KOS-MOS and maybe GSC’s Iroha (although I think Rafale actually beats 1/4 scale Kenshin).
Oh Dude why do you always have to tear open those wounds that just closed.I just managed to completley forget about Choun Shiryu and then you come along and remind me of her existence…
May I ask how much moolah this figure costed?
And Oh God those eyes XD
I will forever pour the salt in the wounds! She was 6650 yen at Hobby Search. And yeah, she does have distinctive eyes … sorta mindless ones … unless you’re speaking the Choo-speak and you actually mean her boobs.
I might simply not be picky enough, but… I got my Rafale yesterday and I think she looks simply awesome. Well, okay, the naked chestpiece went right back in the box and the other might still be a tiny bit too big, but overall I love her. I think the eyes are fine, too: I find it more a “at peace” expression then the blank stare you guys find.
I wondered for some time about what people said about Rafale and seemingly no one liking her… But then I figured out that what other people think of her isn’t important: It’s me buying it for myself so the only important thing is how I like her personally. So I bought her and didn’t regret it one bit 🙂
Mine doesn’t lean to the left much, just for reference sake.
Thanks for the review and all the pictures by the way: Even though your review certainly isn’t full of praise, it’s a pretty realistic view of the figurine, and the pictures did convince me to buy her (Since there’s like a grand total of 5 images of her on the web beside yours).
Yeah, that’s how I feel too; I’ve bought a bunch of figures that aren’t really that popular but I like very much. Daiki Kougyou’s 1/4 scale Saber is one; other blogs have written that she looks like an alien, she looks pregnant, and that she is an “atrocity,” but I like how she looks. If I were going to be unduly influenced by public opinion, I probably ought to not be blogging.
My figure is leaning much worse now than it was before, though, so it might be something to keep an eye out for; I don’t have a protractor around but I’d guess she’s leaning at least thirty degrees to the left. I’m guessing that won’t be too hard to fix with a hairdryer or some hot water, though.
I’m glad my review was helpful even if it wasn’t all that effusive XD I think pictures speak far more powerfully than words for stuff like this.