Many of the figures I reviewed early this year were fighting girls but now we are seeing a glut of swimsuit girls. Following Nadeko is Eleanor Mercer. Like Nadeko, Eleanor sports a sunny expression that is sure to cheer up everyone. Unlike Nadeko, Eleanor radiates pure sex appeal – or wanton sluttiness, depending on your particular lexical inclination. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and because of that Eleanor offers an impression distinct amongst all the other swimsuit figures on my shelf.
Hailing from Fukudahda’s h-manga Honey Blonde, Eleanor Mercer is manufactured by Orchid Seed in 1/7 scale and stands about 23 centimeters tall. An English-illiterate English girl living in Japan, Eleanor is rather naive and neurotic, and is also a raging, insatiable nymphomaniac. The manga tells the story of Eleanor and her straightlaced boyfriend Masaki and follows the evolution of their relationship, particularly the sexual aspects. The sex scenes place a particular emphasis on Eleanor’s breasts, and thus it’s no surprise that they are a highlight of this figure as well.
Eleanor’s rack comes wrapped up in some black plastic film to shield her from the prying eyes of lecherous customs inspectors, but otherwise she’s meant to be displayed with her breasts exposed. They are quite large and perhaps unbelievably, they’re even larger in the manga. Orchid Seed has eschewed the bulbous, torpedo-like shape of the artwork for a slightly more realistic look, and I think that was a good decision. They’re still sexy but they don’t look nearly as strange as they would have had the sculpt remained slavishly faithful.
One thing I appreciate about this figure is that while her breasts are huge and her hips are wide, her other proportions are not overly out of the ordinary. Orchid Seed has several figures with curvy bodies but small heads, but I prefer Eleanor’s style.
Another thing I appreciate is Eleanor’s unabashed cheerfulness. She is clearly a girl who enjoys life and sex, a girl who loves to be loved and isn’t at all ashamed of her body. Her honest forthrightness is refreshing and her sprightly disposition is infectious. Complementing her bright smile is her casual pose; her arms and hands give her a friendly and energetic appearance.
And of course, I like the fact that she’s all but nude. She’s clad in a tiny bikini bottom, which strains to contain her marvelous ass and scarcely protects her modesty in front. She also has a couple of armbands, which are a curious inclusion since they’re usually included to conceal detachment points in the arms. Eleanor’s arms don’t seem to come off and I can’t think of any reason why they ought to come off, so the armbands are apparently superfluous.
Orchid Seed’s figures are hit-or-miss in my experience, and Eleanor veers more towards the first category. Not that there’s much that can be messed up, as besides her arms, there isn’t much to screw up. Eleanor’s hair is a bit simplistic on top but there’s a good bit of detail in the back, and the tips of her tresses curl up in a cute, girlish manner. She has some seamlines but they are grossly exaggerated in these pictures; they’re much less noticeable in real life.
Kneepits fans might be disappointed in the way the backs of her knees are sculpted, since the kneepits aren’t well-defined. Ass fans will find a great deal to like, however, as her backside is large and sculpted with great love.
I would’ve liked a brighter blonde color for her hair, given the name of the manga – as it is, it reminds me a bit of an overcooked boiled egg yolk. But then again, the artwork has her hair looking even darker than it does here, so perhaps they didn’t want to deviate too much from the source.
Overall, however, I think this is a great figure. With her happy look and her body bared for all to admire, she is pleasant to look at and has a distinctive flair that stands out amongst the legions of swimsuit figures available now and coming soon. Orchid Seed has a number of similarly explicit figures scheduled for release and I’m looking forward to them.
You may guess my opinion of Eleanor here already… I thought she was enormous as it is, but then you linked to the manga cover and holy moly those are hideous and unrealistic. Exaggeration is one thing, but that’s terrible.
I generally like a good ass and thighgap, but I’m not fond of either in this case. I suspect it’s because her thighs are too thick and her bum too big. She’s really not the kind of girl for me, as unfortunate as that may be.
Cute freckles though. Something not often seen on a figure. Do Japanese people not get freckles? I’ve never though of it before. Hmm… Now I’m curious.
I don’t believe they do. I’m not sure why that is, but I know I never saw a Korean person with freckles back when I lived in Seoul and I’d guess it’s the same with Japanese too.
Haha, way late to this, but Japanese people totally get freckles. My wife has a bunch and while she hates them I think they’re adorable.
A very cute, loveable nympho if you read her manga. Too bad I skipped her(sold out already at amiami and HS for them QG limited figs.
I enjoyed the manga, it was a pretty fun read with a little bit of kinkiness. I’m kinda regretting skipping Kyoko Kaneda, who also comes from a pretty cool manga. I had expected that Orchid Seed would issue a recolored version of her but it seems that I miscalculated.
Wow, the boobs on that illustration. Good job Orchid Seed in making them more realistic. In my opinion, I like this figure a lot better than most swimsuit figures. The body sculpt is really nice and the expression helps as well.
It’s a terrible, terrible thing for a man to say that he’s tired of seeing cute (and underaged) girls in bikinis, but I gotta admit, I just don’t get too excited by most swimsuit figures anymore. This one is an exception to that, and I’m liking the way Daiki Kougyou’s Tamaki looks, but I’ve never been interested in any of Wave’s swimsuit figures at all, and I probably could have skipped all the Shining Wind swimsuit girls and not felt too badly about it.
I did never regret to cancel an order until today *damn that sucks* and now she looks so nice in your pictures *sob* *sob*. I already had an idea for the photoshoot. – _ –
Anyway she turned out really nice, while her boobs are still a bit too big for my taste, her lower body is exactly my thing, nice waiste and ass ^^. My favorite part of Eleanor is the head, with beautiful hair and of course the happy face with the freckles, it looks very well made.
The seamline at her side and the one over her breast are not so nice, but when you say they are hardly noticeable it should be ok 😉
Aww, you cancelled her? That is unfortunate. She’s pretty nice so if you change your mind, hopefully you can find one in stock somewhere (and hopefully discounted).
I remember back when I saw the prototype I was very unimpressed by the level of detail on the figure, particularly in her hair, but looking at her up close I think she looks great. Aside from the seams, anyway, but they’re not very easy to see when she’s on the shelf … maybe I shouldn’t have lit her up so brightly, it seems like the seams show up much more prominently when the lights are bright.
Wow that is a seriously gorgeous figure Tier! I’m used to Orchid making mediocre junk, but this is quite nice. Besides that awesome body sculpt I’m really loving her face! It has a lot more depth and personality to it then your average anime face, which is a nice change. Plus Freckles are always awesome!
It’s a shame I don’t really find the original art all that interesting so I don’t see myself reading the manga. Impressive that orchid improved the original chara design though.
I’ve kinda noticed that Orchid Seed’s more explicit figures tend to be of higher quality than their non-explicit ones. Their Happoubi Jin figures are great, Eleanor is sexy and Kyoko Kaneda seems to have turned out well too, but Ameri Kawai and Seira Orgel were kinda disappointing, and I was hoping the Lineage Elf would turn out better than it did, too. Hmm, though Mecha Nurse Nana was pretty good and she lacked nipples, from what I remember, while their Ignis was easily the worst out of the ones they and Alter and Max Factory released. At any rate, I’m still looking forward to a lot of stuff they’ve shown off at Wonder Festival and such.
Yeah, that image doesn’t give the greatest impression, but if you change your mind, I thought it was a pretty fun story. Not particularly deep but a nice, lighthearted change from the rape doujinshi I tend to read, when it comes to h-manga.
Eleanor is definitely one of the better Orchid Seed figures based off eromanga covers so far. I really wasn’t a big fan of Twiska from brandish nor the figures from Maid Bride which are coming up.Still, I wouldn’t get her simply because she would jar with the rest of my collection. But it’s good to see a sexy but not slutty figure for once.
I skipped the Brandish figure because I didn’t get a great vibe from it, Orchid Seed being as inconsistent as they are, and I think I’m gonna pass on the one from the Jibril character designer. I’m looking forward to a lot of the stuff they keep showing at conventions, even though I’m not expecting much of it to be top-notch. I’m hoping their L2 dark elf turns out okay though, since I don’t think anyone’s made a Lineage dark elf with blue skin yet.
GodDAMN. I was extremely suspect of this figure when it was first announced and shown (in prototype form, I assume) but this review has sold me. The fact is fantastic, the breasts are perfect (if a little large, but that’s…my M.O.) and the hips are amazing. The difficult part will be convincing my wife that Elenor should be in our house at all. After doing some searchin’ on the internet, it looks like she doesn’t have (and won’t be getting) an American distributor, so I may actually have import or nab her off eBay. The toughest part will be the reaction of my wife, who may object to a giant-racked topless woman sitting on our dresser LOL. But still, this is definately worth investigating. Thanks for the incredibly helpful review, brother. I’m…I’m gonna need this one.
Haha, I can’t possibly imagine why your wife might have a problem with this figure XD Hopefully you’ll be able to convince her, and hopefully you’ll be able to find this figure; I don’t think a ton of people bought it but it seems to have sold out at a lot of the shops I look at.
A pretty cute and nice figure of something I would never would have given a thought to. I guess I’m not too much of a fan of freckles, but this one isn’t bad at all. Glad she isn’t as big as what is on the cover you linked. That would be a turn off for me also. Too bad I don’t really know who she is.
Judging from the pics, I’m assuming she doesn’t have a top you can actually put on?
Yeah, she has no top, she swings freely.
Here’s a little bit more about Eleanor: she enjoys eating natto, her mom has an even more powerful sex drive than Eleanor, she’s clueless about The Legend of Zelda, and she has a curious habit of lactating during intercourse.
Lol. Thanks for the little bit of “detailed’ info.
Eleanor’s rack comes wrapped up in some black plastic film to shield her from the prying eyes of lecherous customs inspectors, but otherwise she’s meant to be displayed with her breasts exposed.
Just wondering, is it ever an issue to import figures like these into the states as far as inspection goes? I learned a new word from reading your article… knee-pits. Who knew? As always, thanks for the great writing and photography!
Not that I know of; I don’t think I’ve ever had a package opened by a customs inspector, actually. I’ve never been assessed an import duty either, and I’m glad for that since I’ve heard depressing stories from collectors outside the US who’ve paid hefty customs charges or had their goods defaced by censors.
Kneepits seem to have become a meme due to the anime Amagami; speaking of which, I’m hoping Max Factory’s Haruka figure gets released soon. It’s yet another swimsuit figure but it’s got a very unique pose going for it.
armbands = for the mold. I would hazard a guess they do conceal molding points but are glued in, would be very dificult to cast her fingers like that otherwise.
Ah, that would make sense. They’re a bit strange looking but overall I don’t think they detract from her appearance at all, so it’s all good.
Great shots as usual, dude. I wonder what keeps figure makers from throwing in a couple of more creative shots in their promo photos. I had absolutely no interest in this figure before, but now I actually like it. What would be the harm in a couple of flashier shot, I wonder — as long as they don’t fuck too much with the colours during post-processing, it shouldn’t be considered misleading, tight?
I wonder that myself. Like remember the shot GSC did of WiM miku on all the flowers? That was an awesome shot and a great way to promo the figure to me.
Really ought to be done more…
Yeah, given the resources available to figure makers, you’d think they’d do it, particularly since it’d differentiate their figures a bit. I’ve bought more than a few figures based on how good the promo photos looked. And heck, there’s a few manufacturers that don’t care much about how the publicity shots look compared to the real thing. When you’re selling a product that invests a large part of its appeal in its visual appearance, it seems like the smart thing to do would be to make it as attractive and memorable as you can.
Great review as usual, if she’s a cast-off that will be much better since in that way I could find a place in my room for her >.<
Thanks XD She’s not actually castoff-able, the only thing you can remove is her bra top from her hand, but she’s pretty close to nude as she is so she still looks very good.
Sadly Eleanor isn’t my type of figure, there’s too much exposure and no way to hide it. Looks like Orchid Seed have done a good job on this figure though. Her breasts are particularly well detailed, albeit on the large side. Her face and freckles are different from the usual which is refreshing to look at.
Damn though you make a good point about all these swimsuit figures. Looking at my pre-orders I’m going to be needing a mini beach for the ones I plan on getting ><.
A family-friendly figure this definitely is not. Unless one’s wife is cool with putting it in one’s room, anyway. It’s funny how this figure has evolved so much that a figure that is completely topless doesn’t even faze most collectors anymore, even though virtually everyone else would freak out.
Hey I have a question regarding coldcast figures. I’m thinking about picking up Alphamax’s upcoming 1/5 scale Melona, but I’m a little hesitant to do so since I’ve heard some stories about problems concerning their fragile nature. I was just wondering (since you have Mai) how fragile they actually are. I’m not exactly too eager to shell out $300 for something that will arrive broken lol.
They’re brittle, but not enormously fragile, I think. I’ve got several coldcast figures from Volks as well as Mai and only one suffered damage in transit. The material isn’t nearly as elastic as PVC so I’d say it’s more likely stuff will snap off of them if you’re clumsy with them and they probably won’t survive a fall as well as a PVC figure, but they should be okay in transit and in normal display.
Thanks! On an unrelated note, I just got my payment request from Hobbysearch for Dizzy. So pumped lol.
Yeah, I’m looking forward to her, as is everybody else, I think XD Coming up with a photography idea is problematic, though.
This one isn’t really my cup of tea either. The face is nice and Orchid Seed once again delivers an outstanding ass, but those boobs… they’re too in your face. And huge nips freak me out a little.
Yeah, I can understand that. I dig it but it’s no surprise that this is not a figure with universal appeal.
Man, freckles are right up my alley. It’s a shame she’s so exposed (I tend to shy away from overly perverted figures) otherwise I’d definitely consider getting her. Maybe if she had an option to put on her bikini top. And thank goodness Orchid Seed altered her design slightly. Those torpedo tits in the manga artwork are just crrrraaazy.
I’m very glad they did that modification as well, since they’ve had no problem with torpedo tits before. I didn’t care much for their Masane Amaha swimsuit figure because of her bust sculpt. Looking at that figure again it’s like … yeah, that’s not something that strongly appeals to me.
Also doesn’t look anything like her. In the show, Masane is very slim except for her chest and is never just carrying around a beer. The sculpts where she’s actually in the Witchblade armor are better.
Yeah, that’s a hugely exaggerated interpretation of Masamune. I’ve kinda been thinking about picking up the old Alter one of her in the blue jeans and yellow shirt that she never seemed to change out of; I kinda like it and I don’t have nearly enough figures of girls in jeans.
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The only thing that bugs me about this figure is the lack of teeth. If she was doing an o-face or something I’d be fine be she is clearly smiling so the top row of teeth should be showing. Otherwise I think I’ll be snagging her on Ebay.
Yeah, I can see how that might be off-putting. I like the figure but I suppose it might look better with visible teeth. Not many of my smiling figures show teeth, though.
I can’t be to hard to paint them there anyway if it ends up bugging me that much anyway.
A good plan, if a figure doesn’t come out the way you want it, there are lots of ways to mod things. Back when I got this one Volks figure, I found I had to take matters into my own hands and paint her nipples myself. I still can’t believe I had to do that.
can you tell me where i can buy english manga honey blonde from an online store? please respond. im desperate
I don’t think Honey Blonde ever got an official translation into English so you won’t be able to buy it from a store. I know there’s a scanlation floating around out there, though.
Thanks for the detailed photos. I passed on this figure and regret it. Your photos may help me decide if I want go after it now that the price has jumped. Hopefully they will release one more color variation.
It’s a really nice figure; Orchid Seed has re-released some older figures in its catalog so it is certainly possible that Eleanor could get another production run.
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