When you’re out swinging a big-ass sword that’s taller than you are, it’s best to dress right for the job.
Making her debut – I think – at Wonder Festival all the way back in February 2011, Solange is the first – and to this point, only – figure made by empty. She was initially sold only through empty’s online shop, but like Native’s figures, a bunch of US retailers are also selling her; I got mine from BBTS. She’s listed as 1/7 scale, although that might actually be a pessimistic estimate being that Solange stands about 26 centimeters tall without the base. With the base, the figure is about 31 centimeters tall; whatever scale size she is, she is very large and quite impressive.
Solange Blanchefleur de Luxe is the star of the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game Code of Princess, though there are other playable characters in that game. The game is a side-scrolling beat-em-up reminiscent of Guardian Heroes on the Sega Saturn – and well it should be, since some of its developers worked on the older game while at Treasure. It’s a game I’d very much like to play, being that I liked Guardian Heroes a lot on the Saturn, but I have no plans to ever buy a 3DS. Unfortunate, but perhaps someday it will hit Xbox Live, like Guardian Heroes has.
This figure is based off of an illustration by Kinu Nishimura. It’s the second figure I own based on her artwork, the first being Max Factory’s old but highly-regarded Mai Shiranui. Curiously, I think that the Code of Princess game was announced after the figure was unveiled, which makes me wonder if the figure is from the game or if the game was inspired by the figure and Nishimura’s illustration.
At any rate, we’re here to look at the figure, and it is reasonably faithful to the source illustration. Solange wears the same abbreviated outfit and carries a very elaborate greatsword of some sort and is captured in mid-stride, ascending some sort of ruined platform while wearing chunky high heels.
A quick look reveals some differences, and perhaps foremost is the change to her expression. In the art, Solange appears mildly worried, as she should be, given the implicit unsteadiness of her choice of shoes, but in the figure, she looks positively terrified. Much of that effect is due to the small pupils of her eyes; also, she now appears to be definitely looking at something, whereas in the art, she’s staring off into space in an abstract manner.
Her eyebrows are also crucial for establishing her disposition, and I think they would look better if they were darker than they are. Solange is obviously blonde but her eyebrows are the same yellow color, which makes them difficult to see, and it also makes her forehead look larger than it is. Indeed, in the source illustration, Solange’s eyebrows are darker than her hair color.
Solange has a very stylized body design, with broad hips, an extremely thin waist, and rather pendulous breasts. It’s an eclectic design, I think, and probably a controversial one, as well. It’s not the sort of design that everybody is going to love.
And I suppose her outfit isn’t going to win universal acclaim, either. In the great tradition of fantasy art, Solange is wearing minimal armor plating – basically gloves, a gorget, and cast iron pasties – and some war panties with a thong back. Her belt is removable, as is her gorget, but her chest armor is not. She also has some fashionable high heels, as mentioned earlier, which look incongruously contemporary compared to the rest of her clothes – what clothes she has, anyway – but I’m not going to quibble about that.
What I will quibble about is that silly crooked crown she’s wearing on her head. I really do not like this sort of tilted hat – I blame K-On! for starting this trend, though it might predate Mio Akiyama. Unfortunately, Solange’s crown is stuck to her head. I passed on ordering Native’s Mordina because of her hat, and I also passed on Alter’s Houmei (from some Shining game – I forget which one) because of that – later on, I found out that her hat is removable and felt a bit silly, but that’s how much I dislike this style of hat.
However, perhaps it’s a bit unfair to single out her hat as it can be easily overlooked given the complexity of other aspects of her design. For instance, despite not featuring a girlish body in the least, Solange does feature a number of feminine details, such as the lace trim on her armor, the heart patterns under her collar, along her garter, and on her shoes, and the flowers in her hair. They give her a younger appearance that seems more in accord with her illustrated design.
The straight-on front view seems to be her best viewing angle; the thinness of her waist is less conspicuous. From other angles, the size of her hips becomes more prominent.
As do other anatomical issues, like the way her hipbone juts out. Admittedly, this is a rather unusual viewing angle that isn’t likely to be seen very much, but still, I can’t help but be reminded of the bulge an alien xenomorph makes just before tearing its way out of its host.
Her sword is certainly one of the highlights of this figure; it is elaborate to an almost ridiculous degree. Curiously, the hilt includes an hourglass and the tip of the handle comprises some kind of astrolabe. It’s about as unrealistic as her outfit is but strangely, you never hear any arguments against impractical weapons from those dreary, tiresome people who deride bikini armor.
I’ll freely admit that Solange’s bikini armor is a major reason that I like this figure, and it may be that I like the themes espoused by this figure more than the figure itself. She looks a bit unusual, more like a perversely adult-oriented Disney design than an anime design, I think – the Disney of the early 90s, that is, when they did ordinary animation rather than the computer-generated 3D stuff everyone does now. Solange seems to have been enthusiastically received, with a number of people liking this figure and quite a few 3DS owners eager to play her game. That’s surprising to me, since I thought the anatomical quirks of this figure might put people off, as it did with the mysterious, illusory gangsta lean Saber figure. At any rate, I think this is a pretty good figure; perhaps not worth the premium price tag it commands, but I’m happy to own it anyway.
Let me qualify that last sentence – I’m happy to own Solange but I’d be happier to own the upcoming black version of the figure, which has a cooler color scheme and, it seems, darker eyebrows. Unfortunately, I forgot to cancel my preorder for the original figure in time to order the newer one.
Great review! I was put off on buying this figure mainly due to her attire. She look wonderful nevertheless.
I think the game was actually based off the original illustration… Hm.
That’s what it seems like to me, too; the game could’ve been in development before the illustration was completed, but I seem to remember that the figure was announced well before the game.
Nice timing! I’ve been eyeing the black version for my next preorder and I’m interested in seeing how others are receiving the original version of this figure. Curiously, the official shots of the prototype in this color failed to really grab me in any way, but I started liking the figure a good bit more when photos of the final PVC started rolling in. It’s usually the other way around for me. The black version, though, does make me take notice and I’m feeling a lot more confident about ordering her after seeing how well the first run seems to have turned out.
Yeah, I like the black version quite a bit more; I think it’s a lot more visually striking than this one (not that this one isn’t eye-catching in itself; Solange has a lot of things that call attention to themselves). I’d definitely roll with that one, given the choice of which to order.
Funny, I was just checking Solange out on hobby fan and thinking that her facial expression ruined the figure. Boy was I wrong, you’ve once again won me over with your fantastic pictures though I can’t help but wonder why the tentacle stand didn’t make it into any of them. Tentacle rape is grounds for being “positively terrified” if ever there was one.
I was looking through my pictures the day after I took them to get them ready for posting and I thought the same thing; I completely forgot to use the tentacle stand. I wish I had since it works better with larger figures and Solange is definitely pretty large. I’m planning on using it with Satellizer whenever I take photos of that figure, and I think I’m going to have to write that down someplace so that I don’t forget.
How did I completely miss this? Lewd figure with great detail? Armored chick and weapon? Instantly sold. Oh wait it’s an exclusive. GRRRRRRRRAAAAWWWWHYYYY
Tier, do you recommend BBTS? Or is there a better place to preorder from?
Haha, yeah, exclusives definitely have a way of slipping one’s notice. I almost missed Alter’s second Naoe Kanetsugu figure before noticing her on Tokyohunter’s webpage.
Yeah, BBTS is pretty good, I haven’t had any issues with them, apart from them not being able to fulfill one of my preorders from years ago (it was for one of MegaHouse’s Jun Tsukasa figures and if I remember right, it was somewhat difficult to get at the time). As far as US retailers go, I use them, Entertainment Earth (slightly more expensive), and vendors on Amazon, as long as they have good feedback scores.
Are there any good sites/blogs for watching exclusive preorders? Or do you watch proxy sites like a hawk?
I generally go through Akibahobby and Moeyo each day, and they usually provide coverage of most figures made by major manufacturers. They also often show up on the monthly Hobby Japan scans.
I like the amount of detail and large size (color scheme’s not bad either) but her proportions and somewhat derpy face put me off. Still this is pretty impressive work by empty – definitely worth keeping an eye on them and seeing what else they come up with.
Yeah, I was apprehensive of her body build as well – I still am, actually – though the attractiveness of her armor and underpants won out in the end. It’ll be interesting to see whether additional figure production fits into their business plan; right now, it looks like their only other products are some oddball goods like iPad covers.
DAME nice Sword lol:).
Hmm… I just noticed quite a bit of paint-covered particles, bubbles, and dust in her hair. The light is washing out some of the roughness. How bad is the paint job actually?
It doesn’t look too bad to me though it is absolutely not in the same league as Alter or Good Smile Company, quality-wise. From where I’m sitting right now, about two feet from the figure, I don’t see any issues.
Ah well. I ordered her anyways. I just found this figure too damn appealing.
Top not cast-offable?… But But it’s almost there?? @_@? But over all great Pics ^_^ am still on the fence in getting her or not
Yeah, her top – if you can call that a “top – isn’t removable. At least, I’m not about to try prying it off, and it’s not mentioned in the instruction sheet that comes with the figure (the instruction sheet also says her head is removable to take her gorget off, but her head didn’t come off with some steady pulling and I didn’t feel like risking damage to the figure by pulling harder).
Assumed that this figure would be NSFW… that top definitely looks removable.
Must admit that I assumed your next review would be Alter’s swimsuit Yagyuu Jubei as you must have had her for the best part of a month by now… I still haven’t got round to unwrapping mine for some reason
Yeah, that figure’s in the review queue … it was a pretty good candidate for reviewing, actually, but I’m not sure how I want to photograph it yet. Mine’s also still in its box, along with maybe eight or so other figures, which is probably too much, but I don’t have anything scheduled to ship for another month, I think, and I’m nearly certain that motorbike Saber and Alter’s Panty and bikini Nanoha figures are going to get bumped back till June or further. Jubei’ll probably be photographed soon, though I also want to shoot Satellizer, the two Embrace Japan catgirl figures, Satsuki Shinonome, and Psylocke.
the details looks greatï¼even i really don’t like her face，I still ordered the black version.
The black version definitely looks great; I wish I’d ordered that one.
I actually have no problems with her body proportions. The portruding hips kind of puts me off though and thanks to your comment about Aliens I can’t help but see that in the image every time. I think I would be able to live with them though.
I cannot get past her eyes though. I don’t like the color, shape, or paintjob (eyelashes).
I do love the illustration and it reminds me of Yoshitaka Amano’s work.
Sorry I mean Takuji Kawano
I guess I’m the only one who sees her hip bones as a charm point? Women who have child bearing hips and thin waists can often have their illiac crests jut out like that. I find it kinda sexy.
I do like it from the front; I think broad hips are pretty sexy on anime-type characters. It’s really only from that rear view where I think it looks unusual, but that may also just be because her waist is so thin.
Haha, you know, the scenes in Alien and Aliens where the chestbursters ripped their way out always freaked the hell out of me when I was a kid. I haven’t seen either movie in a long time but I wonder if they’ll freak me out as much now given that I’ve seen quite a bit of hentai with unnatural body bulges.
Yeah, the eyes are sort of an odd shape for an anime-type character. I do think this is a figure that looks better in real life from a normal viewing distance than in close-in photographs; close up, you start noticing things, like the protruding hipbone, her expansive forehead, and her tiny pupils. From a few feet away, I think she actually looks kinda like a warrior princess from a Disney cartoon, and a lot of the negative details aren’t as conspicuous.
I think she looks great with long upper body and the other proportions, haha her butt could be slightly rounder, but I like her anyway. To be honest she reminds me a bit of my previous classmate (ok she never dressed like that) 😀
Solange doesn’t look very anime related in terms of appearance more like something from US airbrush art, which is a nice change. A natural blonde with faint eyebrows. The forehead seems a bit high, well the face is still appealing to me and her expression is nice. Overall a nice design, sword pose and base look very well together. The mix of nudity and armor is nicely done, the huge gloves and her shoes are cool parts of the outfit. A castoff option for her wouldn’t have been too difficult, too bad there is none. I haven’t considered to buy her since I wasn’t totally convinced I would prefer a figure like that with darker hair and a mischievous face expression.
you’ve made nice and bright pics of her but you somehow forgot the tentacles, they would have worked well with the big figure :p
Haha, that must’ve been a good class to go to, then XD I certainly can’t say she resembles anyone I went to school with, since I studied engineering and the enrollment at my school was like 70% male.
Yeah, I should’ve remembered the tentacles. I’ll have to remember them the next time, I’ve got a few figures in the review queue that they’ll work well with.
I like her facial expression, it’s something different for a change. Her base reminds me of the scene in Highlander in which Kurgan kills Ramirez and destroys the Highlander’s tower in the process.
It must be about twenty years since I’ve seen that movie but I think I still kinda remember that scene. I ought to watch it again sometime, the mid and late 80s were the best time.
She’s an X-ray tech’s wet dream! Check out those hips! Technically an anatomical landmark called the ASIS. Anterior superior iliac spine.
She is! Maybe a chiropractor’s too, given the sort of stresses her upper body must place on her spine. Thank you for the anatomy vocabulary.
I think you didn’t pull out the tentacle stand on this one because subconsciously you were waiting for the black version. The black version definitely looks better than this one, probably due to the contrast in colours.
I’m all for armored babes and even “bikini armor”, but I think the armor (or lack thereof) on Solange is a bit over-the-top. It’s too revealing, IMO, and doesn’t leave room for any imagination which makes her lose any possible allure to the viewer. That is, unless the viewer is into the allurement of big breasts and hips! ^_^’ Basically what I’m saying is she’s the complete opposite of the Yui figure you previously reviewed.
But that’s also the great thing about coming here, is to see all the different aspects this hobby has to offer, tentacles and all! =)
*I haven’t seen her design for the 3DS game, but I presume she’s fully armored or at least armored moreso than this version? Can’t believe Nintendo would let an outfit like this pass their QA. lol *
It could be! I know when I got my shipment notice, I was like, “Dang, I shoulda cancelled and ordered the other one.”
WTF losing allure … she has lots of allure! To me, anyway. I’m definitely the sort of person who ignores about 98% of the clothing options in the Soul Calibur character creator.
Nah, this is what she wears in the game. I was pretty surprised by that too, since the bikini armor motif isn’t really all that popular among a lot of video game makers (other than Korean MMO developers, I mean). It’s pretty neat to see, though, since the game has its roots with Guardian Heroes and Guardian Heroes was pretty short on sex appeal, other than this one character named Xenovia, if I remember right.
LOL That’s why I said she was alluring if her feature’s what you were looking for! =D I forgot to mention that the detailing on her looks great though, particularly her sword and gauntlets. As crazy as it sounds, if I ever do get this figure, it would probably be for the sword.
Ah, it hurts to see Solange. I’m STILL waiting on my pre-order to come in through them. Can’t cancel the order (already tried) and already paid for the order, so now I’m just stuck playing the waiting game until they actually get her or they cancel the order. I’m never using them for non-MegaHouse products again, that’s for sure.
She’s a beautiful figure, though the only thing that bothered me is that the hair is a bit darker compared to the prototype. The prototype’s hair was more…pastel-ish, as opposed to the final product’s hair which is more vibrant. It doesn’t look bad. I just liked the softer blonde more. Anyway, for a company’s first scaled PVC figure Solange is damn AMAZING.
And by “them” I meant ToysLogic. Silly me and my typing failure.
It is good to see lots of people who like Solange and have ordered (or already own) her figure. I really expected her to not be that popular, since it seems like whenever the subject of revealing armor is broached on video game, role playing, and comic book forums, there are always a bunch of unimaginative whiners who complain that it isn’t realistic and isn’t appropriate. As if there’s anything realistic about a dragon. Or an orc. Or a zombie, magician, elf, or hundreds of other fantasy concepts commonly seen in the genre. Such people really ought to familiarize themselves with the meaning of the word “fantasy.”
Hopefully Toyslogic will get you your figure soon. I think I ordered from them once with no problem, but since I already owned the figure I ordered from them (which was Native’s Collet; I had preordered it from them but then I ordered it from Tokyohunter because I wasn’t certain if Toyslogic would be able to deliver, and I got the figure from Tokyohunter first), I wouldn’t have been bothered if they got the figure late, so I don’t remember how I felt about their service.
I’ve heard they’re insanely hit and miss with exclusives which is one reason I’m super paranoid about Solange. After throwing $220 at them I don’t have the funding to pick her up elsewhere. I REALLY WANT SOLANGE. GRACIOUS.
TL’s reliable for MegaHouse goodies (as long as you don’t mind getting them 2-5 months later than Japan) so that’s mainly what I use ’em for.
I remember now that another figure collector I know ordered GSC’s first Black Rock Shooter figure from them and they were months late in delivering it. At least, I’m pretty sure it was them. I’m noticing that Big Bad Toy Store and Entertainment Earth seem to get quite a few figures that are Japan-exclusives (BBTS has both Solanges listed up for preorder now) so I think I will stick to them if I’m ordering limited items from an American store.
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CURSE your review! It made me spend megabucks ordering one! But I do like the white version better than the black one I think, although I have only small pics to compare. Maybe it’s because always we think black is cool and end up having so many “dark” figure versions of other characters in my collection.
Well time to order that figure case now!
I’m glad to be of help! Ah, yeah, I think they are both good; if I could have picked, I think I would have gone with the black one just because black is such an uncommon color for a princess to wear. It seems like most medieval fairy tale-type princesses wear white or pink or red. Of course, most of them are also wearing more than just their underwear …
Well, had to happen… Now I have BOTH versions. I need help.
But I noticed some differences: In the black there are clear lace, no painted skin tone and there is an annoying yet more stable once you fit it peg for her show to keep her upright. Just one leg. the other nothing. Still prefer the white but now I don’t have to wonder anymore… 🙂
She’s more than Zelda. My new xsweetheartx.
I HATE U. Your fantastic review made me go and BUY one DAMN it’s expensive! One note: You never said anything about the base. Her feet have 2 holes each but the base has one one peg for each. Did they forget something? Your’s is the same?
You are welcome! The base on my figure has two pegs for the right foot but only one peg for the left foot, even though both feet have two holes.
Indeed I look and the right foot has one peg and one that resembles half bit of peg. left the same with yours. Any suggestions to keep the figure from wobbling?
I am not sure; mine seems to be reasonably stable, though I have it up on a shelf where it doesn’t get jostled too much. If yours is wobbling, maybe you could put some adhesive putty under the soles of her shoes, though it probably wouldn’t look that great. I’m going to leave mine alone.
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