FREEing’s bunnygirl series are multiplying like – well, rabbits – and the newest one is none other than the Ace of Aces herself, noted combat instructor and porn game extra Nanoha Takamachi. They could have picked any version of Nanoha that they wanted and so they chose to use her nineteen-year old form, as she appears in the third anime series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. It’s a good decision, at least in my view, since though I have no problem with younger-looking characters – that I own FREEing’s Nymph figure is a reflection of that – this version of the captain has a number of charms that Nymph does not.
I’ve said in the past that I’m not a huge fan of bunnysuits and even less of a fan of animal ears, and so this acquisition is perhaps out of character for me. In truth, the main element that appeals to me is Nanoha’s size – like all of FREEing’s bunny figures, she’s 1/4 scale. She measures about 38 centimeters tall at the top of her head, and a towering 43 centimeters in overall height; she’s easily twice the size of most 1/8 scale figures. However, there are other aspects of this figure that I like – indeed, I like quite a few things about Nanoha, and there’s more than enough such details to overcome my predisposition.
Let’s start with the bunny suit. As said, I dislike animal ears but as Nanoha’s are artificial – unlike, say, as on Charlotte Yeager, where her ears are quite clearly not an article of clothing – I can easily overcome my disapprobation. I’d like this figure better without them – they are part of her head and thus not removable – but having stared at this figure on my desk for the last day, they don’t bother me at all now.
The rest of her costume receives my full approval. Nanoha is wearing a high-cut, glossy blue leotard which looks absolutely marvelous on her. Its shiny finish catches the eye and provides an effective contrast to the matte look of her hair and skin. I particularly like her suit’s high-cut leg openings – that’s a style that’s sadly gone out of fashion, with the low-rise, low-cut leg look seemingly so popular (referring back to Strike Witches again, pretty much every character there wears low-leg panties). Indeed, it’s another reason that I bought Nanoha and it’s one of the aspects of FREEing’s bunny figures that I like so much.
Nanoha’s long, long legs are sheathed in fishnet pantyhose; real fishnets, rather than painted-on legwear. They look fantastic and very realistic, without any bulk or bunching-up that one sometimes sees with fabric clothing and scale figures or dolls. They are sleek and fit her very well, emphasizing her lithe form and womanly shape.
Speaking of which, one – or two – of the main attractions of this figure has to be her bust. Nanoha’s physique doesn’t seem to be quite as well-regarded as her colleague Fate Testarossa’s, but nonetheless, Nanoha has a very appealing chest. Seemingly pneumatic and self-supporting, her breasts are large and nicely-shaped, and her costume reveals more of her chest than one might expect. The way that her leotard doesn’t quite fully stick to her skin is quite attractive, and the hint of her nipples underneath is also very nice.
I also like the way her bunnysuit leaves her shoulders bare. Complementing her outfit are a pair of wrist cuffs, some high heels, and a collar with a necktie that is futilely trying to dip into her cleavage.
Nanoha’s head is a busy place, with stuff sprouting all over in every different direction – bunny ears, ribbons, twintails, bangs … it’s going all over the place. Her hair is very nicely sculpted, with no helmet hair flatness, unlike Gift’s earlier 1/4 scale nine-year old Nanoha. The back of Nanoha’s head does remind me a bit of some of those BETA aliens from Muv-Luv Alternative, which isn’t an attractive comparison, but regardless, the sculpting still looks great.
One thing I didn’t expect is that Nanoha has a removable left arm. Normally her left arm is cocked with her hand resting on her thigh, but it can be swapped out so that she can pose like this. I wasn’t sure why the extra arm was supplied but looking at the promo photos, it is provided so that she can interact with FREEing’s upcoming Hayate figure. Personally, it kinda looks to me like Nanoha is copping a feel on Hayate’s butt, which isn’t a bad way at all to display the two girls.
Overall, Nanoha has a very sexy body. She makes for an interesting contrast to FREEing’s figure of Nymph, who has a curiously cylindrical, almost barrel-shaped look. Nanoha, however, is slender and shapely, and while Nymph looks combative and self-conscious (not necessarily a bad thing, mind you) Nanoha looks very friendly, with her arm and hand extended in a welcoming pose. Like Nymph, Nanoha does have a disproportionately large head, which is pretty much par for the course when it comes to anime designs; Nanoha’s head is just a bit more noticeable because she has a more realistic body shape. No sculptor is listed for this figure, oddly, but it reminds me a bit of Takayuki Kondou’s Tamaki figure, as well as some of this previous work. I doubt he sculpted Nanoha, but a lot of the same design philosophy can be seen in both 1/4 scale figures.
Nanoha comes with a curiously small base; indeed, her base is scarcely greater in circumference than her head. Normally I prefer smaller bases, as I can fit more figures onto a shelf if their bases are small, but I’m hoping that Nanoha’s base is solid enough to keep her upright; she seems to already have a slight leftward tilt. Looking at the promo photos, even the sample figure shows that same tilt, so I’m not too worried about her spontaneously falling over, but it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on down the road.
I really like this version of Nanoha, a lot more than I thought I would. I wouldn’t describe this figure as a crown jewel of my collection, and I’ll grant that Nanoha gets a large tilt due to her impressive size, but even so, I find myself liking many aspects of this figure. She’s sexy, I love her costume – except the ears, to which I am merely indifferent – and the sculpt looks great, particularly in her lithe, feminine form and evident cheery disposition. Nanoha is a great figure by herself and I’m really looking forward to FREEing’s figure of Fate; the two of them should make for a – pardon the pun – striking pair.
Back when I wrote about Gift’s Nanoha, I thought that she seemed a bit undersized for a 1/4 scale figure. However, looking at grown-up Nanoha and younger Nanoha, maybe she isn’t so undersized after all.
You knew this was coming; Nymph may have eluded the squirming, seductive grasp of the tentacle stand (entirely due to my own forgetfulness), but Nanoha will not be so fortuitous. Besides, magical girls and tentacles go together like Spam and rice.
This is a great figure. I would have gotten her if not for real life constraints. Due to not having much space, a 1/4 would just look ridiculously huge next to my 1/8’s. My 1/6’s are already pushing the limits of personal aesthetics. I also try to diversify my collection as much as possible. The bunny girl slot is currently being filled by Charlotte Dunois. If I ever win the lottery I’d buy all three of Nanoha et al.
Quick addendum that the Freeing 1/4 Sonico bunny maid is now painted. I want her so much.
Ridiculously huge is definitely the right description; I’ve got her standing behind a bunch of 1/8 scale figures and she looks like a colossus next to them. Or rather, she looks like a raid boss in Warcraft or some other MMO.
I almost regret not getting her. But she’s large, and was quite pricy, so I can live without her I think. Still, she is lovely. Would be great to have all three together.
I’m wondering if I ought to get Hayate. I don’t have a Hayate figure, partly because I don’t know her character at all and partly because her physical appearance is the least appealing to me out of the three main Nanoha heroines – she doesn’t have Fate’s sublime backside nor am I big fan of her shorter hairstyle. Still, if I were going to get a Hayate figure, I think the big-ass FREEing bunny one would be the one I would get.
That…That….That’s just too good *nosebleeed*
The figure looks amazing, this can’t be true! Freeing’s big figures rock, especially this one.
I really like that they made this figure in such a cute and cheerful fashion, her face with the lively eyes and the happy open mouth is her main appeal for me. The hair is also done in a very convincing way, with the carefully applied shading.
The bare shoulders complement Nanoha’s cleavage very well. The collar, tie combo makes her cleavage even more alluring, haha, her boobs look amazing, it seems to be very nicely sculpted.
Personally, I don’t find bunny suits that great, mainly because of the silly bunny tails at the back, but whats more important is the girl inside ^^. In case of this figure the suit itself has a nice color and the shiny coat looks really polished and clean, like a waxed sports car.
Unlike her loli versions grown up Nanoha never appeared very enchanting to me, but in this figure adaption *old* Nanoha is. Maybe it’s the less officer like dress and the cheerfulness I missed in her grown up state.
Damn now I have three bunny girls on my list, this one, Tamaki and I’m waiting for pictures of the painted Sonico bunny girl. Sonico has the character bonus, but otherwise I would love to have this Nanoha in my collection, it’s a great Nanoha figure, even though that’s quite an alternative dress for her.
FREEing is sort of an odd maker; their large 1/4 scale figures look pretty good, and they have a consistent level of quality so that you pretty much know what you’re going to get. Then their 1/8 scale figures seem to often look not as good (or at least, not as interesting) and they also seem to cost a helluva lot of money – like their other Nanoha figure, the Fortress one. Admittedly, it comes with a lot of extra stuff but that’s still a ton of money to drop on a 1/8 scale figure.
Yeah, I didn’t mention the tail, but I definitely agree with you about bunny suit tails; I think the tail is kinda silly and it disrupts the clean, elegant body line of the leotard. Fortunately you can’t see it from the front.
It sorta seems like FREEing’s big figures aren’t too popular, probably because they are expensive and huge, so maybe you can get Nanoha at a discount later on. Though personally, if I were going to get Nanoha, I think I’d have to get Fate, too.
Whoah, she really is nice. I’ve had issues with how some of the other bunnygirls look, but Nanoha is pretty flawless. She’s attractive (bunny suits look better on bustier characters, imo), I like her pose and expression and her suit is nice and shiny. Only her small tilt looks kind of off from certain angles, but I doubt those are all that noticeable when you have her displayed. If I was a fan of the show, I’d be tempted by it (but I never saw it, so I’m going to pass).
Always good to see a return of the tentacle stand too.
I agree with that, and it’s kinda funny in that I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to Nanoha’s chest when I preordered this figure – I found the highleg leotard to be the most appealing aspect, but when I got the figure her breasts were definitely very noticeable. It’ll be a bit odd though, in that I guess I might be getting two more bunny figures – Fate and Kuroko – and so two busty, grown-up girls and two flat-chested lolis would comprise my bunnygirl collection (well, and then there’s Daiki Kougyou’s Haruhi figure, but I guess I wouldn’t count that).
Amusing shots as always, those tentacles shall receive their friendship bonus later. My first impressions about her wasn’t great but after looking at your review, my view changed somehow. Those fishnet stockings sure are perfectly stitched, not to mention her gorgeous bust and shiny vest. About their fate one, I think a black vest instead of red will be better for her, but one thing is for sure, she will have a spankable buttom.
I’m very impressed by how nice her stockings turned out. I’m usually leery about real clothing on scale-sized figures or action figures; often it looks very unrealistic, but they did a great job making them work. I kinda like the color contrast between Nanoha’s blue suit and Fate’s red suit, but black definitely would’ve been very sexy; I know red is generally considered an erotic color but most of the time, I prefer black, particularly when we’re talking about a character with a backside like Fate’s.
Man, she’s gorgeous! I really find myself liking her stockings, oddly enough. The bunnysuit is great, too, and really shows off her impressive bust. I don’t have any bunnygirls in my collection, but if I did, it would be that Bunny Kan’u. Unfortunately, she’s prohibitively expensive ($175 on MFC) but SOMEDAY…
The bunny Kanu and Ryomou were two figures I overlooked, and it looks like a lot of people did as well, since I can’t recall ever seeing a review of them anywhere. Kanu really does look pretty, though – completely out of character, to be sure, but there’s nothing at all wrong with that. I love that they made her skin darker-toned than most figure makers do, too.
What a great looking Nanoha! But something looks off about her proportions (aside from the massive head, which now seems to be a Nanoha figure trademark). Maybe her arms are too long?
Bah, who cares. Look at that slick bunny suit.
Her arms do look a bit long, but I think it’s more that her torso is relatively short and her legs are super long. That doesn’t seem to be a common style in anime, since characters tend to look really young (though shows like Evangelion definitely use that sort of style). I kinda like this look since it makes Nanoha look older; I’ve got several figures of Nanoha looking really really young, and I’m guessing that we’ll be getting a lot more loli Nanoha figures when the second movie drops, so I’m happy to have another figure (along with the Alter swimsuit Nanoha) that presents her as an adult.
I like Nanoha. There have been very few figures I have not liked of Nanoha. I don’t know what it is about her design, but it definitely is one that I like.
I also think she is looking great as usual. The blue color works really well with her hair and eyes and her breast size really fits the outfit well. The erect nipples underneath the clothes is always a nice touch. She does have a pretty nice ass too. I really feel that I need a Nanoha for my collection and this would definitely be a contender.
I like the use of the tentacles on her this time. They work really well with her open legs and open mouth. I am glad you brought them out.
If I had to nitpick, I would say that she could have lost the tie as it doesn’t do much for the figure.
If one were to only own one Nanoha, I think this would be a pretty good one. Strictly speaking, I suppose the “definitive” Nanoha – if such a thing exists – might be Alter’s StrikerS figure, but that’s somewhat expensive due to its scarcity, and to be honest I think I like this one better anyway. One reason why I have more Fate figures than Nanoha figures is that I like Fate’s costume a lot more, being that it’s a lot more revealing, but this Nanoha does not have that issue.
One funny thing about her tie is that I think it deflects attention from her breasts. I don’t mind the tie, but imagining how she’d look without it, I think her chest would be more prominent.
Pingback: New Preorders part 23 | wieselhead
I . new to anime figures. So I figured this to be my first. Then once I seen it in person. I bought the other two figures that go with the blue one. All three look really great together.
They do! I didn’t get Hayate but sometimes I think I should have.
Hi Tier. Yes you should get Hayate. I can’t wait for the next new one I seen posted on here. I think due in November. I cannot believe I haven’t started collecting these sooner. I don’t know how. But I came across this website. I looked at all the great figures. I was hooked. 🙂
Hi Tier. Madaka is the one i mentioned above. It’s due in August. I want that figure as well 🙂
Yeah, I’m thinking about it. I know very little about her character as I’ve never watched Nanoha A’s (and for some reason, it doesn’t seem to be available on DVD or Blu-ray). I’ve still got Alter’s Fate figure somewhere here waiting for her review.
I’m still thinking about Medaka, too; she looks really nice. I hope they have some method to keep her from tipping over, though; she looks really, really top-heavy.
I like the Seraphim Bunny too. From Kore ha Zombie Desuka. It looks great. Its to be out end of this month.
Yeah, she looks nice, too. FREEing’s 1/4 scale stuff is always a treat to open up, just because the figures are so much bigger than one might expect.
Yes… FREEing’s 1/4 scales are awesome. The size makes them so sweet.