Alright, time to get back on track with figure reviews. Today we’ll take a look at Miyamoto Musashi, Type Moon’s genderbent interpretation of the famous Japanese swordsman and philosopher. This particular version presents her as a Berserker, and evidently depicts her Stage 2 appearance. Doubtless this means something to Fate Grand Order players but being that I’m not inclined to ever touch the game, I’m content to stay willfully ignorant as to the context of these descriptors.
The real-life Musashi was a famous samurai and vagabond, renowned for his skill at dueling. In particular, he’s known for fighting while dual-wielding swords, an uncommon style historically but one that Musashi used to good effect thanks to his skill and extraordinary physical strength. Aside from his martial prowess, he’s also celebrated for his artistic abilities and his philosophical treatises, with the Book of Five Rings being his most famous work.
The fictional Musashi of Fate Grand Order embodies a drastically revised representation of the actual samurai. This Musashi is still an itinerant swordsman, but she shuffles through different realities in addition to different places. She’s cheerful, rather hedonistic, and enjoys receiving money and being in the company of attractive people. This Musashi is of the Berserker class, which as I understand, means she hits things very hard.
This figure is manufactured by Alter in 1/7 scale, as many Fate figures are. She’s mostly complete out of the box, with just a little bit of work needed to get her weapons fitted into her hands. Her base is a brown disc that I assume is meant to depict the arid terrain of the western United States.
Musashi’s costume also represents some aspect of Americana, with a prominent stars and stripes motif evident in the design of her bikini and sock. The bright red, white, and blue color pattern of her outfit is offset by the more muted brown leather tones of her boots and gloves. Her hair bun and belt buckle add a touch of east Asian styling to her look.
Her look expresses boldness and confidence, which is in line with the personality of her historic namesake. She’s certainly no Saberface, but the design of her face is instantly recognizable as a Type Moon character. Speaking of Saber, I still have some ideas of doing a Saber month, where I review the dozen or so Saber figures that I still have to photograph – though admittedly, at my pace of publishing reviews, that would more likely have to be a Saber year.
Musashi’s bikini top is fiercely challenged to contain her impressive breasts. The pattern of her swimsuit is immediately recognizable as being American-themed, but the design is still a bit unique; for example, the width of the red and white stripes are dissonant, and the largest star on her left breast is red. The rest of her ensemble obviously serves to complement her skimpy swimsuit, but the asymmetry of her outfit is striking nonetheless.
The stars-and-stripes pattern continues down her left leg.
Her right leg, however, is sheathed in a thigh-high leather boot. The tread on the sole seems a little modern, but being that her outfit comprises a variety of styles, I think it’s fine.
In keeping with the real-life samurai, Musashi carries two weapons, a longer sword in her right hand and a short sword in her left. Both weapons are gunblades, complete with revolver cylinders and triggers. I’m not entirely sure how they are supposed to work or what they are supposed to do, being that it doesn’t appear there are any barrels to fire bullets through, but they still look very cool.
If I were to criticize one aspect of this figure, it’d be the position of her right leg, which is canted out to the side and looks a little odd to me. The position of her leg also leads into one of the elements of this figure’s construction that annoys me the most, which is that her right leg is supported by a transparent pylon that’s not secured to anything; it simply sits on top of the base and supports Musashi’s leg by friction. It’s easy to knock aside and while Musashi can stand upright solely on her left leg, I’d rather not place the additional stress on the figure or the base.
But I think those are relatively small criticisms considering how great this figure looks. I haven’t purchased as many Alter figures recently as I have in the past, but they’re still one of the best figure makers out there, and this version of Musashi looks incredible. She’s sexy, her pose is dynamic, her outfit is extremely appealing, and the build quality is superb. Musashi is a great figure indeed.
A very nice figure indeed! Thanks for the splendid photographs, and thanks for the insight on the original Musashi. I really had no idea about that. The only Musashi I knew until now was the IJN battleship Musashi, sister ship to the Yamato.
(I wildly guessed that the IJN Musashi was a vessel in either KanColle or Azur Lane and all the Musashi figures were due to that. Silly me, lol)
I have a Musashi figure on the way (surface) from E2046’s Gathering label. I’m keen to see how this one turned out.
Thanks 😀 I learned about Musashi when I was a kid; my brother was a fan of Eiji Yoshikawa’s novel series titled Musashi, and I remember he showed me a film based off of one of the samurai’s early duels. I seem to recall that one of the swords used in the movie was named “Washing Rod” or something like that, which I thought was a strange name for a weapon. I think I could not have imagined that the historical samurai would later be re-imagined as a scantily-clad anime girl.
I hope she turns out well! I haven’t bought stuff from E2046 in a while, but I do have a few of their figures here that I haven’t opened, and I ought to take a look at them. I know I have their Misato Katsuragi in a bikesuit somewhere here.
I got this same figure. I haven’t taken it out of the box, because I was planning on reselling it as I thought it was a impulse buy, also Alter takes years to complete a pre-order, I had forgotten all about it. My collection has grown a little to much and I need to take down the figure count. After this post I’m really thinking of keeping this figure, I really love the face and the body and reading how you think the figure is greatly made, I just might keep it. My favorite part to look on any figure is their butt, any comments on this figure’s ass? Thanks in advance.
I think it’s a really nice figure, probably my favorite figure of Musashi to date (I’ve got the Kotobukiya swimsuit figure somewhere here too). I definitely empathize with having too many figures in the collection, though; I’m running into the same problem myself. Regarding her backside, it’s not very easy to see due to the skirt; it’s an area that I would’ve liked to have highlighted, if it were a little more visible.
I have seen this one around a few times, but never paid much attention to it since Fate/Go is a terrible game gameplay wise XD
On closer inspection I think she is beautiful, I love when Alter makes figures of attractive ladies.
The figures body is indeed very attractive, she has abs, a proud bosom and nice legs. I never noticed all of her details before and feel a bit ashamed that I didn’t give her more credit, since the design is really great.
Be it the selection of colors or the recreation of the characters outfit. I like the asian cowboy theme mixed with bikini armor so much, the short jacket is cute and the different shoes are a really cool thing, although the high boots have a stronger impact.
She is too nice, I want one (cries)
Oh and your pictures are amazingly nice and technically great.