Category Archives: Figure Review

Akane Indou from Homare Art Works (NSFW)

Akane Indou from Homare Art Works

One of the more pleasing developments in figure collecting is that a number of manufacturers are now producing figures derived from the artwork of well-known illustrators, especially those of ero publications. Misaki Kurehito’s artwork has received a number of figure adaptations, Cle Masahiro Murakami Suigun recently got one each, Oda Non’s work is getting a bundle of figures from a variety of companies, and so on – all good stuff. Here we have a figure based off of an illustration by Homare, an artist who has been released image packs on DLSite and similar sites under the circle name FOOL’S ART GALLERY. This is the first figure to be released that is sourced from his work, which is curious as he’s been in the business for years, even designing a Queen’s Blade character, though it never was turned into a figure. A real disappointment, that. I kind of think this costume would have made for a fine figure, even a mainstream one. But although it’s a tad belated, we finally have a Homare-designed figure, so let’s take a look.
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Sasara Kusugawa from To Heart 2: Dungeon Travelers (Fighter Version) (NSFW)

Sasara Kusugawa from To Heart 2: Dungeon Travelers

It took an extraordinary amount of time – this figure went up for preorder somewhere in 2015, if I remember right – but Orca Toys’s Sasara Kusugawa finally arrived a few months ago. She went up for order at about the same toy that Kotobukiya’s version did, but Kotobukiya’s version came out last year. I haven’t yet reviewed the Kotobukiya figure; while I like it quite a bit, the comparison will have to wait until I do so. Until then, we’ll take a look at just the Orca Toys figure now.
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Widowmaker from Overwatch

Widowmaker from Overwatch

Blizzcon is coming up soon and so now is an apropos moment to take a look at this statue of Widowmaker, one of the most prominent faces in Blizzard’s multiplayer first-person shooter Overwatch. I have not yet played Overwatch, being that it’s principally a multiplayer shooting game and the last title in the genre that I enjoyed playing against humans was Goldeneye. I much prefer to play shooters against the AI and my understanding is that Overwatch’s support for this mode of play is abysmal at best. Nonetheless, I’ve spent a large fraction of my life playing Blizzard games, and my re-subscription to World of Warcraft in late 2012 is the most significant factor in the downturn of posting frequency on this site. Therefore, it only seems equitable to take away from my MMO time to review this statue.
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Slingshot Babe from the Native Creators Collection (NSFW)

Slingshot Babe from the Native Creators Collection

Ero figures are all the rage these days, and Native is amongst the best at producing them. They are apparently not the best at naming them, however, and so this girl is simply known as “Slingshot Babe.” This generic moniker is perhaps not nearly as off-putting as Compact Hog, but it’s still fairly impersonal.
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Sara Pezzini from Witchblade (XM Studios Version)

Sara Pezzini from the Witchblade

Occasionally we look at figures that are aimed at the Western audience. Or in this case, made from a Western property; one would think that this figure is targeted at the US market but it’s actually manufactured by XM Studios, a relatively small company based in Singapore. As such, it’s not actually widely distributed in North America. Another odd thing about this statue is that while comic book properties are wildly popular these days, most of the most lucrative products are derived from movie adaptations, such as Wonder Woman and Deadpool. Witchblade – the figure obviously depicted here – is essentially a retired title at this moment, as it completed its 185-issue run in 2015. And one more unusual thing about this figure is its price; at $780, it is likely the most expensive figure in my collection.
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Reika Shimohira from Gantz: O (Sword Version)

Reika Shimohira from Gantz: O

Union Creative’s Hdge Technical Statue lineup is an eclectic grouping but the figure we’re looking at today isn’t too different from Motoko Kusanagi, the last Union Creative figure we looked at – that is, female, sexy, scantily-clad, and sourced from a sci-fi series. The Major, of course, was recently featured in a big Hollywood movie (that, by most accounts, wasn’t particularly well received). The figure we’re looking at today is of Reika Shimohira, one of the stars of Gantz – and more specifically, Gantz: O, a CG-animated feature-length film released last year. The series features significant thematic similarities – notably, that of hapless participants forced by a sadistic entity to struggle for survival – to some other big motion pictures, and its blend of graphic violence, action, drama, and fanservice would be quite popular in current times. One wonders whether Hollywood will someday seek to put its own Western-style spin on the Gantz franchise.
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Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos (Bunny Version)

Houki Shinonono from Infinite Stratos

It’s time to look at another bunnygirl figure, and this time we’ll be examining Houki Shinonono, the querulous martinet and love interest from Infinite Stratos. FREEing appears to have an affinity for the characters from this series, as they’ve made not just one, but two quarter-scale figures of each of the principal female characters in the show, and why not? Certainly it doesn’t seem like anyone else is interested.
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Golden Darkness from To Love-Ru Darkness (Bunny Version)

Golden Darkness from To Love-Ru Darkness

It’s time to look at bunnygirls. The first one we’ll examine is To Love-Ru’s inscrutable, bibliophilic murderess with the protean physiology: Konjiki no Yami, or Golden Darkness. She is one of the most popular characters in the To Love-Ru series and it’s not difficult to see why. The To Love-Ru characters have been getting some love from figure manufacturers in recent months and it appears that FREEing is going to do a series of figures comprising most of the principal cast. Yami is the first of this line to hit the market, so it’s only appropriate to look at her first.
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Velvet Crowe from Tales of Berseria

Velvet Crowe from Tales of Berseria

Despite being a longtime fan of JRPGs, I didn’t play a Tales game until Tales of Vesperia was released on the Xbox 360. I enjoyed it a great deal, and I was happy that its later release on the PlayStation coincided with a plethora of figures from Alter. That satisfaction subsequently evaporated when they never released a figure of Judith, undeniably the best character in the game. Nonetheless, I’ve since bought a few of their figures, including Milla Maxwell, who looks very nice, and Alicia, whose low-key role in Tales of Zestiria kindled its own form of discontent. I’ve also obviously bought this figure, which is from Kotobukiya, curiously, rather than Alter.
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Umr from WIXOSS

Umr from WIXOSS

Happy International Women’s Day! These days, the anime industry is the light novel and mobile/web/card game adaptation industry, and thus it shouldn’t be a surprise that the character that this figure portrays comes from one of those categories. This unfortunate reality is a major reason why I don’t watch much anime at all anymore, but at least they typically have attractive characters. Such is the case here with Umr, this unusually-named little girl with a most peculiar sartorial sensibility. We’ll observe this auspicious day by taking a look at this most dignified and well-dressed little girl.
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