Okay, so here goes my first figure review. I don't know how much detail I'll go into as I'm usually lost for words and the photos should mostly speak for themselves. I'll aim to talk about anything the photos may fail to pick up on and I'll also try to give some brief descriptions on what's good and bad concerning the various aspects to the figures I review. Paint job, sculpt, box, base, etc. I'll probably include a score based system for each area and an overall score out of 10 for my reviews as well. Now that that is out of the way I guess I better start.
I'm going to be reviewing the Tomoyo Sakagami DreamTech 1/7 Scale figure produced by Wave. I should also say that she's from the anime Clannad. (which everyone should watch) I'll review this systematically starting from the outside of the box right down to the figure itself.
The Box
I guess to start off, I'll say that this figure is one of those that are much more impressive in real life than what the photos might show. I guess most figures would be as well but, I found this figure to be a significant example in regards to this.
At first glance, I found the box to be fairly ordinary however as I continue to write this review I find that the box is definitely starting to grow on me. The best parts I'd have to say is the front window and the soft colours in the pictures used. The window is large and makes it easy to view the figure inside unlike some other boxes I could mention. I guess you could say I'm partial to figure boxes with large windows.
I should warn you that some of this paragraph may feel irrelevant to the figure.
Probably the most disappointing thing about information regarding anime figures circling the web is that I find there is all to often a lack of pictures of the actual box which I find can be instrumental in determining the legitimacy of the figure when the bootleg figure itself is of fairly comparable quality. One thing I like to know before buying a figure is knowing whether or not it has a sticker of authenticity. That's usually the best way of determining if it's the real deal. I haven't actually found any stickers on this box but, not all figures come with authenticity stickers (some bootlegs go so far as to even have fake stickers of authenticity) and judging by the overall quality this one seems to be pretty legit.
The other thing that stands out about this box is the colouring in the pictures used. Unlike other similar boxes with lighter colours they definitely went for a much more softer look which is quite relaxing actually compared to say, Alter Tsumugi 1/8 with her bright pink almost neon like colours. I found this particularly pleasing for a change.
By going the plain and simple approach and utilising the soft colours of blue skies and white clouds the designers managed to make an aesthetically pleasing box which gives off a very calm atmosphere and relaxed feeling to the viewer.
The bottom isn't much to look at but, just in case you were wondering, here it is.
Like I said earlier, this box definitely grew on me and by now since I've finished writing this I'd have to say that I'd give this box a pretty high 8 out of 10.
When starting this I didn't realise how long writing reviews takes so I'll be uploading the rest of the review soon!
Review Continued.....
The Packaging
Okay, now time to open it up. Here's a few photos of her in the blister pack.
The blister pack itself is about as standard as they come. There's two pieces for the front and back that clip in together keeping the figure safely in place. Then inside there's plastic sheets including a plastic cover for the arm/leg? (I can't remember, it fits on both) that cover the area in which the figure sits. I guess this is to help prevent paint transfer or any other damage that would result from the figure rubbing up against the blister pack too much. The final part to this is that the blister pack has a small 'window' part molded around the area where her face lies so you properly view it from the outside. In the end, there's nothing particularly wrong with the packaging but, at the same time there is nothing special to write home about.
Does anyone else forget where all those plastic sheets go?
The Figure
At last, I finally get to talk about the figure itself. There's way too many photos to put in this post so I've posted a slide show so that you can view them all. If you want to view them in a larger format just click on the slide show and that'll take you to my Picasa Album. I'll select a few photos to show in full here. Before the figure I'll briefly review the base.
