DSC_5754
So, we're almost at the end of 2019, with Christmas done and Boxing Day fading into the sunset as I write this blurb. I've actually not had as much down time as I thought I would this week, but whenever I have a moment I keep chugging away at things.
During my travels, I am often in the right place at the right time to take advantage of some great pricing on hard to find items. One such item recently came into my possession, specifically Figma 249: Kiryuin Satsuki from Kill la Kill, which I was able to purchase for $50 CAD... which from my research was a ridiculously good price given its aftermarket demand. Brag factor aside, I purchased this figure because earlier this year, I was able to secure a mostly complete Ryuko for $35 CAD, missing one clenched fist.
So a bit of a refresher. Kill la Kill is a series that I've never watched (surprise surprise) and is generally known to me only because of just how outlandish the costume designs for the two leading ladies is. Ryuko is already pretty skimpy, but her getup is modest compared to what Satsuki wears. The story follows Ryuko as she searches for the killer of her Father, who possess the other half of her weapon, the Scissor Blade, a weapon designed to damage enchanted garments called Goku Uniforms that are partially weaved with power granting Life Fibers, as well as absorb them upon destroying said garments. Her path of vengeance puts her at odds with Satsuki, who the student council president at Honnōji Academy, who has control over the Academy and the surrounding lands. Both Satsuki and Ryuko wear sentient garments that looks relatively normal when dormant, but when called upon to go into battle mode, well, they basically transform into the looks that the series is known form.
In stark contrast to the predominately black getup of Ryuko, Satsuki is dressed in a predominately white outfit, which, as mentioned, is somehow even more revealing than Ryuko's. Satsuki is a dangerous adversary even without any equipment, so the enhancements provided by her suit only make her even more unstoppable.
So the Figma comes with an good assortment of items, as expected. There's of course Satsuki herself, three expressions total (neutral, attacking, and smiling), her blade Bakuzan both in sheathed and unsheathed forms, the other half of the Scissor Blade that comes with Ryuko so you can form the Rending Scissors with the included joint, and the Scissor Blade in what is called Decapitation Mode used for finishing off Goku Uniforms. There are, of course, an assortments of posing and weapon gripping hands, including a left hand dedicated to gripping the sheath of Bakuzan, the typical Figma stand, and a cardboard cutout of the henchmen at the Honnōji Academy.
A bit of warning - the connection joint itself has a really flimsy peg that holds its cap on, and significant care should be utilized when assembling and disassembling this piece. I know this because mine broke, despite me already using the utmost care i could muster.
Based on what I can tell, the Figma does an excellent job at replicating the appearance of the character. Described as a tall elegant woman, Satsuki certainly appears to be more sleek and refined as compared to her counterpart Ryuko. Nowhere is this more obvious than in her face and the overall height of the figure. As with most anime models, there doesn't seem to be any significant amounts of musculature on the animation model, which means there isn't really much on the Figma either. Her curves and revealing uniform are exceptionally well captured, right down to the insanely large shoulder pads, though this does lead to some limitations that we will cover a bit later on. Overall, there really isn't much to complain about from an "accuracy" perspective.
Being Figma 249, the figure was built on the Figma 2.0 platform, which brought with it increased figure size and more accurate proportions. Most of the standard articulation points are present, with the unfortunate exception of a waist due to, I'm guessing, the desire to maintain the curves of the hips (Ryuko doesn't have a waist either), a fact that is not exactly surprising given that they (Max Factory) did not give Angela Balzac a waist either as it would interfere with the overall aesthetic of the figure. You're left with rotating and pivoting ankles, single jointed knees with a cut at the rear of the thigh to allow for slightly greater range of motion, hips, upper chest, standard shoulders with the ability to pull away from the body to allow for greater range of motion and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, ball jointed, wrists, and head articulation. Extra points of articulation are present for the shoulder pads, as well as the end pieces of her hair, which take advantage of the softer plastics used on the hair to allow for some movement while at the same time concealing of these hair movement joints. As mentioned above, the nature of Satsuki's outfit causes some articulation limitations. The "suspenders" between her bust and her hips do somewhat limit the ability of the upper torso to swivel. The giant shoulder pads naturally get in the way of arm movement, though you can get around this somewhat through movement of the pads themselves. The hair itself hinders movement due to its relatively rigid nature though, again, built in design choices such as moving shoulder pads and somewhat flexible hair pieces can aid in getting some more range of motion. The big one, however, is that in order to maintain the smooth curves of her hips and butt, like with Angela this entire section is one piece, which basically means that while things look good, movement of the legs is significantly restricted, particularly with regards to moving her leg backwards.
Overall, you're not going to be getting too many convincing lunging poses out of this figure.
From a paint perspective, the figure is, as expected, beautiful. The base white and flesh tones are smoothly applied, with very little overspray or rough finishes to be concerned with. Blue and black highlights are quite crisp, though there are some weak areas that can be easily spotted such as on the wrist. Decal work is spot on. Overall, the final product is quite high quality, as one expects from a Figma.
Build quality is, to the surprise no nobody, is superb. All parts fit together perfectly, wit no uneven gaps. Assembly seams are well sanded and concealed by application of paint. Details on the figure come up very crisp, ranging from the strands of her hair, to her bustline, to the white armour bits that run along her spine. Even the open mouth face plate came out very nicely, further polished to a shine through the expert application of paint. The horns on her head are quite thin and seem to be fragile, so handle with care. Joints hold poses perfectly, and there are no concerns with regards to uneven limb length.
Satsuki may not be the most poseable Figma ever made, but thanks to the great quality control at Max Factory, she looks stunning in whatever poses you can actually get her in. It's too bad they never reissued her along with Ryuko so more people could enjoy the pairing of the two. But even alone, Satsuki makes a great addition to your "kind of NSFW" line simply due to how outlandishly awesome her getup is, and how fabulous she looks in it.
DSC_5754
So, we're almost at the end of 2019, with Christmas done and Boxing Day fading into the sunset as I write this blurb. I've actually not had as much down time as I thought I would this week, but whenever I have a moment I keep chugging away at things.
During my travels, I am often in the right place at the right time to take advantage of some great pricing on hard to find items. One such item recently came into my possession, specifically Figma 249: Kiryuin Satsuki from Kill la Kill, which I was able to purchase for $50 CAD... which from my research was a ridiculously good price given its aftermarket demand. Brag factor aside, I purchased this figure because earlier this year, I was able to secure a mostly complete Ryuko for $35 CAD, missing one clenched fist.
So a bit of a refresher. Kill la Kill is a series that I've never watched (surprise surprise) and is generally known to me only because of just how outlandish the costume designs for the two leading ladies is. Ryuko is already pretty skimpy, but her getup is modest compared to what Satsuki wears. The story follows Ryuko as she searches for the killer of her Father, who possess the other half of her weapon, the Scissor Blade, a weapon designed to damage enchanted garments called Goku Uniforms that are partially weaved with power granting Life Fibers, as well as absorb them upon destroying said garments. Her path of vengeance puts her at odds with Satsuki, who the student council president at Honnōji Academy, who has control over the Academy and the surrounding lands. Both Satsuki and Ryuko wear sentient garments that looks relatively normal when dormant, but when called upon to go into battle mode, well, they basically transform into the looks that the series is known form.
In stark contrast to the predominately black getup of Ryuko, Satsuki is dressed in a predominately white outfit, which, as mentioned, is somehow even more revealing than Ryuko's. Satsuki is a dangerous adversary even without any equipment, so the enhancements provided by her suit only make her even more unstoppable.
So the Figma comes with an good assortment of items, as expected. There's of course Satsuki herself, three expressions total (neutral, attacking, and smiling), her blade Bakuzan both in sheathed and unsheathed forms, the other half of the Scissor Blade that comes with Ryuko so you can form the Rending Scissors with the included joint, and the Scissor Blade in what is called Decapitation Mode used for finishing off Goku Uniforms. There are, of course, an assortments of posing and weapon gripping hands, including a left hand dedicated to gripping the sheath of Bakuzan, the typical Figma stand, and a cardboard cutout of the henchmen at the Honnōji Academy.
A bit of warning - the connection joint itself has a really flimsy peg that holds its cap on, and significant care should be utilized when assembling and disassembling this piece. I know this because mine broke, despite me already using the utmost care i could muster.
Based on what I can tell, the Figma does an excellent job at replicating the appearance of the character. Described as a tall elegant woman, Satsuki certainly appears to be more sleek and refined as compared to her counterpart Ryuko. Nowhere is this more obvious than in her face and the overall height of the figure. As with most anime models, there doesn't seem to be any significant amounts of musculature on the animation model, which means there isn't really much on the Figma either. Her curves and revealing uniform are exceptionally well captured, right down to the insanely large shoulder pads, though this does lead to some limitations that we will cover a bit later on. Overall, there really isn't much to complain about from an "accuracy" perspective.
Being Figma 249, the figure was built on the Figma 2.0 platform, which brought with it increased figure size and more accurate proportions. Most of the standard articulation points are present, with the unfortunate exception of a waist due to, I'm guessing, the desire to maintain the curves of the hips (Ryuko doesn't have a waist either), a fact that is not exactly surprising given that they (Max Factory) did not give Angela Balzac a waist either as it would interfere with the overall aesthetic of the figure. You're left with rotating and pivoting ankles, single jointed knees with a cut at the rear of the thigh to allow for slightly greater range of motion, hips, upper chest, standard shoulders with the ability to pull away from the body to allow for greater range of motion and bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, ball jointed, wrists, and head articulation. Extra points of articulation are present for the shoulder pads, as well as the end pieces of her hair, which take advantage of the softer plastics used on the hair to allow for some movement while at the same time concealing of these hair movement joints. As mentioned above, the nature of Satsuki's outfit causes some articulation limitations. The "suspenders" between her bust and her hips do somewhat limit the ability of the upper torso to swivel. The giant shoulder pads naturally get in the way of arm movement, though you can get around this somewhat through movement of the pads themselves. The hair itself hinders movement due to its relatively rigid nature though, again, built in design choices such as moving shoulder pads and somewhat flexible hair pieces can aid in getting some more range of motion. The big one, however, is that in order to maintain the smooth curves of her hips and butt, like with Angela this entire section is one piece, which basically means that while things look good, movement of the legs is significantly restricted, particularly with regards to moving her leg backwards.
Overall, you're not going to be getting too many convincing lunging poses out of this figure.
From a paint perspective, the figure is, as expected, beautiful. The base white and flesh tones are smoothly applied, with very little overspray or rough finishes to be concerned with. Blue and black highlights are quite crisp, though there are some weak areas that can be easily spotted such as on the wrist. Decal work is spot on. Overall, the final product is quite high quality, as one expects from a Figma.
Build quality is, to the surprise no nobody, is superb. All parts fit together perfectly, wit no uneven gaps. Assembly seams are well sanded and concealed by application of paint. Details on the figure come up very crisp, ranging from the strands of her hair, to her bustline, to the white armour bits that run along her spine. Even the open mouth face plate came out very nicely, further polished to a shine through the expert application of paint. The horns on her head are quite thin and seem to be fragile, so handle with care. Joints hold poses perfectly, and there are no concerns with regards to uneven limb length.
Satsuki may not be the most poseable Figma ever made, but thanks to the great quality control at Max Factory, she looks stunning in whatever poses you can actually get her in. It's too bad they never reissued her along with Ryuko so more people could enjoy the pairing of the two. But even alone, Satsuki makes a great addition to your "kind of NSFW" line simply due to how outlandishly awesome her getup is, and how fabulous she looks in it.