DSC_8542
With more and more IPs showing up, newer companies are able to show off what they can do without having to rely on more expensive, established licenses.
Such is the case of the Thunderbolt Squad collection of 1/9 ladies from Animester. No clue about the IP, and I got the first one, Whisky Sour. on a whim as it married my favourite things together - seamless bodies (well, sort of) and cute character designs.
The next figure, Barbara Red, recently released. Unlike Whisky Sour, Barbera Red has a seamless body, which allows for more articulation The tech isn't new per se, as we've had smaller TBLeague bodies for quite some time now and Animeister really is just putting jointed arms and legs onto a seamless Silicone torso.
After all, it's pretty hard to replicate cybernetic parts with Silicone.
Both figures are 1/9, but clearly Barbera Red is a giantess compared to Whisky Sour (which partially explains why the boxes are so different in size). I don't recall the prices being significantly different, Naturally, please for the love of God avoid BBTS and other places that jack up the prices because they basically can.
Like Whisky Sour, Barbera Red comes with a good assortment of extra faces and hands, though there are no customizable faces this time around. You DO get a nice hooded head, though. Eyeballs, as before, are articulated.
Now, you may or may not agree with the concept of Bishoujo figures, particularly ones that clearly are not prudes. Having said that, even without the lovely lady lumps, this would still be a pretty neat figure for me as the faces are just so expressive.
The overall design reminds me very much of Mirim from Queen's Blade, though that isn't as obvious until you swap out the head and add the flame effect to her ear pieces (your choice or Blue or Red - I just stuck with Blue as I was too lazy to open up the Red ones). The figure can also be displayed without said flames, but you need the ear pieces in as otherwise you'll have holes on the side of the head.
Sculpting overall, in particularly the faces and Cyberntic bits as beautifully done. Hair isn't bad either. The figure features some of those translucent plastic parts with inlaid metallic pattern underneath.
Overall articulation is a bit cumbersome due to the intermingling of Seamless and Jointed body parts, but overall you're pretty close to full TBLeague capabilities. The Cape and Ponytail, as nice as they look can also be somewhat of an annoyance to posing, though again the eyes can be articulated to hit those sweet spots in case your face can't actually make the spot. Heels make balancing the figure somewhat of a pain, though the Base/Stand can help to alleviate some of that.
Paint Applications are pretty good. As with most figures, the closer you look the more flaws you see, and on this figure most of the flaws generally are around flaws on the face or tiny masking issues on the weapons. Otherwise, paint is smoothly applied. Decals are sharp and are applied nicely.
Build Quality is an interesting one. So I should start off with I accidentally ordered two of these by accident, and I figured I'd just gift the other one to someone. While I could have gone through the whole headache of warranty stuff, I opted just to swap out the bodies of the two sets.
The reason being that QC on the Silicone bodies is still isn't quite as good as with Jointed bodies. The left shoulder on my initial figure was so loose it felt like it had disconnected from the body and didn't really hold poses.This isn't just limited to these up and coming places, as even my WB100 Wonder Woman from Hot Toys had the same issue, and strangely on the same shoulder. The right shoulder on both bodies was incredibly tight. Range of motion on the hips appeared to be better on the second figure, though admittedly I was doing some stupid shit.
Compared to Whiskey Sour, who was fine on the first shot.
The flame effects are held in snugly enough but they are effectively clip on. Oh, speaking of those effects, those are some functional sharp points. It should also be noted that the flame effects and the cape are a harder plastic, so potential fragility issues there.
Other typical metrics such as tolerances and joint tightness were otherwise found to be as expected.
DSC_8542
With more and more IPs showing up, newer companies are able to show off what they can do without having to rely on more expensive, established licenses.
Such is the case of the Thunderbolt Squad collection of 1/9 ladies from Animester. No clue about the IP, and I got the first one, Whisky Sour. on a whim as it married my favourite things together - seamless bodies (well, sort of) and cute character designs.
The next figure, Barbara Red, recently released. Unlike Whisky Sour, Barbera Red has a seamless body, which allows for more articulation The tech isn't new per se, as we've had smaller TBLeague bodies for quite some time now and Animeister really is just putting jointed arms and legs onto a seamless Silicone torso.
After all, it's pretty hard to replicate cybernetic parts with Silicone.
Both figures are 1/9, but clearly Barbera Red is a giantess compared to Whisky Sour (which partially explains why the boxes are so different in size). I don't recall the prices being significantly different, Naturally, please for the love of God avoid BBTS and other places that jack up the prices because they basically can.
Like Whisky Sour, Barbera Red comes with a good assortment of extra faces and hands, though there are no customizable faces this time around. You DO get a nice hooded head, though. Eyeballs, as before, are articulated.
Now, you may or may not agree with the concept of Bishoujo figures, particularly ones that clearly are not prudes. Having said that, even without the lovely lady lumps, this would still be a pretty neat figure for me as the faces are just so expressive.
The overall design reminds me very much of Mirim from Queen's Blade, though that isn't as obvious until you swap out the head and add the flame effect to her ear pieces (your choice or Blue or Red - I just stuck with Blue as I was too lazy to open up the Red ones). The figure can also be displayed without said flames, but you need the ear pieces in as otherwise you'll have holes on the side of the head.
Sculpting overall, in particularly the faces and Cyberntic bits as beautifully done. Hair isn't bad either. The figure features some of those translucent plastic parts with inlaid metallic pattern underneath.
Overall articulation is a bit cumbersome due to the intermingling of Seamless and Jointed body parts, but overall you're pretty close to full TBLeague capabilities. The Cape and Ponytail, as nice as they look can also be somewhat of an annoyance to posing, though again the eyes can be articulated to hit those sweet spots in case your face can't actually make the spot. Heels make balancing the figure somewhat of a pain, though the Base/Stand can help to alleviate some of that.
Paint Applications are pretty good. As with most figures, the closer you look the more flaws you see, and on this figure most of the flaws generally are around flaws on the face or tiny masking issues on the weapons. Otherwise, paint is smoothly applied. Decals are sharp and are applied nicely.
Build Quality is an interesting one. So I should start off with I accidentally ordered two of these by accident, and I figured I'd just gift the other one to someone. While I could have gone through the whole headache of warranty stuff, I opted just to swap out the bodies of the two sets.
The reason being that QC on the Silicone bodies is still isn't quite as good as with Jointed bodies. The left shoulder on my initial figure was so loose it felt like it had disconnected from the body and didn't really hold poses.This isn't just limited to these up and coming places, as even my WB100 Wonder Woman from Hot Toys had the same issue, and strangely on the same shoulder. The right shoulder on both bodies was incredibly tight. Range of motion on the hips appeared to be better on the second figure, though admittedly I was doing some stupid shit.
Compared to Whiskey Sour, who was fine on the first shot.
The flame effects are held in snugly enough but they are effectively clip on. Oh, speaking of those effects, those are some functional sharp points. It should also be noted that the flame effects and the cape are a harder plastic, so potential fragility issues there.
Other typical metrics such as tolerances and joint tightness were otherwise found to be as expected.