Costume
Material clothing is not terribly common with smaller action
figures marketed towards adults, but they are a staple of the 1/6th
scale action figures. I’ve never bought into this scale before and have only
ever owned completely plastic figures before, so I was very curious to see how
Miku’s clothes were put together and if I would like them or not.
Straight out of the box, I had a minor issue with Miku’s
shirt. One of the flaps on the back had been folded up against her body, so it
sticks out rather obnoxiously and no amount of smoothing down will fix. I’m not
sure how to fix it either, since I’m not game enough to try and smooth it down
with water. Thankfully it’s on her back, but it kind of detracts from her
overall appearance when I can see it.
Her thigh-high boots are a glossy black plastic, which I
thought was rather pragmatic. The only other cloth-clothed Mikus I know of from
the top of my head are from the Pullip line, which has her in cloth boots that
loosely fit. They look more like loose socks and they actually look okay on the
super-deformed Pullip bodies, but for the RAH Miku plastic boots were a better
choice. They have some nice piano keys printed on the side that you might miss
if you weren’t looking for them. There is a dab of blue paint on each kneecap
to add that little extra detail.
I am in love with the shape of her feet. It was them along
with one other thing – to be discussed a little later on - that eventually
pushed me off the fence and onto the buying side. Her shoes are lovely with
their sculpted blue soles and slight heel. The soles are smooth with copyrights
to Sega and CFM printed on the right sole.
Overall, her costume is put together well and has grown on
me significantly, despite a few issues. I am a fan of her original look, and
after so many years of new and creative costume changes, it’s nice to see Medicom
sticking to the basics for their very first Miku. It could be the result of a licencing
issue, but her school uniform translates to real fabric much better than her
append look ever could. As a big Miku fan I’m a little pleased to see that
Medicom has stayed true to Miku instead of imagining their own spin on the
character. Other people might not see it that way, but we’ll see what the
future brings.
Articulation
I’ve found that the Real Action Heroes line is not terribly
well known outside of a few toy-collecting circles. I myself had only heard
about the line when the upcoming Asuka Langely was announced, and after
spending some time looking at that beautiful plug suit and wonderfully sculpted
hairdo did I stumble across Miku. Upon discussing the RAH line on a public
forum, it seemed that nobody really knew much about how the figures are put
together. Aside from stock photography, it’s remarkably hard to find any photos
of the figures. I have seen reviews for the line, but only for certain characters.
At the time of publishing I have not seen any reviews for the RAH Miku.
Because of this, most of my comments on how she’s put together
will have to simply be educated guesses. If I learn that anything I’ve posted
here is incorrect or misleading, I’ll revise it.
My ankles feel sore just looking at it.
Her clothes cover her pretty well from here on up to her
neck, so this is where my guesswork comes into play. She has a joint around her
waist that bends back and forth, which is good for bending over, standing up
straight and sitting. It’s not a terribly essential joint but it does add just
that little bit of extra flexibility, so it’s a good addition. Side-to-side mobility
would have been nice too, but let’s not get greedy.
While we're in the area, it's interesting to note that Miku's torso is made of
some kind of soft plastic. After researching around I believe it might be soft PVC, but I could always be wrong. I’m not sure why this is the case, but
it adds a little mobility to her shoulders and keeps her from being too heavy.
Her chest feels hollow.
I’m quite impressed with that.
Her hands use the tried and true ball joint, and each of her
six hands comes with its own. I like that much better than only having two
joints, in case one breaks or something.
Finally, her neck and her pigtails use some very thick,
sturdy looking ball joints. Good articulation here, though one of her pigtails
fell out while I was holding her upside down messing with her knees for a few
minutes. Her pigtail joints make a rather alarming creaking sound when I move
them around, but they move smoothly enough for me not to be too concerned. I
treat them with caution anyway, as her pigtails are big, heavy, and important.
It gets quite warm in my room so hopefully that will help loosen them up a
little with time.
At my count, Miku has sixteen points of articulation, which
seems to be a pretty standard number for figures of her likeness. Her joints
are sturdy, well-hidden and easy to use. I do not believe her to be fragile at
all, so don’t be afraid to unbox her, but if she takes a dive off your desk or
topples over at the wrong angle she could very well break due to her sheer size
and weight. So do be careful when you display her – keep her standing upright
with both feet firmly planted on the ground, particularly if she’s in an area
that is prone to getting bumped and shaken about, like a desk.
Sculpt & Paint
I said earlier that one of the things that finally convinced
me to buy Miku was the shape of her feet, and the other is her hair! The sculpt
is amazing.
The back of her head has some nice sculpting where the hair
is pulled up into her pigtails and where it parts down the middle. Not only is
it sculpted, but the paint is toned a little darker around the lines. It adds a
whole new volume to her hair and looks fantastic.
Her pigtails are shaped a little like a spoon, which is
rather typical of plastic Miku figures. The outside of her pigtails have a
lovely sculpt giving the illusion of her straight, silky hair. They are also
slightly two-toned, with darker paint in shadowy areas as well as up top near
her hair ties giving the appearance of highlights in realistic places. I also
like how the pigtails can fall close to her body, almost behind her shoulders.
It adds some variety to what you can do with them.
After so many Miku figures with transparent hair, the solid
colour is like eating your favourite meal for the first time in ages.
The details printed onto her sleeves and her skirt are nice
and sharp. Her iconic 01 on her right shoulder is printed on neatly as well,
with “Hatsune Miku” printed just below in teeny tiny font. It was hard to catch
a photo of it as I don’t have a stand for my camera and I never had the
steadiest of hands, but it really is a tiny detail that I missed the first few
times I went over her.
Finally, she has blue paint on each of her fingernails. It’s
a slightly glossy paint too, so it looks nice against her matte skin. Something
I was impressed by is the fingernails on her fist hands are painted too. I
shouldn’t be impressed by it, given the size of these hands, but I’m used to
tiny figma hands that can only be detailed like that when the fingers are
stretched out.
I was disappointed to notice there are two scratches on my
Miku – one on her fringe and another on the back of her thigh. The one on her
thigh is quite noticeable from the back. They’re small and the one on her
fringe isn’t terribly noticeable, but two scratches suggests a slightly low
quality control. This figure retails for over twenty thousand yen, so I would
expect to pull it out of the box in pretty much pristine condition.
Accessories
Miku comes with six hands and two face plates. I’ve said pretty
much all I need to on them.
Miku comes with a pretty cool prop too – her Yamaha DX7.
Released in the early 80's, the DX7 was the first digital synthesizer and remains one of the best selling synthesizers of all time. Miku has a bit of a history with this model, if the stories are to be believed. This is a scale replica and it is incredibly spot on. The sculpting is amazing – each of
the keys on the five octaves are perfect and the buttons and switches are so
tiny but accurate. If I take a photo of it from the right angle it almost looks
like the full sized keyboard.
To the back of the keyboard there are actually sculpted
ports for cables and such as well as a switch. With my background as an
electronics salesperson, I can tell they’ve modelled each of them after a real
port with a real purpose. Five of the ports look like typical auxiliary ports
most keyboards use, three look like optic fibre ports - or perhaps MIDI ports - and two look like power
ports. That level of sculpted detail is amazing. There’s also an auxiliary port
on the front too.
I display this thing on its own; it’s just such a detailed
and beautiful accessory.
As impressed as I am with the keyboard, I’m a little sad
they didn’t include her leeks. I think this is the first Miku figure I’ve owned
aside from the Race Day figmas that didn’t come with her iconic vegetable.
Aside from that, her stand is adequate but not incredible. It reminds me of a
huge figma stand, but it’s not strong enough to hold Miku up alone. It has
three points of articulation though, so you’ve got a few options to play around
with.
Conclusion
Miku is big. Really big. And though she has a few small
issues – some scratches, a clothing issue, mobility limitations with her legs
and a lack of accessories, I’m very glad to have her in my collection. She is
the tenth Miku figure I own and is a suitably special figure to match that
milestone. Although she seems at first glance like just another Miku, I believe
her scale, clothing and sculpt to be different enough from her figma iterations
to warrant a purchase. Of course, if you have no attachment to Miku or to the
Real Action Heroes line, you might be better off excluding her from your
collection.
I’m pleased to see Miku stepping over to other brands of
action figures after Good Smile has monopolized her for so long. The last time
that happened we ended up with the Bandai Miku, which was unique and refreshing
but with a host of problems. This time, I’m happy to report, we have a figure
worth your time. Not quite worth her price tag, but hopefully her price will
come down in the future and in the second hand market.
Hello there, I've read your review and I'm also fan of Miku with this look! I also did a review on Google doc and link yours at there! But if you want me to remove, is fine I'll remove it. :x
ReplyDeleteJust in case you wanna see my review. I cover
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kdw5UMPafOxq3LfUBMHj-GQsxXwzyKvecEzXikamtB4/edit?usp=sharing