Tea Shop BeLoved

There is a lot good, a lot bad, and a fair amount of ugly with this figure. Which each StrikerS figure that Movic has released, they’ve gone down in quality, but to varying degree. Nanoha wasn’t as bad as the promo shots, but the pose was boring. Fate’s face was way off, but the rest of the figure was nicely sculpted (except the base, which was horrible… keep reading…). Subaru has a great pose, but her face was hit with an ugly stick. I can only pray that Movic hires a dozen more QA team members when the finally mass produce their Teana figure in the spring.

First the good. Subaru’s pose is actually very awesome. It might not be the the most dynamic pose out there, but it’s very fitting for her character. The detail on the figure ias actually also very well done as well (more so than both Nanoha and Fate). Her barrier jacket is very detailed from the armor plating to Mach Caliber’s rollarblades. Her skates are pretty detailed too, with spinning wheels and a nice shiny Mach Caliber. Her Revolver Knuckle is even more detailed with the intricicies of her fist and the gears being nicely sculpted. Paint-wise, there are a few hiccups, but for the most part, it’s good. There isn’t any excess paint strokes or smears anywhere. There was a fair share of paint rubbing off around here waist because of the removable “skirt,” but more on that next. You’d think from what I’ve written so far, Subaru might be a better figure than Movic’s Nanoha or Fate. No. Despite the many good points, there are some bad points that really take the enjoyment away.

So that removable “skirt” part I mentioned? What purpose does it serve? Pantsu Subaru? Did Movic decide it was time to have Subaru without any pants? If that was the case, then I’d be okay with things, but that’s not what happened. The skirt part comes off, but her short shorts do not. To make matters worse, the short shorts aren’t even fully sculpted/painted on there. Just the front and part of the back were stuck on there. Lame. Actually, double lame for there being a front and back, but not middles. And to throw even more salt on the wound, it is a very noticeable flaw. With the skirt part removed, the figure looks utterly stupid. Her underwear is painted on there, but why are there half drawn shorts that cannot be removed? It’s like the front and back of her underwear are made of jean shorts. >_>You think that with the skirt on it wouldn’t be noticeable, right? No. And that’s where the bad comes in. Unless you’re at a distance, you can tell that the two parts are not attached. There is a gap between the bottom to the skirt and where the shorts are. You can see her side of her underwear in between. I’ve tried adjusting it to make it less noticeable, but it doesn’t help. The skirt’s mold was made in such a way that it lays on her waist near the top of her hips, so you can’t cover that area unless you bend up the skirt with some heat. But even then, the skirt fits right on her waistline that trying to adjust it would be useless–it’s can’t move any further.

When I saw some of the photos of the actual figure a few days ago, I noticed this problem, but thought it might have been just the figure they had. Unfortunately, it’s like that on my figure, so I would assume that’s how it is for others. Movic should have have attached the skirt to Subaru’s body completely or made her shorts removable. Their Fate figure had 3 layers–miniskirt, barrier jacket skirt, and her jacket/cape (the white part), so why not do something with Subaru? Granted it would have been harder to craft removable shorts, but anything would have been better. They could have easily painted her shorts completely, but not.

Another bad would be the base. Not only is it ugly (see below), but it’s not that sturdy at all. Instead of the pegs being directly attached to the base, they are inserted through the bottom. Yes. Let that digest for a second. They “feel” secure, but are they really? Not having the figure actually attached to the base is a problem, but there’s more. Subaru’s feet are fitted into the semi-transparent blocks that hold her upright. We all were wondering how this figure was held up before. Well, this is how. The block is molded to fit her feet, so Subaru rests nicely into them; however, it lacks the security of pegs and holes. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of a figure be securely in place.

I had similar complaints with their Fate figures as well. The pegs are inserted from below, like Subaru, but then they are insert into another plastic piece with more pegs. That piece is then attached to Fate’s right foot. Why Movic didn’t make SOLID bases in the first place is beyond me. Fate wobble like no other. Subaru is secure, but one has to wonder how much more because it’s not actually attached to anything.

What about the ugly? Look at Subaru’s face. Movic has done good Nanoha faces in the past, so how they’re done the face on all their StrikerS figures is inexcusable. Nanoha, as I’ve mentioned, wasn’t that bad. Fate definitely needed work, but was passable, but Subaru doesn’t look good at all. I will say that the face on the actual figure looks a lot (I repeat, a lot) better than the ugly promo photos, but it’s still not great. I’m not sure exactly what it is about the face that annoys me, but something is lacking. The eyes seems alright, but her mouth looks bad. Subaru’s is supposed to be pumped up and aggressive… the face just doesn’t give me that feeling. I want to laugh at it more than anything. But hey, let’s not stop there with the ugly. The base is fairly ugly. I always like the Belka magic circle/triangle more than the Mid-Childa magic circle, but how they portrayed it in this figure was pretty weak. Like Nanoha and Fate, the base is a semi-transparent color (blue) with the magic circle drawn on top. However, the fact that the circle is actually a triangle causes problems. There is a lot of empty space on the base that makes the triangle look tacky. Had there been a full circle then the entire base would be covered with it, but the empty space detracts from the look. Had the base been completely blank it wouldn’t look as cheesy. Movic probably didn’t want to make a triangular base, so I guess this was unavoidable, but the extra space can be an eyesore.

As bad of a picture that I am painting for Movic’s Subaru figure, it’s really not doom and gloom packaged into PVC. Yes, the skirt and painted on shorts look terrible and noticeable, yes, the way the figure is secured is far from great (Movic Fate is worse), and yes, the face is fugly, but as a whole Subaru is not too shabby. Her problems are glaring, but they are few. Other than the face, the rest of the figure is quite good looking and detailed. The pose is fitting for the character and there are some nice features. Overall, Subaru is passable. Her pose and sculpt beat both Nanoha and Fate, but her face is worse than some of those Atelier Sai figures. The base isn’t too secure, but it’s better than Fate’s. It’s worth the purchase if you like Subaru and StrikerS figures in general, but that’s all.