December 18, 2000 CURRENT RUMBLE Ecchi x 2 Mark Volk 12.18.00 Pervert! That's what this figure yells after you remove her from her box. Then she slaps you. The figure in question is none other than the Stylish Collection Fujiko Mine figure from those fine folks at Medicom. For those not in the know about Fujiko, she's a character from the old TV cartoon Lupin III - a cartoon about the zany antics of a noble thief named, unsurprisingly, Lupin III. Fujiko is his on-again-off-again thief lover, though she's not unwilling to sell him down the river in order to get some loot. I guess I'd better get on to the review, eh? Okay. Well, for starters, she sure looks like Fujiko. Willy in HK doesn't think her face is as "sexy" as the old unposable 12" "figure", but I disagree- she looks fine, and she's got a quirky half-sneer that's very in-character for her. It's an excellent face sculpt. One thing we can agree on, however, is that this new figure is much more posable than the old. She can kneel, even, and stand up without support. The new figure body used is quite nice, if a bit tight in the joints. She only comes with a single accessory, her signature Browning pistol. So, then, what's the slap for? Well, folks, take a look at the real age requirements. They oughtta read "Hentai Otaku Age 10 and Up". Fujiko was never a kiddie character to begin with (she's in and out of clothing throughout the series), and the figure reflects this. You don't wanna know, but I'm gonna tell you anyway... One, she's got positively huge "action features" (as if you can't see them). Two, she's anatomically correct. Get the points...err point? Three, the person at Medicom that designed this decided it'd be a good idea to make her rather large "features" out of soft pliable plastic. I'll let you figure out what that means. Ultimately, however, this is a nice figure. It's not a cheap figure (6800 yen), it's not a figure to give your kid sister, but it IS basically the definitive Fujiko Mine figure. An excellent sculpt and excellent articulation combine into a figure of very high quality. Recommended for fans of Lupin III, and for fans of huge tracts of... land. Cool! Girls! Ahh! Your resident ToyboxDX pervert is back with yet another Rumble on Japanese girly figures. I promise the next one will be wholesome... and vintage! (Really!) Anyway, this one covers the new Cool Girl/Cy Girl figures by Takara/BBi. The figures were ultimately designed by Takara, but Blue Box is distributing them in the US- Takara distributes BBi's Elite Force figures in Japan. The figures are identical in any case. The first line of three figures consists of Sky, a blonde intelligence agent in blue, Jet, a redhead black vinyl garbed Matrix-esque computer expert, and Kat, a brunette with a taste for fishnets. I don't have Kat at this time, so I'll save her for later (I'll probably end up getting her eventually). Each of the girls uses the same figure body and comes with the same weapons loadout. They come in the same box, too. What's different is the headsculpt and the outfit. A quick rundown on accessories: each girl comes with an H&K P7 pistol, Desert Eagle .50AE, SPAS-12 Shotgun, and a Vz-61 Skorpion machine pistol, a belt, a drop-down holster, a stand, and a pair of iridescent sunglasses (colored differently for each figure). The weapons are plastic, nicely sculpted, and sturdy. There are some working features (shotgun stock folds open, pump action works, Desert Eagle's slide moves), but they aren't anything amazing- Dragon and even 21st Century make better firearms than these. The sunglasses are cool and fit tightly. The belt and holster, however, are pretty poor. The clips are okay, but they're not easy to get open and they're pretty cheapo plastic. The holster fastens strangely and breaks pretty easily too. I replaced mine with a 21st Century belt and dropdown on Sky (she's also sporting a 21C dropdown magazine pouch on her other leg), though Jet's stock. The figure body itself is not bad at all. It's not as articulated as the new Medicom female body (as seen on Fujiko), or Dragon's female body, but it's just as articulated as a certain Hasbro female. The joints are generally tight. It can kinda kneel (not well), and it's pretty capable of some dramatic action poses. The build is quite nice- it's not overly shapely, nor is it anorexically thin, it's that of an attactive, athletic woman. Looks great. Each also comes with three sets of hands, one of which is gloved and posed to hold weaponry. The hands remove and replace easily with little effort. An odd design feature is that the boots (though fabric) are in fact the figure's feet (boot feet), and held in place with screws. This makes the figures far less variable, as changing their outfits is next to impossible. Hopefully Takara will release bare feet add-ons at a later date. Face sculpts are excellent. Really, very pretty. Molded, non-removable earrings, and rooted but well-managed hair (expect no mess). I prefer Sky to Jet, but they're both stunning. Overall, these are an excellent first effort for Takara. Though they have plenty of fashion doll experience with Jenny and Licca, these are a new step for them- they are actively courting the doll-otaku male who enjoys armed, dangerous females. If I were to offer a suggestion to improve the line, it would be in the figure design- lose the boot-feet, and add the double-joint (ganged) feature to the figure's elbows and knees. I wouldn't worry about the weapons- they're fine, and most of us will replace them with Yamato/Yellow Submarine/Dragon weaponry anyway. Otherwise, good job, Takara! I hope these are a success for you, 'cause you need one, and I'd hate to see the line end on these three. These figures are recommended for crazy doll-otaku.  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE