Saturday, April 23, 2011
Review: [Bandai] S.H.Figuarts Cure Blossom
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Bandai |
| Origin Series: | Heartcatch Precure |
| Scale: | Non-Scale |
| Height: | Approximately 13cm tall |
| Original Price: | 3,675 Yen |
| Figure Box: |
Pretty much like all Cure SHFs, they follow a certain design which is based on an object from the series (more often than not) And this time would be based on the cure's flower bud shown in title card from the Opening and the box's color are based on the cure's color, which, in Blossom's case, is pink. While the box has a window and a prototype shot on the lower left of the figure , it's pretty much so-so for me as a box design. But yeah, the font's nice the and flower bud's a pretty nice touch at the very lesast.
| Figure Details: |
As for the details, well, bandai pretty much nailed it since they did translate the attire to 3D pretty well. Cure SHFs look very fragile at first look since their joints are obviously smaller and thinner and it doesn't seem like any die-cast parts have been used on them unlike on the riders. And additionally, the Rider's pegs on their wrists are actually quite scary for me, but luckily, for the cures, they have a better wrist peg that allows you to switch the hands easily.
Though for material-wise, I'd compliment Bandai for it, the hair and the faceplates, well, they're a mix of hard plastic and soft material, how they made the face and front hairpiece is actually amazing since it's pegged pretty well, and they certainly wouldn't fall off easily like in some figmas' cases. Though removing the hairpiece and faceplate gets harder because of this as well as sometimes, I become a little paranoid that the flexi material might actually get broken XD Anyway, going back to the hair, her tail is made of solid plastic and you can actually feel it's weight. And as a real minus for me, though I liked the solid plastic hair, it also becomes a downfall for the figure as she can't stand on her own without a base since the hair's weight drags her little body down preventing her to stand properly on her own.
Though for material-wise, I'd compliment Bandai for it, the hair and the faceplates, well, they're a mix of hard plastic and soft material, how they made the face and front hairpiece is actually amazing since it's pegged pretty well, and they certainly wouldn't fall off easily like in some figmas' cases. Though removing the hairpiece and faceplate gets harder because of this as well as sometimes, I become a little paranoid that the flexi material might actually get broken XD Anyway, going back to the hair, her tail is made of solid plastic and you can actually feel it's weight. And as a real minus for me, though I liked the solid plastic hair, it also becomes a downfall for the figure as she can't stand on her own without a base since the hair's weight drags her little body down preventing her to stand properly on her own.
| Accessories: |
Now for accessories, Blossom does get all the handsets you'll probably need included here. Despite the negative comment back in the details section, you should've noticed already from the pictures that a tamashii stage is included here as well, and the base is a special base for Blossom in the shape of a heart with her flower symbol and the tag "Blossom" in it. As for the faceplates, she has a smiling and an angry one, well, they're good, but I wish they could've added just one of her wacky expressions since Heartcatch does have a number of wacky faces for Tsubomi/Blossom. Her fairy partner, Chypre is also included here as well as her Tact and Perfume, pretty much everything you will need already. :D
Oh yeah, you might be wondering what the extra joint is, well, fortunately, bandai was able to see something unfortunate that might come in the future; since the hair is heavy, once the neck joint gets loose enough, Blossom will probably have to suffer from looking up the whole time. And thus, Bandai added a neck joint that doesn't have a hinge point to solve this.
| Articulation: |
A majority of her joints are like that of figmas and revos, a hinge with pegs that can act as swivels thus, allowing it to act like a more free version of ball-joints. And she has these on her neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists and ankles. I'm no too sure if her hip and torso joints are the same but I'll be betting that they're ball joints instead; the connector from the head to the tail also uses a ball joint I think but articulation's pretty limited there, just use it more as a swivel. Anyway, below are some test runs I made with the joint's limitations to a point that I think it's the limit of playing with in a safe manner.
Well, the articulation is pretty lovable for and like usual it's a skirt problem that even figmas encounter most of the time, but yeah, aside from that and the hair weight problem, Blossom's really well articulated and the neck joint is sturdy enough to actually hold the head in a certain hinge point, the only thing that actually makes it fall are the pegs attack to the back of the face and the neck, but you can always plug some small pieces of paper to counter it.
| Final Thoughts: |
Well, being the only articulated Blossom for now, well, she's pretty good, I actually thought at first that her face might be a little meh and very inaccurate but on closer look, she's actually great in many ways. If you really do collect Cure SHFs, then I'd definitely suggest her, if not, well, yeah I'd still do, she's pretty nice especially since she doesn't have long necks or weird necks that the Yes SHF line had and the Fresh SHF line had respectively. And you also get her fairy partner as an addition "Iku desuuuuuuuuuu" XD
| Rating (Out of 10) | |
| Details | 10 |
| Accessories | 9.5 |
| Articulation | 8 |
| Price | 9 |
| Overall: | 9.38 |
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