Thursday, July 7, 2011

Review: [Kotobukiya] Maxima


Figure Information
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Origin Series: Shining Hearts
Scale: 1/8
Height: Approximately 21.5cm tall
Original Price: 7,800Yen

Figure Box:

Typically speaking, the box design hasn't really deviated from the old style they did with Shining Wind releases, it's still dull white with a few blings here and there, a large front window, and somewhere in front, there's that original artwork from Tony; while the back contains her official shots mixed together. So yeah, nothing really awesome with her box since it's just a box after all, the gold here is Maxima herself.



Figure Details:

Because of her overall design, I actually got Maxima because I liked her face, her dress and overall appeal captured a certain place in my collection even if I practically don't know anything about her to begin with; as usual, Koto was successful in bringing out such a fine looking figure from the Shining series; though it kinda looks like Koto's just improved a little bit as how the overall mold details were still pretty similar to Blanc Neige who was out years ago; but yeah, overall the finish is great in actually and the fact that they made good work of the white lines proves enough that Koto is indeed up to the challenge.

Having a clean finish overall, her only flaws would be some visible rough textures on some parts of her outfit such as some of the layered extender things, her gloves and her hair, though you won't be noticing these unless you really closely inspect her, so yeah, it's a minor flaw. Overall the paint apps are really decent and to top it off, I really liked the somewhat translucent-ish feel that her stockings and whatever the one on the arm is called give, and in additional to that, a good mix along with these would be her translucent skirt.



She does come with two accessories which you can opt to put or not but yeah, I like to see em' as complete so yeah, going to the card first, it's pretty solid the detailing on such a small piece of plastic is of course very very amazing and the way Maxima actually friction holds it darn too well and it didn't even budge a single bit when I had this shoot and even after and placing her into my cab.



Next is her accessory for the other hand, her Katana; another great finish as the blade's paint apps is actually pretty convincing and lights really does have great effect on it and on the hilt, you will see this finely sculpted pentagram there which is a really REALLY nice minor detail IMO



Lastly her base, I actually liked this even though it's still simple but yeah, THIS has certainly improved from that pringles cap-like base that they used on the entire 1/8 shining wind line; this time it's more elevated and is now an opaquely colored base and yeah you won't be worrying about breaking pegs here since she's still screwed to the base.



Appeal:

Personally this is where Maxima's biggest strength, her face is very very lovely, and it's been quite a while since I actually had this "lovely!" thought in my head whenever I look at the figure. Her face is reaaaaaaally beautiful by all means and seriously speaking, it's so awesome when the figure actually surpasses the original basis in terms of the face, and Maxima's just one of those. Another thing to note is that despite Maxima looking a obvious a certain direction, with the help of her pose, she's actually very very photogenic (which is a big plus for me!)





So yeah, very photogenic and the pose though rather plain simple and might even be boring to some, I really think it's great, the simplistic beauty of Maxima is just that awesome, and you also have like 4 ways of displaying her (by removing 1 or both accessories) A really surprising thing with her is that when you hit her face with shadows at the right spot, she gets this somewhat "change" in her expression, so yeah, the appeal factor is a total win!





Final Thoughts:

I don't really care if other people think she's a bit under it but for me, she's really good as in dead on spot GOOD! Definitely a must for any Tony/Shining fan, I highly recommend it and yeah as a bonus, since I don't know where else to place it; for a 1/8 scaled figure, Maxima is effin' huge, she doesn't even fit in my regular 1/8 storage in the cab, I had to place her where I put other tall figures like Lelouch and the BRS original crew. So yeah, and given such a good price point, I'd say Maxima is most definitely worth the money I spent on.



Rating (Out of 10)
Figure Details 9
Appeal10
Price 10
Overall:9.67

1 comment:

  1. I had to cancel her for the last minute to make way for my other orders for May. She does fit to my collection because of that certain "aura" of hers. I hope I can still get her someplace when I have extra cash to spend. Thanks for the review.

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