Friday, August 15, 2014

Review: Racing Miku -2013 version-

Figure Information
Manufacturer: Good Smile Racing
Origin Series: Vocaloid
Scale: 1/8
Height: Approximately 18.5cm tall
Original Price: 9,074 Yen

Packaging:


Good Smile Racing's Racing Miku 2013's box is pretty bland if you ask me, being windowless aside, it doesn't have any wow factor with it and what's the deal of making the box all sparkly (yes, the entire box). What's good though is that on one side, you can see the original art it was based from so you can compare and see if the figure did actually do the art some justice. The back of the box remains your usual compilation of product shots for the scaled figure.


What really irks me is that the box is ridiculously and unreasonably big and the figure doesn't really need a box of that size since it is indeed more compact than the box; to give an idea of how big the box is, below is a shot with nendoroid petit Hachune Miku.


Details:

I'll be running down the details from head to feet so with the head going first, one of her features is that she wears tiny crown on her head and it was perfectly done in semi-translucent plastic that has these rainbow-ish hues at the spiky bits of the headgear. 


Her hair is generally detailed as they are visibly emulating "layers" on her hair instead of making it a non-detailed lump of plastic although, of course,  the original artwork does have more lively hair. The twin tails' tips, like most Racing Mikus, are finished in translucent plastic and it looks really pretty. Her hair color was somehow made darker than how it is with the original art and I must say, though it's not accurate, I love the darker hair color since it compliments the figure's overall color scheme better.


The general suit is just a white leotard accompanied by little "metal" details that are finished in this eye pleasing shade of silver. She does have a scarf that's finished in a shade of teal/green that's also used on most of the "orbs" that can be found throughout her suit like the big ones that at the back of her outfit (one even containing her signature "01" imprint). Some of the metal details' tips are finished in those rainbow-ish hues that the tips of her crown also contained. 


Her arm sleeves(? forgot the correct term lol) are finished in glossy black and are a bit asymmetrical due to the right sleeve have the "GoodSmile Racing" imprint on it. A neat little thing on her sleeves is that when you check the palm, they're actually finished in teal which is very eye catching I must say.


Her skirt is a little weird such that they are in separate strips and the fact that they're translucent makes it even weirder. Fact remains though that they look pretty neat since translucent materials do tend to produce that mesmerizing factor haha.


Going to her knee socks, they're finished in a glossy light gray and her left sock contains a well printed actual logo of Good Smile Racing; while the right sock doesn't have any prints on it, the pose does have her right leg bent so it' pretty nice to see some creases existing there along with the bend.


Lastly, I find her stilettos very classy as they are fully painted in silver while having that rainbow-ish hue on the tip of the heels, and seriously, look at the design of the heels, it looks very very classy and I find it really amusing!


Base:


Her base is somewhat plain as it's merely a circle with a checkered design and does only support one leg which might eventually result in the figure leaning; the nice thing about the base though is that the pegs are metal rods so I'm not really afraid that it might end up like Alter Haruka.

Pose and Appeal:


Since she was based off on an artwork, the figure retains the exact pose of the figure which, to me, is weird; I mean, sure it's not awkward like some figure poses but it's weird because I can't really tell if Miku is falling down or not, and try that in real life and it's nearly impossible to pull a pose like that in a slanting/falling manner without actually falling down, and given that there's "movement", her hair certainly looks pretty steady and stiff, everything just doesn't come down to make some sense. *_*


Well, if you can convince yourself that it's just 2D and everything is just fine, then what lies before you is a pleasant looking Racing Miku. Despite the questionable pose, Racing Miku 2013's face very nice, she looks very pretty and that was pretty much the main selling factor of the figure for me. Racing Miku 2013 possesses a very calm and composed smile that looks pretty good in given angles.


Racing Miku 2013 has a lot of good points of view when shooting and I guess, she'd look better if you don't fully show her legs since the upper half has a pretty cute appearance overall. Getting some decent tilted positions also takes care of the "falling down" movement, making it look normal and fine in certain angles but anyway, enjoy the remaining shots below~





Final Thoughts:

Racing Miku 2013 in scaled figure form is definitely better looking for me so in most parts, I guess it was a  successful attempt but of course, she is NOT the best Racing Miku scaled figure to date. She definitely has her charms but I really find her pose taking away some of her charms and Racing Miku is no friendly figure price-wise. So, would I recommend her? if you definitely love Miku and you feel the need to "GET ALL DEM MIKUS" then go ahead but if you just want a Racing Miku for display, then you'd probably be better off with Racing 2012 (or even 2011), although if you find this figure charming then by all means, get it since she's not a bad figure at all, just not something that gives me that wow factor aside from her pretty face.

Racing Miku 2013 is also one of my loots from CWToys!

I give 2013's design a rank 3.5 out of 5.

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