Monday, May 19, 2014
Review: S.H.Figuarts Cure Peace
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Bandai |
| Origin Series: | Smile Precure |
| Scale: | Non-scale |
| Height: | Approximately 13cm tall |
| Original Price: | 4,410 Yen |
| Packaging: |
Cure Peace was Tamashii Nations' debut piece for the Smile Precure line of S.H.Figuarts, which is quite unusual since the Lead Cures or generally known as the Pink Cures (after Max Heart) are usually the debut piece for their team. But I guess Yayoi is that popular in Japan since not only did she become the debut piece for SHF, she's also the only one from the team who got the Chibi-arts treatment (both human and cure forms) and Figuarts Zero treatment (Human, Cure and Princess Form). But anyway, the Smile team's box come in a cute colorful design with the main color of the cure changing for like around 60% of the front box design while also featuring the figure in a certain pose (and Peace certainly looking like an adorable dork with her introductory pose haha).
Both sides of the box features two more variant poses while the back, like all figuarts shows you all the features that Peace comes with. Nothing much to say, so, let's proceed with the review of this comical Yellow Cure~
| Details: |
Details on Peace are actually quite nice, I like the color on those orbs found on her outfit as they're covered in delicious metallic yellow and the central orb even has the smile insignia imprinted on it. For a majority of the outfit material they are made up of soft plastic, hence, leaving a glossy appearance when hit with strong light sources. Probably most of the basic details you'll need from Peace can be found in the mold although not highly detailed since she was meant to be played and posed around with rather than being a complete display piece.
Particularly one of the best details I like on her SHF representation is that bandai tamashii nations actually made a good mold out of her Palm Tree-ish hairstyle, every curves are there and the edges are pointy too, so, kudos for making such a well translated hairstyle.
Though praiseworthy for details, she is not without any problems; though I do not know if this is on my piece of the figure, my Cure Peace had her right wrist joint to be inserted in a more deeper manner, preventing me to fully use the wrist joints before I decided to mod it by using some small amount of excess paper to help elevate the right wrist's original position; another problem is that the bulky mass of her hair detaches quite easily on my piece but this can easily be remedied so, no real problem with it.
| Accessories: |
Like many Cure releases before her, Peace also comes with a fixed and unjointed neck option and a heart shaped based with a customized design that go with the Cure. As for accessory count, all you have are alternate faces and handsets; Peace comes with total of 4 faceplates: a smiling one, a shy one, an angry one and a winking one, all of which captures how adorable Peace's character to a good extent (with the winking expression being the weakest for me).
As for her handsets, you get a total of 4 pairs and a special right hand holding the smile pact. The hand pairs are as follows: a pair of fists, open hands, peace hands (jan-ken-pon hands) and a pair of picture posing hands (I don't really know what to call it haha).
| Articulation Points: |
As for articulation points, Peace possesses this rare joint for her big hair, the hair itself is ball jointed while connected to the main hairpiece via a single sliding peg.
Peace has a VERY good neck movement but you will, in conjunction, have to fiddle with her hair to position the head correctly but yeah, she doesn't really suffer from any hindrance with her neck joint.
Going to the arms, her shoulder joints are also quite flexible in terms of the range; one would think the shoulder pads would hinder but the pads themselves are quite easy to adjust, so, it really gives Peace a glorious arm articulation. Additionally, you can also swivel her arms via the shoulder joint. Going to the elbows, I believe she does have an improved bending power when compared to the Heartcatch line.
Torso joint was something hardly noticeable from a majority of SHF releases but Peace pulls it off as her frame is capable of really bending forward and stretching outward.
For leg articulation, the smile frame finally adapts the pulling gimmick that Riders and Rangers use (no pic sorry :c) But anyway, the hips are on a ball joints, so, splitting allows you a neat range but is hindered by her skirt so you can't fully abuse the hip joints for extreme poses (still good anyway). Much like her elbow joints, the bending capability of the knees are also better in this frame!
| Poseability: |
SHF Peace is truly a dorky and adorable release that really captures her vibrant character when you pull off her poses. The frame is really easy to fiddle with and it's really amazing how Peace can balance herself out and actually stand without using the included tamashii stage even with such a ridiculously big and bulky palm tree-ish hair.
A really huge improvement over the already good frame that debuted during the Heartcatch line, Cure Peace can easily do extreme poses without any extra hassle.
I sort of made a mistake in posing since I forgot to bend her left arm (T_T), here's her "Jan-ken-pon!" poses on her introduction.
The faceplates really give justice to Peace's character as they definitely give you the idea that Peace is such a cute and dorky character. Fangirling over robots and super heroes, it definitely is the Peace that Smile Precure fans know.
The angry expression is above all, my favorite expression since you all know how I love action poses; though the only serious expression on the array of faces, the angry face certainly delivers and give Peace that cute fierceness she needs when seriously fighting enemies.
I actually was out of ideas for the shy face during the shoot but again, it truly gives a good character representation; however, as stated in the accessories section, I find the winking face the weakest in representing Peace's cuteness since I find something off with the winking face but still, a very welcomed addition to the faceplates nonetheless.
| Final Thoughts: |
Being the debut piece for the Smile Team, Peace certainly promises the line for a praiseworthy ride (will be reviewing Happy and Beauty soon since March and Sunny aren't out as of this writing). An overall improvement and a very neat character representation, all you would need for Peace would be lightning effect parts and the package is sealed (you can get them from SRC Great Mazinger :D). Peace is easily the best Precure Figuarts I have handed to date as everything is done with ease despite my copy having her own flaws. I'd say Peace is a must have for any SHF Cure Collector/Smile Precure fan; as for those who are curious on the SHF Precure line, she's definitely a good starter or if you just want to try out the non-Ranger/non-Rider female figuarts frames, Peace is definitely a worthy pick along with the Sailor Senshi SHFs. And before I end, I got my Peace from my good friend and supplier, omniclone.
Peace definitely deserves that dorky 4.5 out of 5!
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