A few interesting tidbits came in over the past week, and I think I'm finally in the right place mentally to start tackling them all, so lets start with this, the Attack Lily Series No. 58: Wang Yujia figure.
I guess a good place to start is... what is an "Assault Lily"?
So, turns out there's an IP out there named. Assault Lily, which centers around some high school aged girls (of course) with special energies fighting off aliens or monsters or something that are known as Huge, with multi form weapons called CHARMS (Counter Huge ARMS). Each character has a standard school girl appearance, and a second form which I call Battle Mode. Most of these are pretty lame, and the catalog shows me its either add a few pieces of armour, or lose some clothing. It's not like with Megami Device where battle model means you go from skimpy to wearing a tank.
There's apparently a light novel series, along with several anime. The only reason I even know about its existence is because I bought some random parts of earlier release figures on a whim.
While there are exceptions, it appears that pretty much all the figure releases for this IP are made by a company known as Azone International. I've learned that they're very much a company that is known for articulated anime figures featuring cloth outfits in a variety of scales, including the 1/12 scale figures that make up 99% of the Assault Lily line.
These figures are certainly not cheap. Even with the preorder discount, this figure was like 11,500 Yen, with an MSRP of almost 13,000 Yen. Overall, that's above and beyond your run of the mill Figma.
The scenario starts off well. If you're one of those in box collectors, the packaging for this figure (and previous ones too I'd say, based on old packaging I have) is quite friendly to you as the exterior box is an easily resealed clear plastic shell. The main clamshell is not taped together and figure itself is easily removed from within. The documentation is held within a plastic pouch that is anchored to the cardboard backing, and is a pouch rather than a sealed envelope. So overall, you can open up the package, access some of the goodies, and return it back in relatively mint condition.
One odd thing is that while most figures make packaging smaller as time goes on, earlier Assault Lily releases had much smaller boxes than the current one, and it's not like the new ones come with more actual stuff. So what's inside one of these?
- 1 X Main Figure with Full Outfit
- 4 X Face Plates (Neutral, Smiling, Angry, Embarassed)
- 1 X CHARM
- 8 X Posing/Weapon Gripping Hands
- Battle Mode pieces (Waist Guard and Wrist Guard)
Now, I'm not entirely sure why, but the figure seems to come with two pairs of wrist guards, with no discernable difference between them. Also, as mentioned above, there's no real rhyme or reason with regards to Battle Mode outfit accessories in terms of consistency between figures,
One interesting absence is the lack of a display stand.
CHARMS, I believe, seem to generally follow a few designs, as I've seen some repetition amongst the fundamental designs. They neat, and between the three I've in my possession, feature basic transformations for the various modes and are painted nicely.
As collectors know, as soon as scale is tossed into the description of things, there's no real consistency. Some times it's used to describe figures which have actually had their heights calculated accordingly. But usually, it's used to describe something around the 6 in. height. Yujia is taller than the typical female Figma, but is far shorter than other self professed 1/12 figures.
While there are some really odd inconsistencies between the box art for Wang Yujia and the actual finished product (hair is off, the stockings do not feature the cut in the side) perhaps the biggest issue I have is with the face, or more specifically how the cheeks are sculpted that give her the illusion of having jowls if you look at her from the side.
The actual outfits are functional. They're relatively simple due to the small size, but are perfectly servicable. However, you'll notice that the actual fit of them is quite generous, which doesn't really flatter the underlying body. This, of course, is necessary as the outfits need to be put on the figure, and that you're able to have the clearance needed to actually move around.
The underlying body has a pretty good range of articulation. You get ankles, single jointed knees, thigh swivel, waist, mid torso, standard shoulders, single elbows with forearm rotation, wrist, and neck. The overall silhouette appears to be better than what I'd consider its closest rival, Mezco. There's certainly better articulation in terms of points and quality of it.
Now, you'll remember I mentioned that there was no stand. This is really annoying as these figures, as far as I know, wear shoes or boots. Depending on the footwear, ankle articulation may be hindered, which makes balancing the figures challenging. Furthermore, the actual feet of the figure are TINY. Nicely sculpted, but ever so itsy bitsy, probably to make putting on the footwear easier. These tiny feet, however, only serve to make posing the figures even more annoying, as they won't support the weight of the figure in most dynamic poses.
So basically, making her do anything other than basic standing is incredibly frustrating without some kind of support.
The arm joints can generally handle the weight of even the larger CHARMS, but the wrist pegs and the hands themselves really like to pop out of their sockets, which made posing the actual weapon rather annoying. Now, POSING with the weapon itself, well, once again the lack of adequately sized feet and a stand causes no end to annoyances.
The overall finish of the body is actually quite nice, and is pretty much on par with the feel of what I'd get from a Figma. and as far as I can, QC didn't skimp out just because most of the moving parts are hidden behind clothing. Paint wise, there's the flesh tone but outside of that it's really the work on the head sculpt and whatever Battle Mode bits you're adding on the the figure. Work is generally competent, but some areas, like the flower on her head, feature some pretty weak paint work. Also, just as a FYI, the bits added onto Wang Yujia are.. basically all silver, so not particularly vibrant.
Other characters, however, do get some more impressive bits, such as this red, gold, and black ensemble for Fuyoh Katsuya,
So overall, what do I think? The product itself is competent, but I feel at this price point it's really meant for the die hard Assault Lily crowd. Now, I know that Japanese figures will always cost more compared to offerings from other parts of Asia so there's that. There might also be a shortage of companies that offer a 1/12-ish scaled figure that is fully clothed and these might be the most reasonably priced of the Japanese companies.
It feels like there's a crazy premium because of the cloth outfits. There are a multitude of full plastic offerings that don't have an outfit, but feature a better posing experience and possibly more gear for a lower price, or for the same price, offer a wider variety of accessories that make the equipped figure much more impressive visually than what I've seen this line can offer.
Alternatively, for the more scandalous collector, there are seamless 1/12 figures with outfits that offer a better a far superior posing experience that, in general, cost less than an Assault Lily. If you must get your anime waifu freak on, you can get pretty creative making your own for around the same price.
A neat concept, but ultimately, it's not my cup of tea.
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