When the PS Vita was still around, I was introduced to what would be one of the best written JRPGs I would ever play, Trails of Cold Steel by Falcom. I had heard of Ys, but never knew that Falcom was responsible for the Legend of Heroes series of which Cold Steel is part of. While I cursed every moment of playing new Zelda, I was grateful I got a Switch as I was able to finish off the series on that system, and happily sunk the 100+ hours per game. There were four games in total, so just finishing this particular story arc was well over 400 hours and a decade in the making. Time well spent, if you actually want a JRPG with an epic story line.
I mention all this because when Kotobukiya annouced they were doing 1/8 statues from the series, despite the financial pain I went and got myself a statue of the main protagonist from Cold Steel, Rean Schwarzer.
I believe this is Rean from Cold Steel 4, as he's in his White instructors jacket. Art should be lifted directly from the Status screen.. I say should as I didn't spend any time there. Just organizing my Quartz to bring the hurt.
Out of the box, everything looks good at first glance. But just a quick glance will show evidence that for some reason, the basic pose itself is off. The direction of the head is slightly off, but not as offas the jacket, which is now splayed open with a belt that is in a different direction. The position of the right arm is different as is the grip, which in turn affects the way the Katana is actually gripped. Through the years, these sort of things have been observed in many instances, and I never quite understand why. A loss of detail I can understand, but different positions for parts - I mean is it an ease of manufacturing thing?
The Base features some art of Valimar, The Ashen Knight.
Otherwise, the statue is pretty good quality, not just by Kotobukiya standards. Fabric details are nicely implemented, as are all the other small details on the uniform. The sense of movement invoked by the drawing has been captured in figure form quite nicely. Fine detailing on the weapons is sharp. Hair features some very good detailing. Eyes are a bit big on the head, though its more of a visual distraction than a complete out of character look.
Like with other Kotobukiya pieces, the overall paint work is pretty good, but you'll easily find errors such as weak masking, or some lumpy finishes where multiple coats are needed. The paint flaws aren't terrible and most of it would go unnoticed, but others are pretty obvious. While there are no deal breakers, it should be noted that as one expects from a mass manufactured piece, you're not getting Artisanal quality. I really like how well the Copper paint apps worked out. Paint on the Katana hilt are quite nicely done and look sharp.
Build Quality is, as expected, a non issue here. The statue is held to the base by metal pins, so no worries about snapping things while you're getting the statue to stand properly, as well as giving the statue that much more support. The Katana and Scabbard are strangely broken up into two pieces, with parts secured to the statue, and the others you attach yourself. Most of th time you just shove in the entire piece like with an action figure, and I have to wonder if they did this to minimal potential for paint wear.
A very solid product with some good production values, but lets be honest - like with Fire Emblem, if you want a Scale of this series, you're pretty much getting the Kotobukiya line up.
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