Welcome to the Year of the Rabbit. I've not yet looked to see how compatible I am with this year, but I'm sure I'll deal with it one way or another. At the very least, I'm going to continue my catch up. Next up is Figma 548: Genshin Impact - Mona "Mirror Reflection of Doom" ver.
I've not yet played Genshin Impact, but thanks to all the Breath of the Wild purists, I hear a lot about the game. Unlike the latter, however, Figma actually started to make character goods based on designs in the Genshin game. I've seen a few designs, but am not familiar with the characters. I have seen Mona here before, and being a sucker for magic users in general, she was preordered.
The figure set retails for about 9,500 Yen. I wouldn't say the sheer number of accessories is particularly impressive for this price point, nor is her outfit particularly complicated, so I'm going to guess more than a few bucks went towards the licensing fee:
- 1 x Main Figure.
- 3 x Face Plates (Neutral, Surprised, Pained).
- 10 x Gripping/Posing Hands, including dedicated empty Wallet hand.
- 1 x Hat.
- 1 x Catalyst (Skyward Atlas).
- 1 x Astrology Effect.
- 1 x Mirror Reflection of Doom Effect.
- Effect and Catalyst Holder.
- 2 x Effect Stands.
- 1 x Base & Stand.
I guess the Catalyst in game is name of their weapons, or at least the weapons used by whatever class Mona is.
Mona's character design reminds me very much of Ishtar, the Goddess formerly known as Rin Tohsaka. Both are magic users, though I suspect that Ishtar would probably mop the floor with Mona. Accuracy to body style actually is pretty good this time around as she's pretty slender to begin with.
Also like Ishtar, Mona is very much clothing optional, though not quite as bad as Ishtar. The dark blue looks fantastic, and the navy blue and gold accents add some welcome variety. I especially like the various gold charms that adorn the various parts of her body. Surprisingly, ther'es at least two paint apps missing, namely red on the charms adoring her braids and within the charm on her thigh and her hat.
I also enjoy her stylish hat - it looks great and all, but what I really like is the fact that unlike Megumin, the hat connects to her head with a peg rather than some flimsy piece of plastic that slots between the hair pieces. This is not only more secure, but is easier to actually get it on the head. The downside is now you have a hole in her head - worth it IMHO.
Her Catalyst is also very well made. For starters, it's not blank inside, which is nice. More importantly, however, is that the piece actually will open and close, utilizing standard hinge pins. There's also a clasp piece that slots/tabs in and securely holds the book shut. Both of these factors, combined with the small size of the Catalyst, just goes to show you how tight the QC requirements on these figures are... when done right.
The remaining effects (Mirror Reflection of Doom, Astrology) are just simple pieces of plastic. Functional, but nothing spectacular.
Faceplates looks solid and appear to capture the look depicted by the official artwork.
Articulation is pretty standard for a Figma, which in this case means no waist joint. The figure also features some extra joints on the braids as well as the tails of her robe. Due to the lack of bulk, Mona can assume pretty much any pose that the body will allow. Having said that, there's really not much action going on here as the character doesn't fight with her hands or a melee weapon - it's all magical blasts and distance fighting, so I don't think you're going to see too many people trying to go all crazy with the posing for this figure.
Unsurprisingly, Paint and Build Quality once again show how competent Max Factory is at making these figures. As mentioned above, the only real issues are some missing paint as compared to the source art. What is actually on the figure, however, is rock solid in terms of quality level.
I feel that this might be the start of another Fate type of product line for Figma, meaning they'll continue to pump out characters from the game so long as it remains popular enough. There's certainly no shortage of nice designs to choose from. The difference is that without an understanding of the media, I won't exactly know which characters I relate to the most and will buy all based on looks. which means if they start making the busty characters I'll probably go broke. For Full Gallery, please visit:
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