This one was strangely a rather painful one to get through, possibly because of my overall impression of "meh" with regards to this product. Part of the blame is mine, mind you. But we'll get to that shortly. This is one is gonna be relatively short and sweet.
Arctech 002 - Punishing: Gray Raven - Lucia Dawn
Punishing: Gray Raven is a relatively new mobile game that was developed by Kuro Game and released in China back in 2019. I've never gotten into mobile phone games (possibly because up until 2021 I didn't have my own personal phone) so I had never heard of this. Long story short, it became popular enough that character goods were made, including a series of 1/8 scaled figures from Apex Innovations, one of the premiere Chinese figure makers, and another unfamiliar entity. I saw the figure preview. during lockdown, and it looked promising so I preordered one despite having none of the aforementioned details.
The set retails for 12,200 Yen, which given the fact it is a 1/8 scale is actually not a bad price. Of course, I didn't know that this was actually a Chinese figure, where this sort of value thing is a bit more common place. I can only imagine what it would cost if if Good Smile Company did a 1/8 figure:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 3 x Alternate Faces (Neutral, Shouting, Calm)
- 2 x Forearm Sword Braces
- 1 x Yellow Sword (Inverse - Shadow)
- 1 x Red Sword (Preorder Bonus)
- 1 x Red Katana (Kujinotei)
- 8 x Posing/Gripping Hands
- 2 x Alternate Thigh Pieces
- 4 x Energy Blades (Backpack)
- 3 x Additional Backpack Effects
- 1 x Base/Stand
I'm sure there's actual names for the stuff I didn't label but try as I might, I came up with nothing. What I can say is that this Dawn aspect is apparently this particular get up, as there are different version of the Lucia character.
Oh, those thigh pieces? The standard thigh pieces show off more of her "robotic" side, and can be swapped out for something a bit more human. You lose a tiny bit of articulation (there are ball joints where the black connects to the flesh tone) though honestly you're not going to miss it much.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to try to keep this brief. The actual finished figure has some pretty good production values, particularly since Chinese companies aren't exactly known for this sort of thing in the best of times, though companies like Snail Shell are changing that trend. Plenty of sharp, crisp edges, decals, that sort of thing. Paint work is also quite solid, with an acceptable level of errors.
My disappointment, however, stems from first off, my poor character selection. You see, I chose Lucia Dawn out of sheer boredom, really overlooking how lanky the figure is. Her official art isn't this anorexic, and Bianca, the next one I ordered, actually appears to be in line with artwork. I would have been OK with the slim torso had they given her some bulkier arms and legs. But, this is not the case.
The other part of my annoyance/disappointment is all on Apex, though. For starters, this figure has the annoying tendency to kind of fall apart when you're posing it. I regularly had to push the leg sections back together, as well as the chest. On my particular figure, the left forearm section has a tolerance issue, so whatever is in there kind of falls out easy. Then there's the fact that despite having a soft skirt, hip articulation is actually surprisingly limited.
Oh right... she also can barely stand without any support, so you're not doing too many dynamics poses. Not that you could, anyway. There's the hip issues as well as the lack of ankle rockers,
I guess I didn't really talk about articulation. so here is it is briefly. It's decent, including double jointed elbows and knees, double ended ball joint for the mid torso along with a standard swivel joint in the middle. Base of neck on swivels, base of head seems to be full motion. Fully functional wrists and some additional points such as the hair. There's also thigh and bicep swivel to account for.
Having mulled over it, I think ultimately it comes down to the fact that I made a bad choice. I mean, the overall body and joint system is still better than a Play Arts Kai, which is what I was hoping for (minus the ankles). Lucia Dawn could have just looked so much better if they had paid more attention to her proportions. I was actually this close to cancelling Bianca, but ultimately as her proto photos didn't make her look like she was on a hunger strike, I think it should be fine.
If not, well, it's not like I've preordered anything else from this manufacturer.
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