If you've not noticed, I like to buy new things once in a while to see how competitor products are doing, or to get on the ground floor of a new company. Sometimes I end up with something like that Flash Point piece of garbage, but more often than not it's something that seems alright, with potential to grow.
So maybe about 9 months ago, I saw a solicitation for a new 1/12 figure. Nothing about the tech was particularly impressive, but I did like the Butterfly motiff. I'd never heard of the company or the property, but it was $90 USD shipped so I decided to give it a shot.
Presenting the Xzoc Snap 1/12 Balala LIttle Magical Fairy Maggie Lin.
So I don't know anything about Balala, but there is some sort of animated series and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a mobile game. What IS surprising is that somehow, this character design was inspired by the Chinese Anti Air Defense System 055, and as an alternate mode she turns into a robotic Butterfly.. This truly is some sort of fever dream, though I suspect its meant to compete with the Kantai Collection series in Japan featuring various warships.
As for parts, well there's a lot of them and I'm not gonna list them all. Basically you have the parts for Normal and Butterfly mods, along with four total faces, three weapons and a Base/Stand..
Here is Maggie in Normal Mode. Exotic by typical Western design standards, but pretty tame when it comes to the realm of Anime. Like bodies from Snail Shell, you can probably make out the various components of the body, and how it's really just a modular system of sorts. I can't seem to find any screen caps of this mode or Butterfly mode, but it seems that this looks much more mature than her civilian look. Not sure if its from an earlier series, or if she ages up when entering Battle mode..
So when I say the figure looks more mature, it's really the faces that do the heavy lifting. The faces don't have the look of a young girl, and it's mostly the eyes. Again, I'm not sure if its actually in the art that this happens, or these guys just aren't very good at making these faces like Snail Shell is. I can say with absolute certainty that the winking face looks like Maggie is nursing a Shiner.
As is customary with these Chinese figures, the eyes can be adjusted for more posing options.
The first edition of this figure came with what roughly translates into "Crystal Eyes". The blurb mentions something about this tech mainly being used on larger scale figures like BJD, and has been recreated at a the 1/12 level for the first time. It might make the faces look better, but I wasn't about the risk damaging the existing eyes by scratching them during removal.
Conversion to Butterfly mode is effectively parts swapping, and due to the weight you'll absolutely need the stand. One of the more subtle changes is that you swap out the thigh plates to make them wider, though the rest is as you imagine. The wings and abdomen feature some translucent plastic sheets with some very nice effects on them.
As for the weapons, the Staff is definitely the best looking one. Overall, though, none of the hands (as indicated by the manual) can actually properly grasp any of the weapons, so they kind of slide all over the place or just fall out of the grip.
Articulation wise, I have to say I'm not exactly impressed, but at the same time it's not like it under performs. It' just... kind of average. There's the bulk to deal with, then there's the fact that there's nothing in the design that would permit better range of motion for the lower body anyway. Hips are relatively limited as is the Ab Crunch/Back Arch, though I have to admit that if you're just posing in Butterfly form, between the available articulation and the stand, you can pull off some decent flight poses. Double jointed knees and elbows help with more dynamic poses, as does the above average head tilt capabilities.
Paint Applications are generally pretty good. It's not going to meet Japanese figure standards. General paint work is not bad, but some of the decals look pretty rough. The use of translucent plastics is nice, with areas like the wings features some pretty sharp detailing there. Overall, I'd put it on par with Snail Shell, which isn't a bad place to be.
From a Build Quality perspective, I've mentioned the hands being unable to hold the weapons. General finish on the parts is pretty good, with no rough surfaces to be found. Tolerances on removable parts is pretty good, with no real issues to be found on most parts. The hands, however, have a very difficult time actually connecting to the wrists, and furthermore, the actual joints for the wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees are actually pretty loose. It's like all QC for those joints went on lunch break or something and never came back, which results in the figure being unable to hold some pretty common poses for long (if at all). It's also why the stand is absolutely necessary for Butterfly mode, as this figure will not stand at all with all the gear on.
So what have I learned? Well, it seems these guys, Xzoc Snap, should be able to put together a figure that at least holds together as well as a Snail Shell, once they iron out all their QC issues. The ability to hold its weapons would be much appreciated as well. Artistically though, I feel that the face department might be lacking, but this will take a few more entries to confirm. I will say, though, even with the first release of Wolf Girl, I never got that "not quite Anime" impression of the faces for Snail Shell. It's hard to say if I'll get another one of this companies figures as this is the only IP I'm aware of that they have, and it's a bit too pedestrian for me. But.. never say never.. I'm sure something will come up and I can see how far along the company has come.
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