I... I did it. I got to the end of the TFCon stuff - again it's a piece that nobody would ever consider actually finding there, but this is something that I specialize in. This is the Bandai D-Arts: BlazBlue - Noel Vermillion.
One of the most successful fighting game franchises to be introduced during the Playstation era was Guilty Gear, a series that spawned several sequels, including BlazBlue, which made its initial appearance during the Playstation 3 generation. I was never any good at the game, though I did appreciate the art direction and cast of outlandish characters, Noel here is one of those characters, being one of those quick attack types with some ranged options.
Like with Elizabeth, for whatever reason the game never really cumulated in many character goods, with this D-Arts being the only action figure I could find. Lucky for me, she's not exactly in high demand, commanding a whopping $25 CAD.
The set came with both what I expected, but at the same time, fell a bit short. She's only got four hands (closed fists or trigger grips) though she does come with several faces and options to display her without her beret, along with a hair down option. Of course, to balance that, we do get both her pistols, but only muzzle flash effects for one of them. Then there are these weird plastic braces of sorts that are supposed be needed if you hold the guns, but I couldn't really get much utility out of them. As always, the manual itself is kind of useless.
Here she is in her unpackaged glory. Spoiler alert, she's as stiff as she looks. I guess considering the age of this figure (2014) that's kind of expected. She looks alright in terms of sculpting, maybe a bit tall and with a small head, but again given the age it's probably as good as we'd get. Instead of a solid yellow, hair is translucent which is an interesting choice given how all the Super Saiyan characters ended up, but whatever works. The actual character however, is actually fairly small busted and comparatively thicc.
To commemorate this (or more accurately, actually highlight this fact because her legs aren't all that), Tamashii Nations actually sculpted her ass cheeks into her skirt to give that impression of fullness.
Other parts of her outfit are generally on point, including the two not-particularly-articulated straps on her upper arms.
Facial expressions are.. well, I'm not going to say super well done or anything but it seems to fit the general gamut of what I'd expect from a fighting game character.
Articulation is bad. That first photo pretty much sets the tone as to what you should expect to pull off.. Leg articulation is basically non existent as the skirt restricts all useful range of motion. You get full arm motion, though there's no butterfly joints. The straps on the upper arms are somewhat restricting.
Speaking of restricting, you get decent head movement, but that kind of goes out the window when you change to the long haired head.
Paint Application is alright. It's a tad messy here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for this size and more importantly, the age. It looks solid enough, but the work isn't going to astound you with its clarity or general quality. But, at least least there's no giant blobs of paint, which would have dampened the mood quite a bit.
Build Quality wise, a loose head is the first thing that comes to mind. Again, this could be due to quality, or it could be due to play wear., though due to the age and general understanding of how things were,, I'd lean towards general QC flop. Moulding of the translucent parts (hair, muzzle effect) were also a bit on the rough side compared to the other bits. Connection between the muzzle effect and the pistol is a bit flimsy. Perhaps most annoying of all, the supposed stand that supports the pistol is only at one height and it's not even as high as her fully extended arm.
With that, the TFCon 2023 haul reviews come to a close. Yeah, the D-Arts Noel Vermillion figure is pretty much an average release. It's really love for the franchise and character that drives the search for this piece. Not too much of an ask if you're a random figure collector like me, but if you like your character rosters complete, this figure will just drive you nuts because there's nothing else that would actually go with it.
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