Snail Shell has been one of several solid performers in the past few years. Relatively new, it is nice to see that while things don't always work out that they're at least trying new things despite their relatively short tenure in the 1/12 market. Their latest, Front Armour Girl - Victoria recently was released and sent out to customers like myself.
So, conceptually an interesting set. I mean, first off there's the who theme, which is sort of heavily armoured nun, though instead of rosary beads and a habit, she has heavy weaponry and a veil. Then there's the fact it's a double body set, but usually when this happens there's something in the theme that explains why. I don't mind having a second figure that is basically not dressed, but from a looks perspective I find the armour with bare spots look much more appealing, and I also have to wonder how much this increased the MSRP by.
Costing about $95 USD shipped, I'd say pricing and contents of the set have been relatively consistent. The last couple I got, the Sand Sisters, ;were about this price but due to the accessories, they only came with one body, though in that case you didn't need a base body as you could take off some garments.
So there are four total face plates to be used between the two heads, and to separate heads as the one without a veil lets you get that sweet, sweet gap in the back. Otherwise, it's pretty tame, with 10 total hands (though you'll notice there are significantly more non armoured hands), a Rifle with attachments, and a Shield with a Flail attached to it.
Here she is in her default look. I wont' deny she looks well armoured, but if you have enough figures you'll probably know by looking that she's never not going to look fat. OK, maybe not fat, but at least stout. Other than the unfortunate standing pose she looks pretty slick in that armour.
Of course, it should come as no surprise that the naked body basically has articulation that can destroy that of the regular form.
It seems that Snail Shell might actually be taking the concept of scale seriously, or at the very least more seriously than other companies. There's a good variety of heights and body builds across the entire product line though I have noticed since the release of Wolf Girl, the size of the figures has been ever so slowly dropping.
Faceplates are full of character, and do have a nice range of emotions. The articulated eyeballs are of course present, giving that nice boost to usefulness of the faces in various situations and poses. Hair is nicely sculpted - it's nothing special but has some good detailing.
So in case it wasn't obvious, Snail Shell put a lot of effort into implementing the armour on this figure. It doesn't com e off, but it isn't simply decorative pieces glued on the body. Quite a few pieces of the armour are functional, and I mean that in the sense that they actually move around and stuff. Having said that, valiant effort but I don't think Snail Shell QC is quite ready for anything this intricate. While it's nowhere near as bad as with Rosetta, parts like to fall off the body, and for the most part they're annoying but are easily returned to their proper spot.
There are always exceptions, which in this case is are the joints holding the Pauldrons in place. These joints are tine, with a typical joint securing to the body, and a tiny ball joint on the armour side. Now for whatever reason, the right one on my figure like to pop out anytime something breathes on it, so posing the armoured form is kind of a chore for me, made worse by the fact getting the thing back in is annoying.
The chest armour also pops out for.. reasons (I guess it looks cooler) but this piece is also prone to popping off and is slightly annoying to put back in place. It's not as bad as the Pauldrons, but it's certainly not as easy as the other problematic pieces.
The Rifle is actually a combination of the weapon, the Bayonet, and the Magazine which has a nicely painted round on top. The Shield attaches via magnet.
As mentioned Articulation on armoured form is heavily restricted due to the general bulk of the outfit. There were things done to try to alleviate some of that, including having pretty much all of the armoured panels amd the soft rubber panels under on the skirt move out of the way, but ultimately you're still dealing with the bulk of the belt. Chest armour also gets in the way of shoulder articulation, and the Pauldrons get in the way of head articulation. The range of motion on this figure isn't where it should have been.
The naked body, as you would expect, performs beautifully in this area.
Paint Applications are back on par for Snail Shell. We're back to painting as necessary, but what is painted is done nicely. This usually involves little detail paint apps which are sharp looking. Decal work on this figure is a bit more extensive than other releases, all looking crisp and applied correction.
Build Quality has been covered, pretty much only causing grief with armour pieces falling off the building. I also found that the hands for holding the rifle were a bit loose, or at least the ones you use with the armoured form. All other aspects are pretty good, including the various joints and the strength of the forearm magnet.
Ultimately, this is a flawed figure, mostly in its QC and in a small way the overall design. But unlike Rosetta, which is more terrible design than QC, at least this figure could have been stellar if production values were up to snuff, or more accurately, the factory was more experienced. As it stands, this set is visually interesting and can't do too many poses, but man does it look really cool. The bonus body is just the cherry on top.
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