While I appreciate a great JRPG, I also appreciate what is best described as "absolute trash". The PS Vita introduced me to several series that would fall into this category, including the surprisingly good Senran Kagura series. Originally starting off as a 3DS series, the power of the system did not allow for a Musou style game (the Vita marginally did) and so all the more graphically intense slash fests were on Sony systems.
What's weird is that this tradition seems to have carried over even to the current generation, even though there really hasn't been a Senran game in years. The Switch, despite being capable of decent graphics, ended up getting some non slash games, including one Peach Beach Splash, which was actually a third person shooter. I have no idea if it was any good,
Now, as much as I love the ladies, most of their merch is actually out of what I could consider to be sane pricing, typically consisting of very high price point scale statues. In fact, I think for the longest time the cheapest thing was to literally collect the games. But, Freeing released their own line of Pop Up Parade style statues, which included two of the leading ladies from the series, Yumi and Ikaruga. Sadly, despite being from the Peach Beach Blast game, the actual water guns were sold separately, taken from TomyTec model kits.
These retailed for about 3,500 Yen a piece, which is neither a deal nor terrible. Certainly cheaper than the street value on these pieces right now, but that's generally a reflection of hype rather than actual quality. Contents are what you would expect from such a release, consisting of the statue and a base.
While cheaper than Pop Up Parade releases, the lower price point is because,these are actually pretty small, effectively the size of a Figma.
Only having these two, I don't know if it's a thing but I like how the bases are gear teeth, all the statues to be displayed next to each other and held stable. Also, the bases have a metal peg, which helps with stability. of the statue itself.
As for the actual statues themselves? Well.. they're pretty average. The sculpt is nice and does resemble the characters, but its not like they're super detailed, nor are the production values particularly good, as I'm confident these cursory photographs will show. They're functional, and what I expect for something of this price point. But, it just goes to show for an extra 1,000 Yen or so, the Pop Up Parade offerings generally seem to provide a much better value, which is probably why they're so popular, and I completely forgot S-Style was even a line.
Ultimately, it's nice to finally have some Senran character goods, but I really wish someone had made an action figure or something.
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