Welcome to July 2021, the month where things hopefully start actually getting back to normal. Fun fact, we're the only place in NORTH AMERICA that doesn't allow indoor dining, so "back to normal" is really subjective at this time.
About a month ago, I bought the 1/12 Skarah from a collector friend and was quite happy with how she turned out. So, for my second actual 1/12 TBLeague purchase, I elected to get Sariah's line mate, Tariah - The Silver Valkyrie.
I can't find much on her in terms of background, other than exactly what you'd imagine - Tariah and Skarah are sisters, and the greatest of rivals in terms of their skills and service to Odin.
So, basically it's Ken and Ryu, but with boobs.
The bland, but practical, TBLeague 1/12 packaging, packing all the goodies into multiple foam supported layers, and the worlds most perfume laden desiccant.
- 1 x Main Figure (featuring different version of the same wearables as Sariah)
- 6 x Posing/Grasping hands
- 1 x Shield
- 1 x Sword
- 1 x Spear and Tip
- 1 x Base and Arm
Effectively, from a contents perspective Tariah and Sariah have the same stuff, with the exception that Tariah's stand actually features an arm for holding the figure in place. Gear wise, very similar, with cosmetic differences most notably observed in the kneepads and helmet. Tariah has a slightly shorter spear and a much prettier looking shield. She also appears to be slightly taller than Sariah.
As with Skarah, the various pieces of gear and weaponry are nicely detailed.
The overall colour scheme differences can be summarized as an inversion of the gold/silver on Skarah.
As far as I can tell, there's only one 1/12 TBLeague body, so I'm pretty sure that this is what Skarah is packing. As expected, I'm loving the overall aesthetic with the nice combination of bare skin, fur, and armoured parts. Winged helmets are of course, always in style.
Furthermore, the package standard set of curves and photogenic skin material that every TBLeague female body provides is, of course, here.
Sculpt wise, now that I'm paying closer attention to these 1/12 heads, I notice that like with Skarah, TBLeague did a decent job at shrinking the original. Once again, however, the 1/12 features facial features that are less doll like compared to the 1/6 original.
The sculpt is also not a straight up repaint of the Skarah head either. The facial shape and general features are actually different, though harder to make out due to the smaller size. The hair is actually quite different as well, colour aside, with Tariah having her hair closer to her head and flowing backwards as opposed to the volume focused flow for Skarah. Skarah also has braids that are meant to be brought out to side of head.
From an articulation perspective, quite robust, as with Skarah. Not quite able to pull off extreme ranges of motion like the 1/6 body, but you should get what you're looking for done. While playing around, I hit a few bumps on the road with the wrists, ankles, and any time I needed to do really deep bends with the various limbs. I guess if you're really passionate about the posing, you're probably gonna need more hands and perhaps a better selection of facial expressions.
These limitations are probably going to show up most evidently if you're into doing battle scenes, as it always feels like the feet and position of the weapons is JUST not quite right.
Paint wise, beautifully done, as expected. Very clean and crisp, though again most of the heavy lifting was accomplished by ensuring that the skin colour and the face actually matched. Having gone through a month of attempting to paint myself, I can definitely appreciate how much better these professionals are compared to my extremely crude attempts. No issues with bleeding, paint applications are smooth.
Build Quality wise, the overall construction of the body is great, with no tears or loose joints to account for. Finishes on the various loose parts is great, and there are no issues with hands fitting on the wrists, or reconnecting of ankles. TBLeague did, however, change up some things and made assembly a bit more annoying, such as the switch to a full knee pad from the ones with slitted strap that Skarah had. Also, for whatever reason, my spear tip came crooked, and no amount of heating with hot water allowed me to straighten it.
I'm hoping the vendor can help me out here.
So in conclusion, yeah there's QC issues on mine and some strange design changes, but Tariah is definitely a beaut and a fine addition to my shelf. As mentioned, I really dig the whole Valkyrie vibe, and armoured figures are always interesting to me, especially if they figure out a way to give the design a sensuous vibe.
There's basically nothing I can see that Skarah can do that Tariah cannot, so if you're into this look there's really no preference between them unless you prefere sword/shield over spear, because clearly Tariah has the better looking setup there. But overall, you really can't go wrong with either.
Or Both. Whatever floats your boat.
For Full Gallery, please visit:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22877494@N02/albums/72157719485922628/with/51286437980/
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