Well, you made it - it's now 2023 across the entire planet. Time to prepare yourself for another wonderful year of craziness. To start things off on my end, today we look at the last thing that arrived in 2022 for me, the Tunshi Studios KoF 97 Mai Shiranui figure.
So this figure marks the fourth 1/6 Mai Shiranui release in the past few years (TBLeague x 1, Genesis Emen x 2, Tunshi Studios x 1). For me, one of the most interesting facts is that all of the SNK figures as of late have come from relatively small Chinese companies. I'm not entire sure why that is. At any rate, Mai comes in a standard shoe box type of packaging, though new for me is the fact that she not only featured a holographic quality sticker, but also, the entire box was sealed in shrink wrap. This is also my first brand new 1/6 featuring a TBLeague body - I wonder if all TBLeague based product are sealed like that.
Like with pretty much all the other Seamless body figures I've handled, the Tunshi Mai comes in several layers of foam trays. I guess making these trays must be cheaper than making those plastic trays that Hot Toys and other companies have. The actual contents of the set are relatively slim, especially when you compare it to what you got with the Genesis Emen set, which is significantly less expensive:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 2 x Head Sculpts (Eyes Front, Eyes Left)
- 6 x Posing/Gripping Hands
- 1 x Fan (Can Open/Close)
- 1 x Umbrella/Post
- 1 x Flaming Fan
- 1 x Base/Stand
After digging around a bit, I've come to the conclusion that this figure really is a tweaked copy of the TBLeague's own version, - there's too many similarities in the outfit to ignore, plus there's the fact that it's the same body. Presuming I'm right, Tunshi Studios basically provided some new heads, along with the umbrella and flaming fan. It's possible some of the posing hands are new, but I don't have a TBLeague Mai to verify this with.
Interestingly enough, this is also the most expensive 1/6 Mai Shiranui there is, though part of that price difference can be explained by the additional accessories not present in the original TBLeague offering.
Being a TBLeague body, I think I can do everyone a favour and just gloss over articulation. People use these bodies because they're able to pose fairly well without having to deal with obvious joints. Generally speaking, with the exception of the wrist and ankle articulation, you're pretty much good to go. Both heads feature a ball jointed pony tail, so you get some more options to make things look more dynamic.
The umbrella is basically always going to be posed with it over her right shoulder, as the lack of hands plus the weight ensures that there is no other way for the figure to support this accessory.
As an added note, while the tassels of the dress feature wire for dynamic positioning, the wires are so weak, they cannot support the weight of the tassels, and are effectively useless.
Build Quality is typically good on these figures, or at leas the first party ones. The bodies can't really screw up so long as the silicone isn't damaged, and by now TBLeague has the size of their sockets figured out - in this case, the S24 body features smaller sockets as compared to the larger bodies, or even Hot Toys stuff, so it's very important they get this right. Fortunately, there has not been an issue with this regard.
The outfit appears to be tailored correctly and is form fitting - again, if this is in fact their second kick at the can, there's no reason for the outfit to be any worse than the previous attempt. There's no real complicated accessories, with the most complex being the working fan, which, again, is most likely a reuse of something that worked before.
Let's talk Paint, or more accurately, the paint on the face. The paint on the rest of the hard accessories (hands, feet, umbrella) is fine. Nothing fancy present, but it does the job. But the face.. that's where the money is.
The faces can be difficult to aim when photographing, but the expressions are fine and suitable for Mai, as is the somewhat improved look (eyes seems larger, and as a result more like a drawing, which works fine). Detailing on the hair itself is again, serviceable.
But the actual paint itself though.... sigh. If you get close enough to the face, you'll notice random paint specks, as well as a really weak paint application for the eyebrows and the eyes. This really isn't acceptable considering that this is basically a figure at Hot Toy prices, but doesn't deliver on the quality associated with the price.
For all its faults visually, the Genesis Emen Mai, or at least the P2 version (because I have no idea how much the 1.0 costed) was a better buy. Consider the larger body, the number of accessories, the improved number of soft goods (full disclosure - mine is on a 10E Jiaou, not the default body, but it is the same height).
But that last point is kind of where things get interesting. Value aside, because the S24 body is smaller and features smaller peg sizes and sockets, you're kind of screwed on the upgrade route. You basically need a bustier/curvier body made in the same size as the S24 (hasn't happened yet) as you can't just plop the parts onto any random seamless body. There's more upgrade options for the Genesis Emen. Clearly there's bodies that can be used, and as it features the standard sized sockets used for 1/6 seamless female bodies, if anything ever pops up that is even more suitable, I could always just get that to replace this body. There's also the fact that there's potential for a third party head that could be used with Genesis Emen kit, because all things considered, even with its default body (S22 I believe) a simple head swap could improve things for the kit very, very quickly.
So ultimately, the Tunshi Studio release is competent, but for the quality and accessories you get, kind of expensive. Which is too bad, because honestly I could have lived with the lower value if the quality was where I wanted it to be. Maybe we'll luck out, and someone will either make a better head for the Genesis figure, or upscale this one to fit that body.
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