As the school year comes to a close, I've had a chance to look at two figures, both of which I THOUGHT would be good, or at least decent, but ultimately I'm just left with shattered dreams, though only one of them had a right to be less than stellar. She's the subject of the first part in a series of two, the Yamato VMF Queen's Blade - Leina figure.
Released back in 2009, this figure remains the largest Queen's Blade action figure, and it was the novelty of this which got my interest enough to pick it up for $60 CAD, significantly less than its MSRP, though probably more expensive than its actual market value in Japan. Unlike modern figures of this caliber, you'll notice the pack ins are pretty abysmal - it's her sword and the stand.
No, her shield is not a pack in because it's fused to her arm, though I guess on the plus side at least it'll never get lost.
As a piece that stands there, the VMF does a pretty good job. I mean, Leina is pretty big, with her trademark colour scheme featuring some nice, bright colours. She's probably in the 1/7.5 ish scale, so slightly bigger than a 1/8, which is what you get with Jeanne in the photo.
Having said that, if you're a collector of figures, you'll probably notice that the quality of the sculpting really hints at the age of this piece. Simplified detailing on the body and hair, not much musculature on the whole. Outfit parts are made of a softer pliable plastic, but it's still pretty rigid, especially compared to modern day standards.
Of course, it wouldn't be Queen's Blade if it didn't feature a cast off option. Similar to the Revoltech releases, you need to basically take the figure apart at the joints and slide off the various armour pieces to get that naked goodness. The underlying body features some decent curves (and a G String, of course), though compared to your modern Phicen she's not exactly that outlandish. You get a clearer view of the muscles on her back, as well as her incredibly scrawny neck.
Articulation is... pretty average, but this was to be expected. There's the age, and then there's the fact that VMF line isn't exactly known for its posing capabilities. First off, pretty standard, but the figure features standard shoulders, double jointed knees, and single jointed elbows. Head tilt is basically non existent, and the figure lacks ab crunch, a waist joint., and wrist joints. So overall, pretty stiff in terms of the poses you can put the figure in.
To make matters worse, the legs basically have no ability to spread, which basically means Leina will be standing.
Paint Applications are clean, though again sfor the most part the figure is actually quite simple, plus effectively most of the parts can be taken and painted individually Still, credit where credit is due. The paint work, in particularly the metallic paint work, smooth. The hair looks kind of average, though it's also a matte paint. Decal work is sharp.
This figure does have significant Build Quality issues. The actual body itself is kind of flimsy, and I learned this was the case even with VMF Motoko, who featured really flimsy joints. The difference is that at least the leg stays on with this figure. My left knee cover actually likes to fall off as the tolerances to keep it snuggly snapped on just aren't there. The materials used for the joints feel quite brittle, which further is a problem because they're also very tightly held together feature pegs that have raised ridges.
So in the end, a product that features very dated engineering and production values... which is perfectly fine because this is a dated figure. I'm thinking back to 2009, and around that Figma and Figuarts were really just getting off the ground, and things were just evolving - I think this would have been one of the better figures available, other than Play Arts. Besides, it's got that nostalgia factor for me, though let it be known despite being smaller and less detailed, the Revoltech line was a much better product.
With Part 1 out of the way.. what is Part 2?
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