Here's a piece that I've been sitting on for a few weeks, though I wish I hadn't as I wouldn't be as surprised when I got around to opening it.
So I'm very much a Fate fan, and if I see any bargains on merch I'm basically gonna do it. Well, I saw an ad for the Aniplex 1/7 Fate Stay/Night Saber 10th Royal Dress statue. I'm not certain, but I believe this is her look from an ending or something... or maybe it's from a Mana recharge scene. I dunno. At any rate, I figure for $70 I'd go for it, as the photos didn't show any signs of damage or anything.
At first things were going well. Official box, things were in one piece. Cheaper than the original MSRP. Then I took a closer look and realized that a kind of critical part was missing from the box - somehow the previous owner lost her Ahoge, or that one stray hair that sticks out of her head. Generally speaking, I don't have too many situations where such a part would be separate so it didn't click.
Here she is, right out of the box. Not a particularly exciting pose, but based on the subject matter I was expecting a nice, serene looking piece. The overall look does provide that. This is not an angry Saber, or battle lusted Saber. It's very much just her holding a bouquet and smiling nicely. I'm not sure if it was because of warping, but the clear veil didn't really sit that well on the op of the head. There's some nice fabric detailing on the skirt section, with some great cushion looking pieces on the back of it.
It's probably not that obvious, but this is technically a Cast Off statue, though it's not the fun kind. You yank off the the upper body, remove the skirt, and plug the lower body back in. Things kind of start to go downhill from here. Unsurprisingly, she clad in her intimates on the lower body. Great. What isn't so great is the fact you'll notice she's pretty much a pencil.
While I get this is a 1/7, I have seen better undergarments on 1/8 statues. You will also notice that the the details aren't particularly good nor are they particularly prominent. The part where the corset meshes with the lower body, well you can see that there's a visible gap there, and also, the corset itself is ridiculously thick, undoubtedly to make the connection with the skirt more stable.
The face and general sculpting on the upper body isn't terrible, but some of the finer details again, don't really pop. The hair is nicely done, and while the face isn't bad from a finished product perspective, it's got a really lifeless expression on it. Not quiet, thoughtful, or anything like that, but rather it's like she isn't really home.
Paint Applications, I feel, are technically sound, but it's like they didn't thin out the paint properly. This overly thick paint obscures some of the detailing below, which is a problem when it isn't that pronounced to begin with. The decal work on the face and veil are average. Doesn't really wow me nor does it annoy me.
Overall, a pretty average statue. There's nothing really bad that sticks out, but there's nothing that makes this statue pop either. Having said that, the character of Saber doesn't really have any statue that are too provocative (at least, not the Fate Stay/Night version), but if you're looking for something that's either really safe, or really safe if you don't turn it over, I guess you could do worse.
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