Zona Artis

Guess that I owe her a review. Gomenasai Mato-san!! Sigh, that’s because I wanted to wait for my new 12MP camera phone to launch back then, bought it and got to use it on this figure for my reviews. Another excuse for being late – laziness. I suppose you’d notice my frequency of posting is decreased too. Other than the first 3 pics, the other pictures are taken with my new phone.

Good Smile’s 1/8 Black Rock Shooter Original Version, which figure collector does not know about her? I bet there is none. Cutting short the intro, I grabbed her from a local eBay seller for 9,500 yen. However, she was “subsidized” and I only had to dig an approx of 4800 yen out of my wallet for her. I nearly ended up buying from a different seller for 13,000 yen out of desperation to get her. So glad that I did not rush.

She’s 29cm tall, one of my tallest , taller than Hayakawa Yuzuko (unless Yuzuko uses the peppermint flame hair for the head), thanks to the base. For this figure, I have plenty of comments to make. Firstly, the box is freakin’ huge. I have the tendency to underestimate box sizes. Plenty of spaces wasted in the way she is packaged, but a good thing. It absorbs any shocks and avoids damage in case your choice of shipping company is a brainless one in handling parcels. This is not a perfect time to complain about going green and being eco-friendly. PVC figures are not recyclable anyway. =P

Out of box, you get the figure, exchangeable front hairpiece (I prefer the flame eye, no doubt), black chain, very light and hollow-feeling cannon- obviously ABS, not PVC, and a blob of nicely and realistically sculpted base which feels like a brick –quite heavy. In fact, the weight of cannon + figure + chain is lighter than the base itself. Yeah, you get a promo advertistment on BRS Black Blade and an instruction sheet on how to place the chain. The base seem to be consist of 3 separate parts.

Now I know why this figure lost to Saber Lily Distant Avalon in 2009’s nomination on best figure of the year. As an owner of both figure, BRS Original Version is a bit inferior to Saber Lily, maybe due to scale (hence details is lost), but still one of the best among 1/8 scales. Personally I felt figures should be assesses by categories of scale to determine the best one.

Here’s a simple overall evaluation of the figure, I’ll describe more below.

Pros: Undoubtedly, detailed sculpt especially her gloss black jacket, hair, face and cannon, near perfect paint job (the skin is a bit too pale, it suits BRS, however.); metallic weathering painting on cannon; best section of this figure is the base; quality feel due to the weight;

Cons: Hair strands feel fragile; the flame eye should cover the right eye partially instead of fully (like the Black Blade version… might be a personal preference lol, or some nitpicking), requirement of delicate handling of this figure; assembling the chain is a PAIN IN THE ASS

The cons are not really a manufacturing/sculpting/painting defect, just some nitpicking I guess? Now, more details on the cons I mentioned.

Also, the cannon is simply hooked on her right palm and not secured by any pegs –highly vulnerable and might drop off during handling (It happened to me, but thanks to it being light and made of ABS, you are less likely to break it). It’s not a bad thing not to have pegs – I prefer it that way. That’s what I mean by delicate handling required. The chains do not secure the connection like how you tie up someone with strings or chains