Saturday, February 27, 2010

Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver. Part 3 [Final]

Simplicity wins

As mentioned in the previous review, I'm going to give Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver. a rest already from performing more action poses because of her right shoulder.

Today we'll look at something I've been hoping to find out for a long time: what differentiate Revoltech Fraulein and Figma. ^^

The Figma figure I chose to compare with Yoko is Takara Miyuki (the first winter fuku version). Apart from being the first Figma I bought (much like Yoko for the Fraulein series), Miyuki also has heavy long hair, which, like Yoko again, had me concerned about how well the figure can stand when I first took her out of the box last time.



Both in their standard box packaging, Miyuki's box is little larger, with window on the front portion allowing you to see the content. Yoko's box may be smaller and easier to store, but I'm really not too pleased with how parts are stored inside the box as mentioned in Part 1.

Revoltech SFO Chunli's box is in the picture as well, to show you that she really doesn't belong in the two categories for comparison mentioned here. ^^;


Size comparison between the 3 figures.




As you can see, Revoltech joint is not used for the shoulder, arm and leg of Yoko, instead, they are on hinge and peg joints with absolutely ugly "cuts" in front and behind. These cuts are designed to allow the opposite part to fit into them when the joint is bent. The articulation range is pretty much like that of Figma Miyuki, but I don't know how is anyone going to associate those "cuts" to the figure being elegant. ^^;

So Revoltech Fraulein abandoned the standard ball-like Revoltech joints and opted for these hinge and peg joints instead. Maybe the designer thought that seeing Revoltech joints on the figure would ruin its image, but in the end, it seems that they traded the solution to that issue with another problem instead, and it's still about the look of the figure. ^^;

Should have stick with Revoltech joints for those important parts in my opinion. Much easier in design as well I think.

However, I like the design of the Yoko's legs very much. They are very figurine-like even in the most basic standing pose. ^^ Restricted to the just the front view though. How the rear side of the legs looks as if a whole chunk of Yoko's thigh and calf is gone scares me very much. ^^; Miyuki on the hand, has very straight legs. Very practical in terms of articulation and joint design, but definitely not as lovely as Yoko's legs. ^^

Against the odds of heavy hair, both figures can stand equally well, but when they need the support of their display base, ...


... even the smaller display base for Revoltech SFO Chunli is better than the "elegant" type included for Yoko. ^^;

The stand is a rod without any joint in the middle, while the clip is a soft type holder that doesn't grab on to the part where you can hold the figure. So it can be pretty annoying when you want to hold the figure in certain poses, and it's almost impossible with the stand included.

The generic display stand from Figma wins in my opinion. Not only does it has a joint in the middle of the stand, it also uses a screw to tighten the joint. So the stand can really support the figure.

Finally, a comparison with HGUC Char's Zaku II - both has red as the main color on them.




All reviews on Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver.:
Part 1: Revoltech's magnificent packaging
Part 2: The peg joint issue
Part 3 [Final]: Simplicity wins

View full gallery:
Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver.

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