Char's Revoltech Fraulein

x3
March is for Moe, and April is for Action Figure. ^^

May would be a better month for Moe, because the word seems to rhythm better. ^^

Got these three for quite some time since August last year actually, but never thought much about reviewing them until now. Some people might be wondering why I still went for Kaiyodo's Revoltech Fraulein after mentioning about Yoko's weaknesses in the previous review. The real deal is the price - I got these three as a set of RM200, which were all brand new back then.

At first, I was just looking for Pocco, the first, and only collaboration between Shunya Yamashita and Revoltech so far when I stumbled upon the bargain.

And surprisingly (with a sigh of relief), all of them were much better in terms of articulation than Yoko. ^^; The catch is however, Asuka and Yuki's face parts, which I don't think are as good as Yoko. ^^; But Pocco is awesome as expected. ^^








Does this means that the Gunpla section is gone in March? Not really, but there will definitely be more moe figures covered (which means less Gunpla-lah).

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.

Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver. Part 2

The peg joint issue
Revoltech Fraulein Yoko Movie Ver. in action after her introduction in the previous posting.






Curling both arms on the rifle over the shoulder - the most awesome pose of this figure which tempted me to get her. Not hard to get, once you get around with the right shoulder issue discussed below.



The rifle is light enough for the left hand to hold it without any other support.





Can't really pose her lie on the surface to get the sniper pose, but quite close anyway. ^^;



The smaller rifle is a new weapon in the first movie, obtained by dismantling parts from the original rifle. Not too fond of this weapon as compared to the long one. ^^


Yoko's pistol, hidden in her ponytail, is also a new weapon from the movie.



Yoko's chopstick attack :D
You can't use the ponytail hair part when posing with weapon. ^^







Yoko's limited articulation in her ankle is quite a problem when posing the figure, as it's quite hard to have her stand properly. The display stand is the more elegant type as seen on larger size action figures, but it doesn't work well for Yoko at all unfortunately. Sometimes after fixing a particular pose for Yoko, it's hard trying to figure out how to attach the back of the hair to the display stand. ^^;

There's a soft clip included for the display stand to attach to the leg of Yoko, but I tend to rotate the clip to different angles and attach it the arm and even part of the hair in certain poses, just to help to support the figure.

The biggest issue I have with the figure is the peg joint on the right shoulder. It's horribly loose for some reason. T_T The entire right arm would pop off just like that even when the Yoko's hair touches it when I rotate her head. That's how ridiculous it is. ^^; Since the right hand is for holding the rifle, it's quite a heavy duty part, and having it to be so loose is a real killer to the figure. ^^;

After a while, I realize it's easier, and less agitating for me to remove the right arm first, fix a pose for Yoko, and attach it back onto the shoulder as the last step. However funny that might sounds, it's one way to work around the poor shoulder joint. It's not broken mind you, just mighty loose. ^^;

And about the hair rubbing off the right arm, one way to go around it is to use the ponytail hair part in some of the poses. Then there's no chance of hitting the shoulder anymore, but that doesn't seem like it's a solution at all, eh? ^^; Then again, I like this hair part more actually, since there's a Revoltech joint incorporated for the ponytail, it can be adjusted freely. In a way, it's a lot more dynamic then the untied hair.

Apart from the issue with the shoulder joint, Yoko's a really fine figure. ^^ Both her face expressions are very nicely painted, so you get to see a very authentic expression on Yoko in all the poses. With the right move and right angle, Yoko would seem super awesome.

Comparison with a Figma figure in the next review. ^^