Metamo Figure Haruhi Part 1

Preview
Moe-month must start with this first. ^^

This 1/8 Metamo Figure Suzumiya Haruhi Bunny Ver. from Bandai, which I got late last year after a very long period of waiting for it to arrive, which is mainly due to the difficulty in securing her after years out in the market. That's one of the difficulties for figurine collectors I believe: if you don't buy it right away when it's released, looking for it might be a huge problem aftewards, especially when it's years later.

This figurine is actually the last of my top three must-gets after Max Factory's 1/8 Haruhi and 1/8 Shenhua, which had me went through the same level of searching and waiting. ^^; So there's this great sense of excitement and achievement as well when I got her, like some sort of life objective has been accomplished. XD


The first thing I noticed when I first got her was, what a small box it has! XD As compared to Shenhua, this is like nothing at all. It's probably about 1/3 of Shenhua's box, but the latter is made so big due to her long flowing hair and dynamic dress design, so no comparison there I suppose. Even 1/8 Haruhi's box is big thanks to her forwardly pointed right hand. This Metamo Haruhi however, is very much in a plain standing pose, plain from Haruhi's point of view. ^^

Another feature which is different from other "usual" figurines that I know of is the absence of window on the sides of the box. By first glance, one is unable to see Haruhi. The front portion of the box is a "door" which you can untab from the side of the box to reveal another front cover with window to see the figurine inside. But the tab seemed very hard to release without running the risk of damaging the front cover, or even tearing it, so I opened the box from the top instead, which is the a normal sealed container cover.


So, yeah, Metamo Haruhi is my first and probably the only figurine which I actually "opened the box". ^^

The sides of the box are replaced by explanation about the special feature of the figurine. For those who don't know this, Bandai's Metamo Figure series is very unique as compared to other figurines. ^^ Certain part of the figurines has special paint on them that changes color when certain temperature is reached. In Haruhi's case, her bunny suit is white at normal (hot) temperature, and will change to black, plus a pair of black stockings for her when it's cold.

Also, "normal" temperature based in Malaysia of course. For the Japanese instruction on the box, it's described in opposite instead. "Normal color", black when it's colder, and changes color when it's hot, which practically means the same anyway. ^^




The instruction on the side of the box even tells you to put Haruhi into the refrigerator to get her to change color. XD Definitely not going to do that. ^^

Pretty amazing eh? ^^ But it isn't the color changing feature which attracts me in the first place, but rather her face sculpture, body proportion and painting. I was planning to just collect her, so the color changing part doens't really matter to me at all. Frankly, I think this is one of the best face expressions of Haruhi among all her figurines, right on par if not better than Max Factory's version. ^^

And very cute body line as well. ^o^


For once I thought Bandai's quality in their figurine line can rival that of Max Factory, but some of their previous releases like Metamo Tsuruya-san, Kallen Kouzuki, Villetta Barrea and especially the very recent Sheryl Nome from the Emotion Style 1/8 scale series really had me think twice and thrice (sorry if you got any of these ^^;). Then again, the same can be said about this Metamo Haruhi as well. I like her very much, maybe not for other fans. I believe different people have different perspectives in judging what is beautiful and what is not, especially when it comes to figurines.


How does one get the very well balanced color of black and white on Haruhi anyway? ^^; Half of her in the fridge and another half outside? Or maybe during winter, you use a hair dryer on half of the figurine? ^^ Can't do that, not going to either. ^^;

Another feature about the box is the type of paper used. The other two figurines I have has boxes made of thicker and harder paper, which seem really solid for protecting the content. Metamo Haruhi on the other hand, features the even thinner paper you can find from the covers of Gunpla boxes. ^^; I must say I was quite disappointed when I received the figurine, as I was aiming to keep her in her box just like the other figurines (hence I would hope for a much thicker box for better protection), but immediately then, I understood why it was made so.

She's meant to be taken out to showoff her color changing feature, not to stay inside the box ^^;


Haruhi said so too at the bottom of the box, "Buy 3 at least - 1 for color changing, 1 for collection and 1 for display."

Sorry, President, budget not enough. ^^;

Since I opened the box already, might as well look at the figurine inside in the next review. ^^