With the ending of the work on the four Master Grade kits with MG Force Impulse Gundam yesterday, I was thinking of reviewing an action figure for a change in mood, since the last two from that category - Play Arts Kai Bayonetta and Jeanne were done back in last month. Also, a particularly cheerful character would be even better, to sort of mark the ending of a pretty long Gunpla work in progress series. ^^ Revoltech Yotsuba seems like a really good candidate for that purpose. ^^
This is the reissued version of the figure from Kaiyodo, which I got back in November last year, so disregarding the reissued nature of the item, this is actually a long overdue review. ^^; Speaking of which, the DX Summer Vacation Set just got reissued as well. Being a fan of the figure's wackiness and the extra fun those new accessories are offering, I'm eagerly anticipating that pre-order to arrive. ^^
Yotsuba is a character from her title manga series "Yotsuba&!", which is roughly "Yotsuba and something". As the title implies, the story is about Yotsuba discovering various things in her daily life as she interacts with her friends. I never seen the manga in its wholeness, but I did saw a few scattered pages from it in the past, really funny ones, but I won't comment on the character or her story as depicted in the manga. However, I do know another work from the creator of "Yotsuba&!", Kiyohiko Azuma that was made into an anime series - "Azumanga Daioh", which I'm a big fan of and I did managed to watch all the episodes. ^^ Seeing how the writer can make good fun and often weird imaginary storiess out of many tiny and a lot of time unimportant things to most of us in "Azumanga Daioh", I'm pretty sure "Yotsuba&!" has the same sort of fun chemistry as well. There are certainly a lot of obvious visual connection to point out between the two. I hope I can find it somewhere to read it.
I know this figure since it was first released back in 2007, and I like it very much since then. ^^ When it came to actual purchase, this is yet another like-it-but-miss-it case for me, which I won't delve into yet again. ^^; It's very simple-looking, but very fun nonetheless. The huge smile on her default face expression part depicts the character's cheerfulness very accurately with her illustration in the manga, and the other wacky-type serious face expression part is just such a funny design, especially when used with her toy gun. I can just relate it to the very old days when I was a kid, holding a ridiculous slingshot toy pistol made me felt like some character from a robot cartoon. XD "You better be afraid of my (wooden) pistol you evil monster! It shoots laser in the form of marble balls!" I'm not sure if Yotsuba is such an ignorant character in her manga, but I sure was at one point in my life, and I wore that same severe face expression as hers when I held my toy pistol. All for great laughs now XD
Seeing how simple this item is, an introduction of the box and its accessories in this first posting seems fair.
The figure can be seen clearly through the front window of the box.
Paper jacket band shows the status of this figure as a reissued item.
Back in the old days when the box design didn't follow the typical and 'repetitive' style of the newer ones that came after the Revoltech Neo move in June 2009, like Yamaguchi No. 081 Arbalest, Fraulein Mari Illustrious Makinami or Queen's Blade Alleyne, an illustration of Yotsuba and a large cutout of "!" on the box sides, which combine to form the title "Yotsuba&!" is a pretty neat idea. ^^
Introduction of the figure on the back of the box.
Another hugely popular character from the same series, Danboard was recently reissued as well, but I didn't get him since I'm not a big fan of the cardboard man XD
Box open.
Introduction of a Revoltech double-joint on one of the ears. Nothing new by Revoltech's own standards today, but I suppose it was an important point to make when Revoltech was still rather new when Yotsuba was released.
Box content. Given how few the accessories are, even the display base and stand were placed on the plastic tray. ^^
Rear view of the content.
With the clear plastic cover taken off.
Promo booklet for the Sci-fi Revoltech series is definitely something you don't get back in 2007 XD
A straight out of box display of Yotsuba.
All the accessories included.
The wacky extra face expression part that came together with a separate head.
Two option right hand units, one for holding the toy pistol while the other one is for holding the ice-cream.
Yotsuba's discoveries in this Revoltech release: ^^ toy pistol and ice-cream, chocolate coated vanilla ice-cream bar to be exact ^^
Simple but very nice design for the two items.
The ice-cream bar especially is just spot-on ^^
With both items attached to their respective option hand units.
Double-point Revoltech joint for the waist, which will be shown more in the next posting.
Display base and stand.
Back in the old days when there's no standardized design for the stand, Revoltech uses a metal rod with a soft clip. We're never going to get these for future releases I bet. ^^;
Printed title of "Yotsuba&!" on the top of the base and molded information about Revoltech at the bottom.
Comparison between Yotsuba and the display stand.
A small pin on the top of the base is used to attach to the sole of the figure.
The length of the bar is just right for the clip to hold Yotsuba at waist level.
Given how "normal" Yotsuba is in terms of overall design, the display stand is totally unnecessary for her standing pose. ^^ The base becomes very important when posing her in certain action, which will be covered in the next posting. ^^
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