Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Star Wars Lost Wave Figure EP505 Princess Leia Bespin Outfit Part 2

Two types of joints for 14 movable components

Going from the introduction and display of Star Wars Lost Wave Figure Princess Leia (Bespin Outfit) in the previous posting to its articulation design this time. ^^




Flexible range of head movement thanks to the ball-type neck joint.
The head is evidently molded from a single plastic part of flesh color, and the unpainted section of the hair behind the neck is an unnatural-looking testament of that. ^^;


Each arm has three movable points: shoulder, elbow and wrist.



The same type of swivel-hinge combo joint for the shoulder and elbow. They are simple in design, but very effective in enabling various poses for the arm. The single-colored sleeve helps the overall display by reducing the visibility of the joints.


Ball-type wrist joint that has its movement range restricted by the costume's design. ^^; Still, I'm perfectly fine with having just swiveling action for the hand. ^^


Despite the wrinkle details on its abdomen, the figure actually has a waist joint that allows the upper body to turn from side to side.


Ball-type joints for the hips. Thanks to the fabric material used for the skirt, the legs' movement is not restricted ...


... at all. ^^


Simple hinge joints for the knees.


Swivel-hinge combo joints for the ankles allow the feet to be bent vertically, and from side to side as well.


The unpainted joints are quite an eyesore. ^^; Luckily, they aren't too obvious in most poses that don't involve very drastic adjustments to the ankles.





Even with very simple hip, knee and ankle joints, the figure can be adjusted to perform a very natural-looking kneeling pose. ^^ The soft nature of the skirt deserves credits for not obstructing the legs' positioning, and for the additional benefit to concealing the hip joints as well. ^^


Peg slots can be seen on the soles, even though there's no display stand or platform included for the figure to stand on. ^^;

The joint design on this figure is a standard fair for all 3.75-inch releases in this Star Wars action figure series I suppose. As shown above, there are just two types of joints: ball-type and swivel-hinge combo type implemented for all 14 movable components. As simple as they may seem, they work very well in supporting all sorts of poses for the different components. The figure certainly doesn't feel restricted in any way for its action. So, despite its size, this is actually posable action figure. ^^ On the other hand, adjusting the poses is quite an amazing and pleasant experience for me, since I didn't expect so much posability from such a small figure in the first place. ^^

Come to think of it, the size (and from that factor, its weight) of the figure plays an important role in "supporting" its articulation. ^^ Because of its small size, simple hinges are strong enough to support the different components when they are adjusted. Also, because they are small, the exposed hinge area doesn't look too bad as well. The latter is inherently a non-issue for most of the joints on Princess Leia thanks to the similarity in color used for the parts. Still, I would imagine the look of the exposed hinges being excusable on other figures from this product line as well.


With support using Soul Stage Act 3 Action Support Clear Type.







The figure can stand very much on its own actually, at least for the first action pose shown above, ^^ but I had my electric fan on behind me when I was taking the pictures, so the possibility of this small-sized figure getting blown off its feet is quite likely, especially with its cape on that is very helpful in catching the wind. ^^; Having a display stand helps to reduce the risk of the figure falling down on its back while I was busy snapping away on its adjusted pose.

More action poses featuring this figure coming up in the last posting for this review series. ^^

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