From the song to the OVA to the game to the anime, this month's review covers the most recent version of Black Rock Shooter, the TV design Figma!   I'm trying something a little different this time around for the review pictures. I was getting sick of the varying lighting quality in each post, so now I'm experimenting with light boxes. ...So I say, but this setup was done with a couple of pieces of printer paper and a flashlight. I'll have a proper setup with an actual box and better lights next time, but I'm pretty pleased with the results this time around. Let me know what you think in the comments! So, as you can tell from the title and the pictures, this time I'll be looking at the Figma version of Black Rock Shooter from the TV anime series. I'm indifferent about the show, but I've always liked the character designs, so when the new figures started coming out, I knew I had to snag one! This release brings us to four versions (or was it five? I'm losing track) of BRS, and like the others, small modifications have been made to her design to differentiate her. To start, the eye design is different. Her hair has more sharp edges, and her shorter pigtail has far less hair than previous versions. I really like the sculpting of the stands here. Her boots have a twist at the top and more material flaring out. The biggest difference is the lack of a scar or any other mark on her torso; to the best of my knowledge, this is the first version of BRS to go without it.    But as much as I like her design, I had some problems with her right out of the box. I don't know if I just got one that was part of a poorly QC'd batch, but I was really disappointed in how her lines were painted. There's a lot of smudging and paint bleeding, and it takes away from that crisp, sharp look that the design is going for. It's particularly bad on the top part of her jacket; there are even some flecks of paint where there shouldn't be any. I also didn't like the painting on the belt buckle--the top and the bottom are left white, and it just looks strange to me. Fortunately, her boots fare much better, but they also suffer from a few flecks here and there. Gotta love those chunky soles! Paint problems aside, BRS has a high number of articulation points to accomodate more action-oriented poses. The hood has left plenty of space to move her head around, and her pigtails can be posed in nearly any direction to simulate movement or wind. Her torso can turn a little bit as well. There are even joints on the bottom half of her jacket that allow you to move the pieces up and down, giving the legs more room. I wasn't expecting this, and it took me a while to notice it; when I first moved the jacket, it was on accident, and I had a miniature heart attack thinking that I'd ripped it in half. The top half of the jacket is made of soft plastic, similar to the Fate/Zero Saber Figma, while the bottom half with the joints is much harder. Unfortunately, the joints in her hands aren't as sturdy. One hand would not stay in the place where I'd posed it, and it flopped all around instead. She comes with several optional hands that don't have joints, but they make me paranoid about snapping them at the wrists. They are pretty good for posing her with her weapons though. Which brings us to her accessories! BRS only has one extra faceplate, which is not too much of a problem since she's not the most emotional character. She also has the obligatory extra fringe piece with the blue flame. For whatever reason, this piece won't completely fit into her head, leaving a big gap on one side. It's easy enough to hide from the camera if you use the right angle, but I was really excited to display her this way and once again I was disappointed. However, her exclusive accessory, the extra hooded head, makes up for it. You take off her regular head and the normal hood piece to snap this one in; to get the expressions in, you can take off the back part of the hood and place the faceplates like normal. You cannot switch out the fringe piece though. Too bad, because I would've loved to recreate this. Still, I really like the way it looks, and it's one of my favorite parts for this figure. Her other accessories are her two main weapons from the show, and first one up is her sword. This is another piece that is exclusive to this version of BRS, and I really like the paint job on it. The dirt, rust, and green discoloration are all really convincing. I wish the same care was taken when they painted her lines! It's also surprisingly sharp at the very tip of the weapon; while taking the photos for this review, I poked myself a few times on accident and it wasn't fun. Her second weapon and final accessory is the Rock Cannon. It was a bit of a hassle to actually get it attached to her hand and then her arm since the piece she needs to hold is hard to attach to. Some people reported on MFC that they accidentally tore the handle piece out but were able to snap it back in. There's no suggestion that this is supposed to be possible from the instruction papers BRS comes with, so I wouldn't recommend it. I was able to attach her hand to it with that happening, but it took so long that when I don't want to pose her with the cannon, I just leave the hand attached to it. Saves a lot of hassle that way.   Anyway, the Rock Cannon has a similar dirty and rusted effect as the sword, and it's also done really well. There are also well-hidden joints that allow the cannon to deploy. It looks pretty cool and makes the cannon much more dynamic than just leaving it as a static piece. Of course, the cannon is a bit to large and heavy for a Figma arm to hold up on it's own--this is a figure, not the real BRS--so it comes with its own stand that attaches at the bottom to hold it up. My version of the cannon didn't always attach to the stand properly, but once it's secure, it does free you up to pose BRS herself in whatever crazy action pose you like without having to worry too much about weight. Overall, I've got some problems with BRS. I think she just came from a bad cycle, since I got her right before GSC noticed that they had some problems with their quality control and started delaying figures by a few months. There's also another issue I haven't mentioned yet; she brings new meaning to the term dust bunny. I don't know if she's made of a different kind of plastic or what since I haven't had this problem with any of my other figures, but she attracts dust like no tomorrow. There was even dust on her when I opened up the box. For that reason, she needs a little more attention when it comes to cleaning. All of that said, I really like the play value of the figure. The sculpt itself is great, she has amazing articulation, and her weapons are badass. Despite the esthetic issues, this was the most fun that I've had with a photoshoot. She's great for practicing your Figma posing skills since she's given very few limits in her joints. There's also the novelty of the character, who has the most interesting content creation backstory I've ever heard and nothing else will likely top it. However, these qualities make her more of a preference figure. From the pictures that I've seen on MFC, the paint issues are not typical, so if you're interested in her articulation range for photos and/or are a big BRS fan, this is a good one to get. Also, the other characters with their TV designs aren't far behind, so if you're a completionist, now is a nice time to pick her up before scalpers start charging an arm and a leg for her (if they aren't already). Images by me.
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