I pre-ordered the figures of
Canaan and
Alphard months before were released, but I canceled them in late February because I ran out of money... At the beginning of the month I purchased them in a sale at
Hobby Link Japan, with a 40% discount for
Canaan and a 25% discount for
Alphard, so at the end I got a great deal for waiting!
1/8 Canaan by
Good Smile Company was a highly anticipated figure (
I did an entry about it about 10 months before the release date), but
CANAAN anime was not that popular at the end, and several quality issues made a lot of people cancel their orders. Is true that the final quality doesn't match the promotional shots from the prototype, but is not that bad as people said.
First of all, the highly dynamic sculpt by
Iwamoto Kunihiro is stunning, showing
Canaan jumping mid-air, dropping the cape in the process. I don't have any problem with
Iwamoto's sculpt,
Canaan face is good looking and there are tons of cool detail like her bracelet and pendant, but there are problems with the painting quality of the cape and the base, and the hair molding is not very good.
The cape painting job is not really that great if seen in a not optimum angle, and there are several white spots of what I suspect is glue. You must actively search for defects to see the problems because overall the figure is still good looking.
The external surface of the cape is better painted, but you can see the glue spots there...
The base isn’t quite as detailed as the official shots, but it gets the job done so I won't complain.
The other main problem can't be overlooked so easily, and is the molding of the hair with very visible seam lines and an almost lack of shading. Again, is not that bad with the correct light and in the correct angle but
in an unfavorable light the result is pretty bad.
If you can overlook the hair problems, the rest of the sculpt is gorgeous.
You can display it without the cape, but them is a bit plain looking... also note the lack of shading in the hair compared with the rest of the body.
Overall, is a must figure for
CANAAN fans (after all, there are not so many figures), and a great looking figure if you can oversee the overall minor faults.
Also sculpted by Iwamoto Kunihiro, displays Alphard in mid-air bending the body to the right. The highly dynamic feeling is again worth of praise.
Alphard, unlike Canaan, doesn't have any remarkable fault. The hair is well done and correctly shaded. I don't like the face sculpt as much as I like Canaan's one, but is close enough to the character.
There are tons of nice little details like the zipper or the subtle abdominal muscles.
And the sculpt is not really perfect: the trench pockets doesn't look like pockets at all.
The rear is also well detailed. There is a suspender strap on her back under the coat, but is hard to photograph without doing an awkward angle.
Overall is a better figure than Canaan, with a great dynamic pose and a more than acceptable paint job.
