Released back in 2007, is still the best iDOLM@STER figure so far.
Sculpted by Unikurage, this figure was sold only via the now defunct Idolmaster Official Goods Shop as part of the Birthday Commemoration goods.
Front side. The bouquet is quite heavy and uses an extra support in form of a plastic rod (not pictured because is rather ugly).
Back side. The wedding dress is stylish and fits perfectly Azusa.
Illya close up. Until I saw this figure, I never realized that Prisma Illya version of Illya have orange eyes instead of red...
It comes with an alternate face and Kaleido Ruby is detachable.
Illya, Kuro and Miyu birthday celebration at the beach.
Hot yuri action!
It shares the same scale and overall feeling of the other big scaled Saber's released, 1/7 Saber and the 1/7 Saber Lily also by Good Smile Company. Like the other two, there was a special care for the base, this time representing the insides of the cave where fought against Shirou and Rider.
The sculpt is by Hiroshi (circle Sakurazensen), that did the extra face for Gift's Sakura. This time I can't complain about the face, since is pretty nice, but I prefer the sculpt jobs of Tokunaga Hironuki or Kawahara Takayuki.
As usual with Saber Alter, the visor is included. I'm not really fan of it.
The pose is very dynamic, catching Saber in the middle of an attack.
Rear shot.
Another version of the dark Excalibur is included to do the dark beam of light attack.
Compared with the normal version of it is really massive and is one of the "charm points" of the figure, but for me it looks like a giant feather duster instead of a sword...
The set consist in an exclusive paper bag, a box (since "hako" means box, all the Mahou Tsukai no Hako sets were "boxed"), a calendar, a booklet and the main dish: a Nendoroid Puchi set.
The Nendoroid Petit versions of Hibiki, Keitan-san and Chikagi.
The small booklet. Hibiki and Chikagi are quite sexy there...
It includes an explanation of how the Nendoroids were done.
A small manga by Oomori Hayashi, that is serializing HibiChika Time.
Guest illustrations by CHAN×CO and Haizumi Natsuki (circle Chabashira Kikaku). I never mentioned before, but the blond girl that tags along with Hibiki and Chikagi from time to time is called Sunao, a classmate pretty obsessed with Chikagi.
February entry by Oomori Hayashi.
December entry by Higurashi Ryuji. His ability to mimic Takeuchi's style is still awesome.
Nendoroid Saber: Super Movable Edition is different from a regular nendoroid figure because has articulation points throughout the body. Neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, knees, feet... a total of 21 points of articulation puts this at the poseability level of a figma. Also, part of the hair and the front part of the skirt are of soft material that can be bended, adding more moveability.
Not counting Saber Lion and Saber Lily, this is the first Fate/stay night nendoroid that doesn't have the SD style from the game. The sculpt job on nendoroids is getting better and better, and out of the 11 nendoroids that I have this is easily the best looking one.
Even with all the articulation points, is hard as hell to pose properly due to the enormous head and the tiny arms (the picture is an attempt to do the Triumphant Excalibur pose). The joints (specially the shoulders ones) are extremely loose and tend to pop out at every movement.
The third face is a SD face from the game, officially called Hetare Saber (good-for-nothing Saber). Here is how appears in Fate/hollow ataraxia Illya's Castle mini-game:
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.
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 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.
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.
