Happy WonFes weekend everyone! If you follow Japanese figurine news, this weekend is the Summer Wonder Festival, where figure companies, manufacturers, and hobbyists who create garage kits put their new and upcoming products out for display to generate excitement from the collector community! So if your Twitter or Tumblr feeds have more pictures of Figmas, Nendoroids, and Alter scales than usual, that’s why!
Good Smile Company and Max Factory also sell and except pre-orders for event exclusive figures during WonFes, some of which only continue to be available at conventions. One such exclusive was actually sold first at Anime Expo this year, and I got one for my own collection!
This month’s review will be on Nendoroid Mako Fight Club Specialized Two-Star Goku Uniform Version!
Mako is a character who makes a perfect Nendoroid. Something about her design translates very well into the deformed Nendoroid model. Also, she came out of the box practically flawless! I didn’t spot any paint problems, and the individual pieces of the figure came together easily when setting her up. I also had no problems attaching her to the stand, which marks the first time in a while I haven’t had to force the peg into the back of a Nendoroid. I was also expecting the hat to have a magnet or something else in order to keep it in place, but it fits snug on her head despite being a separate piece. Thanks to this, you can easily change the angle of the hat, but I prefer the way it’s shown in the official photos.
The jacket is a separate piece that’s held in place by her head and neck joint, and the sides and sleeves are articulated a bit to allow for different poses as well as make room for the arms. This came in handy not only for more dynamic poses but also for when I was swapping out her arms; if the jacket had been closer or in a set shape, then I would’ve had to take off Mako’s head every time I wanted to switch out a piece! Thanks to the extra articulation, that wasn’t the case. It also allowed for some more details to shine through, such as the weapons in the jacket (I’d never noticed that she had pliers before)!
I was also impressed by the little grass stalk (in reference to Jotaro’s cigarette). The edge of her mouth on the first faceplate has a very tiny hole—so tiny that it took me a few minutes to even notice that it was there! The accessory has a clear plastic end that fits into the hole that kept it in place pretty well. However it fell out at one point when I was changing her pose and for a minute I thought that I had lost it since it’s so small! It is a great addition to the figure, but handle it carefully.
All of the accessories except for the bat have some part of it that’s made of softer plastic that allows for the accessory to bend a little while it’s being put in place, so this was also the first time I was not paranoid about breaking any accessories on accident! GSC is also getting more clever about how to attach accessories to the figure; for the tears accessory pictured above, there’s a clear part that slips around the Nendoroid’s neck joint to hold it in place, and once attached, it’s pretty much invisible. I love watching the evolution of this figure line!
The only thing that disappointed me a little bit about this figure was the waterfall of tears. This is a pretty funny and unique accessory that’s special to the character, so I was excited to try it out. However, the ones that I received are curved inwards and because of that, they don’t match up with Mako’s eyes. It’s easy enough to fake this with the right camera angle, like above, but looking at it from another perspective makes the problem more obvious. That said, I still enjoy the originality of this accessory and would love to see more funny and character-specific accessories like this from GSC.
Overall, I love this Nendoroid. She has great articulation, the accessories are easy to attach, she’s fun to pose, and is one of those figures where I feel that GSC captured the spirit of Mako’s character when she wore this outfit in the anime. The only thing that I wish I could do with her is display her with a happier expression, but since these faceplates where designed to go along with what’s already been released with the other Mako Nendoroid (whom I sadly do not own), I can’t complain! I appreciate that the effort went towards the accessories and the details on her outfit instead, since they make her a whole new figure in it’s own right, not just a variant. This Kill la Kill/Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure crossover figure could not be cuter!
This version of Nendoroid Mako can be pre-ordered this weekend through GSC’s online site during WonFes! Scalpers who purchased her from AX are reselling her as well, so beware of inflated prices!
Until next month, enjoy your figure collecting!