Good Smile Company’s Wonder Festival exclusive figures have become a tradition over the last few years, and it seems like the figures keep getting more elaborate as well! I’d successfully dodged the temptation to get a Snow Miku exclusive in the past, but this year GSC hit my weak point with a magical girl design! Now she’s bringing in a little bit of winter to end my summer, so this month’s review will cover the 2014 version of Nendoroid Snow Miku!
What I find interesting about this design is that aside from the shape of the eyes in the face and the twintails, this doesn’t feel like a Miku figure at all. It embraces the magical girl/snow witch motif without attempting to shoehorn in the more classic Miku accessories–previous Snow Miku figures have microphones and blue leeks, for instance. The only reference to Miku’s roots is in the music symbol on her cape and the magic circle accessory I’ll cover later. Otherwise, it’s magical girl all the way!
Her hat has some slight sculpting on the inside to fit her hair, and I’m pretty sure that there’s a small magnet inside as well, since it snaps into place once you line it up properly with the figure’s bangs. The cape is removable and comes with an alternate version which isn’t pictured in this review. The edges of the cape also have the only paint flaw I could find on this figure–the purple paint bleeds a little bit on the sides, which you can see in the pictures above. But otherwise, this Miku looks flawless. I especially love the details on her skirt and the paint gradient on the snowflake on her hat.
She also comes with a ton of accessories, probably the most out of any of the Nendoroids that I own. The first is her rabbit friend/familiar Yukine, who gets its own stand and can be rotated a little bit from the back. The paint on him is pretty clean as well, and there’s no paint transfer from his scarf to the rest of his body that I noticed.
Miku has an extra arm that allows her to hold Yukine by taking off his head from his main body (which is kind of disturbing, I won’t lie) and attaching it to the extra piece. The result is pretty cute, and makes me realize how far GSC has come since the days of Makdoka holding Kyuubey in her first Nendoroid.
My personal favorite accessory from the Nendoroid is the one that allows you to swap out her lower body so that she can sit down. This pose is very stable as well, and doesn’t require any extra help from a stand. She also has some books–one piece is a random stack that can be placed anywhere for photography purposes, and another is a hand piece holding an open book. I also love her faceplate. Officially it’s supposed to be a “studious” face, but it’s pretty easy to exploit on Miku and other Nendoroids since she also looks a little upset.
Then there’s the wand. There’s a hand piece specifically made to hold it, and the bottom part of the wand comes off to allow for easy attachment. There’s also another lightweight piece that slips over the middle so that the effect part can be attached. There’s even a little bit of articulation here depending on the angle. I wasn’t expecting that at all, and loved playing with it while setting up photos.
If you don’t have storage for all these Nendoroid accessories, GSC has it covered! This figure comes with two stands; the regular plastic one and a big one shaped like a book! You can see the front of it on the top of this post. The part where you attached the figure can be easily removed to reveal a storage space that fits all of the extra pieces and faceplates! The inside has a fuzzy texture, so there’s no need to worry about anything getting damaged.
But we’re still not done! The final extra piece is a plastic magic circle that attaches onto the arm part of the stand using some new pieces. GSC has clearly learned since the magic circle included with the Godoka Nendoroid. Coupled with the stand, it makes it look like Snow Miku is floating while casting magic!
So overall I’m very happy with this Nendoroid, but I do have a few complaints. Everything about her feels so
fragile. When I set her in any given pose I had to be sure that I wasn’t going to touch her again, because if I did everything would fall off. Her arms didn’t like to stay in place, the tail on her hat detached at the slightest brush, the hole in the her back is smaller than the one in the cape, which meant that she was never completely attached to her stand. The cape itself held her up. There were also weird sizing problems with some of the hands too; some of the pegs were too big to fit into the arms. Something similar happened with my Levi Nendoroid as well, which makes me wonder why the sizing across the Nendoroid accessories isn’t consistent anymore. Given the emphasis on swapping out parts with other figures in the line, this should be addressed. I hope that they at least the fix the problem with the back holes and the stands, since the figures are obviously top heavy and can’t stand on their own.
But production issues aside, this is an adorable figure with appeal outside of Miku enthusiasts. Her extra pieces alone made her a good addition to any Nendoroid collection, and even on her own she looks fantastic. That final pose with the book and the magic circle would look great on anyone’s shelf.
As with all WonFes-exclusive figures, this Snow Miku was only available to order for a limited time during the event back in Feburary. If you missed the order window, the only way to get her now is through the secondhand market. If you do go this route, be aware of bootlegs–there have already been instances of previously reputable online stores selling bootlegged versions of this figure. Don’t settle for anything less than the real thing!
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