Category Archives: Guest Reviews

Guest Review #0041: Harry Potter

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

HARRY POTTER

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (NECA)

Hey! So it’s that time again, that super rare time where Jill has a review to write for the figure in question (because Ethan is not in a state to write this in time!). Harry Potter is back, and he’s got an awesome backpack because he’s a high school drop out. This figure, like the Sirius Black figure from The Order of the Phoenix was a Christmas gift from Ethan when he and Tim were trying to convince me to be interested in toys and action figures. (Unfortunately for my wallet, they have been successful).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure of Harry from The Deathly Hallows has 8 points of articulation, none of which are in his legs, like all my other NECA figures. He also comes with a removable backpack and a wand. I thought for a few minutes that his glasses were removable, but after some careful tinkering, I have discovered that they are just precariously attached. He stands about 8 inches tall, and has a passing likeness for Daniel Radcliffe during part one of the Deathly Hallows movies. It’s not perfect, but it’s ok. He’s recognizable. It is a little frustrating that his legs do not have any articulation, it makes it so he only really has one pose that makes sense, which is a battle pose, but his facial expression definitely doesn’t look like he’s in battle.

The backpack is fun, I like being able to pose him with or without it, and it’s accurate for the movie. The wand is both my absolute favorite and my least favorite part of this. This tiny, 1 inch strip of plastic is actually very close to what Harry’s wand looks like in the movies (I should know, I won the fancy prop version in a Harry Potter trivia contest my freshman year of college) and I think the effort that went into making this teeny-tiny little prop is exceptional. However, it is a teeny-tiny little strip of plastic that bends easy and is not held securely in his hand, which means that my greatest fear is that I’m going to lose it. If it falls out of his hand, there’s no getting this back. (My complaints about Sirius’ wand were very similar).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was my second Christmas present from Ethan, and it helped to establish the trend the boys have started of getting me action figures and toys as presents until the completionist in me had to start looking for the entire series of multiple toys. This figure is one of the first action figures I actually owned, and since I have gotten him I have bought several figures (including Rue) and established other collections thanks to Tim and Ethan (I own most of the Alex figures in the minecraft lines, and several other series, including some composers). My collection is not as vast of broad as Ethan and Tim’s, but it is growing, and this Harry Potter figure is part of the reason why. He’s not perfect, but he is important to my collection journey.

Guest Review #0040: Vic Viper

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

VIC VIPER

ZONE OF THE ENDERS (REVOLTECH YAMAGUCHI)

I love robots and space ships. Thankfully, today’s figure gives me both of these. Now, if you saw the title of this post and got exited for a review of the ship from the 1985 Konami arcade game Gradius, you might be thinking, “Where does the robot part come in? It’s just a ship.” That is because this Vic Viper (while hinted to be the same ship from Gradius) comes from the 2003 Konami game Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner as a supporting LEV to the leading orbital frame Jehuty. But we’re not here to talk about Jehuty this time, transforming into review mode.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As mentioned before, this Vic Viper is based on its appearance in Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. The figure is about 5 1/2 inches tall, plus a little extra height from the stand. Vic sports an impressive 65 points of articulation thanks to the extensive use of the standard revolver joints found in Revoltech figures. This makes Vic extremely poseable (almost frustratingly so), but it does disrupt the sculpt ever so slightly in places like the arms and wings. The sculpt work is entirely original to this figure and does a pretty good job capturing all the necessary dimensions and details. Everything is where it should be, although there are a few very minor instances where the mold seams interrupt some of the sculpted details. Vic’s paint is pretty great, barring one or two little spots of bleed, with a lot of really crisp detail work on the barcodes and 74 on his arms, wings, and shoulders. All of the colors match up to the game pretty closely, but what stands out is the slightly pearlescent finish to the white paint which really adds some depth to what could easily have been left a simple flat white. Contrasting that with the purple, dark grey, and metallic gold detailing really makes the figure pop. Vic comes packaged with with a spare set of arms with the hands deployed, 2 slashing effect pieces, a stand, and an extension piece that lets you transform him into ship mode if you want, though it’s a little bit of a hassle getting him there. Vic isn’t without his issues, but all in all, he’s a well made figure with a lot of potential for very dynamic poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Vic Viper a few months after I received the HD remaster of Zone of the Enders for Christmas. Oddly enough, I already had a figure of Jehuty prior to that point, so playing the game only confirmed that I would expand upon this. It took me a little time just getting used to posing him since Vic has joints all over the place, but once I got the hang of it, he turned out to be a bunch of fun.

Guest Review #0039: Snake/Big Boss

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

SNAKE/BIG BOSS (PEACE WALKER)

REVOLTECH YAMAGUCHI

snaket1

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron.  For more from Tim, check out Timsical Thoughts!

Kept you waiting, huh?  Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these reviews, but it seems appropriate to bring it back with a review of the greatest hero in the world, Big Boss, or Snake.  It’s hard to tell which one.  On the box, he’s called Snake, so I guess we’ll go with that, but onto the review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

snaket2Snake has had a wide variety of looks across the Metal Gear franchise.  This particular figure is based off of his sneaking-suit look from Peace Walker, after having established Militaires Sans Frontières but before the events of The Phantom Pain.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and has 53 points of articulation, one of which is his eye which can be turned to look in practically any direction.  The sculpt work is quite nicely handled with a good amount of detail such as the the rivets and wires which can be seen under the fabric of Snake’s suit.  His face seems a little on the gaunt side and some of the revolver joints are a little more visually prominent than I might have liked, but that’s about par for the course with most Revoltech figures.  As far as I’m aware, this is entirely original sculpting though smaller pieces like the hands could have been used in other versions of Snake.  The only area in which the sculpt suffers isn’t even visible when the figure is fully assembled.  The aforementioned poseable eye has a peg on the back side to facilitated movement, however it sticks out just enough to get in the way of the central joint of the head. The figure’s paint is very clean for the most part, with just a little bleed around the edged of his hair and beard.  The suit in particular has some really nice fine detailing such as the MSF and FOX logos on the shoulders.  Snake comes with a bunch of accessories including some weapons, so no need to worry about OSP.  Included are 5 pairs of hands (fist, gripping, gripping w/trigger fingers, karate chop, and open gesture), an additional hand to hold what I assume is a stun baton/taser thing, said taser thing, an M16 rifle, a pistol with a suppressor, a pair of climbing hooks (perhaps?), an exclamation mark, a sleeping piece, an action effect stand, and an articulated stand.  Snake also comes packed with a piece of card stock that you can cut out and fold into the real hero of the Metal Gear universe, the cardboard box.  I like the figure a lot, but I felt it was my destiny to be here, with the box.  You should get the box too, then you’ll know what I mean.    

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ok, fine, that last line was technically a different Snake, but you laughed, maybe, I hope.  I actually got this figure with the intent of getting a Solid Snake to go with my Revoltech Raiden but it turned out that the other options were either the wrong scale or far too expensive at the time, so I settled for Big Boss.  Sure, he and Raiden never interacted, but it suits my needs just fine.  To be fair, he’s a really cool figure in his own right and I’m glad I have him.  When I got him I spent basically a whole day playing with him LIKE A DAMN FIDDLE!  Ok, not like a damn fiddle, but like a really cool action figure.

snaket4b

Guest Review #0038: Rue

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

RUE

THE HUNGER GAMES (NECA)

rue1

The following is a guest review from Jill Mardesich.  Take it away Jill!

Rue is one of the iconic characters from the book The Hunger Games. She was the female tribute from District 11, the farming and agricultural district of Panem. Small and bird-like, she made up for her small stature with her cleverness and her ability to jump from tree to tree like a squirrel. She loved music and won over both the hearts of Panem and the readers/viewers of the 74th annual Hunger Games. She was an excellent tribute and a beautiful character… until, you know, she got stabbed with a spear and died

THE FIGURE ITSELF

rue2Rue stands 5 1/4 inches tall and has 10 points in her articulation. These points are in her neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, and ankles. Her hair is quite accurate to the character’s, but because it is molded plastic it greatly reduces the range of motion in her neck. She also has no articulation in her hips nor her knees, so there are very few positions you can actually put her in, which is a little disappointing. However, her sculpt is quite nice. I love how you can see every ringlets of her curls in her sculpt,and how detailed all of her clothing is. Each article of clothing looks like a distinctive fabric, which is accurate to the movie. Her paint is ok; there’s some slop along the lines on her jacket and her face doesn’t look great. Her facial features aren’t dainty enough to truly be Rue and go with the size of the figure. Her eyelids are heavy and her cheekbones are done is a way that really ages her,and her eyes are very strangely painted. It makes her look like she has an older woman’s face on an eleven (twelve?) year old’s body. Nothing is glaringly bad, but close inspection of the figure does make me feel like it was a little rushed. Rue comes with no accessories, which wouldn’t bother me if her right hand wasn’t obviously shaped to hold a knife like she does in the movie. Having the knife would also make her limited poses make more sense. According to Ethan, she looks like she was originally planned to have the knife, but NECA was probably told to just release her without it to save time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rue is the very first figure I actually bought for myself. Ever. Before her, the figures I owned were the two that Ethan gave me for Christmas. I hadn’t really gotten into collecting the figures yet, but I saw her at the store Yesterday’s Fun and decided to get her. Rue is one of my favorite characters from The Hunger Games trilogy, even though she is only in one book. Her story is tragic from the beginning, because as a reader you know that Katniss is going to be the one that survives because she’s narrating the story. The odds were never in her favor (heh), but I fell in love with her. She was cheap and I liked her, so I got her. Though she has issues, I really do like her and am glad that she is one of the starters for my personal figure collection.

Guest Review #0037: Overworld Alex

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

OVERWORLD ALEX

MINECRAFT (JAZWARES)

Alex1

The following is a guest review by Jill Mardesich.  For more from Jill, check out her blog Future Music Educator Rambles on Life.

Minecraft by Mojang is a game that has managed to sweep the nation, and one of my personal favorites. It is available in just about every platform you can think of, minus Wii and other Nintendo consoles. Because, you know, Nintendo doesn’t play well with others. Alex is the female version of the basic player character (Steve), and I absolutely adore her. She’s not super exciting, but the design is so much more interesting than Steve’s, and she’s a girl.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Alex2Alex is, as stated before, the female player character in the wildly popular game, Minecraft. She is a part of the third series of Minecraft figures. She stands approximately 3 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. She is a very blocky figure, which follows the game’s overall aesthetic. Her paint work is exceptionally detailed, but there are some fuzzy edges along the facial features, and there’s some pretty noticeable slop on both of her arms, but especially the left one. The orange of her hair is nice and vibrant on top of her head, but when painted onto the body, it seems to have been applied overtop the green of her shirt and causes the color to look really dingy and just… off. From a distance she looks awesome, but up close she gets a little disappointing. I don’t care that much though, because I’m really into her as a character anyway. For her accessories, she comes with a bow, a gold sword, and a Slime. The box looks pretty cool, but the edges of the paintwork are not clean, and it’s a little tricky to get her to hold it in a secure fashion. The sword is pretty nice, the paintwork is super neat and the sword is immediately identifiable as the material it is made of in the game. The Slime is a cool item to receive, replacing the normal building block that comes with the figures in this line. It also looks really cool, a 1.5 inch cube made of transparent green plastic with different shades of green plastic on the inside to provide the detailing. It leads a super clean likeness to the Slimes in the game, and a really cool looking piece. My one complaint about the Slime character is that the color green for the transparent plastic is a rather dark green, which is inaccurate to the game and causes the detailing inside to be difficult to see. If the transparent plastic was a lighter green like it is in the game, I think the details inside the Slime would be more vivid and impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Even though there is literally no story to the game Minecraft, I have loved Alex since she was introduced. She was a surprise to me in one of the updates (because honestly, who actually reads the entire update list when they log in to Minecraft?) and I was ridiculously excited to discover that my Doctor Who skin wasn’t working and it was instead I got to meet Alex. I think she has a really cool design, and I think the fact that she was such a surprise to me is part of the reason why I love her so much. She was like a present that I never expected. It seems fitting that my wonderful boyfriend Tim got her for me at the store in the same manner. She’s not a perfect figure, but she is still really cool and I’m excited to have her.

Guest Review #0036: Altair Idn-La’Ahad

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ALTAIR IBN-LA’AHAD

ASSASSIN’S CREED (MCFARLANE)

Altair1

The following is a guest review by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, Jessica Headlee.  For more from Jess, check out her book review blog, Of Books and Pen.

Altair was the assassin that started the Assassin’s Creed franchise and he is the first ancestor that Desmond Miles relives through an animus. Altair was the main character of only one platform game and one or two mobile games. In a few of the later games he did appear briefly within the story, and a few times the players could play as the original assassin for a time within the main story. Within the games, Altair is credited with being the master behind the Assassin’s Order that Ezio Auditore is introduced to in the second game.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Altair2The Altair figure is part of the 3rd series of McFarlane Toys’ Assassin’s Creed line. He is about 5 inches tall with 24 points of articulation. The outfit this figure is wearing is a good replication of the one from the first game. The figure is well textured, giving the appearance of rough linen, which has been added to by the shadowing done by the paint. The boots, trousers, sleeves, and hood also include natural folds, which adds to realism of the figure. I also enjoy the detailing of the belt, pouches, and arm guards, including the silver coloring on the buckles and the sword’s sheath. The paint of the figure is well enough, the only mistakes that I found were around the red sash, where stray bits of red paint got on the white of the robe.

While playing the game and seeing Altair in later installments I don’t believe I ever saw his face. In the games the hood was always up and shadowed his face so that you couldn’t see more than the lower half. The only time you see most of his face is in the promotional videos and pictures, and possibly in the intro of the first game before you get to the main menu. With this figure you can clearly see the face, which I expected. However, the face bothers me a little. It’s a nicely sculpted face, don’t get me wrong, but it looks too much like Desmond Miles to me. I understand that Altair is Desmond’s ancestor, but I never pictured him to be the spitting image of a descendent several centuries in the future. From the few glimpses of most of his face I never pictured him looking exactly like Desmond. All that aside, the face of the figure is fine, including the faint scar on his lips and the stubble of his facial hair.

Along with the figure came a collection of accessories that Altair had within the game. The two hidden blades are simple in design, just like in the game, one in the resting position and the other in the fully extended position. The famous Altair sword, one that makes me geek out completely, has a simple look as well, with subtle detailing in the hilt. The sword also fits rather well within the figure’s nicely sculpted sheath. Finally, the figure comes with four small throwing knives shaped like they were in the game with little markings on the hilt. The knives fit well enough in their sheaths on the belt, however, occasionally the knives on the upper part of the belt will pop out of the holders when the figure’s arms move and bump into them. Unfortunately, the figure does not come with the long dagger that Altair could use in battle, which is a little bit of a shame. Overall, the figure is a well-made representation of one of my favorite assassins from the franchise.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Altair was given to me by my super awesome boyfriend, Ethan, for Christmas this year. He’s always so attentive, he was there when I bought a different Assassin’s Creed figure and later asked me about all of my favorite characters. Let’s say a few months later I got a handful of new Assassin’s Creed figures, including Altair. The figure is fantastic and I’m happy to add him to my growing collection of action figures.

Guest Review #0035: Zero Suit Samus

Posted by Christian Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

ZERO SUIT SAMUS

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS AMIIBO

Samus1

The following is a Guest Review from my brother Christian Wilson.  For more from Christian, check out his general randomness over at Throwing Crayons.

“Why does she look like she’s wearing Bayonetta shoes?”, “What the hell is that prosthetic leg attachment thing?” “Why is her hair in two pieces?”

All these questions will be answered (actually, probably not) in the next episode of SOAP!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Samus2Samus is your standard Amiibo with a Smash Bros base and the weird leg support thingy majiger. She stands at just over 4 inches tall including the base (3.75 excluding) with, what a shock, zero points of articulation. She has a very sleek blue paint job and her hair is pretty good for a $13 figure. I would say if any part makes the figure look off, it’s most likely either the gun or the boots. Their paint isn’t the most Fant4stic and, unfortunately, detracts from a great figure. Other than physically, she functions like any Amiibo, working in Smash as her character and I noticed that in Mario kart 8 she can be scanned in and be used to receive the regular Samus Mii costume, which since I missed out on the regular Samus Amiibo (when I bought this Amiibo) was pretty neat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I love collecting Amiibo so I begged my mother to take me to the nearby GameStop. Unbeknown to me that was the day that wave 5 was released. I went in and looked at the wall of Amiibo and… I had all of them. At least until I saw Toad! I picked him up and went to check out when I saw 3 Zero Suit Samus Amiibo on the counter behind the checkout desk. I asked “Are those for sale?” And sure enough they were. I begrudgingly put Toad back and bought her in a heartbeat even though I wasn’t aware she was even released. Though she has her issues, she’s a really nice Amiibo and is definitely not my least favorite.

P.S. I did get a Toad later at the very same GameStop thanks to my brother. Love you bro.

P.S.S. Someone told me I should’ve bought all three Amiibo and sold 2 online. Sorry scalpers, I’m not living that life.

Guest Review #0034: Ultraman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

ULTRAMAN

ULTRA-ACT/S.H. FIGUARTS

The following is a guest review by my dad, writer Steven H. Wilson!  Check out more from him over at his blog, located at stevenhwilson.com

Bandai’s Ultra-Act line has released dozens of figures based on Tsubaraya Productions’ long-running Ultraman series, which includes of two dozen individual TV series, running from 1967 to the present, and about half that many feature films. Every series stars a new Ultraman character, differentiated from his brethren by a suffix–e.g. “Ultraman Jack,” Ultraman X,” “Ultraman Mebius.”

Sixth in Ultra-Act‘s 2015 lineup is an Ultraman character not from a TV series, but from a 2011 Manga which has recently been collected in trade paperback for the U.S. market. The Manga and its lead character are simply called “Ultraman,” and the hero is the human son of the first Ultraman from way back in 1967.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The packaging is dual-branded with the logos of Ultra-Act and S.H. Figuarts, another Bandai line. The figure is not in scale with the rest of the Ultra-Act line, coming in at 6 3/4 inches, about a half-inch shorter than the typical Ultraman figure. This explains the dual-branding, since it is in scale with S.H. Figuarts‘ popular Power Rangers and other lines. The figure has 30 points of articulation, and comes with three sets of interchangeable gauntlets, three sets of hands–including different pointing gestures, and, of course, fists–an extra chest plate, and the trademark Ultra-beam-blasting effect. I’m not sure what the point of the extra chest plate is. It’s slightly more streamlined than the one that comes packed on the figure, but its jewel is the same color. I would expect the whole point of providing an alternate chest plate for an Ultraman would be to show his warning light blinking red.

It’s a bit disappointing that the mask is not removable, a la early Marvel Legends Iron Man figures, since this Ultraman is not a giant from another world, but a kid in an exo-suit. The figure is very, very posable–almost too posable. He falls down a lot when displayed, and doesn’t come with a stand. On the up side, he tends to fall into some great action poses. An optional flying-stand is recommended for this guy. One other nit-pick, I suppose, that I have with all the Ultraman figures, is that their arms aren’t designed to easily assume (or hold) the cross-elbow beam-blasting stance that’s so commonly seen when an Ultraman fights. Still, the detail is amazing, and the figure brings a 2D character to beautiful 3D life.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The figure was given to me by Ethan, the man behind The Figure in Question, who’s also my son. He feeds me a steady diet of Ultra-Act figures (and Spark Dolls, another Ultraman line) for Christmases and birthdays and the like. He knows I’m devoted to all things Ultra. I grew up watching the original 1967 TV series, and have recently discovered (and developed something of an obsession for) all the spin-off series that were never dubbed into English. He picked up this figure for me for Christmas, and suggested I review it alongside my review of the source material, which is on my blog now. [You can read it here!– E]

Guest Review # 0033: Emile & Mongoose

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

EMILE & MONGOOSE

HALO MEGA BLOKS

Emil&Mongoose1

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron. For more from Tim, check out Timsical Thoughts and Tim’s Blarg.

Is Mega Bloks one word or two? I can never remember. It’s never been a big interest of mine, being the devout Lego purist I am. However, the one thing Mega Blocks does have over Lego is the Halo license and that is something I can get behind. If you saw my review of the Noble Team Minimates, you most likely caught on to my attitude toward Spartan Emile from Halo: Reach. If you didn’t, no worries, I’ll catch you up. “DUUUUUUUUUDE, EMILE IS GETTING THIS DONE!” Got all of that? Good. Anyway, today I’ll be looking at the MegaBlox incarnation of the true hero of the Haloverse, Emile himself, and he even comes with a sweet Mongoose ATV. Let’s get into it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EMILE

Emil&Mongoose3Skull face. That’s how you know this guy is serious. He’s got a skull face on his helmet face to protect his face face. Being his only appearance, this figure is based on Emile’s look from Halo Reach. He stands about 2 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation. He’s built on the “new(er) super posable” mini-figure body with a unique head and addons for his armor parts. The sculpt work is decent and pretty close to the in game assets though some of the smaller details are a little soft. Also, while the armor on Emile’s right shoulder is technically correct, it is missing the sheath for his trademark big knife which is a bit of a shame. The head does seem a little small on close inspection but if it were any bigger it would really limit the movement in his neck, so it’s forgivable. Plus, it makes him look super jacked-up and imposing… for a Mega Brix figure. There isn’t much to speak of in terms of paint. Most of Emile is cast in the appropriately colored plastic. His helmet is really the only substantial painted area with his visor done in a nice metallic gold. The aforementioned skull-face-over-his-face-face is painted in silver but is a little hard to see without actually holding the figure in-hand. Despite the lack of sheath, Emile does come with his big knife and a shotgun. I would have been happy with just that, but no, Emile doesn’t stop there.

THE MONGOOSE

Emil&Mongoose2He comes with a Mongoose ATV so he can get into a fight faster, blowing stuff up and stabbing what’s left. As you can probably guess given this is a Super Cubez review, the Mongoose is built of small bricks and plates and whatnot. All assembled, it is about 4 3/4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 1/2 inches tall. When you consider that this is a building toy, it does actually look pretty good and as close to the source material as can be expected, especially at this scale. In addition to different colors of bricks, some pieces feature painted UNSC logos and other markings that you would expect. Emile can sit pretty securely on it and in a way that looks natural. The Mongoose doesn’t have any accessories of it’s own since it’s already kind of an accessory, but it does have a platform and handle on the back end if another Spartan happened to show up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t even remember when I got this set. That’s how long ago it was. My best guess was around the time Ethan reviewed his UNSC Soldier ODST figure. I just know at the time I wasn’t really into Ultra Chunx, but the set featured Emile so how could I say no? Since then I seem to have amassed a small army of various Halo mini-figures so I’d say it left a good impression on me.

Guest Review #0032: Liara

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

LIARA

MASS EFFECT MINIMATES

Liana1

The following is a guest review from my Super Awesome Girlfriend Jessica.  Take it away Jess!

Heyo! Today’s guest review will be the next installment of the Mass Effect Minimates. Honestly, I should have done this sooner, but oh well! Last time I reviewed Wrex and now I will talk to you guys about the last alien companion in this series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Liana2Liara is part of the first series of Mass Effect Minimates, exclusively released at GameStop. The series features an assortment of the main characters from the Mass Effect franchise, including some of the alien companions that Shepard picks up along the way.

Liara T’Soni is a pureblood Asari researcher who has dedicated her life to studying the mysterious, and long gone, Prothean race. Commander Shepard first finds Liara on the planet Therum, where the young Asari had been researching the Protheans before the Geth arrived. After being saved by Shepard, she is the last to join the Normandy’s crew and she is the third character with biotic abilities, after Kaiden and Wrex. In the first game, she is used to find her mother, Matriarch Benezia, and she utilizes her abilities to aid Shepard in deciphering the Prothean “vison” that s/he received earlier in the game. Her character is very innocent in the beginning, but by the time you run into her again in the second game she has lost her innocent shell. In Mass Effect 2, she is still your ally but no longer a part of your team. Instead, she gives you information relevant to the mission. By the third installment of the series she is once again fighting by your side to save the universe from the Collectors and the Reapers. By this point, her innocent researcher demeanor has been replaced by a hardened badass biotic fighter.

For the figure itself, the Minimate is about 2 ½ inches tall with 14 points of articulation. The figure has a standard body with a skirt-like add-on. Liara’s head, however, isn’t very standard because of the sculpted hair tentacles, and yes that is a thing. I actually rather enjoy the detailing on her head, it’s well done and they even gave her really tiny freckles! For accessories, she was given a tiny heavy pistol and a clear blue plastic hand piece that is supposed to represent her biotic power. The costume that they used for the figure is one of the options for Liara in Mass Effect 3, and personally my favorite of her costumes. The detailing on her chest and leg pieces are pretty awesome, except for some places were the paint didn’t quite make it in between the lines. Her skirt has some of the same issues, where the paint isn’t quite perfect but as long as you aren’t holding the figure right up to your eye, you don’t really notice. The figure is still pretty cool and well done, especially with the costume design and hair tentacles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a present to me from my amazing boyfriend, Ethan, this past Christmas. As a character, I find Liara’s transformation pretty interesting. She starts out as a little naive scientist/researcher who needs saving from the game’s early villains, after tackling the galaxy over and over, she hardens into resourceful battle-ready companion that has done a lot behind the scenes to help Shepard and the galaxy. Honestly, she kind of freaked me out at first because she is a possible lover for both Shepards, and some of her actions made a younger me very nervous. After a while though, she grew on me and by the time I started playing the third game she had become one of my favorite characters. I loved that she broke out of the typical female scientist mold and became a strong, independent woman who didn’t always need help getting out of a sticky situation. Her Mass Effect 3 character design is very much her ‘butterfly’ form, or finale stage of development, and I’m happy to have her on board!