Hunting the Elusive

This figure, I believe, was sculpted by the SunnyDay section of Cerberus Project outfit and has a base character design courtesy of Nanao Naru. It was released on Halloween's Day (31 October 07) for the price of 7600 yen (non-tax), but of course took much longer to get to us international customers. I never did get the point of releasing stuff right on the day (like Xmas or Halloween or New Year), cuz more often than not, consumers won't have the item to play with on the actual day.

Whilst this figure is pretty risque in its own right, the cast-off top means that some of the photographic documentation is non work-safe, and these photos have been relegated to links -- so no thumbnails for them.

As you can see, this figure came with a heap of Halloween-related accessories such as pumpkins and a trio of ghosts. The base has holding holes for securing the ghosts in, but the figure just sits there. There are problems with the balance of the figure as it tends to lean backwards, and I can only assume the pumpkins are there to prop it up or something.

It's Cerberus Project, so we are seeing some of the very detailed sculpting that they are known for. Note how even the fingernails are painted, as well as the sculpting perfection for even the most incidental of accessories (the ghosts). They're like a menagerie of servants for the Halloween girl.

Around the head area, we see again the detailed sculpting and painting, but there are problems with the texture of the plastic being used for the hair, resulting in rather rough-looking areas for the fringe and a plastic defect at that stray strand of hair. The hair ribbon is black (of course) and shaped to give an impression of bat's wings.

I should note here that the figure does come with a witch hat which may be put on the figure. Looks cute, but kinda overshadows the face.

The cast-off part itself is a diaphanous translucent material. The plastic has been sculpted very impressively to resemble the drapes and folds of the clothing resting on the ground. The head of the figure is removable to allow the translucent cloak to be removed.

Nude: Overview, front, back

Another interesting gimmick I found is that the smaller pumpkin (which has the face cut out) can be opened up. I couldn't resist and threw a small light tube in there, then turned off my lights.

Using a long exposure, I captured a nice scary glow!

...and photographing the pumpkin with the figure, a laptop screen providing a dim source of light.

Overall, this is a figure which has been a source of quite a bit of entertainment. The cast-off feature as well as the various gimmicks and accessories mean that a lot of time can be spent just playing around with the way the figure is set up to be displayed. The ecchi aspects of the figure balance very well with the moe/sweet aspects. Except for certain problems with the material and mass production processes, this figure was sculpted extremely well. The translucent cape in particular saw some of the most rigorous realistic sculpting I have seen to date, and plenty of fun can be had just looking at the figure and noticing various little details about it.

A problem to add to this review however is that the figure is packaged in a round plastic cylindrical box. Whilst I like the fact that they are being kinda innovative in packaging and presentation, the material for the box left something to be had. Unlike the FineScenery Noir et Blanc packaging which was made of sturdy cardboard, this was made of thin plastic, which by the time it made it to me, had started cracking at the bottom due to the rigours of parcel travel. Opening up the figure put further stress on the material and now it's cracked halfway up the side too.