Revoltech Fraulein Mikuru Asahina Review

When I was chilling in Singapore for the weekend I chanced upon this quaint shop in Suntec called Otaku House. They got lots of good stuff in there, including some Figmas I've been dying to try getting into. Unfortunately, they didn't have a Mikuru or Haruhi Figma, so I settled for the newly released Revoltech Fraulein Mikuru Asahina ~ Mikuru’s Adventure ver. , which I'll be reviewing today.
















First of all, she's freaking cute. I've never seen an episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, but I know the characters and I've been crushing on Mikuru since forever, so I'm pretty glad to have gotten a figure of her.

Sculpt is gorgeous, and the detail is great, though there's some clumping of the paint I see on her costume as well as a yellowing on her apron that I don't see in any promo shots.

But her face is one of the most accurate renditions on a figure I've ever seen. It's like she's jumped out of your TV to give you a taste of her Mikuru Beam!

She comes with a whopping 8 pairs of hands (9 pairs if you include the ones already attached to her) for either putting her in heartbreakingly cute poses or recreating scenes from the anime. Her Mikuru Beam face and accompanying hand sign is worth the price of the entire figure set alone!

There's also a miniature futon tataki (a futon beater to beat the dust out of futons) and two handguns for when you want Mikuru to get medieval on any lecherous action figs you might put beside her.

As for articulation...well, this is the first time I've come across the unique Revoltech artic, so please pardon my n0obness. According to my immensely time-consuming research, the Revoltech joint system uses peg joints that 'ratchet' when you move them, apparently giving them the ability to strike a wide variety of poses "just like in real life" as well as keeping them posed that way.
















And therein lies the rub on my Mikuru figure. The joints on her lower body (specifically her waist and thighs) are so loose that it's a pain to pose her. I don't feel the ratcheting of the joints other than the ones on her feet, and even then they would be pushed out alignment at the slightest touch.


She also feels floppy in my hands and getting her to stand on her own is tedious because the natural state of her waist and her head is bending backwards. The figure stand included with the figure is a godsend, but it would have been nice if she was able to stand on her own with ease. I don't know if I just got a bum figure or anything, but it's not something you can actually watch out for, so just be careful in handling her.

Also, be careful in swapping out hands or heads. While I appreciate the modular design of Revoltechs and their ability to be truly 'customizable', you're going to need a little more elbow grease (so to speak) when handling this Fraulein. The Revolver joint pegs on mine are stuck tighter than a black hole, and it took me a while to both pull them out to allow hand and face-swapping and to realize that I didn't actually 'break' my Mikuru and it's supposed to be pulled out like that. >_<

I've been reading from some websites of the ability to 'tighten' Revoltech joints using special 'Revolpliers', but so far I don't think it's possible. So for now I'm stuck with painfully posing this Mikuru figure.

But when you do get to pose her right...it's...it's magic.

This Revoltech Fraulein Mikuru Asahina is my first anime action figure so she'll hold a special place in my heart (after Hazuki Fujimiya, of course). She's a cute figure of one of my favorite characters, so she's a great addition to my collection. You just have to be really, really, really careful in handling her.

I got her for 46 Singapore Dollars, which translate to roughly P1,470++. I don't know if it's cheaper here in the Philippines or anywhere, but with her 'hand'ful of accessories and fun chotchkes, she's very well worth it.

There's a Figma version of this specific costume of hers coming out in May 2009 if my sources are correct. I guess I'm off to save for a Mikuru or Haruhi Figma next!