Black Rock Shooter is about two school girls who meet on the first day of junior high school, Mato Kuroi and Yomi Takanashi, a friendship soon blossoms however when Mato makes a new friend, Yuu, Yomi begins to get jealous. Running alongside the real world is Black Rock Shooter's world, where she silently battles Black Gold Saw and the scythe wielding Dead Master.
Black Rock Shooter for the most part is a silent character who appears stoic and determined in her quest, she wields a Black Blade and also a Rock Cannon, and when she really gets pumped a blue flame springs to life from her left eye.
Packaging:
Black Rock Shooter comes in a standard Figma box.
On the front is a window for viewing the figure, on one side is the Figma logo, on the other is a picture of the figure, on the back there is relevant information, all in Japanese, and pictures of the figure in various poses with their various accessories. Instructions for swapping face pieces and other items are usually printed on either inside of the box tabs or on a piece of paper slipped inside the packaging. Also take note that all figures you purchase have the correct authentication printed or stickered on the box.
Inside the box the figure is held between two pieces of moulded plastic, with spaces for their accessories. The extra hands and the base of the Figma stand are stored in plastic bags underneath the figure in the plastic moulding. Figures are usually wrapped with plastic in certain areas to protect the paint. Boxes also come with inserts which act as backdrops in the box and can be taken out and used for backdrops while displaying figures. BRS's backdrop is light blue and white checkers. BRS also comes with a special cut-out to use with the Di: Stage.
Figma’s also are supplied with a small zip-lock bag to store all the accessories in, the name of the figure can be written on this bag so that figure accessories can be stored neatly. Figma’s also come with a neat little device for storing the extra hands in.
Packaging = 7/10
Stand:
BRS comes with the standard Figma stand. Made of clear plastic it has three points of articulation which move forwards and back on hinge joints, one joint is at the bottom where it plugs into the base, one in the middle and one where it plugs into the Figma. The articulation of the stand allows the Figma to be posed in a variety of dynamic poses, and because it is clear it does not interfere with the aesthetic of taking dynamic and exciting photos.
BRS also comes with an extra Figma stand and a special clip piece for holding up her cannon. A very nice touch by Max Factory.
Stand = 8/10
Sculpt:
BRS's overall design very cool, and is rather dark and grungy, she has long blue/black hair, a large coat and rocky boots, she could totally be in a grunge band.
Starting from the top, her is nicely sculpted and win blown, I think her hair is by far my favourite part of the figure as it is just so lovely in sculpt and paint, some lovely crisscrossing of hair strands at the back of her hair. Her extra fringe piece is nice with the semi-clear plastic flame over one eye. The hood of her cloak is nicely sculpted and they have made folds in such away that her arm can still move upwards and she can do her reach behind her head and hold her Cannon pose. The back of her coat doesn't look too bad and her joints are relatively well blended, and the front pieces of her coat near her waist are made from semi-soft PVC so that its less restrictive. The bow on her bikini is also semi-soft PVC so that she can bend her chest joint without breaking it. Her stomach which is very exposed is nicely sculpted and her scar's and stitches just look great. Her shorts come next with a nicely sculpted belt. My favourite parts by far however are her boots, they just look great, they have a nice design and are well sculpted and specifically the zipper on the front of them looks great, as does the zipper on the front of her coat.
Over all a great design, interesting costume and minimal movement restrictions.
Sculpt = 9/10
Paint:
BRS has a colour scheme of black and cream, with some silver thrown in. Her clothing for the main part is glossy black with some cream trim, relatively good paint work with only a few messes of untidy cream. So nothing much to say about the paint work accept for her hair, she has lovely black hair with blue spray painted over the top creating highlights to her hair, giving it a very luminous quality which just looks great, her faces are also done nicely with lovely bright blue eyes.
BRS's accessories are also nicely painted, but once again a very simple colour scheme, her Rock Cannon being simple grey but with some nice texturing to the paint rough and worn down.
Paint = 8/10
Articulation:
BRS use’s the standard Figma joint system. Figma joints are hinge joints with pegs on either end allowing both forward and back movement and rotation.
At the head her neck is a Figma joint this allows the figure to look side to side, down and up. To change the faces on Figma’s the front piece of hair is removed and then the faces can be taken of and swapped.
The shoulder consists of a double joint, a ball joint which sits inside the upper body, this is attached to a ball shaped Figma joint which acts as the shoulder, and this allows full range of motion to the shoulder. Further down a Figma joint is used as the elbow and bends in and then out straight and there is some slight rotation for the lower arm to turn in and out. At the wrist the various hands plug into a small hole at the end of the arm. Each hand also has a hinge joint, which not only allows the hand to rotate but also to move up and down which gives the figure realistic wrist movement.
A waist joint is located under her chest. Waist joints are ball and socket joints, a ball joint will be attached to the upper body and which plug into a socket in the main torso, this gives the body twisting movement and bending forwards and back. At the hips a three jointed ball and socket joint is used. One ball plugs into a socket at the bottom of the torso acting as the hip joint; this allows the hips to turn side to side, lean forward or back, then on each of the other two ball joints the legs plug on. Each leg has an inner socket which the ball joint plugs into, this piece allows full range of motion from the ball joint and also allows the thigh to turn in and out as it pegs inside the main leg piece, she also has a swivel joint on her upper thigh allowing her legs to turn in and out even more.
A Figma joint is then used as the knee allowing the knee to bend backwards and then out to straight, and there is some slight rotation for the lower leg to turn in and out. The ankle also is a Figma joint allowing the foot to point and flex turn in and out.
BRS has four points of additional articulation, in each ponytail she has a Figma joint allowing her hair to move around, she also has two Figma joints in the back of her coat allowing it move around with her various poses.
Pose:
BRS is therefore highly posable and can be posed in a variety of ways. With the use of the accessories supplied, her Rock Cannon and Black Blade, she can be displayed in a number of poses, ready to battle with her Black Blade and firing her Rock Cannon. However there are a few areas in which articulation is restricted, her legs are unable to move backwards at the hip due to the design of her bottom, also due to the weight of her Rock Cannon it is hard to pose without using the extra Figma stand provided, which means you'd have to edit it out of photo's if you wanted a clean action photo.
Articulation & Pose = 8/10
Enjoyment:
I will break down enjoyment into two categories: Accessories and Play Value.
Accessories:
BRS comes with three facial expressions; an angry yelling expression, a relaxed sleeping expression, and a plain expression. BRS also comes with an assortment of hands; a pair of fists, a pair of open hands, a pair of hands for holding her Black Blade, a pair of hands for holding her Rock Cannon, and a pair of relaxed hands.
BRS also comes with her Rock Cannon, which is rather large, indeed its actually bigger than the figure herself, to use the Cannon just clip on one of her holding hands and use the extra Figma stand for extra support if needed. She also comes with her Black Blade hand hands which just slip onto the handle of the sword, and of course she has an extra fringe piece with her famous blue eye flame attached. She also come with two long chains for added fun, a very nice touch by Max Factory.
Finally she comes with a DVD pilot of the anime series. Is simply enclosed in some paper. At this time I will not be reviewing the anime, but may do later on, what I will say is that they allow several language subtitles to view the anime in which is great.
Play Value:
I will break down play value into two categories: Compatibility, with other figures and accessories, and general play.
Compatibility:
NRS is very compatible with other Figma accessories. Due to her hands for holding her Rock Cannon which are not closed all the way, and her other hands for holding her Black Blade she can pretty much hold any other Figma accessory, from flying away on Marisa's broom to drowning her sorrows with Sake.
Next up is a height comparison, as you can see she is on the shorter side of the Figma height scale, and is only a little bit taller than young Fate.
General Play:
In general BRS is a great figure, at first I was not going to bother getting her as the first few photo's of her looked rather boring, but I did want Dead Master and after a while I came around and thought well I better have someone to keep Dead Master company, and I am glad I did because BRS up close and personal looks great. So I recommend her to people who are interested in the Black Rock Shooter anime or just the pure awesome wickedness which are the character designs.
Enjoyment = 9/10
Over all Black Rock Shooter scores 8.2/10
