I was really late getting to the studio, close to midnight — just one of those days where a hundred five minute delays got in the way. When I opened the door I expected to find a note from Ignis telling me she grew tired of waiting, that I should have called and been more considerate. Instead of a note, I found the studio splattered with blood and Ignis sheathing her sword. Some random demons tracked her down and tried to have their way with her. I guess I owe those demons for keeping her in the studio. Ignis annihilated them and she was pumped from the battle, so everything worked out to my convenience. We started shooting with the gore left on the wall.
I don’t pretend to know anything about her other than she comes from Max Factory, was sculpted by Masato Kitade, and is a 1/7 scale completed PVC model. The gore on the wall behind her seems fitting for a warrior with an ahoge so long and sharp that the Angel of Death could use it for a scythe blade.
It took a longer than expected time for Max Factory to deliver Ignis. Release delays are fairly common for completed PVC models, but Max Factory has done so many things right with Ignis that I can convince myself her delay was so she could be released as perfect as she could be. The Max Factory release of Ignis is one of the finest PVC figures ever produced. While I’ve only seen 35-40 PVC figures, from head to toe the quality level of this figure is so high that it triggers that opinion.
Anyone who has been collecting PVCs has grown accustomed to the usually ugly seam where the bangs and the back of the figure’s hair pieces meet. Once in a while, the sculptor is able to design the figure as to hide where this seam appears. Here, the unnatural seam needed for the manufacturing process matches perfectly with the locks of her bangs.
One of the things I find attractive about the Ignis design is she is 100% woman, not a cute girl, but a woman, more aggressive than the ubiquitous pre-women characters. She looks confident, which translates as sexy. That and she’s a meganekko character (the third in a row for HappySoda). The glasses take some work to balance just right on her nose, so rather than having to fuss with it each time I moved her to take a shot from a different angle, I tucked the glasses in her cleavage.
Ignis can stand perfectly without her supplied base. It’s always dangerous to display a standing figure away from their base and normally it’s tempting to try and get away with not using the base, just not this time. The folks at Max Factory thought it would be a wonderful convenience to have Ignis stand on a mirrored base.
Considering how precarious her glasses rest on her nose, adding such a convenience seems mandatory from a customer service point of view. Imagine the dissatisfaction of perverted figure collectors the world over at having to put her glasses back on every time they tilted Ignis back so they could get a quick peak for a cheap thrill. With this mirrored base, there is no tilting the figure or bending yourself into some weird position, just lean over a little to bring it all in view. As an added bonus, one doesn’t even have to reposition themselves to oggle her cleavage. This level of customer friendly design should be applauded.
From the back Ignis is just as impressive as a sword and gown type model. While the clothing fold physics are not anywhere as sophisticated as the ones found on Alter’s Black Dress Saber, the butterfly pattern-work and the windswept flow of her gown are killer enough to make the gown a huge factor in what makes Ignis an amazing figure. The butt cleavage is a little overdone to the point of detraction and that’s all I’ve got for complaints, so yeah, pretty damn good.
Here’s a string of clothing and sword detail shots:
Anyone with a passing interest in this figure should get Max Factory’s Ingis. It is an amazing PVC. Fans of sword and gown should practically be beating themselves with a hammer if they didn’t order Max’s version of her.
There is one potential problem to report with the figure. Tsubaki over at Anime Desho Desho? reports in the comments for his Ignis review that his Ignis is starting to warp after just a week. If you’re in a warm climate and can’t climate control, this might be a problem. Mine has been out of the box for almost a week and no sign of leaning one way or the other, but it rarely gets above 80 degrees in my apartment. Anyone else have a report on whether their Ignis leans or not? I’ll update if mine does.
Ah hah! Never even considered tucking the glasses between her cleavage.^_^; But I agree w/ you 100%: Ignis is quite possibly the coolest figure I’ve ever bought (well, if you count 11 as being a lot), and she was well worth the time and money. One odd thing I’ve noticed though is that the 1/7 PVCs from Alter and Max Factory tend to be as large, if not slightly larger than the 1/6 offerings from other companies (*cough*Clayz*cough*). So you won’t hear any complaints for me (save for the minor gripe); everyone w/ an interest in PVC collecting should own a copy of MF’s latest release. Also, the mirror/base thingy should be a standard w/ from now on.=9
I fixed mine by not using the base. I blue tack her to the ground, and no warp =D LOL
I absolutely love your work. I was totally against buying this figure (because I have way too many figures and no space) but you make me want this figure. I may have to change my mind.
hub_00: Clayz just makes their 1/6 figures too small. I think Ignis is scaled properly and would be 5′3″-5′6″ if made full scale. If you really want too large for their scale the recent Good Smile Company figures for Holiday Saber and Carene Hortensia are ginourmous. Instead of being 1:6 they’re 1:5.33 scale.
Tsubaki: The magical blue tack strikes again!
NegativeZero: I can’t imagine anyone being unhappy with this figure, so unless you’re in a serious spending cutback mode you won’t be sorry.
Awesome. Absolutely Awesome.
Wow this is absolutely the best picture set I’ve ever seen for a figurine. You’ve outdone yourself! Btw I recommend you submit your Rss feed to animenano.. I’m sure many more would get to see your work.
How did you do the blood background? Did you actually create it through paint?
I had some fake blood I didn’t use for Halloween and when I saw her it just seemed to click. I did two bloody backdrops. The first I drizzled on with chopsticks (like picture 5) and for the second I dipped a knife in the fake blood and flung it onto the paper.
Submitted to Nano at the end of September, but my blog’s still in the review queue.
[...] Ok, there are some decent figures to post, but if I don't go to bed, I will die tomorrow. To make it up to you, I will point you at HappySoda's review of Ignis. Rawr. A stellar job as usual. The man is an artist. Han's latest is good too, but has boobies. Check it out at the Riuva link in the blogroll. [...]
You truly are a master at taking photos.
NICE. And I’m sure your blog will be accepted.
Wow… nice photos.
I was planning on taking some pictures of Ignis also since I just bought her this weekend, but dang…. I wish I have 1/2 the skills of your. ^^;;;
ur really that artistic.. nice pic, figure and reviews.. i give 100/10..
[...] I wanted to have some differentiation from Superrats’ and Tsubaki’s galleries, so I experimented with a few things, ranging from Go boards and stones to red trinkets in the background. Was even considering using the red sand I got to paint the logo found on her base onto the white background, but a more cautious approach was appropriate for this maiden indoor shoot. Hence, it was a simple layout, with two pieces of large vangard sheet, of red and white. Turns out the lights were far too yellow and even after white-balancing the camera correctly, Ignis’s skintone and hair were still far too yellowish leaving me no choice but to turn to photoshop. And in doing so, a more bold and artistic colour choice was effected using the Selective Colours tool. Disclaimer: the original Ignis colours do not look like this, especially the hair – it’s far more gentle and toned. And I mounted the sword the other way around. I meant it! Serious. [...]
Adun, LianYL, usieh, niceone: Thanks! But, MaxIgnis is so damn fine it’s hard to take bad pictures of her.
I delayed getting this Ignis, for me Orchid Seed Ignis was the priority. Yesterday mine arrived and I was truly impressed, all the reviews are correct, this is a must get figure. Orchid Seed still is my favorite, but after putting all in consideration, Max Factory’s is the best Ignis until now.
So what you’re saying is removable clothing beats a mirrored base in terms of cheap otaku thrills.
[...] best one. For folk who have never seen pictures of it – is it really possible?? – here a link to super rats’s and Danny Choo’s [...]
Max Factory & Orchid Seed Ignis Reviewed – http://www.riuva.com/?p=282
[...] Ignis is a character from an eroge, which I never played and never heard about. Nonetheless, she seems to be very popular among otakus, as there are a total of four versions of her and in September there will be five. I prefer Max Factory’s version the most, you can see a review of that version on Happysoda.com. [...]
Nice review, I was just wondering which one would you recommend Alter’s or Max Factory? Cause imo both of them look nice >
It depends on what you’re looking for. The Alter version is more warrior-like while the Max Factory version is more glamorous and pretty.
I’ve heard the Max one warps and stuff, is that true for the Alter? I haven’t seen much on that…
Not all of them warp. My Max Ignis is fine. If you’re really concerned, then you can always put a little putty on her back heel for extra support without it being too noticeable. I’ve done it as a precaution.
Oh cool, thanks. I’m just getting into buying PVCs so I don’t know much XD I figure I’ll probably get this one off ebay and Kureha of HLJ. Is this price too good to be true? (EDIT: DELETED LINK TO LIKELY BOOTLEG)
A $9 Ignis, whose item location is China…999/1000 that it’s a bootleg with bad quality.
Where do you suggest I get it? I’m totally new to this >
I took a look and the Max Ignis is out of stock almost everywhere. I did find it listed as in stock at Circle Red, but they sometimes don’t have the most up to date stock status on their website. You might want to e-mail them about the stock status before placing an order.
As a general rule I avoid eBay, because there are more crappy bootlegs for sale on eBay than there are the real deal. Like I just did a search for Ignis. 8 out of the 11 listings for the MaxFactory version were without a doubt bootlegs. There are legitimate sellers on eBay, but they are clearly the minority. Signs of legit product are they are close to the price that stores were selling them for and guarantee of official licensed product, but they may still be lying bootlegging thieves typical of eBay. Sellers from Japan and the US will have a greater likelihood of having the real thing. With China and Hong Kong sellers, assume crap quality bootleg with these things.
On the other hand, the Alter Ignis is more widely available in the US stores (if you’re outside the US some of them ship worldwide) since that was released more recently. Check out:
http://www.kidnemo.com
http://www.tmpanime.com
http://www.circlered.com
http://www.estarland.com
http://www.rightstuf.com
[...] Here are some great picture of Ignis by super rats [...]
[...] Ignis is a character from an eroge, which I never played and never heard about. Nonetheless, she seems to be very popular among otakus, as there are a total of four versions of her and in September there will be five. I prefer Max Factory’s version the most, you can see a review of that version on Happysoda.com. [...]
[...] best one. For folk who have never seen pictures of it – is it really possible?? – here a link to super rats’s and Danny Choo’s [...]
I’ve had my Ignis for a few months now and I haven’t noticed any change in her since I got her. However, when I DID get her she wouldn’t stand without the base, ever; she falls forwards. I can’t tell where the problem is, though, but she was warped right out of the box. I suspect her ankles or lower legs but since she was new in box (and not a bootleg) I’m not sure how that happened because her legs weren’t supporting her weight. I’m new to figures and I don’t want to break her but do you have any suggestions for, like, un-warping?
Compare your picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/happysoda/289156170/
To mine from the side (with box in pic as straightness reference): http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2416/ignissidefi4.jpg
Top: http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3017/ignistopdownhg4.jpg
Front: http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/9397/ignisfronttz6.jpg
The normal method is either using hot water or a hair dryer to warp up the plastic to make it flexible enough to bend, then setting it in cold water to chill it. Note this does weaken the plastic, which means you have to do something to prevent it from bending again. Luckily with the Ignis figure, finding some way to plant her back heel of her right foot to the base works for some.
For many people the spot where Ignis warps is her right foot. This link deals specifically with fixing Ignis. Hope it helps.
Thanks for the link. Here’s some follow-up.
Last night I let gravity take a shot at fixing her. The setup I used is pretty obscure (like this: harnessed her feet into a MagLite clip sleeve and anchored it into an old Fisher Price mini pool table) but the point is that the gravity method worked great and required no temperature changes or forceful torquing (and Ignis is a hard figure to get a good grab on with all her hair and dress, anyway). After 8 hours in that horizontal position at 67 degrees F, she’s able to stand without her base.
I put her back in the packaging for now, just because, but next time I display her I’m going to sticky her ankle to the base/shelf to force some of her weight to be dispersed there. I might try propping the front of the base up a bit to adjust her center of gravity, too.
Glad you were able to repair it and make sure you remember to set that back heel when you display her again.
[...] cool photos/reviews of Ignis can be found here: Ignis Figure, One Killer Butterfly Igunis – [...]