Pachira PVC, La Vampire Chica
May 30th, 2007
I was a little surprised at the popularity of this Pachira is Vampire figure from Max Factory — a second run was announced before I even received my first run figure (thanks to my cc classing anime girl pvc figures from Japan as suspicious activity). The Magical Pokan anime isn’t the most popular out there and the previous Magical Pokan figure that Max Factory released really didn’t cause a huge wave of figure fandom, so the rapid sell-out for Pachira (or Pakira if you prefer) wasn’t something I thought would happen.
Of course, I should have known Pachira would be an in demand figure due to her featuring Max Factory’s POLO system of removable pvc apparel. Doesn’t matter that Pakira is pettanko (flat-chested), POLO sold this, which is quite funny considering there’s not much to show once her top is removed (visit Mukyaa if you are curious about that).
Maybe that’s just my western bias. Design wise, I see the appeal of the pettanko as a motif, but it doesn’t inspire any thoughts of wanting to see what’s under the hood. Don’t mind me, I’m just amused by the POLO system on such a character and if there will be a CHAPS system sometime down the road.
In general, I find the removable clothing options pointless. PVC clothing is going to be thick, so if you remove the clothes the character is going to be weirdly thin. Why bother? Well it obviously moves units, but from an aesthetic point of view the results haven’t seemed worthwhile. Of course, innovation often comes after persistent effort after a road of near misses, so I’m rooting for them to get it right some day.
I like Pachira’s design. She’s no Etna, but an underworld cutie nonetheless. The base of Pachira’s outfit is this black corset type thing with an embroidered cross, which seems to be all the rage with vampires these days. It’s glossy, suggesting pleather, a look that goes with the straps hanging playfully around her hips and another set of straps leading to a collar. Anime girl fashion loves to pair a top with unconnected sleeves. It’s not something seen very often on real life clothing, but anime character designers are onto detached sleeves as a way to expose and frame the shoulder area.
The boots seem to be an important part of the character design. They break up the sexiness of the outfit with their clunkiness, adding a sense of awkwardness, which probably goes to Pachira’s character.
“Pachira is Vampire”
-1/7 scale painted figure
-Sculpt by Hiroaki Tokunaga
-Made by Max Factory
-Japanese Release, April 2007
-5500 JPY
-US Availability: June 30 2007
-Pre-Order at RightStuf
Hmm…I guess that’s it. I find myself with surprisingly little to blabber on about. Maybe I’m just burned out from work, which has just been hell lately. Anyway, Pachira is a Max Factory figure, so there’s little to complain about right out of the box. Good paint, good differentiation, definition, pose, sculpt etc., etc. No reason not to get this if you like what you see.
32 Responses to “Pachira PVC, La Vampire Chica”
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May 30th, 2007 at 9:08 am
love the blood effect on the first and last picture, very nice. another great set of photos.
I too find cast off as pointless as well cause usually what attract me to buy the figure in the first place is the figure as a whole and not really what’s underneath. to me it’s really more of a gimmick than anything else
May 30th, 2007 at 9:17 am
nice shot as always, should make a shot with her top off tho :p
May 30th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Ah. Nice figure post again ^^
I found the pose rather awkward which lead me not to purchase this one
May 30th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I’ll probably get the 2nd run if I remember to preorder it. Nice photos as usual.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
she’s too young for my taste, hehe. nice photos though.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
She’s a vampire, so it’s entirely possible she’s hundreds of years old. HOW OLD DO YOU NEED THEM MAN?!
May 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Niiiiice.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I think there is an other enthusiasm factor for this figure : the fact to be an Aya Hirano voiced character…
Well, that is the reason why I watched this show, only because of seiyuu cast (and I loved it though).
The funniest is that Pachira isn’t the most popular character. If Liru is going to be released, I’m quite sure there will be more demand
Anyway, awesome pictures, I love your work on first and last shots (and the bat-pantsu-shot ^^;). What was your secret red ingredient? It’s very hard to define
May 30th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Aya Hirano is a definite cutie. Anyway, I got the impression that the Magical Pokan girls were teenage, but all I know is whatever is on Wikipedia, which doesn’t really specify.
The “neon blood” on some of the pictures is red tinsel. Christmas decorations come in real handy for those looking to spice up their figure shoots. The first and last shot obviously have gone through some Photoshop processing to give it that glamour shot fuzziness. It’s a pretty easy technique I’ll share in an upcoming post. I’ve used it in one or two shots in the Yuukanalia and Rosanna picture sets. I have a feeling it’s similar to what ~ron tried in his recent School Rumble photo set.
May 30th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Guwah~
Nice photos there, love them!
The removable clothes is a nice touch but I’m still worried about it damaging the paint job of the edges inside.
I’m still wondering where to take pictures of my Pakira.
May 30th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Nice pics!
I’m not a fan of cast off clothing either. Especially on this figure ^^; That doesn’t take away from what is an undeniable cute figure. I think there should be more figures blushing ala pachira. Looks cute
May 30th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Oopy…that post –^ is from me, aka_ugly. Sorry :/
Yes, that is my real name. Stupid AutoFill…
Btw, I added you to my craptacular blog. Hope that’s ok!
May 30th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Fixed it for ya!
I’d be more of a fan of cast-off if it looked good.:)
May 31st, 2007 at 5:48 am
Nice photo. This figurine is cute but due to limited budget, i have prioritize other figurines over this one. Thats alway the pain.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:30 am
About Photoshop. Whenever you’re done with a photoshoot, do you enhance the photos afterwards? Like changing color balance, levels, brightness and the like? Just like they do in “real” photoshoots, so there doesn’t seem to be anything bad about it…it’s digital photography after all. Seeing that you’re always getting such great results I’m just wondering^^
May 31st, 2007 at 8:26 am
Gorgeous pics as usual.
Pachira sounds so much like “panchira”(ぱんちら) which means “sneek a peek at panties” ^^;
May 31st, 2007 at 8:51 am
What happened to my entry T__T
May 31st, 2007 at 10:04 am
David, my spam catcher grabbed the comment. To answer your question:
I don’t do a lot of photoshop processing. For 75% of the pictures, all I do is hit ‘Auto Contrast’ or ‘Auto Levels’ in Photoshop Elements (cheapo version) and keep whichever one of the two auto adjustments look better. The less you have to do in PS, the better. If I see dust flecks I’ll take care of them with the healing brush if they’re really obvious. Sometimes I’ll edit a photo if I think the lighting over exaggerates a seam or join line and I usually note that somewhere in the review, but not always as I sometimes just forget to mention it.
The most time consuming part is deciding which photos I want to use. I generally take about 100-125 photos for each shoot (most figures get two shoots, so the number is closer to 200). Many of these are me trying to ensure I’ll get one in focus, no shake, etc., so I usually take about 4 or 5 shots of the same thing for insurance. Shooting with a tripod takes some fun out of it, so I try to avoid it. I wouldn’t have to shoot so many insurance shots with a tripod and generally pictures are sharper.
The aim is to trim the photos down to 10-12 pictures for a set. Generally, I think most figures can only give you about 8 shots without the photos becoming redundant. Leaving in 10-12 makes it easier to select the photos, otherwise it could take hours to get the set down to the best 8. Sometimes I trim a set on the fly, cutting them out after I post them.
It’s hard trimming a set down, because there are all these pictures I like. It takes a while to realize that 10 of the 20 best photos in a set are essentially the same picture as another photo in the set. Sometimes the best shot won’t make it due to it not flowing right with the composition of the rest of the set. The photo order in a review sometimes gets changed after posting it.
May 31st, 2007 at 10:16 am
Great shots as always ^^
May 31st, 2007 at 11:53 am
That is really sexy.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:11 am
Cute
June 1st, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Me and spam? That’s unpossible =O
Thanks a lot for the insight. It’s always interesting to see how people work. Now with a new camera I’m eager to learn all the secrets behind good photoshoots =) Juggling around with lightsources and the like will be fun and reading such blogs like yours give a good start into this kind of hobby. Keep it up =)
June 2nd, 2007 at 3:34 am
Great pics as always. I prefer the other version though lol.
June 7th, 2007 at 8:23 am
She’s fantastic, lol her panties are detailed too :3
June 10th, 2007 at 10:11 am
This is a nice and worthwhile set of pictures, even after many others had already placed theirs reviews. When I saw the promo pictures of her upcoming release I was instantly hooked, that was long before I know she will have cast off feature, she was a must buy. Too cute to pass by! Mine is already on it’s way. I think the first release sold out so fast because her loli characteristics.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:28 am
If I recall right, the cast-off wasn’t mentioned when first released.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Above all other reviews, I really liked your pictures. The last one is placed as my wallpaper now, if you agree that I can use it this way
June 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Sure.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Uma is sooooo cute!!! this figure use POLO system to?
August 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I didn’t check, but Uma was pre-POLO. She is though super cute.
*I think you might have posted in the wrong window or something, so I’ll copy my reply there too in case you come back to look for it.