Reina, A Farewell to Armor
October 10th, 2006
Reina is a warrior and has the thigh muscles to prove it. She looks ready for battle with her sword raised and shield by her side.
She is a character from an RPG game called Queen’s Blade. Many of the better looking figures, in both design and construction, come from h or bishoujo games or similarly risque design. Fewer mainstream anime and game characters get the quality treatment, it seems. I wonder why? Anyway, Reina is sculpted in 1/8 scale and is produced by MegaHouse. The sculptor information wasn’t on the box or at least not in a Roman alphabet, so I’m forced to leave that information out.
Whoever sculpted Reina carved one nice figure. The details in her armor and the belts rock, but it’s the shape and contour of her limbs that’s excellent. She comes with a transparent blue base (not pictured), but the pose is balanced enough where she can stand on her own with a little bit of work to find a spot on your shelf with just the right surface level. If you don’t want her tipping over, it’s probably best to attach Reina to her base rather than have her free standing, but it’s definitely a possibility.
The paint is also very good on her skin and her armor. The armor shines in the light and definitely gives a metallic impression. I wish the studs on her belts had the same metallic paint as well, not to mention that it would have been cool if the belts looked more like leather — they very much look like plastic. Consindering the belts are a prominent feature, they should have received more attention in their finish.
As attractive as I find the sculpt overall, I would have preferred a less vacant facial expression for such a powerful warrior maiden. Her arm should also be raised a little more, because her arm and sword covers her face from many viewing angles. It’s also a somewhat defensive posture. A more aggressive raised arm and sword and livelier facial expression would have added to the power stance she’s in and truly have made her an amazonian beauty.
As the title for this post alludes, Reina’s armor assembly and belts can be removed. Unless I missed something, removing the armor appears to be permanent. You can unbuckle the breastplate to pull it away from her body a little and see that they have indeed fully detailed her chest, but I’ve got no photos of that…uploaded.
MegaHouse produced a very good figure with Reina, but I wouldn’t call it excellent overall. It misses the mark a little with a somewhat vacant facial expression, the plasticky belts, and I consider it a design flaw for this particular pose to have her arm shield her face. On the positive side, the armor is nicely done, the pose is sturdy and well balanced, and the character has a powerful build.
10 Responses to “Reina, A Farewell to Armor”
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October 10th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Wow your pics are great as always. Where are the titty shots though? I’m betting you didn’t get that hideous monkey girl that came with Reina. Are you getting the other two in the set? The loli axegirl and the busty black armoured girl?
October 10th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
That monkey girl thing is ugly. I can’t imagine spending money on it unless I knew who she was and she was an awesome character or something. I’ll probably pass on the other two, especially the busty elf — her face doesn’t appeal to me.
October 10th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Awesome pics as usual. I wrote off the Queen’s Blade PVCs after one look at them (they looked too cheap to me), however after seeing your pics I’ve gone back and reconsidered. The only one I’m look at atm is the new one of the elf chick, but her rack is just too saggy. Firm oppai ftw!!!
October 10th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
I didn’t pre-order it either because at first I didn’t think much of it. After a while it just grew on me.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Thanks again for another nice photo set! Hirokazu Hisayuki’s art really lends itself to this medium when done correctly and this is another good case-in-point. ^__^
October 12th, 2006 at 7:06 am
Your photography skills never cease to amaze me.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
The armor can be safely taken off and put back on… see this site for pictures:
http://kaijin.akiba.coocan.jp/main/fig/photo/qbreinax.html
I have this figure myself and I can assure that the armor can be put back on. Getting the rubber straps off and back on her hips is a little tricky, but it seems to work no problem.
October 14th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
I am a great fan, of your indoor lighting skills. A good lighting always brings the best out of a subject.
October 15th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Thanks for the info Darklord. I didn’t want to force the armor off, because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get it back on while still fitting properly.
Thanks, Tsubaki.
October 16th, 2006 at 7:09 am
THere seems to be a variant in the near future, a black armoured and pale haired version of Reina. And I think it looks better. May go for it.