I blame Stripey. Getting me to watch Nanoha was the first step. Leading by example. But I’m still going to buy him a beer, after the whole long mother goose saga, for this recommendation. All that matters now is that Alter Fate is home, guarded a chain made by the hands of shing silversmith.
It’s been mentioned in other posts (En Taro Adun!) how enormous the box is but I was still surprised. Took me just over half an hour to carefully get Fate out of all the protective layers and restraints. I lifted her out of the transparent casing. And her head fell off. ガ－ン!
I must admit that I spent almost half a minute cradling the horror, in both my hands, that is Headless Fate, and screaming like a little girl who’s been cornered by a tanuki earnestly expounding why he is not a lolicon. Then I noticed that there was a groove enclosed by her neck buckle and matching extension in the head piece. Which fitted nicely together. Apparently the piece was packed and shipped unassembled. Fate and I did not lose our heads for too long. Phew.
The bad news. There were three cast lines which are easily visible under a white light but not under a yellow light. Though that could be just me. Can’t really show them in the photos as my camera is very basic (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX7) and my photography skills are execrable.
The cast line between her fringe and rest of her hair is fairly obvious. I try to think of it as sort of a kind of parting but it quite clearly shows how her head was put together.
Also noticeable is a line running along the whole of the back of her sword arm (which also strangely lacks an elbow joint bump) and a part of her cape (along the line of the sheen, photo lower left). There are also one tiny imperfection each in the painting around Bardiche’s device form and around her belt. But I’ve decided to display her on the top shelf of my book shelf and thus won’t be able to see any of them if I don’t take her down from her perch.
Despite all my bellyaching, she’s still cuts a fine figure. Her pose is excellent. It combines well with Bardiche Zamber form and massive cape for an imposing and powerful aura without hubris. The Things That Billow (in this case, long hair, cape and miniskirt) billow with a sense of fluidity. I’m reminded of Fate’s attack on the Book of Darkness defence program in A’s Ep 12. Her facial expression is determined without being menacing, no traces of the vacuity that instantly causes me to reject a potential purchase. Other than the minor problems noted above, her painting is definitely satisfactory. The glossy sheen of her top, thigh-highs and cape give her a feeling of liveliness and classiness. Little details, such as the numerous buckles, ribbons, hair sculpt, footwear, belly button, were all pleasing. Bardiche Zamber’s real metal handle was a nice solid touch.
A final note: the proportions of her zettai ryouiki are not within the recommended parameters of 4:1:2½ (skirt:zettai ryouiki:legging above knee) more like 2½:1:2 but levels of moé are already dangerously high so some safety margin is required for the continued existential security of London.
In summary: AWESOME.
And no, I’m not putting up any pantsu shots. ;)
Shit.. Alter Fate… ALTER FATE…
Anyways, I’m waiting for Hayate figurines.
I like Hayate too. But if I bought her figurine, I would probably feel the need to have a complete set of the whole Yagami family…
Half an hour to take it out? Took me like 5 minutes, lol. I’m surprised her head came off because mine doesn’t. Well it’s an awesome figure, and I’m currently in the planning of doing a photoshoot for it.
What’s with the bottle of gin (in the 2nd pic) ?
Lol It was going for 200 Sing here. I didn’t get it.
You kidding about the head rite? The last I checked, mine’s still on me shelf. XD
Much as I would love a Hayate figure, I doubt she would be able to achieve the AWESOMEness of this masterpiece (majestic cape/flailing hair). And we need a Signum figure :)
I second the need for a Signum figure. lol.
I’m glad to see others that appreciate this figure as much as I do. ^^ I’m a newcomer to figure collecting, and this one was on the top of my list to pre-order a few months ago. I’m very glad I did. ^^
And I, too, squealed like a girl when taking out my figure. XD But mine was because of the wires holding her to the plastic casing.
Greetings Mandy! Adun torinas! I commend you both on your impeccable taste. LOL I haven’t bought a figurine for a while and was really concerned not to damage her plus them wires were almost trickier than some those of new fangled bra straps. Grrrh. Looking fwd to your photo shoot!
The_Observer, breakfast. [/jk] Wanted something for scale, to show the size of the box.
tjhan, now that the re-release is akan datang, prices should be going down. In any case, Alter Fate was my LIMIT BREAK acquisition of 2006 so I consider it to be money well spent. :D
Stripey, I kid you not. I was going to photograph Headless Fate but it. was. too. cruel. Probably better that her head wasn’t fitted in too. Now can understand why her head may snap off after insertion, even if secure in the box…
Tsubaki, I so agree. Swirling SCHLANGE FORM for Lævatein would be sooo cool. But her ‘hail’ overhead pose (A’s 12) or crouching ready position crossed with scabbard (A’s 7) would also be also be good (and more practicable, less fragile).
Congrats on getting your Fate! Guess I got lucky or something, even after shipping to the US, my Fate had her head intact. Sorry you had to endure the horror of seeing her disfigured so. :(
And you think your box was big, HLJ sent my Alter Fate with the Movic Fate, they had to do some custom box-creating with like 1 pound of tape, heh.
If you like the Alter one, I would highly recommend you take a look at the Movic version as well, it’s very nice. Just wish the Zanber with it wasn’t limited edition (only sold at like Animate and one other store I think). Has a good sculpt/paint job, and you can remove her skirt cape. Maybe that’ll get your attention, haha.
It went for SGD200? I got mine for just under half that.
I reserved one of the re-release Fates over at Hobbysearch but I have no idea where I’m going to put it, assuming I can even get one. I had no idea a 1/8 loli could take up so much room!