Ok, I got a statue. It isn’t an action figure… It’s a statue. I have plainly refused to bother with statues, stemming from my Transformer collecting, after all, if it doesn’t transform, it isn’t a Transformer and on that same note if it doesn’t move then it isn’t a toy. However I saw this one of Aya from the Touhou Project series and it kind of grew on me.
And so I have my first statue from Kotobukiya. Hopefully not the first of many.
Why not the first of many? Well, these babies ain’t cheap! This one was the cheapest I could find and it was still cracking the 7500 yen mark. Postage on top of that and crikey, I don’t wanna get into these like a pal o mine has. Anyway, I got drawn into this as it is Aya Shameimaru and she is a Tengu. I have the figma figure and think it’s a great character design and shows the Tengu quite nicely. My love for Yokai grows and I am falling for Aya’s charms. This statue does the same, if a little better in fact.
It comes in a nice themed box, which covers the same colours as the statue itself and gives off a very Autumn feel.
It has some nice viewing spots in the front, a couple in the side and one from above. Nice artwork as well, obviously the design for the statue. Or inspiration.
For some reason, I got some goodies as well. A fan and a telephone card for use in Japan.
Nothing much in the box, obviously a statue doesn’t need instructions…
Aya is encased in a plastic holder to lessen rattling and for protection. Inside the box is a nice autumn coloured backing card that can be taken out and placed around the back of the statue if one so desires.
Her only accessories are a leaf fan and a camera that are to be placed in her hands.
Rather nicely both items have some pretty nice sculpted detail and they are both made specifically for a hand each. I wonder if she is left handed as she can only hold the camera in the left.
Put the leaf and camera in her hands and the end result looks a little (actually a lot) like this.
Nice hey?
The leaf has a good bend to it. Blowing in the wind! I was impressed that her fingernails are painted as well. The bottom leaf of the fan is removable so you can slide the handle into her hand.
Her camera sits a bit loosely in her hand and has a tendency to fall out . Her face looks likes nice and and she has the good old ‘moe’ look. There is a lot of autumn in this statue, from the wind, to the brown and falling leaf colours. Even her eyes have autumn brown in her irises. Her puffy sleeve shirt has a blown look and is crisply painted. My main reason for liking this figure actually comes from her shirt.
One half of the front of the shirt is incredibly well painted with and ink-painting styled autumn leaf and wind pattern and it looks fantastic. This certainly made this statue I think. I feel that without the print it would be quite dull. The pattern definitely provides a point of focus!
I love the way the wings have been painted with a shade of purple along the feathers towards the back. It look really really cool and manages to break up the black of her wings which is required as they are fairly large.
The base is no slouch when it comes to the windy/leafy feel of things either. It has acorn leaves printed on it and a flowing look to the base. The section holding Aya up is sculpted to be clouds that have been blown about by her fan I guess. They look pretty good too, with a solid grey at the bottom an towards the spikey ends it goes opaque. They connect to the main body by touching the feet and one of her wings, which manages to keep the clouds looking separate from Aya. It is rather cleverly done!
What I appreciate the most about this statue is that it manages to keep the cheekiness of the character, make her a little bit sexy and risqué, but the angle and placement of the legs manage to stop it from become too pervy. Some of the statues I have seen on the interwebs are… well too much really and it often makes me wonder if anybody would actually display the things. I feel that I could safely stick this on a shelf and even my Mum would be able to handle it. Sure I would look like a bit of a geek, but hey, I already do! I just don’t want to be seen as a perve.
Having said that though, I am now going to go on about her undies.
They are actually relatively tricky to get to, they don’t come off and I was impressed to see that even the sculpting here was pretty good too. I actually had to flip the statue upside down for these shots, hence my previous remarks about it being bot too pervy. As one would expect really, after all there is no articulation to have to compensate for.
As you can see, they are jut plain white knickers. Although they do have sculpted fold marks. Pretty classy overall. Unlike me ;p
I really like the belt on her thigh, it breaks ups the plain look of the legs quite nicely.
Her bottom is rather nice and shapely.
The buckles and bracelets are a sculpted to look loose on her arms and stuff. I really like the string piece that is a part of her hat and her hair is a nice crow black colour.
The statue is not really massive, but taller than a figma figure. I wouldn’t want it to be huge, as it would certainly cost more! It’s a good size and I think it’s supposed to be scaled as well. Yes, it is 1/8th.
Final thoughts? Well I will say that this is a lot better than I thought it would be. Considering how it’s just a statue, I find myself liking it much more than I thought I would. This is mainly due to the statue capturing the Tengu style of the character through the use of flowing sculpting and autumn colours.
Am I going to branch out and get more statues? Hmm, tough question… Maybe one or two, depending on the character and if I feel it captures the feel of the character well enough, which I think this one has done superbly! I hope not though, as they aren’t cheap and don’t do anything except sit on the shelf and waste your money. I doubt I would get another Aya statue as I feel satisfied this is a great one.
Here are some pics I took on the bad (but 3D) 3ds camera in a zip file.
A few pics of the statue for fun!
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