Without hesitation, if you ask me which were my most anticipated bishoujo figures for 2012, my top three were Harley Quinn (reviewed), Poison Ivy (reviewed) and the newly released Jaina Solo. Of course, that isn't to say that I wasn't excited for other entries, it's just the three girls that I was most, most, most excited for.
Naturally, I was ecstatic when this arrived at my door. Jaina Solo! Ace pilot, ace mechanic, full blown Jedi, and never upstaged. Life-long troublemaker and pretty to boot? Sounds like perfect pin-up material.
Check out my full review below the jump.
Figure Name: ArtFX Jaina Solo
Figure Maker: Kotobukiya
Retail: US$64.99
Available at: AmiAmi | Entertainment Earth | BBTS
Jaina's box doesn't have any big, fat windows. The reason for this, I gather, is two-fold. The packaging for other Star Wars merchandise by Kotobukiya is also themed as big black boxes as far as I've seen, and also Jaina doesn't have her hands attached to her arms in the tray. It looks kind of weird, so I imagine someone made the excellent design decision to have just a little bit of her showing, but not as far down as her hands, which are attached to her accessories.
Once she's out of her box, you just have to plug her accessories into her wrists, her boots onto the base, and her waist together. I should note, you've got some options with the base just like the Tekken Bishoujo figures, and if she's on an even, flat surface Jaina could actually stand on her own without a base (though it's slightly precarious).
Jaina is posed with her gear in hands and her lightsaber kind of floating over her right, unlike the pose from the production shots in which the lightsaber is simply resting in her hand. The effect is achieved by a tiny, tiny peg on her pinky finger so it really appears to be floating from most angles. I feel that it's a satisfactory compromise between the illustration and the final product.
One of the things I liked the most about the figure after giving it a look for the first time was her hair. It's not overly voluminous, but has the look and feel of smooth, wavy hair. I love how it's molded to look very much like real hair, and the lines etched in to detail her tresses hide the seam well.
From the front and side like this, you could also note her tank top is also nicely detailed with plenty of wrinkles despite the simple design, and she has perfectly average breasts that aren't emphasized any more than necessary.
Here we've got her flight suit, which is turned down half way. I like that it looks baggy and worn without making her look sloppy or any less fabulous overall. Though it isn't made of fabric material, her harness is detailed to look like it -- a detail I appreciate.
Here's a look at her helmet. Her gloved hand is attached to it, as I mentioned earlier. It is a separate piece from the helmet, though.
The visor has that clear, yellow color as usual, and the designs on the helmet are standard. I didn't notice any paint goofs or otherwise any issues -- it rests perfectly against Jaina's hip.
The rest of her gear is in her right hand, again, attached to her glove. The peg for the lightsaber is so small that it pops off kind of easily, so you do need to be kind of careful with this statue. As with the harness, her things here also look like they're made out of rubber or other materials but are simply molded that way.
Finally, we've got her face. Is it just me, or does she slightly resemble Carrie Fisher?
Ah, anyway, miss Solo here is just wearing some light pink lipstick and nothing else. She's pretty "Plain Jane" if you want to compare her to the myriad anime and comic characters we tend to see in figure form, but I'm reveling in her average-ness. Her face has a lovely shape to it and I enjoy the posing overall, having her look to the side.
As you could probably imagine, I give Jaina Solo a double thumbs up. As designs go, she's beautiful without trying. As figures go, the molding and quality in detail overall is top notch. She's great if you're a Star Wars fan, and she'll probably also appeal to the more casual fans who can appreciate a pretty girl on their shelf. Be sure to check out the gallery to see more images that didn't make it into the body of this review.
Thanks to Kotobukiya for providing Tomopop with this review sample! Jaina was an absolute pleasure to photograph and looks great from all angles. She's a perfect start for the Star Wars Bishoujo line and I can't wait to see who comes up next.