Figma 002 - Haruhi Suzumiya School Uniform Ver. by Max Factory

8/28/2014 - 6:38 PM - GMT +8
By: Seth Legaspi

For this week, I decided to take make a toy review. To start it, I decided to write about the great goddess, Haruhi Suzumiya!

Behold the Brigade Chief in her figma glory!

Sculpted by Masaki Asai, this figma, (according to some research I did on the company's website), stands in an approximate of 135mm in height. If I were to compare it with another object, the figure would be around the height of a PS Vita. A very common size when I compare it to my other figmas.

To start with would be some pictures of the box.

Front of the box

Back of the Box

It also comes with several accessories, with the handset, two faces, a hand with megaphone, a pair of shoes, and an extra armband. The figma stand, and the figma bag are in the box, I didn't bother placing it down there though.

Haruhi's Celestial Equipment

Looking at the figure's front, along with the proper lighting, Haruhi literally exhumes that horrifying aura that Kyon thrives on. The color-scheme is a bit-off on the uniform, since the supposed 'light-blue' part has a darker tone of color to it. These light-blue parts however, are flexible, and yes they can bend and stuff (not the paper bend, but the rubber kind of bend).

Kyon!

Taking a look at the back (Yes, admire that pose that took me around 10 minutes to set-up), the joints are quite visible, especially on the leg area.

Follow me everyone!

Looking at a side-view of her legs, made me think up of a kangaroo, due to its abnormal shape at the knee area. As shown above however, this feature gives a good dimension effect, when looked at from the rear.

Seems like she has finally inherited the speed of a kangaroo

But when gazed at from the front, the figma gives off this more natural look, which I guess asserts that this figma was sort of meant to be looked at from the front.

Also on a positive note, the abnormal curve shown above, also gives a good dimension effect to the front.

As shown here, this figma can also stand on its own without the figma stand.

Now here are some pictures of Haruhi with a different pose using her megaphone.

Speaking of posing; changing this figma's hands took me quite some time, since apparently, this figma has those ball-jointed ends for the hands as shown below. 

The hand-joints, if not properly handled, can easily break, and the ball-jointed ends makes changing her hands require a lot more force to be used. This led me to painstakingly balance the force and the amount of care that I use each time I change the hands, which in effect made the Endless Eight seem like a 3 episode loop for me.

Those ball-joints made changing Haruhi's hands an arduous task

On a closer look, her armband is also removal, and interchangeable with the extra one that comes with the accessories. This makes it possible to have Haruhi stop being the Brigade Chief, and become the Ultra Director for any purpose!

She's still wearing the Brigade Chief armband there

Ultra Director armband

All in all, I'll say that I am pleased with this figma. Haruhi is and always will be an eccentric fun character, and having a figma of her sort of makes that eccentric kind of fun become real.

To end it, here are my ratings for this figma

Accuracy: 10/10 

Flexibility: 10/10 (You can have Haruhi make several different poses)

Ease of use: 8/10 (The ball-ended joints at the hands made it difficult)

Color: 9/10 (The off-color at the supposed light-blue parts sort of gets at me)

General awe effect: 10/10 (It's Haruhi!)

Total(Average): 9.4/10

If you like or love the series like I do, then get one! The Brigade Chief will be pleased.