[FiguReview]Nendoroid Nee-san

Hiya! Been awhile since I wrote review even though I have many new figures as the materials, but time just doesn't let me to write new one, until today! Yeah, my story for AFA ID 2012 has to put on hold for awhile (it's already really late to write that anyway XD), make a way for the cute-but-annoying Nee-san!

Nendoroid Nee-san
July 2012 release, 6800 yen (DVD set) & 7800 yen (Blu-ray set)

Character History

Even though it comes with the DVD (or Blu-ray, depends on which set you get), I haven't watched the DVD yet but I have read about 11 chapters of the manga. Nee-san, or 'Elder Sister', is the titular character of "+tic Nee-san" series, a gag comedy about Plastic Model Club in which Nee-san was one of the three members. The story follows a wacky conversation and sometimes slapstick gag of the members and other guest characters. Nee-san herself is the oldest member, hence why she's called 'nee-san', but she's also the most childish, annoying, and rude out of other two members. As for the anime, from what I heard it's about 12 episodes but each episode is only 1-minute long; you can watch 6 episodes on its official site to know more about the series and Nee-san herself.

Packaging
Okay, first thing to note about the packaging: you won't get Danny Choo sign for each Nee-san you buy; I get his sign since I bought my Nee-san on AFA ID 2012 and after that ask him to sign it, haha.

The packaging format of Nee-san is basically the same with other previously released Nendoroids. On the front you can see the actual figure inside via the blister window, along with Japanese-written text to highlight the character and Nendoroid figure. On each side of the packaging, you can see some poses you can recreate using all the optional parts given; and lastly it's the rear where it differs for most Nendoroids as you can see the DVD cover (or Blu-ray, again depends on which set you get), since Nee-san is bundled with the DVD or Blu-Ray of the original net anime.

When you grab it, you can feel the box is as thick as most of Nendoroid, but actually the contents of the actual Nendoroid isn't that much and what make the box thick is the disc. Yeah, inside there are two partition where the front stores the Nendoroid and the back stores the disc. I haven't seen the DVD yet just like I mentioned above, but Nee-san page from GSC official site said beside all 12 episodes of the anime, it also has some special extras like non-stop version of opening and ending song.

Set and Accessories

I mentioned Nee-san actually comes with just a few optional parts, and this is the list of those parts:

• Nee-san figure
• 2 additional interchangeable face plates
• 2 additional sets of interchangeable arms
• 1 additional interchangeable hip
• Display stand
• DVD (or Blu-ray, again depends on which set)

Don't be too disappoint with those few numbers of the optional parts because I guarantee Nee-san still packs with tons of fun to play with. More of that later, let's move to the sculpt part first shall we~


Sculpt

I don't have much experiences with Nendoroid, but most of Nendoroids I have are all beautifully sculpted and Nee-san is also belong to that category. The redesign of Nee-san into Nendoroid's own 10 cm super-deformed figure really looks cute; too cute even when compared to the original manga counterpart which is just too wacky, lol. Just be careful so you won't accidentally drop Nee-san's back hair part and break the castle on her head because it's permanently sculpted there and doesn't made to be removed.

Paint
Ditto with the sculpt, Nendoroid hasn't made me went rage with horrible paint or quality control about the paint, all of Nendoroids I own, including Nee-san, is well-painted. Sure some parts have really minor flaw like those shirt part on the wrist but it can be easily looked out and you can just focus on what's good about her like that hair, or other small details like the ribbon, buttons, her bag, and others :3





Articulations

Articulation never been Nendoroids main selling point or its best trait, but doesn't mean Nendoroids don't come with one. The special hinge-swivel joint on the head part can make your Nendoroid to face left-right, upside-down (not that wide, but still make a difference), or tilt. The connecting part on the arms, hands, and hips can also serve as swivel joint for you to rotate those to direction you want. And lastly the same type of joint on the head can be found on the legs. Those are quite enough to make you lot of different poses for Nendoroid, including Nee-san, if you're bored of its current pose.

Gimmicks

Mutilated Nee-san D:

Now this is the one trait that make many people falls in love with Nendoroid line: parts that can be interchanged with other Nendoroid. Yes, those parts are not only interchangeable for Nee-san, but it can also be used for other Nendoroids and vice-versa. The most common interchangeable part is the face plate. These swapping face plate is really addicting and can make you fall into Nendoroid hell where you buy characters you didn't know because its face plate, or its other parts, looks great and you want it for your favorite character. And I just speak for what actually happened here; I have no idea who Nee-san is until I bought her because her wacky trolling face XD

But please note that not all Nendoroids have interchangeable parts; from what I know the older release doesn't have that feature yet. And not all Nendoroids have mold like what I show with Nee-san above; since usually characters wearing short sleeve have their hands molded permanently with their arm and can't be removed like those wearing long sleeve, like Nee-san here.

Pose
To further show what Nee-san capable of with all the parts come with her, here are more pictures I took. I don't take any responsibility if you want to get her afterwards XP

She is just this wacky and random XD
This pose is called "Olaolaola", btw :3

Here's more pictures of Nee-san with parts from other Nendoroids~

And this is other Nendoroids wearing Nee-san's faceplates~

Lastly, let's pose Nee-san with other Nendoroids!

End Verdict

Objectively speaking, Nee-san is great. Beautifully sculpted and painted, comes with few optional parts but those few are really interesting, and not to mention exploitable too especially that trolling face part. The only downside of Nee-san is probably the high price tag compared to another Nendoroids since Nee-san is bundled with DVD or Blu-ray. In the end, it comes back to you whether you can justify that higher price to get her or not, but if you have extra money to spend or maybe you're lucky to see one cheaply sold without the DVD/Blu-ray, I'd recommend to get her.