[FiguReview]Figma Nyarlko

Japanese has this super power to turn anything cute. They could make their war generals from Sengoku period or even their Gods cute, so it's not surprising when they can turn the super scary, malign deity from Cthulhu Myth, the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep, into a cute girl and alter the background completely and thus, born Nyaruko of "Haiyore! Nyaruko-san". After the success of the first season of the anime, Nyaruko comes in action figure in the form of figma and I'm here to review it, let's nya~!!

Figma Nyarlko
January 2013 | 3500 yen | Max Factory

Character History

Nyarlko aka Nyarlathotep, is an agent from Space Defence Agency sent to Earth to protect Mahiro Yasaka. One of the reason she take this job is because she wants to come to Earth to get all her beloved anime  and game merchandises, as she is also an otaku, and because she falls in love with Mahiro. Always trying to get Mahiro's attention (and love) with her flashy antics, Nyarlko is usually cute and friendly towards her Earthling friends, but she turns into brutal, ruthless fighter whenever hostile aliens is in her sight. She is very skillful fighter as an agent, mastering many Space CQC weapons and even a battlesuit. Because she's an otaku, and the parody and comedical nature of the series, Nyarlko, and other characters, often references other anime, game, and tokusatsu series.

Packaging

Comes with the standard box with colorful background, fitting the cheerful image of the series and Nyarlko's personality. As in most Figma, you can see the figure inside from the front blister window and sample images on the back side of the box.

The content inside is stored on multi-layer blister, like always too and Nyarlko figure is protected with more plastic sheet. There's also extra blister stored in between her back and her hair to ensure more safety.

Set Content

Nyarlko has many equipments and weapons from her Space Defence Agency, but unfortunately the figma figure only give us two of her Space CQC weapons. Here are the list of what you'll get:

• Nyarlko figure
• Crowbar
• Grenade
• 2 interchangeable face parts
• 4 pairs interchangeable hand parts + 1 right hand to hold grenade
• Display stand

Sculpt

Stands about 14 cm, Nyarlko looks pretty and proportionate. Many details like the frilly part of clothes on her shoulder, her skirt, the tie on her back, and the side-hair are made using soft plastic so it not really compromise the articulation. The hair on the other hand is made from hard plastic so it's heavy and can be hard to make Nyarlko stand without display stand on some poses, but the hair is sculpted in dynamic pose so it fits Nyarlko's hyperactive trait and looks good on many poses.

Also a good sculpt is... her ass, lol. Lately Max Factory gives extra effort sculpting buttocks and make it more realistic and delicious, haha. But unfortunately, my figure gets a defect on one of face plate, the smirking expression, where there's unclean finish on the right chin. And you have to be careful of her ahoge since it's quite easy to fall off. 

Paint

This is where it gets messy. On first sight Nyaruko looks great, the paint is well applied and seems there's no major defect. But let's take a closer look. Her head including the hair and face is great, but when we see her upper body, the black and white square pattern of her tie looks quite messy, and when we remove her head to see the her back, the paint black belt of her clothes is ruined, and finally the skirt. Just like the tie, the skirt is messy though it's more of uneven/asymmetric square.

Articulation

Since Figma hardly upgrade their joint system, the articulation is mostly the same as other Figma, it's very poseable but not in the same level as SHFiguarts which already use double-hinge to maximize the movement. The soft plastic on some part of the clothes though, makes the articulation unharmed so Nyarlko can do many pose varying from cutey pose to fighting pose. What hinder the movement is mostly her hair, for instance she can't look up.

Gimmick

Aside from the basic gimmick figma has which is face and hand swapping, Nyarlko doesn't have anything extraordinary. Each face plates available are facing on different direction though so it makes Nyarlko more photogenic no matter where you see her. The ahoge part is rotatable and removable to match the angle, and finally there's a dedicated hand part to hold two of her Space CQC weapons, the crowbar and grenade, though unfortunately it's only for right hand. To be honest, rather than grenade I wish we get other accessory, like her pet Shantak-kun perhaps, though if you also buy her Nendoroid, the Shantak-kun there is quite in-scale with Figma.

Action

I get it back! After reviewer block I had on Figma Nagato on previous review, I'm able to have many ideas , too many actually, to pose Nyarlko! So first, let's pose her using what she'll get by default...

Space CQC, "Hard-to-describe Crowbar-like Thingy" and "Unholy Hand Grenade"!

Now we use other part from figma I have...

Just usual, there will always special spot for my lovely angel Ayase <3

Back to Nyarlko, because she always do things in flashy, let's give her effect parts!

Next, because she often make reference of other series, I'll give him some interesting items. Hero nanka mabushikute, Nyarlko hou ga suteki!

Gokai Change, Nyaaaaa~rlko!!

Hikari ni nareeeee~!!!

 Watashi no na wa Nyarlko. Nyarlathotep. Aku wo tatsu tsurugi desu~!

Watashi no Zankantou ni tatenu mono nai~!!

Summoning the battle armor! Hen-shin~!!

Lastly, let's do some chaotic cross-over. Chaos chaos, I wanna chaos~!!

でんがなまんがな！

New season comes in April, "Haiyore! Nyarlko-san W"

End Verdict

Great sculpt but a little bit disappointment in paint and so few accessories. But Nyarlko is very photogenic with her facial expressions and she looks good whether it's cute or heroic pose. By itself, she's not that great of figure if you're not a fan, but display her with other hero figures, they will look great together and that's the true fun value of Nyarlko, she looks good with anyone! So even if it's biased like always, I give her 4 stars out of 5!