[FiguReview]Nendoroid Hakase

One of my favorite genre is comedy, including on the anime. The first time I heard about "Nichijou" anime I'm not really interested though, but when episode 1 just aired and someone post screencap of one of the character saying "Selamat pagi" and "Selamat malam" literally in Bahasa Indonesia, I know I have to watch this anime, ahaha. My favorite characters are the adorable Hakase and Sakamoto-san, and luckily for me GSC is releasing those two on Nendoroid line!

Nendoroid Hakase
December 2012 | 3500 yen | Good Smile Company

Character History

Hakase is just like her call, a scientist (hakase means professor in Japanese), even though she is still 8 years old but she's a genius who invented many things including the android girl, Nano whom becomes her caretaker, since despite her intelligence Hakase behaves just like any child her age. While the cat above is Sakamoto-san, a stray cat Hakase and Nano take care of. Sakamoto-san is 20 years old in cat age, making him always act like the adult on the house even though he often loses to his cat instinct. Sakamoto-san wears a red muffler Hakase invented so he can speak human language.

Packaging

The packaging is standard format for Nendoroid line. With the signature ducks filling the box background, it gives cheerful feels fitting for Hakase image. There are many sample pictures showing the gimmick Hakase has all around the box. Inside the box, the figure and accessories, which you can see via the window in front of the box, are stored nicely in multi-layer blister pack that ensure the safety of the content.

Set Content

Hakase comes with quite numbers of optional parts to having fun with. Here's the list of what you'll get from the set:

• Hakase figure
• Sakamoto figure
• 2 interchangeable face plates
• 1 interchangeable fringe part
• 1 interchangeable lower body part
• 2 pairs of interchangeable arm part + 1 right arm
• 1 pair of interchangeable 'v sign' hand part
• Mug
• Table
• Japanese teacup
• Cardboard
• Cat tail
• Stand base

That's a lot, right? And since Hakase is one of the product included on "Nendoroid Series No. 300 Anniversary" campaign which give you one of 3 available special base randomly, she comes with another stand base. The special base is put inside the box, behind the blister pack so you can't cheat getting the base you want.

Sculpt

Unlike most characters which are teenager or adult, since Hakase is actually a child she doesn't look that different on the Nendoroid version. But she does look cuter since she become more super deformed.

Due to the lab coat she wears, Hakase has slightly different body system. There's a peg on her upper body where you can rotate it 360' or remove it to swap it with the included lower body for sit position. One personal plus point she has is Hakase can stand independently without the need of stand base because of her lab coat. In case you're wondering, she still has the usual Nendoroid's lower body part including legs inside that coat. And on the sit lower body, there's also her feets showing up for more detail. A  bit shame this sit lower body doesn't have a hole like the stand body for the cat tail. The wrinkles on the coat add more point for me, I really love the sculpt.

Paint

The paint is well-done. I don't have any major complaint on Hakase. Her hair is nicely done, her faces are also pretty adorable and looks great with the blushing cheeks. One thing you have to pay attention is be careful not to dirt her pure white lab cloth. The rest of accessories, including Sakamoto, are also looks good without major paint problem.

Articulation

Don't compare Nendoroid with fully-articulated action figure line like SHF, Revoltech, etc. They are on different class. In fact, Hakase here only has 3 joints, one on her neck and the other two on her legs, which are mostly useless since those two are inside the immovable lab coat, lol. The joint is the usual Nendoroid joint which combining ball and hinge joint. You can adjust the position of joint by removing the part for more possible pose. While the pegs give you full 360' rotation, though it will look weird to rotate the upper body too much, and Hakase's fringe is blocking the arm movement most of the time.

But all the pegs on the arm, upper body, and hand, along with many option parts and Nendoroid's swapable feature, there are still many many poses you can do with Hakase, so don't worry.

Gimmick

Now this is Nendoroid's main selling point. Aside from the popular face plate swapping, Hakase can be mutilated like picture shown here, and those parts can be used universally to almost other Nendoroid, mostly the hands, hair, and legs. Since Hakase is wearing long-sleeved cloth, her arm can be removed too, so you're not stuck with the hand attached on the arm, for example you can use the swiss-roll grabbing hand to the straight arm.

Aside from the generic gimmick, there's a hole behind Hakase's standing lower body so you can put the cat tail on it. Along with the cat ear fringe part, you can recreate the famous "Hakase da nya~" pose. You can also change Hakase's lower body to other part for sitting position. And there's also Sakamoto. Even though his pose is static, but you can rotate his head and tail, and even remove his muffler.

Pose

Here comes the best part, picture time~!!

Now let's make Hakase use other optional parts, shall we?

Snickers? Hakase likes Beng-beng better!

Who threw away such cute cat? I'll take her!!

And now the opposite, how does other Nendoroid looks with Hakase's part? I really like the holding-tears expression, it fits really well with Sena and Miku! Though the smiling face looks too derp on other Nendoroid, ahaha...

Of course, my lovely angel Ayase will have her own special spot XP

Dawww, don't cry Ayase. I won't throw you away <3

And last set, Hakase with other figures~!!

Majiiin, go!!!

"Ojii-san, she's not our Hakase, isn't she?!"

End Verdict

I LOVE this Nendoroid. The line gap on her upper body may looks annoying sometimes but she is very very cute. Comes with many optional parts, her face plates are all adorable (I freaking love the holding-tears expression), great redesign, well-done paint, and enough articulation to make many different pose if you're bored with the current one's. I highly recommend getting Hakase into your collection and maybe Nano to complete the Shinonome Lab duo (trio with Sakamoto).