autaku

You may remember that I got the Summer Uniform version of Figma Haruhi a couple of months ago, and I’d always planned to get the regular uniform version eventually to get a bigger range of faces and other extras. With AmiAmi running a 50% off shipping promotion throughout February and Max Factory offering bonus accessory sets as part of their “Winter Campaign”, I figured now was a good time. While I’m very pleased with Haruhi herself, the Winter Campaign set is quite disappointing. It includes two pairs of mittens (one for Figmas, and one for Nendoroids) and a scarf (which should fit both Figmas or Nendoroids), in one of five randomly-packed colours. The scarf fits alright – though how well it actually sits on the figure will vary – and I can’t comment on the Nendoroid mittens, but the Figma mittens are all but useless. Read on for a closer look and a bit more explanation.

I love the simple, clean aesthetic of the early Figma packaging. Some of the newer boxes are a bit overdone.

The Winter Campaign bonus comes in this little black packet. Make sure you don't throw it out when you're unpacking your shipment! Well, maybe you don't have to worry too much...

I got a pink set, which suits Haruhi pretty well.

The scarf is pretty well sculpted, as you can see, and is made of a bendable material like Max Factory uses for skirts and so on with the Figma line. The mittens look decent enough, but anyone familiar with Figmas should already be noticing two flaws; one forgivable but one fatal. First – this is the “forgivable” part – there’s no joint for wrist articulation. Fair enough, it’s a promotional bonus so we can’t expect too much. Sadly, the rod used to connect the mittens to the Figma has no ball on the end, so the mittens don’t pop in and out like other Figma hands. Basically, these will fall out most of the time unless you have the arms posed upward. I guess no one at Max Factory has ever heard of gravity, because they’ve done nothing to combat its effect here. Of course you could use some blu-tac or something like that to hold them in, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask for accessories to actually fit properly (free or not).

While the Winter Campaign set is a pretty half-hearted effort on Max Factory’s behalf – personally, I don’t think they should’ve bothered at all if they weren’t going to do it right – it wasn’t really a big concern for me. It was AmiAmi’s shipping sale that influenced my timing, and the actual Haruhi Figma doesn’t disappoint. She was the second Figma released quite some time ago so there’s not much point in going into great detail here, but there’s a good range of accessories included: three faces, two pairs of shoes, two armbands, a megaphone and all the usual Figma extras (a bunch of extra hands and a display stand). All up there are plenty of display options, especially if you add another version of Figma Haruhi for expansion.

I think that the Figma joints look much better on the long sleeves here than they do on the bare arms of the Summer Uniform, but they’re still a trade-off: if you like to be able to pose figures yourself you won’t go wrong with the Figma line, but a fixed-pose figure will be overall more aesthetically pleasing. Still, even if – like me – you prefer the latter, thanks to their fairly low price point a few Figmas make a nice (posable) addition to the collection.