2011 Racing figma Miku Hatsune

 

Another Miku Hatsune hey?  Bah! How many can one chap have?  Well a lot judging by how I am going…

 

This one is a very limited run.  It was only attainable by becoming a sponsor for team Ukyo.  Or something. You got a personalised card and some other stuff, there were three levels of sponsorship available and that varied the amount of goodies one got.

 

According to the Good Smile Company’s website, it has “…transparent feeling hair…”  That is special in itself!  Luckily the figure is better than their English.

 

 

This Miku is supposed to be one of the sponsor girls who help make the racing more interesting, by assisting the drivers and generally being pretty.  The box is a standard large figma box showing off the accessories and tuff on the back.

 

 

The plastic casing for the figure has two layers,  one hold Miku, her spare face, trophy and checked flag.  I love that flag!

 

 

 

The second holds the signboard and umbrellas. She gets two umbrellas as one is an open one and the other closed.  The sign board comes with a sticker sheet, which was cleverly hidden behind the backing cardboard below.  The print on the umbrella is pretty good.  It makes me wonder if this is the same sculpt for the Bakemonogatari Snail Girl character who also has an umbrella.

 

 

She has an assortment of hands and a di stage that all figmas have and I am yet unable to use as it doesn’t seem quite so obvious to me.

 

Onto Miku.  I will start out by saying that from the initial concept pictures that were revealed, I like her costume.  Then when I saw the figure images, I was impressed by the sculpt.  She certainly looks more adult for this Racing Girly thing.  Both in looks and *ahem* breast size.  The facial sculpt is a really good one I think and the hair style adds to the maturity as well.  Yet it still feels like Miku Hatsune.  Oh, this one doesn’t come with any leeks either.

 

The paint applications are nice and crisp and I like the use of the blue to hi-light the collar.  Hmm, Initially, I thought that her chest are was supposed to be ‘flesh’ and I was going to complain about the arms’ plastic not matching well with the paint on the chest.  However with the discovery of the colour coming out of the ’flesh’ area above her breasts, I am inclined to think that it may be part of the costume, in which case the colour change is acceptable.

 

I really like the way they have done the ‘01’ Vocaloid number on her left upper arm.  The 1 extends down into the blue line that goes down her elbow and onto her glove.  It looks very futuristic in a Tron kind of way.

Since the costume of Racing is so different to the other Mikus, I thought that a close match would be the ‘Append’ version.  I thought the Append as an older Miku, but even next to that, this Racing one looks more adult again!

 

 

I love the wind swept hair, her pony tails really flow and stick out quite a way.  There is no way to make them look plain and just hanging by her side.  The facial sculpt is great, with crisp applications of paint and it looks happy, but down to business.  A woman in control.

 

I will say this though, one must be careful with the flicks of hair by the pony tail joints.  I gave a bit of a tug on it as I was getting it out of the box and it struck me as a piece that will come off if one is not too careful.

 

The joints are well hidden from the front and the pony tails can be rotated around on the joint if you want a different angle.  However doing this does expose more of the joint from the front of the figure.  At the base of the pony tail is a little bit of plastic of multiple colours.  A bit like the black bits on the normal Miku.

 

Costume wise, this is a good figure too.  She has the usual figma set up in regards to articulation.  The joint under her breasts is pretty noticeable due to the design of the costume and it isn’t covered over by anything.  Plus the larger breast seems to pronounce it a bit more too.  I Really like the spotted design on her stomach, it adds just enough detail to add interest and avoid the area becoming plain.

 

I am not sure what the things around her thighs are there for, but they add detail and don’t look out of place.  The do however successfully cover the new joint in her thigh.  Just under the hip decorations (for want of a better word) is a new swivel joint that many figmas lack. Edit, actually it isn’t a new joint.  Just a note here though, she doesn’t have the waist movement of many other figmas.

 

 

I quite like the detail on the top of her stockings as well.  It all manages to keep the computer generated feel of Miku.

 

Her legs are fairly standard, there is a aqua line running smoothly down them and her shoes are silver High heels with aqua paint on the base.

 

 

Now onto her back.  Her head has pretty good movement, but like the other Mikus, it is also hindered by the little points of hair that hang down by her neck.  So she has trouble looking up.  She has some nice sculpting for hair texture on the back of her head and a somewhat Evangelion plug looking section between her shoulders

 

 

Her dress only covers the back and sides and has good paint applications on it.  Around the bottom where the line is broken, I think might be a word in katakana, but I have trouble with crazy fonts and Japanese sometimes, if it says something, all I can read is a ‘ba’ for the first character.  Actually, It looks more like ‘Ha’ so I am going to guess it says, “Hatsune”

 

Again she has nice details down her stockings and they have done remarkably well giving her a very nice bottom.  The way the legs blend in with it, even when bent is a great improvement on GSC’s previous attempts.

 

She has two faces, her business face and a laughing face.  I prefer the business face personally, although the laughing one is pretty good too.  I love the paint on her irises.  they are both very appropriate too.

 

OK, Onto her accessories.  Being a racing girl, she comes with some trackside things to play with!

 

Her checked flag for signalling the final lap is pretty cool and great for posing with.  The signboard is blank and needs the stickers put on it.  If I knew more about racing, I might be brave enough to put some of them on, but alas, I don’t.  I can only assume from the example on the box, that it’s used for calling the car into the pit.  Anyway, it’s a very nice addition.  She has hands that are specifically made to hold the pit sign.  I guess it could also go for boxing matches.

 

She also comes with a trophy to give the winner! Huzzah!

 

Simple, but effective.  Clean paint and it’s hollow too, for pouring toy champagne into I guess.

 

Bumblebee wants that darn trophy.

 

Final standard accessory is her Umbrella.  It comes in both open and closed varieties.

 

 

The Umbrella details are surprisingly good.  A sharp pointy end ensures this won’t get released overseas.  The handle is slightly too small for her hand, but hey, she can still hold it.

 

You can even see the piece that keeps it unfurled ( Do umbrellas furl? ) and it’s unpainted as well!

 

 

The open umbrella consists of two parts, the unfurled umbrella and the handle.  The umbrella is very solid and I had a bit of trouble getting the balance right as her wrists will twist and drop easily.  It does looks pretty good though, I do like the effect it creates.

 

 

Paint work on the brolly (yes, I am getting tired of typing umbrella) are good and the colours match with the rest of her costume.

 

They even match on the underside, and you make her do parts of “Singin’ in the Rain.”

 

 

With the second level of ‘sponsorship’ you got a personalised name card and this stuff.  It consists of a sticker, a rubber keyring, a card holder, a black sweatband (so 80s!) and a lanyard to go with your card holder I guess.  Oh, in the bag on the far left is a nice little extra too.  It’s another trophy!  I didn’t get the name card as I went through a proxy to get this figure and they only allocated one card per address I think.

 

I like the transparency to this trophy, it’s very clean.

 

Here is a comparison with all of the figma Mikus so far released. L-R, #14 (Normal Miku), EX003 Di: Stage miku (Wonderfest exclusive), #100 Append Miku, #114 Cheerful Japan and Racing Miku.  I think I would have to say that this Racing version is my favourite of the lot.

 

 

Although I don’t get “High action feeling” from her, you can make her be a master of the hidden sword technique!

 

 

“Come and closer and you get cut ROBOT!”

 

So for my closing comments, I am going to say something like this: “

“This Racing 2011 Miku is really really nice.  Despite the questionable paint colour around her neck and a crack that appears under her breast, the general look of the character overall makes sense.  It’s nice to see a more mature version of Miku in both bust size (really this doesn’t bother me much) and facial characteristics.  The costume is a nice change from the normal look of this character, yet it still manages to keep the ‘computer’ theme and her normal colours as well.  Overall this is a very well thought out and designed figure”

 

Yeh, I think I would say something like that indeed. 

 

Just be aware that if you are chasing one now, I have seen them on ebay for more than $250.