Alter's Asuka Test Plug Suit ver.

I had intended to post this over a week ago, but it's been overcast (and freezing cold) for days on end, so with no decent lighting of my own I've had to wait for a bit of sun to come out again. I'm glad it finally has, because I've got Racing Miku and UBW Rin heading to me as we speak so I really can't put this off any longer.

I picked Asuka up off Amiami for a hefty discount, while everyone else was fighting over the Senjougahara figure that was also heavily discounted. Only a few days before that I decided I wanted to buy an Asuka figure, as I mentioned in a previous post, so this purchase seemed to be destined. Impulse purchases can turn out bad, but I'm very happy with this one - I think she looks amazing.

Her pose is very appealing. Like Alter's Rei, she's reclining rather than standing up, resting on a stand of rocks and girders. The base proper is pretty nondescript, it's just a translucent orange circle with Evangelion 2.0 on it. I don't mind so much though, since the rocks and metal she's resting on more than make up for it. They're remarkably well-detailed for something that's not part of the character, and they don't look cheap and plasticky at all. The pole holding it all up is metal, so leaning won't be an issue. 

She has a slight smile and gives off a very relaxed feeling, which is a bit uncharacteristic of her.  

Probably the most striking thing to me is the amount of detail on the plug suit. The black prongs coming off her forearm, the green bolts, and the wrinkles in the suit material are all part of the sculpt rather than just being painted on or such.

The rocks have a lot of texture to them as well. Only Asuka's right thigh and leg is in direct contact with the rocks; her hips are very close but not quite touching it.

The darkening of the red colour around the orange stripes is a nice effect. I also like the little studs coming off her soles. I initially thought the black mark on her left calf was a painting error, but it's just part of the suit detail.

Asuka's plugsuit looks just as nice from the back as it does the front. I cut it off a bit with this shot, but you can see TEST running down her upper back.

And of course, she's sporting quite the ass.

It might just be me, but she's got a different feel from the back. If you can't see her facial expression, she seems a lot more...I don't know. Wistful? Melancholic? 

And a few higher shots so you can see her hair clips a bit better.

Overall, she's great. I know I end up saying something similar about all the figures I take photos of, maybe I'm just easy to please, but I really like this Asuka. She's got some really intricate detail (much more than Alter's Rei) and I couldn't find a single painting or sculpting error on her. Her colours are vibrant and work really well together - the effect of this might be diminished a bit by my bad camera and/or lack of photography skill but in person she looks really lovely. 

Downsides? Well...there's not much in the way of armpit exposure. There's always room for improvement in that area. Also, she's not real. I'd have been much happier with my purchase if she was. But as she is, I don't think I could have asked much more for ¥4000.

She's still in stock at Amiami though (and presumably other places too), so maybe general consensus is that she's not as good as I've made her out to be. Considering Evangelion though, maybe she was just way over-produced.

Sorry about the background and lighting of the photos. When I get the chance I'm going to figure out some way to get a solid colour backdrop so you don't keep seeing sections of my wall and desk over and over. I'm also planning on getting a new bulb for my desk light (the last one blew about a year ago) so I can play with the lighting a bit.

Figure details:

Name: Asuka Langley Shikinami Test Type Plugsuit Ver.

Series: Evangelion (Rebuild)

Scale: 1/8

Company: Alter

Released: Nov 2010

Bought from: Amiami

Just because no blog post is complete without a bit of shit in it: I've got less than four days until my exams start and I know nothing. I still can't get motivated to study, and I've got a really bad feeling about how I'll do. Nothing seems to be sticking. Maybe I should just drop out and NEET it up.

I probably won't be reading or commenting much from now until exams are over. Not that there's been much activity around here for the last few weeks anyway.