Figma Asuna ALO Ver. Review

Sword Art Online, one of the most controversial anime out there which is both hated and loved by many. Frankly, I think it's problems are over exaggerated, it's not the perfect show, but far from one of the worst anime the world has ever seen. I personally love this show, I can see the problems but I simply don't mind them, I enjoyed watching every single episode of the show.

This figure is actually what made me aware of SAO and the Figma line. As a Gunpla fan, I watch MechaGaikotsu a lot. Eventually, I found his review of this figure on the sidebar, usually I ignored them, but the thumbnail of the video was enough to get me interested. Watching the review made me aware of SAO, Figma, and anime figures in general. Eventually, this led me to my viewing and love for the show, as well as praise for the Figma line. Due to this, I always wanted a Figma, although they were usually too expensive to afford. However when I saw the very figure that got me aware of the line in a local figure store, I definitely knew I had to have it, after a bit of begging, my mom did give me as my Christmas present, and I went home ready to hold my first Figma in my hands.

Box:

The box is the typical modern Figma box, you get a clean square packaging with a cubical window showing the figure and a few of it's main accessories. The black area shows you which show this comes from, the name of the figure, and the sculpter.

Behind the box you get some information about the figure, as well as a few action poses showing what it can do.

Product:

The figure looks really good, figma can really do a fantastic job with their details, and this figure follows this. The face sculpt definitely shows this is Asuna in her ALO avatar, and the slightly tender-slim proportions are spot on. Color use is very well done, all colors look accurate, and paint applications are very well applied with only minor mistakes and nitpicks. The figure is mainly done in a matte-like finish which makes the figure look very good, with the metal buckles on her torso that are deserving of a very special mention, they simply look amazing for their small size, and are a great detail to have. I think overall it looks very good, and have little to no complaints about the sculpting and paint.

Articulation:

Head is on a revoltech-like joint connected to the neck, so it's got good movement. You'd think her long hair would get in the way, but that's actually not the case. The front of her hair is made of a more bendy PVC plastic that gives some movement, just be careful with them.

The back of her hair is on a hinge, so it can swing out to not only to pose, but also give way to to the stand.

Her shoulders are on a revoltech-like joint and bend about 95˚ up.

They go forward about 85˚, just under 90˚.

The shoulder swivels a bit but not a 360˚. The elbow bends about 100˚ too.

Her wrist is on a revoltech joint to give a lot of movement, and a part of her sleeve which would usually be on the back of the hand can swing around should it get too much in the way.

Her waist is on a ball joint at the top band on her outfit, so she can lean back and abcrunch there as well as move around side to side and swivel.

The main problem with this figure in terms or articulation are the thighs. Due to her skirt, movement is heavily limited in every direction when it comes to legs, what you see is the maximum for kicking up and to the side.

You can swing the sides of the dress back if you want to though, and the leg swivel quite a bit as well as bend 120˚.

The feet can also move on a hinge joint as well as turn.

Accessories:

Asuna comes with pretty much everything you'd expect from an Asuna figure, nothing's missing here.

Like other figmas, you get the standard figma stand which has 3 points of articulation, and pegs into a hole at the the back of the figure.

You also get 10 hands. Excluding the fists on the figure, you get two widespread open hands, two hands for her rapier, two hands for the Crest of Yggdrasil, a peace symbol hand, and a left holding hand to hold her rapier's scabbard.

You also get two facial expressions for her. Besides the default smiling expression looking forward, you get a yelling expression looking to the right, as well as a cocky grinning expression.

To switch the faces, you just remove the front of the hair, and switch the faces.

You get her rapier that she uses in both unsheathed and sheathed form. The handle can also detach from the sheath for correct display.

The scabbard fits very nicely into a hoop on her dress.

She gan even grab the sheath's handle.

Charge!

She also comes with her main weapon, the Crest of Yggdrasil, which is a powerful two handed staff (according to the wiki, despite obviously being a single handed wand).

It fits into the hand well and she poses nicely with it.

You also get an adaptor for the stand.

This allows you to display make stand slightly higher and be used for more angled poses, although I find it funny as the stand itself is articulate.

You also get an extra wrist joint should you accidentally loose one for some reason. Nice to have it though.

There's also the figma ziploc bag to store it's accessories. A nice inclusion.

Finally, due to being an Undine fairy, you get my favorite accessory of the bunch, her beautiful translucent blue wings. They are sculpted beautifully, and the undine symbol even is molded in the middle.

OOB, you have to use the stand to use this accessory, but Figma Kirito ALO does have a piece that allows you to display the wings without the stand. Personally, i'm not doing this anyways, since they are wings, and I like displaying figma on their stands anyway for stability. You just plug the wings onto the stand and plug the figure on top of that.

Wings out and I think she looks really good with them, blue is my favorite color and this figure just looks beautiful with everything on.

Watch out, the berserk healer is coming at you.

Size Comparison:

As you can see, she's a little larger than a 1/144 scale Gunpla, but sizes about the same, so she's one of the more standard sized figmas.

Verdict:

I really do love this figure, as my introduction to the figma line in basically every aspect, I really do think this figure satisfies me very well. Yes there is the issue of the skirt articulation, but I am willing to overlook that, however I can see some people won't. As a fan of the show, I always found Asuna's ALO avatar to be one of my favorite character designs, and this figure gives me a wonderful representation of her. I do think that this figure looks beautiful and represents the character's ALO avatar well, I especially love displaying her with the wings, the smooth design of the wings and the clear blue used almost feels relaxing to look at, and really compliments the design to this figure. If you're an SAO fan, and like how this looks, I do recommend looking into this figma. Especially if you're a fan of Asuna's ALO design like I am.

Pros:

- Wings are sculpted really well, look absolutely fantastic, and give the figure some nice presence. (!)

- Paintwork and all the minor detailing look pretty good and are expertly done, especially with the matte finishes. (!)
- Accessories are all you'd expect

- Details are great, and the figure captures the character's likeness very well.

Cons:

- Skirt heavily hinders hip and leg mobility. (!)