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Princess of the Crystal

Princess of the Crystal
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Princess of the Crystal
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Review by Animaven

It’s a heartwarming story: a very lucky friend of mine went to Japan. She took pity on my incredible jealousy, and brought me back toys. Including a little something that’s really hard to get in my neck of the woods - “Mawaru Penguindrum” statue. Behold, ladies and (mostly) gents: the Princess of the Crystal!

Now, this isn’t the fancy-chancy stuff we’re use to looking at on Hobby Search; this beauty came  out of a crane machine. As such she has a few minor issues, but we’ll get to that.

Here’s the box:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

And from another side:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

You can see that the box isn’t made of premium materials. It’s a flimsy cardboard number, super thin and taped shut.

And here’s the masterful packing job inside the box:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

And here are the pieces of the statue:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

Ready to assemble? Here she is all put together:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

This figure, for a bargain toy fished out of a giant crane machine, has some pretty impressive movement in the sculpt. Every time I look over these pictures, that’s the thing that stands out most. Everything about this lovely Princess suggests floating, graceful, fluid movement. 

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

Here she is from the side:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

From the back:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

And, naturally, from below:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

There’s not a whole lot of detail here, but it doesn’t stop her from looking right. For example, her face is mostly eyes and landscape, but that’s okay.

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

And get a load of the penguins! Because what would our princess be without her penguins?

Have a gander at some penguin feet (and numbers):

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

Let’s talk about what’s not so great here. The paint job has some impurities. They aren’t glaring, but they’re certainly noticeable. 

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

Look around Threetie’s face. She’s got a little bit of blue leaking out into the white. 

The Princess has a bit of  problem with her legs as well. While lovely, they seam where they fit together is very, very noticeable. 

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

And check out this picture:

mawaru penguindrum princess of the crystal

You can see a little more paint gone awry or scuffs on the puffy sleeve. Put this picture also shows us a wee problem with the sculpt, as well. While not huge, the seams weren’t sanded down properly, which makes for a bit of roughness around the edges. You can see it along the beads. She has a few weird bumps in her hair as well - again, right on the edges. 

She measures in at just a little under a foot tall, and sits wobbly on her stand. Not enough to hamper displaying her, just enough to notice. 

That said - a lovely character, a fluid design and fun in the shape of three fat little penguins makes this a delightful statue to me. I’m pleased to own her. 


Posted 12 March, 2012 - 14:02 by Animaven