Girls in themed armour is nothing new, in fact it's a mainstay of both Gundam and Macross, arguably the two biggest mecha franchises on the market. The Goodsmle Bishoujo line has been adding Transformer themed characters for a while now, with Prime, Megatron and Bumblebee already released and with their own Seekers also slated for release in the coming year.
None of those (well, maybe Bumblebee) really appealed, but these Legends scale poseable femme fatales were another matter. Iron Factory has a solid reputation for putting their own spin on classic designs, proven in terms of sharp sculpting and decent materials. It helps that I love their Windblade and fembot Seekers too, making this a pretty safe bet for £40.
Lots of hand options make her a pretty expressive little vixen...
In the box we have 3 faces - smirking, closed eyes and joyous expression and angry face to play with. However, for those who like a little extra challenge, we have two blank faces and a lot of eye decals so if there's no stock expression to your liking, you can make your own. I love this idea, but waterslides are not a thing I have a lot of luck with (took me 3 attempts to get the eyes in place for the little Deedlit/Lodoss Wars figure I picked up last year) so I've not jumped on this yet. The really ambitious will also find an absolute ton of extra details that can be slide across in a water style to add little bunny "running total kills" decals, stripes, stars and little manufacturing decals. I'm not sure I have the skill to get these on, or even sure I want to as I like the clean look, but it's great to have the option.
So out of the box, you have the figure fully assembled. I love the smirking expression and the dusky skin, Starscream always had a darker faceplate than his Seeker brothers and that's reflected beautifully here, it gives her an exotic Arabian look.
In terms of design, the torso and arms are all mechanical, worn like armour they evoke the seeker design with clean depictions of the cockpit and air vents, though cleverly they've used the shoulder intakes as bunny ears on her head, which is a clever way to keep her slender. There's some thigh on display at the top of the legs, with the mechanical legs being worn like thigh-high boots, again it's cute and a little cheeky adding to the overall appeal.
The wings and null rays are all mounted as a backpack, which allows for a lot of free movement. The null rays are on mechanical arms and can be moved independently, allowing you to recreate the classic silhouette without restricting her movement. You can also swivel the wings around and move them upward so that she's wearing it as a booster, which is a nice way to add extra display options.
Flip the wings around and pull up the backpack to create a flight pack - zoom!
The sculpt is up to IF's usual standards, with the plastic feeling solid and chunky. There's not a hue amount of paint, with the greys and blues just cast in plastic, though the red looks vibrant enough to be painted, featuring lots of nice metallic painted detail to make it pop. Articulation is pretty much everything you could want, with ball joints handling the neck, shoulders and abdomen, more than 90 degrees on elbows and knees, ankle tilts, rockers and wrist swivels, you can pretty much get any pose you like out of her. I always judge a female figure on the ability to create a nice curve to one side around the hips, and in that regard she works vey well. The hips don't lie.
I can't really credit IF with points for innovation because, as I mentioned, this is hardly a new concept. Making cute accessories out of mechanical details has been around for years, but in terms of execution this is a sturdy, nicely sculpted and fun toy with a ton of optional accessories that can be used to really make her your own in terms of style and detail. I will say that I love the head intakes being worked into the hair, and the way the mechanical headset funnels her hair into bunches and allows a cowlick to sit between the bunny-ear intakes just tickles me.
I'm interested to see how her cohorts are handled (bear and cat ears replace the bunny intakes from what I've seen) but it's a cute line and a great little desk toy. Recommended.
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