[TAO's Note: Updatedude is awfully good at finding imported figures of which I have no knowledge, and they always make for entertaining reviews. This one's no exception, so don't miss an odd continuation of our apparent cat theme this week...]
Name: MaoChao
Line: Busou Shinki
Manufacturer: Konami
Released: September 2006
Price: 3500 Yen
Scale: 6.00 in.
Accessories: Cat hat, armor w/ cat arms, Wolverine claws x2, vacuum cleaner shield, decapitated cat heads x5, weapon attachments for decapitated cat heads, drill to pierce the heavens, tail, cat boots, lots and lots of connector points, access for parts on online game, figure stand and extra hands. And anything else I've forgot to mention.
First off, let's talk about the basic Busou Shinki body. This is a well proportioned, if lanky, body design that's used for just about all Busou Shinki figures. But this being a toy based on a character design by a Japanese fellow (named BLADE) for Japanese nerd sensibilities, MaoChao has your standard oversized anime head with anime eyes and Sonic the Hedgehog hair. If you can accept the Japanese animation style head, then this is an overall well proportioned and very feminine body.
One major criticism that Busou Shinki figures tend to have though, are their joints, which are very visible. This is both a valid critique of the line, and also an actual selling point of it. Seriously. You see, Rather than try to hide the visible lines in the base figure, Konami's actually made it as part of the Busou Shinki back story. MaoChao and her fellow Busou Shinki have visible articulation lines because they're supposed to be tiny 1:1 robot girls. This is evident in all the media for Busou Shinki, from the box art to the game to even fan art, Busou Shinki are depicted in all their glorious visibly jointed stature.
Now, if Busou Shinki were still a new line, I'd have called bull-poo, but after several years and quite a lot of releases, Konami's sticking to this marketing scheme, so I can't really knock MaoChao's sculpt on this basis. It'd be like complaining that Superman's outer undies don't make sense or the inventions Reed Richards keeps building can't reasonably be built at the near instantaneous speed he keeps building them in. A certain suspension of disbelief is required.
So all in all, the base figure looks good. MaoChao looks suitably cute, thanks to her head design. Keep in mind that these are pretty lithe figures though, so ham handedness is not recommended. They're pretty durable, but not meant for violent play.
Now we come to MaoChao's accessories, which are very nice, but in all honesty, don't feel as plentiful as with some other Busou Shinki. Once you get the armor on, she looks neat and articulation isn't hindered overly much. The various fists don't stick in as tight as I'd like though. You might need to thicken the pegs with some clear nail polish if it gets too bad. I haven't had to yet, but I've been tempted.
My major critique with MaoChao is that there's a relatively limited way you can attach her accessories. In the end, the primary armor only has one major configuration, and there aren't quite as many extraneous ports or pegs as I'd have personally like. Although it does lead to a cleaner build.
Overall, it's not a bad design, but you can tell it was an early take of the Busou Shinki concept. Nonetheless, MaoChao is still one of the cuter figures to have come out of this line and has something of a cult following amongst its fans.
Oh, and for all you customisers out there, yeah, pretty good base no? Neck's a bit long to cater for the anime heads, but otherwise, this is a solid base for y'all.
Sculpt Score: 7 / 10
Ah, the dreaded paint category. The one in which I seldom have much to talk about.
Well, in the case of Busou Shinki, the paint scheme makes all the difference. Since all Busou Shinki use roughly the same base body, the main differentiation point is in regards to their paint scheme. MaoChao's paint scheme is okay. Nothing overly fancy, and again shows that this is one of the earlier Busou Shinki, before they got really crazy with some of their later paint schemes.
In terms of paint application, it's more or less all good. There are some minor imperfections on the armor where if you zoom in close on the shoulders, you can tell one or two lines are not perfectly straight and stuff like that. But those are pretty hard to notice. Otherwise, everything else seems to have been painted or tampoed on pretty well. There are no errant paint splotches or anything like the kind you'd see on some mass market toys.
So the paint's good, but since Busou Shinki are all about the paint scheme designs, and MaoChao's are pretty understated, I'll refrain from giving her an uber high score.
Paint Score: 7 / 10
The base Busou Shinki body's articulation pretty much lets you do all you need to. There are plenty of swivels and hinges where they ought to be, so you won't be wanting with the articulation for these girls.
Points of interests include the hips, which are on this swinging mechanism that let's you lift the Busou Shinki's legs straight up. The downside to this is that it exposes said mechanism, but you normally wouldn't really notice it except from a certain range at a side angle. Then it becomes really obvious. So this is a case of sacrificing the looks in exchange for having an impressive posability point. The only excuse is the visible joints excuse, in that these are tiny robot girls.
Grooves on the elbows and the back of the knees allow MaoChao to bend her elbows and knees as if she were double jointed, despite them being only single joints, whilst still looking naturally curved and feminine. This is especially true for the legs. I rather wish that more female figures would have such a leg design. It really does improve knee articulation as well as appearance.
The soles of Busou Shinki are also arched, much like a real human's. This gives the figures more balance, especially when they're loaded with weapons and attachments. Although it does prevent single legged stances.
If there's one major downside to the Busou Shinki articulation though, it's that the ball joints for the hips are highly limited in terms of outward/side movement. MaoChao can do a terrific front split, but the side splits are forever denied to her.
A downside for MaoChao specifically, and this is one thing that kept me from getting her when she first came out, is that when her arm attachments are on, they're permanently bent. It's not that bad once you have it in hand though, but it was definitely one of the things that kept me from this figure initially. That said, the shoulders for the arm attachments are double ball jointed and each kitty klaw is individually ball jointed (not that they can do much, mind you). In the end, the arms ain't that bad, and shouldn't be a total deal breaker...
In all, articulation is good. Back when she first came out in '06, the articulation would have been considered superb, but the standards have risen since then, so while she's still good, she isn't as mind blowingly impressive as she once was.
Articulation Score: 7 / 10
I mentioned it above, but MaoChao's got a cult following amongst a certain group of Busou Shinki enthusiasts. Add in the fact that this IS a pretty cute toy with lots of attachments, well... basically, anytime you got a new Busou Shinki, they're gonna occupy you for at least a couple hours if you're going to run through all their equipment.
MaoChao's a bit more limited compared to other Busou Shinki though. Her color scheme isn't as compatible with too many other Busou Shinki figures and her accessories aren't as modular as some of the later releases.
But all that said, by herself, MaoChao is a terrifically fun figure, especially if you can get past the big anime head, and she scales reasonably well with 6" or even 7" figures. If you don't mind mixing your Marvel Legends and DCUC or even your MotUC lines with what is an admittedly (very) anime style catgirl, then you've got a pretty cute catgirl on your hands.
Fun Score: 7 / 10
Ah, value, now here's a dilly of a pickle. MaoChao came out before the ECONOMIC CRISIS! In fact, she came out before the spike in oil prices, which was the real big driving force in the rise of toy costs at the time. Back then, toys were relatively cheap or at least more affordable.
Hmm, well, what I can say is, before the ECONOMIC CRISIS! and the oil price rise, any Busou Shinki was a good solid buy. Considering all the accessories you got and the fact that the Yen wasn't as strong then, I was paying only about as much as a Voyager class Transformer for a Busou Shinki (about Ultra class prices in the US). So at that price, it was sooooooo worth it.
Now though, that 3500 Yen + shipping is pretty steep. If you can get MaoChao for 3500 Yen flat, she's a decent buy. Not as awesome as some later releases, but again, MaoChao has a cult following, so you get more nerd cred with her than with her sister release, Howling.
I'd say, wait for shipping offers or sales for MaoChao. Or just try eBay. Around 35 or maybe 40 bucks (inclusive of shipping) seems reasonable for her. MaoChao probably won't be your centerpiece, but she's a good toy and totally cute to boot.
Value Score: 6 / 10
7 / 10 - Cute and effective. Nothing super fancy, but still, cute.
7 / 10 - No overwhelming significant faults and reasonably interesting paint scheme.
7 / 10 - Exceptional for the time, still good but not mind blowing today.
7 / 10 - Cute catgirl, honestly, you can't go wrong with that. And if you can, then you sir (or madam) are a bad person.
6 / 10 - Kinda pricey now, but still a good toy if you can find it at near the original retail price.
71 / 100 - This is a Good Toy
MaoChao's a good toy. She's slightly aged, but that just goes to show you how much toy standards have risen in the past 3 to 4 years. But I don't regret owning her, she's still good in every category. My only regret is that I didn't get her earlier.
This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment on this review for a chance to win!
_________
