Vita made her debut in season 2 of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. She made quite the impact on her first appearance and has been a fan favorite ever since.

Name: Vita (Knight Clothes Version)
Line: Figma
Manufacturer: Max Factory
Released: November 2009
Price: ~$30.00
Scale: Non-Scale/12cm
Accessories: 4 extra pairs of hands, articulated display stand, alternate face, hat, alternate front hair piece, 2 shafts and 4 hammerheads

I've always liked the Vita design. Well, almost always. My first gut reaction to the goth loli was unreasoning rejection of all things lolita (the fashion style, not the sexual preference). But then she turned out to be pretty cool, so I've wanted an articulated figure of her ever since. I never thought they'd actually come out with an affordable version though so viva Figma for bringing us Vita. So yeah, Vita is garbed in goth loli style, and it's pretty neat. It's cute, yet stylish. But also does a pretty good job of not getting in the way of the leg articulation thanks to how wide the skirt is. I'll talk on more of that in the Articulation segment, but first, let's briefly talk about scale.

Vita is only 12 cm tall, but that's not a huge knock against her. In fact, it's a selling point, since she's supposed to be only about the height of a Japanese 3rd grader. So height-wise, she'll fit in with just about any action figure line out there, since she's just a kid.

But less you think you're getting shafted with the small size of the figure, worry not. While Vita was most prominent in season 2, this is the season 3 version, so she comes with quite the assortment of accessories. Aside from the usual extra hands (which includes her signature croquet balls holding hand) and face attachments, as well as the articulated display stand, Vita comes with her trusty Graf Eisen, an "Intelligent Device" with multiple forms. The default form looks suspiciously like a croquet hammer, but the hammerhead can be swapped out for a bevy of alternate hammerheads.

There's Raketen Form, which is just the regular croquet hammer... with a SPIKE and ROCKET attachment. There's Gigant Form, which is just a big ol' hammer. In the series, Gigant Form is actually so huge, Vita is reduced into a teensy tiny speck the shape of Mickey Rooney in proportioned to the hammer. For this reason, it was feared that Gigant Form wouldn't come to the consumer as an actual plastic piece, but as some sort of paper craft instead. Thankfully, Max Factory decided not to cheat the consumer by giving us an actual plastic hammer. Finally, there's Destruct Form, which appeared in season 3, thus marking this Vita as being from that season. Destruct Form is of course, just a giant hammer with a giant spike and giant rocket attached. Finally, you get 2 shafts for all these hammerheads, one is straight, while the other is warped, to simulate the look of when Vita is moving at terminal velocity and the hammer can't quite keep up.

Oh, and since this IS the Sculpt section, I guess I should talk about the actual sculpt. There's nothing much to say though, it's just a really neat looking sculpt that's pretty accurate to the show. Lots of tiny details, and aside from the Figma joint on her elbows, it all looks great and the articulation is all hidden. Same deal with the accessories, they all look pretty good.

The only issue I have with the sculpt is that the pegs on her wrists are pretty small, so if you're a clumsy, ham fisted oaf, you ought to take extra care not to break them when you're swapping hands. Her articulated pigtails are attached on similarly small pegs, so do be careful there as well. I haven't heard of any breakage issues, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Sculpt Score: 9 / 10

 

Paint is immaculate, there's no bleeding or errant paint anywhere that I can see. I also like that they gave her metal boots a metallic paint job. Otherwise, you can see that it's all pretty well applied in the pics. Even the little dots on her gloves and stuff have been put on cleanly. And despite the multiple swapping of parts, it doesn't seem like the paint is going to scratch off anywhere, which was something I was afraid was going to happen. I presume they've treated it with protection or something.

In short, this is another case of great care being put into the application of the paint, because you're paying quite a pretty penny for these collector oriented stuff.

Paint Score: 10 / 10

Vita is well articulated, since she IS a Figma.

Right off the bat, people are going to wonder about the skirt, and whether it affects her articulation any. Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that it doesn't. It's wide enough and her hips are set low enough within the skirt, so that she has a pretty good range of articulation beneath that skirt.

The bad news is, she has a pretty good range of articulation... BENEATH that skirt. As in, the skirt pretty much obscures everything, so there's really no point in giving her a funky stance unless you're really particular about things like that. You can still strike a few leg poses with Vita, and it'll look good despite the skirt, but for the most part, all you need is for her to stand.

Above the body, it's pretty standard articulation. The head is a bit stiff to move, and you have to readjust her pigtails every time you turn it, so that it clears her fluffy shoulders. But all in all, she'll do all you need her to do.

Vita's all about the hammer time, without them to provide her with "range", she's left a little limited in what she can pull off. Since being a "child", she doesn't have particularly long arms with which to punch you.

Articulation Score: 7 / 10

 

Much like the Danboard review, how much you get out of Vita is partially dependant on how well you know the source material. For instance, while I know Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, or Deadpool and Hellboy, I haven't seen or read any of their definitive works. So I'm not as enamored with them as I am with Vita here.

But even if you don't know Vita, she's still a cool and cute goth loli with big frikkin' hammers. And since she comes with two shafts, it means you can do double hammer fun time goodness. Imagine pairing her up with Steel or Thor. She may be small, but she is mighty! (I should burn in heck for that).

Her child status makes her more compatible than most, and the big anime head isn't too bad. Vita's totally happy fun time.

Fun Score: 8 / 10

At the original retail of 3000 yen, Vita's a pretty good buy for me. Keep in mind that where I am, that's about how much I pay for a regular Hasbro RotF Voyager. While Vita can't transform, she's a cool representation of a character I super dig and while she's intentionally short, she makes up for it with a LOT of plastic hammers. She's pretty much got a full complement, meaning she can be just about any version of the character you want.

The only things I'd wish for is maybe a face with clenched teeth and/or her eyes in "SEED" mode. Otherwise, you're getting what you paid for.

Value Score: 8 / 10

 

9 / 10 - A great representation of a fan favorite character. Careful with the hair and wrist pegs though!

10 / 10 - I find no faults, and the metallic red boots are super keen.

7 / 10 - Pros and cons, she's not uber duber, but she can do what needs to be done.

8 / 10 - Little girl, big hammer. It's hammer time! Doo doondodoon doo DOO!

8 / 10 - A good quality figure with a plethora of accessories. You're getting plenty of plastic for your paper.

  79 / 100 - This is a Good Toy

-Updatedude

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