Naturally, she's beautiful. She made herself this way.

Most of us living state-side have not had the pleasure of playing Tales of Xillia yet. However, you can import this lovely Milla Maxwell figure by Alter, or  pre-order Jude Mathis to have a reminder of how awesome it is going to be to play Tales of Xillia when it finally ships to the States, and hopefully Europe, later this year.

So, what do I think of Alter's version of Milla Maxwell? There are a lot of mysteries to unravel about her. Hit the jump to find out more.

Figure Name: Milla Maxwell
Figure Maker: Alter
Retail/List Price: ¥8,800
Available at:  Otacute | Hobby Search | AmiAmi | Plamoya | Big Bad Toy Store

I want to start off by saying that I love - no almost adore every Tales of game. They are excellent co-opable games to play with friends and have tons of likable characters. I could go on and on about this but you're here to see Milla. However if you have never played a Tales game I heartily recommend that you go and rent, or buy, one and give the series a try! Without further delay, let's get back to miss Maxwell.

Not many people know about Milla as a character, but writing about her here would take up a lot of time and space! So, if you want to learn more about Milla herself I suggest you check out the excellent Tales Aselia Wiki. For now though, just keep in mind that she is sort of a summoner and learns to be pretty fair with her sword as well. Now, let's move on to her figure.

The art on the box is nice. I like the flow of the colors. However, it would have been good if Alter had given Milla more of a wrap around window box, such as the ones the Tales of Vesperia set has been shipping with. For me this won't matter much though, because I prefer to open my boxes and display my figures on shelves or in display cabinets.

She doesn't come with much in her package, just herself, base and sword.  Assembly was simple, but it took a little tinkering to place the hilt into her hand correctly. The back side of the hilt can be pulled off and then pushed into her hand where the sword is attached. The fit for this is really tight and I was afraid of scraping the paint in the process. It would have been nice if Alter had included a tiny instruction sheet for like they did for many of their past figures. Still, it was easy enough to figure out.

The base has a patterning to it that I feel will be more significant to me after I have played Tales of X'illia. If I were to take a guess I would say it looks like some kind of magic circle. It is likely a summoning circle given Milla's background. Still, the effect is pretty neat and I like the little intentional bubbles in the plastic.

So, how sturdy is she? Does she wiggle and wobble around? Nope! On the base there are three pegs that plug into Milla's boots. The fit is quite tight and secure. She definitely is not a leaner!

If I were to describe her style I would say Milla looks kind of old school to me, almost like a classic anime heroine from long ago. She has a strong presence for a female character despite her Barbie doll coloring. Yet, her choice of clothing makes her look nothing like a Barbie doll. Follow along and we'll take a look at Milla from head to boot.

What fabulous hair! Her hair sculpt is one of the crazier and more detailed ones I have ever seen. You can get a glimpse of it from above. From up here we see the top of her head and all the little etchings that were made to make her hair look like it was coming from her head and kind of make sense with how her bangs and hair flow down. It doesn't sound impressive though until you see how much hair this little lady has.

Despite everything about her hair that makes sense her ahoge is kind of just floating out there. It is really cool though and a character designed trait of hers. I like how the color shifts slowly from golden yellow to blue-green. It kind of reminds me of how Corinne, Sheena's summon spirit's, tail looks. If you own the Kotobukiya figure check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Milla's eyes are a sort of color mix between darker reds and pinks and the colors pop nicely against her bangs which come down across her face and cheeks. There is a more mature look to her eyes than what I am used to seeing on most anime girls, and rightfully so. Milla is not your typical teenaged anime character; she is just a little bit older at twenty years old. This shows a bit with her pointy chin and angular facial features.

Never in my life have I owned a figurine with as much hair as Milla has! Look at all of those layers and sprigs of hair that go every which way as if being blown about, or perhaps lifted a bit, while casting a spell. Either way when I first looked at her hair a faint, "Wow" escaped from my lips. 

After seeing this you should be able to have a better feel for how "three dimensional" her hair really is. It kind of shoots out and goes wild! One thing that I found was cool about Milla's lovely hair is that it is partly transparent, so if you shine light on it, it looks like it glows a little from the bits of light that do pass through. 

Her sword looks very typical at a glance, but when you examine it  closely you can see a pattern painted on one side of the blade, and there seems to be a trigger near the hilt. Upon picking it up the first thing I noticed was that there was a blade, or something attached to the hilt, that was hinged and could swing out. I'm not quite sure what this is for, but it makes me that much more interested in playing the game to see it in action!

Because Milla's sword is always held out in front of her like this, sometimes it almost feels like it's in the way. I don't really mind it so much because she is supposed to have her sword. Yet, sometimes I want to take her sword off to get a better look at her.

Milla is fairly figuresque. Her breasts are smaller than most of of the other Alter girls that I have collected. Still, they look right here. They aren't huge and don't dominate the figure. 

Milla has a lot of straps of different kinds that barely hold her clothing together. There seems to be a rope tie of sorts holding her skirt onto her shapely hips. On one leg she has lots of straps covering it. Some of the straps have a sort of 3D lumpiness that add bit of a more sturdy look to them, while other straps are just simple leather. I checked the original manufactures images and this is definitely by design and not a flaw. It's one of those finer details that Alter is good at covering.

Here is a side perspective where you can see the arc of her back, as well as all of the little ties and paint work done on Milla's arm. Also, the paint work on the backside of her skirt is visible. I love all the attention to detail that was paid when painting and sculpting her figure. After seeing her in person I can understand why Milla was delayed twice before finally being released.

These boots match the color scheme of the arm guards and follow the same basic design. I like how billowy they are at their tops and overall the design is as memorable as Yuri Lowel's impossible unlaced boots. I think the character designers for this character were trying to top the designs of all of their previous ones, maybe going a touch too far, but they had fun indeed. Stuff like this is part of what makes Tales awesome.

I got to thinking about my other long haired beauties in my collection and wanted to show you a side by side comparison so you can  see how much hair Milla Maxwell has on her. Mugi (pictured left) has a lot of hair sure, but between volume and size Milla probably has four to five times as much hair as Mugi. I kind of just shake my head though when I try to compare Milla's and Yuri's hair. Milla probably has about fifteen times as much hair as him.

Milla and Yuri's pose compliment one another. I think they make a beautiful pair of Tales heroes to display side by side. Between their poses and how they hold their swords, even their coloring contrasts just kind of works, with Yuri being plain, yet handsome, and Milla being bright and pretty.  I am sure that Jude Mathis will be jealous of Yuri, but he has not been shipped out to me yet, so he can't really complain until the end of January.

I'm pretty smitten over Milla. She has a lot of mysteries to unravel and adding her to my collection adds to my desire to want to play Tales of Xillia that much more. She is a beautiful figurine in her own right though, and would look great in any anime or video game lover's collection.

What do you think Tomopeeps? Do you like Milla? Did I go a little overboard this time with the details? Let me know in the comments.