Tomopop Review: Gift's 1/8 Adelicia Lenn Mathers

12:00 PM on 06.27.2010   |   Call Niero

Box anticipation is a horrible thing. You end up waiting day after day for an item that just never seems to arrive. Days pass, then weeks, and finally months. By the end, you feel like all hope is lost, and are convinced that you will never see that box. The item in it is gone forever, swallowed by the whimsical mail gods. It's kind of like those socks that disappear in your own house and you never see again.

That was my experience with Adelicia here, who was supposed to be a birthday gift way back in early April. Her release date was late March, so she should have been here with time to spare. However, she was ordered from Toyslogic who "delayed" the shipment for months. Why did it take from April to June for a box from Japan to get to California? I have no idea, but for some reason it did, and I was left waiting.

But finally she has arrived, so hit the jump to find out if she was worth the agonizing wait!  

I am torn on Adelicia's box design. And yes, I know it says Adilisia on her box, but the correct spelling is with a c not an s. At first I thought it made sense because there is no "c" in Japanese, but there is also no "si." Japanese has no real consonants besides n which is used on its own, the characters are made up of a combination of consonants and vowels. The combination that would be "si" is instead pronounced "shi."  Though if we are to go by what can and cannot be written in Japanese, most of her name provides very tricky.

Anyway, back to the box.  I like the moon and symbols motif, but the blue and red does not really do it for me. I think it is the cross-shape near the corner of the window, which really does not match with the pattern used on the rest of the box. In any case, it is at least an interesting design, much more so than the standard white with windows on all sides. 

Adelicia's packaging is pretty standard, with the upside of having slightly less plastic sheets than most other figures. This is mainly because Adelicia comes in one giant piece, aside from her hat, so there is no plastic between the layers of her skirt or under her shirt. I expected a figure this bulky to be made of several pieces, especially the skirt, but her clothing consists of one smooth piece of PVC. The petticoat is a separate layer, but it is attached to the underside of her dress. 

And here she is in all her glory! I was expecting her to look nice because of the promo shots, but Adelicia is nothing short of magnificent. Her pose, which I thought would be slightly boring, is full of energy and poise. The movement of her clothing contributes to this, but most of it is in the position of her body. The slight tilt of her hips, the twist of her neck to the side, and the tension in her arms contribute to a truly interesting pose. 

Gift did a great job on Adelicia's face. She is my first figure produced by them, so I was a bit hesitant, but they really did an all-around bang-up job. Faces are usually the hardest part to get right on a figure, so I was particularly impressed with their work in this area. Her eyes appear narrowed as if she is focusing on something, and instead of the usual dumb anime girl smile, Adelicia has a subtle, coy smirk. The blush on her cheeks adds a great sense of life.

Her back view is almost as good as the front one, mainly because of the awesome detail on her hair. The drill-locks thing is usually a turn-off for me when it comes to character design, but the sculptor really made it work with Adelicia.

One very small complaint with this figure is that her hat is not magnetic, so there is nothing keeping it on her head. It falls off very easily when you move her, which becomes rather annoying when trying to display her. Once she is in place it is no problem, but it is a minor annoyance. 

The detail on her hair is simply astounding. So many individual locks are sculpted, probably more than on any other figure I own. The swirls are just fantastic, so quirky and interesting to look at. There is also a lot of shading, most of it so subtle that it seems to blend effortlessly from light to dark shades, much like how highlighting in real hair works. 

Adelicia's ring is easy to miss on first glance, but it only adds to her intrigue. I have not watched the anime she is from, Rental Magica, so I do not know what the purpose of the ring is. It is probably a magical device used to summon beasties or some such, but not knowing exactly what it is for only adds to the mystery for me. The ring itself is very delicate, and bends easily if you squish it. Thankfully it is attached to her and not a separate piece, because it would be very easy to misplace. 

Adelicia's dress is probably the highlight of this figure, and it also compromises the bulk of the plastic used to make her. The folds are all beautifully done, and add a lot of volume and motion to her ensemble. All this material makes Adelicia very solid, and very heavy. Adelicia is much heavier than the usual 1/8 figure. In fact, she is probably heavier than most 1/7 scale figures.

The color on her dress is what really stands out, a rich and almost iridescent shade of purple that you rarely see on figures. The glimpses of red on the underside add much-needed contrast to break up the wash of purple, as does the clear petticoat. 

Adelicia's odd space-like belt is a strange but interesting design choice. It levitates off of her body, which presumably could be achieved in real life with wire, but I would imagine that to be quite uncomfortable. Plausibility aside, the paint on her belt is flawless. This is true of every part of Adelicia. There is no paint overlap, no scratches, no residue or clumps. It is all smooth and even. There are also virtually no seam lines, so Adelicia is free of the small flaws that plague some figures. There are minor seam lines on her hair, but they are nearly invisible and this is mostly due to the fact that sanding them down any further would lead to a lack of definition in her awesome drill-locks.

Adelicia's petticoat is made of clear plastic, and has even more folds than her top-skirt. While you can only see glimpses of it from the front, you get a great view of this layer of her outfit from the side. The clear material adds a light, airy feel to her outfit. It is rather odd that Adelicia is so heavy and dense in reality, but many elements of her sculpt and design make her feel almost ephemeral. 

Another nice bonus of the side view is that you can see almost all of Adelicia's legs. While she seems mostly covered by her outfit, the flaring up on the side leads to some up-skirt opportunities. Sorry guys, but we did not take any panty shots for Adelicia. She is just too refined for that sort of thing! The skin tones here are nice and rich, with shading in all the right places. 

While most of her body is covered in fabric, the parts that are showing are fantastically sculpted. The tendons on her knees and ankles are clearly visible. However, the one big flaw on Adelicia is located nearby so it is hard to focus on her realistic sculpt. I am talking about her base, which is the exact same color as her heels. The heels themselves add a sense of elegance to the figure that is taken away once you put her on the base, which is a real shame. I am definitely going to custom her base into something more interesting, or at least less black, so that it is easier to see her shoes.

Adelicia is not just a good figure, she is a great figure. Even with the issue with her shoes, she is fantastic in every other aspect. Sculpt, pose, coloring, and execution are all perfect. Even with the months-long wait, I am glad that I bought her. Sadly, she is sold out almost everywhere. Even Toyslogic has her marked as out of stock! If you are dying to get your hands on her, you can probably find her for only slightly bumped-up prices at Amazon and eBay. If you can find her, she is worth it!

Thanks again to Stephen Donaldson for taking these pictures, especially because we went to a church for this shoot and the local crazy woman kept staring at us. I think it was making him a bit nervous, but the priest seemed okay with us being there! Also, thanks to my mother for getting me this wonderful present, and for hounding Toyslogic until we finally got a shipping notification! And as always, check out the gallery for more images of the lovely Adelicia Lenn Mathers!