Tomopop Review: Good Smile Company's Yoko Nendoroid

12:00 PM on 04.04.2009   |   Pedro Cortes

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to confess something. It's a deep shame of mine, but I figure this would be the best place to air out my dirty laundry, so to speak.

Before this review, I was a Nendoroid virgin.

I had looked at them, all cute and standing there with their over-sized heads and huge smiles. I'd seen them in person, held them in my hands, but never had one of my own. However, thanks to a generous birthday gift from a friend of mine, I have gloriously popped my Nendo cherry with Yoko, the popular sniper from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Follow me after the jump to see some more pics and hear a Nendo newb rhapsodize.

First up is the box, which is your typical Nendoroid fair.

The box's color scheme is Gurren Lagann flavored, with a white field and red flames coming up from the bottom. The back of the box shows Yoko in several of the poses you can put her in.

Yoko comes with several accessories, including her sniper rifle, an additional strap for the rifle, a pink and maroon muffler, and her pair of shooting goggles that attaches to a notch behind her bangs. An additional pair of legs and three arms also come with the set.

However, a figure this nice can't be shot indoors. We need a better setting! Off to nature we go!

I'll start off the photos with Yoko straight out of the box.

Ain't she a cutie? I'm surprised at all the little details Good Smile Company crams into their Nendoroids. They got the studs on her gloves just right, along with the metal bits on her belt and her thigh-high stockings.. They even got the underboob that Yoko is famous for, though in this form it's overwhelmingly adorable.

Here's a closer look at her back and side. Another lovely bit of detail is in the zipper on her boots and the knot of her bikini. You also get a better look at the muffler, which is interchangeable with other Nendos.

Next up is Yoko with the rifle on her back. This is where I experienced quite a bit of trouble. Getting the damn rifle on her back took 15 minutes of confusion and cursing I managed to figure it out.

A little morbid, but I got the job done. Anyhow, the way you do it is by removing the barrel and butt of the rifle and replacing the original strap with the extra one. You slide in the seperated torso and slide the strap between her ample boobs and voila! Snap on the hips, the legs, the arms and torso and you get this!

The rifle helps balance Yoko by getting caught under the clip on her base, so if you're having difficulty getting her to stay upright, pop that rifle on her.

You can see the prop action. Also, her ponytail is movable, so it can be used for balance purposes as well.

Yoko can be quite fierce as well.

Getting Yoko to balance in this stance is harder than normal, especially with the other pair of legs that came with the set. The mobile tail will help with balancing her.

Yoko can do moé as well, with her rifle...

or with out it!

I wonder what could make Yoko go all moé moé.  Hmmm...

Ah, that's why! Nothing like a little bit of Kamina to make anybody swoon.

Let me repeat...SOOOO CUTE!

Overall, I absolutely LOVE Nendoroid Yoko. She may be a bit difficult to pose and getting the rifle on her was a pain in the ass, but that doesn't detract from the overall package. If you're a fan of Gurren Lagann, Nendoroids, or a fan of toys in general, you can't go wrong with picking up Yoko. You can also bet that I'll be picking up more Nendoroids!