Tomopop Review: Kotobukiya's 1/6 Goddess of Forest Elwing

3:00 PM on 05.26.2010   |   Call Niero

Many, many years ago, the Forest King was blessed with a child. But the child was not a boy, an heir to his throne, but a baby girl with skin like porcelain. While his wife was thrilled, and named the child Elwing, the King was dreadfully unhappy. A mere girl could never take his place as leader of the Forest. So he waited and waited for the Queen to bear a son, but Elwing was to be their only child. On the eve of her 18th birthday, when she was to come of age and her father was bound by the law to name her his heir, the Forest King disowned his only child and cast her out into the wilderness. Better to have no heir at all than a weak woman, he said to his wife.

Elwing ran out into the woods, tears streaming down her face, wishing to be anywhere but here. She was trapped in her father's forest, chained to the very land he had refused to give her. There was no way out, the trees stretched on forever and the sun never reached the ground. After hours of running, she sat down by a small pool and stared at her reflection. "I wish...I wish I had been born anything but this. The princess to a broken kingdom." The water rippled slowly, and a soft sheen covered the surface. "O child of the woods, we see the sorrow that lies in your heart. And we see the strength buried inside of you. Your wish shall be granted." Elwing looked down at the pool, gasping in surprise, but her shock was cut short as she lost consciousness.

She woke up and looked down at her new form with surprise and delight. She was no longer a princess of the Forest. Shimmering green cloth flowed over her body like water, and the wings on her head moved gently in the breeze. "Well, Elwing?" The voice of the Forest asked, "How does it feel to be a Goddess?"

"Excellent." She smiled, stretching her fingers. "I think I shall pay my father a visit....."

Goddess version Elwing was by far one of the figures of 2010 I was anticipating the most. The test shots of her were nothing short of gorgeous, and Tony Taka and Kotobukiya have done fantastic work together for many years. Combine that with the fact that it was a figure of Elwing, one of my favorite characters (based on design alone I have to admit, I never played the game!) and the excitement for her release was almost too much for me.

I was terribly afraid that she would not meet my far too high expectations, but I think in the end the exact opposite is true. Oops, did I just spoil the review? 

Here she is in her lovely plastic shell. There were lots of sheets of plastic around her, but I took them off the instant she arrived at my door. Sorry, guys, but I am not going to wait until I trek through the forest to open a figure! Plus the wonderful fumes of fresh PVC make me nauseous, so I thought it would be wise to air her out a bit. 

Free at last! The first thing I thought when I got her out was "dear lord she is massive!" Elwing is a decent 1/6 scale, but in her stretched out pose she is well over 12" and currently the second biggest figure in my collection. She is also quite heavy--the base in particular weighs a lot more than the usual figure.  It is nice to have something so solid-looking on my shelves. Even though she is a willowy elf, her size and pose make her quite impressive.

Elwing has one of the most beautiful faces I have ever seen on a figure. She is not cute or sexy or seductive, which seem to be the usual expressions. She appears incredibly peaceful, much like what you would expect the goddess of a forest to look like. The eyes are nearly identical to Tony Taka's original illustration from her--in fact, the entire figure looks like it was lifted from his designs.

Her hair covers most of her back so there is not much to see from this angle, but then again Elwing is a figure that is most definitely meant to be displayed from the front. Her hair has a lovely and detailed sculpt and, like most of the figures made from Taka's illustrations, is sparsely shaded. With so many strands of hair individually sculpted, this is not really an issue though. Detailed shading would detract from the elegant simplicity of this figure.

Headwings and elf ears are two of my greatest weaknesses, and Elwing really delivers on both ends. Her wings are perfectly sculpted and have quite a bit of shading that is almost pink. That combined with the opalescent paint add real depth to them. I love how they are slightly curled at the ends, as if they are moving with the rest of her body.  They also serve to cover the dreaded hair seam--the headband they are on lays right over that problem area.

Her elf ears are just so adorable! They are probably the only "cute" part of her, and they are elegant enough to be adorable without wandering into "cutesy" territory. I love that there is a bit of sculpting done here, but not enough to make them eerily realistic. If you think about it, elf ears are just stretched out regular ears. Which means they would have all those ridges, and my mental image of that in real life is just not as pleasant as Elwing's ears. 

The best part of her hair is the little curl right at the end. It was a detail in the illustration that could easily have been ignored, but thankfully was added to the figure. As you can probably see, there is a slight gap in her hair in this area, but it is incredibly small when you are looking at her. You can really only see it when zoomed in, and as long as I cannot see a small flaw when looking at a figure I don't really care about it. Some people like to nitpick with things like this, but in my opinion if it does not detract from the appearance of the figure, it is not something to worry about.

Her dress/outfit manages to be quite skimpy without being tacky. I think that her pose and demeanor are so elegant that she manages to be very non-sexual. There are some small flaws on the edges of the dress, they look almost frayed, but this was barely noticeable on mine. I know some people had an issue with this, but it was only upon close inspection that I even noticed. 

Elwing is a pale girl, but her skin tones are quite richly portrayed. They are nice and warm, with shading in all the right places. I also love that little fold in her skin by her waist--such a nice, realistic touch. Her torso in general is very realistically sculpted. Her stomach even curves out a bit! 

Here is a closer shot of the top, and you can better see the worn look of the material. It does look a bit roughly cut, but I think that was the intended look. The attention to detail is so fantastic on the rest of her that I can't see why they would leave this intentionally messy. 

One of the little details that really make Elwing shine is the positioning of her hands. It looks like she is reaching for something. Notice that each individual knuckle is sculpted, as are the curves and lines on her palm. That is some intense attention to detail! 

One of Elwing's major selling points was her base. The use of her dress as a base was a clever and unique idea, especially since it incorporated the use of translucent material. The use of translucency seems to be an area where Kotobukiya really shines. I own several of their figures that make use of it, and it is always well executed. Elwing is no exception--her dress/base is translucent enough to glow in the sunlight, but not so much so that it is clear or see-through when not under direct light.

Her base is of course not one solid piece, and the seam lines are hidden rather well. Of course it is a clear material, so you can see a bit of the places where it is held together. Other than that, they look very much like natural folds in the cloth. The overall flow of the skirt is very nicely executed, and the fall of the "cloth" looks quite natural.

So, how do I feel about Goddess Elwing after all is said and done? Even with the minor flaws, I have no qualms with saying that so far, she is the best figure of 2010. She is just so radically different than most figures out there--she is not cute or sexy or fierce, she is simply ... gorgeous. There is something so calming about her pose, and her sculpting is some of the best I have ever seen. I have no trouble believing that she is indeed a Goddess. 

Elwing is sold out in most places, but you can still find her if you search around a bit. Hobby Link Japan still has her up for 8800 yen, and you can get her direct from Koto US for $89.99, which for a figure this large and detailed is a very low price. 

As always, thanks to my photographer Stephen Donaldson. Elwing was a blast to take pictures of, so be sure you check out the gallery as it is extra large this time around!

Thanks to Kotobukiya for the review sample.