Tomopop Review: Kotobukiya's Hanshin Tigers Lum figure

3:00 PM on 08.05.2010   |   Brian Szabelski

As many of you know by now, I have a love for Rumiko Takahashi's work. More so her older works than her newer ones, as the ending to InuYasha has continued to leave a bad taste in my mouth and Rin-ne looks more and more like the same stuff we've seen before, but thankfully, I don't have to worry about that. The reason why, of course, is because Kotobukiya has graciously reminded me of an older series I love a lot: Urusei Yatsura. And they've done that with a brand-new 1/10-scale Lum figure that they've released ... though with a bit of a twist.

As it turns out, that twist was that she's got a Hanshin Tigers theme to her, in part playing off her famous tiger-striped bikini and boots, which also match the Tigers' team colors. Even though I'm not a massive Hanshin Tigers fan, I still like Japanese baseball and Lum enough that when I saw her, I knew I had to get her. Even if she was supposed to be a Japan-only exclusive.

Hit the jump and find out if she was worth bringing over from Japan!

Normally, I don't spend a lot of time on boxes. Mostly because, well, there's not much to them. But with Lum, there's actually quite a bit. Starting with the front, you have the figure's name, the logos for the Hanshin Tigers and Urusei Yatsura, and a nice open window to look inside at the contents. It's also pretty gloss, as you can tell, but a bit clearer in person.

If you also notice on the box, there's pin-stripe design that looks similar to the Hanshin Tigers home uniforms, which along with the team colors is a very nice touch.

From the side, we get a glimpse of the base, which prominently features the Hanshin Tigers logo. Ten-chan's also along for the ride!

The back of the box sports an image of what the figure looks like when you get it out of the box and put it all together. That actually takes a little bit of work, mostly dealing with getting the flag into place in Lum's hand, but once you have that set, the rest is a breeze. And yes, though Lum's body is facing away, this is the default "front" view, which you'll see in a bit.

So with all that, what can go on the left side of the box? Oh, how about an illustration of Lum and Ten-chan that's absolutely adorable to fill space? Yeah, that'll work very nicely. Also, as you can see in the gallery, the top of the box has a window, mostly just to fill space. I don't think it really serves any other purpose, because it doesn't really show off much.

So, we're done with the box, and the plastic shell inside is your basic snap-together number, so let's bust her out of there and see how she looks assembled!

Here she is! Out of the box, Lum is 1/10 scale and stands approximately 6" tall. The big flag she's holding kind of tricks your mind into thinking she's actually a little bit bigger, or at least it did to me a few times. As you can also tell, everything is well within proportion to one another, but there's one tiny thing wrong with this angle: it's not actually the front view.

This view is actually from the figure's front. Here, you can see Lum looking back over her shoulder at the camera, striking a lovely pose with the flag in one hand and the other hand on her hip. Thankfully, her back is not wrenched in some unnatural position, and the curves and contours of Lum's body match up with how she was originally drawn. I personally love how her legs are posed, a little bit like she's in mid-step, and the whole figure really brings out her vibrant attitude (when she's not pissed at Ataru, that is).

You also get a nice shot of the figure's base here, which is much, much heavier than I expected. I was thinking it'd be plastic, but it's actually metal inside of a plastic covering, and in a bit, I'll reveal the reason for that.

Lum and her hair are, in a word, gorgeous. This is by far my favorite thing about the figure. Her face looks identical to Rumiko Takahashi's illustrations of her, and those big yellow eyes really just pop against her green hair. Speaking of which, the sculpting on her hair is superb for two reasons. One, it's exactly how her hair is styled in the manga and anime and they've layered it very well. Two, the sculptors and designers at Kotobukiya have added in a wind-swept/thrown look. It lines up perfectly with the position of her head and her eyes as she looks back over her shoulder, and adds a distinct dynamicness to her pose.

The back of her hair keeps that sweeping motion going and looks quite beauitufl. The shading effect here is actually painted onto the design, which makes Lum look more like her manga and anime counterparts. As in, they lifted her right from Rumiko Takahashi's illustrations, shading and all. It took some getting used to, but I've grown to actually like it a bit.

A nice shot of Lum's body from the side shows off some of her curves and highlights that her seams are pretty well masked. Her pose is a natural one, looking back over her left shoulder, and if I had one complaint, it's that her hand isn't quite resting all the way on her hip. You can see a bit of the shadow above, as there's a small gap, but it's less than a millimeter off, so as long as you're not inspecting it up close, it's really not noticeable at all.

Also, yes, you can see her boobs are the right size. Thankfully, Rumiko Takahashi tends to draw characters that look like normal people.

And what would a Lum figure be without those trademark boots? I'm not just showing them off to show how nicely they've been sculpted and painted, though: you can also see the peg that Lum rests upon. Yes, it's the one-foot peg that I hate so much because it makes me worry about leaning in the future, but thankfully, Lum's other foot comes down enough that there's not a whole lot of extra weight that one leg is supporting. That means she probably ought to be ok.

And, of course, here's Lum's back in closer detail. Not only does it let you appreciate the nice tiger-stripe paint job Kotobukiya did without any bleeding, but you can see some of the excellent sculptwork on her bikini bottom that makes it look as ragged on the edges as it does in Urusei Yatsura.

But Koto's Lum is full of surprises. The first one happened to be the Hanshin Tigers flag, which is not PVC and actually made of fabric! If you've been paying attention, you might have noticed this already because it's been in several different positions due to the wind. The quality of the fabric screening on the flag is top notch, without any noticeable errors. What's more, there's a flexible metal piece in the top of the flag that lets you pose it a bit to give it a waving in the breeze look in whatever manner you wish.

As I mentioned a bit earlier, there were a few small things to assemble, chief of which was the flag. As you can see, the flag parts are held together by that one little yellow peg that slides into Lum's hand. It's a very tight fit and might give you some fits, but once it's in, the fit is very snug and the peg is barely noticeable.

Right alongside Lum is her lovable infant cousin, Ten-chan! Riding around on his little space scooter, Ten-chan looks absolutely adorable, and they've nailed his look perfectly. Additionally, there's no obvious paint bleed and the seam lines are fairly well hidden. But there's something interesting about him, too, that's very much worth noting:

As you can see, Ten-chan's attached to the base by a long black piece. However, if you look at the box, not only is that piece not there in the box shot ... but Ten-chan's in a different place. Here's where the other interesting bit comes into play: Ten-chan is held onto the metal base via a small magnet at the bottom of the base. The black piece is swappable for a magnet sans black piece, if you want your Ten-chan to be a bit lower, which might be better since when he's that high up, he falls over at the slightest touch, it seems. Or, if you want, you can completely remove him. But why would you do that? Well ...

... Because that way, you can display Lum on her own, if you choose, without it seeming like something's missing. And it looks very, very nice. I've chosen to keep Ten-chan on my base, but I can always change my mind if I want to!

Still, not everything is quite right. She's got a bit of a hair seam, and there is a bit of paint outside the lines in a place you can't really notice it, the horns on top of her head. You can just barely see it on the edges of the horns, and you can also see another small flaw: the point where the plastic was separated from the mold. Or I think it might be it, because there's another, much smaller one on her left hip that could be the same thing.

Another small issue is that from this angle and a few others, the shading on her hair doesn't look natural, but clearly painted on, and as such, a little bit off. The only good news? Well, you won't be displaying the top of her head now, will you?

This is the spot on her hip I was talking about. It's noticeable, more so than the head one, but I think it may have just been an issue on my Lum. Or I hope it is. The good news, though,is that the actual seams of this figure aren't that easily noticeable, so you won't have to worry about that too much.

So, what's the final verdict? It is by a mile the best box I own for a figure. As for the figure itself, yes, it's 1/10-scale, but my a much closer margin, Koto's Hanshin Tigers Lum has jumped to the top of my list, flaws and all. It might not be your cup of tea at all, and of course, that's fine, but I certainly love her. 

Now, here comes the somewhat harder part: getting her. Kotobukiya is selling her on their Japanese site (both versions, I might add) for 3,990 yen. The problem being, of course ... that's their Japanese site. And it's exclusively there and at the Hanshin Tigers gift shops. But you do have options before having to run to eBay: you can go the easiest way through a proxy buyer like I did such as Yokatta, or you can try your luck on a site like Mandarake or Yahoo! Japan Auctions. The latter two options require more patience and luck, but you might be able to snag one (or both) for less than retail price.