Tomopop Review: Megahouse's Portrait of Pirates NEO-DX Boa Hancock

3:00 PM on 09.09.2010   |   Pedro Cortes

I have long heralded Megahouse's Portrait of Pirates figures as my favorite statues available. The sculpts are consistently excellent and the line is usually priced very fairly, considering the quality of the product. Unlike many other lines, the P.O.P. series deals predominately with manly men looking awesome, though the few ladies that are available look pretty damn sweet.

The latest figure in the DX P.O.P. line is Boa Hancock, queen of the Amazons and all around babe. She's got more curves than a mountain road and knows it. In fact, her powers are predicated on the fact that she can tighten your slacks. She also knows this and is a tremendous bitch, but she happens to have a soft spot for our main man, Luffy. So how did Megahouse do with this bodacious beauty? Follow through to find out.

One thing that stuck out immediately was the fact that Hancock is part of the DX line of P.O.P.s. Not only that, but the recently released Crocodile is also a DX, as well as the upcoming Luffy and Ace releases. There hasn't been a normal POP Neo release since June 2010, and it consisted of two re-releases. With the current releases of the Strong Edition P.O.P.s, Megahouse may be setting up the DX series as the non-Strawhat line of figures. Then again, the upcoming Luffy and Ace are DXs, so I don't have a clue what Megahouse is up to.

Anyway, Hancock! Let's start off with her box.

It's a fairly standard P.O.P. affair. It isn't too impressive, considering the character they're trying to highlight. I guess the pink goes well with Hancock, but it just looks kind of salmon-y to me. I think a deeper red would've made more sense and would've looked a helluva lot better. However, this isn't a box review, it's a figure review, so let's get a good look at Boa, shall we?

Well well well, hello nurse! Ms. Hancock is looking smoking hot from this angle! The sculptor (incidentally the same sculptor of the excellent Strong Edition Robin and the upcoming not-so-awesome looking Strong Edition Nami ver. 2) really made Hancock something to look at. She is easily the sexiest figure in my collection, which is saying a lot.

Besides her cape, the only extra pieces are alternate face and a raised left arm that can be switched out. Honestly, I wouldn't the cape a standard part of the figure since it covers a lot of Boa. I mean, you have this smoking hot lass and you're going to cover her up with a cape?!? Come on now! Removing the cape is easy, as it is held on by gravity. Removing her head is all you need to get the solid plastic cover off from around her shoulders.

What might not be immediate is that the top and sarong are separate pieces, not lumps of plastic fused to her skin. It's a nice effect, making it look like she is naturally wearing clothing, an effect that few companies take into consideration. Yes, this does mean that she is castoffable to a point. If you check out this slightly NSFW Japanese blog, you'll see that the painter remembered her slave tattoo, the sculptor gave her a smexy red thong and *shock* they both remembered that she has nipples. However, the quest for Boa's boobs requires the slight breaking of the top, which means that I will not be doing this. The effect is also lessened because the sleeves are always on, so while her luscious lovelies may be exposed, her arms are covered. The sarong also has to be hitched up to get a peek at pantsu, so the whole thing just isn't worth it. The detail is appreciated though Megahouse, hats off to you.

Here she is with the alternate arm and head. When you remove her bangs you see that her snake earrings fit into a pair of slots in her hair. It's a good way to keep the earrings solidly attached to her.

You can see her extremely bashful expression with the arm to match. It's quite a cute expression, which is a bit startling if you know a bit about the character. The only times she looks like this is when she's trying to manipulate people to forgive her for some atrocity she recently committed or whenever Luffy is around.

Speak of the devil. What up meng? Haven't seen you in awhile. How's life? Oh, sorry to hear about your bro ...

Uh, Hancock? Hey, we got a review to finish here. Focus!

Here's the base. Her heels fit into a pair of pegs, with her back foot resting on a slight elevation. It does keep her from toppling over, but you have to be careful since she's (very obviously) top heavy. She took a terrifying fall when I was moving her in one of my setups, so caution is the name of the game. Although you can't see in the photos, her name is written below the World Government logo, with her allegiance behind her back foot. It's supposed to say "Seven Warlords of the Sea," but Engrish strikes and we get "Seven Worlds the Sea." A consistent typo since Kuma's release, it's an amusing mistake that will only bother the extremely anal retentive.

Dammit Boa, pay attention!

Despite the heaping praise I'm giving, there is one thing that bug me. The painting mistakes.

Okay, now it's your turn to focus! If you can take your eyes off of her massive mammaries, you'll notice a black smudge on her right breast, as well as some missing paint near the clip of her top. It isn't a deal-breaker, but it does annoy me a bit since it's on an obvious part of her. Then again, no factory produced figure is perfect and small mistakes like this are bound to happen. There's also a small bit of paint missing on one of her arms, which may be from her cape. Another reason to take the thing off!

Well, that's it for this review. Boa Hancock is a must buy for any One Piece fan and, unlike some of the other pieces in the P.O.P. line, even non-fans will love her. If you have any sort of love for hot ladies, she needs to be on your desk post haste. Unfortunately, that will prove difficult as she is sold out just about everywhere. It isn't surprising, considering that she sold out in the pre-order stage at several websites. Keep an eye out for a re-release in a few months time, as she's pretty damn popular and most of the Strong Editions and DXs get another go a couple months after their initial release. So for Tomopop, I bid you adieu. Say good night, Boa!

Nevermind.