Figure Name: Bakemonogatari Nendoroid Petit figures (set of four)
Figure Maker: Taito
Retail Price: ¥800 ea, ¥3,000 for the set
Available at: AmiAmi (Temp. sold out) | Mandarake

The boxes are empty, because it's just plain wrong to keep something so cute locked away inside for too very long. Hitagi and Araragi-kun were longing to be with each other, and I feared for the hands of whoever dare open the box a moment too late. The image above is of the front of the boxes, as you could assume.

This is what the rest of the box looks like. I am so clever.

We don't hear about Taito very often on Tomopop, and I didn't really expect that to be the name on the box when I was told about these little guys. Well, mostly girls. Okay, these ladies. Sorry, Araragi. This is a shot of all four of them together (same as up in the header, actually). He doesn't look all that upset to be surrounded by crazy women, either.

We'll start with Nadeko Sengoku, because she's the one I feel least attached to. She's just kinda ... standing there and doing her own thing. She looks pretty happy to be doing nothing, though. Also, her hat is huge compared to the rest of her, so that's the highlight image I chose for her figure (specific image of the hat in the gallery). It's so huge that you can't even see her eyes unless you pick the figure up to look, or lie down on the floor like I did to take these pictures.

I actually do have nice things to say about her, though. I like her hair. It's sculpted and painted better than I expected it to be. I say painted, in the sense that it isn't smudged everywhere. Actually, on all the figures the paint job is pretty much an even job. The eyes are beautifully painted on all four of these as well.

Next is miss Suruga Kanbaru. She's got the usual bandaged arm and a book in her other hand. No doubt, it's a steamy boy love novel. She's just wearing her uniform and a smile.

The bandages are the highlight of this figure, with their slightly textured look. On a slightly negative note, her face isn't that cute when it's so chubby-looking. She looks like she's got some food in her mouth. Maybe that's why she looks happy rather than snarky. I bet she has some awesome taiyaki in there.

Here is Senjyogahara Hitagi, our resident show-stopper. She's got her cute dress from the end of the series and a total lack of stationery. Her hair has two styles, a loose look (seen below and in the gallery) and tied-behind pigtails. I personally like the hair tied, and the scrunchies are molded prettily on.

Her hand is ready to receive something; Araragi's hand, specifically. He fits perfectly with her, as you can see above. He's looking rather smug, isn't he? He's probably just really happy to see Hitagi wearing such a pretty polka-dot dress. I really, really like polka-dots.

I think I would too if I went through as much trouble as he did to be with this crazy girl. Here he is with his paper airplane. I thought this was a nifty addition to his chibi, and of course he wouldn't be complete without a big ahoge.

Together they make a great set, and for being petit toys they are well painted. With the exception of Hitagi (in my brief experience handling these) none of them fell apart or easily fell off the base, which you have seen in images above is the typical Petit ball-in-the-back torture arm base.

If I were to buy any of these, I'd just get Hitagi and Araragi since they come with interchangeable parts and are meant to be together. They can be posed separately, but they'll always have a waiting hand/arm for the other one, which looks a little odd. To me it does, anyway.

The other two didn't do much for me, as characters or as chibi figures. Unfortunately for you (maybe), it's sold as a set of four. The flip-side is they aren't that expensive anyway. If you're into Bakemonogatari and like all four characters (or at least three), this is a very good buy if you're into the chibi thing (even if they look a bit milky-pale).

Buying all four comes out to a nice deal compared with just purchasing two at ¥800. These are game prizes, so you may see them pop up here and there if you look at this review and feel like you need to have them. As I wrote this, there were several up for sale up at Mandarake (linked at the top of this review).

I mean, they're cute. Very cute. Are any of you Tomofolk tempted? These figures pretty much missed our radar when they went up for pre-order last year and were released to the wild in January. Had you known of these previously (that is, if this is the first you're seeing of them), would you have insta-ordered?