Tomopop Review: Yamato's Creator's Labo Amanda Werner

12:00 PM on 06.01.2010   |   Call Niero

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for....presenting the lovely and devastating Amanda Werner, undefeated champion and destroyer of worlds!" The announcer winked at the crowd, tipping his worn silk tophat to them. "Well, maybe the last part was a bit of an exaggeration. But with a woman like this to introduce, can you really blame me?" Laugther rippled through the crowd, and the announcer sighed with relief. He never knew how these little jokes would go over with Amanda's fans.

Amanda grinned. She had heard the announcer's offbeat introductions a hundred times over, but being referred to as things like the "destroyer of worlds" never got old. She looked out at the arena, running her hands along her guns as if she could test their functionality by touching them. She did not know who her opponent was today, and it honestly did not matter to her. As he had so concisely put it, she was undefeated. It was getting a bit boring actually, winning without much of a fight day after day. Perhaps this time she would let the poor scoundrel struggle a bit before she put him out of his misery.

The roar of the crowd was growing louder-- it was time to go in. Keeping them any longer was just cruel. She put on her best wicked smile, adjusted the straps of her outfit, and stepped out into the arena. It was time for another bloodbath. 

Amanda was a bit of an impulse buy for me. I had no clue what show she was from or who the illustrator was. I also had no previous experience with Yamato figures, and I usually only preorder figures if I am familiar with the company. So why did I order her? Even now I am not really sure. She is showing a bit more skin than I usually like on my figures, and seems to be something I would usually pass up. But something about her pink hair, devil horns, and unusually curvy form called out to me.

This is the art the figure was based on. A lot of changes were made obviously, and I can't say that I mind. I am not a fan of her face in this illustration. The actual figure has a more mature looking expression. Some other things were changed, like her hair, and she was given a slightly smoother body line. 

I'm skipping the shot of the plastic shell again, folks. If you really need to see it, you can find it in the gallery.

Amanda is a big girl. Though she is listed as non scale, I would put her at about 1/6 or 1/5. She is a little over 11" high. Thankfully the promo shots were pretty accurate, and Amanda came out looking rather splendid. I was worried that the final product would be disappointing, but while she has some minor flaws, she is a fine looking figure.

Her face has a mature look that you do not often find on PVC. Amanda is definitely not in high school. Her eyes in particular are stunning, a lovely shade of blue with a ton of nice detailing. Each eyelash is defined, a trait you usually do not see outside of Shunya Yamashita designs. Yamato did a great job on her face, from the rosy pink painted lips to the sculpt of her jawline. 

There are a lot of things I could say about the back shot, but I am sure you all went directly to her behind, so let me just say this: baby got back! It is very rare to see a genuinely curvy figure, and even harder to find one with a nice, full behind. I am not really sure why this is, but I appreciate when figure makers decide to go against the slim, willowy, overly busty norm. Is Amanda realistically shaped? Not really, but it is nice to see a different shape on a figure. 

I also find it funny that her hair is parted just to give you a better look at her bum. Way to put the customer first, Yamato!

So let's talk details. I really love animal ears of all types, but it seems like horns are far less common than, say, nekomimi. It is a real shame, because horns really add a lot to a character design. I am not sure if Amanda's horns are growing out of her head or attached to her headband, but I would like to believe the former. The horns are a nice glossy black, while the headband is a matte black, which allows for some nice contrast. The ridges of the horns are nicely sculpted, but they are perhaps not as detailed as they could be.

Her guns are a bit difficult to get into her hands. The slots for them are pretty wide, so much so that her hands look oddly shaped without the guns, but it takes quite a bit of wiggling to get them to fit properly. The guns themselves are rather plainly painted, but the sculpting is nice. There are lots of little details to keep the eye interested. 

Her gloves kind of confuse me. Why are there hexagons around her wrists? It is a nifty design, but I cannot see it being very practical in the middle of a battle! The gloves themselves have a nice, almost gunmetal finish. 

Amanda's bangs are very well done. Though some of her hair suffers a bit from some sloppy production, and has an oddly bendy look, the bangs are just spot-on. The sculpting is excellent and and there are no mold lines or paint clumps. I am particularly partial to pink hair, and Amanda's shade hits all the right notes. It is just pink enough without being hot pink, and has an almost bubblegum feel. 

What little there is of Amanda's outfit is nicely detailed and smoothly painted. I love the cherry red with her pink hair. The different shades of black and gray also help give depth to what could easily be a boring design. The little silver buttons are thankfully very cleanly painted-- circles are an area that are often messed up on figures, but there is very little paint overlap between the rest of the outfit and the buttons.

One area of her outfit that does suffer is the straps around her thighs. The paint is messy here, and overlaps with her skin quite a bit. Because of her rather skimpy outfit, each individual area draws more attention, and it is unfortunate that  quality control is not really up to par here.

Amanda has particularly rosy skintones. I have a lot of paler figures, so at first I thought her skin was too pink, but upon comparison to some regular people, they are pretty normal. It gives her a sense of energy that some figures seem to lack.

One thing that I find odd about Amanda is her stomach. It is completely flat. Amanda is a very curvy girl, and there is simply no way that she would not have a bit of a belly. Even very slim figures like Elwing have a correctly sculpted tummy, so this seems like an odd area for them to overlook. To be honest, it bothers me a bit. People who buy Amanda probably don't like their women paper-thin, so there is no reason to give her a flat stomach.

Here is an angle where you can really see how curvy she is. She is not fat at all, not even plump, but Amanda is certainly not thin. Her stomach actually looks odd in proportion to the rest of her body. 

Amanda is attached to the base by only one foot, but there is both a peg that goes into her foot and one in her foot that attaches to her base, so leaning is not much of a concern. Her other foot is also supported a bit by her little skull buddy. Amanda's shoes have a pretty interesting design. The bold shapes really work nicely to contrast with the softer curves of her body. However, they do not look very comfortable, unless Amanda is a mutant of some sort with pointed toes. 

Speaking of the little skull dude, here he is! Since I have not watched the show, I have no idea who or what he is, but I do know that he is damn cool looking. I really want to watch the anime now because I love the cyberpunk, mecha-y feel he gives off. The detail work on his sculpt is really fantastic, there is actually more detail than him than on Amanda! This is mainly because of her less than modest outfit, so the skull dude presents a nice contrast.

There are no instructions for where to place him, so I slid him under her raised foot to add a bit of support. I don't think there is a "right" place to put him, so if you get her feel free to put him anywhere your heart desires. 

You guys didn't think I was going to finish the review without a nice butt shot, did you? Well here it is! Amanda does have a damn fine butt, probably the nicest on a figure. I find it funny that big, near-naked breasts almost bother me on figures because I have seen so many of them, but a big butt feels like a breath of fresh air. Sparsely clothed butts are probably no less tacky than a girl with big breasts in a string bikini, and I will be the first to admit that Amanda is perhaps not the most tasteful of figures,  but for some reason I adore her. Maybe because she is so unusual. Or maybe it's the pink hair!

Amanda is admittedly a figure with some flaws. The paint is not perfect on some parts of her outfit, and her hair could use a straightener. But in spite of this, I absolutely love her. There are parts of her that are spectacularly well executed, and her overall design is amazing. If you would like Amanda for your own collection, she is still available at AmiAmi for 9886 yen. She is an expensive figure, but if you find her appealing she is well worth the cost.

Thanks again to Stephen Donaldson for these gorgeous pictures, and don't forget to check out the gallery for a whole lot more of the lovely and devastating Amanda Werner!