Don't pretend you didn't know this was coming.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/26813
Surely some of you remember my Conduit 2 unboxing blog, where my obsession with figures became clear to everybody? Remember? Michael Ford with his gun against Black Widow's back? Well, with the release of 3DS' Dead or Alive Dimensions, I thought it an excellent opportunity to show off three of my Dead or Alive-related girls: two Kasumis and one Kokoro. You might actually have seen them in them already, minus one of the Kasumis, in my Happy Birthday, NWR photo. I have since added two more girls to that collection. At any rate, let's gone on with the pretty pictures!
This, dear readers, is Kotobukiya's "Venus on the Beach" Kasumi, based on her appearances in the nefarious Dead or Alive Xtreme games. Like her compatriot, Kokoro (scroll down), Kasumi is a "cast-off" figure, which means she has an alternate outfit. Unfortunately, it's difficult and damaging to get her bikini off, and you'll see why in a second. But first, do admire the wonderful sculpting of this figure, the nice paint job, all that good stuff.
Kotobukiya is actually my favorite figure publisher right now, as they're also doing the fantastic Marvel/DC Bishoujo series. There have been previous figures in this DoAX line, including Hitomi, Tina, Ayane, and Lei Feng, but they haven't wowed me like Kasumi or Kokoro have. These two just seem to raise the bar in terms of sculpt quality (and expression). Now, I say that, but Kasumi honestly looks a little more bubble-headed than she should. I think it's the partially opened mouth...
I'm doing this just for you guys. Kasumi comes apart in disturbing ways. It's not easy, it's not fun, and eventually it starts to wear on her paint job. Thus, I only do this costume switching on special occasions. Kasumi's red and white bikini fit over her much more revealing blue bikini, and the whole thing is locked in place with her body parts. Every time you hook up or unhook one of her body parts, I can just feel the plastic tabs wearing down. So Kasumi just sits on my shelf in her blue bikini all the time now. I like it more anyway.
See? Isn't that just a cleaner look? Notice her base: she fits on it interestingly. You put her foot in the pool hole and rotate her body around so that she's leaning on the pool deck. The whole thing is surprisingly stable. I have failed to show you Kasumi's butt because, in this bikini, there's way too much camel toe. And nobody wants to see that. It is my one complaint about the figure (aside from her 02-deprived expression). Let's get to Kokoro...
Also a product of Kotobukiya, Kokoro is near the top of my favorite figures (that I own). The sculpting is absolutely flawless--you can see every muscular structure on her body. Her default suit actually isn't terrible, but it's not much of a swimsuit. One thing it does do is make her breasts look larger than they really are because that piece of front-end plastic is about a centimeter thick. I should mention the umbrella--it's fully functional, but I stupidly dropped it not long ago and the paper tore a little bit. Maybe you can see that here--I tried to tape it back together in the back.
Like Kasumi, Kokoro also breaks apart in horrible ways. In fact, she loses her head, but not a whole lot else. However, this is the big problem with Kokoro: while her body doesn't break apart, I wish it did, because the edges of her swimsuit rub against her paint job and ruin paint. Kokoro wasn't cheap (none of these girls are) and I'm irritated that she's developed so many unfortunate paint blemishes over the years. This is all from costume-changing, though, so I did learn my lesson.
This is pretty bad. Look up at her neck, shoulder, and down on her thigh. I'll never be able to cover that up because where am I going to find the exact same skin tone paint? At first, this really pissed me off (it still kind of does) but I've learned to live with it. My new rule: if it's a cast-off figure, decide which costume I like best and stick with it forever.
I like this costume much more, because you can see all the anatomical details. I feel like I should mention here that, according to the Dead or Alive games themselves, Kokoro and Kasumi both have modestly-sized chests. The "big guns" in those games belong to Tina, Christie, and Lisa. The sculptor for Kokoro has decided to ignore that. She has a big rack, which I appreciate, but it's not exactly true to the games.
But...look at her, for God's sake. She's a marvel of sculpting nonetheless. Abdominals, scapular definition, bulges on her breasts where they are constricted by the bikini top...somebody put a lot of effort into this. Okay, that's it for the bikini girls. Let's get to the final figure who was also...*sniff*...my FIRST figure.
It's the BOME Kasumi, white version. There's a blue version and a black version too, but I liked this one's pose the most. Lots of little details to soak in here, including her armbands and shielded legs. Her flowing hair is made of clear plastic, which is nice, and I like the design on her costume.
Kasumi got me into this hobby. I saw her for $20 (actually maybe cheaper) at a comic shop and decided to buy her. Within a few months, I'd bought several more figures (from the now-horrible DC Ame-Comi line). Funny story: when I brought Kasumi home and put her proudly on my DVD shelf, my wife complained that her "breasts are falling out." Ah, time would soon reveal the irony of that statement. Compared to the Kotobukiya girls up there (and most of my other figures), BOME's Kasumi is downright prudish.
There you have it, folks: my three Dead or Alive girls. There haven't been any others announced, although there's a new Kasumi released every few months in Japan. She seems to be far and away the most popular DoA girl. Sometime we'll venture back to my figure shelf, as I have plenty of other gaming girls...but not necessarily from Nintendo games. In fact, were it not for DoA Dimensions, you probably wouldn't be oggling these girls right now!
Topic: Zach's Gaming Stuff: DoA Girls (Read 5755 times)
