Review originally uploaded on the 2nd of May 2019. Image hosting lost in December 2019. Fixed most of the image hosting on the 23rd of June 2020. If image hosting is (partially) lost again, let me know and I will look into fixing it again.

! There is a wall of text in the beginning! If you want to see the figure + pictures and not the background information, you can scroll down a bit. ;) !

This is a review of a figure in an outfit that can be considered NSFW !

Background

The reason why and how I got her

Original art

Video

The Box

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First Look

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Why Alter still feels the need to add these even with the newest figure in this line, will remain a mystery to me.

Display option 1: No weapon and non-spinning propellers

Display option 2: With weapon and spinning propellers

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The Points

Positive

Neutral

- Could be personal issue, but I was expecting a bit more when you compare it to the last Strike Witches figure made by Alter 4 years ago.

Negative

The Scores

Sculpting 8/10

Painting 9/10

Posing 8/10

Base 9/10

Packaging 8/10

Enjoyment 8/10

Conclusion

Availability

huge

And to finish it!

Thank you for reading this review!

Welcome to my review! Today I will be talking about a figure of Karibuchi Hikari ENTRY #109956 from Brave Witches ENTRY #109955 ! This figure ITEM #520672 is made by Alter ENTRY #7619 I will start off with telling some more about her background.Brave Witches is an anime series following up Strike Witches ENTRY #2 ENTRY #20629 . We have a new cast from another Fighter Wing, this time the 502nd. The anime was meant as a continuation of the World Witches universe. Brave Witches has a very different tone than the earlier Strike Witches. There is a lot less fan service and it's really clear that they want to focus more on the personal aspects. I was personally very pleased that shortly some ground-based Witches were shown (my favorites, the 'tank' girls!) as that might give some chance of ever seeing those girls animated in full one day. Unfortunately Brave Witches was followed by a lot less raving reviews than Strike Witches and while maybe not really to be called a 'flop', could not match to the quality of the first series. This has also resulted to in comparison to the 501st, a low amount of figures and merchandise to have been made from the characters of the 502nd.Karibuchi Hikari is a Witch from Fuso (the World Witches universe version of Japan). In the series we follow her getting enlisted to the 502nd and see her slowly getting better and better. That sounds familiar to Yoshika ENTRY #2026 in the first series? Well, it is! Yoshika and Hikari also share a lot of similar traits both in looks and personality, which could also have a big influence in the 'flop' of the Brave Witches anime. Once you get into the anime, you will notice quite some difference between the girls and when put next to each other their looks are pretty different, but these girls could have been sisters for sure. Anyhow, Hikari is a cute, but a bit clumsy girl. She's very optimistic and upbeat. Hikari has great stamina, but lacking magical ability. She does have a special skill called 'Contact Eye', but as she needs to touch enemies to use it, it is deemed as too dangerous to be put in use.User MOONSTARFC mentioned in a blog a while ago that she got ITEM #520672 in error from a shop and wasn't interested in keeping her, so I asked if I could buy it off her. I got a great deal and a couple of weeks later Hikari arrived at my place!There is no specific artwork this figure was modeled after, but it is clear that she was modeled after her anime design instead of her original character design looks. Above image comes most close to the posing of this figure.For people that prefer the box shots, first look and first shots of the figure as a video, please take a look at the inserted video below. For the people interested in pictures: keep on scrolling!Parts of this video will also appear as gifs during this review!Hikari comes in a very big square box, which has a more stylistic design compared to the earlier boxes for the Strike Witches figures by Alter.The box is sealed off with some round tape.The box comes with an Kadokawa seal of authenticity. As far as we know, no bootlegs are made of this figure.There is also an H Japan sticker of authenticity.Hikari is a very widely posed figure that comes with a few extra parts.She comes with a small instruction sheet explaining how to let her hold her gun and how to switch out the propellers and put her on her base.Hikari comes with the following parts:- Main figure- Her Type 99-2 Model 2 Kai machine gun- Base- Metal rod to attach her to her base- Two alternative non-spinning propellersHikari's expression is really fierce and one of the things that stand out when you see this figure for the first time. She can be displayed without her gun, although her right hand will look a bit weird when viewed from up close this way.Hikari's face and mouth sculpt is really nice. Her eyes are nice looking quality decals.I'm happy to finally see that with this figure, Alter decided to put more details in the sculpt of her ears, instead of keeping it also to decals there.I would also like to give some special mention to the green hair pin, which has a glossy shine.Hikari's hair has a minimal amount of brown shading. The sculpt of the hair itself is also looking nice.I really love the work the sculptor did on her sailor shirt, there is a really good feel of movement going on.A high amount of shading on the shirt can mainly be seen from the side.While I was moving Hikari around for the review......I unfortunately found out that her right arm is prone to falling off. This is quite bothersome as that is the arm that is holding the gun. It is recommended to touch this figure the least amount possible when displayed and keep this in mind as a weak spot when cleaning.Continuing the flow of her shirt, it's all really nice looking. Her ribbon and collar also have very clean lines painted.Hikari's sukumizu is painted with similar colors, but looks slightly more transparent. I like how tight-fitting the seams of the swimsuit look.The same can be said about the behind of the swimsuit.Hikari also sports her tail here. Her familiar is a Fuso squirrel. Like with most Witches, she was originally designed with a tail that looked more like her familiar animal, but in the anime they use more generically shaped tails that rather remind of a wolf or fluffy hound.Her Striker Units are really nicely painted and have a lot of neatly applied decals.I especially like the decal of the 502nd logo.My specific copy of this figure has a small scuff at the white decal at the bottom of the leg. I do like how so much really small details are implemented in the leg, like the small valve next to it.Notice how the bottom leg has more issue with the top and bottom part keeping together (probably caused by gravity as the upper leg has none such thing). It almost seems like the round inner part of the propeller is supposed to be inserted in the above piece (where it can not move further), but the peg is too loose for that to fit.There are so much more little valves, screwed plates and other small details in the sculpt of the Striker Units that earlier Strike Witches did not have.Hikari's base is similar to the earlier ones in this line, it also mentions multiple stats of the character.As an extra detail the base is engraved with the 502nd logo, but it can only be seen when held into a very bright light (or in this case, bright sunlight). It will not show up in your average display cabinet even if you have a lot of light in there.And here we have Hikari in her full glory! Having the propellers spinning and her holding her huge gun is really the most effective display method!Hikari's gun is definitely an eye catcher. Unfortunately these shots also already shows what I find the biggest downside of the gun: The wooden stock at the back has a really lazily painted wood pattern.You can see this same effect at the wooden grip at Hikari's right hand. Luckily the rest of the gun is detailed a lot better and there is some visible fake wear.These details also continue to the front and what seems like a better overall paint than before, so I shouldn't become as worried about the paint flaking here as I did with my Mio BLOG #42610 The strap around the gun has nice details and movement, although it's a bit simple.The spinning propellers definitely look a lot more cool than the non-spinning ones and the slight see-through effect adds some realism.- Really solid figure in paint and sculpt.- A small step up from the amount of details and quality to the earlier figures in this line, but not as big up that she is mismatched with the rest.- Fitting issue with the propeller in the bottom Striker Unit.- Right arm is prone to falling off.The sculpt of this figure is amazingly done and there are a lot of nice details at many places, such as a really big improvement in the Striker Units, the ears and the clothes. I do have to deduct some points for the bad fitting right arm and the fitting issue with the bottom Striker Unit's propeller.Overall amazingly painted with small details like the white borders on her collar well done, but has a few small downsides such as the (in my opinion) lazily painted wooden parts.Very in-character and cool-looking. It's nice to have Hikari displayed in the moment when she is more trained in her skills.Definitely an improvement over the earlier bases in this line, although it's hard to see the embossing in the base when displayed normally.A small change compared to the style of the ones in the Strike Witches line, but still fitting with the rest. Big, but colorful and matching in looks with the character.I think my expectations were maybe a bit too high, making my enjoyment an 8 instead of a 9 or 10. I was less wow-ed than expected. I still really enjoy getting this figure for a good deal and I'm happy that she is a part of my collection. It's unfortunate that we'll probably see no other Brave Witches figures from Alter. Luckily she blends well with my Strike Witches.A very nice and high quality figure. In general I recommend her if you want to (continue) collecting from Strike/Brave Witches or are in general into this aesthetic.Hikari was released a bit more than half a year ago for the very steep price of ¥15,800. Now, the quality is definitely there with this figure, but that price is, especially if you compare it with the last Strike Witch in this line (Lucchini ITEM #78645 ) released in 2014 for ¥9,800. Combining that huge price with the lower than expected success for Brave Witches, meant she lost quite some of her value when the aftermarket opened up. You can find a sealed copy now for ¥9,5-14,5K. If you got interested in buying this figure because of this review, her current best price I found was ¥9480 on HLJ hlj.com/1-8-sca... , I don't think she will drop even more anytime soon (maybe in a couple of years?).I first was a bit scared that she would look very out of place when displayed with the 'older' Strike Witches, but she matches quite well!Having her next to Yoshika also confirms a bit more the differences between these two girls.The biggest difference in quality when you see them displayed like this is that Hikari has a lot of the vents and small details on her Striker Units sculpted, while they are mainly painted on the others. This is not too big of an issue unless when they are looked at from very up close.For those who read all this way, thank you! My next review will be about Kotobukiya's Bishoujo Ash ITEM #600025 from Evil Dead!I hope you enjoyed this review, you could also check my other figure reviews when interested! Here are a few of my recent ones:All pictures in high resolution and some extra pictures not used in the review will be uploaded here later today: profile/Maakie/... And if you like my reviews and would like to receive e-mail updates when I have a new one, you can subscribe to my blog on MFC! --> profile/Maakie/... See you at my next review!