This is a review of a figure in an outfit that is NSFW as she is not wearing pants and has panties fully showing!

Background

The reason why and how I got her

Original art

Video

The Box

First Look

Overview of the joints and movement

Pose 1: The grumpy wave

Pose 2: The grumpy fall

Pose 3: Blushing face and 'walking' in Striker Units

Pose 4: Attack mode!

Size comparison

The Points

Positive

Neutral

Negative

The Scores

Sculpting 7/10

Painting 6/10

Posability 8/10

Base 8/10

Packaging 8/10

Enjoyment 8/10

Conclusion

Availability

And to finish it!

Thank you for reading this review!

Welcome to my review! Today I will be talking about a figure of Gertrud Barkhorn ENTRY #2021 from Strike Witches ENTRY #2 (this specific figure being from Strike Witches 2 ENTRY #20629 )! This is an action figure ITEM #109652 in the A.G.P. (Armor Girls Project) line ENTRY #32774 and is made by Bandai ENTRY #7624 . The A.G.P. line has the slogan of Armor x Girls and you will find a lot of figures in their line-up from either Mecha Musume franchises or from other franchises, but with armor and weapons added on. The line prides itself in delivering a lot of accessories and big weaponry and is with that a (mostly more expensive) competitor of Figma.I will start off with telling some more about her background.Strike Witches is a manga, light novel and anime series with character designs from the famous artist Shimada Fumikane/Humikane ENTRY #21456 . The story line of the franchise takes place in an alternative WWII, where girls with magical powers, called Witches, represent famous pilots and the enemy to be beaten are aliens called Neuroi. Witches are the only people that can wear Striker Units, airplane-legs needed to get close to the Neuroi. The series may be a bit hard to get into as the concept can seem very strange at first, but it's easy to fall in love with the character designs that are a nice mix of cute and fierce.Gertrud 'Trude' Barkhorn is form Karlsland, an area that can be seen similar to Germany in the World Witches universe. She volunteered for the military from a young age and climbed ranks fast. Generally she is a calm and serious person, but once she 'snaps', she can get really worked up and aggressive. This action figure offers display options for both of her sides.She was heavily discounted on HLJ about 5-6 years ago, so I decided to add her into an order I was already placing. I don't have the invoice anymore, but I'm pretty sure that I paid around half of her original retail price of ¥4,500. She was my first A.G.P. figure so I did not have any other reference yet next to 'her probably being a Figma of lower quality, but with more accessories'.As this figure can be posed in a lot of different ways, there is no specific artwork it was modeled after. However with the figure it's overall look, we can assume it was modeled after her anime appearance rather than her artwork by Humikane Shimada.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!The box window already shows off the huge amount of parts this figure comes with!The box has a very flat design, making it easy to store.The back of the box shows different poses you can put the figure in and advertises that you should display her with others in the line. This specific figure also comes with a 'holding hands part' (similar to the one that came with Figma Eila ITEM #98903 , which I reviewed here: BLOG #40117 ).The front of the box has a licensing sticker from Kadokawa Production.The top of the box is sealed with one piece of square tape.The parts this figure comes with:- Main body with attached faceplate (frowning) and two swappable hands- Two alternative faceplates (blushing and shouting)- Alternative hair piece with dog ears- Dog tail- Nine additional hands- One 'holding hands' set- Striker Units with attached spinning propellers- Alternative upper leg pieces to use with the Striker Units- Two alternative static propellers to attach to the Striker Units- Two MG42 machine guns- Square base- Holding peg for into the baseThe instruction sheet shows how to safely swap faceplates, how to assemble and attach the Striker units, what the best hands are and weight distribution is for the machine guns and finally how to attach her to her base.While the blue base feel flimsier than the one from a Figma, the base peg actually feels sturdier.Let's talk about the joints! The arm joints look and feel very similar to Figma, but the knee joints are nicely hidden in the front by the sculpt of her knees. If you display her without any leg bending they fit almost seamlessly together. Furthermore the head can be turned, the upper arms and lower legs swiveled around, the wrists can move freely as well, and there is a bit of movement possible at the ankles.There is also a torso joint. It can swivel around and make poses slightly more natural as her back can move a bit.Swapping parts around is similar as to other action figures.I was surprised at the size of the thigh joints.The basic position of the legs without the jacket to hide it, are a bit strange.The insertion of the alternative upper legs into the Striker Units feel very secure, because the long peg reaches very far into the legs.As I have no other A.G.P. figures currently unboxed (I do have ITEM #103158 in storage), so I could not try out the holding hands part. They are not compatible with Figma or other action figures I own.It's interesting how the hands look a bit dirty in close-up, as I was newly unboxing this figure.Testing out her stability and the basic faceplate.Well, I couldn't help but think this faceplate looks a bit silly, maybe it's the lack of shading or maybe the proportions are a bit off, I can't really pin down what my issue is with it.While the holding peg is very long, it does help with proper balancing.Well, let's start again with this faceplate that I really dislike. I just don't know what's up with it and after this review it was put in the box to never be taken out again.The hair bangs are sculpted a bit clunky, but overall decent looking.The hair sculpt at the back is nicer than the front. I like how the hair gets pulled into the twin tails. The sculpt and paint of the black ribbons is so-so.The sculpt and paint of the uniform is decent, but not much special. Specific for each copy there will be small defects, like most of the silver buttons on mine not being painted super even.I like the sculpt of the jacket pockets and the open front part. The paint however, could have been done better. On my copy specifically the white parts are very messy.The shoes have a nice sculpt as well. I especially like how the upper part looks.You'll notice that Gertrud gets a lot taller when wearing the Striker Units, so more of that long arm peg is used now.This faceplate just also feels really off. I appreciate the use of blush (something that gets forgotten on a lot of figures), but I think the combination of the very low eyebrows and the very dropped down mouth just make it look weird.However, the Striker Units are looking incredible. Most of the paint is very well applied and all the details are there in the sculpt.This pose is what I've been wanting to do since unboxing this piece! Now this action figure is making full use of her accessories and posability options!The straps on the machine guns are made from actual ribbon fabric.The sculpt of the machine gun is nice as well, the painting basic, but does it's work. I especially like the front parts of the gun.This faceplate is the only faceplate I find good looking on the figure. Although it still feels a bit 'flat', the proportions seem more right. The sculptors at Bandai are definitely more experienced with machine parts and weapons rather than human characters.Gertrud's' dog ears have a big seamline, which is unfortunate to show at the front (rather than the manufacturer hiding it at the bottom or sanding these better).My specific copy of this figure has a very random white scuff at the end of one of the machine guns.I like how the base mentions her name and unit, together with the logo of the figure line.Gertrud scales well with Figma, but some parts are a bit off. The Striker Units look bigger on Eila even though Gertrud's body is bigger. Furthermore, Gertrud her face is definitely smaller. It feels like Eila has more anime-proportions and Gertrud more human. Depending on how you display the figure, the difference between the two types of action figures can be barely noticeable.For me the biggest gripe when displaying the two together is the difference in quality of the faces rather than the sizes.- Comes with a huge amount of parts to play with!- A very nice compact box that is easy to store.- Can be displayed together with other 1/12 action figures, such as Figma.- In my opinion, only one of the three faceplates was actually nice enough looking to use for displaying (don't know if that is just a personal gripe, or other people also dislike these faceplates).- More paint letdowns than expected.- Lower quality overall compared to other action figures in similar sizes, such as Figma.Definitely not top-notch, decent enough for the expectations I had for this figure.More letdowns than expected, some shading and more precision on smaller details would have been nice.The way the joints can move, give you a lot of display options. It's also impressive how they managed to make movable legs with Striker Units attached. The high amount of parts also gives for many display options.The look is a bit simple, but I like the addition of the names and logo's and the movement of the peg is very nice.I like how flat and compact the packaging is, even though the figure comes with a lot of parts.As there is no other action figure counterpart of Gertrud (except for the Nendoroid), I think this figure is a nice addition to my Strike Witches collection.If you like Gertrud and like action figures, this figure is basically your only choice. She definitely does not reach the quality of an Figma or other higher-end action figure, but she is decent for the price you pay. I would only recommend her for Gertrud-fans and people heavily into collecting Strike Witches merchandise. If you would like a Gertrud figure in general, I rather recommend to look at her scale figures, especially this one ITEM #78365 from Alter which sells for only ¥6K-¥7K on average.This Gertrud originally released for ¥4,500 and now is commonly in stock at second hand stores for ¥3K-¥4K. I say you get about the quality expected with that price.Currently all my collection is boxed away because of my emigration, but here is how she was displayed:On a busy Strike Witches shelf while I was re-arranging other shelves to fit them better. I'm still thinking for my new displays to go for character-specific shelves as I've acquired so much merchandise from all the girls over the years.For those who read all this way, thank you! My next review will be about this older MegaHouse figure from Ymir ITEM #2355 , who I think needs some special attention with MegaHouse being so much in a negative light lately.I hope you enjoyed this review, you could also check my other figure reviews when interested! As promised, for every new blog I would fix the image hosting of an older blog. I decided to fix my Eila Figma review as it's referenced in this blog.Strike Witches - Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen Figma #149 Max Factory: BLOG #40117 All pictures in high resolution and some extra pictures not used in the review can be found here: 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!