The third of the Queen’s Blade Revoltech figures I’m looking at is none other than Echidna.
Of all the lovely ladies in the Queen’s Blade lineup, Echidna is, and will forever remain, my favourite. Sure, there are some lookers in Rebellion, and I have no idea what Unlimited brings to the table, but there’s just something about the overall formula with Echidna that always gets my attention. I guess nostalgia also has me, as Echidna was technically the first Queen’s Blade character I was ever introduced to.
Echinda is the Veteran Mercenary of the Queen’s Blade world. Remember how I said things would start getting more outlandish now that I’ve gotten the "normal" looking ones out of the way? Well.. much like Robin, I guess if you survive long enough wearing an outfit that would probably get most normal people killed, it probably means you’re a certified badass. IIRC, Echidna’s purpose in the original anime series was she entered to the Queen’s Blade tournament to find her friend/lover (I can’t remember) Irma. Due to a chain of events, Echidna ends up taking on the rookie Leina as a pupil of sorts, getting her trained to battle in the tournament, and allowing Leina to develop her signature move, the Dragon Tail. Based on the ears, I’d say Echinda is Elven, or at least part Elven. Unlike most popular Elves, Echidna is far from being fair of skin and small framed – you wouldn’t know this from the Megahouse statue (mostly because of the pose), but Echidna is actually one of the taller combatants and is quite adept at close range combat, typically working with her curved blade and small shield, though I think it should be obvious she’s packing a few more weapons as well.
As stated, Echidna wears an interesting outfit, to say the least. Her entire thing seems to be snakes and reptile based, from the various snakes on her outfit, to the turtle shells on her shoulders, and of course, Medusa on the shield. The actual outfit is effectively not there. Leina may be scantily clad, but she is wearing armour, and Airi is a Wraith, but Echidna here, well I’d say an open chested halter top and leggings with boots effectively describes what she’s got on – well that and a snake themed belt if you want to count that too. Yeah.. that’s it. IIRC, Echidna is the only Queen’s Blade character to not have any underwear on.. I think even the Frankenstiein monster based character in Rebellion had underwear on her figure.
As with the others, Echidna is cast off capable, though not to the degree of the various scale statues over the years – the Megahouse in particular had painted on sleeves, so that always looked kind of weird, and I think it was the 1/6 scale Griffon that was the first to get it right from that perspective.
Contents of the box are generally identical to Leina and Airi in that Echidna is packed in S mode gear, M mode parts (embarrassed face, battle damaged outfit), her weapon and shield, parts box, token, and stand. While there are no effects parts with Echidna, she does come with an third pair of hands that seems to serve no purpose other that to pose her protecting her modesty, as they’re not weapon gripping, and she already has a pair of standard open palm hands. I suspect that due to the way the battle damage is sculpted (outfit peels away from the body) that perhaps an extra set of hands dedicated to shielding herself might be useful when displaying the figure.
As with Airi, detailing on the figure (mostly the outfit, really) along with the hair and weapons is generally good, with downright gorgeous work on the shield itself. Based on the overall look of the figure, I’d say the sculptors probably used the anime model more than the artwork from the books.
You’ve heard the articulation story before. The Revolver joint system is a pain to use. There are ankles, single jointed knees, thigh swivel, hips, waist, mid torso, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and head. As always, the positioning of the joints and the cuts of the limbs makes my posing life difficult. Airi also possess one point of articulation on each of her braids to allow for some dynamic posing. As there is no mid body/pelvic area armour or outfit, Echidna technically has the most posting potential in this area. Having said that, it doesn’t quite feel like she actually can do anything more than Airi or Leina again, due the nature of the cuts on the thighs, though this might be the first character that I’ve shown you thus far that clearly shows what I’m complaining about. One negative thing about being this scantily clad is that the torso extends all the way to the hip, which LOOKS great, but effectively results in reduce articulation at the waist compared to Airi, who has no actual body in the space that connects the upper body and the waist. This is technically the same way that Leina was designed, but a not so great articulated waist is probably the least of the issues Leina faces when trying to pose. I should also mention that Echidna has a point of articulation for her pony tail, as well as some built in articulation so you can pose the shoulder pads properly.
Much like Airi, paint is hit and miss. Flesh tones and the general overall paint work is pretty good – I’m quite happy with the overall use of pearl finish on the white parts, but when it comes to masking and various fine details, the paint work is pretty bad, thought I don’t know if this is a paint issue, a crappy sculpting issues, or a combination of both. Look at the snake choker Echidna has.. or is suppose to have. Not exactly the crispest thing you’ve ever seen, I’m sure. Masking of paint apps such as on her upper arms is again, not the greatest. Even the masking work on the daggers, which isn’t the greatest, is still much better than the weaker examples spotted on the figure. Decal work for the eyes is solid, even if the actual decals themselves don’t seem as good as with Airi and Leina.
No issues from a build quality perspective. Materials are properly rigid, Build quality is again pretty typical for a Revoltech figure. Materials are of an adequate rigidity and there is good joint strength. No issues with unequal limb lengths to be reported, and the overall smoothness of edges and seams is once again good. The only thing to report is a minuscule issue in that on my figure it’s a bit hard to keep the left side pieces of her outfit aligned, specifically in M mode. It’s not going to cause any wardrobe malfunctions.. or at least no more than anticipated, but improper fits do annoy me as it screams crappy QC. I suppose if its any consolation, I said it’s hard to keep them aligned, not that its impossible.
Overall, I’m not surprised about.. well… any of my findings. It’s nice to have an Echidna back in the collection, though it’s got nothing on the quality of the Megahouse release. Still, it’s a decent looking figure and does have posing options, unlike fixed posed statues – her being my favourite character is just an nice bonus. We’re almost at the end of this batch of Queen’s Blade, with one more left to go. If you’re a fan of weird designs, this next one should be right up your alley.
Posted by Quantum Stalker on 2020-01-20 05:18:37
Tagged: , queens blade , echidna , hobby japan , revoltech , cast off , veteran mercenary , daggers , expert , serpents , dagger , shield , medusa , warrior , tournament , anime , battle books , kaiyodo
