This figure has been on my sights for a long time. I preordered this action figure because of my love for the Nier Automata game for #ps4, and yes, it's finally here! As a new toy line made by Square Enix, does it help the company with their endeavor to become gods? Let's find out! Without further adieu, here is Bring Arts 2B!
Again, a brand new toy line from Square Enix but with a box reminiscent of their days in Play Arts. And I mislead, it's not just a 2B figure, it also has a machine life form with her! On the side, it has nothing completely special. It does have the YoRHa symbol as well as some non-english writing. It has a nice 'mute' coloring to the box, which reflects Nier Automata's color scheme throughout the game. I love how that carried over to the box. Definitely appreciate it.
Definitely a reminiscent of the Play Arts days. Nice promo shots of the action figure in the box.
Accessory wise, she actually comes with a decent amount. Some are a bit odd but because of the fact that it's from an unorthodox game like Nier Automata, said peculiar accessories are actually right at home. 2B comes with two alternate heads, six pair of hands that comes with a #Figma-like holders, Pod 042, her katana (virtuous contract?), a bucket(?), a stand, a halo-like glow that "holds" her katana, and an odd alternate hand/head option (more on this later). The stand is quite amazing since it's very similar to #Mafex, #Figuarts, and Figma. I am relieved to know that it is nothing like #PlayArtsKai stands... those are atrocious and almost unusable beyond belief! I do hope that they abandon them and find other means or at least copy the idea of these smaller stands but just make them in-scale for bigger and heavier figures like the Playarts Kai.
The biggest "accessory" that comes with 2B is the Machine Life Form, which, in all honesty, is a figure all on its own. The reason why I say that is this robot comes with its own attention to detail with the sculpting, the paint application, and believe me, all of these things are nice. It really does look like it came out of the video game and right into action figure form.
This Machine Life Form also has a range of movements that truly represents its video game counter part. It's a nice addition, truly, and it's easy to see it as a separate figure rather than an accessory.
As far as the YoRHa Android goes, 2B does have a some great details that goes along with her. This is the first #BringArts so of course, this is an original body mold. Sculpted in the image of 2B as she appeared in Nier Automata, I have to say, I am impressed for the most part. There are plenty to admire with the way her famous clothing coming out that fits snuggly around her well endowed body. One can recognize 2B's main outfit from the small designs on her skirt, the transparent decorated 'window' on her chest, the slit on her skirt that reveals here and there, the boots, and the overall frame of it. Sure, it's not nearly as cleanly executed as I would like, but it is definitely recognizable and that on its own a great accomplishment.
I will say that one of 2B's more notable quality is not executed well. To put it plainly, no pantsu with this action figure because it just doesn't look that good.
Paint applications aren't bad but it isn't great. The designs on her skirt looks a little messy and her white gloves' black lining are a bit fuzzy. The color choices are spot-on to the video games so that much I can't complain about. But Square Enix had always been a bit questionable with their paint apps from what I have seen especially on the faces. But despite 2B's costume being almost all black, Bring Arts has color variations on the plastics, her thigh high stockings has the transparent black, and then the flesh tones, hair, and the eyes are pretty good. Not something to gawk over but definitely not what i would expect for their first entry.
The first of the alternate head is definitely what 2B is most recognized for. This face pretty good in terms of flesh tone, hair color, and the 'blindfold' looks decent, albeit there are some black bleeding over to the right side. The lips have a good shade of pink and her mole is placed correctly. Not too bad.
While the non 'blindfolded' head was has cleaner paint, I don't think this will do the figure justice since it's a bit too blank. Despite 2B being an Android and supposedly devoid of emotions, she is quite the opposite. She may try to hide it but because of what she constantly had to do, the gamers always got a glimpse of the emotions boiling inside of her. It's too blank and I would have liked another face that shows some kind of emotion, whether it be the blindfold or the non-blindfold face.
And if one is so inclined to, one can put the robot's head on 2B. Honestly, this isn't going to work for me! For obvious reasons. One can also put the same head on one of her hands as an alternate hand, but... no. I didn't bother.
Then we have 2B's signature weapon, her katana, the Virtuous Contract (I believe this is it), which is done quite nicely. Again, not the cleanest paint and it looks a bit fuzzy in certain areas. However, it is done well enough and one can easily recognize it as the weapon YoRHa Unit 2B used during the fights against the Machine Life Forms. Unfortunately, she doesn't hold it very well with one hand but one can definitely get away with certain angle and poses. Works well and I like it.
Next on the accessories are 2B's figure stand and Pod 042. I like this stand as I mentioned before. It really does the figure justice and it gives 2B that "illusion" of jump/glide and it also features her katana 'floating' along side her, as it is show in-game. One can pose 2B as if she is holding on to Pod 042 and slowly hovering down to solid ground, or one can have a dynamic scene where 2B is about to grab her katana/grabbed her katana and is ready for action. Thanks to the articulation of the stand, there are some pretty cool possibilities. Again, it's very similar to Figma/Mafex/Figuarts stands and it really does the job. I like the fact that they also made it 'unique' to 2B and what she has going on in-game. Good job Square Enix! Now fix those darn Playarts Kai stands! They are horrible (hoping that they did that on the Terra Branford Playarts Kai that is coming my way).
Speaking of articulation, 2B falls in line with the figures in the Figma/Mafex/Figuarts line. Standard as they come except for the annoying ankle pivoting that seems to stick with Playarts Kai--carried over to Bring Arts and I do hope they rectify that with future figures. Other than that, the only other hinderance I got was 2B's own costume, more noticeably with her shoulders and her leg (left one). Costume design can sometimes deter some poses and I believe that Bring Arts is still going to try and figure out their place.
What really does help is the figure stand and I was really able to get some good dynamic poses because of it.
The one thing I have to bring up is that she is a pretty small figure. The box states 6 inches, but believe me, she's not six inches at all.
Here is 2B next to BuckyCap, a figure that a lot of Toy Reviewers consider as the standard 6 inch action figure (ShartimusPrime to name one on the top of my head). One can see just how BuckyCap towers over 2B. Definitely not 6 inches. To be honest, I don't mind it. I might have initially thought that this was going to be a rebranded Playarts Kai line, but I didn't have a clue as to what the scaling would be. Now that I have it in hand, I like it. It's half the price of Playarts Kai and while I think it could be a bit cheaper given the quality versus some other figures on this market (Figma, for example), I generally don't think the mishap with the size doesn't break the deal.
In conclusion, I believe in the end this the first entry of Bring Arts in the form of YoRHa Unit 2B isn't bad at all. I think there are a hand full of things missing to make this a full on grand welcome for Square Enix's new toy line. I have the feeling that they are going for the smaller imports market (again, Figma-like) and if they are, they have to step it up a little bit with details. But with the revelation of future Nier Automata characters in the works as well as Xenogears and other Final Fantasy characters (please jump on X-2!), I think this toy line has a good stepping stone. 2B might just be reimagined with more accessories, better details, and definitely a backside that will pay homage to her in-game scrumptiousness!
Until next Time!
