I’m not really the type of figure collector who solely collects figures of characters I like.. hell, I don’t even have to know of the character or it’s origins. I feel this figure represents my collecting habits pretty well as I really don’t like Sakura at all.. but damn, her Dark form (or Makiri’s Grail ver. as the box puts it) looks amazing. So, let’s go have a closer look at this very creepy and.. uhh, equally shiny figure!
Matou Sakura is one of the main heroine’s from Type-Moon’s always popular Fate/stay night universe and this Dark version of hers is featured in the Heaven’s Feel route of the visual novel. It’s a little bit hard for me to go into detail about this figure’s origin without spoiling the route so go ahead and click on the links I’ve provided if you’d like some more information about her character. Let’s just say that this version of her character turns her from a character that I find incredibly annoying into one that I found.. well, slightly more tolerable.
The figure itself is a manufactured by Gift who are probably more well known for plush rather than PVC figures but have produced some popular figures such as Moka, Yoko Littner and my favourite Saber to date. It’s a PVC figure based off a garage kit by sculptor Toda Satoshi whose unique take on Fate/stay night characters I absolutely adore (check out his Saber EXTRA garage kit – PVC please!) but as his sculpts are not to everyone’s taste, Gift have provided an alternate ‘anime’ style head which I’ll show off later in the review. Sakura’s retail price is a steep 9333 yen and she stands at about 18cm tall which makes her a 1/8 scale.
It’s hard to say what my favourite thing about this figure is but the use of clear and highly reflective plastics would have to be one of them. Sakura looks great in almost any lighting situation with a natural light setting showing off the gorgeous paint work and sculpt while in a darker environment using artificial light will create great shadows for a fantastic, creepy look. I noticed while taking shots of her is that her hair can tend to look a little shiny and too plasticy when a lot of light hits that area and I wasn’t a fan of the look.
The vibrant, metallic red paint used over the clear plastic of her outfit makes for a very striking effect. While on the subject on paint work, the whole figure in almost perfect in that regard and I couldn’t really find any overpaints worth mentioning using a camera lens and certainly not with my eyesight alone.
Dark Sakura looks fine from most angles but I feel her strongest angle is definitely from the front. Displayed on her own.. Sakura’s left hand can look sorta strange though! There is a reason for that though which you’ll see later on towards the end of this review and it’s a pretty nifty reason too! The rest of her pose is great and creates a sense of floating.. or perhaps she’s jumping? But whatever, it works for me!
Okay, okay.. I know she’s supposed to be a creepy looking girl but I find her the blank stare that her alternate head features plain disturbing! I won’t ever be displaying her like this but some people would probably prefer this head due to it looking more like that of the source character. A surprising amount of work has gone into the anime style head with even the hair and ribbon getting new sculpts!
The head is very easy to pop off and replace, there really isn’t anything more to it than simply pulling off her head and replacing it with the alternate one.
Matou Sakura’s hair features little to no shading with the sculpt itself doing the job of creating shadowing.. which it does a fine job of. The fine red lines of her Command Seals are meticulous in their painting and provide a good contrast to her pale skin tones. The slight smirk her default face gives off a sinister feeling which, of course, suits the rest of the figure well.
Sakura does actually come with a base however I’ve left it out for most of this review quite simply because she doesn’t need it to stand alone. The above photo also shows off the clear plastic that’s been used in parts of her outfit.. ahh.. I love it!
I don’t know what this strange white blob of paint is up under her thigh on her outfit. I originally thought it may have been painted there to help create some sort of effect from the front but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.. ? You can only notice it from a certain angle from the back but I don’t feel it adds anything at all to the figure but then again, it doesn’t really take away from it either! This photo also happens to have some dust and reflections on her arse of stuff laying on my desk.
Have some boobies. She’s not cast off but if you hold her at a certain angle and look up the underside of her chest, you can that she’s had nipples sculpted in. I’m not going to try and take a photo of it but here is an uncredited image (NSFW) I’ve scrounged from Futaba board of someone who has ripped off the front of her outfit if you’re interested.
Sakura’s left arm can be rotated and it even comes off for more display options. Yes, seriously! If you have Solid Theater’s Saber Alter figure (review pending!) – check out what you can do below!
How awesome is that? Their bases have been designed to clip together and it’s easy to slot in Sakura behind Saber and rotate her arm until it sits at Saber’s waist. It’s not really necessary to remove Sakura’s arm to achieve this pose, in fact.. I think it’s probably easier to leave it on! Saber Alter is a seperate release that we’ll be reviewing at a later date.
Dark Sakura’s base is unremarkable in looks but you may notice to seam line running through it. This is where it comes apart to attach to Saber Alter’s base as displayed below.
It’s pretty straightforward but Sakura comes with a set of instructions (in Japanese) if you need any help getting the bases to clip together.
Her box is nice and features a nice holographic Type-Moon sticker to let you know you’re getting an official product. It’s not a huge box so postage shouldn’t harm your wallet too much.
Overall, this figure Dark Sakura met all the expectations I had and maybe more since Gift slid in that extra head at release. She’s great piece that shows amazing craftsmanship and looks great as either a stand alone piece or displayed with Saber Alter! As of writing, she’s still available at AmiAmi and Hobby Search’s online stores so if you have been tempted, go grab her while she’s still in stock!
I just wanted to include this piece of artwork in my review because I think it looks very pretty! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my review and thank you for visiting!
Fantastic shots as always Zai!
Damn is Sakura looking gooood! I’m like you where I disliked her and only vaguely liked her when she went evil like here…But man does she looks sexy in that dark and dangerous way!
I usually prefer the anime faces on these gift releases, but this time I’m more for the original face to be honest…It just has so much going for it!
The fact that they can be linked up like that is all kinds of awesome though and makes for a very tempting pair, but I think I shall resist even still. :p
Ashlotte recently posted..Double H- Episode 2
Thanks heaps Ash!
She’s not a popular girl, huh? Especially compared to all the love that Saber and Rin tend to get, haha.
Yesss! I’m a huge fan of these stylised faces but it often seems that I’m in the minority and it’s a nice change that I appear not to be with this figure!
Resist?! Ehe, I’ve wanted that Saber Alter since I first saw her not long after I started getting into collecting.. was pretty damn stoked when she got that rerelease.
Scary figure is scary. This sculpted figure of our resident FSN yandere seems to be excellent (minus that suspicious looking white spot) and that added clip-on with Saber alter is a definite plus. I actually like the empty look more than the other one as it really brings out the creepiness in this figure =D
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It is a rather suspicious spot, isn’t it?
Hehe, I usually like creepy but that alternate face is just.. something else! Ah well, it can stay in the box!
Wow she looks great, although I’m somehow not scared by her^^” Her facial expressions that you get with her are very fitting! When I first saw this figure up for pre order, I wasn’t really interested and thought it looked bad. But after seeing your pics and the review, she’s not as bad as I thought. Wow , the base thing is pretty cool, a first I’ve seen for figures.
Ah I felt like this figure was like a Gift, after you posted links to the Saber. Although the Saber EXTRA looks freaking awesome. I liked this dark matou sakura rather than the Saber by Gift. I didn’t know they were the ones who released the Moka figure, she’s awesome!
Lovely pictures as always and a great review!
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I don’t think I ever go as far as ever being legitimately scared of a figure but if I could be afraid of such a thing, I reckon Sakura might be it! xD
I’m glad that I at least changed your mind about her somewhat. Yeah, it’s a pretty awesome base design.. would be good to see more figures use this in the future!
Ahh.. how lovely is that Saber EXTRA? Mm, I was a bit surprised that they did Moka too but now that I look a bit closer, she does look a little Gift-like.
Thank you very much, tabetaiii!
Oh nice review and pics, the one against the dark purple are showing a great and fitting atmosphere. honestly Sakura’s sinister grin gives me the creeps ;D, I guess I like the freak face a bit more, she might ask “which of you lowlifes ate my last chocolate bar? Raaage!” XD
Anyway this figure looks just great even though I never heard of Gift as a figure manufacturer, their quality speaks for themself I guess. The dress is great and looks beautiful. What I also like is that the figure shows a interesting and dynamic pose.
The two figure combination option is really great, I never noticed this before, would be a nice idea to be adopted for other figures from more manufactures
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I can sorta imagine Dark Sakura going on a rampage due to someone stealing her food, haha! I wish there were more creepy figures, they offset all our cute girls really well. xD
Gift are associated with Good Smile Company somehow.. I’m not sure what extent but maybe enough to have GSC have something to do with their QC? I tried looking it up but my Google skills are not strong enough! Would explain the high quality though.
Yeah, would love it if other manufacturers let you connect bases like this!
Haha she scares the cute figures, but Dizzy will protect them I guess ^^
Oh I think she looks better than GSC quality *bashing* *bashing* :p
Fabienne recently posted..Super Sonico – Bondage Version by Orchid Seed NSFW
Hehe, what was I thinking.. mentioning good QC and GSC in the same paragraph!
Quite an amazing-looking figure. And I’ll agree that the default head is much better than that extra head. The extra one just looks plain compared to the more menacing default.
Gift making figures with “realistic”-styled faces sure is a far cry from the super-simplistic (but still cute) faces their plushes have.
Speaking of Saber Extra, I’m still hoping that GSC is going to do one in the same manner as their other rather fabulous Sabers. I just want some sort of figure of her and missed out on both the Figma and the Gift plush. Damn limited exclusives!
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I think the brown eyes on the extra look a bit strange too, much prefer her eyes to be red!
Now I’m imagining a figure with the same style of faces they usually put on their plushies, haha. Speaking of their plush.. I should look into getting one or two of them (that aren’t Tako Luka). They’re all kinds of cute but the price always turns me off a little!
I could totally go for a GSC Saber EXTRA too! I’m still lusting after the EXTRA and Lily Saber Figmas but I can’t bring myself to fork out the thousands of yen they cost. Damn them indeed!
I’ve only got one Gift plush so far, the Princess from Etrian Odyssey 3, but it’s adorable as hell. I want to get more sometime, but I’m also worried I’ll let myself get overrun by the things.
hamstercorp recently posted..Polymer Chaos 126- Ticket to Nowhere
Damn, she is adorable! I’d be worried of getting overrun too.. I’m not even sure of what I’d do with them. They’d probably end up on the floor if I put them on the bed but display spaces are reserved for figures!
Whoa, alternate head! I did not see that coming at all. It looks creepy as hell, but that’s what it’s supposed to be. It’s really cool for Gift to throw in this surprise.
Man, I’ve always like this figure. I remember seeing a prototype of this when I first started collecting and instantly wanting it, but sadly it disappeared from the map for a long time. Since then I have played F/SN, and like you I wasn’t too fond of Sakura. She’s not bad in my eyes, but Saber and Rin (and Ilya…and Taiga) are just too overwhelmingly more appealing to me. Still, I’m glad to see that the figure turned out so well! I love the multi-layered approach of the redesign, which definitely made Sakura’s outfit a lot less boring — of course, the underboob helps a lot in that regard as well! I think my favourite part about the figure is the sanguine red colour on the back of the dress. Not sure what the deal is about the white spot, though — I should look up other reviews to see if they have the same oddity.
There doesn’t seem to be a lot of love for the matching Saber Alter, but I actually really like it. With her dark armour and the spike gaunlets, I thought her “scary” face was only natural. The only thing I was a little disappointed about was how Saber doesn’t interact at all with Sakura. I don’t think Saber was created with Sakura in mind, and Sakura was created as an afterthought. This is a shame, because it would be really neat if the pair played out like that illustration in the end (I have actually used that picture for my wallpaper for quite some time).
But anyways, great review! My picky side prevents me from getting this figure, but it’s definitely nice to see and read about the old girl.
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I wondered briefly if they’d include an extra head since they did with their Saber but didn’t see a mention of one at all until release! Even though I don’t like it, at least it helps justify her high retail price a bit more!
Yeah, the first release of Saber Alter’s base had been modified for Dark Sakura too so it looks like she’d been planned from the start! Something happened with Saber Alter’s original manufacturer (Solid Theater).. I think they got absorbed by Movic or something along those lines and it might have been the cause of such a long delay. I don’t know how Gift works into all of this though, haha.
Mm! I almost didn’t want to play through Heaven’s Feel just because it was Sakura’s route but I’m glad I did.. more Rider! I haven’t seen a mention of the white in the couple of reviews I’ve read but I have seen photos of it floating around the interwebs so it looks like it’s supposed to be there for whatever strange reason!
That matching Saber Alter is stunning in person, I’m not sure which figure of the two that I prefer. The level of detail on her is incredible!
The original kit shown in an old Mikatan post (http://ameblo.jp/gsc-mikatan/entry-10055456951.html) looked like it might have been based on that illustration but was changed quite a lot when they put it into PVC form. I can see why they changed Sakura at least, you can hardly see her from the front!
Thank you once again, Chag!
Nice photos as usual! I confess I don’t know anything about FSN but she looks really scary, specially with the alternate head. I try to collect figures where I know at least a little bit of the character but she looks tempting. Those eyes that stare into your soul… really creepy.
Aww, thank you so much! I don’t think you need to know anything about a character to enjoy a great looking figure! I actually only just finished Fate/stay night a few months ago because I kept getting figures from it and decided it was about time I knew why it was so beloved! My only prior experience was about 4 episodes of the anime which I thought was pretty awful, haha.
This certainly makes Sakura more interesting, specially since in Fate Stay Night she was kinds just there. I think I like the original head more. Makes her look more sinister, more cunning, more frightening. The other head kinda gives her a typical yandere look if you ask me, kinda boring.
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I agree! Everytime I thought of Sakura, I’d think of her being all useless and repeating “Sempai! Sempai! Sempai!” over and over in that annoying, breathy voice of hers but this figure is helping me think a little better of her now, lol.
Boring? Haha, I’ve no idea why that head creeps me out of much.. >.<
This is a really nice figure, one that I’m kinda surprised was made since you don’t often see anime girls with pasty skin and a really curious skin condition get turned into figures. I didn’t know that she was going to come with an alternate head, and if I had I think I might’ve preordered this figure. I like the more evil head, but from a distance, the anime-style head kinda has this “Why am I dressed this way?” sort of look to her.
It’s pretty neat how the bases interlock; whenever I do group shots (which is as infrequently as I can get away with), I usually have to prop one base up on the other and use lens caps or whatever is handy to get it level. Very considerate of them.
Not that I’m very familiar with the plot of Fate/stay night, but I don’t remember Sakura very well at all. I watched the anime up until Rider made her exit, and after that I had no reason to continue watching so I dropped it. It’d be kinda neat if GSC continued their 1/7 scale line with Rider and Dark Sakura. And maybe Caster too. But definitely not Emiya Shirou.
Tier recently posted..Saber Alter from Fate-stay night
I can totally see the confused look to her anime head now that you have pointed it out, haha. But yeah, I’d have thought they would have announced the alternate head before release to get a few more pre orders but god only knows how some of these figure companies work.. xD
Mmm! I’m very grateful, I was a bit worried she’d come with a huge mirrored base like their first Saber release as I didn’t know about Saber Alter’s base being already made like that when we ordered Sakura. Wouldn’t have had much room to display them otherwise!
I can’t remember Sakura from the anime.. probably ’cause I only watched around 2 episodes before getting bored and dropping it, lol. A 1/7 GSC Rider would be amazing! I agree.. no Emiya Shirou, not from any company ever again! Archer would be kinda neat though.