Archeyle isn’t the first, nor the second or third, Vertex figure I’ve purchased but somehow it’s the first one to be reviewed here. Oddly, it’s also one of two half-naked blonde elf girl figures to be released at the end of July. You really can’t go wrong with happy, thong-wearing blonde elf archer girls … can you?
First, introductions: this figure is an entirely original creation, with concept artwork having been done by Takahiro Tsurusaki, an artist whose work can be seen in the light novel Isekai Mao to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu, or How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, which is getting an anime adaptation that, serendipitously, debuts today. Like a large fraction of anime artists, he’s also drawn a bunch of Kantai Collection doujinshi, and he’s also done a fair amount of bondage-themed pornography, which is nice. As an original figure, Archeyle doesn’t actually come from an existing property but both the box and her base say “Figure series ELF VILLAGE,” so that’s what I am listing here as her series of origin. As there is no more about the character to speak of, we’ll go right into the usual height measurement: she’s a fraction over 25 centimeters in height, being sculpted in 1/6 scale.
We’ll start our observations with the high points. If you like scantily-clad blonde, pale-skinned female elf archers, you will probably be favorably disposed towards this figure, at least on initial examination. Archeyle’s body has a lovely form, with wide hips, a narrow waist, long legs, and big breasts – pretty much everything one might ask for, unless, for some odd reason, one doesn’t appreciate a big rack. Her outfit is elaborate yet scandalously skimpy, comprising a multicolored bustier and some very tiny white panties. The asymmetry of her clothing, with her right leg sheathed in one thigh-high and her other leg mostly bare, is both eye-catching and pleasing.
So those are some obvious good things. Then there are the bad things, and there’s at least a few of them. First, her face: the low positioning of her nose and her mouth give her face an odd set of proportions, ultimately resulting in an unfortunate equine appearance, which is further exacerbated by the sideways protrusion of her ears. Further, the shape of her face gives the impression of being flattened out, as if she had run a hundred yard dash in a ninety yard gym. And perhaps the most glaring issue is that her mouth only has one lip; for some odd reason, her upper lip wasn’t sculpted, with the effect being that her smile looks bizarrely unbalanced. It’s a very strange omission that I don’t think I have ever seen before in a figure. They would have been better off sticking with the source art and forgoing lips altogether.
Amid all this complaining I should note that there was a more premium version of this figure that included an alternate unhappy face which doesn’t have this problem with her mouth. I like that face quite a bit more than this one but I was lazy about preordering and missed out. Oops.
While her clothing is quite lovely, the sculpting also makes it look particularly thick, which is a bit off-putting. In particular, the belt overlapping the waistband of her panties and her single thigh-high are conspicuously bulky rather than sleek and close-fitting, which I think is the effect that I think they were trying to go for.
Some might notice that none of the pictures here show her wearing her green dress, and that’s a deliberate decision on my part, as after a few minutes of trying to figure it out I decided not to bother with it. It doesn’t look that great and I didn’t buy this figure to cover her up, anyway.
Speaking of covering her up, the cups that go over her breasts are just that, individual cups that aren’t actually supported by anything. I think they actually come with some two-sided mounting tape to keep them in place but I didn’t bother with that; I used some removable sticky putty to keep them in place for these photos, which was just as inelegant a solution but at least it worked temporarily.
Her breasts are agreeably large but her nipples have an odd shape and size.
She does have quite a nice ass, though, and her thong panties are quite sexy.
It’s also interesting how her panties aren’t quite large enough to cover her vulva.
The arrows in her quiver actually have nocks at their ends, which is a nice touch; it’s not something that you’ll likely ever notice from a normal viewing distance.
This is the first Vertex figure I’ve reviewed and after hearing of some issues with their earlier products (their Mitsuru Kirijou figure, most frequently), my expectations were tempered and I suppose I’d say that the quality of this figure is less than I had hoped for but about what I guessed it would be, realistically. On one hand, she has a litany of issues; on the other hand, I like the idea of what they were going for, even if the execution doesn’t quite match up with the ambition. Overall, I suppose there are two lessons to be learned here: don’t expect the world of Vertex and preorder early.
