Another day, another Tamaki figure. Given how much I whine about there being too many Miku Hatsune figures, it’s fair to wonder why I don’t make the same complaint about Tamaki. There are a couple of reasons; the most obvious one is that Tamaki is very often sexualized (even by Leaf) while Miku is not. The other reason is that while Miku has a (more or less) accepted look (embodied in her original Good Smile Company figure), nobody really seems to care much about Tamaki’s official design, and that leads to wide variation amongst her figures. Such is the case with this figure, and as a special bonus, it comes from a (sort of) brand-new figure maker, which gives us something new to talk about.
That figure maker is Orca Toys, and this appears to be the first figure released under that brand name. A quick look at their product portfolio reveals that they are really big on Tamaki; indeed, it’s all Tamaki all the time, as their two other figures (at the time of this writing) are a recolored version of this figure and a Tamaki figure with some sort of cat ears. I do dig the white version of bunnysuit Tamaki, though; in fact, if I had known about it, I’d rather have gotten that one than this one.
That said, it appears that Orca Toys isn’t a completely new company; apparently they are related in some way to Okayama Figure Engineering. You might not know of Okayama Figure Engineering, and if you don’t, there’s a good reason for that; they make some of the most pornographic anime figures available through retail outlets, and so they tend to not get as much coverage as other figure makers. Furthermore, while I’ve gained something of a reputation for reviewing and preferring explicit figures, it is telling that I do not own any of their products. If you’ve never seen their stuff, I’ll just leave this link to their website here.
So it was with a good bit of trepidation that I ordered this figure. Tamaki looked pretty good in the product photos, good enough that if I hadn’t known of the company connection to OFE, I would have felt much more confident about buying this figure. I’m not certain what their relationship is – they might just have the same distributor – but at any rate, Orca Toys’s headquarters is listed as being in Okayama and their phone number is registered under the same company name that distributes OFE’s stuff, so there’s definitely some sort of link between the two figure manufacturers. Strange.
One of the reasons I decided to get this figure is that it is listed as 1/5 scale. As everyone who reads this site already knows, I like bigger figures. Tamaki, though, isn’t really 1/5 scale; she’s probably closer to 1/6 scale, and she’s actually a bit smaller than Native’s Super Sonico figure, which is conservatively listed as a 1/6 scale figure. This Tamaki is about 21 centimeters tall, excluding her big plastic white base, which she doesn’t really need for display.
As mentioned, many Tamaki figures exhibit widely varying design sensibilities, and Orca Toys’s figure is no different. She’s got very big, spiky bangs that hang over her eyes, and her triangular hair intakes – one of the trademark aspects of her character design – are mostly obscured by her bunny ears. The result is that she looks distinct from many of the other Tamaki figures out there.
Further, since her eyes are partially obscured, it is difficult to use them to evaluate her expression. Her mouth, though, gives her mood away; she’s sticking her tongue out in a playful, flirty, mischievous manner.
From other angles, though, her hand can cover up her mouth and her expression conveys a different sort of feeling; here, she looks as if she’s anxious about something.
Speaking of angles, her head is on a balljoint and can rotate a little bit. This is actually one of the most annoying aspects of this figure because holy God, it is really, really difficult to get her head reattached to her body (you have to detach it to remove the figure’s protective plastic sheet). I would have been much happier if they had just gone with the standard L-shaped peg that every other figure maker uses.
While Tamaki is often depicted in a sexualized manner, she doesn’t actually have that many explicit figures – at least, relative to her total number of figures. This figure, however, offers a good view of her rack. The front part of her bunnysuit can be detached and replaced with an open version that reveals the majesty of her chest.
Note that one could eschew replacing her bustier part but that leaves a big peg hole in her sternum.
Tamaki has a really nice chest; it’s quite large, even for Tamaki, who is often depicted as being rather busty. Her nipples are big as well, though lamentably not all that detailed; they look sort of like the ball joint that comprises her neck.
Besides her chest, she has some really sexy legs. Her fishnet stockings accentuate her legs, of course, and they are sculpted very nicely, with a realistic sense of shape and heft, rather than the very skinny legs lots of female anime characters have. The shape of her thighs is particularly appealing.
So is her sitting position, with her legs splayed out immodestly – not that Tamaki has ever been synonymous with modesty.
Surprisingly, this figure shows off a good bit of detail. Tamaki has painted fingernails, her costume and high heels feature the expected glossy finish, and her tail has a fuzzy look to it (though it has a big seam line running around its circumference).
Tamaki can be seated on a pink plastic cushion, which has indentations to keep her in place. She does not attach to her seat in any way, so one could have her sit on something else if one desires. The cushion looks pretty good – it even has four little feet rather than lying flat on the ground – and Tamaki is reasonably stable on it.
Somehow I’ve gotten this far without talking about the bunnysuit or the bunny ears. I must be getting inured against my aversion to such; perhaps I’m even starting to like them. Maybe.
Even accounting for the Tamaki tax, where character fatigue saps my opinion of a given figure, I like this figure a lot. It’s a sexy-looking figure, one where the sculptor did a great job giving Tamaki an attractive, adult-looking body. Moreover, I’m pleased that Orca Toys is capable of producing a fine figure; if only their partner company were capable of doing the same with their own figures.