It’s become something of an obnoxious tradition for fighting game makers to release a game, add on a couple more characters and re-release the game, and then add on even a few more and do it all again. Arc System Works enthusiastically embraces this convention, each release extending the already-impenetrable storyline, and I have to admit I have no idea how many BlazBlue games there are now (I know I own three, and I was thinking about buying the most recent for the Xbox One that I bought but don’t really use very often, except I don’t know which one that is and I don’t know if another improved re-release is imminent). I guess even they don’t want to source everything from a single well, though, which is perhaps why they’ve branched out into, of all things, the visual novel genre. Xblaze is a currently two-part series which, somehow, is part of the BlazBlue universe; I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but it is. It’s seemingly incongruous for a visual novel to be tied into a world-renowned fighting game franchise, but then, I suppose it’s no weirder than spinning off into beach volleyball.
I can’t claim to have much knowledge of who Nobody is, aside from that presented on the BlazBlue wiki site, given that I haven’t played either edition of Xblaze. I spent a few moments looking up game videos on Youtube and it was every bit as engaging and enthralling an experience as one might expect watching someone playing a visual novel to be.
This figure is manufactured by FREEing, who have produced a few other BlazBlue figures, including Mu-12, which was reviewed here a while back. Nobody is sculpted in 1/8 scale and stands only a bit over 19 centimeters in height at the top of her head, or around 21.5 centimeters when her heart-shaped ahoge is counted. Like Mu-12, this is not a particularly large figure, even when taking the scale size into consideration.
Her outfit is certainly one of her most noticeable aspects, so it makes sense to start the discussion there. Arc Systems Works has occasionally featured female characters wearing rather risque outfits and Nobody ranks amongst them. Sleeves, socks, shoes, a shawl of sorts, and panties comprise her abbreviated attire.
Her shawl is nothing more than a couple of lengths of translucent material that drape loosely over her breasts. Note that with this figure, the shawl isn’t actually attached to her breasts and can thus be pulled away, revealing that she does have accurately-modeled nipples. I couldn’t really take a picture of that though since I don’t have enough hands to hold the figure, pull the shawl back, and snap a picture (and while it’s a nice feature, it really wasn’t going to worth the trouble of putting the camera on a tripod).
She’s actually wearing two panties, one black and one white, in keeping with the monochromatic motif of her design.
They’re more complex in the back; she’s actually got three layers of clothing back there, two pairs of underpants and garter straps which, oddly enough, aren’t present in front, which calls into question their effectiveness in holding her thighhighs up.
She wears some nice high-heeled pumps. This figure’s base is very small, which is a nice thing for people who are running out of available shelf space.
Another conspicuous element of Nobody’s design is that her eyes are normally closed, which accentuates her enigmatic nature and projects a sense of serenity that is wholly at odds with her revealing clothing.
But if you don’t like that sort of thing, she comes with an alternate face which features wide open eyes. Face swapping is typical; first her bangs come off and then her face follows suit. Personally, I like her better with closed eyes, partially because I like how mysterious she looks, and partly because the way her eyes are painted is rather low-contrast and low-resolution.
Indeed, the manufacturing quality of this figure is rather rough as a whole; her diminutive stature hides many of her faults but close up, one can easily see all kinds of technical deficiencies, most obviously with respect to her clothing. Her garter straps in particular look peculiarly thick for what they are.
Offsetting these problems is the attractiveness of her design. I particularly like her black and white color scheme, especially how her white socks and panties contrast with her dark-colored top and sleeves. Her heart-shaped ahoge is a cute touch, too (though by no means unique; Max Factory’s Nyaruko and their Sumika Kagami Figma both featured the same thing, as I recall).
I’m a little less enthusiastic about the coloring of the tips of her hair, though; the way it transitions to black is jarring and more than a little contrived.
Nonetheless, I like this figure, though I wish it were larger and that a litte more care were taken with her construction. Much of her appeal comes from her unique and appealing design, and I’m happy that FREEing made a figure of her, since I doubt any other company will.
