The latest bunny figure from FREEing is Fate T. Harlaown, Nanoha’s adversary-turned-best-buddy. It was a little weird seeing Nanoha in the skimpy bunny costume, since her sex appeal isn’t typically played up, at least when it comes to figures. However, Fate looks right in her bunnysuit, which is actually not much less modest than what she normally wears to a fight. They look great together, though, and while Fate and Nanoha are meant to be a matched pair (or threesome, if you count Hayate), Fate offers a number of contrasts to her partner that make this figure even more appealing.
The operative word to describe this figure is “big.” Sculpted in 1/4 scale, Fate stands 39 centimeters tall at the top of her head, and about 44 centimeters tall overall. She’s a bit taller than Nanoha and, to my eyes at least, a bit more well-endowed as well. Unlike Nanoha, Fate doesn’t come with any extra accessories or swappable parts; she’s just got the same somewhat-undersized base.
While Nanoha evinces pure exuberance and enthusiasm, Fate’s expression is more nuanced. She wears a small smile but it’s not too difficult to think that her eyes aren’t smiling. There’s a lot more mystery hiding behind Fate’s eyes than there is with Nanoha, and that seems appropriate given Fate’s enigmatic nature and difficult history. Her expression is one of my favorite aspects of this figure, and it’s particularly gratifying that her face is so appealing because a lot of Fate’s StrikerS figures have provoked mixed feelings when it comes to their faces. I know a few collectors weren’t enamored of Alter’s figure’s O-shaped mouth, and her newest Summer Holiday figure (review pending here) has sort of a blocky look to it (which, to be fair, is fairly faithful to her anime design). Volks’s figure’s face requires no further comment. I didn’t care too much for the earlier 1/4 scale swimsuit figure by Good Smile Company, which looked sorta like a real-life fashion model wearing an anime kigurumi mask. FREEing’s Fate, in contrast, is very pretty.
I think Fate’s expression would be even more attractive and appropriate if she were wearing her normal outfit, but of course, she’s wearing a bunnysuit instead, which makes a moot point of any discussion regarding the emotional resonance of her appearance. She is obviously dressed for sex appeal, and she delivers highly on that score. Like all of FREEing’s bunny girls, Fate wears a high-cut leotard with fishnets and high-heeled pumps. The outfit looks great on her, as expected. The stockings are particularly nice; they closely follow the contours of her legs without any sagging or bagging.
While Nanoha has one hand up in a welcoming gesture, Fate’s arms are wrapped around herself, which provides an interesting anc contrasting complement to her partner.
Although Fate and Nanoha are both obviously sculpted as adults, they do both have very large heads – Fate’s head is at least half as large as her torso, perhaps closer to three-quarters as large. That’s not too atypical of anime character design, and I don’t think her head looks too big, but one could justifiably think that she looks rather top-heavy.
No discussion of Fate can omit an examination of her backside. She definitely has a nice rear, though it’s not particularly transcendant (as is sometimes said about her). In this figure’s case, her breasts are probably the more noteworthy feature when considering her erotic characteristics.
Although this figure is quite large, there is not a large amount of body detail. She does have a nice back, with visible shoulderblades, but there’s not a tremendous amount of detail there. Similarly, her twintails don’t come near the complexity of the previous figure reviewed here. Like most of FREEing’s big figures, she has a noticeably matte skin tone without a lot of shading; it’s one of those stylistic things that you immediately recognize when you see one of their 1/4 scale figures.
Just to mention it again, I’m impressed at how they made her stockings an integral part of her design, given how close-fitting her outfit is supposed to be.
And overall, I’m very impressed with this figure in general. FREEing’s Fate is big, sexy, and well-made. She goes great with Nanoha – and probably Hayate, though I don’t have that figure. I’ve said before that I’m not too fond of the bunny ears, but in this case, it’s not a big deal to me, and I even like the way one of her ears is drooping. In fact, I’d say I’m even really looking forward to their upcoming figure of Kuroko Shirai, which will be the next bunny girl figure I get. I’m becoming more fond of FREEing’s products and if they keep making nice figures like this one, they could become one of my favorite makers.
