Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid Snow Miku 2013 Version (Good Smile Company)
To All,
Snow Miku 2013 has been my long-time grail and I finally managed to get my hands on a unopened copy of her Nendoroid. Sadly, she costs me about $120, which makes me wonder why I didn't pre-order her back in 2013.
Packaging
As far as Nendoroid boxes go, Snow Miku boxes have always been quite luxurious and unique and being one of the most sought after Snow Miku figures, this Nendoroid is definitely no exception. At first glance, she might seem to only have a simple white piece bordered by red, with gold letters stating the name and title of Snow Miku. However, the white paper can be removed to reveal...
A clear view of Snow Miku is depicted on the cover and the red circle behind her just reminds me of Japan's flag, although the rest of the box is red instead of white.
As a Nendoroid, Snow Miku 2013's box is quite deep-set and she comes with quite a number of parts. She has two separate layers to her blister, as seen in photograph above. She has three faceplates, and two hair-parts (you can choose to display her with her usual twin-tails Hatsune Miku hairstyle if you'll prefer!), an umbrella, a sitting body, a sake cup, a couple of changes of arms, Yukine (a snow rabbit) and a base (the large red tray). The hood that comes with her, along with the clip on her hair are removable, though removing the clip would result in a 'hole' on her bangs. She also has a sticker part which you can add on to her hood to make it similar to the printed illustration on her box!
Base
As seen in the pictures, she comes with a round tray. The inner part is red while the other part is black. This is a really simplistic design but it really enhances the figure by giving it more of a Japanese Shrine Maiden feel.
She also comes with a normal base, although it is clear instead of how it is translucent with the Nendoroids nowadays.
Posing and Assembly
There are many posing options for Miku, especially since she comes with many different accessories that can be varied slightly to come with different effects. From this angle, Miku might look to be smiling happily, but that would give you a completely different effect if you notice the tears at the corner of her eyes or change her hairstyle!
My only issue with this figure would be that it follows the old Nendoroid style so the neck joints work very differently, making the head and body parts slightly more difficult to switch between Nendoroids, especially with those from the newer line.
Not to mention that as my copy has been kept unopened for so long, the plasticizer might have resulted in the joints being slightly sticky and more difficult to remove than usual.
Miku comes with a removable hood that I find very difficult to balance while she is sitting down hence I have not been using it. Though, this removable hood's interior is really pretty, sticking with the title of "Strawberry" in her name.
Sculpting and Painting
The umbrella is really elegant. Though I do wonder if red would be a better choice than beige-yellow sometimes, However, it might be a little too red if everything follows the red theme, I suppose. Each alternate section of the umbrella has an intricate snowflake pattern that ties it in with the Snow Miku theme. This same pattern is also on Miku's outfit, this time in silver.
Miku's shrine maiden attire is lined by red, making it eye-catching if you display her on the usual standard Nendoroid base, but also continuous with the base if you display her with the red base. She comes with a little white bow at the back too, though only one bow is provided so if you wish to display both the standing and sitting bodies, one of them has to go without the bow.
I particularly like the little buns on the more-unique hairstyle of this Miku, however do note that the loose strands are not directly connected to the figure and are connected via pegs so they are not very resistant to breakage. The traditional Miku hairstyle is also made more unique with the gradient and snowflake designs.
I would also like to highlight that Yukine is done simply in this case but he looks very nice and complete with this theme. However, the Yukine shown in 2014 and later versions show a more complete Yukine with a complete rabbit head and body unlike in 2013 version, where Yukine is only a rabbit constructed out of snow. The leaves on Yukine's head is nicely detailed and the size of his red eyes is perfect, depicting how Good Smile Company does indeed put in effort for sculpting and painting Yukine although he is only of a simple design.
Enjoyment
Not only does Snow Miku come with a lot (pardon me, but shipping her was really expensive) she has high play value and this makes her very easy to co-ordinate with many other Nendoroids, especially with the recent hype over Touken Ranbu Nendoroids.
This Miku Nendoroid and Mikazuki's Nendoroid are often used together in photoshoots and they look really good together!
However, more importantly than this, I would like to highlight...
How amazing Harvest Miku looks with Snow Miku's outfit! The translucent gradient along her ponytails make her look so good with this outfit! Not to mention that the red and white traditional outfit look so good with her hairstyle and she looks so much more like Chang-e than how she did with her original outfit, at least to me!
From Your Fellow Collector
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