It's not a secret that I like girls in swimsuits ... or if it was, it isn't anymore. Before I started at Tomopop, I used to keep a list/gallery of photos of swimsuit figures I wanted; now a days, I just have to search through Tomopop's archives for the same result! All joking aside, if it's a good swimsuit-clad figure, that usually means it will end up in my collection, and if it's of a character I like, then it'll end up there faster.

Such could be said about the case of Clayz's Saber swimsuit figure. It took me a while to find her and problems with another Saber figure before she showed up on my radar, but last month, Saber made an appearance at my doorstep with her new sister, Pocco. It wasn't until I opened the box that I got to see just how beautiful Saber was ... or learn about this figure's one flaw.

Hit the jump to check out Miss Saber and learn a little bit more about her!

This was not the original Saber swimsuit figure I was after. I had tried (unsuccessfully) to pick up Alter's Saber swimsuit figure a few times when it was on sale. However, during Toylet's last big sale, I noticed Clayz's Saber swimsuit figure, thought it didn't look half-bad and ended up buying it.

Saber is a 1/6-scale figure, standing about 6-8" tall when you factor in the base to the height. As you can see here, she's dressed in a really cute little white strapless swimsuit and carries her trusty bouken with her. Why she'd need it for the beach, I don't know, as I don't see any watermelons around, but I love the design of the figure. It feels like something we might actually see Saber wear, and her measurements are pretty accurate to what they are on other figures of the same size.

HappySoda's Super Rats tackled this Saber back in 2006, and I agree with him a bit that the face is a little off. The more I look at her, though, the less I feel strongly about it, to the point that I'm OK with how she looks. I mean, it's still pretty cute, isn't it?

The bouken in her hand actually does come separate from the figure and is attached to her hand by a peg-slot connection. This sometimes means that you can knock the bouken out of her hand by touching it, but once it's set in there, the bouken stays pretty well in place and the connecting parts are invisible to your eyes.

Just a quick shot of the back of her head here so you can all see her bun and ribbon. Some of the paint does have a bit of a discoloration to it to give her hair a bit of a shadow effect. It's not really too noticeable or irritating to the eyes, thankfully. Note same of the smaller details on the braid and in the folds of the ribbon bow, too.

Here, you can take a closer look at the swimsuit, which is perhaps my favorite part of the entire design. It's a very simple, yet elegant look for Saber, featuring a white suit that's not too revealing with a purple bow on each hip. While a darker blue color might be more appropriate given Saber's normal attire, I like the light purple choice of color for the bows in that it's lighter and helps give it a more summertime feel.The swimsuit hugs her curves just enough that it's sexy without being sexy, if you understand what I mean.

And, of course, the requisite butt shot. Saber really doesn't have much junk in the trunk, but even for someone who likes a good butt, Saber's rear doesn't look bad at all. Again, the details Clayz added, specifically around the folds of her swimsuit, are really gorgeous.

There is one significant flaw with the figure, and it's a pretty severe one: the base. Saber stays attached to the base via two slots in the bottom of her feet, and because of her pose, she needs to be on the base at all times when displayed. The only problem? Well, the base pegs are spaced too far apart, which actually forced me to have to try and stretch Saber's legs to fit them in place. I almost gave up after a good 10-15 minutes of trying, but I eventually got it to stay. It's still not perfect (you can see the slight gap under her right foot), but I'm not touching it any further for fear of actually breaking her.

Base issues aside, Clayz's Saber is a pretty good figure in just about every area. I originally liked Alter's figure better, but the more I've compared the two, the more I find myself liking the less-exposed and more red-faced Clayz take on Fate/stay night's most popular character. Since she came out in 2006, a lot of retailers have stopped stocking her in large quantities, but a quick Internet search or search of your favorite shops should result in a few of these for sale.