Kaiyodo's Revoltech and Good Smile Company's Figma line of poseable figures have received a great reception from collectors all around. With Griffon Enterprises' Figutto line coming soon, it's easy to see that poseable figures are in a high demand. It's a nice feature to give your once static figure more versatility and admiration with the ability to change how they sit on your shelf when you seek variety. The only downside of these figures is they are smaller in size at normally 1/10 scale as compared to their commonly larger 1/8 to 1/6 scale counterparts.

In early June of this year, Good Smile Company announced that they would take the poseable figure market one step further with the revealing of their new action statues line, "actsta" for short. The first figure to grace this line is Subaru Nakajima of Magical Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. The Tomopop community was excited about this release and so was I.

Fast forward 6 months later and here she is in my hands. Hit the jump to learn whether the new actsta line is in a league of its own or nothing more than oversized Figmas.

I felt things were off to a good start when I took Subaru out of this shipping box. I was definitely impressed for my initial reaction with the product display window. The window gives you a full inventory of what you get with the figure. Gives me flashbacks of flipping those lids on Lego boxes to see all the pieces. Being a designer of packaging myself, I was pleased with their choice of colors and type styles to use. Simple and to the point.

The back and sides of the box show off examples of the various pieces in action and what you can do for posing with Subaru. For those who are looking at this in a store, it is an excellent selling point. And for those who are reading this review, you may be swayed by just this.

The inside tray is in two pieces stacked on top of each other, both with tray covers making for the most trays I have ever had to deal with for a figure. The lower tray holds the base, base arm and Subaru's ribbons. The top tray holds all the customization parts consisting of, including the assembled body, two opened hands, two closed fists, two arms, two Revolver Knuckles, two roller blades, two shoes, two shoe lips, two Gear Excelion wings and 3 faces.

Being a series around magic, the base is etched with an incantation circle. These are something I typically ignore as my eyes are normally focused on the figure itself and these just serve as something to stand the figure on.

And now for the meat of the review. Looking nice so far, huh? Let's get a little closer and verify that.

On closer inspection of Subaru's face you can tell this is the quality of a 1/8 scale figure. The painted eyes are sharp and the mouth is well detailed. Even Subaru's ears are high quality even if they are covered by her hair. I love her little nose. Her head is on a neck joint allowing it to be turned side to side and up and down. Unfortunately I'm disappointed that her head cannot bend that far back due to the collar. This makes poses such as her being bent way down and dashing impossible.

Looking closer at her upper body, the paint job is a bit rough on the trim of her coat. There is a joint where her chest meets her body, conveniently separated by her top. There are additional joints located at where her arm and body meet, underneath the puff out of her sleeve, and at her elbow. You can also move her arm under the puff as that comes out for swapping with the Revolver Knuckle arm. Her bow attaches to two thin pegs that are very delicate. Mine broke during the review which seems to be part of my bad luck when reviewing figures.

Subaru's body is very slender and has some sweet, little hips. Unfortunately that keeps getting blocked by belt straps. You can see the majority of Subaru's joints in these photos including her elbows, arms, waist, and thighs. Don't expect to find anything low on the back other than a huge, gaping hole from the waist joint.

The gloves and fingers are treated to excellent detail. Again, trim suffers here and is partially smeared on her oversize cuff. The Revolver Knuckle looks amazing. Sure, they just look like a couple of gears but I am impressed.

The coat tails are rather large and do tend to get in the way when attempting to pose her. It was at this point that my slow brain realized Subaru's outfit is based on the design and colors of her idol, Nanoha.

I like the use of the knee pads to hide the joints in the knees. You just need to be careful as the pegs that hold the knees are tiny and can easily pop out.

There is not much to say about her shoes. A very basic, flat design with a joint at her ankle.

Now this is more like it. Futuristic roller blades are way better than plain, boring shoes.

And here are the blades with full Gear Excelion. I do get nervous with the way the wings come directly out from the side of her blades. I fear I'm going to break them as that is how my luck is.

Following now are a few shots to show off the various poses you can set up with this figure.

Unfortunately, the strength of the arm is not enough to support the weight of Subaru. I also had problems getting the peg to stick in Subaru's back as the hole is not deep enough. The peg is long, the hole is not. I'm also not too fond of how limited the arm can bend. You will find yourself fighting with it often as you attempt to get the pose you want. I'm really annoyed with how far forward Subaru is on the base. The arm is a critical component of this figure so I'm surprised that Good Smile Company would screw this part up.

In the end, I really cannot recommend this figure to anyone except for those who want a poseable figure that can match the height of the rest of their 1/8 scale and larger figures. Costing me over $100, I feel like all I purchased was an ovesized Figma. Granted there is more detail than what you would find in a Figma but it doesn't compare to the detail of static 1/8 scale figures.

Nanoha's Subaru Nakajima has a very generic outfit that is not enough to really make this line shine. I know this is their first actsta figure but if Good Smile Company really wants to make this a worthwhile series for the price, they should focus on characters with more complicated outfits. Unfortunately my purchase and the purchases made by others have already lead Good Smile Company to announce their next actsta figure.

If you are still interested in purchasing Good Smile Company's actsta:Subaru Nakajima, you can find her available at Hobby Search and AmiAmi.