Subdued Figures: Figma Mikasa Ackerman Review

Attack on Wallet continues! Get used to this, folks. I have a ton of Attack on Titan stuff on preorder and my obsession isn't stopping soon. This month I'm covering Max Factory's Figma release of Mikasa Ackerman!

   
Despite being underwhelmed by Mikasa's Nendoroid version, I had pretty high hopes for the Figma release and I'm happy to say that Max Factory really delivered on this one! The sculpt is great, the articulation easily allows for a lot of different action-oriented poses, and thanks to the slight joint in the toes, this is the third Figma I've had that can stand on its own with a minimum of fiddling.

 
My main complaint out of the box has to do with the paint. The decals are perfect, as usual, but for whatever reason it still seems like a tall order to expect straight lines on the harness paint. The white bleeds over constantly in the torso and on the upper legs and is pretty noticeable since it's a key part of the uniform. The rest of it looks great though. The jacket is made from softer plastic to accommodate the full range of the figure's articulation. There's a slight color difference between the sleeves and the rest of the jacket, but it's virtually indistinguishable in natural lighting.

The scarf is its own separate piece, which means the Figma doesn't have the same problem as the Nendoroid with the tail hanging out in space. It can be removed entirely and swapped out with a regular shirt collar. I'm not sure why someone would want to display Mikasa without her scarf, so the real point of the accessory seems to be so that you can swap her head out with other female Figmas for a crossover costume.


But while Mikasa is very easy to pose--to the point that I realized that I'm not that good at action poses while taking the pictures for this review--swapping out her hands was a huge problem for me. Figmas have switched from having preattached joints to each hand to just having the joint in the figure itself, yet the sizing wasn't consistent across all the hands. It took me the better part of a half an hour just to get one hand attached. This was my biggest problem with the entire figure. I doubt that others in this run have this problem since other hand pieces came on and off just fine, but I hope that the QC on future figures will make sure that all the sizes are correct.

   
But I'm willing to deal with that when the main accessory looks as god as this! Aside from the hands and alternative expressions (neutral, concerned, and angry yelling), Mikasa's other extra pieces revolve around the 3DMG, which is fantastic for its scale size. Once again, it's the anime version, but it nails the small details. It attaches very easily to the main figure and has a little bit of articulation and is held together by softer plastic similar to the jacket, which once again allows you to pose the figure however you want without worrying about breaking or ripping something.


Two pieces attach to the front to give the illusion that Mikasa is shooting forward in midair. It's a cool extra attachment, but it didn't stay on very well for me so I'm not sure if I'll use it again. There's also a separate smoke plume piece that attaches to the back to allow for arial poses. It attaches very securely onto the main base, making it unlikely that the figure will fall over on its own.

 
The last piece is the Scouting Legion cloak, which is sculpted to look like it's perpetually blowing in the wind. It slips on without any issues, and there's enough room for Mikasa's scarf in the front for it to still look good without worrying about paint transfer. Pickier fans will notice that the bottom part of the logo is blue, which is consistent across the entire figure. Fair warning if you really prefer the white.


Overall, I'm extremely happy with this Figma, as it's easily one of the nicer ones in my collection. The articulation is everything that I wanted in an Attack on Titan figure and I can't wait to practice my posing and photo skills with her. The paint and hand issues bug me, but everything else is so spot-on that I hardly mind. I highly recommend this Mikasa figure to collectors who like to play a bit more with their figures or want an Attack on Titan figure that can easily replicate scenes from the series.

The Figma in this review is the first release version that came out a few months ago and sold out pretty quickly. The second release officially came out on April 25th, and there are no differences between the two. The new wave should be welcome news to those who weren't able to get an order in the first time. Act fast though--Figmas of this quality and popularity command high resale values, so now is the time to get Mikasa if you want her!

Images by me.