I’m back! Sorry for the extreme delay on this review; this was supposed to go up all the way back in January, but school had other plans in mind for me. Anyway, after waiting for this figure for quite a while back in December (GSC really needs to fix the problems with its international shipping) but once he got here, I was very pleased with him! This month's review will cover the WonFes exclusive Figma Levi Cleaning Ver.!
This version has a simpler design than his standard release Figma version thanks to the lack of a jacket, and the figure itself looks a bit more polished than usual because of it. The only paint flaw I noticed was the usual complaint about the edges of the straps blending into the shirt/pants, but otherwise I love the attention to smaller details, like the little bit of Levi's undercut hairstyle that isn't held down by his headscarf.
Levi comes out of the box already wearing the handkerchief around his neck, which is made of a bendable plastic that holds its shape. I love this, since I don't have to worry about it breaking when I move it around for different poses. The expression on his faceplate is spot-on; the sculptors and painters did a great job of capturing the nuances in his expressions. Well, except for one, but I'll get to that a little later. But despite my love for the expressions, I'm still not sure why GSC and Max Factory think that his eyes are green (in all other official images, the color is a gray-blue).
Similar to the other Attack on Titan Figmas, Levi is also perfectly capable of staying upright without the use of a stand. However, I noticed that my Levi's weight isn't evenly distributed, so all of his poses look a little more sassy due to a slight hip pop. As far as I'm concerned, that is not a defect.
Like the Nendoroid version, all of Levi's accessories are cleaning related to match the scene from Episode 15 of the anime. He has a broom (which is taller than he is, haha) and two duster mops that can be posed at multiple angles. However, the handles on the dusters are thin enough to make me start worrying about them snapping. I have to be careful when threading them through the extra hand pieces that are meant to hold them. I also enjoy his first alternate expression--I can almost hear him yelling at Eren to do a better job cleaning.
Levi also comes with an alternate hand piece that's attached to a piece of cloth so that he can scrub things. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything Figma-sized for him, so he cleaned my camera lens instead. The "cloth" itself is an impressive bit of sculpting--it almost looks real! You can also see the piece that covers part of Levi's face in this shot which is also made of bendy plastic like the neckpiece, a definite improvement over the solid shell that was used in the Nendoroid version.
The final two accessory pieces are technically not for this figure at all, but only work with previous releases. Pictured above is Figma Mikasa with the alternative wind-swept bangs piece that only comes with this release. For me, this brings up two questions: 1) Why wasn't this included with her standard release in the first place, and 2) Why is it packaged with Levi? I mean, if you've been following the manga recently, you can make a plot-related guess why, but I doubt that's the case here. Mikasa and Levi are the most popular characters, so it's more likely that this piece was included to get more buy-in from Mikasa fans. If that's true, I'm not sure how I feel about it... Oh well. It's a nice touch to an already great figure.
In Levi's case... I can't take this seriously, I’m laughing too much. The faceplate comes from Episode 22, which fans will likely recognize, but something about it is off here. I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, the faceplate is meant to be paired with the optional set of wind-swept bangs, but this is where the problems come in. The bangs absolutely will not fit on the Cleaning Figma version, only his standard Figma version. The Cleaning Version has a different sculpt for the head, and even if you did manage to get it on, he'd still be missing half his head, since the headscarf comes off in one full piece. Therefore, if you want to pose him the way he's displayed on the box, you'll have to be an owner of the standard Levi Figma and swap out the heads. This was not clearly stated in the original advertising, so people who only ordered this version were upset that they couldn't use this piece. It also brings me back to my first question with Mikasa: why wasn't this included with the standard Figma in the first place?
But aside from including accessories meant for other figures, I'm very pleased with this release. With the exception of the extra bangs, I had no problems with setting up any of the accessories. The joints on the figure were very smooth, so posing was not a problem either. It’s also one of those figures that I feel captures a bit of character. As I mentioned earlier in the review, I could almost hear the lines from the show. As of this writing, Figma Levi Cleaning Ver. is available in the aftermarket for around $50, which is not bad for an exclusive figure from last year. It was also recently announced that he'll be sold at AX, so he's likely to come to other conventions as well! If you’re a huge Levi fan like me, this is a great figure to add to your collection.
Images by me. Always buy your figures from trustworthy shops, and watch out for bootlegs!
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