Saturday, June 20, 2015

Banpresto Macross 30th Anniversary SQ Figure Costume x Crossover Mylene Jenius

Cheerful pink and cyan

Taking a short break from the work of removing excess gates from the work on Kotobukiya's HMM Zoids 1/72 Red Horn to bring you a review on another cutesy collectible after Figma Inori Yuzuriha. ^o^


Also, I promise that having another review on a pink-haired girl after Figma Inori Yuzuriha is just a coincidence. XD

Macross 30th Anniversary SQ Figure Costume x Crossover Mylene Jenius
Production company: Banpresto
Release date: January 2013
Price: -
Official link

Besides being a new fixed figurine review after Sega Prize Eva Racing Premium RQ Figure Mari Makinami Illustrious in February this year, this posting also marks the return of the SQ Figure series, after the review on Saber Fate/Zero Ver some three years ago. ^^

Released as part of the Macross series' 30th Anniversary celebration in 2012, with Sheryl Nome x Basara Nekki as the pilot release, this "Costume x Crossover" line can be seen as a special, dedicated line within the SQ Figure series itself. ^^ If I remembered correctly, there were initially just four releases announced, with this Mylene Jenius x Ranka Lee being the second release after the aforementioned Sheryl Nome. I suppose the success and popularity of the series prompted Banpresto to come up with another design for Sheryl Nome - the Lolita Alto Cosplay version. ^^

I paid a lot of attention to this "Costume x Crossover" line as I kept buying the figurines as they became available in Malaysia. XD Initially, I wanted just the pilot release of Sheryl Nome because, it's Sheryl Nome. ^^ After that, I got Mylene as well for her bright and cheerful color scheme. When Lynn Minmay x Sheryl Nome was announced, I decided to get her as well partly due to the Sheryl Nome factor again - Minmay was designed with Sheryl's military uniform from the movie. I also got the aforementioned second design of Sheryl Nome for reason already said above. ^^ The only one I didn't get was Ranka Lee x Lynn Minmay, as I have no particular liking towards the character or her crossover costume design. She featured Minmay's final battle concert costume from "Macross: Do You Remember Love?", which I always believe to be too iconic to be given to anyone besides Minmay herself. ^^

Because of the almost unstoppable purchase into this series, I constantly added figurines from this SQ Figure line to my collection between 2013 and the beginning of 2014. ^^ I do have a couple other releases that are not from this special Macross line, but suffice to say, they formed a large part of the SQ Figure releases in my collection, waiting to be reviewed. ^^

And Mylene gets to be the first of the bunch to be featured up here. ^^



Box front images.



Labels of SQ Figure, Macross 30th Anniversary Project official site, and "Macross 7", the series from which Mylene originated.


Box side images.


Top and bottom views of the box.


Copyright label of Big West Advertising Co. Ltd., the main sponsor of the Macross franchise.



The same image of the figurine is used on the back of the box as well.


Preview for the first release: Sheryl Nome x Basara Nekki, 3rd: Lynn Minmay x Sheryl Nome, and 4th: Ranka Lee x Lynn Minmay.


Comparison with the box of a "fellow" SQ Figure, Makise Kurisu, which was released three months after Mylene.




Even though there are a couple of different design features here and there, the boxes are identical to one another.


Box open.
The content was initially sealed inside a rather rough-looking cardboard wrapper sealed using clear tapes.


A sheet of bubble wrap was used to contain the figurine's parts inside the cardboard wrapper.


The different parts that make up this figurine.


Not shown in the image above, a long clear stick is also included, for purpose to be shown later on. ^^


The stick is close to 16.5cm long.


The waist, neck, and left wrist feature polygonal tabs and ports that don't allow the parts from having any movement once assembled.


The only two parts that don't feature the connection point shown above are the hat and Gubaba, but the two parts' connection is too tight for Gubaba to move anyway once it has been tabbed onto the hat.


(Left) A protruding point, which almost looks like a piece of excess plastic on the part that needs to be cut away forms the connection point between the hat and Mylene's right hand.
(Right) The protruding point is positioned behind the open hand to prevent it from being seen in the figurine's front view.


Two straight pegs connects the figurine to her customized display base.


The two pegs are actually removable, and as you can see, they are of slightly different sizes. ^^ As the pegs connect to their designated slots beneath the base, their sizes ensure that the figurine is fixed in her forward-facing pose on the base.


Bottom view of the base.
Gubaba is placed in the center just to allow my camera to have something to focus upon when the photo was taken. ^^;


Mylene's high heels are connected to the display base.


The bottom side of the hat and a corner on the base have a peg slot each.


The clear stick shown earlier on can be pegged into the two slots for Gubaba to be supported without depending solely on Mylene's right hand.


Then again, since the right hand is well capable of holding the hat, I chose not to use the stick at all. ^^

More images of the figurine:













Closeups on the details:




[Face]






[Hair]




[Body]


[Back]




[Left arm]





[Staff]




[Right arm]




[Hat and Gubaba]






[Dress]










[Legs]





[Base]

Comparison with Saber Fate/Zero Ver:






Mylene's base is obviously much more elaborated in terms of detailing as compared to Saber's, but the latter's plain oval base seems appropriate to represent the elegance of the figurine it's supporting as well.

Much like Saber Fate/Zero Ver, the sculpt work and paint work for Mylene is absolutely lovely. ^^ Besides the very obvious hair, dress, staff, high heels, and just the figurine's overall look and proportion, there are many tiny details all over the figurine which are very nicely included for one to admire. The ladybird-themed pocket watch on Mylene's left waist, her hair band with layered ribbons, the rounded music notes on the tips of her dress and high heels, and many more. ^^ The bright color scheme of the costume design (Ranka's costume), coupled with all the details, plus Mylene's pink hair color (^^) really make this figurine stands out with her cheerful, cutesy look. ^^ While I'm not a big fan of the character from "Macross 7", this is definitely a great figurine in my opinion. ^^

View full gallery:
Banpresto Macross 30th Anniversary SQ Figure Costume x Crossover Mylene Jenius

2 comments:

Dennis aka Katsuden said...

Man! That was a detailed review. Like very inch cover. I only have the Sheryl X Basara figure. The gold key wand is kind of sweet. Very magical girl.

Ngee Khiong said...

>>Dennis

I have that Sheryl x Basara costume crossover figurine as well. Actually the only one I don't have from this series is Ranka x Lynn Minmay. ^^ But among all of them, Mylene is definitely the most colorful one. ^^