Review date: 9/6/2003

Manufacturer: Yamato

Released: 2002

Availability: HARD

Type: Action Figure

 
 
Personal Story:
I was somewhat interested in the figure since I was a big fan of the original Ghost in the Shell manga, anime and figures. But the price was too high to warrant a purchase until an online site was selling her for a ridiculously low price and had free shipping! I snatched this one up since she's the sexiest of the three that were released.
 
Introduction:
This figure was made by Yamato. It's based on the character Motoko Aramaki (formerly known as Motoko Kusanagi) from the manga Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface. There were three versions of Motoko in different outfits. This is the Gunmetal version. I'd also like to note that two companies, Alpha and Toycom, are listed on the back of the packaging. But these companies are only distributors so I didn't mention them as manufacturers. It's interesting that the section with Yamato's information is in a tiny section of the packaging.
 

Sculpt:
A fairly average sculpt. The head was really disappointing. I'd like to give credit to the designer for trying to reflect Masamune Shirow's new style but he/she missed the mark. The head looks like a giant turnip. It's quite bulbous and unattractive. If you compared her head to the source material, you'll see the difference. The hair is also pretty bad. It looks nothing like the flowing hair in the manga. It looks more like she was dipped in a vat of hair gel. Too bad.

The body is MUCH better. The sculpt is way sexy and very solid. Motoko's got an incredibly nice set of boobs. :) They are perfectly shaped. The outfit was sculpted fairly well and reflect the wet suit she wears in the manga pretty well. There are plenty of tiny details that mimic the suit material quite well. Not too bad. What is a bit annoying is her pose. If you checked out the pics, you'll notice that her legs are slanted at an odd angle. It looks completely unrealistic and uncomfortable. I'm not sure if anyone can actually stand like that in real life. The center of gravity is way off. What was the sculptor thinking? If only her legs were in a straighter angle, this figure's pose would've looked better (and much more natural). What a shame.

The figure's accessories are minimal. Motoko comes with a visor that you can attach to her head. There's no slot to put the visor in so I was confused what it was. Thankfully, it fits snugly onto Motoko's head without any problems. It's like putting on glasses. People who've never touched the manga may wonder what the "visor" was since there's no image of her wearing it on the packaging.

The other accessories are a base and a robot. The base is actually randomly colored with the same figure (which I thought was a weird decision). Mine is yellow and it looks quite attractive. The design on the base is quite intricate and looks pretty good. The figure stands very well on the base even with the slanted pose. The robot is just some simple "pet" thing. I like the sculpt. It's quite detailed for its size. But there's nothing outstanding about it. I'm really disappointed that they didn't include more stuff with her.

Motoko has very little articulation. It's limited to the turning of the head and movement of the arms. The legs cannot move at all. You won't be playing with it much.

 

Paint:
The paint job is okay. I think Motoko's face is messed up just like her head sculpt. The eyes on her face are way too large and wide. The colors for her skin tone is way too dark and her hair looks like a mess. The little bits of silver with the orange is pretty bad. I'm not sure where the silver color came from since she doesn't have it in her hair in the manga. It would've been nice if her hair was done in a metallic orange or something instead. Thankfully, her body is much better. It's painted with this metallic color that looks great. They even accentuated her curves with a few highlights here and there. It's really nice looking and one of the BEST aspects of the figure. Not too much details but it's nice enough to look at. The overall paint job is very clean and neat.

 
Overall: C+
Unless you're a fan of Ghost in the Shell, this figure might be a tad disappointing. The sculpt and paint of the head was really disappointing. The sculpt of the body is nice except for the odd pose. It's still a sexy figure overall but I wasn't thrilled with the execution. Certain parts of the figure really annoyed me. Oh well.
 

Where can I find this?
Hard but not impossible. It seems she isn't sold in a lot of places (as of this review) but you can still find her if you know where to look. Certain online sites still have her available.
 
Other Images:


The figure in its packaging. It's okay. I think the colors are too bright and minimalistic. I can't believe they restricted Masamune Shirow's awesome illustrations to the BACK of the packaging. What were they thinking???

 


Motoko with her visor.

 


The back. Nice ass...

 


The robot thing.

 
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