There’s a limit to the amount of skin you can show on a figure and still classify it as non-ero, and Chrono Gate’s Mylene is just about at that limit. This is what initially drew me to the kit, and my appreciation of her original design and affinity for the 009-1 anime sealed the deal. Were these reasons enough to justify the purchase? I’m not entirely sure, but maybe you’ll have a more concrete opinion…
Original Design: Konno Naoyuki (from Ishinomori Shoutarou)
Sculptor: Kawasumi Toshiaki (Amiami search)
Source: 009-1 (anime)
Scale: 1/6 (18 cm tall)
Materials: PVC
Release Date: October 29th, 2007
Production: Chrono Gate
Price: 7,644 JPY (tax included)
Current Availability: [KNC] [HS] [TL] [AAA]
Support HD!: [PA] [YA]
Mylene Hoffman is the eponymous agent 009-1 and star of the anime that bears her name. I’m not going to go into her character much here (Wikipedia sums things up nicely), instead choosing to focus on the salient aspects of the kit.
Sculpturally speaking I can’t really find fault with this rendition of Mylene. It’s sexy, confident, and stylistically noir in a way that fits her character perfectly. The lines and angles formed by her pose are aggressive in a classically erotic way, and the details of her abs, hips, thighs, and back look great. My only minor nitpick in terms of the sculpture would be that the straps holding the pouch to her right thigh don’t dig in more; I would’ve liked to see a bit more plump curvature in that area.
In terms of production, the box says Chrono Gate but the quality here screams Kotobukiya. The Chrono Gate project is a collaboration between them and Happinet, but I’d wager that the actual factory work and production supervision for the kit was handled entirely by Kotobukiya given the familiar paint job and feel of the cast.
Saying that the kit is typical Kotobukiya means that we’re saddled with decent production values all around, but nothing that really stands out. The cast is fine, no serious seams or jagged edges to complain about, but the paint job is decidedly mediocre. Her skin has essentially no shading whatsoever, which given the amount of exposed skin on this figure seems like a serious oversight. In fact there’s not much shading anywhere on the kit at all, and combined with the simple costume design and color scheme it presents this as a kit that rides almost exclusively on the quality of the sculpt.
Overall Chrono Gate’s Mylene is a bit of a disappointment; a great sculpt, but the meager (though not incompetent) production fails to live up to its potential. I was honestly hoping for a castoff here as well – she has machine guns in her breasts, for crying out loud. They could’ve at least given some contour to them beneath the shirt. This is a kit I’d recommend to die hard fans of 009-1 and Mylene’s design, but others might be better served by investing their figure budget elsewhere.
Overall Score: 7/10
+ dynamite, sultry sculpt really captures the feel of the character
o production value is competent, but not outstanding
- paint-by-number coloring job adds nothing to the kit
Those contemplating a purchase and who would like to support HD can find her at Play Asia, where for once she seems to be cheaper than at Hobby Search.
I just received mine today and I wanted to say that I have been very pleased to see that the quality was much better than what some screenshots promised us. The paint job is a bit lacking in the range of colors used and for the shadows, but is quite clean. The pose is a killer. My only complait is the gun, as I didn’t succeed in putting it in Mylene’s hand XD
I’ve had this a couple of weeks too. generally quite happy with it. I love the post and the sleek curve of the body, with the added showy boobs and hot pants is extremely sexy.
I also had trouble getting the gun in her hand properly with the finger on the trigger, thought I might actually break the finger, but got it there in the end.
My only big gripe is no cast off, you’d think such a style of upper body clothing would be made removable…or maybe i’m just too much of a perv.
nice figure
That ended up looking much better than I expected. Have too many on order to pick it up though.
[...] пришли не только на Кольский полуостров, но и в сердца наших агентов, иначе как объяснить загадочную череду подробнейших [...]
I considered this one seriously, due to the excellent sculpt, but with having no attachment to the character and the fairly high price, decided to pass. Looks like I’d have been happy with it, but I don’t see enough to regret passing either.
I had a bit of trouble with the gun as well, and ended up not trying to force her index finger into the trigger hole (I’m sure there’s a technical term for that part of gun anatomy…).
I still wish they’d gone with more shading, as it just seems lazy to leave it all to the natural contours of the sculpt (though they don’t do a bad job).
At the price point, and given the skimping on the paint job, a nice castoff is the only thing that could’ve seriously redeemed the kit in my eyes. It’s not bad, but just feels a bit lacking.
I’m quite happy with this figure. Great pose and a superb sculpt (especially the abs area where the curves are all in the right places, and the crack in the booty area :) ).
Painting wise is a bit bland (no shading ,etc) But I’m not complaining as I myself paint my kits with minimal shading too, using lighting to effect the shades and shadows (only works with detailed sculptures of course. )
Anyway, for a noir era character, minimal shading seems to fit the theme (black and white era as it is, with deep shadows) :)
As for the lack of castoff, it’s ok with me, though it’s a bonus if it was available. This figure is sexy without being skanky, and the tease of being castoffable (but isn’t) is great. Again, it fits in the noir era. Sexy females where the sex is implied but never in-your-face. :)
And I guess Koto finally decided to be sensible: no silly, shiny, high gloss flesh paint unless it’s a beach scene oiled figure. Good. :)
Thanks for the review Shingo, I” probably get this figure if it ends up in the sale bins… =)
Love the sexy butt. The figure looks nice and all but if you are going to sculpt the nipples you might as well color them too…..it just looks off if they are not. Good figure- but most likely going to have to pas on this one.