When Cattleya was first announced as part of the Megahouse Excellent Model Queen’s Blade lineup last September I was overjoyed. Given her ponderous dimensions and niche fetish appeal I thought her inclusion in the series would be unlikely, but it seems someone with decision-making power at Megahouse HQ recognized the appeal of her monumental design for what it was, and decided that justice must be done. The justice ended up so great that it could hardly be contained by Cattleya’s 120-cm bust, so I give fair warning – if the prospect of such developed womanly attributes makes you less than excited this review is not for you. Otherwise, read on for more gushing fanboyism than is probably appropriate:
Original Design: Kaneko Hiraku (Wikipedia)
Sculptor: Yamachichi (Heavy Gauge)
Source: Queen’s Blade (combat artbook series)
Scale: 1/8 (23 cm tall – Cattleya, 29.5 cm tall – w/sword, 13 cm tall – Rana)
Option Parts: “Giantkiller” sword
Materials: PVC
Release Date: mid-February, 2008
Production: Megahouse
Price: 7,350 JPY (tax included)
Current Availability: [KNC] [HLJ] [HS] [TL]
Support HD!: [PA] [JLIST]
Related: Queen’s Blade Cattleya combat artbook
Cattleya is the 12th character released in the series of Queen’s Blade combat artbooks (labeled as 13th on the site due to Yuumil being announced before her). Following her release in March of 2007 Cattleya quickly gained a cult following among devotees of the stylized 2D MILF genre of Japanese erotica, with proportions that defied several physical and biological laws and a built in shota sidekick that made her natural fodder for a certain type of doujinshi. Her popularity was largely due to the artistic design and illustrations provided by veteran animator Kaneko Hiraku, who had previously illustrated Queen’s Blade Reina (though Reina’s original design was from Hisayuki Hirokazu).
Queen’s Blade Cattleya combat artbook
The Queen’s Blade Cattleya combat artbook can be purchased here, and doujinshi featuring her can be purchased via download from DLsite here.
Sculpt
As a member of the elite Heavy Gauge sculpting unit, Yamachichi was in my opinion the perfect choice to tackle the production of Megahouse’s Cattleya. He incarnates her physicality perfectly, and at a scale where only the most skilled professionals can convey any significant mass he manages to give her a sense of presence that makes her seem far larger and more solid than her 23 centimeter height would suggest.
In this sculpt Yamachichi displays a masterfully subtle understanding of the human form that allows him to bend standard rules of anatomy while retaining a sense of immediate realism, a skill that places him on par with Kaneko Hiraku in co-mastery of the supple exaggeration that I personally find so addictive. At this level of skill it seems to me that witnessing this sculpt is viewing a conversation between two confident and superbly confident craftsmen with one sustaining vision, and that vision is hotness. To top it all off, the petite 1/8 scale features of her face that could so easily be ruined by an inexpert hand are granted a becoming allure that allows her to stand up to scrutiny even at close range.
The chosen pose is classic in its dynamism, almost Greco-Roman in its deliberate exploration of the various planes and curves of the body, designed to showcase her musculature and distinctive features while hiding them beneath a soft veil of skin.
Oh, and “Yamachichi” can be read as 山乳, or “mountain breast”. Best name for a sculptor ever.
Production
The superb quality of Megahouse’s Excellent Model CORE line remains intact in this release, and I have no complaints or criticisms whatsoever. Given constraints of the production process I can’t imagine how this figure could have been improved – seams are nonexistent save for under her chin (necessary to remove her head for the castoff process), mold lines are barely visible, and the paint job is a superb realization of Kaneko’s original illustrations. The gloss/semi-gloss finish of her outfit and the superbly shaded matte finish of her skin are exactly as they should be. Detail work in both casting and paint is crisp and precise. As a figure fan I don’t know that more than this can be asked.
Conclusion
Megahouse’s Excellent Model CORE Queen’s Blade P-5 Cattleya is a brilliant piece of artistry and craftsmanship, a meeting of the minds of two expert caricaturists skilled in the postmodern art of two-dimensionally deforming the human female into an exaggerated marvel that one may have to be slightly mad to appreciate. For those of us who do appreciate such 2D pyrotechnics I doubt there is much more that needs to be said; this is simply one of the best figures ever produced. For the rest, please pardon our little fetish; I think we can all agree though that the craftsmanship here is superb, and that Megahouse has outdone themselves yet again. I can’t wait to see what the next Queen’s Blade Excellent Model has to offer!
Overall Score: 10/10
If you would like to support HD with your purchase, Cattleya is still available at J-List, as is her combat artbook.
Note: More thorough reviews of Cattleya’s son Rana can no doubt be found elsewhere. He’s not why I bought this figure, so I’ve taken the liberty of merely acknowledging his presence visually and moving on.
Note 2: I picked up the alternate color standalone version of Cattleya as well, and will be presenting her in simple image gallery form at a later date (hopefully soon).
I sort of see the appeal and I sort of don’t with Cattleya, but the whole thing with her son just creeps me out, plain and simple. I can appreciate the Cattleya figure sculpt and production values but I could under no circumstances get over the aforementioned. Mega House should have stuck with the stand alone release.
Fabulous review of one hell of a figure. She is a fascinating, flawless produced piece to be sure and oh my does she ever have the face of an angel.
In your serenade of her finer (& heavier) points you really do place the the power of her presence in a way that explains precisely what makes her such an astounding piece…. however, I confess to having not added her to my collection. Perhaps I have to resign to the fact that even some of the finest artworks in history I wouldn’t necessarily want in my bedroom… It’s a VERY tough call.
Excellent review as usual, Shingo. Cattleya does look very nice indeed, but I think I’ll pass this time. I’m running out of shelf space as it is.
On an unrelated note Shingo, I did manage to score Manyuu Chibusa from Hobby Search at the last minute (yeeeessss!) and Feane is on the way as well, so I’ve got more than enough breasts to make up for not getting Cattleya. :O
I’ve got the red color edition of her. Not only you can skip the son it is cheaper too. HobbyLink has her still in shop.
I have to point out some negative points about that skulpt. Some seam lines are way to distracting. Look at the last image! You can’t ignore that line!
Second her neck is to long! I prefer to keep the top of her cloak on. That way it isn’t noticeable.
The last point is the dangerous castoff process. You have to stretch the bands of her dress very much. Especially her “pants” look like they could be ripped off easily. Unfortunately the space between the legs is so tight that you have to use force to squeeze the plastic through them. You realy have to think about it if you want to use the castoff feature. I think I damaged the paint of the skin a litle bit during this process.
So much fanboyism :D I pass on her, it’s a good piece as usal with this MegaHouse serie, but that’s too much chest for me >.<
Awesome figure! Even though the breasts are huge if you look at her thighs and her butt they don’t seem disproportionate to the figure as a whole. She’s a big, busty amazon and she looks like it. I confess I bought both versions as well, I just pretend they’re twin sisters.
Shingo, when you said the pose was Greco-Roman I did a double-take and thought, well dammit, it really does. You’d get a heavy increase in museum attendence if they displayed statues like that.
I just got her yesterday. And I really do like her, but I gave up trying to remove her outfit. It’s way to hard to get that thing off without breaking the outfit. Which is a shame since I really would like to get it off…
^^^ Kaji, I had the same problem, it’s far trickier than need be. I finally got it off by popping off her head and undoing all the straps in the back, then pulling her outfit up over her chest to get it over her neck, then stretched the strap to pull it out from under her right arm, then the slack let me get it over the gauntlet on her left arm. It’s difficult and takes some trying, but if you’re careful it works.
Awesome review yet again, I’d mark her down a point only for the unfortunate seam lines, but otherwise a fantastic figure. Quite impressive looking on a shelf for multiple reasons, the giant sword catches the eye first, then the giant… well you know :P
>> K
So you’re the one who snatched my last chance of getting Chibusa. -.-*
Just kidding, of course. Hope you enjoy her presence always. Anyway, I spent too much on a dozen Cattleya (6 of each color) already. I pre-ordered from a number of sites so as not to miss out. But, since she’s so beautiful (to me), I decided to honour all my pre-orders. 8)
>> DaFoe
Mucho Gracias. Thank you very much. Arigato Gozamaisu. That’s a very accurate and good FAQ on how to get her apron off.
Yeah. I have a lot of problems trying to and not get paint scuffs all over her hot bod.
>> Shingo. Thanks again for a great review as always. And for these nice insights like how the sculptor’s name can be read as ‘mountain breasts’. Very fitting for the sculptor of Cattleya. I love all those beautiful curves on her, especially her shoulders and bottom. Hence, I’m definitely looking forward to another great figure with great curves – Cobra-Kai’s Anna.
>>the_pseudokings
I agree with you, I don’t see the need for Rana as part of this release (at least not a castoffable version). I would’ve skipped the set if they would have released her standalone version in the original colors. :/
>>PorcelainePriss
Agreed, this is probably not a figure you would want displayed somewhere that would receive much visitor traffic. Fortunately she’s not too large that she could be tucked away when necessary…. I’m pretty much beyond the point of no return when it comes to risky stuff on display in my room so it’s less of a factor for me, but I can see where you’re coming from. ^^;
>>K
Nice choices! Glad to hear you managed to snage a copy of Chibusa. I’m very happy with the large-chested trend in recent figures and I hope it continues… can’t wait for Orchid’s Shiori, word on the street is that she’ll be out on April 26th.
>>uncensored
The line you mention in the last image is very easy for me to ignore, as I can’t see it when I view her from any angle other than below, and even then it’s only visible in harsh lighting. It’s quite acceptable to me and seems like the most logical place to put such a mold line for it to be as unobtrusive as possible.
I was worried about her neck seeming unnaturally long based on initial photo reviews from other sites, but when it came time for me to cast off the collar I was pleasantly surprised to find that on my copy at least the neck seemed a natural length. I’m not sure if this holds true across the production batch, but I can’t complain about how the neck turned out on my copy.
Regarding castoff, I did it awhile ago so I’d have to check again to be sure, but I don’t remember having particular difficulty with the process.
>>SbebiWan
I don’t blame you for skipping this one, different strokes for different folks and all that. Still, it’s fun to let the fanboyism gush every once and awhile. :3
>>Al
Indeed, sign me up for the museum that displays 1:1 statues of women with Cattleya’s proportions. I’d book a lifetime membership.
>>Kaji, DaFoe
Thanks for the castoff description, as mentioned above I did it awhile ago and forgot how difficult it was. It always makes me break into a cold sweat when I have to stretch a part of the costume to successfully remove it… Definitely worth the effort in this case, though.
>>blacklotus
Yamachichi banzai~! I hope Daiki does justice to Toushirou’s Anna.
@Shingo
I can guess that you had stressfull moments removing her cloth. Look at image 101 and you will not only notice the seam line. There are those glowing marks on her skin. Thats exactly what happens when casting her off. The edges of her dress leave them when rubbing over her skin. You can see them on other images too. I think that is a problem of many castoff figures.
>>uncensored
Ah, you were referring to the scrape marks from castoff. Those are definitely visible in certain lighting. As you say, it’s the price paid during castoff if you’re not careful; I often don’t take the time I should to meticulously go through the castoff procedure with as little damage as possible, so I can’t really lay the blame on Megahouse for my own clumsiness.
I think if one were to exercise extreme caution during castoff such marks could be largely avoided, though repeated removal and replacement of the clothing would likely result in scuffs eventually.
I managed to take her outfit off. I didn’t notice any damage to the figure, but one of the straps on her outfit is about the tear. I don’t think I’ll try putting it back on anytime soon.
Heh. Hehe..
I for being the only one here am alright with Rana being there. I don’t display either of them without clothes, but his came off too at first.
Each to his own, I guess! ^^
Anyway, I would give this figure set a 12/10! I got her over a month ago now, and she’s without a doubt THE castoff to end all castoffs! I mean, MH did a superb job on lifelike nipples, that I swooned when viewing them for the first time.
Taking off her suit was easy for me. Putting the strap between her legs back on was a bit of a struggle, but it got there, and there it’ll stay for a while, until I get adventurous again! ^^
Cattleya is definitely on my top 5 list of all-time favourite figures! ^_^
@uncensored
I think you forgot to mention that the sword that comes with stand alone version is almost nothing compared to the regular version.
At first i though th echest was too much and I wasn’t gonna preorder but i needed to have all queens blades and I like boobs.
and the cast off is beautiful, nuff said
What’s up with her breast? Is that a crack on her right breast?
best ero pvc figurine ever
at least megahouse is master of ‘pvc’-nipples ^O^ or is it yamachichi?
please keep improving your skill megahouse! ^O^
i thank yamachichi for a very good job in sculpting her.