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Pinky:st (or Pinky Street) dolls have been extremely popular in Japan.
The cute range boasts countless designs based on the latest street fashions and
hundreds of interchangeable parts and accessories, and the limited number of some
designs have made them collectors items. As Pinky:st dolls' popularity
increased a number of special edition dolls based on anime and computer games began to hit the shelves.
This range is known as P:chara and covers such diverse titles as
Fruits Basket, Tenjo Tenge and Street
Fighter Alpha. The Pinky:st craze is still going strong,
spurred on by the endless customisation and an active fanbase, and this Sakura Wars
doll is amongst the latest in an ever growing range. |
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Pinky:st dolls make great display pieces and this one is no exception. When assembled (assembly is little more than slotting the pieces together) the figure stands at around 11cm (4.5") tall and is supplied fully painted. The figure, as you can tell from the picture, is damn cute and the clothes and accessories make her instantly recognisable. As with all Pinky:st dolls the head, hair, torso, skirt and legs are removable and interchangeable with others in the Pinky:st range, as are the accessories. Despite this they fit together fairly firmly and the joins (apart from on the hair) are quite well disguised. The detail on the face and clothes is simple but effective,
with decent painting and a nice use of bold colours. The pose and
sculpting is also good, perfectly depicting Sakura Wars' lead character
Sakura Shinguji in a typical sword drawing stance, but retaining the innocent
cuteness that typifies the Pinky:st range. In fact the only problems
become apparent when you handle it rather than look at it. |
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Whilst the joints are firm they are far from rigid and the type of plastic used can easily be bent. Not much of a problem it may seem but the weight of the hair and head does cause the figure to lean back slightly and the neck joint goes feel a bit flimsy. The main problem I had though was with the sword. The sword is a great part of the figure but the tiny plastic spoke used to connect it to the figure's hand broke off when I was attaching it. This annoyingly means that I'll have to glue the sword on to one of the two bodies. The flimsiness is the figure's main drawback and loses it a star in the rating, a bit more strength or rigidity would not have gone amiss. However, as long as you're (extremely) careful with the smaller parts it will make a great looking and extremely cute display figure that will brighten up any surface. If you are a Pinky:st collector it is a must buy, but I'd be quick about it as these special edition figures aren't usually available for long. Extras: As well as coming with a nice cherry blossom patterned plastic base, the figure actually comes with an alterative body dressed in Sakura's combat uniform. The alternative body has removable legs and cravat so you can mix and match the parts from the two bodies if you so wished. The sword is the only accessory other than the hair ribbon but as mentioned above has a very flimsy joint. Altogether though the extra parts are great and the endless interchangability with the rest of the Pinky:st range is a great bonus too. Ratings Feature:
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