1/7 Radio Eva, Part 2 Ayanami Rei by Hobby Max

Continuing April's streak of reviews. If you think about it, I've technically gotten 1 out per day so far. I wonder if I can keep that up? (With the amount of pictures I have to take and then edit, there's no way I can keep that up.) Well with that said, today we're taking a look at a rather special figure. This is one of the Radio Eva scales by Hobby Max. She's also not mine and belongs to a friend, so I'm really grateful for the chance to review her and have permission to put this up. Thank you so much! I'll make sure to ship her out soon, hopefully.

Anyways, I did want to address the pictures on this, as well as both the previous pictures, as well as the pictures from here on out. So, I've stated it before that I'm not a professional, I just take pictures with my cheap phone, and I either have natural light coming in on good days, or I use a single lamp either at nights or really gloomy days. The shadows in this one (and in the next review) are kinda dramatic and I'm just here like "IDK, I'm not the best photographer and setting everything up in my spare time is hard," so hopefully it's not too bad. IDK I'm doing all this on the side of my desk with a yard of fabric as a back drop with little to no space to set everything up, because I can't really do this outside of my room either. Basically, it looks janky and unprofessional as hell and I apologize to people for it not looking the best. I'm just trying to have a bit of fun with it, I suppose. But that's like, the whole site.

That and like I've stated on most of these figures so far, but almost all the figures I've photographed before this don't really have reviews that I've seen on MFC. They probably have other reviews out there, but I'd have to look into them. Well uh, enough about that though, let's continue on with the actual figure.

Here's as full shot of Rei. Honestly, she looks amazing. I don't really know much about Radio Eva or any of the Eva side material, but I do know quite a bit about Eva as a whole. I just know that for the most part, there seems to be about 4 different versions of the outfits so far, and this is from the 2nd set. They're all wearing street wear, and this particular set has a really cool Asuka as well. Either way, Rei looks great. I love the sporty attire. The dynamic pose is really neat as well. Definitely captures the feeling of a light breeze passing as she's walking home or something. Not too over the top, but realistic enough that you could get a sense of the atmosphere.

With this Rei, there's an alternate version as well, in complete greyscale with slight accents. Personally, while the greyscales look cool, not only are the full color versions generally easier to get, I personally just prefer them. This version of her was around 12000 yen on Amiami which comes out to about 85 USD. She was shipped with other figures as well, so I don't have a direct estimate on her, but I'd be willing to guess around 4000ish for Airmail and 7000ish for EMS. She's not super big, nor is her box. I believe she's still in stock, and quite honestly, if I had the spare cash right now to get my own, I totally would.

So, the box is similar to those Pop Up Parade boxes. Meaning its a giant hunk of seethrough plastic. In this case, there's slight embellishments and there's the cardboard insert that's a lot more unique so it doesn't look as generic as the Pop Up Parade boxes, but it definitely feels wasteful and like a giant obstruction. Honestly, I really dislike this kind of box. Maybe a while ago, I would have seen a clear box as unique and cool, but it's just a huge waste of plastic. I know it's probably weird to be in a hobby about collecting plastic and go "The one time use plastic in this is insane!" but IDK, that's just how I feel. Basically, I'm not fond of these kinds of boxes, I never will be, and that's how it is.

The blister is like any standard blister. It has plenty of plastic and other material between some of her more fragile parts to keep her safe during her travel to your house, as well as having stuff to protect against paint transfer. Standard blister practices. Outside of the amount of plastic waste, I can't find any fault with it.

Here's the 360 view. As you can tell, she's fairly tall, but not particularly wide. She currently stands a little under 10 inches, being 1/7th in scale and all. Good if you don't have a lot of space and want to squeeze her in with any other figures you have. Definitely would be cool to see her with the rest of this set as well, as they could all make for a very dynamic shot. But that aside, she wouldn't take up too much space. I guess if you have a smaller shelf or cabinet, you might need to be concerned but I don't think it'd be too bad. Definitely not the biggest 1/7th I've ever seen, but not tiny either.

Anyways, lets get into the details. The paint of the figure itself is really nice. The colors are vibrant and shaded, and the facial expression is spot on. She definitely looks like a more modern take on the classic Rei Ayanami. Everything here is clean. I think the only thing that kind of looks off to me is that the skin doesn't feel shaded and can seem incredibly pale in comparison to everything else, but that's probably because she's not wearing her plugsuit, so she just seems overall lighter.

The logos on the top & jacket are pretty cool. I love the look of the shirt's logo being as intricate as it is, as well as the patches all over the jacket. Really shows the attention paid to the details of the overall design.

Moving down, we have shots of the back of the jacket, along with the details of the shoes & the base. I'm not sure how I feel about the random sheet of lace. Like, yeah it's really nice how detailed it is. It does look really good for what it is. I guess my overall nitpick here is moreso with the overall design rather than the figure itself, because it's just an odd choice and seems very tacked on. I dunno, I personally think this should be inside the jacket rather than outside, but that's just me. Maybe I'm missing something. But since you won't normally be seeing it anyways, I suppose it doesn't exactly matter.

The holo on the shoes is pretty cool though.

The base itself is pretty nice. A glossy circle in a greyish blue with a simple logo. It's not the most intricate, but I can't say I hate it either. It's not plain white or black despite being a circle, and that's really what matters. The base itself has 2 metal rods to support her, and while they're a bit awkward to attatch at first, she's very sturdy and well supported because of this. I think the only issue I had while putting her together is that when pushing her onto the base, you can't expect the back foot to make direct contact with the base, because if you push too hard, the metal peg might start to slip out of the base slightly and protrude a little from the back. I'm not sure if that's an issue with adhesive giving out or just something in general with her, but it's something to keep in mind.

Overall, this is a solid figure. I'd say if you don't mind paying the premium and going for a scale rather than something prize, you really can't miss with a design like this. I honestly think she looks a lot better than the other 2 released Radio Eva Rei figures, and getting this version isn't too hard, even if it's been a bit since her release, which was back during the latter half of August from 2023.

The Positives

• Vibrant paint job with great shading.
• Attention to minor details on the clothing is amazing.
• Larger in height, but not too large as to take up a ton of shelf retail.
• Has an alternate colorway, in case you prefer that paintjob over this one (But might be harder to obtain these days)

The Negatives

• The skin can look a bit awkwardly pale in some lighting
• The lace on the back looks awkward
• Higher pricepoint because she's a scale, but considering she's considered as "binned", it's not too horrible these days.
• Base might give some difficulties if you're not careful, but nothing too serious. Just make sure to check the bottom to see if one of the metal pegs is protruding ever so slightly.

Anyways thank you to my bestie for allowing me to review her. She's so pretty and in all honesty one day I wish I could have my own, but I'll see how I feel about the idea of getting her in the future, especially considering the tariff situation is ongoing as well as the fact that the Radio Eva Part 4 figures have been announced and I love Rei's outfit there.