Kotobukiya 1/8 Aoi with Nyahoja

In my attempt to get through the backlog of my reviews (all to turn around and do more reviews), I find you with one of the last of the figures belonging to my friend that I'll be reviewing for a good while. This time we're taking a look at the Kotobukiya Aoi & Nyahoja--Or as they're called in our localization, Juliana and Sprigatito

Because this and the matching Florian figure are kind of a "pair," I debated doing them together. But I decided on keeping them separate.

Anyways, moving on. I believe this figure was grabbed off the used section for around 8000 yen or so on Amiami. I won't lie, these figures kind of binned. A new release is already pretty discounted, and used being even cheaper means that if you care about completing the Kotobukiya trainer collection, you can get the gen 9 duo for a pretty decent price. Considering the quality of these figures, I can't imagine them binning had anything to do with the figures themselves but rather the general reception of Pokemon games as of late. Probably why Gloria from gen 8 also has been binning.

As you can see from this shot alone, the figure itself is definitely not bad. Kotobukiya generally has pretty solid figures. I guess if I were to say anything negative about the figure is that I really don't like the default trainer designs from Scarlet & Violet. But that's really not the fault of the figure or Koto. I'll spare you all a rant on the ScarVio base game clothing choices, as it really has nothing to do with the figure.

Moving on, here's a look at the box. You're going to notice that most Pokemon Trainers series boxes pretty much follow the same formula. Big open window on the front, Pokeball window on one side & the top, pictures on back, and the illustration on the side. Not a bad box formula. Really simple, and gets the point across.

Our blister is the standard blister. From what I remember, there was quite a lot of plastic to protect pieces. Probably moreso than other figures I've unboxed. There was also quite a bit of foam and a gelly cushiony plastic to protect pieces as well. Basically, they went above and beyond to keep this safe from breaks and paint transfers during transit. Always a good thing, but wish it didn't have to be so much plastic. I know that's odd to say when your hobby is based around the collection of plastic figurines, but it's very unfortunate that so much one time use plastic goes into stuff these days.

360 view of everything. Pretty much what you'd expect from a figure like this. For an outfit that's just a school uniform, the little flourishes they add to it by capturing every bit of detail makes it go from kind of plain and dismissable to something incredibly eye catching. Despite my woes with it, Koto did make it look good. The pose is generally nice as well. It very much captures the exact vibe of a child taking a stroll with their first Pokemon. The paintwork is generally very nice and vibrant, with a lot of details put into the choice of finishes. It doesn't capture well on camera, but the paint they used for the shoes and backpack look particularly good.

Well, this is a Pokemon figure, so it'd be weird for me to not give a brief 360 view of the actual Pokemon included. Here's Sprigatito from all angles as well. Very cute. I love the shades of green they picked for this figure.

More details coming up.

I feel like there's not a lot to say here that hasn't been said already. The details really elevate this figure to a new level, which makes it a tragedy that it binned for reasons that aren't really the figure's fault. I particularly love the details on the backpack. The crest of the academy is really cute and well done. So is the hairclip. Truth be told, I didn't even notice the hairclip was there in the original design in the actual game, so it was interesting to see on the figure and then go "Oh yeah, that is a part of her design, isn't it?"

So, the bases on the regular released figures for this set just aren't as cool as some of the bases on the exclusives. Not necessarily a bad thing, but kind of underwhelming. Well, they do their job I suppose. I do like the fact that the colors of the base compliment the figure. They also seem like they're trying to tie in the games as well, but some do it better than others. This isn't quite as vibrant a scarlet as I would imagine in my head as it leans more orange, but it definitely is something you could look at and go "Well, I get what they're aiming for."

For the most part, I'd say this is a pretty nice figure.

The Positives

• Cute pose
• Well painted and fairly detailed for a simple sculpt
• Should be easy enough to get for a cheap price if you don't mind getting one second hand.
• Vibrant paintjob
• The Sprigatito isn't attatched to the base, so you can place it as you like

The Negatives

• Honestly, not the best design Pokemon has to offer, but that's more of a fault of the Pokemon Company more than anything.
• Getting one that's still sealed will have you paying the Pokemon tax.

I think if I liked this design a bit more and had the spare space to display her (and more Pokemon stuff in general), I would be pretty happy to add her to my growing shelf of Poke-girls. Unfortunately due to wanting to prioritize other characters, I will be passing on her unless I end up with yet another cabinet or rearranging my bookshelf.