Airi -the Infernal Temptress- is the latest gal to be re-released in what MegaHouse calls the Queen’s Blade Special Edition line. MegaHouse have been making figures from the Queen’s Blade franchise since 2007 when they launched the Excellent Model Core Queen’s Blade series, long before the QB franchise popularized from the anime’s ecchi success. Most of the original releases are now discontinued, so the new Special Editions will give newcomers an opportunity to catch what they’ve missed. Do be advised that this review is NSFW!
I really like Airi’s character design, probably one of the best in the series.
Source: scan from Airi’s game book.
MegaHouse originally released Airi back in 2007 for ¥5,000. Because maids with huge scythes are popular, she sold out immediately. As luck would have it, my luck that is, MegaHouse decided to capitalize on the recent Queen’s Blade anime series by re-releasing their discontinued QB girls in the form of a Special Edition.
This Special Edition Airi was released in September 2009 and retails for ¥6,000. The special edition receives two new weapons (a broom and a halberd) that are clearly reflected on the ¥1,000 price markup; definitely not worth it. I never had much interest in the two new weapons anyways.
The special edition Airi sports a new clear base as well, designed to give the illusion that she’s floating in mid-air. However, I think the original clear purple base works better with Airi because that’s her character’s colour.
Airi is an 1/8 scale figure that reaches tall and high because of her posture. Be sure to give this lovely maid enough vertical space so she can look sexy on your display.
The Infernal Temptress is sculpted by the master of Queen’s Blade figures: Norio Kibayashi, and painted by Tc, the one who painted Sheryl and Alice as well.
Overall, the figure’s sculpt, and consequently its details, looks average; but the paint job looks great and gives life to the figure. Sadly, MegaHouse opted not to make improvements to the figure’s dated design. She can’t compete with the newer, slimmer cast-off gals.
Dated or not, she is one of the better looking Airi figures on the market with her closest competitor being the newly released Infernal Temptress Airi by Griffon Enterprise.
Truth be told, she was supposed to be canceled from my pre-order list but ended up being shipped to me anyways. Maybe that’s what we call fate? Nonetheless, I’m not at all disappointed with her because she definitely have her charms…thigh-highs, huge scythe, and cast-off anyone?
The two new weapons are mediocre at best, made crappily by MegaHouse to unjustify the ¥1,000 markup over its original release. I’d rather prefer they just charged us extra for the re-release instead of giving us two pieces of crap like this. Afterall, I don’t have enough storage to deal with them.
The details, if there is any, are plain and boring. It doesn’t scale up to the intricate details we see on her kick-ass scythe, and in all honesty, I doubt anyone would display her with the new weapons neither. Another telltale sign that it was crappily made is the length of the handle. The final product is way too short compared to the promo shots.
As one of swamp witch’s henchwoman, she seduces her prey with her sexy good looks and suck the life out of them. In my case, she just sucked the life out of my wallet. ^^;;
It’s hard to tell that Airi’s sculpt dates back to 2007 when you look at how carefully crafted the figure is. Sadly, the bulky cast-offable maid uniform is a dead giveaway.
The neglected hairline seam tells you how well considered the figure’s design is.
Sorry for the dust. I swear I took her out of the box minutes before the shoot. “orz
Lovely details on the scythe’s handle.
Now, a close up of the craptastic details on her cast-offable maid uniform. Did I mention that it looks like a Canadian-made winter jacket on her?
Very frilly, me likes.
Something for thigh-high lovers…like myself. ^^
Sexy back.
Not that we need one with Airi, but the obligatory pantsu shot is a must for any figure review.
Airi’s lovely scythe beside the two p.o.s. MegaHouse gave us.
This is your last chance to turn away before the good stuff. Make haste!!
You all know how much I love clear bases when the makers are too lazy to give us a dioramic one. That’s why I love MegaHouse. Oh yes, the good stuff…
Airi looks awesome in cast-off mode. I know I probably say that in most of my cast-off reviews, but it really does the figure justice to live and breathe without her clothes on.
Just look at her. This is why she’s still one of the best Airi figures on the market. Great sculpt underneath the bulky clothes.
If you can overlook the bulky clothing and the new price tag for the Special Edition, she is definitely worth the purchase. Remember, you’ll save yourself the disappointment if you don’t have high hopes for the new weapons.
Enjoy the rest of the pics. ^^
Looks like Airi needs some help cleaning the ceiling. Would you give her a hand?
You can also find reviews for this figure at:
- foo-bar-baz
- Flying Pussyfoot
- WAWAWA忘れ物 (Maid Leader)
- dannychoo
That’s all the reviews I’ve come across on my blogroll. Do let me know if I missed you.
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Nice review ^^ I like Airi, and I hesitatr between Megahaouse and Griffon version. I prefer Griffon pose, but Mgeahouse quality is better ^^
Thanks.
I agree. I like Griffon’s pose more…sexier. ^^
MegaHouse really does well with the sculpting and painting of the bare body, though Shizuka is slightly better ;)
I definitely like the maid-gothic design, yeah.
The handle on the halberd is definitely too short, but as you noted yourself, due to price hikes and gas, etc. the figure would have cost 1k yen more anyway. The new accessories were just so people wouldn’t feel miffed about it, or rather, so they could add the “Special edition” words, like Ymir and the hammer… should’ve just had it “Re-release” indeed, but it’s no real issue.
You’re saying that cause you have her. Alice is hands down the best from the Excellent Model Core line. :P
I think people would feel more miffed now because of how crappy the new weapons are. Oh well, the figure looks good.
I need to look at Alice again.
And I’m not just saying overall, the “eyes” and oppai on Shizuka are well, better. They’re also bigger, but that’s besides the point. They’re also Alpha Omega made ;)
Well…Alice is a loli, who can grow up. But she looks better as a loli. ^^
Besides, Alice is also by Alpha x Omega.
Ah, booster-girl! I’ve seen a couple versions of her. One from Queen’s Gate I believe.
I never actually saw a review of her loli form. Only the oppai-tastic one.
Look no further than my blog and you’ll find loli Alice. She’s actually linked at the end of this review. ^^;;
Oh right. For some reason I kept thinking it’d be smaller too, not just oppai-less, heh.
Nice figure. I agree she’s one of the better designed characters, and the Revoltech version just didn’t justify that with the horrible sculpt. Luckily there’s figures like this to make me appreciate her more.
Thanks.
The Revoltech QB line is not that good. I don’t know why they chose to sculpt their hair that way. “orz
Dang! You once again have beaten me witha figure review.
Mine is still standing here in her birthday suit waiting to be reviewed.Same goes for the Echidna Special Edition.Shes standing aroudn naked aswell XD
I hate the whole catoff process thats why my QB figures stay naked until they are reviewed.No way im gonna go through all that pain twice :P
Yumirus Hammer was the same cheap extra as Airis optional two weapons but they werent the raeson why I ordered them anyways.That part of Melonas Slime on Echidna on the other hand is pretty cool imho.Looks good on naked Echidna
LOL, the funny thing is I was looking on your blog for her review. I’m sure, being a QB fan, you’ve already got a review up. ^^;;
Airi in her birthday suit ain’t a bad thing at all, I’m definitely not complaining. I find the cast-off process horrendous (no instructions, f*ck you MegaHouse), that’s why I review them straight out of the box now…another motivation for me to launch the reviews. If I don’t review them, I can’t display them. ^^
I didn’t buy Airi for her new weapons neither, but I think it’s actually better if they left it out of the box. :P
Gah, I keep seeing all these lovely Queen’s Blade figures and I still haven’t seen any of the anime >_< Cast off mode on her is quite appealing ;)
While she may be a bit older, she looks pretty good to me but I'm probably just impartial due to the cute maid outfit ^^; And I quite like the broom accessory. It's definitely a fitting weapon for a fierce maid warrior xD (Though probably not worth the 1,000 yen as you said).
I need to go watch QB now…
Cast off is always appealing. :P
The new weapons are just too poorly made compared to the rest of the figure. Do watch QB for the ecchi goodness. ^^;;
give her a hand to cover her modesty? ^o^; very nice sculpt I must say, with clothing and without ^^;/
She’s got no sense of decency. :P
Still a great figure nonetheless; t’is not surprising that it’s one of the favourites by collectors. Like the sculptwork in general, especially the face~
The extra weapons are quite a bonus stuff that one can ignore. Kinda wish the halberd would come in one whole piece rather than just the blade itself. Oh well.
The face is lovely indeed; the reason why I ordered her.
I kinda wish the handle for the new weapon was longer like it was in the promo photos.
You know, of all the Queen’s Blade girls, I will go out and say Airi is my favorite. The normal proportions help quite a bit, plus I like maids.
Now that you mentioned the bulky cast off, reminds me why I stayed away from such types of figures.
I think the newer cast off gals are rather nice, they’re not as bulky anymore.
Lovely, I think I managed to catch her at Toylogic among the last ones. I initially hesitated a bit to get her because I already have R2 color version which I never opened. But my recent interest in Airi has prompted me to get her regardless since I much prefer the normal color scheme.
The Maid Leader version looks nice, but not as nice as the regular version. I hope they filled your order. :)
I have the regular edition and I love her!
Airi was my first Queen’s Blade!
This special version is not very different but it is always very successful.
You made an excellent purchase.
I like the background color purple.
Thanks, I really liked this purple background as well. ^^
She’s gorgeous, ain’t she? I would love to have her but Ymir Special Edition heavily swayed me… I guess the Loli God has more say on this (Look at Alice and Another Blood – I’m a sucker for moe characters. :-p)
Questions: How did you set up the purple background? And mind sharing the camera setting on this photoshoot? ^^
The purple bg is about 30 cm behind the figure. I used three lights with 2 in front, and 1 above the figure angled slightly towards the front. I guess taking a picture of the set up is easier than explaining it in words. ^^;;
I always use ISO200 with my camera. Exposure compensation at 0, and +0.3 steps for close up shots. I can’t really play around with settings like shutter speed, focal length, etc. It is a Sony T-series afterall. “orz
I started using photoshop to add a warming filter and adjust the contrast/brightness for my newer reviews. It helps a lot. :)
Sorry for the late reply.
I haven’t been as active for the last couple months as I should be. But I’ve added your site on the blogroll. :)