Review of Signum

After an agonizing two week wait after her official sales release in Japan, I finally received Signum. She is my third figure from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS made by Alter. The box containing Signum onee-san is not as big as originally thought, but the figure is certainly much more bigger than I thought she will be.

I have decided to skip the box art review althogether for all my figure reviews starting with this one. Thus, I will go straight into the review of the figure. Also, I had been pondering whether I should be displaying image thumbnails as usual or switch to larger images. I understand some readers do not prefer clicking on thumbnails. I will stick to the original format for now. But feedback is always welcomed.

First up is an all-round look at the figure.

   

The first impression on the figure is that she is huge and bigger than expected. She is sculpted as a 1/7 scale figure, but is really more like a 1/6 scale figure. She is an imposing figure and easily the largest among my collection. The posture of the figure is very dynamic as she is leaping in mid-air. But there should not be any danger of breakage or leaning as there is a metal rod in Signum’s right leg. The white peg supporting her leg also comes attached to the base.

Next is a close-up look at the head sculpture of Signum.

   

Her blue eyes are beautiful. The cool expression also suits Signum’s personality well. I especially like the flow of her ponytails and the pleats among her hair. I loved ladies with ponytails, so that makes Signum my kind of woman. ^^

Next is a close-up of Signum’s outfit.

    

I feel that the body sculpture and outfit is the best part about this Signum figure. Alter managed to bring out more womanhood in Signum than how she was portrayed in the entire series of A’s and StrikerS. The outfit really is immaculately sculpted. I missed out on taking a photo of the flowing white skirt (not sure how you call that) of her Knight armour but the shadings done on the skirt is also wonderful.

Next are close-ups on more of Signum’s armoury and device, Leavatein.

    

The scabboard comes attached to Signum’s right hand. I am glad of that especially since Alter’s Hayate did not come with her staff attached and the resulting grip on the staff is not very stable. Laevantein is quite big but is nicely done. Just a quick thought that perhaps Leavantein could have been in Schlangenform, especially considering Signum’s dynamic leaping pose.

Next is a close-up look at Signum’s legs and base.

   

Loved those legs, especially the wonderful thighs. No surprise on the figure base as it follows the same mode as Vita and Hayate. But really, the figure base is the worst part of Alter’s Nanoha StrikerS figures.

Overall, I feel this is an awesome figure. Signum is Alter’s first figure release of 2009 and already she has the potental to be one of the figures of the year in my opinon. I really feel that she is as well made as Hayate who was my best figure of 2008. The sculpture is also perfect with nice shadings and all-round paint job on my copy is also great. She is highly recommended for all figure collectors and definitely a must have for fans of the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha series.

So with Vita and Signum already released, that leaves Shamel and Zafira as the remaining members of Hayate’s Wolkenritter not yet getting the figure treatment by Alter. While Zafira will surely not be made into a figure, there is a slight chance Shamel might although I won’t harbour much hope.

For now, next upcoming Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS figure for me will be Teana Lanster. Hope to receive her real soon. ^^