No, that’s no repost

If you remember my last review about the Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – Saber Maid figure, you’ve learned that I made a little mistake, without paying much attention I ordered the  Saber Maid figure instead of the Saber Maid R, which was sold for nearly the same low price. Before I noticed it, it was too late to cancel and so I ended up with the “wrong” Saber. After I’ve written the review I sold the figure and ordered the R version I initially wanted to get.

The old Saber is from 2007/2008, the sculptor in charge of it and the R version from 2012 was Kuramoto Imuka, who sculpted a number of nice figures and GK’s from 2004 – 2012).
I don’t know the exact reason why ALTER decided to make a renewed re – release maybe they thought that the previous sculpt wouldn’t be appealing enough, compared to todays standards.

The figurec was manufactured by ALTER. The release date of this Fate/Hollow Ataraxia Saber Maid R figure was in the end of August 2012, the figure is scaled 1/6 and has a height of 26 cm.

I really thought about how to write that review since the Saber Maid R only has a few changes compared to the older version. I don’t want to repeat everything I said in my Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – Saber Maid (non R) review. A direct comparison isn’t possible anymore, since I’ve sold the older Saber Maid a few weeks ago, but I intend to accentuate the few differences between the old and new version of Saber Maid and talk about the appeal of this figure.

Hair & Face

While the sculpting of the hair is nearly 100 percent identical to the previous version, the color changed from a very yellowish tint to more natural, vanilla tone of blonde with darker shading at the tips. What bothered me the most on the previously purchased Saber Maid figure was the face, it rather looked pressed together from two halfes which gave it a strange thin look with a pointed middle part. In my opinion the figure hardly resembled the character of Saber.

The new figure has a  smoother face and a nicer texture now, also her face looks a bit chubbier which helps a lot to make this figure more appealing and Saber-like. The pale skin accentuates the beautiful green eyes of the figure very well. I like her facial her challenging yet playful expression a lot. I prefer Saber as energetic maid over her sad self as king with crushed dreams.

Body & Outfit

Well, from my impression nothing was changed on the body aside from a pale skintone. Her outfit was also left untouched. Maybe the blue/black dress and her stockings are more shiny, but just to a small degree, if at all. Anyway, like before it’s a lovely designed maid outfit, all the ruffles, frills and ribbons are really cute. The length of her skirt and these black stockings add a lot of sex appeal to the figure. I would love to do some maid role play with Saber (｡◜◡◝｡).

Like the old version Saber, this one also has pretty fancy underwear, out of bad skills at choosing the right aperture I can provide no pantsu shot. Sometimes the important shots turn out as crap ^w^.

The figure also comes with the interesting looking mop and a chess patterned rectangular base. It has a nice shiny and the red/black pattern of it is very appealing, overall it is more befitting to the theme of this figure.

Final Words

I think it is nice that ALTER wasn’t doing  a simple re – release of the old figure and changed the not so good things about the sculpt and figure. The Hair looks better, the face looks prettier, beautiful and fuller, so it resembles Saber better than before. The brighter skintone also suits the blonde maid very well. Also the chess patterned base is another improvement to the old version. Overall Saber Maid R is very nice big scale maid figure, the classic maid dress is very attractive and it’s nice how she is standing there in a confident manner with a michievous smile.

Even though the re release led to a significant price drop for both figures, Saber Maid and Saber Maid R, what I don’t like in general. But Im happy that I decided to go for this figure, I probably haven’t bought her for the retail price of 7800 Yen. Don’t get me wrong, this figure would have been worth the price, but it wasn’t a planned purchase and Im not a real fan of Saber.

This review will be about my first Saber scale figure, funny enough that I didn’t start with Saber figure that showed her in her battle dress, could it be that I don’t really care about her character.

I found this one in AmiAmi’s preowned item corner for around 4800 Yen and thought it actually was good price considering that it was a figure that was around 10000 Yen a few years ago . The deal had one little flaw though, I thought I was ordering the Ataraxia – Saber Maid R version, the version which was a re-release, but I accidently ordered the old one instead *facepalm*.

This Saber was manufactured by ALTER in 2007 and re released in 2008. The Saber Maid version is scaled 1/6 with a height of 280 mm. The origin of this figure is Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, a visual novel from 2005 which  was produced by TYPE-MOON  as the sequel of Fate/stay night. Since I haven’t played it, please expect no qualified informations about the role of Saber in this review.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2979Mrx0kqs&start=227

Hair & Face

The figure has quite detailed hair in the shape of a beautiful tied up hairstyle with the typical ahoge. Her bun is decorated with a pretty dark metallic blue ribbon. The color of her hair is a little muddy yellow. Her face has an undeniable European look, Saber has pretty green eyes and a little gloss on her lips. Somehow I have the feeling that something is odd about her face it seems too narrow, which is very noticeable for me when Im looking at her pointy chin. From some angles she looks better than from others, but overall Im not that satisfied with the face to be honest.

Outfit & Body

Saber in maid attire looks very appealing, for some reason I always had a liking for these kinds of outfit since I came in contact with the anime culture. I like the contrast of dark and white colors and the frilly details. I also think that it looks quite cute on a girl. Next to Saber I already ordered two maid related figures in this year, Sansei Muramasa and Kurumu Kurono.

The white parts of her outfit have a slightly pearl effect and create a nice contrast to the dark blue main colors of her outfit. The detailed sculpting and the lighter shading recreate a nice and also realistic look. Under her short shirt she is wearing pretty yet revealing white panties, I have to say that she’s pretty detailed underneath, remember this a ALTER figure. The part that reminds of her heroic background is the white saw toothed underskirt she also wears under her armor.

While her small chest is not very prominent, Saber has other aspects that know to convince.
The cleavage  at her back is a very attractive eye catcher, the ruffles next to her skin create a very appealing look. Her legs are very attractive parts as well and show a sexy Zettai Ryouiki, the area between thigh high stockings and miniskirt. I really like her dark stockings with the frilly band around the top, the smaller metallic blue ribbon at each band add some playfulness to our sexy Saber Maid. The shading on them give her thigh high stockings a feel of transparency.

The paintjob and the sculpting of her clothes and body are on par with quality figures of today.

What I like the most about this figure is the proud pose, I really like the combination of a sexy and super confident Saber, not the pityful image she made during Fate/Zero. With her stretched arms leaning on her cool looking mop Saber also radiates a feeling of dilligence and a hard worker.

The paintjob and the sculpting of her clothes and body are on par with quality figures of today.

Final Words

So is this old Saber Maid a figure I would recommend to get?

No, actually not, would it be for the cool pose and the lovely maid outfit alone, I would keep this Saber figure with pleasure, but the narrowly sculpted face and the very yellowish tone of her hair actually bother me that much, that I don’t want to keep her after writing this review. Im going to sell this one and order the Saber Maid R version that I planned to get in the first place.

There are rarely figures from 2007 or from earlier years, that can compete with the craftsmanship and quality that the big figure manufacturing companies are offering today. I will keep this in mind when I feel like getting a figure that was popular in the early days of this figure collecting hobby.