Saber – Unlimited Blade Works – GSC

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Today I have the Saber super moveable Nendoroid on review (another nendo *lol*)
I have good news for my readers who dislike Nendoroids, that was the last
Nendoroid Review for once next time I will return to PVC figures =D .

This Nendoroid  has the same look as the 1/7 scaled Saber Triumphant Excalibur,
from Good Smile Company which was released in October 2010.

Her origin is the popular Fate/Stay night franchise which consist of some Games,
an anime and lately even a Movie called Unlimited Blade Works was made.
Saber is a strong and brave servant whio was summoned by Emiya Shirō

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I always was more a Rin fan than a Saber fan and so far I owned no single Saber Figure.
So this Saber Nendoroid was a pure Impulse buy,I saw it at AmiAmi Shop
and thought “Ah how cool” after checking the price, Saber landed in my shopping cart.

So what is included in the box:

  • Saber and base
  • two spare faces
  • four spare hands
  • three swords
  • two scabbards
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And here comes the freak face of Saber

I think the swords and scabbards have special names but I don’t have them in mind.

Good Smile Company made many Saber Nendoroids, the special feature of this one is that it is “Super Moveable” which means that Saber has nearly the same articulation like a Figma.
You can give her nearly every pose which comes to mind, she has joints at her neck, shoulders, elbows, legs and feet, you can also spread the skirt to the sides. For posing noobs like me these kind of posing freedom is a bit over the top, but I think more Nendoroid experienced or more creative people will have their fun with such a variety of possible poses,the only limiting factor is her head and the length of her arms.

Saber is the first kind of moveable Nendoroid, so I didn’t know how her moveability would turn out, there were some comments on MFC about loose parts and joints, but I only discovered that her right arm comes off easily when you pose it.
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Another nice aspect of this Nendoroid is the base, it’s connects at the back of Saber. It supports Saber very well and helps you to create cool and dynamic poses. I think the connection at the back is the best way to display a Nendoroid. Honestly I’d like to drill a hole in the backs of my two older Nendoroids and equip them with such kind of bases.

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The quality of GSC’s Nendoroids was always very good, after I bought Saber and Amano Tooko which was released at around the same time, I can say that their quality has even increased, the parts fit together perfectly. The paintjob is nearly flawless the same goes for the sculpting.

Talking about quality have you heard about the commotion about BRS Anime Version? As GSC was getting flamed when it came out that they forgot to put the star decal on her jacket and gave her beige colored shoe soles, personally I don’t really care about the beige boots nor the missing star I didn’t even know she had a star there until Wednesday. That they’ve forgotten to put on the star is a bit embarrassing, but even if I am no fan of  Good Smile Company I felt a bit sorry for them. I will cover my impressions about the BRS Anime Version figure in the next review.

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Back to Saber’s outfit, it is very nice and detailed, as I said before she has the same. Outfit as the one of the 1/7 scaled Saber Triumphant Excalibur Version. The blue combined with the silver colored parts looks really good, especially the detailed silver colores armor plates are very cool and and I like the slightly shiny metallic paint. The different layers of her skirt which consist of the outer armor, the blue dress and the white underskirt looks really nice together.

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I tried to switch the head with another Nendo, but the neck of Sumomo was a bit too thick, to fit in Sabers body so I had to switch the neck peg.

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Final Words:

This Saber Nendoroid is a very nice and cool Nendoroid, she offers you a lot of freedom for creating cool and dynamic poses. I am really astonished about the moveability of such a small figure. The paintjob of her outfit looks great with the combination of blue and silver colors. The three different faces are also nice and have diversified expressions, my favorites are the kind and the serious one, Sabers eyes look very nice. Also the sculpting of this Saber Nendoroid is accurate and very well done.

Another Review of her can be found at nendonesia.com

17 Responses

  1. anonymous_object

    Aww, she’s pretty cute xD. I haven’t been paying much attention to Nendoroids lately so I was unaware about this new super moveable body. Very cool! Are all new Nendoroids getting this type of body or just specific ones?
    Also, nice photos ^^. You always have interesting backgrounds 🙂

  2. luthren

    Like the pictures, the background is really nice with the rocks and… coal dust? LOVE how you did the blue glow on Excalibur. Seeing all these awesome reviews on Saber makes me a little sad I’m missing out on her.
    Now that you have one super-posable nendo, are you thinking of getting the HMO Miku Nendoroid?

  3. softz

    I hesitated on this nendoroid. I’ve the other Saber nendo actually. Fabienne, you did a great job in preparing the background props. You actually put together the rocks and and grass? I was tempted to do a diorama for my photoshoot back then too. But I thought it’s way too much effort (need more time for my projects instead). 🙁 This Saber nendo is very nice. Thanks for sharing.

  4. wieselhead

    @anonymous_object:
    the moveable feature is only for special nendos
    thx for your compliments I always try my best to come up with a fiiting surrounding for the figures 🙂

  5. wieselhead

    @luthren:
    Hi luthren thank you for the praise
    The “coal dust ” was some model grass which was left from my old model kit days, I guess it was greener when I bought it XD
    Well Miku isn’t bad but, no more Nendoroids for me for once.-I only buy them when they seem to be irresistable for me 😉

  6. wieselhead

    @softz:
    thank you softz 😉
    Well thats the good thing with preorders
    I have time to come up with an idea for the photoshoot and prepare something if necessary
    without the drying process it only took around 3 hours.
    I did it in three steps, in step 1, I modeled the wireframe out of old wire mesh and covered it with plaster bandages then it had to dry for some days.
    in step 2 I painted it with different grey colors
    and in step 3 I glued the slate rocks and the grass areas onto it.
    But It turned out way too big and I don’t know where I should put it right now.
    Maybe I will re-use it for the Lineage Dwarf figure and then getting rid of it XD

  7. Zai

    Ahhh, she’s so adorable! I’ve always liked Saber but I fell hard for her after finally playing through the Fs/n visual novel recently. xD
    I’m not the biggest Nendo fan but she’s so lovely, especially her armour.. it’s so detailed and beautiful.
    I love all of your photos of her, it’s hard to pick favourites but I will go with the first one and Saber n1 (7).jpg! ^^

    I also feel for GSC a little but even with the missing star I’m still really looking forward to BRS.

  8. GREW

    Nice Nendo!

    If I hadn#t stopped to collect them I would have bought her.

    But BRS Nendo haves a hole in her back too.

  9. Nopy

    She looks pretty good considering how many joints she has. I hope they make more super movable nendoroids in the future.

    I love how you added the blue light in the background, it makes her sword look really cool in that first picture.

  10. wieselhead

    @Zai:

    Hi Zai
    hehe cool first time the whole staff of Plastic Parfait commented ;p
    thx for your compliments

    The missing star of BRSxdon’t bothers me a lot, its not like they messed the sculping.
    my BRS is still in Tokio I guess this time Sal will take 4 weeks ;D

  11. wieselhead

    @GREW:

    Hi Grew thx for your comment.;)
    I think that was one of my last Nendoroid purchases, I hope GSC have no more alluring nendos up their sleeve XD

  12. wieselhead

    @Nopy:
    Hi
    The joints are very well hidden under her outfit
    I also like the blue light effect
    thx to my flashlight I could achieve it ;D

  13. Zai

    @wieselhead:
    You’re welcome! 😀
    Aww.. 4 weeks SAL.. I will be hoping for photos of her from you, hehe.
    Ours still hasn’t been shipped. I really can’t wait to see her!! I think our Dead Master might arrive before her though. xD

  14. wieselhead

    @wieselhead:
    With newer Nendos changing hair and faces is possible,changing heads goes fine even with the old ones, you only have to use the never necks, the old necks are too thick

  15. Miette-chan

    When this nendo was announced I was really curious about it. From the look of your pictures it did turn out to be a quite nice experiment. I do wonder if this was mostly a limited kinda thing or the start of a new nendo line.

  16. Yi

    Gorgeous pictures!! I love that rocky background.

    Anyways, Saber nendo is so adorable. I really like her >M< expression and I love the freak set. ^ ^

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