Hello, it’s time for a new figure review, it’s Asuka Langley – Radio Eva original color version from Hobby Max.
It might not be obvious for you, but Hobby Max is a Chinese figure manufacturer, most anime figures are made in China, even when the company behind it being from Japan. With all the technical know how and infrastructure it’s just a logical step that Chinese companies start making their own figure lineups. Before such figures were more known as bad bootleg copies, Emontoys, Myethos or APEX TOY are good companies that make good figures with more or less the same quality level as well regarded Japanese manufacturers.
I’m a very big fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン) from 1995, the setting is quite epic, in general I like “humanity fights against extinction” settings, but NGE is so distinctive and larger than life, I like how everyone is somewhat broken. That said, I never really understood the hype for the female main characters Rei and Asuka, they are difficult somehow, calling them problem children would be an understatement. But I also didn’t hate them. Misato though, was the only decent women for me in the story.
I was happy that Neon Genesis Evangelion received new movie adaptations years after the anime ended.
2007 it started with Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone and 2009 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. I loved them so much and really was looking forward to the next movie. Albeit Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo from 2012 was such an oddball of a movie, being set 14 years after the Third Impact.
It felt totally different and I wasn’t as happy about it as I was about the previous two movies.
Anyway, it earned Japan’s second-highest weekend box office of 2012 with 1,1 billion yen. The fourth and probably last movie, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 has been delayed a few times now, my guess is that it’s hard to find a decent ending for it, because the third one was too ambitious. Let’s hope that it will be finished until 2022 in a satisfying way.
Asuka or Asuka Langley Souryuu, who would name their daughter after an aircraft carrier? One should not be surprised after hearing her mothers name Kyoko Zeppelin Souryuu *pffft* Asuka was born in Lower Saxony, like me actually. She is a very talented, proud and a bodacious Eva pilot. As the story begins she is 14 years old. She is a real tsundere and tends to be aggressive towards the people she cares about. On good days she can be surprisingly friendly. In my opinion it’s easier to relate to Asuka as character, she tries her best as pilot.
Asuka is quite honest most of the time and hardly tries to hide her often negative emotions which comes off as rude and annoying, but she would never backstab other people, because it would suit her own agenda.
Souryuu Asuka Langley – Ver. Radio Eva, Original Color, is the full name of todays figure. It has been released in December 2020. We still have a little backlog left and are some weeks behind the desired schedule. This Asuka is scaled 1/7 and measures 25 cm in height, the figure was sculpted by Kiking and Tone.
The interesting thing about the Radio Eva version is that it has been made in two color variatons, one with normal colors and one with less saturated colors, which is the one you see in my review here.
The figure has a especially nice head, I really like the vulnerable expression Asuka is showing here with her tilted head, the pretty eyes are turned to the left and her mouth shows slightly parted lips and teeth.
Her unsaturated orange hair color is beautiful, the sculpting turned out very good with the pretty hairstyle and hair decorations. The strands although probably machine made, is carefully crafted and smooth on the surface.
So what’s up with this Radio EVA?
It’s an online stone for Neon Genesis Evangelion related fashion and accessory, you can get jackets, pants, shirts, shoes, bags, phone cases and whatever you could imagine. After hundreds of Asuka’s in pilot suit, the outfit of this figure is something new. Did Asuka retire her plug suit and became a model for street fashion?
The Asuka – Radio Eva version looks really cool, I don’t think it’s my favorite choice of clothes to see on a girl, I don’t like her shorts and the white shirt looks very plain, nevertheless her jacket is awesome, as it shows really impressive attention to detail with all the three dimensional and accurate interpretation of human clothes at a much smaller scale. She wears short socks and NGE design sneaker, you could also buy at the Radio Eva store.
And so her pose feels like inspired by something from the casual catwalk or fashion magazine, the jacket is hanging from her shoulder and one hand is hidden inside the jackte’s sleeve, which looks cute. The figure stands on one feet, the other is lifted upwards. The figure perfectly recreates the characters facial features, Asuka’s expression doesn’t come off very happy, but with beautiful hair and pretty big eyes it is still very nice.
The lack of color creates a stylish and cinematic athmosphere, I don’t regret that I decided for this version, it’s something unique on the figure market and also in my figure collection. What do you think about it?
Final Words – I think this figure, Souryuu Asuka Langley – Ver. Radio Eva, Original Color, turned out great, it’s a high quality sculpture with a wonderful paint job. Articulation and facial expression are very well done. I would choose an Hobby Max figure anytime, there is nothing to worry about in terms of quality. Even when this wouldn’t be your first figure of the Asuka character, the different look here is great, after witnessing all the plug suit versions, it’s a refreshing appearance to see Asuka in casual fashion. Although I am not sure if she would ever choose to wear this kind of casual fashion or rather choose something girly “anta kaka!”
Otaking, the Statue Conqueror
Another complaint I have about figure companies in general is that the names are often too similar: Hobby Japan, Hobby Stock, Hobby Max… Wing, Wings Inc. …it gets confusing.
To the readers: I also recommend an anime that would be a good followup of sorts to NGE, that is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokurano%3A_Ours – it\’s like NGE only more extreme, like a response to it.
Rei vs Asuka haha otaku waifu wars. Here\’s my opinion. Asuka was one of the first tsundere\’s (there were a few before her in anime) and I\’m pretty sure Rei was THE first kuudere, atlest in anime. In the west we already had the goth and grunge rocker girl tropes in 1995. Since this was a somewhat new model of \”mentally ill girls\”, nerds in Japan and then the west got attached. Not strange to understand, since most nerds are more or less crazy anyway. And then the competition between the 2 choices ensued, and the rest is history. In reality Misato would be more dangerous as a partner actually, since she drinks alot, is a slut (sort of?), and seduces a minor lol. Actually that would put her in jail \”oh my!\”.
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But back to the photos. When looking at this article, what I first thought about was /nightwalk/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=doomer+%2Fnightwalk%2F
I like the lampions / candle holders you hanged in the back, we have those in Romania, usually used at orthodox churches and especially gravestones to put in candles for the dead.
I think her clothes are nice and \”fierce\”, would be the word. Something a western emo girl would wear. But wearing NERV clothing would be like wearing Free-Mason rings, and clothes with the pyramid eye. Don\’t know if I would advertise the NWO like that lol.
I had fun with this article of yours, reading and writing everything. Thanks for making it. PS I can just about use both my hands now, atleast for writing.
wieseladmin
I think Wing and Wings is especially a bad choice, since Wing exist much longer.
It’s like someone setting up a furniture shop and call it IKEAS lol.
Ah ok, I could watch this.
There are a lot of great mecha shows with post apocalypse settings, I would recommend Zegapain.
The trend of psycho girls lol, I like parts of both girls, but most parts not.
So are Asuka fans M (for masochist) and Rei fans S (for sadist)?
It’s part of the show that they have more complex personality than one would expect from teenagers.
Hahaha you make Misato sound so bad, I really like her character.
call me a perv but I just love flirty Onee sans XD
she only wanted to comfort Shinji, but he is such a brat.
Yeah, it turned out a bit dark in the end, I wanted to make it look more artistic.
I had those red lanterns and thought I could use them here.
The clothes are cool somehow, but also have a bit of a ghetto atmosphere.
I can’t get over the fact that Asuka wears basketball shorts XD
NWO ahaha, but I guess it works very well as otaku fashion.
Thank you for your comment.
for the next review I will ask for your assistance again, I had a hard time to finish this post ^^
I didn’t want to bother you when your shoulder was still in the healing process,
but it looks like you can write again without too much trouble.
Otaking, the Statue Conqueror
“It’s part of the show that they have more complex personality than one would expect from teenagers.” – I’d say all anime characters in general are more interesting and complex then most real people, and that’s the appeal of them. Poor Shinji, everyone hates him. I don’t, in his position I too would refuse to save the world. Why should he? Gendo should do it if he loves it so much.
Yup, I’m ready to write for you again
wieseladmin
Ah, you know I wondered about that “why is their school life so interesting?” When mine wasn’t as much fun as shown there XD
Don’t get me wrong I liked my youth, my friends and most of my classmates. When comparing it with anime, of course the own every day life looks plain.
I even got angry at myself for not making more cool stuff in my school years after I’ve seen some really nice animes about school life,
but yes I think it’s normal for teenagers to be plain. So comparing your own life to that shown in anime will make you lose.
They were just yealous of him for having 3 girls having a crush on him lol.
I never hated Shinji with such a bad father it was impossible for him to be like (Hey, let’s wreck some angels)
As pilot he wasn’t too bad, just not mentally prepared for everything that was expected of him.
good to hear and thank you ^-^
Otaking, the Statue Conqueror
I have more but I had to divide it.
I have a few preorders from Myethos and I heard/seen online that they have fantastic quality, probably the best there is. Good to see some honest manufacturers from China. I hope they treat their workers better then the chinese norm. Also, Myethos makes lots of figures from chinese franchises, so if someone is looking for something a bit different from the kimono or miko traditional japanese clothes, Myethos has some nice figures dressed according to chinese folklore. Look at these (even if the links will be dead in the future, just use their names and put them in a search engine of your choice, dear reader)
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/anime-bishoujo-statue-18-76/honor-of-kings-pvc-statue-1-7-jia-luo-tai-hua-ver-35-cm-15775/
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/collectables-manga-65/honor-of-kings-pvc-statue-1-7-consort-yu-yun-ni-que-ling-ver-31-cm-14098/
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/anime-bishoujo-statue-18-76/national-treasure-pvc-statue-1-7-cup-of-eternal-solid-gold-14-cm-15075/
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/anime-bishoujo-statue-18-76/national-treasure-pvc-statue-1-7-silver-sachet-with-grape-flower-and-bird-pattern-21-cm-11977/
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/anime-bishoujo-statue-18-76/winter-begonia-pvc-statue-1-7-shang-xirui-peking-opera-zhao-feiyan-ver-30-cm-13759/
https://www.101figurine.ro/produs/anime-bishoujo-statue-18-76/ys-origin-pvc-statue-1-8-feena-40-cm-13059/
wieseladmin
Myethos seems to be a great manufacturer, their traditional chinese dressed figures look interesting, too.
Of course I am more drawn to the japanese anime style design figures.
Their Hatsune Miku looks so stunning, nearly would order it, if I was a bigger fan of the character.
http://www.myethos.hk/Collection/view/id/144 This looks very well made.