Review: Figma Saber Armour Ver.

Saber is one of the characters from the visual novel/anime Fate Stay Night. The Anime will have a prequel this coming fall and it seems fated since I managed to get my hands on her just 2 days ago.

The Saber I got is 2nd hand since being an old Figma (No 003, I reviewed 002 Haruhi) it’s difficult to find one already, so when I got the chance to own it for a really reasonable price of 2000 yen, I jumped at the chance. Saber has different versions of herself in Figma form and most of them are limited. Saber Armour ver. was the regular release so let’s take a look at her out of the box!

She looks really good and I really like the blue and the silver colour combination. I noticed that the rubber flap in the middle of her skirt is a different blue and since the box art shows it to be similar, I suppose it should be due to age? Also the golden trims on the Figma are barely visible, especially on the shoulders and when you compare it to the box art, it’s rather glaring. Still overall, I am really digging the whole figure.

An interesting thing that I didn’t notice till now was that Saber has different gauntlets on both hands. Her left hand has a higher and thicker gauntlet compared to her right.

Initially I was worried about how articulate Saber would be since she has a giant skirt on. When I fiddled around with the Figma however, all worries were laid to rest. The skirt is separated into 2 pieces with pegs that insert into her rear waist which allows it to be raised. That’s not all, each skirt piece has 2 points of articulation, white skirt part (allows it to be pulled out) and silver plating (allows it to bend). This pretty much blew me away on how articulate Saber is. But amazingly, there are even more details!

Even though with the skirt plates on, Maxfactory still sculpted folds of fabric for Saber’s pants which is really cool. Also beneath her chest armour, there is an entire brassiere beneath. This is really fantastic as Maxfactory could have just made the edges beneath the chest armour white and glue the armour on instead of going through the trouble of sculpting and moulding the chest. Props to that and Saber is all the better Figma for it.

Saber now all suited up again. See when the skirt and chest armour comes on, you can barely see what you saw in the picture above. Still Maxfactory did all the sculpting that can’t be seen so yeah, I’m still in awe over it.

Saber comes with angry faces which is really appropriate considering how much she fights in the story. A tray of hands are also included together with a flowing hair fringe part. Caliburn and Excalibur is also included.

Caliburn and its sheath on the left. Excalibur and Avalon (sheath) on the right. I personally like Caliburn’s design more as it’s much more elaborate and the sword blade actually has 2 paint applications with gold being in the center with silver around the blade’s edge. Very cool. Excalibur is much thicker and when you add in Avalon, it has a very intimidating presence.

This was lifted from the box art and boy does it have a really majestic air to it. So far Saber aced both the accessories and aesthetics so how will she fare with pose-ability? Considering she does plenty of fighting in the story, it would be a darn shame if she couldn’t do any convincing battle poses eh?

Saber CAN pose, and not only that, almost every thing she does looks fantastic! I really like the moving hair fringe so much more than the static one and when you couple it with her swinging Excalibur it’s almost a crime how gorgeous she is. Her other 2 face-plates also add to the intensity of the movements and you know what, when you have 2 swords, why wield only one?

Enter Caliburn and Excalibur! Although I don’t think she ever wielded both at the same time in the anime, there was no way I could resist this. Wahahaha

Sometimes when you twist the arms too much, it’s prone to pop off once in a while but that’s an easy fix so no worries. Seriously the posing is only hampered by your imagination and Saber can stand no problem on the ground. For aerial manoeuvres, just plug in the Figma stand snugly into her back and off you go!

Other than the killer poses with the swords, Saber also comes with a pointing and open palm hand for less murderous stances.

Conclusion:

This is quite simply the most well-made Figma that I own. Add to the fact that this was only the 003 Figma made me wonder what the hell went wrong down the line when none of the newer Figmas I have can compare with the splendour that is Saber. She really has fantastic proportions, really pose-able and has gorgeous weapons. Whether you were a fan of Fate Stay Night or not, you have to get this Figma because it’s just so amazing. I am really happy I got it and with the bonus of  a low price I find myself rather lucky. Grab this if you can, you can’t go wrong with Saber.

as always, thanks for reading! Saber is mind-blowingly good!

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