Sousou Marvelous Model by Zigz Toys (Warning NSFW: +18)

Warning: This post contains +18 content, you have been warned.

More Koihime Musou figures, always a good thing, and by Zigz Toys too. I’ve had Sousou since Sunday and have been slowly taking pictures and editing them throughout the week. I normally do everything in one go, but I’ve had the most annoying cough which keeps forcing me to stop what I’m doing. I’ve yet to find a review of this Sousou even on Akiba Hobby – they usually have links to reviews quite fast too.

I’m a huge fan of Koihime Musou, so when prototypes of Sousou were shown by Zigz Toys way back in March I was very excited. Sousou is Zigz Toys second figure release as a figure manufacturer. There’s two other Sousou figures out on the market: one by Penguin Parade which came out earlier this year and is rather plain; and one by Gigapulse which was released back in 2008 and is very NSFW. I prefer this Zigz Toys version above the others as she looks the most accurate and is cast-off-able. It also appears Zigz Toys are planning something with Sonken for next year so I’m really excited to see how that goes since there’s no figures of her out there at the moment. There’s still been no news on their Ryubi other than there seems to have been some unexpected problems.

Sousou is the ruler of the Gi kingdom, one of three main kingdoms in the Koihime Musou world. In the original Koihime Musou visual novel she’s not that big a presence and wears a rather flat looking blue outfit.

This version of Sousou by Zigz however is based on her war outfit from Shin Koihime Musou which is a lot more interesting. In Shin Koihime Musou she is one of the main routes and has a much more dominant presence. In both the anime and visual novel she strives to enlist the most beautiful females in her army, and has a particular interest in Kanu. She’s the Yuri queen basically . I’d recommend episode 4 of Koihime Musou if you’re interested. I could go on and on, but then I’ll never get on to the figure itself.

Some shots of the box. A yellow box, don’t see many boxes that colour.

And what’s this? Instructions!

Oh that’s something. Zigz blog released a note about the right arm joint. Basically if you have problems use a hair dryer. I thought that was a nice touch letting people know there’s a problem and how they can fix it; don’t see that too often. Mine doesn’t appear to have an issue with the joint.

360 view

Does that pose scare you? Look at that leg, it’s just screaming for gravity to pull it to the ground. Her base also weighs next to nothing and is relatively small.

How the hell does she stand up!? Well surprisingly when the base is placed on a flat surface the weight distribution is solid and the stress on her leg isn’t that significant. Maybe over time she’ll bend, but so far if she’s placed on a flat surface she’s very stable for such a dynamic pose. My Choun by Zigz who has an equally gravity taunting pose hasn’t started leaning, so that’s a good sign.

But yeah you need to place her on a flat surface; not a scarf like I was using to take photos. If she’s not flat she’ll fall over like one of those Wobble toys, only without the self righting mechanism. I had to hold her still as I took photos. If only her base just had a little more weight at the back she’d be fine.

I love the silver skulls she wears in her twintails. You only see them when she’s in her full war getup.

Sousous weapon of choice is a scythe. We don’t see this (at least I don’t remember) in the anime, but it appears in some of her cooler CG in the visual novel. Her scythe has this gold skull connecting the blade to the handle.

These little blue beads at the ends of her sleeves also caught my eye.

Cast-off is quite straight forward. Her clothes feel very thin, but not break-ably thin. You can remove her head and arms which allows for easy access to the various connectors holding her clothes together. These connectors aren’t like MegaHouse tiny pins though; they’re more like little PVC belt buckles which makes them easier to reconnect and disconnect. Paint transfer doesn’t appear to be a problem either since the insides of her clothing have been treated with thinner and there’s plenty of clearance for removing parts.

360 view

Her body shape when cast-off looks quite natural and her head doesn’t look huge without her clothes on. I especially like how her ribs are slightly visible. Her skin tone is more natural and pale as well. Zigz Choun body shape looked a bit odd and her skin colour had a red tint when cast-off, but they seem to have taken care of this for Sousou.

There’s no crotch detail though which is a tad disappointing, but then I only own one figure with those details.

Some close ups of her face.

I bought some RGB LED lights a while back (I used a red one for my Angle Beat Nendos) and decided to give the green a go this time. After some GIMPing I ended up with this which I quite liked.

I’m really pleased with how well Sousou turned out. It appears Zigz Toys have spent a lot of time making sure everything fits and works well together. Her cast-off is simple and she looks great both fully clothed and not. My only real worry is her pose. She feels sturdy enough now, but will that be the case in a year or so time. My worries would disappear if her leg felt a bit tougher and her base had a bit more weight to it. Never the less I’m still impressed. Sousou is a great addition to my collection and will sit happily along side Choun.

PS. The English version of Koihime Musou Visual Novel will be available late January next year by MangaGamer. Can’t wait.

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