Statue Review: Nami from One Piece: Battle Record Collection by Bandai/ Banpresto/ Bandai Namco

 

   I'm in no way a One Piece expert but my wife has been nuts about the show for a couple years now and I've really been getting into it as of late. Last week I was browsing at GameStop when I saw this really nifty Nami statue. I think I still had my monthly $5 bonus coupon, plus I had my Pro-Membership discount, so I decided to scoop her up. She looks to be about in the same scale as the S.H. Figuarts line and maybe close to the Bandai Namco Anime Heroes line as well, so I thought she'd scale well with the few figures I have in those lines. I haven't seen this outfit in the anime yet but it's apparently from the Egghead or Future Island storyline, which is pretty recent. I'm nowhere near that far in the show! I like the somewhat futuristic look of this outfit, though, plus the sculpt makes Nami look like she's just about to whack someone with her Clima-Tact. This statue is from the One Piece: Battle Record collection which means that the statues are in dynamic, battle ready poses, hence the cool "about to whack someone" pose. Ready to check out Nami, navigator extraordinaire? Then join me after the break...

The Facts:

Height: Nami figure is 6 3/8ths inches, Total statue clearance is 9 1/4ths inches

Articulation: None

Accessories: 2 piece Clima-Tact, Thunderbolt Tempo attachment, display base, and display arm.

Non-Scalper Price: $25-$32 dollars

Medium: Plastic

Comparison:

* Here's a quick shot of the One Piece: Battle Record Collection Nami (center) with the Megahouse Variable Action Hero Nami (left) and the S.H. Figuarts Monkey D. Luffy (right). She does have a base, super tall boots, and is jumping, so it's tough to get a good sense of her height, but I think she scales better with the S.H. Figuarts line. 

The Positives:

* I can't remember if the packaging refers to her as a Prize Figure, but many of the websites that have her for sale describe her as one. What's that? A prize figure is a smaller, lower-end statue or figure that is considered ideal as a prize for claw machine type games. There's a cool arcade in Greensboro, NC that has lots of machines with these types of figures in them. This is an unarticulated statue that you do have to do some mild assembly on: The stand is two separate parts while the staff is in two pieces and the Thunderbolt Temp effect is an additional piece. It's a cool pose with Nami leaping up, ready to put her all into a downward strike with her Clima-Tact. It's a plastic statue, so it's durable and not something you have to worry about chipping or breaking with normal handling.

* As I mentioned above, the series for this figure is called One Piece: Battle Record, which refers to these statues having battle poses. I had to look that up as I wasn't sure if that was the name of a story arc or something. Nami is in the middle of battle and Bandai/ Bandai Namco/ Banpresto (literally all three names are on the box) did a nice job of capturing a battle pose that's expressive and stylized. She looks like she just walked out of the anime. Well, leapt out of the anime. The stand plugs into the small of her back and keeps her mostly off the ground, though the toe of her right boot does rest on the ground, giving the statue a place to rest its weight that's not just on the arm. The paint is very neat and clean and there's a very smooth texture over most of the figure that captures the animated aesthetic. 

* Nami's outfit is from Dr. Vegapunk's Special Science Group, or SSG, so that's what the logo is from. It's very different from any of Nami's other outfits and fairly different from most other diverse One Piece sryles we've seen. It looks white but there is a very, very slight pink tinge to it. It's like a one piece outfit (not One Piece) that's sleeveless, but with a larger collar. It kind of reminds me of a retro-futuristic space suit that'd you'd see in an unrealistic 60s sci-fi film or in pin-up art. 

* Nami's portrait is great. Her hair is messily flying about everywhere, her eyes are pretty intense, and her mouth is wide open; she's definitely about to deliver a beatdown to someone. Everything is super neat and clean here and looks great. I really like the headphones she's wearing, too. I don't actually know what they're for but it does add a cool vibe to the figure, further enhancing her slightly sci-fi aesthetic.

* The Clima-Tact isn't straight; it's actually curved, to look like it's in motion. It's a cool visual effect that's been handled in a very simple way, but it works. The staff does come in two pieces that meet in the middle. 

* These boots are pretty impressive, too. They look like they have some sort of rocket boosters in the bottom (you can see it in some shots of Nami's left foot, which is raised up).

* Nami's compass looks pretty good here, too. It's the gold bracelet with the blue bulbs she wears on her right wrist.

* Here's a look at her full staff from the side, showing off how's it's curved like she's pulled it back and is ready to swing it forward. You can see how she's attached to the base via the plastic arm here, too.

* I don't know much about the Thunderbolt Temp specifically, but it's some sort of attack from Nami's weather powered Clima-Tact. He's a cool little minifigure like piece. With red cheeks and electric bolts, he kind of reminds me of Pikachu. He's even sporting a little red and white ballcap. He plugs onto the base of the staff and, since he's at the bottom, whoever's getting hit with this is going to get zapped.

   For the price I'm really pleased with this mini-statue. It's a nice quality figure with a great sculpt, a cool design and outfit for Nami, super clean paintwork, and an impressive action pose. If you find her on the lower end of the pricing range (import figures really do seem to very quite a bit in pricing depending on the retailer), you'll be even happier. This is a Great and a 1/2 mini-statue that you can display on her own or work into a display of similarly sized figures. Since she's in an action pose, you can fudge her in a bit with figures a bit smaller or a bit larger. Any other One Piece fans out there or am I writing these reviews largely for myself? Let me know. Just curious!

This is the first figure of Nami that I've reviewed.