I talked about receiving this figure in the mail almost exactly a year ago in this post which just goes to show that I really do take my damn sweet time in opening my toys and shit. But in any regards I’ve had Black Heart open and on display since the start of the month actually but never got around to processing and uploading photos until now. Normally I would go into explain where this figure comes from and the character and all that but then I realized I already did that shit in my Black Friday post last year, so I’m gonna be a lazy bitch and just quote myself:
BLACK Heart is the transformed version of the character Noire from the Compile Heart PS3 game, Hyperdimensional Neputunia, which basically is about cute girls anthropomorphized as video game consoles/systems and them going at one another. The image pictured at the top of this post is BLACK Heart which actually is supposed to represent the PS3 and BLACK Sister, which is supposed to be the PSP/VITA; well I guess you can say they are just vessels for any Sony gaming hardware. The original game itself is kind of shit but subsequent sequels and spin-offs have gotten alot better and with the anime series that aired awhile back; has made the franchise semi-popular; at the very least for the character designs alone which are very attractive, done by TSUNAKO.
So yea, that happened.
Anyways, I’d just like to post some official art by Tsunako for comparisons sake from some of the more recent Neptune games:
Black heart’s figure design is based off of her anime design incarnation, which goes to say is slightly simplified in comparison to the original games. The image on the left is her standard transformed design in most of the games, minus her weapon, floating funnel things and wings. She appears more or less the same with each game with the exception of Hyperdimensional Neptune V (shit’s actually the third game) and Hyperdevotion Noire, a spin-off game which has Black Heart as the main character as seen on the right.
To be perfectly honest, I actually like her Neptune V/Hyperdevotion design better because it preserves her twintail hair which she normally has as Noire but whatever. I’ve seen some garage kits of the right design but to date no scaled PVC. I forgot to take photos of the box but whatever, it’s standard good box from one of the best figure manufacturers, Alter.
Shot from the front, action pose and all. It goes without saying that since this is from Alter, it has some of the best quality there is when it comes to anime figures. Like shit, she is only on my desk and you can tell that a lot of time, effort and planning was done to get this figure done right.
Excellent sculpt and paintwork. I have nothing to complain about when it comes to build quality and details. It’s all there, everything you would expect from an Alter figure and at 1/7 scale, even better; bigger is almost always better. I find it a bit interesting to note that depending on which angle you view her at, her face seems to have different expressions. From a slight angle on the side it looks like she is angry or readying herself for a charge or faced with a tough foe; but from directly in front it looks like she is happy and smiling. Wow. Hmm.. Not sure if this is intentional or it just ended up that way. Either way shit is good.
More variations of shots focusing on her smiley face.
Same angle except landscape view. Northern Princess on the bottom right corner is all like, man, I am black and white too, take more pictures of me bitch.
Side angry angle again. My monitors provide a good light source, it kinda looks like I masked the space in the background around her head.
Fuck look at this detail, the claws and studs on her hands look great. Her huge sword is also well done and does a balancing act that I have no idea was achieved.
Her funnel like accessories are suspended in midair with these hard plastic poles, both unique in length, one is higher than the other. Great detail on them too and her legs thigh-high items as well.
View from the back, nice ass. Notice the plastic poles and her wings. It’s kind of hard to tell from the picture but her wing pieces are actually attached directly onto her long flowing hair. Yes, there is actually little holes and slots to insert the wing pieces. Fuck. This figure is amazing but putting these wing pieces in her hair was such a plain in the ass because some of the nodes and holes are too damn small and it was difficult to keep all the pieces in without another one falling out. Add to the fact that she has those funnel pole things and all the other shit she has floating around her; I think it took more than an hour to get her in a stable state without something falling out…
Shit but it was worth it. As of this writing nothing has come off yet, even her huge sword. Her base is very well done as well, kind of interesting pattern and matches the game/anime series graphic design style.
More angles, more poses. Good shit.
More, more, more.
Overall, this figure is simply excellent. Everything was done well, from the pose, the sculpt, the painting, the face, expression, accessories, even the base is fairly attractive. The only downside is the very complex and relatively time consuming parts setup for Black Heart. Oh god those wings. All throughout the wing assembly part I was afraid that I might accidentally pop off her head, break a wing or worse, end up screwing up the pegs enough to the point where none of the wings could fit into the hair slots or accidentally scratch paint off her face or some shit like that. Luckily none of that happened but I have heard many others with this figure have similar difficulties. Other than that, I would definitely recommend this figure to anyone who is a fan of the Neptune franchise or even mecha musume fans in general for that matter a la infinite stratos and a slew of other related materials with girls in armor and mecha shit with guns/wings.
Alter is also making a Purple Heart figure which I think is scheduled to be released sometime in 2017 but I’m not so sure about their offering at this time since I’m not digging the pose they chose or her expression. There is also going to be another figure of Neptune from Vertex based off her VII (fucking fourth game guys) character design which is actually a very different design from her usual look so I’ll wait and see how things go.
Score: Hyperdevotion Noire indeed.