Black ★ Rock Shooter Pre-Unboxing

The ever so popular Black ★ Rock Shooter has finally be released after 1-2 months of official delays from Good Smile Company. My guess is that the delays were due to manufacturing, and that Good Smile Company wanted to fill those international orders as soon as possible (or as many as possible). Whatever the reason, this 1/8 scale PVC figure has hit the streets.

Amazingly, when this figure got it’s official release, I was lucky enough to be in Taiwan. Not sure “how” or even “why”, but the local hobby/anime figure shops @ Taipei Main Station’s Underground Mall had a cart-full of these for sale, before anyone. I have an itch they released this before the local shops in Japan even did. Not sure if figures have some kind of ’street-date’, like games do in the United States, but in any event, this release was earlier than any other place I knew.

I was in Tokyo two days before I saw this figure in the shops in Taiwan and even Akihabara didn’t have any. Not even for display or as an upcoming promotion. If anything, this just proves my past points about Taipei, Taiwan been an extremely good beacon for anime related goods. Taiwan is well known for being called Japan Jr., due to Japan’s previous occupation in Taiwan. Plane tickets from Taiwan to Japan are as cheap and frequent as a domestic flights, and we pretty much get everything they do. Enough ranting…onward with the review.

Please keep in mind I am currently in Taiwan and I do not have my setup for picture taking, plus since I need to pack this figure into a suitcase anyways, I am not even going to bother taking her out. There are plenty of other official reviews that have unboxing pictures of her.

Pictures are great, so here goes…

BRS box still in packaged-wrapping-paper.
Box is huge! Really digging the white/black. Pardon the flash, only way to get ample lighting at the time.	Without flash, you can't see the blue eyes so well in this image.
Shot of the back of the box.	Shot of the side of the box. Nothing we haven't already seen.
Very very nice figure, I am extremely excited to own her.	The flowing jacket and hair are fantastic.

Written review taken from myfigurecollection.net profile.

Based on an illustration by Huke, comes Black Rock Shooter. She has been sculpted holding her huge Rock Cannon, in an striking pose that draws out her mysterious charm. Her flowing hair and jacket, as well as her weapon and beautiful stand have all been carefully sculpted. This PVC figure is strikingly detailed and is guaranteed to stand out amongst even the most elite of collections.

Original Black Rock Shooter image by Huke.

SCULPT
The sculpt is by Akeji based on Huke’s artwork. The most noticeable well sculpted parts of this figure are the hair, jacket and base. Starting with the jacket, the detailing is down to the notches on the zipper. For something that has been pushed through a manufacturing line, this is definitely a fine detail they did not miss. The hair, although we’ve seen many PVC hue colored hair styles (mostly with Shana figures) this one goes without saying as one of the best I’ve seen. The blue and black hue within the hair perfectly matches the feeling from the original image by Huke. Next would be the base. Broken apart as shown in the image, the sculpt for the base is fantastic and detailed. With the indentation for the Rock Cannon in the base and the number of broken tiles I wonder how much time Akeji had to spend to create the mold for the base. As a final note for the sculpt, it appears the scar is sculpted as well. Hard to notice with the eye, but the scar on Black Rock Shooters waist is indeed molded-in and not just a decal.

PAINT WORK
Overall the painting is fantastic; especially for the eyes. I was immediately drawn in by the wonderful detailing and blue hue on the eyes. Second would be the Rock Cannon. Not losing any of the grunge feeling, the Rock Cannon maintains a very rustic and dirty look to it. An unfortunate part is the painting on the scar, the paint color for the scar comes off rather bright reddish. Though this isn’t a deal breaker for me, it might be a bother for perfectionists, but nothing a little self-touch up can’t fix. Secondly, I feel the white base tiles could have been a little more pure. The color is closer to an ivory-white. Though at the end, the paint work is still fantastic and any cons are insanely outweighed by all the pros with this figure.

POSING
Posing is limited. This isn’t a figma, and the best is to look at it facing forward or to a slight angle. You don’t want to cover up the flaming blue eye.

BASE
As mentioned above already, the base sculpt is fantastic. Paint work is generally good as well, except for the fact that the white tiles hold an ivory-ish color, I had hoped for a cleaner white.

PACKAGING
The packaging for Black Rock Shooter was great. The box is HUGE. The figure stands at 290mm already. Inside the box came a flyer with special promotions and additional news about a BRS Nendoroid and the pre-order date for the Black Blade version.

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I love this figure, it is hands down one of my favorites, due to [s]wonderful delicious flat chest[/s] it’s size and color. I had missed the pre-orders for this item originally so I was pretty sad. But upon my trip to Taiwan, finding this in a figure shop was a dream come true. Like I said at the top of this review; “This PVC figure is strikingly detailed and is guaranteed to stand out amongst even the most elite of collections.” Put this in your display case and I guarantee you it will grab someone’s attention immediately.

- Black ★ Rock Shooter [ぶらっく★ろっくしゅーたー]
- 1/8 Scale PVC Figure
- http://www.goodsmile.info/detail/eng/2362/BLACK+ROCK+SHOOTER.html
- 9,334 yen (Release Date: Dec 2009)
- Sold out everywhere at time of writing (including local shops in Taiwan)