Categories
Figure Review

Review: 1/8 Ranka Lee (N.A. ver.)

N.A. Ranka

Hola all! Originally I was going to write 3 reviews to commemorate the first Macross Frontier Movie release on DVD, but sadly because of me being me, things got delayed for one reason or another, and now 3 reviews has become 2. And to top it off, we are now celebrating the theatrical release of the second movie instead of the first because — that’ss just how long I’ve been sitting on this review… *cough*

The fact that I’m only doing Ranka reviews has nothing to do with my own personal preferences character-wise, but rather it’s more because I think noone has made a good Sheryl figure yet! As you can imagine, it’s far easier for companies to make cute little Ranka figures instead of successfully capturing the more subtle adult charms of Sheryl, so Ranka shall be who we are focusing on!

N.A. Ranka
"Wardrobe malfunction fun!"

I am quite a Ranka fan. More specifically, I am especially fond of her voice. While Sheryls bombastic songs and voice suits the series almost perfectly, I’ve found it’s Ranka’s songs that I still listen to on a daily basis. They’re all almost perfect pieces of pop indulgence and just work oh-so-perfectly on repeat listenings. So yea…Ranka the character = Meh (Although the Movie improved her character a good deal which I was grateful for). Thankfully, Ranka the performer is quite another thing altogether with her beautiful voice, sweet charm, cute outfits, and of course “Kira!”.

Anyway, with me being the giant perv and DFC afficionado that I am, we shall begin with the figure that has the least amount of clothes!: MegaHouse’s delightfully overexposed N.A. version!

This figure  is a faithful reproduction of the Nose Art on the front of the VB-6 König Monster from the series. At the time that I first saw it I was slightly perplexed why they picked someone like Ranka for something that’d you’d think Sheryl was more suited to, but over time I’ve quite warmed to the design and was sad to see it disappear in the movie. I was always amazed that the producers would do something as seemingly random as inserting the old art style like pinup-esque nose art (which were most prevently seen during WWII) into a space opera, but then again, it’s small things like this that make me enjoy Frontier so  much!

N.A. Ranka
"Cheescake at its finest!"

I’m not usually one for swimsuit figures. Despite my love for the female form they always seem so…boring. However this, my friends, is anything but.  Normally I leave the base for last because they often look absolutely boring and barely add any value to the figure whatsoever. Ironically, for a figure that doesn’t even need a base to stand the base for the Nose Art Ranka is quite exceptional!

The very bottom of it where she actually sits is of the “plastic disk” variety, but the backboard part is where things get fun. The typography on it is exceptional and perfectly evokes that old 40’s Bomber girl feel. The little charming hand-made looking heart and the pair of little pink wings that are attached to the backboard sweetens the deal even further.  The only problem I have with the base is that it is so good and adds so much to the figure that Ranka looks rather meh without it, and because of this her optimal viewing angles are limited. Probably not so much an annoyance for normal people that will just plop her on the shelf, but for a photographer it bothered me more than a little.

N.A. Ranka
"She literally has soft curves every damn place you look on her!"

The body sculpt is one area where MegaHouse rarely disappoints, and I have to say they’ve safely upheld their record of excellence here. Let’s first get the bad things out of the way first then you can salivate over all the good! Sadly, Ranka did not escape the mass production hell of the factory completely unscathed, as there are more than a few mold lines here and there. Most are pretty subtle, but they do exist. The second thing would be the underside of her legs, which are rather awkwardly flat. I’ve seen this done to sitting figures to make them sit better, but since she’s sitting on her knees and toes instead of her legs, I have no idea why they would flatten it down. Thankfully, this problem is hard to see, as I doubt you’ll be displaying her flipped over, so it shouldn’t detract much from the looks of the figure.

Now for the good…oh-so-much good. Let’s first tackle her bikini bottom. It is interesting to note that this part of her wardrobe simply does not exist in the original illustration, but since Ranka isn’t from an eroge, I guess the anime people would only allow MegaHouse go so far, and having Ranka go commando would’ve been too much.

N.A. Ranka
"Great hips and such a well-rounded butt, oh yes!"

So MegaHouse does what they do best and turned it in their favor. Where as some swimsuits look painted-on, Ranka’s bikini bottom is visibly biting onto Rankas lovely hips almost practically squeezing her on either side in such an oh-so-delicious manner. It’s easily one of the most subtly erotic effects that I’ve seen used in a sculpt and it doesn’t end there either! It also works its magic on her backside too! It is almost like a pair of invisible hands that pushes her cheeks in and up forming one helluva V shape! Just beautiful…makes you wanna reach out and grab it on a regular basis!

Let’s creep slightly upward to her back, which is another eye popping piece of art in and of itself. I mean just look at that…How many figures do you see that detail a back to this extent? From the nice indentation running right up her spine to her shoulder blades subtly pushing out, there’s plenty to love about her back. It doesn’t end there, however — take a gander at that tummy! I mean just…wow. The way it pokes out  slightlyis  just inviting you to want to take a lick all the way up to the hint of ribcage. This, my friends, is one picteresque midsection!

N.A. Ranka
"Talk about perfect body lines here...Such a luscious curvature!"

Then ofcourse there is the coup de grâce — her chest! I swear MegaHouse really has a talent for putting the “delicious” in DFC! They don’t simply make it like an ironing board and call it a day — no, no, no, they always pay that extra bit of attention to the anatomical structure involved and it just looks glorious (See figures like Huit or Ymir as further examples)!  Now I know some people were disappointed by the “censoring” of her nipples, but me personally I found it more attractive than if she was bare breasted. That might have something to do with the time when I saw a movie with some strippers who had pasties on their breasts when I was a young lad. It was a a very erotic thing for a elementary schooler, and it left quite the impact on my impressionable mind! So yes, pasties are good and they keep with the whole motif of the figure as far as I’m concerned. Oh and did I mention she even has delectable collarbones? Lovely, lovely body sculpt.

N.A. Ranka
"She definitely would not look out of place on the side of an airplane!"

As for the other aspects of the sculpt, Ranka’s face is absolutely perfect being equal parts cute and beautiful. Her hair isn’t terribly detailed per se, but then neither is her hair in the original illustration. Besides, with all this eye candy around it, who the hell cares about the hair?

Now that the T&A is done, let’s look at the paint. Fortunately, the superb body sculpt does not go to waste on this figure, as MegaHouse did a flat out excellent job all round with the paint on Ranka. There’s some minor over-paint around her bikni bottom that slightly sours the otherwise grand view, but the rest of the figure is just aces though with lots of nice subtle skin tones. I especially like the slight applications of pink to create a subtle flush effect on her elbows and knees!

N.A. Ranka
"Not all the service is from her body though. Just look at how cute that face is! The contrast between the brown eyes and neon hair is excellent as well!"

Pros:

  • Beautifully detailed body sculpt
  • Equally high quality paint job
  • Well-thought-out base that adds a lot of appeal

Cons:

  • A few subtle mold lines on the body here and there
N.A. Ranka
"If I could get a decal of her like this I'd so slap it on my bike!"

Well by now I think you’ve gotten the general idea…I really really love this figure! She has a good deal of erotic appeal while still being within the bounds of good taste and thanks to the bikini top you can easily cover her up if you so desire. The base just does a great job of selling the whole old-school pinup girl feel to the figure as well. So yeah, I’d say anyone who’s into retro things like bomber girls and especially anyone who’s a fan of Ranka should be very happy with MegaHouse’s Nose Art Ranka!

26 replies on “Review: 1/8 Ranka Lee (N.A. ver.)”

Wow, That is probably one of the uniquer reviews I have ever read and somehow funny.
I think that most company that have character sitting down or kneeling should have a base like that of some sort makes it feel like a nice little backdrop.

Though this pose is screaming Pin up like there is no tomorrow.

Haha thats the fun of writing a review as a first impression…You never know what the hell you might actually end up writing in the process!

Yea it’d be nice if you got more creative bases that actually created a scene like this one.

Nice review! Love the shots with the clouds in the BG. Its kinda funny how they’ve turned a drawing of a drawing into a figure but like I mentioned before, I’m a fan of the pinup look. I find it kinda funny that the wings are attached to the base instead of Ranka herself. I’d love to see a version of Sheryl done like this too actually, cmonnn Megahouse! I’m actually not a huge fan of Ranka either but will have to check out her actual music again.

Thanks!

Haha I love taking sky shots but since my apartment is surrounded by sprawl I can only do really low angles to avoid all the crap getting into my BG…I need a better place to do those at…

Yea I’m kind of torn on the wings…I guess it’s probably for the best that they don’t attach to her as it would probably look silly being attached directly to her, but she looks so much better with them it really llimits the viewing angles… T_T

Yea Megumi-chan’s voice really grew on me from listening to Ranka songs repeatedly that I’m a big fan of hers now!

You really outdid yourself with those photos, man. I really dig the soft look of the pillow shots, and the shots with the blue sky in the background are stunning. You’re putting me to shame!!

You sure are explicit in your exclamations of affection, Ash. When I was editing, I burst out laughing when you started to talk about how you’d want to lick all over per body. I thought about making the review more PG-13 for a moment, but I scrapped the notion immediately. Oh Ash, never change!

I wonder how Ozuma feels about having a half-naked picture of his SISTER painted on the company artillery mech. I wonder he reacts when he overhears the guys calling her sister a hot piece of ass. It must be awkward.

Speaking of pasties, have you seen the Liliana artbook? What do you think about her nipple-coloured starfish pasties?

Considering all the hell I went through for all those shots I’d hope they look good! *It was super windy during those “pillow” one and the surface she’s on isn’t level so she kept falling over with the base plus I kept losing my light to fast moving clouds*

Some people obsess over big boobs…Me I love the flat! Something about the smoothness brings out the beast in me…

Yea that was my first reaction when I saw it during the season! But since it is Kanaria I don’t think he can say much! If it was any other pilot he’d probably break their neck though…

Oh yea I saw those! I thought something was odd with her breasts at first haha…Ah I think it’s interesting. A good way to show some skin without being explicit. I never did understand why the QB books don’t show nudity though…?

This version of Ranka is really nice, I was surprised at first when I saw she was cast-off. I’m not a huge fan of the stars, reminds me too much of the Dead or Alive visor trick. Those collar bones are beautiful to look at.

I love her red swimsuit, although looking at her “normal” colours limited edition version I think I prefer that colour scheme for Ranka – the green hair is more natural to look at. But then going for a faithful recreation of the featured artwork dictates these colours.

Haha yea the stars are very much a love it or hate it thing!

See before I bought her I felt the same about her hair, but with her in hand now I changed my mind. The whole idea of the figure is so outlandish and OOC for her that I think the crazy hair color really suits her!

I like how almost all the shots have her topless. MegaHouse gave her a great body despite her looking so young. It’s funny how anyone who’s collected figures for a while would label her “within the bounds of good taste” whereas everyone else would be calling up the FBI right now. The pasties are cool, they take just enough of the perversity off of her so that you can admire her curves.

I probably ought to get back to watching Frontier sometime.

Yea tell that to Chags…He was hassling me about the lack of shots with her top on! I say screw that! It gets in the way of my viewing enjoyment!

Haha indeed! I have this thing for girls with flat chests with nice butts…Sadly those are few and far between. The only ones I own that fit that description are this one and Kotone-chan… *sigh*

You should get back to it indeed! Or conversely just wait for the second movie and just marathon the whole thing! :p

That is one delicious looking figure. I wasn’t aware that she was based on nose art, and what turned me away from it was the yellow hair. I have to say that her body looks excellent though.

Haha yea I don’t think many people took a liking to the Neon hair…But as you say she has a lovely body sculpt so I don’t even pay attention to her hair color! >_>

Oh wow, these are really gorgeous photos! They’re making want a figure I would normally have no interest in as I haven’t seen Frontier, I don’t really like Ranka’s character design and swimsuit figure are indeed very boring!
I especially like 021.jpg.. it’s so soft, glowy and all yummy looking. 😀

Thanks Zai!

Yea I often find reading reviews is not the best idea…Shows you things you might want! :p

You should watch Frontier though! Not sure if you like Space Opera’s or not, but the show is a lot of fun! I’d at least recommend the movie. :p

Haha it’s funny that ones my favorite too and took considerably less thought and effort to shot compared to most of the others.

Butbutbut I’m usually pretty good about reading reviews and holding back! Sometimes.. well, uh.. on occasion.. ^^;

I watched some of it over Luth’s shoulder and thought Ranka seemed a sorta annoying. Maybe I’ll give the movie a go some time though! 😀

>implying there’s no good Sheryl figures
>http://myfigurecollection.net/item/6426_macross_frontier_sheryl_nome_1_8_alpha_x_omega
>I have no face but I am disappoint

Granted, the pose isn’t very exciting and it has some cast-off issues. But from a technical, accuracy and enjoyment standpoint I really do think it’s up there.

Anyhow, about Ranka. I’m very intrigued by the sheer amount of V-shapes I can find just from your photos, Dan Brown would be all over her shit if Da Vinci sculpted her. The angles her elbow makes, the crevice between her thighs, the area between her DFC, that backside above her bikini bottom etc etc. Be it a beautiful accident or genius application of subliminal messaging I find it very awesomely erotic.

I have to point out that the matching Sheryl figure looks like a dirty hoe bag that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pe…pole.

Own the figure…Hate it. Like you said the pose is boring and the face is just as bad. Not the Sheryl I know and love…Consequently I’m currently trying to sell her haha.

That is a very astute observation though! I never really thought of her in terms of V shapes…Mmm interesting. Erotic indeed!

Yea noone seems to know how to handle Sheryl and that figure is a clear example of it. Some day maybe…

How could I miss this review from march 31 tztzt
This figure of Ranka looks just awesome, in the anime I didn’t liked her a lot, maybe she should have worn the red bikini all the time ^o^… eh wait how old was Ranka again? Well who cares.
Anyway she’s cute and the sculpting of her body looks great and supersexy I like such figures with a petite look, the backside has nice details as well, like the shoulderblades and her butt. http://www.hobbyhovel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/P1010407.jpg wohoo =p
The stars are ok I think bare nipples would have been too risky for Megahouse considering Rankas (loli) appearance, but with the bikini top she looks good as well.

She’s 16…A year younger then Sheryl haha. I guess she just has one of those slow developing bodies. Not that I’m complaining mind you!

Yea it’d be nice if you saw more fgiures with this kind of anatomical detail! T_T

Nice review Ash – took me awhile to finally read it though. ^_^’ I really like this figure and it’s definitely one of the better Ranka figures out there. For some reason the Frontier figures have been pretty bad, particulary the Sheryl figures. I like the Sheryl N.A. figure, actually but the face is definitely way off. It was also interesting to see a figure like this of Ranka, especially when she’s underage. LOL Ozma would be so pissed! haha

@c7d63c106a85f525e3104ed5fa2cd85e:disqus Haha I do tend to type a lot when I really enjoy a figure for better or worse! >_<

Yea I really don't like any of the Sheryl figures which is sad since I like her character so much…Really hoping someone makes one that really gets her right!

Well, I thought MegaHouse did a pretty good job on their Frontier Sheryl (the one with the blue concert outfit / later a red rendition). It was one of my first figures and what got me into collecting. I also think the first Banpresto Ichiban Kuji Sheryl was pretty well done – at least it was better than Ranka and Klan.

Leave a Reply to Ashlotte Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *