They say lighting never strikes twice, but we all know that saying is full of crap, especially in the figure world. We keep buying the Tony Taka figures with their identical faces, we keep throwing our money at every iteration of Black Rock Shooter figmas, and we keep gobbling up the same familiar shapes of Nendoroids. Indeed, change may very well be a dubious thing to bring into a successful formula, and this might’ve been the case with Drossel von Flügel from Fireball — the unlikely lovechild between Disney and Toei that took the figure world by storm three years ago.
While I loved the original figma Drossel, I wasn’t a big fan of Fireball‘s sense of humour. Thankfully, its prequel Fireball Charming relied less on puns and wordplay, and thus its sense of humour was more easily translated across language barriers. Its bolstered budget also made for some really nice art and animation — far beyond the quality of the first season.
Still, for whatever reason, the second season just didn’t seem to make that big of a splash, and the reception towards Drossel’s new design has been…lukewarm at best. I get the feeling a lot of people did not like how this robo-girl looks decidedly more “robo” and less “girl”, yet that’s pretty much exactly why I love the design so much (and people wonder why I’m single — hah!).
When the shoulder on my figma Drossel broke a couple months back, I figured I would replace it with the Fireball Charming version (henceforth known as Drossel 2.0). But as I browsed the stores, I noticed that Bandai’s Chogokin version was also in stock at discount prices. I was indecisive for a while, but when Amiami decided to discount it for 50% off, that was my cue to bust out the wallet. I could’ve gone for the safe choice and got the figma, but I figured I’d give Bandai’s long-running diecast mecha line a try, if only for the sake of trying something new. It has its share of surprises both good and bad, but ultimately I really enjoy it.