1/8 Uesugi Kenshin Review

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone, hope you guys had a good one! Let’s open this blog with a review of one of the great old figures of Kotobukiya, the 1/8 Uesugi Kenshin!

Uesugi Kenshin is one of the prominent characters in Alicesoft’s tactical game, Sengoku Rance. As far as I know it’s hard to come across one of these figures nowadays because it was last released around February 2009.

Love the use of tan in the packaging and the fact that the entire thing feels like something straight out of the game itself. Do any of you guys take packaging into account before buying a figure whenever you visit toy stores?

Oh by the way, the game has copious amounts of H in it, so don’t expect this figure to be cast-offable ^^

There are two things that I love about this figure, first is the twirling action. Everything, from the hair to the tip of the dress totally complements her movement with little to no inconsistencies.

Second, is more of the character design of Uesugi Kenshin. Her entire ensemble reminds me of a cross between a dress and samurai armor, which I think is what Alicesoft had in mind. The blend is successful and the word that came into my head when I take a look at this fig is “flower” in a battlefield.

Depending on the angle where you shoot her, Kenshin will either have a stern or gentle face.

You can also opt to remove her ribbon head piece to reveal a slot there to place the helmet in.

If i ever did have an issue with the figure it would probably be the hair strands at the end. They look like tiny strips of taffy waaay up close. But outside of that, she’s good. Thankfully, there is life to this figure brought about by the spinning action she is frozen in.

Scratches were caused by the helmet, you guys may want to place some plastic in her helmet so that the helmet wont rub with the hair’s paint.

Kenshin’s armor is pretty simple, which makes the tiny details like paint runoffs or missed lines more noticeable. Thankfully, Kotobukiya’s quality assurance was paying attention to the figure and everything from those paint lines, and tiny dots are spot on.

They have to be especially clean with the details because they’re working with white clothing/armor. Mistakes stand out more in those colors than in darker hues.

Remember when I said this figure reminds me of the line “a flower in the battlefield”, her dress’ skirt is wholly the main reason for that (then again, dresses might have been design after flowers in the first palce no? :P). I also appreciate the folds on the skirt despite the fact that you can just do away with it.

Underview, hard to see anything really, but it’s plain white in case you are wondering lol

Well i guess the character designer was somewhat lazy with the footwear here, but then again you don’t get to see the character’s footwear much in the game so it’s all cool 😛 Base is kinda unimaginative for such a good figure to be honest. I guess you can’t have em all ^^

The helmet which caused the scratches on her head. Some people like posing her with the helmet, personally I prefer the ribbons, what about you guys?

She also comes with two swords and a scabbard, but I decided to just go with the samurai sword instead of the western looking bastard sword she comes with. It doesn’t show in the picture (wish I had macro lenses) but the sword handle was sculpted in as well. It’s not just some white piece of plastic 😛

Yep, I definitely prefer this figure with the ribbon than the helmet. Helmet looks clunky, like it’s about to fall off at any point in the battle.

Also prefer the ribbon over the helmet because it works better with her spinning sword swing action as well.

Side view shots of Kenshin drawing her sword

It’s kind of amazing when you can pose a figure in multiple angles, photographers (both amateurs and professional) enjoy working on subjects like these.

Not sure where you can get one of these now, but if you guys enjoy Rance and like this character (or Senhime or Yamamoto) be sure to get it! By the way did any of you guys play the game?