With Attack on Titan Season 2 airing during the current anime season, Attack on Titan is back in the limelight in a big way. Enter McFarlane Toys, adding to their anime line by introducing a new figure of fan favorite Mikasa Ackerman.
First, some quick facts: the Mikasa figure is about seven inches tall and has a stylized base that reads “Attack on Titan” in the original weathered font in both English and Japanese. Mikasa wears her original Scout Regiment uniform and the figure includes both her three-dimensional maneuver gear and dual blades.
Mikasa’s ball-jointed articulation points are located at the ankles, knees, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and neck, so the figure is quite poseable. The base itself has a single peg where Mikasa’s left foot can be placed, though you’ll have to balance her pose by placing her other foot intelligently or she will fall over. There are also two peg holes on the upper part of her outer thighs where you can plug in her 3DMG, though you’ll need to use more force than you’d think to wedge them in there.
Aesthetically speaking, Mikasa’s face mold is surprisingly pretty for the figure’s affordable price point. She has blue-gray eyes, a bit of a long nose and cutely-sculpted lips. Even her bob is well-sculpted and she is instantly recognizable as the character she is supposed to be.
In terms of the outfit itself, I love how her scarf is sculpted so that it flares out in a dramatic wind. There are also lines of tension across her shirt so that you can see that she’s turning, as well as similar clothing wrinkles on her waistband thing, pants and even her boots. All of these really help contribute to the figure’s active, dramatic appeal.
As for the packaging, the box is quite simple and there’s not much merit in keeping it, even for display. It features Mikasa’s dual blade accessories and 3DMG prominently so that you can see those bits are available for you to play and pose with.
But getting the toy out of the packaging is a nightmare. I’m a figure collector myself and I am always gentle to the point of absurdity with my purchases. However, I almost snapped one of Mikasa’s dual blades in half simply trying to lift it up out of the box with some tape. The dual swords are really fragile.
Then I realized that, for some reason, the cables connecting the 3DMG were threaded through the plastic backdrop, but the holes were not big enough to bring the dual swords through. I had to enlarge the holes myself so that I could extract Mikasa’s gear.
Let’s just say that wasn’t the most intuitive way to unpack Miss Ackerman.
While Mikasa can be made to hold her dual swords, you have to wedge the trigger of the swords into her tiny, fragile hands. If you care about authentic details, just be aware that Mikasa can’t hold her sword handles, just the triggers. For me, at a $19.99 price point, this is acceptable. I’m concerned, however, about the force it takes to wedge the 3DMG into her thighs and the swords into her hands, given how fragile both the swords and her hands are.
What I don’t love about this figure is the quality of the painting, which is matte all over the place and inconsistent in others.
For example, the three-dimensional edge where the line of the belts rises up from the white of her tights is still the white of her tights, rather than the brown of her belts. Of course, these figures aren’t handpainted, but it’s clumsy looking and it really shows when you’re up close. The texture of the paint itself is also a little bumpy and rough in spots, most notably on Mikasa’s scarf edges and on her tiny delicate hands.
Overall, however, the McFarlane Mikasa figure’s extensive poseability, its themed display base, its dramatic feel and its detailed sculpt are all really exciting. This is a $19.99 figure and actually delivers more for the price than I would have expected, like the 3DMG and sword accessories, which allows me to nitpick things like the texture of the paint job. (It’s worth noting that both accessories are attached to Mikasa via the cables and cannot be removed.)
I would definitely warn the owner of this figure to take extreme care unpacking it, especially with the dual swords which seem prone to snapping. But I feel like the McFarlane Mikasa figure would make a beautiful, dynamic addition to any Attack on Titan collector’s display, and you can’t beat the value at that price. The figure is part of the Color Top line, which means each package is uniquely numbered so you can keep track of which figures you own and which you’re missing.
You can find out where the Mikasa Ackerman figure is available by using the McFarlane store tracker here. Do you own this figure? What are your thoughts? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
