The good thing is that with Mermista you can throw the legs out and affix her shiny, new mermaid tail in their place! Visually, the mermaid tail is great. The scales and fins are fantastic as is the subtle shading. I’m not thrilled with the glitter, but it looks great (as long as I don’t have to touch it). The only knock on the tail is the articulation. We have a hinge at the hips and then ball-joints at mid-tail/knee, and then a ball-joint at the fin. These work okay, though I would like to have a little more range at the hips. They have no backward movement at all and they can’t go fully forward to allow her to sit up straight. There is a stand included so she can hang out on your shelf standing, but I’d like to be able to set her down on the front of the shelf without her having to rest on her hair.
Paint & Articulation are pretty well standard for the line. The articulation is the usual complement for the 2.0 buck with the added highlight that the hair doesn’t really block the neck joint and then the aforementioned joints on the tail. The paintwork, while contributing to her cheaper look is well done and sharp throughout. I was a little surprised at just how pale she is, but that’s not a big deal. The highlight of the paint is easily the shading and glitter on the tail.
Mermista also included two accessories. We’ve got the standard She-Ra shield, the first time in green I believe. And then her shell/horn which calls back to the original figure. I’m happiest when Mattel can plop an offensive weapon in the mix for the ladies, they all should have something to fight with, but you can hit people with the horn. Or break their eardrums, or something.
Alright, after processing all that. I’ve probably been a little too hard on her. She’s not a standout figure like Castaspella, Flutterina, or Spinnerella, but maybe we’ve been spoiled by those releases. I still don’t like the decision to make the torso one-piece (I hope they don’t do that again), but the awesomeness of the tail more than makes up for it (glitter included). I am still bummed that my most wanted POP ladies didn’t get the Treadaway treatment, but Mermista is painted much better than Frosta and came out better in comparison. I’d still pull that hair down if I could, but overall, Mermista is a great addition to the shelf. If you just wanted a Mermista, this maybe isn’t what you wanted, but if you’re collecting POP she’s really going to spice up the shelf as part of the POP collection!
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Good review. I don’t think I ever paid that much attention to how her torso was crafted but seeing it now it definitely was a bizarre option. I do still like her quite a bit, though. I put her in eighth place last year on my top ten MOTUC releases of 2014. I gotta love the conch shell horn but a spear or trident would have been amazing.
Put Gwildor’s head on her legs… Instant Nightmare fuel!
Pretty much spot on with everything in your review, I have to agree that my biggest problem is she can’t sit properly with the tail also it might have been nice to have the option of posing her on her belly with her torso propped up and her tail in the air. Oh well maybe next time.
you mean like that pose from The Little Mermaid where the wave crashes behind Ariel?
yeah that sort of thing
DR dropped my sub on me last December, for no apparent reason. As such, I’ve been left wondering if I should try and pick up the figs I missed out on. Am looking at it as a blessing in disguise now. Just not as excited by these releases. Plus, I’ve been better able to build up a sweet new XC bike…
“I’m happiest when Mattel can plop an offensive weapon in the mix for the ladies”
wait, what?
totally misread that the first time. LOL
Too bad she’s too big for them to “lend” that tail to a potential DC Little Mermaid. #longestlongshotever.
Lemmy – did you change your card or address? they dropped me for trying to update my card. It should NOT take multiple calls to “correct” this!
Nope. Didn’t change anything. All info was current and up to date. After all the complaints about DR, this was only my second issue in five or so years.
Yup, great review, as ever, and I pretty much agree with everything in it.
Aw crap, it finally happened, I’m gonna have to buy a motu figure because they went ahead and made my only weakness – mermaids xD
How could they not make her tail hinge backwards at the hips? How could they make a mermaid figure ant not let us put her in the classic mermaid pose, belly down on a giant rock, arcing backwards as we sail by staring in lust and disbelief as our ship crashes into a jagged reef? lol