Imuka from Valkyria Chronicles 3 and Makise Kurisu from Steins;Gate are two of my most recent Nendoroid additions to my collection, so I thought I'd pit them against each other in a double review battle of brains versus brawn!
Both come in the standard Nendoroid packaging on which is printed plenty of information (in Japanese) and photos of the various poses the figures can adopt. Inside there is plenty of space and separation between the parts to protect them in transit, as well as plastic sheets between assembled parts of the figures to prevent them from any paint pick-up in transit.
Moving onto the figures out of the box, the difference between the stands that these two Nendoroids comes with goes to show how much Good Smile Company are still experimenting in order to come up with the perfect stand. Imuka gets a di:stage-like square base with holes at regular intervals and a pivoting arm like those Figmas come with. This arm is different though and ends in a magnet, which sticks to a magnet inside VK's head. To protect the paintwork the arm's magnet has a felt covering. In comparison Kurisu's stand is much simpler with just a plastic pillar and 'seat' to support her. This limits her poseability in comparison to Imuka but takes up less space and is more subtle on the eye.
The moulding and paint finish on both Nendoroids is mostly excellent, although Imuka does have a couple of minor blemishes to her armour. Incidentally, that armour has a slightly pearlescent finish which really adds some depth and interest to it. Eye decals are well finished and Kurisu's blushing cheeks have been effectively rendered.
Imuka's main accessory is the mammoth gun, which is well detailed and even features a working lever that opens and closes the magazine chamber. Equiping Imuka with the gun gives her a strong sense of character and presence when compared to Kurisu and other Nendoroids. Otherwise, Imuka's other accessories are limited to one alternate face and a sprinkling of arm/hand pieces to make up for the size of the gun.
Kurisu's accessories include two alternate faces and arms to pose her with either her phone, manilla envelope or with her arms crossed. Despite having three different faces, Kurisu's expressions are partly hidden by her fringe and this results in two of the faces being so similar that it's hard to tell them apart. I think more effort should have gone into making the faces more distinctive from one another.
Overall these are both extremely good figures that live up to the expectation of quality for Good Smile Company's products. Which one you'd prefer is always a personal decision, whether it's the tsundere Makise Kurisu or the bold Imuka - in this battle though, there's nothing like a Nendoroid with presence and for that reason Imuka is the winner!
