Cheers, love. The cavalry’s here!
Overwatch developer Blizzard Entertainment claims that the game has more than 35 million players. With such a large player base, Max Factory’s foray into merchandising articulated Overwatch action figures under the figma banner should come as no surprise. Although Overwatch‘s roster currently features 27 heroes (and counting), the first selection had to be Tracer. I mean, who else? She’s the logo.
Tracer is the third figma figure I’ve owned after Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Solid Snake and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Link. While the three figures represent vastly different characters from vastly different video game properties, the figures feel more similar than not. I’m not sure if it’s to Max Factory’s credit or detriment, but there is a shocking uniformity to its figma line. Even the packaging is similar, though the window box has become the standard for both domestic and import toys, so that’s normal.
Out of the package, the figure is pretty much as I expected it to be (thanks to the aforementioned figma uniformity). It does capture the in-game model perfectly, though. Max Factory managed to pull Tracer through the screen and into my hands.
The detail that went into this figure is seriously impressive, especially at this scale (we’ll get to that later). The text printed on the figure is small enough to where I couldn’t read it without my camera’s viewfinder. The attention to detail is so great that I noticed things on the figure that I’ve never seen on the in-game model, and I’ve put close to 300 hours into Overwatch since it released back in May 2016.
Retailing at around $60, I’m undecided about whether or not Tracer is a good value. Her accessories include a plastic bag for her accessories, a figma display stand and extension piece, a replacement wrist joint, ten hands, two faces, her twin pulse pistols, and a pulse bomb. The hands, in my opinion, are where the figure shines. Thanks to her oddly expressive wrist joints and hand options, you can change the figure’s emotional demeanor with a simple part swap. From a fist to an open palm or a bomb-holding hand to a two-fingered salute, Tracer expresses herself through her ten hands.
The faces offer a few different looks, too, though I think the open mouth face and side-eye face are somewhat limiting. It’s worth noting that her hair is sharp enough to inflict some damage, so be careful. Easy on the hair gel, girl.
I have three major gripes with the figure, and the biggest (or smallest, heh) is her size. Import lines are notoriously small, but figma takes this to another level. Tracer is somewhere in between 3 3/4-inch and 6-inch scale. She stands at 5.25 inches tall, but she isn’t going to fit in with any 6-inch scale figures. She’s comically undersized next to NECA’s 7-inch fare. A great figure is a great figure, but 6 inches is my sweet spot (heh, again), and I have trouble paying $60 for such a tiny figure.
My second gripe is with her articulation. If you’ve owned a figma figure, you know what you’re getting here. I think Tracer overachieves in most areas, but her hips don’t get the range I expect for a character who’s literally always dashing. The legs almost reach 90 degrees with the pelvis, but I’d like to be able to push her legs even higher than that.
Tracer has a ball-jointed neck, those weird ball-jointed figma shoulders that simulate both bicep swivels and butterfly joints, swivels above the elbows, double-jointed elbows, ball-jointed wrists, a ball-jointed chest, ball-pegged hips, double-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge and rotate.
My final issue is with the way the stand extension fits in the hole in her back. I couldn’t get it to click into place, so it kept falling out on me. I also didn’t want to force it because I may break the Slipstream device (blue thing) on her back.
Overall, I like this figure a lot. I’ve never been blown away by figma figures, but the shoulder engineering is impressive. I also failed to mention the paintwork, which may be the most impressive thing about Tracer. The writing on one of her gauntlets is a little off, but it’s too small to see with the naked eye. The gradient orange on her pants is perfectly executed, and everything else is clean as far as I can tell.
I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this figure unless you’re an Overwatch fan. And if you’re an Overwatch fan, there’s a decent chance you already own it. Otherwise, I’m not sure what you’d do with Tracer. If you’re like me, most of your video game figures are 6- or 7-inch, so she doesn’t fit in with anything else.
It may also be worth it to take a look at the character roster and wait to see what Max Factory has on the horizon. You may like other character designs more. Genji, a cyborg-ninja, is next in line.
