You know the song, don’t you? Do you want me to sing the song? C’mon, LET. IT. G– Okay, in the off chance that you are the one person on the planet that has not heard the “Frozen song,” I would be happy to belt it out for you. After all, I have a five-year-old daughter, so “Let It Go” has been, for better or worse, tattooed on my brain. Probably forever.
Yes, Frozen is a global phenomenon that, more than three years after its theatrical release, shows no sign of slowing down, at least in the eyes of its massive army of devoted fans. My daughter likes the movie quite a bit, but she is not obsessive about it like some. That doesn’t mean that I have not seen it on repeat more times than I would like, but it fits more in her overall love of Disney movies, rather than as an entity in and of itself. She loves (the far superior) Tangled, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, The Princess and the Frog, and all of the other classic Disney flicks, but no movie has afforded her as many toys (and other merchandise) as Frozen. Yes, we have had Frozen toys in our house for quite a while now.
However, we do not have any Frozen toys quite like this figma Elsa, and even though she is a little bit outside of my normal wheelhouse (especially for premium import figures), when I saw the solicitation go up several months ago, for some reason, I knew I had to have this. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Disney hater, in fact, a comprehensive collector line of classic Disney characters is one of my biggest toy wants (c’mon Hero Cross!), but my attachment to Frozen isn’t the same as say, to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. This figure looked so well done though, I just couldn’t pass on it, and I am glad I didn’t.
I own several figma figures, and while some of them have not been perfect, all of them are certainly superior action figures. The sculpts and articulation are both high points for just about all of their releases, and I am happy to say that Elsa continues the tradition. I really appreciate when an action figure company puts considerable thought into the design of a figure, but also into the character after which the figure is modeled. The latter is generally reflected in things like facial expressions, having the figure able to stand in certain poses, or including character-specific accessories, and this new Elsa carries all of those things in droves. This figure is so expressive, and as far as I am concerned, Elsa is one of the best screen-to-plastic translations I have ever seen.
There is a lot to take in with this figure, so I am a bit hard-pressed on where to begin. Sure, we can talk about the normal important points like the aforementioned sculpt, articulation, and accessories, and we will do that, but the main point I want to express is that this figure is one of the nicest pieces have added to my collection in a while. I am so impressed with how satisfying this figure is, especially for an oversaturated character, that I am already finding myself wanting Anna (at the very least) to place right alongside Elsa.
If you are familiar with figma at all, you know you can expect a solid sculpt, and Elsa is no exception. She has a feminine sculpt that matches that (love it or hate it) Disney Princess form, and it is sharp where it needs to be, but also soft where appropriate. She does not have a complicated shape, but the lower flowing dress, and the more fitting, glitter-laden top combine for exactly what you would want from an Elsa figure. Sure, you lose a lot of articulation functionality (it IS there, however) due to the dress, but I don’t need Elsa doing flips or crane kicks, even though that would be cool.
My favorite part of the sculpt is the hair, though, and I find it to be rendered perfectly. Elsa has transformation in the movie as she performs her signature song, and she literally lets her hair down, and this figure captures that look so well. It is sculpted in larger sections, just like the animation, and her braid is even jointed so it can be manipulated to add to her given pose. This might seem like a small thing, but it not only allows for more range of movement in the neck joint, but it adds to the expressive nature of the figure.
Speaking of expressive, Elsa comes with three swappable face plates to capture some of her most iconic looks, and the eyes in all three of them can be moved and posed to change her look infinitely with each piece. I LOVE it when you can pose the eyes on a figure, and while that can be tricky at this scale, they really nailed it with this figure. I love that you can give a side-long look with the smirking head, or a gentle/uncertain look with the more placid smile, or all out confidence in the singing head. It is really impressive and a ton of fun to play around with, and I *think* I have settled on the side look with the smirk as the default look for the shelf, but I keep changing the face and eyes around to discover new expressions.
The box the figure comes in is really, really big at first glance, but the figure comes with a lot of accessories of all shapes and sizes. Elsa has several sets of hands, and while I always enjoy the options, I will probably only even employ a couple of them on the shelf. I like the splayed finger and open palm hands that help facilitate the use of the included “snow magic” effects (via small holes), and I will keep those on as the default. She does come with fists, c-grips, and flat palms too, so the options are there. Now, a word of caution on the hands: due to the sleeve cuff being a separate piece and VERY small (so watch out), the hands don’t stay in the peg holes as tightly as i would like, so if you have a little one wanting to play with Elsa, just be careful as small parts can be lost easily.
In addition to the hands, faces, and snow magic, Elsa also has the standard figma figure stand, and her dress train. This thing is crazy, not only for the detail, but also for the sheer size of it, and the fact that the damned thing is ARTICULATED. The transparent plastic is adorned with all of the snow theme details (in “Small World” style) that you remember, and the thing extends back behind the figure so far that I was challenged to find an accommodating spot on the shelf for Elsa — it is crazy. Additionally, there are actually hinges on it so the two side panels can move in and out to change the shape of the train. I know some might find this to be cumbersome, and it is totally impractical, but it is still really cool.
Now, for all of that, there is more because, really, this release is a two-pack because you not only get Elsa, but an Olaf figure as well. Sure, his articulation is bit more limited, but he is a fan favorite, so they just went for it. The sculpt is great for Olaf, and like Elsa, you pose his eyes, so he is instantly expressive. He face is iconic, and his VERY thin arms are articulated, so there is some movement. He stands pretty well on his own, but does better with the included stand, so I am glad it is included. My beef with this figure is that in order to make it possible to pose the eyes (via the same little tool included for Elsa), you have to open the back of head, and that is fine, but the front and back don’t fit together perfectly, so a pretty obvious seam is visible. This is getting into nitpick level critiquing here, I know, and for most figures I would not even bat an eye, but figma is usually better than this, so it is noticeable.
What a great release. I know, many of you reading this might not be into Frozen in general, or it has been beaten into your skull via your progeny, but I really love this figure, and so does my daughter. I am getting joy out of sharing this with her, and I admire her instant reverence for the figure due to the character, but, even at five, she knows this figure is special. So much forethought when into the design, and the execution is near-flawless, making this figma is one of the best. As I said, even though figma isn’t know for “completing teams,” I hope we get Anna at the very least because if she would be anywhere near as good as Elsa, we would have a pretty perfect Frozen display. We are headed to Disney World this week, so this figure definitely has my daughter amped to meet Elsa again, so I think that says it all. If you want to grab one, BBTS has her in stock, or you can check the normal Japanese outlets.
