victorviperPop Up Parades - budget-friendly figures that have generated lots of discussion in the MFC community. Today, we'll be reviewing the latest PuP offering of everyone's favorite sharky VTuber, the one and only Gawr Gura.
About the character: Gawr Gura ENTRY #214168 is a VTuber who is associated with the well-known Hololive ENTRY #202696 agency. Gura made her debut in September 2020, and she quickly became not only the most popular English-speaking member of Hololive, but the most popular VTuber overall, surpassing Ai Kizuna ENTRY #146870 in number of YouTube subscribers.
Gura has a friendly and likable personality with a little bit of trolly gremlin for good measure, she is an excellent singer, and she is quite skilled at playing fast-paced rhythm games.
Other data:
Height: 4'7"/141 cm
Birthday: June 20
Age: At least 9000 years, but you will get a different answer each time you ask.
Nicknames: Same-chan, Goomba, Apex Predator
Packaging----------8/10
I only own one other Pop Up Parade figure, but as far as I can tell, all of them use the same basic package design.
The all-plastic box design is handy if you keep your figures in the box.
The back of the box features Gura's signature colors - red, white, and blue.
The packaging is fine, but once you remove the figure, it's just a plain plastic shell.
Base----------7/10
This is not a large figure, but Gura attaches to the base with that acrylic wedge - nothing wrong with that.
The first generation of Pop Up Parade figures used these hexagonal bases, while the last couple of PuP's (this figure and ITEM #1618453) have featured a more traditional round base. It's a fairly bland base, but IMO the round base looks better than the hex bases. The plan white color in principle allows some mild customization of the base if you are so inclined.
Posing----------8/10
As a VTuber, we typically only see Gura from the neck up, but she has a moderately lively pose, striding along. Let's have a look at her.
It also seems to me that the first generation of PuP figures had extremely static poses, so this represents a small step forward in that direction.
Sculpting----------7.5/10
Painting----------7.5/10
Pop Up Parades are meant to be mid-range budget friendly figures, less expensive than traditional scale figures, and there are some signs that these figures were made on a budget. I'd call the overall quality okay considering the price point.
The design of Gura's face is fine, although when you start looking close you can definitely see little imperfections. On the plus side, I think the design of her face is consistent with her friendly personality, and the sharp shark teeth are a key figure of her character design. If you're looking for flaws, some can definitely be seen here - the shark teeth are slightly more rounded than they should be, and you see extra little bits of material on the bottom teeth of her shark hoodie and on the tips of her hair.
Her shark hoodie has grey eyes and some gills, but you can see the painting on the eyes is not 100% perfect and you can also see some painting imperfections on the white trim.
Note the fins on the shark hoodie.
On mine, there was some spotting of the paint on her hoodie. Also, Gura's hair should be grayish-blue with highlights of dark blue and turquoise, but this figure gives her hair more of a whitish color.
I think they did a fine job with the dorsal fins on Gura's hoodie.
The color gradient on Gura's outfit is relatively well done, and the wrinkling of the material on the sleeves is a nice touch.
Gura's nails are painted, although there is no sculpting to speak of on her nails.
Although this figure has paint defects to be sure, some of the small details on Gura's outfit are accurately captured, like the yellow lacing on her hoodie, the fishbone emblem, and the buttons/snaps on the collar and on the "pulls".
Other key features of Gura's outfit are the drooling shark mouth on the midriff and the small pockets. The shark teeth and the drool are sculpted and not just painted on, although once again you can see painting issues on the pockets where the blue and white parts meet.
The finish on the shark mouth is rather rough in spots.
We don't often see Gura's shoes, but they do look like this, and there is a decent level of detail on her shoes - the shark face, the grey strap, the tab on the back of the shoes, and she does wear dark blue socks.
If you've watched the now-legendary Gawr Gura animation...
...it's established that she wears these black boy shorts underneath her hoodie (approximately 2:49 in the video) and her tail is slightly different in color on its underside.
Scale Comparison
Generally, no scale is listed on these Pop Up Parade figures. Gura is established to be 4'7"/141 cm and this figure is about 6 inches/15.25 cm tall, so let's call her about 1/9 scale.
Here is Gura with the one and only other Pop Up Parade figure I own, the PuP Mikan Yuuki ITEM #1131830. Mikan slightly taller than Gura (149 cm vs 141), and to get Mikan and Gura posed this close together, I had to remove Mikan from her base so her foot pegs are adding a little bit of height, but Mikan does seem slightly larger in scale.
These are two of my favorite characters of the last few years. Nagatoro ITEM #1475056 is 1/8 scale for comparison.
Gura will look quite small next to larger scale figures. Pine ITEM #1213985 is not a gigantic figure (she is listed at 1/6, but she is more like 1/6.5), and you can see how Gura compares.
And for comparison, here is Gura with her Nendoroid self ITEM #1243231.
Overall verdict and enjoyment----------9/10
Arguments for: This is the first Gura finished PVC figure, overall quality is OK, good attention to some of the small details on Gura's outfit, while the round white base is bland, it does lend itself to customization, reasonable price.
Arguments against: The price is not that cheap considering the overall quality, and like all PuP figures, the scale is rather small.
It's not a perfect figure, but at the same time if you are one of Gura's loyal shrimps, I can think of no reason not to have this figure in your collection. Time will tell I suppose if the quality of this ITEM #1495327 higher end Gura figure will justify its corresponding higher end (almost 4 times the price of this one) price.
Availability (as of this writing)
Still available for preorder outside of Japan.
If you live in the US, a number of shops, including Crunchyroll and BigBadToyStore, still have Gura open for preorder. As I write this, I couldn't find any preowned Guras at the big shops, so I suppose time will tell what will happen to her price in the aftermarket.
THANKS FOR READING!
If you liked this review, here are some of my other reviews you might also find interesting:
Wing 1/6 Pine (Bombergirl) BLOG #59234
Kotobukiya 1/7 Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers) BLOG #58272
Max Factory 1/7 Rin Kagamine "Stylish Energy" (Vocaloid) BLOG #57240
Spiritale 1/6 Ryza Stout (Atelier Ryza) BLOG #56790
Hobby Sakura 1/6 Atsumi Chiyoko (Accio original character) BLOG #55660
FOTS 1/5 Ikone Mashiro (Capriccio original character) BLOG #45000
Ques Q 1/7 Mikan Yuuki "Maid Style" (To Love Ru) BLOG #53757
About the character: Gawr Gura ENTRY #214168 is a VTuber who is associated with the well-known Hololive ENTRY #202696 agency. Gura made her debut in September 2020, and she quickly became not only the most popular English-speaking member of Hololive, but the most popular VTuber overall, surpassing Ai Kizuna ENTRY #146870 in number of YouTube subscribers.
Gura has a friendly and likable personality with a little bit of trolly gremlin for good measure, she is an excellent singer, and she is quite skilled at playing fast-paced rhythm games.
Other data:
Height: 4'7"/141 cm
Birthday: June 20
Age: At least 9000 years, but you will get a different answer each time you ask.
Nicknames: Same-chan, Goomba, Apex Predator
Packaging----------8/10
I only own one other Pop Up Parade figure, but as far as I can tell, all of them use the same basic package design.
The all-plastic box design is handy if you keep your figures in the box.
The back of the box features Gura's signature colors - red, white, and blue.
The packaging is fine, but once you remove the figure, it's just a plain plastic shell.
Base----------7/10
This is not a large figure, but Gura attaches to the base with that acrylic wedge - nothing wrong with that.
The first generation of Pop Up Parade figures used these hexagonal bases, while the last couple of PuP's (this figure and ITEM #1618453) have featured a more traditional round base. It's a fairly bland base, but IMO the round base looks better than the hex bases. The plan white color in principle allows some mild customization of the base if you are so inclined.
Posing----------8/10
As a VTuber, we typically only see Gura from the neck up, but she has a moderately lively pose, striding along. Let's have a look at her.
It also seems to me that the first generation of PuP figures had extremely static poses, so this represents a small step forward in that direction.
Sculpting----------7.5/10
Painting----------7.5/10
Pop Up Parades are meant to be mid-range budget friendly figures, less expensive than traditional scale figures, and there are some signs that these figures were made on a budget. I'd call the overall quality okay considering the price point.
The design of Gura's face is fine, although when you start looking close you can definitely see little imperfections. On the plus side, I think the design of her face is consistent with her friendly personality, and the sharp shark teeth are a key figure of her character design. If you're looking for flaws, some can definitely be seen here - the shark teeth are slightly more rounded than they should be, and you see extra little bits of material on the bottom teeth of her shark hoodie and on the tips of her hair.
Her shark hoodie has grey eyes and some gills, but you can see the painting on the eyes is not 100% perfect and you can also see some painting imperfections on the white trim.
Note the fins on the shark hoodie.
On mine, there was some spotting of the paint on her hoodie. Also, Gura's hair should be grayish-blue with highlights of dark blue and turquoise, but this figure gives her hair more of a whitish color.
I think they did a fine job with the dorsal fins on Gura's hoodie.
The color gradient on Gura's outfit is relatively well done, and the wrinkling of the material on the sleeves is a nice touch.
Gura's nails are painted, although there is no sculpting to speak of on her nails.
Although this figure has paint defects to be sure, some of the small details on Gura's outfit are accurately captured, like the yellow lacing on her hoodie, the fishbone emblem, and the buttons/snaps on the collar and on the "pulls".
Other key features of Gura's outfit are the drooling shark mouth on the midriff and the small pockets. The shark teeth and the drool are sculpted and not just painted on, although once again you can see painting issues on the pockets where the blue and white parts meet.
The finish on the shark mouth is rather rough in spots.
We don't often see Gura's shoes, but they do look like this, and there is a decent level of detail on her shoes - the shark face, the grey strap, the tab on the back of the shoes, and she does wear dark blue socks.
If you've watched the now-legendary Gawr Gura animation...
...it's established that she wears these black boy shorts underneath her hoodie (approximately 2:49 in the video) and her tail is slightly different in color on its underside.
Scale Comparison
Generally, no scale is listed on these Pop Up Parade figures. Gura is established to be 4'7"/141 cm and this figure is about 6 inches/15.25 cm tall, so let's call her about 1/9 scale.
Here is Gura with the one and only other Pop Up Parade figure I own, the PuP Mikan Yuuki ITEM #1131830. Mikan slightly taller than Gura (149 cm vs 141), and to get Mikan and Gura posed this close together, I had to remove Mikan from her base so her foot pegs are adding a little bit of height, but Mikan does seem slightly larger in scale.
These are two of my favorite characters of the last few years. Nagatoro ITEM #1475056 is 1/8 scale for comparison.
Gura will look quite small next to larger scale figures. Pine ITEM #1213985 is not a gigantic figure (she is listed at 1/6, but she is more like 1/6.5), and you can see how Gura compares.
And for comparison, here is Gura with her Nendoroid self ITEM #1243231.
Overall verdict and enjoyment----------9/10
Arguments for: This is the first Gura finished PVC figure, overall quality is OK, good attention to some of the small details on Gura's outfit, while the round white base is bland, it does lend itself to customization, reasonable price.
Arguments against: The price is not that cheap considering the overall quality, and like all PuP figures, the scale is rather small.
It's not a perfect figure, but at the same time if you are one of Gura's loyal shrimps, I can think of no reason not to have this figure in your collection. Time will tell I suppose if the quality of this ITEM #1495327 higher end Gura figure will justify its corresponding higher end (almost 4 times the price of this one) price.
Availability (as of this writing)
Still available for preorder outside of Japan.
If you live in the US, a number of shops, including Crunchyroll and BigBadToyStore, still have Gura open for preorder. As I write this, I couldn't find any preowned Guras at the big shops, so I suppose time will tell what will happen to her price in the aftermarket.
THANKS FOR READING!
If you liked this review, here are some of my other reviews you might also find interesting:
Wing 1/6 Pine (Bombergirl) BLOG #59234
Kotobukiya 1/7 Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers) BLOG #58272
Max Factory 1/7 Rin Kagamine "Stylish Energy" (Vocaloid) BLOG #57240
Spiritale 1/6 Ryza Stout (Atelier Ryza) BLOG #56790
Hobby Sakura 1/6 Atsumi Chiyoko (Accio original character) BLOG #55660
FOTS 1/5 Ikone Mashiro (Capriccio original character) BLOG #45000
Ques Q 1/7 Mikan Yuuki "Maid Style" (To Love Ru) BLOG #53757
Comments8
Interesting. I did not realize this until you pointed it out.
The original artwork, for those interested: virtualyoutuber...
The round base would also be better if it was thinner. I've never quite understood why prize figure bases tend to be so thick and chunky. You'd think if they were trying to economize on material...
I don't know if I'll collect all the Holoive PuP's, as there's only a few of the members that I actively follow - Gure, Amelia, and to a lesser degree Ina.
I guess you're right - most (all?) of the other Hololive PuPs used the hex bases.