PSO2es: Gene (Stella Memories Ver.)

In late-May, I found a pre-owned scale figure of Gene on AmiAmi with condition ITEM B+, BOX B+. I actually sat on this one for two weeks while I mulled over it. I typically like to justify my figure purchases, so I put this under a small work bonus I was nominated for by a colleague.

Gene is from the mobile game Phantasy Star Online 2 es. This figure rendition of her was based off of an illustration by Nidy-2D-, sculpted by Mitsuru Hoya-sensei, and manufactured by Kotobukiya. She was originally released in mid-2020. Once again, I broke my rule of “only get figures from a series or game that I’ve played before” (the last time I broke this was for Plachta). I bought this figure purely because I loved its illustration and its rendition. In particular, I bought it for her legs and wink pose.

Before shipping, AmiAmi listed her for 19,170 JPY. This is higher than her original list price on AmiAmi of 16,500. After looking on MyFigureCollection, I found some other sites that were selling her new or pre-owned for a few thousand yen higher than on AmiAmi. As DHL is still the only shipping method into Canada, I asked AmiAmi for some shipping estimates. I had Halloween Rem and Nendoroid Uzaki also slated to ship at the end of month (will probably have a post for that some time later), and was also thinking of getting a figure for a friend, so I felt that adding another one shouldn’t be too bad. The estimate I got back, although still high, was still lower than what I was expecting (was honestly >$175 CAD, so I “bit the bullet” and ordered her near the end of the month. Props to AmiAmi on their shipping estimates: it was spot on 👍👌. Speculating a bit, I think it’s due to the fact that they use fixed-size shipping boxes, and DHL charges by volumetric weight, so they know what items can fit in which box.

After a few days, she arrived in a huge shipping box with my other figures:

Taking her out, she was in pretty good condition. There was a bit of dust and whatnot in various places, such as her left arm and back, but that was easily removed with a camera lens blower. The only noticeable “damage” was on the base with a small micro-scratch that’s only visible at a certain angle if you look really closely, so I wasn’t concerned. There was also another scuff mark on the her back that was also hard to notice, so I think AmiAmi’s rating of ITEM B+ was justified.

Taking a look at Gene as a whole, we’ll see that she is standing shoulder-width apart, with her feet angled inwards. She leans forward, with her right arm out and hand above her right eye in a salute-like pose. This, along with her closed right eye, gives the impression that she’s looking at something really bright or winking at someone in the distance. Her left arm extends downwards to her left leg, where she rests her hand.

I actually don’t know where to begin with this figure, so I’ll start from the top with Gene’s hair. Her twintails are held in place with (what I like to believe are) triangular armour pieces. From a distance, their triangular shape gives a cat-ear feel, which was kind of cool. Looking closer, they’re also done really nicely: there’s a nice small gap between the outer red-white portion and the inner black portion, with a lime-green portion connecting the two together. This lime-green is the same colour as the highlight strands of hair on her head, which I thought was pretty neat.

Moving down to her face, we see her striking a wink, and we see that her mouth also includes a little fang, which I really like.

Moving a bit lower, she has quite large breasts underneath her open-shoulder sweater/shirt combination. Two black straps run from the front to the back along her shoulders to prevent her assets from being exposed. They are also quite literally huge (and arguably) exaggerated from every angle you look at them. On her left breast, a gold star accessory is pinned on her sweater. Her sweater also features knit-like line patterns, which I thought were really nicely recreated. In particular, I love the two twisty patterns that run from the top to the bottom of the sweater, which appears on both the front and the back. It adds some texture to her clothing from afar, giving it a sense of realism. In addition, there are red stripes along the sides of her shirt and around the cuffs.

We also can’t finish talking about this sweater without noticing the various pieces of armour/mech. She’s got some near her hands, her shoulders, and attached to a belt along her waist. On her back, she’s also got her wings, which features a translucent gradient along its edges: another small little detail I really like! Once again, each piece subtly includes her nice lime-green accent colour also found in her hair.

As we move down, we see Gene’s legs. She’s wearing black thigh-high socks, and similarly, she has gear on her socks, in particular, around her thighs where the socks end. The gear here really amplifies her thick thighs: it gives the illusion that they’re squeezing them. They are my favourite part of this figure: it looks soooo good. The area around her knees also feature nice little bend marks on both the front and back of her knees, further adding to the realism; props to that! On each side of her leg, we also see a line, which appears to represent the sock’s seam, go from top to bottom. It’s really subtle, but also a nice little detail. Her gear, once again, has the lime-green and red accents as seen on her upper half.

As we make our way down to the bottom, we see Gene’s boots. They’re black, and feature the same nice lime-green accent on the bottom, and a white heel on the back. We also see the similar triangular piece holding her hair, except this time, it’s around her ankles.

And there you have it! I also played around with some stuff as per usual, so here it is below.

Overall, although I don’t play this game, I do appreciate a really detailed, well sculpted pre-painted figure. From the hair accessories to her boots, this is another figure that has delivered such detail, and I have no regrets bringing her home! I should also add that if you look underneath, her underwear also features a little bow outlined in the same lime-green accent colour, so that was also nice. No photos of that though, cause I would have to unscrew the figure off the base, and I don’t really want to right now 😉.

Anyways, that’s all I have this time around. I’ll unbox Halloween Rem at some point, but until next time!
~Lui