Neutron Jammer: POP Sailing Again

May I present my first Portrait of Pirates, the POP Sailing Again - Nami. Well what can I say, a One Piece figure collection isn't complete without this sexy character. So what's better way to kick-start a POP collection than to get a POP Nami, especially this particular version where Eiichiro Oda redesigned her to look even more sexier, and Megahouse managed to capture every detail of that essence.

Nami is the navigator, the third member and the first female character of the crew (more details about Nami here). This POP is the first version of Nami in her appearance after the two-year time skip. Yes, I said first version, because I am expecting more POP Nami post-time skip versions to come. In fact, there is already an upcoming POP Limited - Nami Sailing Again (Crimin ver) which will be released this coming December.

After the two-year time-skip, Nami's hair grows longer. Her usual outfit becomes more revealing, unlike before when she's just wearing shirts most of the time. She is now wearing a green bikini halter top with white stripes and patterns, paired with tight low-rider jeans and orange high-heeled sandals.

At first, collecting POP's wasn't on my plan. I am kind of satisfied on collecting Figuarts ZEROs of One Piece characters. I always considered collecting 1/8 scale figures though, but I felt it's a bit expensive for me at that time. But when I saw a photo of this version of Nami online, I said to myself that I will get this one if I must own just one POP. Some POP fans might argue and say that this isn't the best and there are other better POP's. But already I fell right into this.

Come February 2012, I tried hunting online for a reasonable price for this figure, but with no luck. Most retailers were either out of stock, or selling it at absurdly expensive price. That's because this figure has been released for more than a month already, and it's availability is getting lower and lower (that's before the re-release announcement). I wonder how many units Megahouse usually produce POP releases.

And then there is a savior,... for purchasing a too expensive POP at least. A stock has just pop up from Hobby Frontier while I was browsing their site, with the same initial stock price. I immediately ordered it online (before someone else does) and emailed them about it. They confirmed that it was a cancelled order from one of the customers. It was apparently, since there were no stock left after my purchase. A lucky day for me.

And then there is addiction... As soon as I got my hands on it, and was able to inspect the details, I am truly amazed by the quality of the figures Megahouse produces. This figure is worth every penny and I am glad to have actually purchase it. I wanted more, so I decided to collect the all POP Sailing Again character releases including the upcoming ones. Then recently, I just found myself hunting some other previous POP releases that I missed while they are still available and affordable.... addiction, indeed.

Anyway, Megahouse first released this figure, late December 2011 for 5,985 yen (tax included) under the Excellent Model series. On that same month, POP Sailing Again - Monkey D. Luffy and POP Sailing Again - Tony Tony Chopper were also released. That means three POPs in a month. I guess that was Megahouse's holiday special. Those three were then re-released last month, July 2012. I already got Luffy and Chopper on preorder and now just waiting for them arrive, didn't have to hunt them down anymore. Good thing for me, I already got Nami, so my budget is just enough for July.

This figure is scaled 1/8 and it stands about 220 mm. That makes her actual height is 176 cm. But according to Eiichiro Oda, she is only 169 cm. I guess that difference accounts for the high heels. Pretty much accurate I think.

Nami is shorter than POP Sailing Again - Sanji. See the size comparison below.

POP Sailing Again - Nami and POP Sailing Again - Sanji

These are just my first two POP's, both are from Sailing Again series.

Box Art and Contents

Nami's box is simple and not as huge as other POP's boxes, about 140mm x 120mm x 260mm. That's because the figure itself is just a normal size without any accessories and optional parts, aside from the fact that she is actually half naked.

The box is windowed on the front, top and both sides. You will see almost the whole figure when looking at the front window. It bears a silver Toei foil sticker of authenticity, meaning, it is an international release. That's because I got it from Hobby Frontier which is a Singapore based online store.

The box design has an aquatic theme. On the two sides, each has the close-up photo of the figure in different angles. The back part also has the figure's photo in different angles.

Out of the box, as I have mentioned, the figure does not come with any accessories and optional parts. Only the standard base stand.

Personal Impressions

This figure is very pretty. It is made with Nami's new sexed-up look in mind.

The pose and the facial expression is actually as that of a pin-up model. More like the bishoujo figures. It looks almost like she is seducing someone, which is not in Nami's personality (unless she is using the "Shiawase Punch" technique).

While she is looking gorgeous, I would prefer her pose to be a bit more dynamic while holding her Clima-tact. Or better yet, keep the pin-up style appearance and have some optional replacement parts like serious or battle ready face, and with arms holding the Clima-tact. There should be some way to do that. Because on the current pose and expression, it would look odd beside SA Zoro and the upcoming SA Usopp. This is just my minor preference though and doesn't really matter that much, since the figure is already awesome as it is. And besides, Nami looked appropriate next to SA Sanji with his silly perverted face (referring to the photo with Sanji above).

Here you can see the face details. I'm not quite sure if these eyes are made of decals or machine printed, all I know is that these aren't hand painted. The lips is painted pink and brown detail. Just a subtle smile so no teeth is shown. Can't really comment much about the face as it is really well done. No paint smudges or anything here. Very nice.

The hair is made of translucent plastic, painted in orange with fine light-orange detailing and is gradually diminishing toward the edges. A lot of recent female figures were applied with this kind of technique for the hair and I really love it. The only problem is that the paint adhesion isn't that strong and may easily be scratched if not handled properly.

The hair seam line is visible here but isn't too obvious when you look at the actual figure.

The back of the hair. A really amazing sculpt. You will notice the translucent plastic on the edges. Very cool effect.

For figures like these with bikini tops, the main selling point is the sculpt of the curvature of the body, specially the chest. Nami's breast though huge, it is well proportion with the rest of the body. It has a nice rounded shape and has a very nice sculpt. Not droopy nor gravity defying, it looks absolutely fine.

Oda said, according to Sanji, her measurements are B86-W57-H86 (34"-22"-34").

The bikini top is a separate mold but it is fixed to the body and not removable like those with some other figures. The paint job is fine and no obvious imperfection.

A really nice feminine body curves and very well proportioned. The subtle orange shading looks natural, it accentuates the body curves without looking offensive.

The body curves in side view. Still looks good.

A shot from below. Really looks good at every angle.

The tight low rider jeans is painted in blue and has nice faded effect. Too low that it exposes most of her hips. The wrinkles on each side of the jeans looks natural. Nice sculpt and coloring.

The fingernails are painted in peach. There are some very small imperfections on the left fingers, particularly the middle finger, the part that are resting on the hips, but it isn't really noticeable on the actual figure, only on the photos.

Full shot on the jeans.

A shot from left side. There is a noticeable paint scratch on the left side of the belly. I'm not sure if I did it, or its a factory defect. It actually bugs me so I'm thinking for fixing it with some paint someday. I just need to find the right color so it won't mess up the figure.

The rings on the side of the jeans are painted on gold with light brown on each center.

A better view of the body curves. At this angle, the hair seems to be being blown by the wind. But I find the hair at the front left part looks odd, it should have been resting on the body or also blown away backwards.

The log-pose is made of green translucent plastic. The seam is very obvious but not an issue. The bracelet is movable but only until between the wrist and the log-pose.

In this shot, you can see Nami's usual tatoo on the left shoulder. The hair at the front left side looks more odd here. Nice jeans details.

The butt shape and butt crack are more pronounced in this angle.

The orange high heels looks fine. Toe nails are also painted in peach. And as you can see, Nami can stand fine by itself without the base stand.

The base stand has an orange color for a lot of obvious reasons. This is my first POP but I believe that most bases are like these and are pretty much standard, almost all has an octagonal shape . The words written are "Portrait of Pirates" , "POP Sailing Again", "Nami", "Mugiwara Pirates".

Nami standing on the base. I'm currently displaying her like this, - with the base. But eventually, I might find my display shelf full of POP's so I might remove the base stand to give room for others.

As I have said earlier, I am really glad that I picked this one up for my first POP. It's nice to look at her next to the rest of my collections. The figure design is simple and does not have too many details but its just fine and enough justice was given to the character. Some imperfections were covered by the amazing sculpt and coloring. Megahouse has the reputation of making the best One Piece figures on the form the POP's, and I have witnessed it myself by owning this figure. This made me decide to start my POP collection.

So be ready my trustee wallet! Don't let me down.

Please enjoy the photo gallery below.