New Release Photo Review: POP Neo-EX - Boa Hancock ver. Blue

The lovely POP Neo-EX - Boa Hancock ver. Blue has been officially released last Saturday, 30th of March 2013. And as usual, we got some early photos of the figure to review courtesy of ワンピース POP 予約＆新作速報 of blog.livedoor.jp. It's not like we need these images to see the beauty of this figure, but rather to see how exciting and lovable this new version is.

I won't discuss much about the details this figure since every POP collector are very familiar with it being just an alternate version of the original POP Neo-DX Boa Hancock. The only notable differences between this version and the original are it's color (which is blue instead of red), and the addition of the new winked-eye alternate face.

But as the original red version, Boa Hancock is totally beautiful in this particular version. By adding that new alternate face, MegaHouse breathe new life to this now considered rare and classic figure. She looks cute in this face and has a totally different personality as compared to the original serious face and that kinda erotically irritated face.

This figure isn't just some random recolor like those Bikini Namis and Bikini Boa Hancocks. It was referenced from the manga. While she's still wearing red in the Anime, she is actually wearing the same dress but in blue after the two-year timeskip as shown in the manga chapter 598 color page, just with a slightly different cape design. I don't know why the animators were too lazy to change the color of her dress. Or maybe they just didn't noticed that blue dress and kept the color red (see the source image from manga below).

Excerpts from manga chapter 598

The idea of the winking eye was taken from the chapter 602, during the time when she was helping the Strawhats to escape from the marines (see the source image from manga below). 

Excerpts from manga chapter 602

For me, even if you have the original red version, this one is still worth getting. And for those like me, who happened not to have the original, but is dying to have this POP Boa Hancock, this is a heaven sent as we don't need to pay too much for the now expensive red version.

Retailing for 7,350 yen (inclusive of tax), you can still find her on a lot on online hobby shops. Despite having the tag LIMITED, she isn't a totally limited edition item since she is available on most retailers and an international version was released. Not a web shop exclusive as I thought she was. If you haven't ordered yours, now's the best time to do so. I'm excitingly waiting for my copy to arrive at my doorstep.

Images below by ワンピース POP 予約＆新作速報 of blog.livedoor.jp