Welcome to the Solaris Blog! ヾ( ʚ̴̶̷  .̫ ʚ̴̶̷ )ﾉ” 

Today we’re reviewing the new Megumin Rock Ver. figure from Kadokawa!

NOTE: We took all photos shown here and made minimal edits to them. We slightly adjusted the color/lighting, dust was Photoshopped out, and we cropped each photo. However, we did not remove any blemishes or imperfections.

As we draw closer to the end of 2020, it’s hard to think that it was only last year that the world was going through some very different issues: the Japanese emperor abdicating, a president impeached, dining out without having to check that you’ve got your keys, wallet, and bottle of sanitizer. Ah yes, those were the days ;~;

But why, you ask, are we reminiscing about 2019? Well, first off, 2020 sucks and can absolutely f*** off. Second, 2019 was the magical year when the 6th Anime Japan event was held, aptly themed after rock music since ‘6’ and ‘rock’ have a similar spelling in Japanese. And from this rock theme, our best girl Megumin got the rockstar makeover we didn’t realize we needed. But the real cherry on top (🎶 she’s my cherry pie 🎶) is her makeover coming to life in figure form. 

So, grab your fingerless gloves and get ready to rock cos the show’s about to start!

Right away, Megumin’s pose grabs your attention with its lively combination of cute and cool. The slight tilt of her waist and her billowing hair make it look like this Arch Wizard just made her entrance on stage by striking a pose. 

Her normal witch attire has been swapped with some classic rock staples, but the one that got us most excited was her choice of instrument: the keytar. While not the most popular these days, you might recognize this instrument from the keytar explosion of the 80s, in the hands of many glam-metal and new-wave bands. Wait, explosion? No wonder Megumin picked it... (;◕ㅂ▰)

The keytar is such a well-done and cute recreation. The metallic, deep berry color of the keytar really pops against the darker colors of Megumin’s outfit and boy, does the detailing really show. (╯✧ ∇ ✧)╯

I mean, check out the glossiness and cut of the keys. It looks so real, it left us wishing we could bust out a solo, if only it actually worked…and if only we knew how to play the keytar. (◑ ‿ ◐) 

But getting back on the more technical side of things — the back of the keytar is where you’ll see two connector holes: one for the strap and the other for Megumin’s hand. On the side is a third one, where you can connect the instrument’s cord.

The cord comes coiled up but is easy to unwind — this tension also lends the plastic cord some nice bends and grooves when unfurled for a more realistic appearance. 

One end of the cord has a little plug that connects to the side of the keytar, which then hides the small unpainted tip. Maybe to avoid paint scraping off? We'll definitely get back to that in just a second. (*′☉.̫☉)

As an accessory, we thought it was fun to have included but honestly nothing mind-blowing. Ultimately, plugging it in is totally up to you. While we mostly opted to pose Megumin with the cord attached, it honestly did not look bad sans cord as well. 

So back to the topic of paint scraping off — one connector peg that was noticeably painted was on Megumin’s hand that holds the keytar’s neck. We assume it was painted to blend with the rest of her hand, in case she's posed without her instrument. 

That's all fine and good, until you DO pose her with the keytar. ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡

Immediately after removing the instrument, we noticed the paint had begun scraping off the connector peg. Against the black color of her glove, it was hard to miss. 

Adding to the struggle, the keytar became harder and harder to attach as we continued to fiddle with the figure. At first, it snapped on without issue. But the next time, the keytar began popping off the peg with only the slightest bit of movement, and thus, the cycle began. (ꐦ○_○） 

We thought maybe it wasn’t attaching all the way, but brute force didn’t seem to be the answer as her wrist felt a bit fragile, wiggling around as we tried to reconnect the part. 

We’ll be completely honest — we don’t know if there is any way around this issue besides Kadokawa having forgone the connector peg in the first place, but fair warning that it’s something to prepare yourself for. 

Speaking of connecting parts, Megumin has a connector hole in her shoulder for the keytar strap to stay in place. While this is a very functional addition, it’s also a very noticeable one so we don’t recommend posing her without the strap.

Overall, the multiple connection points seem like a good idea in theory and they might be fine if you only have to put things together once. However, we put stuff together three or four times and had problems lining everything up — we’d connect the strap to her shoulder, but then it would pop out when we attached the neck of the keytar to her hand...it was definitely a process. (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Despite these bumps in the road, we can’t deny that Megumin looks amazing once set up. The comeback is always greater than the setback, as they say! 

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Even though Megumin’s expression may look a bit basic, we think her coy smile and bright eyes add the perfect dose of excitement to the figure. It’s almost like she’s looking into the crowd of fans, completely absorbed in the moment with her energy bubbling just beneath the surface, ready to...explode! 

And Megumin’s not only making fashion statements with her eyepatch, but with her leather choker too. Although a perfect pop-punk addition, we couldn’t help but notice the relatively sloppy paint job around the buckle. We’re gonna be honest — we’re not blowing up over this. Painting inside the lines is sometimes easier said than done, especially with these finer sections, but we do want to throw this out there: it comes up again. This questionable painting is a bit of a recurring theme so you can expect to see it mentioned again.  

And we might have some gripes with her hair too, but let’s start with the good. Megumin’s short bob looks messy and voluminous, suiting her rocker aesthetic extraordinarily well. The layers of choppy strands are beautifully layered and shaded, accented nicely by the sway of her long bangs up front. Only Megumin could pull off the reverse mullet as perfectly as she does!  

While we were impressed with her hair for the most part, there were two sections that, from above, caught our attention and not in the best of ways.  

The two sections in question? A chunk of her bangs and a clump of strands more towards the back of her head. These sections really stand out because of their blending, or lack thereof — it looks like the parts were smushed on and smoothed out, but the seams are painfully obvious. We’re just thankful it’s not an issue when admiring Megumin from the front. 

Like a true rock legend, Megumin is decked out in merch, sporting a loose-fitting t-shirt with the 2019 event’s logo front and center. The wide cut of the neckline just barely clings to Megumin’s slender shoulders, showing off her slim frame and balancing her pale skin with the darker tones of her new lewk. The best part? Those triangle cutouts on her billowing sleeves — an homage to her normal attire? 

We also have to give this sculpt the shoutout it deserves. Check out how the strap perfectly sits beneath some wrinkles on the back of her shirt to make her pose as realistic as possible — they really put a lot of thought into this design! If only they’d done the same for the hand peg...

Also, did anyone else notice how Megumin’s normal gloves work so perfectly for this look that the design literally does nothing to them to add some rock ‘n’ roll edge?

Mind. blown. 

Tbh, even her hair seems like a perfect match to this special event illustration. Is it just us, or does Megumin’s transformation just seem so...effortless? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Her hair and gloves are, of course, not enough to seal the deal though, so she still has an arsenal of accessories to really zhuzh things up. 

On both wrists, she’s flashing some flat-studded bracelets and silver bangles, whose criss-cross ties have an almost barbed-wire look, really adding to the pop of punk in her outfit. The bangles on her left wrist are actually rotatable too, since they’re not directly connected to the figure.

Her cuffed shorts are topped off with both belt and chain — 2005 Hot Topic, eat your heart out — but this is one spot where that pesky paint problem we mentioned earlier rears its ugly, uneven head again. ((유∀유|||))

The bulk of the paint defects seemed to be where the silver meets the black parts of the chain — it didn't pick up too much in the photos, but the paint is super uneven, bleeding out and leaving behind a clumpy mess of black splotches. It’s the same deal: from afar, it’s really not an issue but with closer inspection, it’s hard to ignore in some spots. 

Thankfully, this simply is not an issue with her fishnet tights since they’re made with real fabric! 

We didn’t all agree about how well this fabric choice suited the figure — on one side, the seam at the back looks a bit extreme when you consider the scale of the figure. But on the other hand, most people won’t be staring from the back since just like her reverse mullet, it’s strictly business in back and party up front. ٩꒰ ˘ ³˘꒱۶

So, we’ve covered the top, front, and back. We’ve got only one more direction to aim our attention towards: the base. 

We’ll start off with the obvious: there’s not much going on here (unless you’re super into clear bases, that is). (☉_☉)

Right out of the box, we found a number of scratches on the base too. It wasn’t too easy to capture in photos, so maybe the transparency of the base does offer some utility in this sense? ɿ(｡･ɜ･)ɾ

The second advantage of the clear base involves Megumin’s boots. 

But we need to divert the discussion for one second, because are her boots not the absolute best? We’re a sucker for some punk buckle boots (say that ten times fast), so the arch of the thick rubber soles and the Doc Marten-esque silhouette had us scrambling to Google to shop for some new statement shoes. Christmas creepers, baby! (ᗒᗨᗕ)

And yeah, we know we’ve been groaning about the paint job, but in this case the silver buckles actually look amazing in person.

With that tangent out of the way, let’s talk about that base-boot combo. Of course, you’re probably not going to be posing Megumin bottoms up so we can only hype this so much, but hear us out guys.

The soles of Megumin’s boots would almost never be fully appreciated with how most figures go, but with a clear base? Yeah. Just check out that detailed sculpt of her textured, rubber soles. Even if some wonderfully detailed rubber soles don’t exhilarate you, I think we can all agree on one thing: Megumin definitely won’t be slipping onstage any time soon. 

Phew! It was quite the ride, but the show’s almost over folks. (✖ ‿ ✖)

So, what do we think? Well, Megumin always looks stunning so Kadokawa doesn’t necessarily get cred for that. But their recreation of her wild transformation really brings Megumin’s eccentric and boisterous personality to life. There were definitely some drawbacks in the execution, but we can’t deny that the final design and look did what it needed to. 

While we love Megumin as she is, this shakeup to her normal appearance is welcomed with open arms. It’s a fresh, new take that adds a bit of variety to the normal offerings you’ll find of Megumin and is the keytar-riff studded bit of flair just waiting to join your band, er, collection.