Us at Kakuchopurei.com love Overwatch and at that, equally love our toys. So you can only imagine our excitement when we first saw the reveal that Japanese toymakers famous for their Nendoroid line – Good Smile Company are releasing their own rendition of Blizzard’s Overwatch heroes starting with our favorite Brit, Tracer. The prototype pics shows a chibi version of the Overwatch mascot we come to love but as all product reveal do, they normally do not represent the final released product. Will it hold? And how does the final product do justice to the character?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpyRavogoBM&w=560&h=315]

After months of waiting, we finally got our grubby hands on it yesterday and without further ado, here’s our review of this super cute Nendoroid figure.

Packaging: 4/5

As seen on the box, the Nendoroid Tracer: Classic Skin Edition is the 730th figure released under the Nendoroid range (duh!) and while this is our first ever Nendoroid purchase, we are pretty confident that they’ve perfected the production quality, paint apps overall and features. The figure comes packaged in a windowed box as seen above with smaller clear windows on each sides and images of the Tracer figure adorn it all around.

Accessories: 3/5

Straight out of the box, you’ll get your Tracer figure and all its accessories held in place by a clear plastic shell. Additional clear sheathes of plastic protect her head and body while a sturdy plug is attached to the extra bendy right leg.

Along with the main figure, you will get the following:

One pair of pistol holding hands, one pair of open-palmed hands, two Tracer pistols (for the pistol holding hands), a sticky bomb, a plastic clear stand with a bendable arm and two sets of interchangeable faceplates which can be swapped with other Nendoroid figures. In case you are wondering, yes, you can remove Tracer’s goggles. It is secured via a small slit inside the sculpt of her hair.

The Actual Figure: 5/5

Size-wise, the Nendoroid Tracer stands about 10-cm or roughly four inches tall. The paint application is astounding and we didn’t notice any splotches. She’s got different patches on each of her shoulders and the way her yellow tracksuit shifts to orange towards her feet shows how much detail and care Good Smile put into producing this figure. Here’s a quick comparison with some of our other toys on the shelf.

Articulation: 2/5 

Let’s be clear early on: Nendoroids are not known for their articulation. The chibi versions in the range emphasizes more on aesthetics, rather than functionality hence the low score, which we put quite high on the priority when talking about action figures. 

On the articulation side of things, due to its sculpt and size, the Nendoroid Tracer is quite limited. Her stubby arms can stretch out to a limited degree and you can only bend the elbows via a single-jointed system. The wrists are connected via tiny pegs for some swivel and minimal pivots. Swapping her hands is a straight-forward case of unplugging and plugging in parts as you wish and we are happy to announce that the joints are sturdy.

Her legs bend can kick out forward to a limited degree but does not go back that much at all. For those who want to pull off her pose as seen on the Overwatch promo screens, Good Smile included an extra mold of her right leg which can be swapped by unplugging her leg off the ball-joint. One cool feature they included into the figure is her articulated fringe, allowing you to replicate one of her famous emotes of blowing her hair off her face.

She’s a top-heavy figure a due to the proportions of her head so we do not recommend posing her on shelves without securing her to a stand. The stand and extended arm included with the figure allows you to put her in various action poses including a mid-air jump. Also included (not pictured) is the recall effect that can be attached to a small plug on the figure’s back. We had a good time playing with the figure and experimenting  about with various poses and are sure you will too.

Final Thoughts & Overall Score: 3.5/5 

Overall we are very satisfied with this figure. While we are not huge fans of the Nendoroid series, this is a definite pick for us simply for being a brilliant action figure with clean paint app, fun features and a brilliant Good Smile debut for an Overwatch character. The articulation bit pulled the overall score to 3.5/5 but for those willing to overlook that minor nit, this is a must-pick figure for any action figure (and of course, Overwatch) fans out there.

Good Smile have revealed that two more Overwatch characters are coming to their Nendoroid lineup – Mei and Mercy – and we cannot wait to get our hands on them as well. The Good Smile Nendoroid Tracer: Classic Skin Edition is now available on all good toy stores near you.

What do you think of our first ever toy review? Think we can improve on it? (well of course we can!). Drop us your thoughts in the comments section below!