Meryl Stryfe (Trigun: Planet Gunsmoke) Review

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Meryl Stryfe (Trigun: Planet Gunsmoke) Review

Meryl Stryfe
Trigun: Planet Gunsmoke (Kaiyodo)It's certainly an oddity to have a decade old figure that's not a Transformer in my collection but seeing as how Trigun is my favourite anime, its an oddity thats welcome. I saw her floating around on a well known website which I can't name (it rhymes with 'we play') for around $30 which I didn't think was too bad and I figured 'ehh, why not' mostly to stand her next to my Revoltech Vash and Wolfwood. Unpackaging her turned out to be bittersweet but not because shes a bad figure by any margin. The plastic count is off the scale as she comes with a multi- piece display stand in the form of a shot-up bar counter, a suitcase that opens and can contain things (among which are a small sub machine gun, a typewriter, and some additonal treats that are more for display than play value), some Bernardelli documents, a soft plastic cape and a thing to hold her numerous deringer pistols inside of said cape, parts to attach the cape to her back, hands to hold her pistols, a fist and a waving hand and a small black cat like the one commonly spotted in the show. Let it not be said that she doesn't look fantastic on display as she does and let it not be said that she doesn't have play value as each an every pistol can be either stored in its holster or placed in her hands. She actually comes with more deringers than she can ever possibly hold in case you lose 5 of them. Her posability is pretty decent for a relic such as herself, even displaying a welcome ankle swivel allowing her to adopt splayed leg poses as she shoots something or other. The level of detail on the stand is fantastic with oddities like a silent alarm sculpted in on the underside of the counter- you'd never see it on display but its there all the same. The bar connects to other pieces available with presumably other figures in the line which is a nice little incentive if you plan to get the others from the line.
What hurts the figure is when you begin to compare her to modern figures by Kaiyodo, Revoltechs in particular. The hands are difficult to swap as they are on really thick ball joints and I know im going to snap one at some stage. The lack of alternate faces I find unforgivable as shes permanantly sporting an uber-kawaii-desu-moe face that looks wrong for someone holding deringers and doesn't fit her character whatsoever. A stern face would've been most welcome and perhaps if the bar wasn't so detailed (it has a sink!!) and there weren't so many deringers there'd be a little more plastic left over for a face swap gimmick. But what really hurts her is that they never released an accompanying Millie Thompson figure and good lord she looks incomplete without her. To my knowledge this is the only Meryl figure but why on Earth they'd bother if they weren't going to complete the core cast is beyond me.
Some of the quality control on mine was off as well. I had to widen the holes on the stand (by scraping away at it with a penknife- subtlety is not my strong suit) to get the bar to peg in properly and the peg that clips her cape onto her back is too thin so it doesn't stay attached. Plus I challenge you not to lose a deringer (she has over 25 of them!!).
I quite liked the packaging she comes in- its your standard blister on cardback but the blister is molded with a deringer and two bullets making it seem that this box was unique to her and her alone. Shame I tore it open within minutes of it arriving on my doorstep...
To round off then, if you are a fan of Trigun there really isn't any excuse for you not to have this figure. I don't really have anything to compare her too but shes perfectly scaled to stand with a pair of Revoltechs released 9 years after her and she looks brilliant. There are quite a few flaws that stop her from getting a glowing 5 star review but I chalk a lot of that upto her age and point instead to the sheer number of accessories she comes with as money well spent. You get your money's worth thats for sure she's still very much an action figure who can hold her own in a firefight diarama next to the boys. If only there was a Millie...