What Could This Be?

Wow; big box. It seems to be from AmiAmi too ^^ My first ever purchase from them, although it arrived after my second buy (Tensouder) I got from them last week. They're my new number one store ^^

*KKKFFFFFZZZZZTTTT*

...Um... Whut? @_@

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Is it normal for glowy boxes to suddenly burst open? ^^;;

Oh wait, it's just my Chogokin Drossel ^^; I guess all of the glowing and bursting was just Drossel's sheer amount of awesomeness defying the laws of all that makes sense.

I actually pre-ordered her as soon as AmiAmi put their pre-orders up many, many months ago ^^ She left AA on release morning (Feb 27th) but has been travelling this whole time. I needed to save money so went for SAL shipping ^^;
AmiAmi had the best price too; ¥5850 instead of ¥8000, and their half-price shipping sale made it to a total of ¥6690. A good price ^^

The boxart is pretty. Very nice, shiny black with the traditional Fireball floral designs and metallic logos and text. Lots of Chogokin Drossel pics too, naturally.
As you can see, it has a window on the front also; showing through a nice picture of Gedächtnis on the inside. But more on that later.

Lots of info on the back, detailing her different modes and features. Eight more photos to go with the other eleventy-billion on every side of the box. ^^

Cracking her open; we have a very nice instruction manual (top-left) and the nice Gedächtnis art card that we saw earlier on the top-right (with lots of text that I wish I could read T-T).
But of course, the main parts... The two trays for Drossel; one polystyrene box for her main Normal mode, and another plastic tray housing her other heads, hands and the stand. All very nicely secured and protected.

**POOOOOF!**

Drossel: Online?

*Wiggles fingers*

Drossel: Body seems fine.

**POOOOOF!**

Drossel: Belinda Unit desu.

**POOOOOF!**

Drossel: Fashion accessories are amazing.

**GACHA!**

Drossel: And awesome.

**POOOOOF!**

Drossel: What about my new eyes? YOU LOVE THEM, RIGHT?

And here's her display stand. Very shiny, yet with a cracked, dilapidated look to mirror the marble tiled flooring in Tempest Tower. That place is old and survived wars, you know.
It also has a peg attached for inserting into either or Drossel's heels.

So, I was thinking... Since she is now my 13th Drossel, how about the name Drossel X-13? Xiu for short? You know, because 13 in Roman numerals is XIII... "U" kinda looks like two "i"s... And of course the "X" is from your real name too... And Xiu means elegant, beautiful... What do you think?

Drossel: I think you have too much time on your hands.

...But you like it... Right? ^^;

Drossel: ...Sugoi da.

Thank god ^^;;

Anyway, what do I think of Chogo Dross'? I think she's great. The normal price is a little high at ¥8000, but I think she's worth it.
One of her main draws is her being mostly die-cast metal (everything but her skirt, heads and hands). She feels great in your hands with the cold metal and the sheer weight of her. All of her joints are nice and sturdy metal too.
The possibility is pretty great. The joint systems in place surprised me; they're not just balljoints etc, but most joints have more joints within them. For someone with their first Chogokin, that blows my mind ^^;
But no articulated fingers? I feel like they missed the boat on that. It could've put the Chogo on top over the figma and gashapon.

Paint apps are good, but not totally perfect. There's a few slightly sloppy parts here are there, but then again, this is mass produced and not everything can be perfect.
One of the big reasons why I got her is because of all of the paint apps missing from her figma. She had so many little logos and warnings all over her in the TV show which the figma was missing. The Chogokin has them all and they're all crystal clear. Not to mention other missing paint apps like the black on her fingers.

The other main draw for most people are the LED eyes in her main head. I'm a little split on them however.
First is turning them on. On each side of Drossel's main head is a small groove, which you use to pull off the top half of her head to gain access to the switch inside. I'm not a fan of that at all because it feels like a little bit of risk damaging her while removing it, not to mention the added seams that it gives her head.
Second is that the lights don't really light-up her whole eyes, just mainly bright dots for each LED in the center of each, instead of them being smoothly lit all over. The way it was assembled also makes the bottom half of her face glow slightly.
It looks good but could've been better.
Because of the LED eyes, they also miss the great metallic-y, glittery eyes that the other heads have. The LED head still has them, but are less noticeable and are a little darker.

Her accessories are well done, as to be expected. Her Obruchev Unit head is very well built and detailed, has removable parts and of course has the spring-loaded mechanism for instant awesomeness.
Her Belinda head is great. There's not too much to say about it because it's everything you expect. It differs from the figma version with the blue transparent "ribbons" being made of soft-flexible plastic. Very nice indeed.
There's her 12 hands also, which is a good amount. Pretty much everything you'll need for her while on display.

Speaking of display, there's her display stand. It's pretty nice and I didn't expect the nice cracked look like in the show; so points to them for that.
Buuuut, it does feel a little cheap. It's just hollow plastic with three black paint apps. A marble and dirt paint effect would have been nice, or maybe a little Fireball logo nameplate? Wood would have been good too XD

So is she worth it? I think that's up to the individual to decide. If you're a biiig Fireball fan, then I say go for it. Otherwise, I think the figma would be the best choice for you.
Now don't get me wrong, I love Chogokin Drossel ^^ But for her high price and not-so-different-ness from the figma (other than scale and material), if you're not a big fan then I'd say the cheaper figma will do you fine.
Some parts could have been done a little better, but it's still a very, very nice addition to my Fireball collection.

Oh yes, and apologies for the not-so-good photos this time ^^; Illness isn't fun OTL
I was originally going to do another photo-story or a full photo-review, but I needed to get it all done quickly to rest. But I hope you all still enjoyed ^^

*Crawls back into bed* =_=