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It's a testament to the ongoing success of One Piece in Japan that it's been able to support a premium figure range for several years, and it's even more impressive that the range has expanded and branched off. The One Piece Portrait of Pirates Excellent Model Mild range is one of these branches. Unlike the main range it focuses on the younger incarnations of the main characters from their origin stories, giving us child versions to accompany the adult figures. The first range, known as CB1, featured Luffy, Sanji and Robin (see our review here), and this second range brings us another three figures - Zolo, Nami and Nojiko. Zolo is depicted in a martial arts outfit wielding two shinai
training swords as he was when he was training as a kid, Nami is shown in her
hand-me-down green dress as she was in her origin story and her sister Nojiko is
shown in her green dungarees-style dress and t-shirt from the same. Once
again the figures all come pre-painted with only minor assembly required to
attach them to their bases, attach accessories or swap arms/faces (see Extras,
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The 'Mild' tag belies the quality of these figures, which are absolutely spot-on representations of the characters from the manga. The design is even more accurate to the source material than some of the adult figures, and the sculpting and painting is excellent as always. Join lines are superbly disguised by the design of the figures, with the sculptors ensuring they follow the contours of the hair or clothing to keep them as inconspicuous as possible. They're only really noticeable on the Nami figure's hair, a common issue but not one that's really pronounced here, plus there's a reason for it (again, see Extras, below). In many ways the style of the figures is quite simplistic, with quite normal, plainly coloured outfits and simple features. However, the detail Megahouse have crammed in is superb, with perfect painting to bring the facial features to life, and a quality sculpt to add shape and definition to the hair and clothing. As always the figures are free standing even without the included bases and taking the Nami and Nojiko figures off their bases allows you to join their outstretched hands together, which means you can display the two sisters holding hands. This beautifully thoughtful - and somewhat unexpected - touch is a perfect |
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example of the level of care and attention that goes into the design of Megahouse's Portrait of Pirate figures, and a picture on the box shows the two figures are intended to be displayed with the Portrait of Pirates figure of their mother Bellemere. The only thing I can say is that it's a real shame that the Bellemere figure has (at the time of writing) never been re-issued, it's only one of two original Portrait of Pirate figures that never has and it makes displaying the Nami and Nojiko figures as they were intended next to impossible. However, even without it the figures are excellent, in fact they're even better than the first Mild range and it's a real shame that only one more range followed it. Even though they were released some time ago and have never been reissued these One Piece Portrait of Pirates Excellent Model Mild CB2 figures have not increased in value as much as the standard POP ranges. If you can find them they would still be affordable and I personally couldn't recommend them highly enough. Extras: A plastic base with the character name (in English) and the Strawhat Pirates emblem is included with the Zolo figure, whilst Nami & Nojiko's bases have their names and Nami's 'pinwheel' tattoo as an emblem instead of the Strawhats logo. The bases have pegs on it for the figure to attach to and no glue is required. The Zolo figure comes with two bamboo swords and an alternative face with his mouth closed. Nami comes with a tiny model tangerine that rests in her upturned hand and an alternative face with her mouth closed, and Nojiko comes with an alternative arm and alternative grinning face. The faces can be attached by removing the front segment of Nojiko or Nami's hair, swapping one face for the other and re-attaching the hair, whilst Zolo's can just be popped off and swapped. The swords fit firmly in Zolo's hands and Nojiko's arm can be easily removed and swapped, the only issue is Nami's tangerine which can easily be knocked off as it is only resting in her hand. All in all though the extras are great! Ratings Feature:
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