Astro Toy

Rio-Bone Stocking

Rio-Bone Stocking
Series: Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Maker: Sentinel
Cost: $60

Hi, guys. I've caught my breath a little bit after that Wing Gundam figure and I think I'll be alright. The weather is bad, but I can do this. Let's do an Astro Toy column.

Let's talk about Astro Toy's process real quick. Most of the figures I pick for this column are choices that I think the ANN audience will want to see. Obviously major stuff like FMA, Madoka, even that terrible Alucard figure just get bought regardless. Other figures are choices from the further reaches that I think will be fun for the readers. We roll the dice on those. Sometimes I'm right about them, sometimes I'm wrong. And finally, there is a third group of Astro Toys: things I had on order and was going to buy anyway. Like, say, Fourze.

I had the Rio-Bone Panty figure on order, and when I reviewed it for Astro Toy, I liked it so much that I put Stocking on order for myself right away. When it came time for Astro Toy, we just slapped it on the schedule. Does she live up to the previous release? Almost.

First things first: I will show you something funny. As soon as you take the figure out, her hair will pop off. It's an umbrella, see? Rather than having just the front of the hair come off, Stocking's whole mop is removable, leaving a funny pinkhead with a plastic rectangle bulging out of her.

When you try to move her arms around with the hair still attached, it becomes obvious why this was done. Stocking's very long hair comes around to cover her front (as in the anime) and it is not very comfortable to move the arms around like this. You will note that the Nendoroid of this character doesn't have the hair coming around to the front for this reason.

Anyway, the sculpt! There is nothing to complain about here: Sentinel has again made no compromise-- which has actually caused the hair issue-- in getting the character as accurate to her appearance in the TV show as one could manage.

As for articulation, it's acceptable but the legs are very loose. As with the previous figure, Stocking's leg joints (aside from the arms) wobble like a marionette. This is probably because of a certain gimmick we'll get to in a moment. The hair sits like a hat rather than locking firmly into the head, which means it's also very prone to just jumping off the head when you don't want it to. Though it didn't drive me up the wall like the toy from last time, posing this figure can be really annoying. The front of the hair is soft and has a little bit of give, but not a lot. With the hair in the way, her arms can't get very far.

As you may know, Stocking's stockings transform into her swords, because magic. As such, when she wields the blades, she is not wearing her stockings... so it wouldn't be accurate for her to look like this.

In the uncompromising quest to reach total anime accuracy, there is a full replacement for the lower half of the body which lacks both panties and stockings. (Wait, did she need to take those off in the show too?) Anatomically incorrect, of course. Panty and Stocking is filthy, but this isn't a Queen's Blade product.

So Stocking can do this...

Or this. It's accurate! Replacing the legs is very fiddly, with small parts and soft vinyl panties that need to be kept in place. I'd only recommend bothering with the process if you really have to, which if you're paying $60 for this, you probably do. I know. I understand.

Stocking's cat is molded to fit around her arm, of course.

A concession to Stocking's sweet tooth: a little jar of something, a spoon and Stocking's trademarked sugar-trance expression.

Happy owners of the Panty figure (like myself) will be pleased to see that Stocking comes with an extra for the other figure: ballin' shades. Of course, Stocking has her own shades too, and with these two figures, you can make as many dioramas of scenes from the Bad Boys series of films as you want.

Though the figure stands reasonably on its own, the lack of a stand is disappointing when the companion piece had one. This might be another problem with the hair (the stand used for Panty would not have fit), and it might be why her feet are so flat. The Nendoroid solved this problem by using magnets.

This is definitely not as good a figure as the previous release, in large part because of the issues with the long hair. It's difficult to work with in a way that the Panty figure simply isn't. That said, it looks great on display and does a lot of fun things. I just wish the joints were a little tighter. Well, at least it isn't falling apart, like the last one was. Sentinel is doing alright so far. We have a lot of their Gainax stuff on order, so look forward to that.

We paid $60 shipped at Amiami.