Lameazoid.com - Overwatch

I have this incredible love/hate relationship with Overwatch. I do enjoy the game and the characters, but I kind of hate a lot of aspects of the game play. There are a lot of annoying balance issues going on right now. I also feel like the lack of community servers still really hurts the game and the ability to get over a lot of it’s flaws by at least playing with fun people regularly. This isn’t really supposed to be a rant about Overwatch though, it’s about Figma Tracer.

Good Smile Company has two main lines and a bunch of other sub lines, they are producing Overwatch figures for the two primary lines, Nindoroid and Figma. Both lines offered Tracer as their initial offering, though so far the Nendoroid line is far outpacing the Figma line in terms of releases. Where Nendoroid Tracer is a stylized Chibi version of the face of Overwatch, the Figma is much closer to the likeness you’d see in game.

Unfortunately it’s not a perfect likeness. The worst offense on this toy is the face. It’s just… off… all over. It’s almost like it’s a sort of bizarre bishoujo version of Tracer. There is definitely too much “anime” in the sculpt. I mean, Overwatch is pretty heavily cartoon in it’s stylization, but it’s not manga styled. It’s kind of funny because the Nendoroid version almost looks more like Tracer in the face, despite the goofy proportions.

The Nendoroid also has some accessories that the larger version really should have included as well, even if they were straight up the same pieces. Aside from the obvious blink streak included with the Nendo, the Nendo also has the little flippy hair piece on it’s head, which was a nice little fun touch. The pegs on the stands aren’t the same size at all, so there isn’t even a way to use the blink effect piece with the Figma. Also notable, is that the guns are not the same between the two figures, though they are pretty close to being the same size. Aside from the guns, Tracer includes some alternate faces and a decent selection of hands and her pulse bomb.

I also have a bit of an issue with the poseability of the figure. It’s pretty good, except for the hips, which are extremely limited by the design and the belt straps. I’m not sure what could have been changed but the knees also don’t bend as far as they could. Basically, a little more bend all around in the legs could have really helped Tracer pull off some of her signature poses better. The “real” straps are nice, but I can’t help but think sculpted straps might have allowed a bit more range of motion.

Tracer is decent, overall, though I honestly think I like the Nendoroid more. At the moment it’s the best Tracer figure available, but Hasbro has recently announced a new line of Overwatch based figures coming, and you can bet it will include Tracer. Figma Tracer isn’t a bad figure, but it could have been better without that totally off face sculpt.

Nendoroid – Tracer

Good Smile Company makes two lines, primarily, Figma, and Nendoroid. Both likes primarily deal with anime and video game characters. Figma is more of a traditional style scale figure, they are generally around 1/12th scale. Nendoroids are all “Super Deformed” Chibi designs. Bigs heads and small bodies, sort of similar in style to something like Pop Vinyls in the US, except a zillion times better with articulation and interchangeable parts.

I’m not super big on the style, and there are a lot more anime characters I don’t care about int he Nendo line than the Figma line. That said, the first official figure from Overwatch was Nendoroid Tracer. I like Overwatch, I play Tracer more than any character, seemed like a good figure to test out the waters on the Nendoroid line. There’s a Figma Tracer being released later this year and Nendoroid versions of Mei and Mercy are coming up as well.

I had my doubts going into this line. A lot of those worries were pushed away upon actually getting the figure. She’s pretty awesome. I can fully admit, that this style of figure isn’t going to be for everyone, but this little Tracer is pretty adorable and a lot more versatile for poses and action that I expected her to be. Not every Nendoroid has as many joints as Tracer, only some characters get elbows, many just get swapable arms. She also pretty much requires the stand due to the size of her head, but it’s low profile and with some work she can be posed without it.

I was also worried that she was going to be smaller than she actually is. She isn’t huge, but she fits in pretty well with some smaller Figma and Figuarts figures. Really, given her style and related silly factor, she kind of works alright with some larger figures as well. She would definitely fit with other Nendos since they are all roughly the same size. She isn’t meant to be a perfect scale representation of Tracer, but she does a pretty good job of being a silly super deformed version. She has all of the most noteworthy details like her chest piece, glasses and arm fins. The center bit of her hair is articulated as well, so it can be adjusted a bit or to recreate her “blowing her hair” bit she does in the game.

For acessories she includes her stand, 3 faces, and several sets of hands. She also includes a pulse bomb, and her two pistols. The hands are made for gripping her pistols, open palms for throwing the pulse bomb or pegging the pistols on for her spin pose, and a set of closed fists. There isn’t anyway for her to hold the pulse bomb sadly, though in game she pretty much just tosses it out and runs anyway.

She also includes a little blue plastic piece that can attach tot he stand to represent when she Blinks. The end effect works pretty well at showing off her overall gimmick of speed and time shifting. I kind of wish there was a second piece of the Recall Glow but I’m happy with what she came with.

Overall, I really like Nendoroid Tracer. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Mei to go with her. The style definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste and she is probably a little pricey for her size, but she is fun to pose and mess with and is a neat representation of the popular character.