Hello and welcome to another figure review on Plastic-Love.net. This week I'm looking at an older figure in my collection: Vocaloid Megurine Luka Tony Ver. 1/7 scale from Max Factory. This is one of the first scale figures I bought when I was just getting started in this hobby. If only I could have seen back then how crazy my figure collection would get as the years went on, I wonder if I would have still purchased her? Probably.
This was in the height of my Hatsune Miku mania, having just fallen down that rabbit hole starting with an import copy of Project Diva f on the PS Vita. I was instantly enchanted by Luka, who I still think is the prettiest of the female vocaloid designs. I really enjoyed the Luka songs on Project Diva f, especially Megane. Later I would find a lot more Luka songs to enjoy in other games like Just Be Friends and Luka Luka Night Fever. While most of the main vocaloid cast have great songs, I really think Luka is very close behind Miku in terms of overall song quality in spite of Miku's overwhelming popularity, so it's surprising she hasn't gotten many figures at all besides this one and the newer Temptation version which just came out a year or two ago.
Based on a drawing by Tony Taka, this Luka is really beautiful. For a figure released in 2012 she holds up well by today's standards. If I had one complaint, it would be that I don't think Max Factory executed very well on her face. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is, but it's something about the interface of her hair, position of her eyes, and general expression that makes her face look a little bit like a moe blob. I do like that her mouth is cracking a slight smile, however, and the paint job on her hair and position of her left hand and right arm really make a dynamic pose that is exciting to look at.
This pose naturally pushes out and accentuates her chest. The sculptor has done a great job here, really making it appear as though her breasts are really straining against the fabric of her top. This effect is further enhanced by the subtle color gradation and satin finish in her top. Beyond that, you have her upper arm and belly painted in a hazy brown tone suggesting some skin tight sheer fabric. It really looks great around her shoulder and armpit, which look perfectly toned and amazing.
I love the way her top is flaring up as she twists, exposing the dimple of her belly button and a sliver of her hip. Here you can see the details of her belts as they cross around her waist and hip. The metallic gold patterning on her belt, seams of her top, and skirt stand out nicely against the brown satin finish of her outfit. Her hair is blocking it in these shots, but the little peek of her hip that you can see in the side of her very very high cut dress is really enticing. I don't know what Luka's canonical age is, but she always struck me as more mature than Miku, so she can definitely pull an outfit like this off without it feeling creepy.
The sculpted wrinkles in her top as she twists her torso really contribute to the feeling of dynamic motion, along with the very intricate sculpting of her hair as it fans out. Luka has very long pink hair and they've captured it wonderfully in this figure. She looks like she could be posing in the final shot of a shampoo commercial as she shakes out her thick mane of luxurious hair. It's so nice the way the color goes from bright pink on top to a slightly transparent frosted clear white at the tips. Magnificent work here.
Turning her to either side you can see the details on her decorative cuffs and also the microphone she is holding in her right hand behind her head. It's an interesting accessory you won't see very often under normal viewing conditions because it's hidden behind that amazing hair.
As an added bonus, Luka's body comes apart at the ribs allowing you to remove her skirt. this gives you a nicer view of her healthy thighs and the curve of her butt, but also reveal her pose to be somewhat unnatural depending on which angle you're viewing her from. It's a nice option and fun to look at her this way sometimes, but I think you lose a lot of the aforementioned motion and dynamism of the figure when she's missing her skirt.
Her butt is cute and well proportioned, but she looks a little silly just wearing knee high boots and stockings and then these tanga cut (had to look that up lol) panties. The boots themselves are really nicely done. Again, the metallic gold paint really helps them stand out and the quality of the paint job and sculpting on the laces make them really pop.
Overall I had a lot of fun taking photos of Luka, but also some frustrations again. Like last time, I think i'm just not applying a rigorous enough method to my photography. In addition to not having a good enough distance between my backdrop and the figure to allow a good aperture for full figure shots that blur out the background but also keeps the figure completely in focus, I am having some issue with light values that I really should be correcting in some kind of software I guess. On an image by image basis, it's not terrible, but in a series it makes things look kind of amateurish and bothers me. This is just like one of a dozen hobbies I have so it's fine but I think there needs to be a limit to how much I'm allowed to say it's "good enough" before I'm just accepting that I'm no good and lazy. I think that limit is now, haha. Also, I have a really beautiful new figure just out of the box that I'm really looking forward to photographing and it would be an injustice to do it badly, so I will try and improve things for the next post.
With so few scale figures of Luka, I think any collector would do well to pick up this older figure at a bargain on a site like Amiami or Mandarake where she can still readily be found for about $45. If you're a fan of Luka at all you won't regret getting her, especially at that price.
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