Kit Review

Straight build + Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Detail shots (1/4)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Depending on how you assemble the lower body, you can configure it in two ways: upper body

Depending on how you assemble the lower body,
you can configure it in two ways: upper body form or full body form.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - When configured in upper body form, there's a hole wide open where the legs would be, for a

When configured in upper body form, there's a hole wide open where the legs would be, for attaching to a stand.

Upper body form.

The difference from Figure-rise Bust is that this one has articulation.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Two heads are included as duplicates, and you can swap between a total of 4 different face

Two heads are included as duplicates, and you can swap between a total of 4 different face expressions.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Eye parts are included in duplicate for each face, with two versions each: one with sculpte

Eye parts are included in duplicate for each face, with two versions each:
one with sculpted eyes for painting (left), and a blank eye part for applying stickers (right).
Also worth noting, the clear parts overlay eyes that got so much flak for a while are not used here.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - The eyes are provided not only as stickers but also as waterslide decals, and there's a ni

The eyes are provided not only as stickers but also as waterslide decals,
and there's a nice variety of both eye directions and eye shapes too.

To mount it on the stand, you'll need to plug a joint part into the back.

An extended simple stand is included in the box.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Two types of hands and two kunai are included as weapons. The accessories are on the sparse

Two types of hands and two kunai are included as weapons.
The accessories are on the sparse side.

There are a lot of leftover parts.

The G/F runners, for instance, come doubled up even though you don't need them at all.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - It's not mentioned in the manual, but if you combine the leftover parts cleverly, you can a

It's not mentioned in the manual, but if you combine the leftover parts cleverly, you can actually build an extra upper body form like shown above —
so you don't have to keep disassembling and reassembling to switch between the two.
A good number of arm parts are left over as well, but since there's only one elbow joint, you can't build a fully complete extra upper body with arms.

Decent limb articulation

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - The skirt parts are split into two pieces that can splay open front and back, which gives t

The skirt parts are split into two pieces that can splay open front and back,
which gives the hip joints a decent range of motion.

The waist is surprisingly flexible forward and back.

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (1/8)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (2/8)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (3/8)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (4/8)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (5/8)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Action poses (6/8)

Action poses

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame - Together with the Figurerise Standard Diver Nami, also released as part of the Build Divers

Together with the Figurerise Standard Diver Nami, also released as part of the Build Divers series.

Diver Ayame from Gundam Build Divers has been released as a Figurerise Standard kit. Figurerise Standard Diver NamiSimilarly, while the product category is Figurerise Standard, it's been released as Build Divers Series kit No. 28. Since it follows the official Build series numbering, this kit has been listed under the Build menu rather than ETC/F. The basic feel and layout is pretty similar to existing HG character kits, but moving to the Figurerise Standard line has brought some notable changes.

First off, unlike previous kits, this one includes a lot of duplicate parts — there are two heads included for the four face expressions. It does cut down a little on the hassle of swapping faces between heads, but since you'll still need to swap things around to try out different looks, it's hard to say it makes a huge difference. The eye section is interesting in that it provides two types: flat blank eyes for sticker application, and sculpted eyes for painting, with two of each per face expression. (In fact, the eye parts end up with a full extra set as leftover parts too, so there are 16 in total.)

Perhaps because of all the complaints about the clear parts overlay eyes before, it seems they've gone back to just providing plain eye stickers. They still include stickers for different eye directions, and now eye shapes have been added as well. On top of that, waterslide decals for the eyes are also included, so it really feels like a lot of care went into the eyes specifically.

You can also optionally leave off the lower body parts to display it in upper body form only, like a Figurerise Bust — though switching from full body form requires completely disassembling the waist parts, which is a bit of a pain. On the flip side, a surprisingly large number of leftover parts remain, and if you piece them together cleverly, you can actually build a complete extra upper body torso (minus the arms). It would've been even better if you could duplicate the arms too, but unfortunately there's only one elbow joint, so only the torso can be built as an extra. What's a bit puzzling, though, is that even though you can build this extra torso, the manual doesn't mention it at all — and there's even a duplicate runner where every single part ends up as leftover, so it's a bit of a mystery why they didn't bother to point any of this out.

The overall build quality is quite good, with solid articulation and joint strength. The accessories are a bit bare though — just two hand types and two kunai. An extended simple stand is included, which comes in handy for posing, and the poses hold well, so it's actually quite fun to play around with.

Overall, moving to the Figurerise Standard line gives it a noticeable step up in quality over the existing HG kits. Of course, similar earlier releases like Figurerise Standard Diver Namiand HG Mobile Doll Sarahalso improved a lot compared to their (much-criticized) predecessors, but with the lineup change it does feel like the development team has shifted too. The fact that they've put this out as a proper figure model kit lineup — could this mean Bandai, who had been losing ground to Kotobukiya in this space, is finally starting to fight back? :-)

Figurerise Standard Diver Ayame | 2019. 3 | ¥2,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.