Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body.

Head

The armor on each arm is slightly different.

Back section

Leg section

~~Inner skirt~~ Inside of the armor. Hmm..

Excalibur, Saber-san's weapon.. the partial paint is absolutely stunning.

Excalibur comes with two options — a clear parts version and a painted parts version.

As you can see, the paint quality is very, very good.

Fate Saber-san - When you slot Excalibur into Avalon (the scabbard's name).. it tends to fall out pretty easily since the fit

When you slot Excalibur into Avalon (the scabbard's name).. it tends to fall out pretty easily since the fit isn't all that secure.

Hands — 7 in total.

Avalon (the scabbard) has a peg on it, so you can lock it into the hole in the left hand.

The classic HoiHoi-san style face/eye swap gimmick.

Fate Saber-san - Articulation. Both arms and legs can bend 90 degrees, but the knees bend underneath the skirt so it doesn't

Articulation. Both arms and legs can bend 90 degrees,
but since the knees bend underneath the skirt, it doesn't really make much of a difference in practice.

The sole of the foot moves in two sections — front and back.

Fate Saber-san - The skirt sections — front, left and right, plus the metal armor panels layered on top — all move around on

The skirt sections — front, left and right, plus the metal armor panels layered on top — all move around on ball joints in various ways,
but the range of motion is pretty narrow so it doesn't really help with leg articulation.

Fate Saber-san - Let's try a pose.. (1/3)

Let's try a pose..

Drawing stance!

Draw!

Fate Saber-san - There's something fierce about it.. it's got a pretty masculine feel. (1/4)

Fate Saber-san - There's something fierce about it.. it's got a pretty masculine feel. (2/4)

There's something fierce about it.. it's got a pretty masculine feel.

Fate Saber-san - Holding the clear Excalibur and posed on the Kotobukiya display stand — for action poses, you'd probably wan

Holding the clear Excalibur and posed on the Kotobukiya display stand.
For action poses, you'd probably want to swap in the open-mouth face.

Fate Saber-san - Different series, but paired up with HoiHoi-san who shares almost the same concept. They're pretty much the

Different series, but paired up with HoiHoi-san who shares almost the same concept.
They're pretty much the same size too lol

The Fate series has branched out into all kinds of media — novels, manga, anime, you name it — and the main character, the ultimate warrior Saber-san, has been released in all sorts of figure forms over the years. (Though somehow I find myself remembering the Saber-san cosplays more than anything else..) And of course Kotobukiya, never ones to miss out on a hot property, went ahead and gave her the injection kit treatment using the same concept as HoiHoi-san. ^^

The platform format is basically a carbon copy of the HoiHoi-san style — in some ways it almost feels like just a new design in the HoiHoi series, the assembly and overall layout are that similar. You could also draw comparisons to the Rockman series, but with the face-swap system and the limb joint layout and everything else, this is firmly in HoiHoi-san territory rather than Rockman.

Cutting straight to the chase — the real highlight of Kotobukiya's Saber-san injection kit has to be the incredible partial paint support. Even as a straight build it looks almost fully painted, with a clean and gorgeous color combination, and the number of partial paint points is unprecedented compared to any other kit, and the quality is top-notch too. It almost makes you wonder if the Kotobukiya developers are Fate/Saber-san fans themselves. The paint quality on Excalibur and its scabbard Avalon in particular is so good it blurs the line between an injection kit and a high-end figure.

Thanks to all that, it made quite a splash right from release, and it really does a great job of bringing the beloved Saber-san character to life in a more colorful way than you'd expect. The skirt articulation gimmick itself is pretty neat even if the practical effect is limited, and the joint strength is solid throughout so you can pose her without any worries.

That said, it's a bit of a shame that leg articulation is so restricted by the skirt and armor, and personally the face is my biggest gripe.. Unlike HoiHoi-san who has a clear pretty-girl vibe, the more you look at Saber-san's face the more it seems.. kind of ambiguous — could be a guy, could be a girl. (Take a close look at the photos and see what you think.) If they were going for an SD style anyway, it would've been great to nail that cute-yet-fierce image.. but at first glance she just looks like a male character. T_T It even gives me this nagging urge to swap her face with HoiHoi-san's.

To wrap it up — solid kit, paint is off the charts, the color combo is gorgeous and eye-catching.. but the face itself is just way too rugged-looking. -.- (Meaning it's not exactly a pretty face.) That said, it's a popular character, and Kotobukiya clearly put in the effort to deliver something really sharp and polished to match that popularity.. so if it catches your eye at first glance, this is definitely an injection figure kit worth a strong recommendation. :-)

Fate Saber-san | 2011. 6 | ¥3,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.