Anime Collectable

Kotobukiya’s Rory Mercury Figure – As Awesome as Rory Herself!

Rory looks bored waiting for someone to open the box and set her free.
Rory looks bored waiting for someone to open the box and set her free.

I pre-ordered Rory Mercury from CDJapan late in 2015. Why? Because Gate was (and is!) one of my favorite series, and because Rory Mercury is one of my favorite characters in that series. She’s over 960 years old, she’s the apostle of Emroy (god of death and darkness), and the tension between her calm and composed persona and her amazing power really appealed to me. So when the box from Japan arrived the other day, I was really excited to see what the figure looked like!

Opening the Box

The figure was packaged in clear plastic that makes it almost impossible to injure the goods. The plastic has a hole for Rory’s face, and it almost looks like she’s bored and ready to leap out of the box and start causing trouble.

Rory's in one half of the plastic packaging; her axe and the stand are in the other half.
Rory’s in one half of the plastic packaging; her axe and the stand are in the other half.

The box itself’s taped shut. After slicing through the tape, it was easy to pull the packaging out of the box. The two halves of the plastic packaging is held together with tape at all four corners. After splitting them, Rory’s in one half, and her axe and stand are in the other half. There are thin plastic sheets between parts of Rory’s clothing, hair, and the axe and the plastic packaging. Those thin sheets prevent friction wear on the plastic from the packaging during shipping. There were no marks whatsoever on Rory’s figure or her equipment, so apparently, that technique works!

Assembly

The axe is part of the stand; the top 1/3 of the shaft is a separate piece so Rory's hand can fit onto the shaft.
The axe is part of the stand; the top 1/3 of the shaft is a separate piece so Rory’s hand can fit onto the shaft.

After taking the axe out of the packaging, it’s easy to see that it’s in two pieces. The lower part includes the stand and about 2/3 of the axe’s shaft. The other 1/3 is a separate piece. It’s in two pieces so it’s easy to slide the shaft into Rory’s hand. The detail on the axe, and its color, almost perfectly matches what’s in the show. The stone in which the axe’s head is buried puts me in mind of Gate season 1 episode 10, where Rory decides to eliminate the special forces operatives trying to apprehend her and her friends. She greets the operatives by standing on a stone in the middle of the pond, though fans of the show will be quick to point out that in that episode, she wore a robe, not her priestly garb.

Rory's right foot connects to the point where the axe head connects to the shaft. Between her right hand and her right foot, she's attached firmly to the stand.
Rory’s right foot connects to the point where the axe head connects to the shaft. Between her right hand and her right foot, she’s attached firmly to the stand.

Her right hand fits over the axe’s handle. The top 1/3 of the shaft then snaps into place. However, with that connection alone, Rory swings freely on the axe handle, and that’s kind of unsightly (suggesting Rory perform a pole dance is likely to make it “rain blood!”). At the point where the axe head connects to the shaft, there’s a tab. Rory’s right foot has a slot that snaps onto that tab. So between her right hand and her right foot, she’s attached firmly to the stand.

The Finished Product

Once she’s assembled, I found that there were some little plastic wrapping around her hair that I didn’t notice until I tried to process the photographs for this post. After removing all of those, the figure looked great. It captured Rory’s confident and faintly superior expression as she launches an attack on a hapless foe. It also showcases her flowing hair. The detail is what I’d expect for a figure in this price range: her fingers are individually articulated; the red fringe on her head piece; the ribbons in her hair, boots, and gloves show great sophistication; even her skirt and leggings are a three-dimensional representation of what’s in the series.

You can even see creases in her gloves at her left wrist.

Rory's figure has a lot of detail that's true to the original series. Well worth the purchase!
Rory’s figure has a lot of detail that’s true to the original series. Well worth the purchase!

Best of all? The figure captures her faintly sardonic smile.

Amazon sells the figure, if you’re interested. Is it worth the price? For me, given how much I enjoyed both Gate and the character of Rory Mercury, I have to say yes!

Interested in buying the figure? Click here to see Amazon’s offer — it seems to have a decent price given the market!

The figure's detailed no matter what angle you view it.
The figure’s detailed no matter what angle you view it.

The detail’s every bit as strong from the back (see the image below). The detail in her flowing hair’s even more obvious in this shot.

tcrow
Copyright 2022 Terrance A. Crow. All rights reserved.
https://www.crowsworldofanime.com

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