In which I sit around and want a figure only to realize it’s readily available at retail price.
I don’t have a lot to say about this Nendoroid figure other than that I really like it and want to take a lot of pictures of it, so I figured I’d just show you what things look like while blabbing about one of my favorite human Pokemon characters — I finally own Nendoroid Suiren/Lana!
As soon as I started watching Pokemon Sun and Moon — maybe even when I saw her on merchandise and art before I’d even watched it at all — I had an instant love for Suiren/Lana. She’s got so many characteristics I just adore in anime characters — she’s cute and little, she has a very sweet voice (though I can only speak for the Japanese one), she’s got blue hair (I’ve had blue hair myself for a large chunk of my life, which might explain why I tend to especially love female anime characters with the same), and she’s got a deeply dorky sense of humor. If I were watching the series as a kid I would have definitely wanted to be her; she’s nice, she loves nature, and she’s dorky in the best way possible. And she loves water type Pokemon, which are definitely in my top five.
(You have to feel a little sorry for the translators when it came to her name, too. 睡蓮 suiren means water lily, so it’s a natural fit to call her Lily instead….except that there’s another majorcharacter with the name of Lillie (Lilie)! While Lana reminds me a bit too much of a somewhat more grown-up field agent, it’s a cute enough name — though, truth be told, I prefer Suiren.)
I missed the preorder for this Nendoroid and feared the bloated after-market price I’d have to pay, but then I thought to look at the American Pokemon Center website and it was (and still is, hey!) in stock for the standard price of $50. I got free shipping and had her within the week, and while it felt weird to receive my first Nendoroid with English writing instead of Japanese, since I bought it from the Pokemon Center I got a Dive Ball as a bonus item!
I suspect Z-Moves are another aspect of Pokemon where my feelings aren’t as strong as those who are focused on the games. (I really have no idea what the fandom at large thought of their inclusion in Sun and Moon; when I tried to search a bit, it seemed like there were equal amounts of fans and detractors — and while I hate to say it, gaming fans generally seem to like to complain even more than I do, so it’s hard to tell.) Anyway, I’m a fan of anything that allows Team Rocket to have any brief moment of success, so I’m fond enough of Z-Moves and glad I can pose Suiren in hers.
The Z-move Suiren’s using there is called Oceanic Operetta in English and わだつみのシンフォニア Wadatsumi no Shinfonia, Poseidon’s Symphony, in Japanese. Wonder why they changed it from a symphony to an operetta?
(And, apropos of nothing, I wanted to make sure to say how stupidly pleased I was that her fishing line is just a piece of string, nothing fancy I would have to figure out. As long as I can get the hook to point in basically the right direction, it’s a perfect accessory.)
When you’ve got a character and a series this cute to work with, the Nendoroid can rarely be anything but amazing, and I love Suiren accordingly. The only real flaw I can name is that I confess I’m confused why the Nendoroid includes Yowashi (I don’t think Suiren even ever caught a Yowashi, though I know she battled one to get a Z-Crystal) instead of, say, Ashimari (Popplio) one of its evolutions). I’ll have to keep an eye out for an appropriately-sized Ashimari figure for her to make this right; Pokemon and their trainers should stick together.
Now my only major issue is deciding which Lilie Nendoroid I should get (as well as the constant fear of what the price will be, of course). I’m leaning toward the non-“lively” one, to my surprise — if you’ve got version one or the other and/or a strong opinion either way, I’d love it if you’d let me know!
hello somebunny 