EmencyBlazer Works

NAME: Tear Grants
SERIES: Tales of the Abyss
SCALE/CREATOR: 1/8, by Kotobukiya
RELEASE DATE: November 2006

I personally found Tales of the Abyss to be a horribly bland game. Bland graphics, bland story, bland characters, bland music, etc. Tear’s character design is one of the few things I actually liked. (Character-wise, she’s just Chloe Valens 2.0.) Did our old friend Kotobukiya do a good job bringing Tear to the figure world?

PACKAGING: 8/10

Can you feel the Fonons?

Things start off promising. That box is anything but bland! Clear boxes like this are a rare offering from Kotobukiya. So far, only their Tales figures seem to be blessed with these awesome boxes.

SCULPT: 6/10

I seem cold and distant, but I have a soft spot for cute things.

And…things quickly turn south. Tear is a bland, bland figure. I guess you have to give credit to Kotobukiya for staying true to the game. The sculpt of her hair looks amateurish at best, and her face looks nothing like the one you see in Tear’s official art. Seam lines are there, like always. Typical Koto-quality.

PAINT: 6/10

I secretly harbor feelings for Sen…I mean, Luke. But I act like I don’t.

The drawback to Tear’s character design is that she has an extremely limited (bland) color scheme. Kotobukiya could only do so much to make this paint job exciting. They tried. Tear’s stockings are very nice. There’s shading where there needs to be. They did slack when it came to the small details, as most of the lines on Tear’s clothes are poorly done.

POSE: 7/10

Tear and Chloe share the same voice actress. The more you know~!

Tear seems ready for a fight. Throwing knife in one hand, spear in the other. No major complaints here.

This shot just makes me feel like a creep. Also: Oh wow! Red!

Why is it that the figure’s the only bland part of the package?

Tear comes with an elegant little platform base, painted brown to make it look like wood. Looks nice. Does its’ job.

OVERALL: 6/10
Unfortunately Tear is a bland figure. The off-model face is also pretty off-putting, and is probably the number one reason why so many people initially passed on buying Tear. I can only recommend this to hardcore Abyss fans. For the not so hardcore, try buying the Abyss “One Coin” trading figures (also by Kotobukiya) instead.

- G.K. Sil Kamina