Chamelon June

So the Saint Seiya series is a sausage fest. This is why any female character’s release in the Saint Cloth Myth is a welcome change from the pretty-boy assortment that dominates the line. Unfortunately, the female Saints do not seem to sell as well as their male counterparts; which is why the release we are looking at today is a Tamashii Web Exclusive. This toy was released in the month bearing the name of the character, June. But since there is some lag between the Japanese release and the time that we get things here in the US, especially Web Exclusives, here I am reviewing June in July.

June is Andromeda Shun’s training partner. Both of these young saints trained on Andromeda Island. Though June plays a minor role early in the series, she was a good friend to the young Saint of Andromeda and even a potential love interest.

Being a Tamashii Web Exclusive, June is packaged in the signature Tamashii Web box, which protects the actual product box inside.

The design for June’s box is pretty much that same as that of the Bronze Saints in the line.

The only major difference is that her box does not open in the middle, like the usual book-style boxes that the line is known for.

June’s Cloth is a chameleon on a tree branch when in Object Mode.

This small, yet neat Object Mode is a little bit pain to put together. It is composed of many small pieces in a fairly small area, so putting it together requires a bit of patience.

I want to note that the Object Mode should have a tongue, which is the antenna part of the headpiece. This antenna piece comes has a square peg on it, so that it can attach to either the headpiece or the inside of the Object Mode’s mouth. With my figure, however, the square hole on the Object Mode was too. I tried forcing it in a couple of times with no luck. So rather than end up breaking this fairly small piece, I just decided my chameleon would go without a tongue.

The tail of the figure is comprised of the whip, which flows from the chameleon’s back, over its tush, and wraps around the branch and trunk of the tree.

So this figure looks great and is pretty spot on to how it looks in the show, which is that of an 80’s dominatrix Saint.

The two circular boob armor pieces have holes in them that go through the chest armor and attach to the chest of the figure ( which is actually a second chest piece that has holes in it). Though it is a bit odd that the boob armor pieces do not sit flush against the armor, leaving a gap.

While the figure looks great, the amount of plastic used for the armor is more than I would like for a character that is so light on the armor. Yup, all of those red highlighted armor pieces are plastic.

As you can see, most of the armor is plastic. Only the arm guards, lower leg armor, the feet, and chest armor are made of metal.

June’s shares the same body type with the other female warriors in the line: Ophiuchus Shaina, Aquila Marin, and Mermaid Thetis. This body is a hybrid of the previous female body that was used for Athena and Pandora, and the third generations Saint Cloth Myth body. So you get lots of good articulation with this figure.

The only issue becomes keeping her upright, since she is wearing high heels, which can this character fall over quite often. She is much harder to keep standing than Shaina or Marin. So much in fact, that I cheated with many of the shots that do not show her legs, by propping up the character using a stand to hold one of the legs.

While getting June to stand can be a chore, June can sit just fine, just like the other female Saints in the line. This is one thing these female bodies have over those of the male Saints in the line.

Completing the dominatrix-inspired look of June is her trusty whip; she comes with not one, but two.
One is a plastic whip that is folded and meant for the character to just hold.

The second is whip made of metal.

I went through a couple of emotions when I found out this whip was made of metal. At first, I was super excited! After all, the more metal, the better. Then the reality of this choice in material sunk in. The fact that the thong( the legit name for the long part of the whip) it is made of these small interconnecting links, means that is the whip is going to flop on the ground. You can’t really display the whip in midair, speeding towards the enemy.
It can just lie on the ground… Or it can be used to choke one of your other figures… You know, if it is into that kind of stuff…

As for accessories, June comes with 2 hair pieces. One is to be used with the headpiece and the other without it. June also has 4 faceplates. Beside the masked faceplates, which I have already shown in the review, there is an extra mask that June can hold.

In this picture, you will also see the third faceplate, which is the plain face that is to be used with the headpiece. This one looks quite sad and depressing to look at.

Luckily, the plain faceplate to be used without the headpiece is not the same as the previous one. It is a much more playful and happy looking June.

June also comes with a couple of extra armor pieces. These include:

Armguards covers with spikes

Waist armor

A couple of extra pieces that go on the back of the figure

These are bit pointless, since the hair covers the back of the figure.

The part of this armor that is majorly visible is the holes on the side, to which the arms of the chameleon attach onto in Object Mode; which is a shame because those holes look out of place with the design of the Cloth.

With these pieces attached, the toy represents the manga version of June.

Which I admit looks a tad bit cooler and deadlier than the anime version.

Finally, the figure comes with 10 hands, which I did not photograph because they are pretty standard Bandai fare.

Overall, this is a so-so release. While it looks great, the execution could have used a bit more work. The simple addition of an effect whip would have raised this character to the next level of being a good display piece. Furthermore, unlike the Saint Cloth Myth releases of Shaina and Marin, there was no training gear included with this release. While not a necessity, it would have also made a neat addition to the toy.

Also the fact that the antenna piece did not work on the Object mode was a major disappointment. To add insult to injury, the antenna piece would not fit back onto the headpiece properly after I had tried to put it on the Object mode. So the headpiece fell off quite often. The fit on the hands was also an issue, since these pieces did not like to stay onto the small pegs they attach to.

So while I am glad this toy got made, so that Shaina and Marin have a new pal, I cannot shake the fact that this release left me wanting a bit more from this higher-priced Tamashii Web Exclusive.