DIMIC

Our Dead or Alive fever started with the purchase of the first DOA X2 Venus on the Beach figure Ayane. Shortly after said purchase, the second one was available for order; the water loving goddess Lei Fang!

At least I think she likes water. Why else would you use a tube to slide down a water slide? And that’s exactly what this second figure of Kotobukiya’s Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 Venus on the Beach figure is doing!

Before I start on the figure itself, let’s quote some stuff regarding the character.

Lei Fang is a college student and Tai Chi Quan prodigy from the Dead or Alive series, who made her debut in the first Dead or Alive. She is one of the first females to appear in the series, alongside Kasumi and Tina Armstrong.
A girl who grew up in a wealthy family, Lei Fang is a woman of justice and bares a very independent spirit. Throughout the series, she seeks to fight Jann Lee, who is thought to have saved her life at one stage in her past, to prove herself to him that she too is a strong individual. However, Lei Fang had lost to Jann in almost every tournament, but she managed to defeat him in the last one.
Now she is looking forward to a vacation at New Zack Island. She is friendly to all, but she feels a strong sense of rivalry with Tina.

Blablabla… Now let’s get on to the figure!

While I loved Ayane’s water-splashing base, it doesn’t compare to this one! The design itself is pretty simple: a tube positioned in a slight angle using little waves, but the execution of it is simply sublime as you can see on picture 17-20! The tube really has the look of a life-like version with its rubbery folds and transparent bottom. I just absolutely love it! Again! Only minor let-down is the water. It’s not that well done as Ayane’s but on the other hand, it’s barely visible on display.

And just as with Ayane, you can also change her outfit from normal/beach wear to a bikini just by popping off her head. Her normal outfit is a skirt and top named Banding (Bunting on the wiki page) and yet again, it’s a hell to get it closed tight. Especially the skirt. But since it closed better (actually completely) after she was a bit in the warm sun, a hairdryer should also do the trick. The normal outfit does look nice on her, it’s colorful and playful with it’s stripes, folds and white-dots-on-pink for the panties. But while the Bunting outfit is playful, the bikini one (called Atropos, which is actually an outfit for Lisa Hamilton) looks far more sexier and thus more preferable for me. The shading is very nicely done on this one and I just love those frills and ribbons. You just have to be really, really careful not to lose any of those tiny pieces. This outfit does have one really annoying thing which are the straps that go around her neck. These are extremely difficult to get right and to stay in their position. This actually also goes for those frills beneath her breasts and between her legs. I didn’t want to use too much force so mine weren’t completely in. But again, this can probably be solved by using hot air.

As with the previous figure in this line, Lei Fang is wonderfully sculpted which is best seen when she’s wearing her bikini. But even if you’d put her in her normal outfit, she’s amazing. The amount of details and the sublime job of both sculpting and painting is just breathtaking. I’m absolutely in love with this line!
Next to this edition, Kotobukiya also released a limited edition which has the same bikini (sad me) but another regular outfit and a different hairstyle. Even though I want the exclusive one as well, I personally prefer the regular. Be wary when you want to buy the exclusive though, I’ve spotted several bootlegs of her (mostly of the exclusive) on E(vil)Bay. Bad, bad counterfeiters!

Conclusion:
I definitely prefer the bikini look on this one even though the regular outfit isn’t that bad. As was with the first of this line (Ayane) this one also has a lot of nice details and almost perfect paint applications. Only minor annoyance is the fact that that darn skirt closes with so much difficulty… But it’s nothing that a good hairdryer can’t fix.
If you haven’t started with this line, good luck since this is one that can’t be found that easily. And don’t forget, they still haven’t finished this line…

Keep watching DIMIC if you’re interested in the others of this line!

Pictures:

Item reviewed: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 – Venus on the Beach: Lei-Fang
Type: PVC
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Variations: there’s a Tecmo Webshop exclusive (other -non bikini- outfit: “Partridge” and other hairstyle)
Rarity: It’s kind of hard to find and if found, expensive. This goes for both the exclusive as the regular. There have even been bootlegs spotted of the exclusive.