The very pink TQ Lolli was dropped off on my porch yesterday and I haven’t been able to stop looking over at her on my shelf since. She’s the latest in what’s become 3A’s annual Christmas TQ limited release figure. 3A for those not in the know, is a creative outlet of the artist Ashley Wood who designs all manner of wonderful toys based off his paintings and the worlds he’s created with his brush. You can read up more about 3A here.

Back to Lolli.

PACKAGING

She arrived in 3A’s standard brown shipping box, well packed and damage free. The artwork on the box is much like Lolli herself, very pink. Some fantastic typography coupled with some quick sketches of her make up the majority of it.

And here’s Lolli. Cute, very pink and yet somehow still cool? Right off the bat, I really like how she looks.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

As you can see, she’s sporting bright pink hair, pink gloves, white heels with pink details and a brand new style white/pink striped skirt. And just in case you’re ponder’n, she comes decked out with two swords and a large pistole’ with leg holster. The holster is pretty minimal, but looks cool and does the job.

DESCRIPTION

Lolli is the first 3a female figure to use the new female body type. There have been several changes and upgrades over the older version arguably, both good and bad. One of the big improvements over the old body is immediately noticeable. The knee joints have been completely redesigned to enable the legs to be bent at almost a 180 degrees. This feature is leaps and bounds better than the old body as it only allowed for a very slight bend in the knee, extremely limiting how far you could push a pose. Some may not like the almost mechanical appearance of the joint as it does stand out a bit more than the old version, particularly on the back of the knees. Personally, I have no problem with the look. In addition to this, Lolli sports all new ball joints at her hips that allow for wider stances and some movement around the Y axis of the leg for a greater range of pose. On that same note, the mid-thigh twist joint of the older body has been removed which does away with some range of motion but as trade off gives Lolli a cleaner appearance overall.

Another update to the body is Lolli’s arms. They’re slimmer and a little more exaggerated in the way they’re sculpted. I like the new look. To me, it fits the overall design of the TQ better. However the mid-bicep joint when twisted does break up the cohesive look of the arm. This is a minor issue to me, but as there appears to be no added benefit gained by this change compared to the old arm which had the same type/number of joints/articulation  it seems an unnecessary choice.

My one real complaint with this figure is the changes made to her ankle joint. The new joint does away with the double pin ball joint of old and replaces it with a single pin ball joint. While the older TQ’s had limited leg mobility, whatever pose you could achieve with them you could always ensure that the feet were planted flat on the ground if you fancied. The new TQ body has great leg articulation, BUT with this new ankle joint it’s neutered pretty hardcore. As you can see from the picture below, a wider “attack” stance for instance, would have her standing on the inside edge of her heels and most likely send your overpriced pink barbie (my wife’s words, not mine) careening to the floor. I’m not really sure why 3A decided to go with this after all the money and R&D they’ve put into this new body. I’m hoping this is just another step in the process of perfecting it and we’ll see a further iteration of the body soon.

FINAL SUMMARY

So my overall take? Well, despite the funky ankles and somewhat wonky biceps, I really love this figure. Hey, I’m as surprised as you are. I fully expected to be torn or just completely uninterested in the figure once I had her in hand. This is as pink of a girl action figure as it comes. Her only saving grace is that she comes with a massive hand gun and some swords. Yet, I still don’t believe those will help save my man card from being cut in twain.  Without question this figure LOOKS stellar on the shelf. She’s fun to pose and is a great contrast to my other heavily weathered and grungy 3A figures.

Without further ado.

So there it is, our first review! We hope you enjoyed it and come back to check out the next.. and the next after that.. and after that.. etc.. etc..

And with that, we leave you with a few more photo’s of Lolli.