It’s true.

So, part-confession: lately I’ve been reading/following some of the more naughty figures on MyFigureCollection. Or put it in other words, 18+ figures (although some are only 15+) that are usually costumed for “public” display, but the costumes are removable. What I found is that it’s actually somewhat educational. It’s like designing a transformable toy, there are design, sculpting and manufacturing compromises you have to make if you are going to create a figure that has configurable parts, and yet minimizing seams and components unlike what you see with Figmas and Nendos.

There are a variety of approaches to do this. For large figures (1/6 or bigger), often real clothing is used to cover up the figure, and because polyester is quite flexible, it’s easy to remove them from the figure. Moreover, it’s inexpensive; you’re just playing with dolls now.

However real clothing is not the easiest thing to put details on. The very gorgeous details in some of the well-known Max Factory or Alter figures are often digitally painted using robots (think 3D printers) and you can’t do that with polyester (yet?). It certainly doesn’t allow for the details you see in some of these figures. And it is a general rule that the more pliable the material is, the lower resolution you can detail it. Sure, fishnet stocking looks great with actual strings, but you can’t do flowing tresses on skirts at all.

Well, if you want a figure that can transform from tastefully naked to mostly naked, it can be difficult if it’s small. On the flip side, small figures are less expensive to reproduce in parts. There are some figures where you can swap out entire torsos from “clothed” to “non-clothed.” More often, though, the clothing piece is just soft PVC where you just have to carefully remove. Not only it can be a risk in damaging the clothes or the figure, it is possible to transfer paint from the cloth to your waifu’s unrealistically smooth skin. Not to mention in some cases you have fitting problems, where the outfit don’t quite fit the figure all the time.

Anyway, all this is just background. In reality cast-off figures have been getting more popular. I guess it’s lonely nerds thing (can’t really think of another use case), but also because the manufacturing and design has caught up and make it possible due to the growth of this market space. So what you have is that an ever larger number of figure collectors out there are buying these moe figures that barely have clothes on them.

Here comes Nyaruko. Max Factory released recently a Nyaruko figure which all she’s wearing is a Mahiru apron, and holding a crowbar. Very Nyaruko-like, if you ask me. Well, you can see a picture below.

During the period when she went on pre-order, people wondered if her “thing” is detailed. Of course, there’s a pecking order to that–wholesome labels like GSC/MF/Alter don’t do uncovered details. I assume this is pretty common for those Ikki Tousen-type figures that are extra showy, if the underwear is missing even. Naruko and MF is pretty clearly in that category (MF has other labels where they publish the more adult stuff).

The lingering question is answered when Nyaruko went on tour this past month and now that she’s officially off the shelf. And the responses are hilarious. The thing is, not only is her naughty bits not detailed, there’s a white blob covering it. GSC’s Kahotan briefly described this here back in April, when we don’t even know if the apron came off or not (it doesn’t by default):

Now for a little bit of extra info that I really don’t know if I should be writing on the blog… I may get into trouble for this. But I know you’re all dying to know, so I’ll reveal some secrets:

First of all, the apron won’t be removable. I thought it might be when I first say those separation lines, but I was wrong. Secondly, regarding what she’s wearing underneath… well, she’s not. But it’s not quite at the level you might have seen on certain other figures!

So what’s hilarious? The reaction on MFC on discovering the secret of what the Old One has underneath. Let me just quote…

Although I’m not going to display her where it’s visible, the white blob bothers me a little. It’s enough just knowing it’s there… I would have preferred no details at all, like most nude figures.
Still; she is a great figure, and slightly bigger than I expected. Quality wise she is like all Max Factory-figures: Excellent!

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Indescribable cloth…..
At least I don’t remember that it appear in any season of this Anime. And I don’t think this Anime dares to show such part of the Nyaruko’s body. It’s absolutely not a hentai Anime any way.
Just like a decent gentleman, Max Factory was unwilling to show any detail of her secret part, so he summoned a piece of mysterious cloth to cover her.

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But we’re dealing with Max Factory here. If they had wasted any thought on giving her explicit detail, they’d have handed this project to their H-department, Native.
Now we’ll just have to live with a cute and sexy (yet censored) figure. Put her on one of the lower shelves so that the white goo doesn’t show too much ;-) Creampie, anyone? XD

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Yeah but it’s definitely not creatively censored at ALL. They could’ve had her legs more together or the back of the apron swooping in…SOMETHING else would be better than a white blob. I guess we don’t know for sure till people start getting it and find out if that comes off or what the accessories are.

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Yeah but I remember she said it’s not as “detailed” as you might think or something. Can someone who has this figure please see if that blob comes off? jeez.

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When you think about it, having that “blob” thing, as you describe it (haven’t seen it myself yet so I can’t tell how it looks), coming out of nowhere would make perfect sense. She’s an eldritch abomination assuming a human form, remember? So a weird thing appearing on such a character wouldn’t be that surprising. :p

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Is the menstrual pad a dealbreaker for this figure? ^^;

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That thing just has to be removable, IT just has too!
If not, then its One of the most weirdest thing I’ve ever seen on a fïgure.
I remember Mikatan being all enthusiastic about that thing…
don’t tell me she was a blobophile :s

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Ugh, it’s not even a pad, it’s like a white blob, what even is that. Couldn’t they at least go barbie and make it a bunch of nothing? Bandaid? “Censored” sign?
WHAT IS THAT BLOB.

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A decent gentlemen but not very creative. Come on, we could use some “convenient censoring” instead of a white blob. Make the back of her apron swoop in and cover it, her legs could be closer together or the one leg not so high up. So many ways to censor it nicely. I think this just draws more attention down there. It could’ve at least been painted skin color.

I’m sorry I’m just ranting so much. I haven’t opened the box yet. Not sure if I will. I do love her face, she is soo cute.

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That’s OK, I also hate this cloth. At first sight, I thought it was part of apron or underwear, but after scrutinized, it finds out that this white part never belongs to any part of dress, I don’t know where does it come from so it is really indescribable. I think using some apron ribbon to cover might be a good idea. On the internet someone said that cloth was a kind of special underwear for girls but I cannot verify it because I cannot just ask girls about that.

[re-ordered, formatting and links removed]

Well, I’m sort of indifferent. Fans of the series should understand why this Nyaruko figure is charming, and it’s not just because her cute, wide-face-like face. It’s definitely not just because she’s doing the hadaka apron thing. It’s because she’s doing it with her favorite instrument of trade, it’s because it says Mahiru, it’s because she’s stepping on a certain critter, it’s because this figure embodies the gap-ness of the character idea–a moe avatar of unbeknownst Lovecraftian terror.

But I don’t think that matters. Nyaruko is gonna Nyaruko. And figure collectors will buy what they like for whatever the reason. Or not buy what they like.

And this is just yet another chapter in the growing PVC bishoujo figure marketplace (and I’d include Figma and Nendo buyers in this group) where more people are buying, both because they like the look and because they are the fan of the IP/characters, and often time not both at the same time. It’s not a growing divide, it’s more like a growing source of laughter and face-palming.