Play Arts Kai Helena Harper Review - Resident Evil 6

I'm never a fan of Helena, as a newcomer to the Resident Evil franchise you can easily dust her off as another Sheva or Piers; another member of the one-and-done supporting character tier. Not counting Jake since he's a main cast or Sherry since she's a returning character albeit a big age leap, among the new "partners" Chris' bromantic interest Piers is actually much better since he became a villain in the end. Perhaps that's why i never gave much hoot about Helena's Play Arts Kai incarnation. I've always thought she'll just be a supporting display to Leon's (expected) awesomeness...

Oh sweet irony, when the oft-overlooked, supporting cast actually upstaged the main guy. As far as the sculpt is concerned, i find Helena's face better than that of Leon...we'll get more on that later...firstly, her arsenal...

Helena's inclusions are 1 gun shorter than Leon's. They are actually her default weapons in the game: the Hydra shotgun and her Picador 9mm pistol. She also got a holster included in her costume sculpt and though her costume isn't really extravagantly detailed, i find the paint apps not as shabby as Leon's. She does have some wayward paint strokes especially underneath the arm area but they are generally not that noticeable.

While Leon failed in my face sculpt standards i find Helena's a bit more tolerable since they didn't go all-out ballistics in painting her face. It's still not 100% accurate but at least she's prettier - she kinda reminds me of the old Play Arts Final Fantasy figures. I'm wishing Tomasz aka Zelu1984 would paint/customize Helena a better looking face just to see what could have been.

I've seen lots of online photos of her Play Arts Kai figure before and she looks horrible in about 80% of them. Maybe that's why i didn't expect much, but now, having seen her up close in person, i can safely say that those pics didn't do her justice. Simply put, she's not as ugly as her other pics put her - in fact she reminds me of Renee Z (google it up guys!) thick/pouty lips and all. Goddamn, i feel so damn old remembering when she's still hot...

Poseability is still a problem but for a thin-legged figure she's got great balance. I'll be very careful though of her arms since she's equipped with Dissidia hinges.

Scale is of course consistent with Leon which means she's a bit below the scale of her predecessors (Chris and Sheva of RE5). I'm not sure but perhaps Capcom wanted their PAK figures to be consistent with the SSF4 line. At least i'm thankful that she didn't inherit the traits of PAK Sheva - damn! that figure's terrible.

LOOK AT HER!!!

If you're gonna get Leon (and i'm sure you will if you're sticking to this PAK line) then don't hesitate to get Helena. Though i doubt she can carry the line alone, believe me, she looks good beside Leon. Grab her @ Greattoys Online branches.

YOU F#!KING LOOK AT HER!!! - Anton