I've featured the Popy B-Club Polystone Collection on the blog a couple of times before; these are basically figures made from a mixture of plastic resin with a filler material that creates a stonelike feel. The first reaction I usually have to these would be similar to artifacts made out of ceramic or porcelain - "shit, don't break it!". I'd lie if I say I was a fan of the material but there are many rare Gundam character figures out there who haven't showed up in more durable materials like PVC so what are you to do? This figure is an excellent example; when was the last time you saw Emma Sheen in her Titans uniform? That's right - never! It is almost always that boring green and white outfit she wore onboard the Argama (and Bandai seems content with upping her chest size for each new release as the main improvement).
The figures in the Polystone series come in boxes with no clear window section for you to peek inside, but you will at least get a very clear illustration of what you should expect to find in there. Looking at the box it appears the figure had an original MSRP of 12800 yen which is quite pricy for a figure 20 years ago. Nowadays the price seems less impressive with MegaHouse pushing the upper limits for what a mass-produced Gundam character figure can cost all the time, we are somewhere in the 40000-range already). I picked this figure up second hand for ¥5000 back in 2021 which I thought was quite a lot back then, today I would consider it a steal. I am convinced the secondary market prices will have risen significantly since then too. As always though, the main problem is to actually find one for sale. There are many rare characters released in Polystone that I have only ever seen for sale once in a blue moon every ten years or so. There is no point trying to actively collect these but just count your blessings if you get the opportunity to pick one up at all.
The packaging is typical for the Polystone Collection figures I have seen. The product is packaged neatly in a styrofoam insert with a separate pocket for the base. An additional protective layer on the form of a bag helps to further avoid paint chipping damage. There are no loose parts or accessories.
Here we see the figure out and about. One foot has a long and sturdy peg that goes into a drilled hole in the base. The fit is quite loose and you can easily rotate the figure on the base and so special care must be taken when handling it, hold on to both base and figure or separate them when moving it around. The character designs of Zeta are overall exceedingly slim and the figure matches the show's art direction well, actually my first thought was "Oh Emma, why are your feet so big?". I guess there are reasons many uniforms don't have brightly coloured boots but what is a girl to do? I love all of the Titans uniform types but maybe the boots should have been dark with a red accent instead but Zeta is a child of the 1980s after all.
The shoulder patch isn't entirely straight on but it looks really good overall, lots of bright colouring and the uniform itself has some nice shading effects and creases too.
Alright, now to address the elephant in the room. This figure is not a portrait of Emma Sheen but creepy vampire with a strange nose trying to hypnotize you. The proportions of the face aren't even close to what is displayed on the box cover where the face is rounder and at least a little bit looking like the character is supposed to. This lady is a generic member of Paptimus Scirocco's entourage that he charmed away while visiting some Titans military base a year ago or so presumably. As a generic Titans office it looks great, but if you want an Emma Sheen figure this is unfortunately not your thing.
I'll close out with a comparison of two other related figures from the smaller PVC-ranges. First we have Sarah Zabiarov, also a member of Paptimus' fail-army dressed in a common Titans uniform (released around the same time in December 2005 as part of the Bandai EF Collection Zeta Gundam Heroines Vol. 2) and Emma in her best likeness in my opinion, in an A.E.U.G. flightsuit (released in April 2006 in the EF Emotive Figure Collection Z series).
I was hoping to do a headswap on a Zabiarov figure but the scales of the two are not close enough. I might have the A.E.U.G. flightsuit repainted into Titans colours though, that should prove fairly successful compromise I think. There are a maybe half-a-dozen or so other figures of Emma in her classic civilian green and white outfit but none of them stand out as superb likenesses in my opinion. I'm still waiting for someone out there to do the Titans crew justice in figure form, MegaHouse stop fawning over GQuuuuuuX already and do a sweet Zeta Gundam 40th Anniversary set instead...
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