Jun the Swan (Gatchaman)

I remember being about 5 years old and watching Battle of the Planets at 6:30am - so striking were the visuals of five bird-based heroes and that awesome red and blue ship that it seared itself on my brain. I had no idea it was anime, I just knew I liked it.

Fast forward 41 years, and while I have a much-loved God Phoenix, I've never owned a character from the show. So I was thrilled when Storm Collectables stepped up with their Jun the Swan figure - I generally like their output, they add a decent level of detail and their matt paint has a lovely hand-feel I've not seen beaten by anyone else.

Jun comes in a long box to house all of the accessories held within, and there are many;

• 4 capes for various iconic poses
• The Yo-Yo weapon in two forms - deactivated (which stores in the belt) and activated on a string that attaches to Jun's finger
• 2 heads - stoic and smiling
• 3 skirts - straight, flared and really flared
• 14 hands

She can kick and stand without help, which is impressive.

Every single item is covered in a lovely matt paint that gives the whole thing an animated look. It's nicely applied too, with mostly sharp edges and an even application. You can see a sort of hand painted look around the helmet's swan-eye detailing where some of the raised areas aren't covered to the very edges, but honestly that doesn't bother me as it fits the cel-painted style of the anime. I appreciate for others this may be an issue, but it's in line with Storm's general painting - my Fatal Fury Mai Shiranui and various Street Fighter figures are all much the same in some area or another. The skirts have the most detail, with a very subtle wash that accentuates certain lines and compliment her rear, and I must say I'm absolutely astonished that they would include three of these, it really makes the figure seem more natural in extreme poses, even if the standard skirt is quite flexible anyway. Bravo.

Sculpt overall is sharp, with generally excellent articulation covering all the poses you'd likely want. Elbows and knees have good range (past 90 degrees) and only the head really suffers as the rubber of the cape covering her neck limits her up and down movement. I can't really see a way around that without ruining the sculpt, so I've no real complaints here. She did everything I needed her to, but the stand out test for any female figure is if she can pull off a provocative stance with jutting hips. Storm has given her excellent range with hip and abdomen joints that give her a lovely, curvy look that accentuates her femininity. 

Subtle curves in the hips and abdomen give her lots of range in the torso.

If I have one minor gripe it's with the yo-yo weapon. When connected it points 90 degrees from the base, so it never points forward. You can fudge the angle of her arm for some poses, but it is a delicate piece so I can see why they went with the strongest, most natural looking connection. It doesn't do a great job of showing it being hurled at enemies though, and that's a shame. After a little more of a fiddle post-photography session I also noticed that it left a mark on the finger I attached it to (the nature of the matt paint I think), so it won't be leaving the box again. The disc looks nice in the pouch on her waist though, so I'll leave that in there.

We have two helmets/heads. One is a pretty stoic while the other is smiling. I do wish we'd had an angry head for action poses, it looks weird seeing her kick or punch with no expression or smiling sweetly, it feels like a really obvious omission, and while it's not a deal-breaker it does seem a bizarre choice for an athletic fighter like Jun. The beak/glass protrusion also distorts her face, making it a bit hard to take decent photos, but that's just the nature of that design element.

Now I mentioned the delicate construction of the Yo-Yo, and that's a bit of an issue with some other aspects of the figure too. While taking pictures I noticed that one helmet had a longer antenna than the other, so I checked around the desk in case it had snapped while taking photos (she hadn't fallen though, even with the kick pose). Investigating the box, I found the end of the helmet sitting in there. I had noticed that some of the accessories had shifted in transit, but she obviously took a bang somewhere along the line, so be very careful when handling it. It is odd that they went with rigid plastic for this area - the fingers on the hands are rubberised and allow for a little flexibility, but you get no give on this ultra-thin plastic protrusion - had mine not broken in the box I doubt I'd have found the end, and it's way too small to glue. Honestly if I hadn't noticed the difference between the two heads, I doubt I'd have even known about the breakage!

She looks gorgeous in flight!

As with all adult collectables, you expect to handle with care, but if it can break in the box you should inspect yours first if at all possible. Mine came via pre-order directly from the Storm Collectables UK site and in all fairness, they responded very fast when I contacted them about a potential replacement part.

So despite a few minor niggles, I'm really very happy with Jun. She looks amazing, poses like a champ and has enough accessories to provide almost any iconic pose you could wish for. Storm Collectables UK had the best price, but she can fetch over £110 on other sites, so I'd recommend checking with the source before looking elsewhere. I'll update the review with the outcome of my breakage report, but in the meantime I'd recommend the figure if you're a fan of the series, but handle with care - she is a Princess in the West after all!