LADoToys Liya Alopex Mystic Land figure

Having grown up during the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons, I've never been a stranger to anthropomorphised animal characters. Bucky O'Hare, Heathcliffe & Company, Hero Turtles (as they were in the good ol' UK) or anything Disney, from Duck Tales to Rescue Rangers, the idea of animals as people seems almost natural. Games are no less crammed to the rafters, with Sonic the Hedgehog, Bobsy the Bobcat, Sparkster, Battletoads... the list goes on.

Perhaps it's this early exposure to such creatures combined with the reach of the internet that has led to a community of fans for these characters. Certainly there's no shortage of fan art, dubious and innocent, posted daily to social media. In a way, it's almost incredible that nobody has thought to create a dedicated line of sexy anthropomorphic girls in various guises. Enter LADoToys with their first entry, Liya Alopex.

So really this is an exercise in design. With no base to work from, all the toy engineers at LADoToys had to do was create characters that appeal to a certain demographic and make them well. And I have to say, I think they succeeded.

When I first saw the design for Liya, I was immediately reminded of Gadget Hexwrench from Chip'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. The idea of a female mechanical genius always appealed to me as a kid (I was quite gifted at scratch building cars and miniature cities for school) so I figured I'd pick this one up to have a look. 

Liya is sculpted wearing a leather crop top, jean shorts, chunky brown boots and a belt with some protective goggles. It's finished off with three accessories - a leather choker, brass armband and fingerless leather gloves with brass details. The steampunk elements are really intricate and beautifully painted, all leather and brass with lots of studs and metal embelashments. The wash on the leather really brings out the sculpted details and adds a level of realism to the whole piece. 

For accessories, she comes with a wooden mallet, sword, toolbelt and associated tools - be careful with this last item as it doesn't securely hold the smallest pieces and subsequently one of them is somewhere in the office and will, I'm certain, be a bugger to find. So keep an eye on those.

Under all that clothing is a humanoid body covered in grey fur with a white underbelly. Finally, the tail is massive and sculpted in three pieces, the last of which can swivel very slightly, though it adds little for posing. Speaking of which, she has the basic posing ability you would expect from this kind of figure - ball jointed head and shoulders, rotation in the upper arms, elbow band of just over 90 degrees, swivel in the torso and hips, ball jointed upper legs, 90 degree knees knees all finished off with a little articulation in the ankles and toes. Not outstanding, but comparable with your standard (older) Marvel Legends figure - I have to say the new Gamerverse Psylocke is far more flexible.

She comes with three faces, all of which have moveable eyes - a great feature to add even more expressiveness, and you can wiggle her ears. Outstanding.

She doesn't stand well freely - that tail really pulls her backwards, but if you twist the tip just right you can use the tail as a "third leg" to keep her standing. It limits the tail a bit, but at least you aren't reliant on the stand, which while rendered beautifully as a cobbled street, has the utterly insane design element of having the peg in the middle. What good is it there? It needed to be on the side so that she could pull of a full A-stance, but with it in the middle she has no room to spread out. It's a strangely ill-thought out design decision for an otherwise excellent figure. 

Liya and friends - Hasbro's Diane (left) and Figma Raphtalia (right) - the matte paint on Liya really helps avoid the sweaty look as you see with Diana

Looking at the competition, the price point puts it firmly in Figma territory, slightly more than an SH Figuarts figure, so expectations are a little higher. Certainly she lands the accessory comparison well, with lots of hands, three faces and all those tools to play with. The addition of a sculpted/painted stand is also a bonus, even if the technical execution of the peg is a bit daft. A sharp sculpt, quality plastics and gorgeous paint come together to provide us with a figure that's on par and possibly better than Figuarts, which was a pleasant surprise.

As with all things figure-based, it comes down to whether or not you like the design. I certainly find it appealing, she'd be an excellent addition to pretty much any in-scale figure line and for me, I think she'll sit best with Hasbro's Dungeon's and Dragons figures, being just the right mix of fantasy and steampunk to fit into that mythical realm. So if you like the look of her and aren't too embarrassed by the idea your friends might give you a funny look then Liya might be one of the best figures you pick up this year.