Inkling Girl

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. Meet the Inklings, a mysterious race of beings that can transform into squid at will! They like to octopi their time with frantic, multicolored turf wars, and they won't miss out on any oppor-tuna-ty to get to the top. And we wouldn't go so far as to call them cod's gift to fashion, but check out that fresh style! During World War Five, an atomic bomb was set off at the South Pole, melting the ice cap and flooding the world, exterminating mankind. 10,000 years later, the waters receeded, so the abundant ocean life had to evolve to survive on land. The discovery and reverse-engineering of ancient artifacts allowed the sea creatures to attain all the hallmarks of human society on a much faster timeline (from the first steps out of the water to "modern" society in only 2,000 years). Last year, the World of Nintendo line had unarticulated Splatoon squids in its 2" line, but now the 4" line brings us Inklings! The Inklings are the main characters of Splatoon, and feature dark "masks" over their eyes, "hair" that resembles a squid's tentacles, and two pointy ears, which are meant to be the evolution of the squid's fins. Inklings gain the ability to switch between "squid" and "kid" forms by age 14, so the figure definitely looks like a scrawny child. She's wearing a white T-shirt with the Inkling language version of いか (the Japanese word for "squid") on the front and a pink SquidForce label on the lower hem. She's got black shorts and bright pink sneakers with grey laces - the shoes even have fully sculpted soles, because sometimes companies you don't expect much from can surprise you. She's also wearing a green backpack with her ink tank mounted on it. The tank is clear with white measurement markings on the back. The glue on mine came loose, so the tank part came apart from the lid/peg part. Friction will keep it in place, though. Unfortunately, the peg on the tank doesn't fit very far into her back, so the piece tends to fall out easily. You may want to glue it in place, since there really isn't a call for her to be without it. On the other hand, doing that will limit her articulation: she has swivel ankles, swivel/hinged knees and hips, a swivel waist, swivel wrists, swivel/hinge elbows and shoulders, and a balljointed head. However, the neck is blocked slightly by the way her hair splits around the tank, so it falling off is really something of a saving grace. The fact that the ankles only swivel, rather than having some sort of hinge, means it's tough to get her feet on the ground in many poses - fortunately, they're each so large that having one flat will provide more stability than expected. The figure has one accessory, a Splattershot gun. It's basically a Super Soaker, bright yellow and green and orange, and can be held in her right hand. It would have been neat if they'd given her more than one weapon, to give people an excuse to buy multiples, but it's not like she's easy to find as it is. Splatoon looks like a fun game, though I wasn't about to buy a whole new console just to play it, so I'll be forced to live vicariously through its merchandise. And while this figure isn't amazing, it's this or an Amiibo, and that's not much competition at all. -- 10/14/17