Figure Comparison: Hotaru versus BBI

Out of pure interest in how Hotaru measures up against other 1:6 scale figures, I bought a somewhat random figure, which by the coat markings lead me to believe it's made by BBI. She arrived about 2 months late, giving me plenty of time to mull over her new name which I instantly decided on impulse when she actually arrived. I've named her Miranda after a thug character in Troika Games' Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magicks Obscura, because her head sculpt has silver eyeliner that reminds me of tears, leading me to the name Miranda Tears in Tarant's "The Boil", the slum area of the city. What a weird way to name a figure, eh? Then again, Hotaru was named after her hair... I could have easily started naming them after popular Japanese Pop icons, but that would make less sense.

Anyways... I set to work comparing her attributes and structure to Hotaru.
The first thing you'll notice is either the nipples, or the difference in height. After you've finished staring at the nipples and other bits, I'll continue with the comparison. Hotaru has limited leg movement, and greater range of motion for the arms. I kept the leg ROM more human-like (you try doing the BBI pose) for Hotaru. I've also noticed that the BBI figure has girthy thighs. Not quite epic Chun-Li levels, but still significantly big.


As for the other details, I've checked for compatibility of my constructed garments with Miranda, and they actually work. I'm quite surprised about that, expecting some bad fits and incompatible clothing forcing me to specially tailor things to one or the other. Some other things you'll notice is the hand difference. Hotaru's hands are much smaller than Miranda's. I'm ok with girls with manly sized hands if it means they can wield bludgeoning tools of death as easily as I can. I can't actually remove her gun grip hands and put on the kung-fu fireball deflection palm hands she comes with, without fear of snapping off the pegs that hold them in place. This is where I appreciate the bendable wire supported hands Hotaru has: they may come out easily, but she can do any hand gesture with one set of hands.

"NYEH NYEH! I'm taller than YOU are!"

Did I mention Miranda's really short? Hotaru has heeled boots right now, adding 9mm of height to her. Hotaru towers over her even without the assistance. I based Hotaru's height based on standard human drawing practices of using the head as a unit of measure. Her torso and arms came out fine, but she got longer legs somehow out of it. I'm not complaining: I rather like the longer legs.

Another thing that I should mention is that Miranda can't hold any dynamic poses involving her back/torso. She cheats on the construction, using spring loaded joints to maintain her form. While stable, she can't do any forward leans and only can do mild back arching. Side movement is more of a wish than a reality.

So far, Miranda has convinced me that I like my constructs better than what BBI can produce. Sculpting is great, but what good is that if it can't hold a fun pose?