Big Firebird Build EX Series EX-01 Plus Mooka (AKA Mocha)

(Femme-Bot Friday #81)

I know.

I originally said I wasn't going to write about this figure here, but on my oft-neglected, more general toy blog... However, sometime between Mocha/Mooka's announcement and actually receiving the toy in the post last year, I realised that was the wrong decision. While it still doesn't fit here in the sense that it's not a Third Party take on a TransFormers character, it doesn't fit there in that it's clearly an adult collectable rather than a toy. In many ways, posting about the Cyclion there was somewhat mistaken.

However, I've covered Go-Bots and myriad other Third Party figures, so the TransForm-A-Blog is clearly not wholly about TransFormers. Plus, Mooka is derived from a figure that was originally conceived as a stylised take on Arcee, so I've decided to post this here, and henceforth try to keep Toys, HEXcetera... focussed on things that are more general action figure material.

So, prepare yourselves for another controversial and divisive Third Party Femme-Bot, this one seemingly deliberately reworked to play into some of the complaints made about Nicee when she first emerged.

Packaging:

There are certainly some common stylistic threads between Mooka's box and Nicee's. The image on the front is very similarly cropped, showing a 45° on her chest and shoulder, with the lower part of her face poking in from one corner, but presented as both a mirror image and almost a negative, thanks to Mooka's distinct colouration. The back of the box is printed on a largely silver foil background, with a faded image of the robot behind several smaller shots of the figure in achievable action poses, and boxed-out images showing her alternate heads and the vehicle mode. The sides feature similarly-framed images of vehicle and robot mode, and Nicee's 'opposed crescent moons' logo has been tweaked such that it's rather more obviously representing a pair of tits. What's strange here is that the Big Firebird branding itself has taken a bit of a back seat - where Nicee's box had the full, stylised 'firebird' version of the logo, this one is text-only. The entire box also has some kind of textured laminate applied to it, though the box itself feels a little flimsy, despite the upgraded visual presentation. There's a sticker on the inside of the box's top flap, displaying "Mooka - 1133", presumably being its number within the total production run.

Inside, the figure is packaged in robot mode, with all her accessories in a couple of smaller, separate trays stacked alongside her within the main shell. The instructions this time are a simple, six-page gatefold leaflet, with the transformation steps summarised in a way that might make them confusing to those who don't already have experience of Nicee. She also comes with a sheet of waterslide decals, though I was pleased to see that some of the logos and such are present as factory-applied paintwork or tampograhs - when I first heard about the waterslide decals, I was concerned that she'd arrive 'blank', and I'd have to spend some time applying them, so finding that this was not the case was a relief.

Presentation-wise, then, this is a bit of a mixed bag... In some respects, it's a higher spec than Nicee, while it's a step backwards in others. My main concern would be the durability of the box, considering the comparatively light stock used, and I'd have much preferred less elaborate finishing to the box if it allowed for heavier card.

Vehicle Mode:

Something that struck me almost immediately - and which almost consistently fails to come across in photographs (not just mine!) - is that Mooka is not black... She's a super-dark purple, and it looks absolutely divine. One could even describe the colour - wholly without irony - as aubergine, with a nudge-nudge, wink-wink nod toward the emoji. The thing is, since I'd been expecting black, and already know from the number of Nemesis repaints I own that black versions of things look awesome, I was wholly unprepared for how much better something can look if the 'black' carries a hint of colour. From some angles, Mooka looks like most of her bodywork is a super-dark grey with a soft sheen rather than a sharp gloss finish... but then, when the light catches her at the right angle, the purple shines through very subtly, complementing the vibrant metallic pink trim that forms vehicle mode's secondary colour. This pink is applied sparingly, and mostly to emphasise the sweeping curves of vehicle mode. The largest applications wrap around the vehicle's canopy, ending right at the back on either side, with shorter stripes running along the front wings from the covered wheel wells, across the redesigned front bumper, and across the front of the bonnet.

Supplementing the metallic pink, there are touches of silver on the frame of the front grille, as well as around the tail lights and exhaust details, and dashes of both silver and metallic pink as accents to the headlights which, themselves, are shelled by translucent orange plastic. On top of this, there are a handful of racing decals stamped onto the vehicle at various points. Most of these are on the front of the bonnet and the several repetitions of 'NICE' dotted around come across as references to Nicee. Additionally, there are designs on the roof and bonnet which could be interpreted as involving the letters C, G and/or Q, or as depicting some kind of dial - possibly a speedometer. I rather like the asymmetry of having more decals on the righthand side of the vehicle (complemented by a single silver-and-pink stripe on the lefthand side of the spoiler) though there's one oddity to this. The matching decals on the tops of the front wings are mirrored, such that the text of the one on the left side reads correctly, but the one on the right reads backwards. Whether this was deliberate, artistic choice or simple carelessness, it is one small detail that counts against this repaint, in my opinion. If the factory-applied decals just aren't enough, the sheet of waterslide additions should be sufficient to fill in those gaps in Mooka's stock paint job which offend the eye of the more discerning racing sponsorship enthusiast.

When this figure was first revealed, I'd expected vehicle mode to be a simple repaint, with all the new parts focussed on robot mode, but it turns out there are more changes than the addition of a simple enclosed canopy over the driver's compartment. As previously mentioned, there's a new front bumper and a spoiler, but the entire rear panel and roof have been redesigned as well. The upshot of this is that, essentially, Mooka actually looks better than Nicee in vehicle mode. The front end still looks vaguely serpentine, but is smoother - without the little ridges between the headlights and the central grille. The spoiler honestly doesn't add much, but the redesigned rear end conceals slightly more of her hips and pelvis. The new roof continues the pattern of sweeping curves that are present throughout this vehicle mode design, and the frosted translucent blue, hinged and ball-jointed canopy disguises the shallow detailing of the cockpit area. In fact, it's amazing how a few simple adjustments to the shape of certain parts can change the whole feel of the vehicle. Granted, the colourscheme carries most of the weight on that score, but this really is a development and refinement of Nicee's vehicle mode, rather than a simple repaint.

I would express some concern about the spoiler, since the tabs on the 'ears' (literally rabbit ears for the robot mode's two head sculpts) are attached by the smallest tabs and the shallowest slots I have ever encountered, even on a Third Party figure. That said, once attached, they don't seem inclined to pop off without deliberate manipulation... Nevertheless, careless handling should be avoided. Other than that, everything seems to tab in pretty securely, though the alignment issues I had with the sweeping curved strips that wrap around Nicee's hips at the back are very much present on Mooka as well.

Robot Mode:

My first impression of Mooka was that she's designed to look like a robotic maid, based on the colourscheme, colour layout and the tiara/headpiece (due to its lacy styling). The leggings are very much nonstandard for that look but, coupled with the angular, high-heeled foot design, her design seems to have been skewed toward the more fetishised 'maid uniform' available today than anything genuinely traditional. The other angle to this design is the 'Race Queen' - models who basically hang around with the pit crew in (mostly) Japanese motor racing, dressed in costumes that match the team's livery, and frequently pictured holding umbrellas... which explains one of the accessories included with this set. All that said, one of the interesting changes to her sculpt, versus Nicee, is that the appearance of her feet, knees, shoulders and collar are more akin to armour, where the other retained hints of Arcee's almost organic curves even after the G1-style head sculpt was cut from the package.

While Mooka's vehicle mode is quite different from Nicee, her robot mode looks surprisingly similar in its silhouette, while being markedly divergent in its details. Obviously the colouring and an altered distribution of colour are the most significant change, but the pauldrons are smaller and less rounded, the genouillères are larger and more rounded, and the feet - heel, toe and the independently mobile plate that covers the front of the ankle - have been entirely redesigned for this new figure. Pretty much everything else appears, at first glance, to be the same sculpt as was used for Nicee.

The distribution of colour is fairly similar to Nicee on the limbs - Mooka's arms are largely silver, with the trim at the elbow and cuff painted metallic pink, while the pauldrons now similarly split between silver and metallic pink rather than being all one colour. The legs are almost all one colour - now the shimmery aubergine, with the only variation being the metallic pink on the heels and the flap on the calves. The body is painted as if wearing a dark leotard with a silver belt and a triangular cut-out below the bust. As with vehicle mode, there are some racing-style decals applied - one on the right side of her chest, one on the right side of her waist, directly above the belt, and one in the 'belt buckle' area, each complementing the one on her right thigh, which was visible in vehicle mode. The decal on her chest matches the one from vehicle mode's roof (similar to, but distinct from the one on the front of the bonnet), while the one on the waist matches the one from the back of the bonnet, just in front of the windscreen. The one on the 'belt buckle' is perhaps another questionable feature, since it's a heart... sitting right in the middle of her pelvis. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd given her a tramp stamp. Maybe one of the waterslide decals could do that job.

A cute feature of Nicee - which didn't work as well on the final product as it appeared on the early promo shots - was the ability to tab the vehicle's front fenders into the backpack at waist level, giving her the appearance of a billowing skirt. That is still possible with Mooka... but it works even less well here than on the original figure. The ball joints appear to be on much shorter stalks, and the adjustments to the fender sculpt means they seem to end up higher up on her waist, and can't wrap around her hips as effectively. The joint also feels much tighter, so I'm rather reluctant to make much use of this feature on Mooka.

One of the major differences between Mooka and Nicee is the fact that more of her backpack is designed to be removeable - the lower part is effectively on a C-clip, which allows her back to be fully exposed and the removed parts to be repurposed more easily. Also, while it's perfectly possible to clip the small bow/bunny-tail accessory while she's wearing her full backpack, it's largely obscured from most angles, so removing the backpack allows her to show it off properly. On the downside, clipping the accessory on in the first place is a bit of a pain, and there's a very real chance of it scratching the paint on her 'belt', particularly the small dashes of metallic pink on each side. Additionally, the dangling ends of the 'ribbon' are attached via slim pegs into very tight sockets... and, given that the plastic feels a little flimsy, I am concerned that these parts are a breakage risk. Like Nicee, Mooka is also packaged with an alternative chest piece... of the 'squishy' variety... However, since the rubber part is white and the collar plate painted silver, it doesn't suit the figure anywhere near as well as the stock, solid chest piece, so I've not even bothered getting it out of the packaging. Sadly, I didn't order from the right stockist, and certainly not early enough, to obtain the special cat ears... I kind of wish I had them, because they do look really cute... but I don't mind living without.

Weapons-wise, there have been substantial changes made for this release. Mooka comes packaged with two short swords which can be wielded individually or attached to each other via a dedicated central grip. For storage, these can slot inside the new shield (which doesn't form part of the car) even while she's wearing it on either arm. The shield can additionally be attached to either leg, via the circular socket on the outer faces of her calves but, while that certainly looks cool, it's not exactly practical. It's of a simple but elegant design, about buckler size, because it only covers her forearm, yet mostly kite-shaped, but for being rather more convex, since it wraps around the forearm. It's painted mainly silver, with metallic pink spikes poking in from the corners of the frame, while the frame itself left unpainted, as the dark aubergine plastic. The roof/canopy section of the car can also be used as a shield but, whichever way round it goes, the size makes it rather unwieldy compared to either Nicee's version or, perhaps more importantly, the separate shield accessory. Her other hand weapon is a lance designed to look like a folded-down umbrella (the most obvious Racing Queen reference in the set) which she can wield one- or two-handed. Finally, the back end of the car and her two metallic pink 'tails' can combine to form a cannon of some kind, which mounts on either arm, but requires the removal of the hand to make the wrist socket available. Because of the length of the tails, it's another quite unwieldy accessory, making it difficult for her to bend her elbows, quite apart from the fact that it's fiddly to put together in the first place due to the shape of the parts and the position of the connecting tabs/slots. Curiously, the set does include the small handle attachment that turns the front of vehicle mode into a sort of bow-shaped weapon, as with Nicee, but no 'arrow' was included here, the resculpted parts don't sit as comfortably in that configuration, and I don't even think she's packaged with the right spare hands to hold it properly... I certainly couldn't get it to work, and got more than a little frustrated trying.

The default head sculpt is very pretty - using a mixture of the dark plastic, silver paint and a few translucent pink highlights. The 'hair' style is similar to Nicee's, but more smoothly curved, and featuring some translucent pink highlights at the temples, as well as her model number - 01 PLUS - stamped on her fringe, while the tiara is a cute addition, fitting the overall look of the figure perfectly. Her face has much the same bland expression as Nicee's standard face, but the silver paint is an improvement in presentation, in my opinion. This sculpt has the same issue of having a 'dead-eyed' look as Nicee, thanks to the use of translucent turquoise plastic without a light-piping channel and, on Mooka, it doesn't seem to be quite so easy to light them by reflection from the front. The translucent pink glasses are a cool addition, and look great when they actually decide to stay put. The fringe has to be removed to fit them, and it never seems to fit back on securely while they're there, leading to both falling off at the slightest touch, so I tend to leave the glasses off. The alternate head reminds me a little of Shermie from the King of Fighters games, because of the super-dense fringe completely concealing her eyes - which are actually present, as translucent plastic, just like on the default head. It's very much the plainer of the two, because it's mostly silver with only a band of metallic pink running from side to side, and on the rims of her 'ears'. Both heads can accommodate the bunny ears, but they're very delicate parts with small, awkwardly-shaped tabs, and it's difficult to get a firm connection into either head. However, the fact that they are articulated - via a double-hinge about halfway up - adds to both their expressiveness and their darned-cuteness. It's also worth mentioning that there's a loose bow tie accessory on her neck, which looks super-cute with either head in place.

Given that more of Mooka's backpack can be removed, should one so desire, and that some of her accessories must be removed for transformation, the process of transforming her can be a little more complicated than Nicee. That said, I would add that I found her slightly easier to transform in terms to getting the front of vehicle mode lined up, but more difficult in terms of getting the robot's arms and legs fully pegged into place on the underside. In particular, it feels as though the hip joints are asymmetrical, leaving the lower torso at a slight angle, while the shoulder joints are tighter and more awkward, with fussier shoulder armour. She can transform with either head in place, and

Articulation is, again, very little different. The feet have been resculpted slightly in terms of their detailing and, for some reason, I find the heel more difficult to line up with the front of the foot. Additionally the backpack feels marginally heavier than Nicee's, meaning Mooka is slightly more difficult to pose without a stand, and has a greater tendency to fall over backwards. Compensating for this is simplicity itself, however. The legs just have to be angled further backward from the hips to shift her centre of gravity slightly forward from the backpack. The redesigned pauldrons offer an improvement in the range of her shoulders, but it's not a huge change. Nevertheless, as can be seen from my photos, she is capable of adopting some very dynamic and dramatic poses, making for a very striking display piece.

Now, clearly Mooka is not a TransFormers analogue of any kind and, by some metrics, she's barely a transforming robot at all. One could be generous and suggest that her colourscheme might be a veiled homage to the Go-Bot Crasher, but that's a bit of a stretch, if you ask me. The choice of heads is a decent substitute for the difference faces offered by Nicee, and the new accessories are well crafted and implemented, making her well worth picking up even if, like me, one already has Nicee in one's collection. 

No doubt Mooka with meet a similar divisive response. Some will complain about the overtly sexualised design, despite that still being a perfectly valid artistic choice on Big Firebird's part. Some will like it for precisely that reason. Some will just ignore it, because it's not analogous to an existing TransFormers character. The bottom line, though, is that she's a damned fine example of a Femme-Bot and, seriously, I can't get over how gorgeous the aubergine-coloured plastic is.

...And I still need to get my girlfriend to write that Femme-Bots opinion piece...