Overview
An artist-driven line born of a collaboration between Max Factory and designer Tony Taka (most well-known for his work on Shining, bishoujo figure designs for Alphamax’s Skytube brand, and for a wide body of work in eroge), Guilty Princess focuses on Battle Maidens, various female characters who are based aesthetically on various aspects of fantasy.
The line is distributed by Good Smile through their working relationship with Max Factory (who almost exclusively distribute their products through Good Smile).
As a side note, Guilty Princess is a subline of Max Factory’s PLAMAX set of model kits. However, it is distinct enough to warrant its own entry.
Construction and Engineering
Guilty Princess, as far as lines go, is very middle of the road in almost every aspect. In construction, in quality, in price, in aesthetics; Guilty Princess is nothing spectacular in all of these, but neither is it horrifically bad. It’s a workhorse of model kits; it’s a good experience to build, and it’s nice on the shelf, but there are definitely easier kits, more elegantly engineered kits and nicer-looking kits.
The quality of these kits are pretty decent – nothing to write home about, but also nothing to sniff at, either, courtesy of Max Factory’s expertise in toy manufacturing. The kits’ engineering is also nothing special. The accessories are also pretty interesting, however; the Maidroids have a gimmick that allows them to combine accessories across different kits.
Aesthetics:
Aesthetics are the selling point of Guilty Princess. These kits very much rely on fanservice as a selling point. Much of Tony’s career focuses on eroge and it shows in the lewd and sexualized designs of the Battle Maidens, from the subservient Maidroids to the barely-clothed Underwear Girls to the scantily clad elves Elfina and Grimlinde. While not as blatantly sexual about it as DarkAdvent or Nuke Matrix, it’s pretty clear that the selling point is sexiness, which can appeal to a certain audience, and certainly more so than the typical girlpla offering.
Ease of Acquisition:
In this too, Guilty Princess is middle of the road – the kits are not too hard to get your hands on and certainly a little easier than a lot of equivalent kits, but not as common as 30 Minutes Label kits. The cheapest kits will retail secondhand at roughly ¥3000 (£14/$18) for the Maidroids and Underwear Body Girls to the vicinity of ¥5000 (£25/$31) for Grimlinde and Elfina, while new kits will set you back at least an extra ¥2000.
As these kits haven’t really jumped over to the West, your best place to find these will be Japanese storefronts, though the occasional Western storefront may have one or two of the kits.
Personal Verdict?
Put shortly, Guilty Princess is what you would get if you built the concept of assembling cute anime girls as a model kit from the ground up.
It is a perfectly average toyline by girlpla standards; not too lewd, not too expensive and not too difficult to build. This does mean that it does feel a little “safe”; certainly, if you want lewd, you can get lewder kits we list in this very guide, and the aesthetic isn’t anything new, so it won’t really stand out. It also doesn’t really try to do anything innovative in engineering either.
Average does not mean bad, of course, and sometimes, even if you have the option of a five star chef’s cooking, you really do want McDonalds. Furthermore, as an artist-driven line like DarkAdvent, chitocerium and GODZ ORDER, one of the primary appeals is Tony’s character designs. Overall, while we can’t say Guilty Princess is a must-have for anybody, you also won’t regret buying one if doing so piques your curiosity.
Personal Recommendations:
While we built and collected the Maidroids, we had a very soft spot for Elfina, whose design scratches our itch for a nice-looking elf.
Official Site: https://special.goodsmile.info/guiltyprincess/en/
Leave a Reply