Review: Morrigan by HMO

CAPCOM’S MORRIGAN

Retail Price: $699 USD
Edition Size: 450 (Player 1), 175 (Player 2), 50 (Ultimate Set)
Released: September 2018
Approx. Size: H 24” x W 20” x D 18”
Approx. Weight: 21 lb.

Design Team:
James TCE (Paint)
Mufizal Mokhtar (Sculpt)
and
the HMO Design and Development Team

HMO’s Morrigan made an explosive debut at the Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention back in September 2017. The audience was captivated by her stunning beauty, exceptional recreation of the beloved ArtGerm artwork, and, DAMN…are those real eyes?!? Needless to say, this statue has largely been HMO’s most anticipated arrival ever since.

Almost exactly a year to the day, Morrigan arrived in our dreams…erm…our hands, and WOW! This statue did not disappoint!

We’ll just cut to the chase: Morrigan is HMO’s best production to date (narrowly edging out Mega Man). Check out the video above (watch it in 4K) to hear all of our thoughts, but we’ll run down our top three favourite things about this statue now:

Number Three: The Base

As noted above, the pose and likeness for the statue takes after an art print by ArtGerm; however, you can quickly see that there is no environment around her in the print! So, HMO put their thinking caps on, and created an environment that not only made her pose look natural, but also lends to her personality and story…and damn, does it ever look cool, too! A seemingly random rock formation that when viewed from the right angle forms a skull…a skull with bats flying out of it, no less!

Number Two: The Skin

Morrigan is a succubus, a demon that takes the form of a human female with the sole purpose of seducing men in their dreams. Morrigan’s demon heritage requires her to stay “stimulated” in order to produce the lifeblood that keeps her alive…so, let’s say she has no problem getting around (it’s fairly easy to see why this character became so popular!). She could draw you in with her extremely busty, barely covered breasts, her lusciously curvy hips, or that plump and oh, so grab-able behind…but all of that falls short of her skin, which just looks so smooth and soft that you want to reach out and touch it…and maybe rub it against your cheeks…or maybe that’d be weird…or would it?

HMO used a poly-urethane (PU) material rather than the standard poly-resin in order to achieve this remarkable effect. PU has less shrinkage and grabs details better than the standard material…oh, and it can be tinted with a flesh tone, so that when the light hits it, the skin practically glows! Add in some shading and some light speckling, and you’re left with something that really stands out.

Number One: Those Eyes!

You probably could have guessed what out top choice for this statue would be…just one glance at the portrait on this statue, and you plainly see the eyes are not your standard decal or painted eyes. No, these are ‘RealEyes’, a trademark of HMO. These eyes are each individually handcrafted, painted, and encased in a special gel that gives them a tremendous lifelike depth, like nothing we’ve seen before! HMO is always striving to do something unique with each one of their statues, and we think ‘RealEyes’ is a winner!

Although we listed our three favourite elements of this statue, there is still so much more to like! The paint design by James TCE…look at the vibrant, rich purples on the wings, and the incredibly lifelike french tip fingernails! And, the accuracy to the source materials is stellar…it’s really like looking at a 3D representation of the ArtGerm artwork. The packaging was also superb, and despite the fact that someone apparently tried to drive a forklift through our shipper box, the statue arrived unharmed! We think HMO knocked this one out of the park! Thanks for joining us for this review, and before you go, be sure to check out the high-res photo gallery below!

P.S. If you’re having trouble setting this statue up (the bats can be a little bit of trial and error), check out our unboxing video below.