Do you like your figures cute, but just a bit scary? Then this figure is for you!
This review is pretty long – feel free to scroll past any sections that don’t appeal.

About Fengrong Culture

Fengrong Culture is a Chinese manufacturer, so you won’t find this figure in the MFC database.
Fengrong Culture was established in 2017, but this is their first release – they did intend to release another figure prior, but was cancelled before being available for order, likely for licensing reasons.

One thing to note this is the review of the figure without the DX base – the DX base is a separate release in China, and I do have this on preorder. Fengrong currently estimate 15th-20th August for the base’s release. The base was originally going to be resin, but due to the number of orders received, they changed it to be PVC & ABS. Oh, and it has lights and a speaker…

My history with the figure

I believe this figure was first revealed at Wonfes Shanghai 2019 – my first glimpse of it via an image posted to a Discord server I was on. I then promptly forgot which server it was posted on, and then couldn’t find it a week or so later. Thankfully awhile later someone reposted it, which allowed me to track down the details.
From there, I discovered Fengrong’s Weibo, which allowed me to keep track of the figure. I also discovered hpoi’s site (a Chinese MFC), so also watched the figure there.
Not knowing if the figure would see any international distribution, I registered with a Taobao proxy and did a couple of in-stock purchases to investigate how it worked, as well as looking into how deposits/preorders worked.
I decided to preorder this figure with hpoi’s store, as it was highly rated and seemed to be a good bet.
Then came the usual preorder wait. And delay. Then delay again… At one point the release date wasn’t known, but eventually Fengrong published that she’ll be sent out at the end of July. True to their word this time around, I was able to pay the replenishment (final) payment, and she was at my proxy very shortly after.
EMS from China to the UK took 11 days, so didn’t have too long to wait once she was enroute.

Figure box size and weight

As some of you reading this are likely waiting on their preorder from AmiAmi, the box weight & dimensions are:
Weight: 1875g
Dimensions: 330 x 265 x 190mm
So prepare for hefty shipping.

Figure’s box

Front:

We have an interestingly-shaped window here, showing off most of the figure. We have some glossy-printed tentacles which give a nice texture and detail to the box.
We also have the figure’s name in Chinese and English, plus the tagline “Rhythm from R’lyeh”, which I like.

Sides:

Not too much to see here – some little star windows, and the continuation of the front and back designs.

Back:

We have the figure in front of her illustration. Interesting choice, works OK. At the bottom we have mostly the standard warning text and figure information, plus an authenticity shiny from Fengrong and the barcode.
The design is pretty enough, but not hugely exciting.

Top:

This was taken after I did the photoshoot, so we can’t see the top of her head here, but it wasn’t the most exciting angle in the window. Does the job.

Bottom:

Nothing to see here. Move along. S’gone all moiré though…

Liner:

Seem to have a jumper pattern here. You don’t really see a lot of it through the box’s windows when the figure is in the box, so it’s fine. Not sure how they decided on this pattern – doesn’t really have anything to do with the figure.

Info card:

Has some basic safety/warranty information. However, we have some kind of exchange code at the bottom – for an app/website that doesn’t exist yet… Well, I’ll keep an eye on their Weibo for more info! See if I can get anything good, despite not being in China.

Box inner, if you’re curious:

Blister

It’s a reasonably sturdy blister, but has bent a fair bit on the front. As a blister, it clips together well, and kept the items secure as I pulled it out of the box.
Looking at the blister contents, we have the main figure, a basic base and her mic. We also have an empty hole to the bottom right – nothing was in here, and looks like that’s the case for other people’s copies. Maybe they planned to include some headphones for her at one point?

Base

Top:

I swear this came pre-fingerprinted. Ah well, it was gonna invariably gain some of mine at some point anyway, plus I have the deluxe base coming soon. Not a very exciting base – some detail to the edges and that’s about all we get. And one bit to support her foot.
This was more base than anticipated, as the prototype shots just showed her balanced on her tentacles.

Peg:

The plastic pieces didn’t go together so well here, so we have some protruding edges. They’re hidden once she’s on the stand though.
A decently long metal peg here, to keep her stable – nice to see a metal peg, as that’ll stay nice and sturdy when displayed.

Bottom:

No copyrights, no nothing. Plastic grid might be useful if you want to put her on a display plinth smaller than her diameter though.

Unpacking the parts

Mic:

Not too much to see here – it is pretty small, so the details are sufficient. No notable paint mishaps here.

Cthulhu with her protective materials:

She comes with a good amount of plastic separating the parts, stopping her from scraping against herself. She also has a foam block behind her legs to stop her from swinging back and hitting her hair.
Closer look at the foam:

There weren’t any instructions with her, so I just squidged it up and squeezed it out between her leg and tentacle, being careful not to nudge the bow on the back of her ankle off. I did waggle her body around, but not sure if it detaches, so left it be.

Propped without base:

She can be balanced without the base like the prototype images show, but she looked a little wonky when I did this.

Assembly

Foot hole:

This fit fine onto the metal peg – was fairly easy to slide her on once I got the correct angle for the peg. Is a little bit of marking on her sole on my copy.

Hand for the mic:

This is what her hand looks like without the mic. You may see some excess rubbery stuff on her hand – I noticed this after this photo, but it just brushed off with a little force, thankfully.

*plop*:

It fit into her hand just fine, no issues here. Seems to be in there firmly enough too. Also note the lack of cruft on the back of her hand.

OK, that’s everything unpacked and assembled. Let’s give ‘er a spin.

Spin-around

Yep, she’s definitely a statement piece of a figure. A bold green and definitely tentacle-y. Very heavy too – guessing that the tentacles were cast solid, as she’s a weighty beast. Complete opposite of a B’Full/Insight figure. Unfortunately that means she’ll cost a pretty penny to ship.

Close-ups

Face:

She has quite a cute singing face. For some reason, her hair is propped a bit away from her face – I don’t think it shows much on display, but does look a little odd. The cast isn’t the best but it isn’t the worst I’ve seen. We do have some nice shading here though. Her stray hair has some stark contrast on it – it doesn’t bother me personally, but I can some people finding this to be a bit of a paint flaw.
Looking at her hair accessories, the cast is a little blobby, and the gold-y part hasn’t been painted neatly.
Her face skin hasn’t been shaded, so it relies on natural shadow to give it depth. We do have some shading in her mouth though, and two cute fangs.
Her eyes might be a bit divisive – it’s an unusual pattern that fits her, but they do look like faces, which is a bit annoying when you notice it.
Looking at her head wings, we do have some paint detail, but nothing really in sculpt detail.

From the side of her face:

I think her head and mic hand have been posed well – really gives off the vibe she’s singing whilst she waves at her fans.
Her sleeve is shaded nicely, and her cuffs add some nice detail to the figure. The lines on the cuff look neat, and the ruff has been nicely sculpted.
We’ve also got a couple of starfish in her “hair” here too. I do like these little details.

Cthulhu bow detail:

This li’l dude is neat imo. He’s been sculpted well, and the greens are nice. His eyes are painted neatly… but the stars, not so much – here the paint is too sloppy imo – the one to the right of the photo has a fair amount of overspill. In close proximity it’s very noticeable, a bit of distance less so, but you can see it’s there if you’re looking.

Lower half of the dress:

This angle we can see the sloppy gold paint more in focus. If you wanted to…
The dress itself I think has been moulded well, and feels like there’s some life to it with the bottom ruffles rolling upwards in the middle. There is a little shading on the green panel, but it is a bit indistinct. The white parts do have quite noticeable shading.
Loving the three layers they’ve given her dress – adds volume and detail to the dress.

Bow:

Close up it looks a little chonk – that’s to say a little blobby in the sculpt. Being close up to it doesn’t do it any favours, but looks fine from a viewing distance.

Wings:

Unlike the head wings, I feel like these two have had full attention paid to them – much more detail in the sculpt and paint here. These two wings add to her cuteness and cthulhuness :D.

Legs:

Looking at the top of the stockings, it does look like the dark blue banding is a bit different in widths between the two legs, but I don’t think it is something particularly noticeable unless you’re looking up close.
She has bits of shading on her stockings, which help add depth, and a little bit of wrinkling at the back of her knee. I also like the little star details here too.
Her shoes match her tentacles in colour, but have been done with a gloss finish. Unfortunately where the paint blobs out ever so slightly it does produce quite a dark tone which makes her straps look like they’re a little dirty up close.
The bows behind her legs don’t stand out too much, but are a nice additional detail.

Boat:

I love this little cute detail – it does look like a boat tossing in the sea of her tentacles. Again, this is a detail that looks fine from a distance, but up close the sails are rather blobby and unshaded. If I was to change this bit, I’d probably add some grey shading to the sails to hide some of the deficiencies in the sculpting. Though I think a more experienced manufacturer might be able to work on getting a better cast for the sails.

Top of the tentacle-hair:

Isn’t the most attractive meeting of hair, but the lower parts of the tentacle joins is fine. We can also see the shading on the tentacles – I was worried they wouldn’t have much shading, so I was very happy to see this. The shading is pretty striking from a distance, which can be seen in the spin-around shots.
For the backs of the wings, we can see the head wings lack detail on this side, but her body wings are also shaded and sculpted back here. Though one is notably darker than the other. I don’t mind a bit of variance, but some people may find this bothersome.

Lower meeting of the tentacles:

These tentacles meet up nicely.

Wiggly tentacles:

Here we can see more of the shading, and I do like the wiggly lines of these tentacles at the back. The top is slightly glossy, which I think works well.

Suckers:

She wants to stick right to you }:). The undersides of her tentacles have some subtle shading to add depth. The suckers aren’t sucker-shaped, but do mostly look the part. Now I’ve mentioned that, it’s probably going to annoy someone :P.

And that’s a tour of Idol Cthulhu!

Conclusion

So is she winning any awards? I think she deserves an award the concept – I love the idea of a Cthulhu idol. The figure definitely has a fun vibe to her, and I think the shading is better on the figure than I was hoping – most of her has some elements of shading, though her face doesn’t. With the liveliness of the figure, I think she’s fine on a simple base, though there is the complex base being released later.
Some of the paint details could’ve had more attention put in – though the only one that really bothers me is the stars on the chest Cthulhu. There are a couple of bits of sculpting that could do with refining, but nothing I find particularly bothersome.
I’m glad I went through the journey I did to order this unique figure, and I think it’s a solid first figure for Fengrong. Her recommended retail is around ¥12,000, which looking at the figures around that price point in my collection is a fair price for her.
With postage, she cost me around ¥18,550. If you’re in Europe, I’ll be curious how much she cost to ship (I shipped her via EMS from China) – see how ordering from AmiAmi compares when they have her.

Do you feel she’s worth her retail? Have you ordered her from China/AmiAmi? Excited or scared for her?
Thanks for reading this review! And a thank you from Idol Cthulhu!