When I first started collecting female action figures as an adult (circa 2002), I was really resistant to anything pink. I felt it was a reductive and 'simple' design choice. At least that's what I told myself. In retrospect, I realize I felt shame at the prospect of having a Billy bookshelf loaded with pink toys in the corner of my bedroom. Thank goodness I was able to shake off those deep-rooted societal hangups eventually. But the unfortunate fallout from my arrested development, is that the very pink figures I sneered at back then have become nearly unobtainable holy grails to my older (and wiser) self. This Wonder Festival Japan Arcee is a prime example. She was available on eBay and other sites back in 2008, but I scoffed at the "forced femininity" of her pastel deco and ignored her. It took many many years to finally get her into my collection, but I can only blame myself for that delay. I think this is a landmark figure and deserves more recognition. Let's check out the Wonder Festival Arcee below!
All the graphics and schematics for this Arcee design show her wheels folded in and covering her upper arms like a shawl. I like this look a lot, but I wanted to give full turnrarounds above with the wheels out so you can see her torso and arms better.
Arcee's bike seat is her robot mode weapon.
When you insert the projectile, two wings pop out like crossbow arms.
This figure has light-piping with blue eyes. It requires a very strong light to achieve the effect.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are my four figures of this Arcee mold together. From Left to Right: Standard US release (2007), Black Japanese Release (2008), Wonder Festival Japan G1 Pink (2008), and the 3rd Party Machine Boy Carrol (2014).
Here are all the title thumbnails I made showing their backlit eyes and standard.
As a Comparison, here is the Wonder Festival G1 Colors version with Earthrise Arcee (2020) and the NYCC 2011 Prime Arcee.
Cheers!
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