Ingrid Bernstein by FREEing
Project details
Ingrid Bernstein, referred to as the “Guardian of Discipline”, is attending the same military academy as Satellizer el Bridget but unlike her rebellious and fellow student she’s pursuing a stricter path, ensuring that order is maintained at all times. Just like Satellizer, Ingrid is crafted as a 1/4 scale and since it appears that FREEing are putting more effort into their larger scales you see less oddities compared to their smaller products.
The pale skin is yet again present, however, thanks to the dark sangria colored hair the tones are more defined. The castoff option is a bit or hit and miss as the right shirt sleeve doesn’t fit properly once pulled off a first time. Perhaps it’s a good thing Ingrid isn’t that photogenic from the left side.
I never planned on grabbing this figure but after shooting Satellizer el Bridget I’ve become more interested in 1/4 scales in general. Not too many of them are visually stunning but this duo from the Freezing series show much promise for the future. I’d even claim that Ingrid outshines Satellizer but that only applies if the clothes stay on.
SCALE
1/4
ART DIRECTION
Experimental
PHOTOGRAPHY SETUP
Flash, graduated backdrop, flour
BioToxic
Looks like Ingrid has the same flaws as Bridget – pale skin and chalk like skin texture. She certainly looks a lot paler than her promo shots. Although I’d say in this case the paler skin tone isn’t all that bad; the contrast with her deep red hair actually looks nice.
It’s not all bad though, she’s also got all the good parts that Bridget had – cast-off, stockings, a massive 1/4 scale, and a sexy pose. I especially like her relaxed facial expression, suits the mood of the figure perfectly.
The white pants look icky. Lacey black or dark red would have been a better choice I think. Saying that though they’re hardly the main focus of this figure. Her sexy legs hide them for the most part. As you say it’s all down to the angles you view her from.
If I had to pick between Ingrid and Bridget I’d pick Ingrid. Her pose looks more interesting, her skin and hair aren’t as jarring to look at, and her facial expression looks nicer than Bridgets. Image 15 & 19 is my favourites with the red light shining on her legs.
Guardian of Discipline – what an absurd sounding title to hold.
Nightmare
I’m not sure what the idea was from FREEing when displaying these figures with a much warmer skin tone. It doesn’t bother me as much with Ingrid and I guess I’ve come to terms with the way Satellizer looks but they could’ve looked even more impressive with a proper skin color.
It does look like they changed the facial expression a little from the promo shots and I concur that the relaxed approach fits her very nicely.
Because of the inflated chest I tried my best to avoid bad angles like the plague. There’s even a censored promo shot that shows just how bad it looks. With the shirt on or from a somewhat more delicate angle she does look great though.
I think the title suits a certain figure reviewer better than it does Ingrid.
Tier
I thought about ordering Ingrid but decided against it, not so much because I don’t want the figure but mostly because I have no place to put her. I also don’t remember much of her character, since I think she only got major screen time in one or maybe two episodes. The figure is definitely sexy, though – big props to FREEing for continuing to make 1/4 scale castoff-able figures. I certainly would have no problem if they made a Rana and Cassie figure that were standing up rather than lying down though.
I like the fuzzy stuff she’s laying on, it kinda gives off a sultry, hedonistic vibe that goes really well with the look on her face. Though as you mentioned, some spiffier panties would’ve been nice. Not that I have any personal experience, but I would guess that if one were going to get dolled up in fishnet stockings, one ought to more selective about one’s underpants.
Nightmare
I was a bit puzzled and I reckon I wasn’t the only one with FREEing’s decision to sculpt Ingrid as the second character. At least in the anime she didn’t make that much of an appearance or lasting impression. I recall there was an online poll a few months back where fans got to vote for their favourite Freezing character. The three most popular ones turned out to be Satellizer, Rana and Chiffon. I have no idea if FREEing intend to produce more figures from Freezing but I wouldn’t mind seeing Chiffon or Cassie in a sitting or standing up position either.
Now that you mention it, that feather boa does give it a more hedonistic vibe, something I wasn’t going for at all. Originally I wanted two looks; one where she’d just woken up to the sun rays slipping through the blinds and the other would be some kind of vintage glamour model. While rather pleased with the first idea, the second didn’t go as I had planned at all. The ostrich feathers I had intended to cover her entire body with turned out too big and I had to compromise by using just a few instead.
There’s a fanart picture of this very figure and pose where Ingrid is holding a soda can in her left hand while wearing a more fitting set of dark red underwear with a garter belt to boot. I’m guessing FREEing went with the only underwear shot of her from the anime, all in white.