Tag: max factory

Rin Kagamine – Nuclear Fusion – Vocaloid

Here’s a Vocaloid figure with a difference… one that isn’t overly cutesy. When I found out this figure existed, I had to go and order it.

Not too long later, she arrived:

Rin Kagamine, as a rocker. As a fan of heavy music, this one strongly appealed to me, and I love the hairdo Rin is sporting. I think this figure was styled well, and the base is very much a part of the whole ensemble – no boring black disc here! 

I love the design of her guitar – I think it works well as a focal point for the centre of the figure. 

Face:

Here she is, not looking very impressed with you. I do love that hairstyle, and the white-black hair ties match up well with the rest of her outfit. From the parts of the outfit that can be seen in this photo, you can see the clean lines that the figure has, and the detailing that went into the sculpt.

What you can also see is the end of the darned headphone wire. This thing Does. Not. Stay. In. I wish there was more depth to the hole or it had some way of gripping the wire so it stays in when nudged. This is my main gripe with the figure. However, this wire is a separate part, so you can bend it however you wish, or choose not to have it. I like the curved lines you can create with it, so I prefer to have it, so long as I can get the damn thing to stay. It will probably meet up with some white tack at some point in its future. 

Left:

Here we can see they’ve put a good amount of detail into her clothing, and have her boot creasing at the ankle. The coloured rings look… OK, but I’m not 100% sold on them. I did think about displaying her without them, but decided the figure kind of needed them. I like the fact they’ve included some wires going into the speaker, and the four “legs” on the base, which make it super-stable as well as look cool. 

Speaker:

Here is a closer look at the speaker and its wires. I like the fin included in front of the speaker (not very practical, but looks cool) and the little logo thing on the top of it. The paint is also nice and shiny here. Here you can also see where the base has been given some weathered effects, and I think these work well. Also Rin’s boot has a nice neat yellow line going round the sole. 

Right:

Here the rings look cool, with the way they flow. Also got an opposite colour scheme going on with her clothing, which I really like. The light and shading on this figure work really well, which I feel is decently showcased in the white part of her dress.

Back:

I like this golden “fence” part. I like the colour, and I think it fits well with the figure… even though it’s kind of random. As a nod to Rin’s normal clothing, we have yellow lines on her arms, which are painted well.

Back of her head:

Here we can see they put detail into the back of her hair as well as the front. Also I plugged the headphones in properly for this shot (yay!), and it does look good when it is behaving. We’ve also got a small detail in the form of a stud on her shoulder. 

Ring attachment:

This is how the back ring attaches, so it appears to float. This one can be a little easy to knock out if you’re not careful, but will stay fine if you don’t nudge it. However, because of the holes in this back piece, it does show a reasonable amount that something’s missing if it isn’t in place. Also just having two of the rings really doesn’t look right imo. 

Overall, if you like some heavy metal in your figures, whilst they remain plastic, I’d recommend this one. I’m not sure how appealing this would be to a general Rin Kagamine fan, but I personally love the concept and think it is well-executed. Kinda wish the rings were more of an optional part, as they can look a little “eh” close-up, but think they work just fine at a viewing distance. 

Hatsune Miku – Heart Hunter Ver – Vocaloid

This figure I thought about preordering, but ended up skipping on it. After release, I was on the fence about ordering her, then she ended up on sale at Nippon Yasan, so I ended up grabbing her:

And wow, she’s a nice figure. I was initially attracted to this figure, as she has a wings and a tail. The other parts that appealed were her pose, the bright colours and the varying finishes of her outfit. 

Face:

I love her face, and her mic is there, but doesn’t disrupt from the figure. I love the ribbon on her chest, and the ones in her hair contrast well with her hair. The hair looks OK from the front, but not sure on the finish – more about that later. 

Outfit:

I love the way the material has been stretched out over her chest, and the colours emphasise her body shape. The yellowy colour blended in with the salmon-y colour works really well, and is used to add depth and detail in many places. The belt has been well-painted, and the gold parts are all painted neatly. The purple edging used throughout also compliments the colours, and works well to finish the edges of our outfit. 

Heart:

I love the heart, and the creasing is done well, to show she’s standing on it. Love the little wings it has. Can see a tiny bit of paint smear when looking close to the bottom of her leggings. Not entirely sold on the moulded seam on the top of her shoe. The shiny purple of her leggings is nice though.

Side of her foot:

There’s a metal peg that goes up through her foot, protruding from the heart. She seems to be stable on it, and I’m not worried about her falling off/over. She will wobble when moved, due to the pose though. Love all the little details here, but there are some small bits of stray paint if you look closely. 

Left:

Her body is shaped well, and her clothes sit well on her body. I like the way the garters have been done separately and there’s a bit of a gap under her bum. 

Close-up of her outstretched arm:

Love the shading. And the heart cutouts, like the one here. Everything’s edged nicely. She also has some cute pink nail polish. 

Right:

Her pose looks good from this side too. Love the metallic shade of her stockings. The tail has a spot of shading on too, which I appreciate. Looks kinda sassy from this side.

Back:

Her wings are nicely shaded, and the ribs look good. I like the way they’ve added ribbed details to the back of her top, and the fact there are also window-hearts back here too.

Back of her hair:

This, for me, is the weakest part of the figure. Really not a fan of the finish that they’ve used on her hair – I guess it’s supposed to be pearlescent, but it comes off as “cheapy plastic”, without having extra shading in her braids. Some shading was done lower down, but I think it needs more shading to pull this finish off. Either that, or have the hair less super-shiny. 

Tail:

I love the way the tail curls round, and the sharp shape of the end, which contrasts nicely. I love the detail put into posing her fingers, and the detailing on her belt around her tail. 

Overall, I really like this figure and glad I decided to get it. It’s a very nice figure, and would make a statement on most shelves. Even if you’re not a Miku fan, I think this figure has an appeal of its own. Would happily recommend this figure, despite the hair, as the hair isn’t too bad from the front. 

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – VN02

This figure I wanted for a long time, but because she won’t fit into a SAL small packet so held off ordering her, as the postage would be more than the figure secondhand. Plus customs fees on top of that… So this was one of the few figures on my “hit list” when I went to Japan, as putting her in a suitcase would be MUCH cheaper.
So I did:

Upon unboxing her, she turned out to be really dusty, so had to give her a good wash. I love the pose of this figure, and the shades of green, even though they aren’t very “Miku”. The figure took some effort to assemble – main issue is getting the leg protrusion lined up with the notch in the base so she stands solidly. I love the detail in this figure – her costume has a lot of details in it, and I like her face. I can see this figure not being too appealing to people who are distinctively fans of Miku, as it’s kinda fairly far off her normal design. For me, I love the future tech aesthetic. 

Face:

The face looks really nice to me – her skin is reasonably plain, but the parts of her face work together as a whole for me. I love the detail in the hair – the strands are really well-sculpted here. She also has a bit of a videogame character vibe going on, what with the green part jutting out, which if Dead Space is to be believed, is where you keep your HUD. 

Left:

Here you can see the large amount of movement in the figure – I love the way her hair curls up and backwards over her, and the clear tips. The fading-to-clear theme is also repeated on her sleeves. Here you can see where her knee support goes into the stand – the way the stand is part of the figure is another reason this figure stood out to me. It’s also surprisingly stable, which was something I was worried about, given her pose. Here we also see the speakers(?) attached to her back – these weren’t too hard to attach to the figure (and come separate in the box). I also love the shiny boots. 

Right:

Here is mostly more of what we saw in the left side. Here we can see her boots are held up by suspenders, and some of the speaker inside the stand. The white crest that juts up from it holds her quite sturdily. Her gloves and boots have been given similar designs, which helps tie the figure together thematically. 

Closeup of the speakers:

These parts have lots of small details, mostly painted ones too. The lines running around them help sell the technology feel of the figure, plus there’s some pink accents in there. I also love the holes, and their green edging.

Inside view:

They certainly didn’t slack on the details here either. Lots of small gold accents here, with some smaller dots. If you’re not busy being distracted by her backside in this shot… which is well-curved, and her legs are well-sculpted at the top, and give a lifelike loot. 

The rest of the back:

I love the gold bands around the bottom of her head, and the green parts running down her spine. This is a figure that can look good at any angle, should you have somewhere to display it where it can be viewed from different directions. 

OK, back to the backside!

I took this more for the spine detail, and upper back detail. But it features her backside a fair bit too. I like the fact they’ve sculpted creases back here too, as well as on her front. I’m a sucker for armoured spines, so I do like her back design. Here you can see where the speakers connect too – the gold parts have the pegs attached. All of the paint is neat, which is very nice. I feel maybe the back of her hair could do with a few more lines to make it feel less plastic, but that’s definitely not a biggie. 

Back of the base:

Looks good from all the angles imo. I do like the way these parts curl and crest over – only downside is the speaker isn’t very visible from many angles, though this isn’t a bother for me. Though it seems a partly odd choice to mostly hide it this way. 

Overall, I’d highly recommend this figure, if you like the look of it. I think with the colour scheme and theme, it probably is a bit of a Marmite figure, hence its lower price in the aftermarket. Though the postage cost is probably going to bite, unless you’re used to EMS/SAL parcel, or shipping other stuff with it. Or if you’re super-patient there is surface shipping… So I’d say this one probably isn’t for the Miku fan, but rather for people who love the themes in this figure. Or if you want a figure you can display on a higher shelf and it still look good – her leaning pose is really good for this. 

Rider – Fate/Stay Night – Figma

This is a Figma I’ve wanted for awhile, but her aftermarket price is rather potty. Was hoping to see some re-releases of Rider figures due to Heaven’s Feel, but not much announced right now. Some new figures, but nothing that took my fancy.

So here I have the Rider Figma that I picked up in Japan:

… who was a “reasonable” price as she’s a bit damaged, and had no box. Here you can see where the rubbery purple stripe that goes along her top has been scraped off partially – when I display this, I will likely use her hair to cover it. 

Her legs have a weird gap where they join to her boots – looking at someone else’s pic this isn’t unique to mine. The colours are nice though, and look like Rider’s colours. The top has some detail in it, but not a huge amount. She is one of the earlier Figmas though. 

Face:

I like her masked faceplace – always preferred Rider with her blindfold. Her face is painted and sculpted nicely. Must ignore the mess. I like her collar, but the silver isn’t quite in all the places it needs to be – it’s painted on the front, but some silver paint on the top of it would make it look better imo. 

Left:

I like he hair, though her fringe is pretty loose. Not sure if that’s just mine or a common issue. Have to be a bit careful when posing her. Her spike-weapons are nice, and look the part. She also holds them well, and plenty of chain to pose should you wish to!

Right:

Lotsa hair! Her sleeves look OK, but nothing special. 

Back:

Here we can see the hair parts enough for the stand to fit through. The hair is super-flexible, so this isn’t an issue. Screws could do with replacing on this stand though. Or, erm, get another stand.

Weapon close-up:

Yep, lookin’ nice. It doesn’t feel particularly detailed, but I don’t think there’s a huge need for them to be.

Overall, I’m glad to have this figure, but I think it’d be really good if they did a “renewal” version with more detail. Whilst she has a lot of stranded hair, it’s pretty blandly done in execution, which I think would be improved in a newer version. Her legs could do with sorting so the joint shows itself yet, and some shading on her top wouldn’t be amiss. Overall she’s an OK Figma, and I’m glad to have her, but I wouldn’t have wanted to pay the full aftermarket price for her. Maybe with modern improvements, she’d be worth more to what Figma prices are now, but in her current incarnation, I’m less inclined to pay full whack. 

I’d say this one is for the Rider fans.

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – Figma #14

Saw this figure, and can say this one was an impulse buy. Also partly because buying it allowed me to buy this figure and another tax-free. Gotta save dat tax. 

So here she is:

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As she didn’t have her box, she was really cheap, but all her accessories were included. Here she is with her microphone.The microphone feels solid, given its thinness, and definitely looks the part. This one I considered buying the bootleg of way back when, just to get an idea of what Figma were like and to see how the bootlegs compared. In the end, I didn’t, and looking back I’m glad I didn’t. 

I was attracted to buying this particular Miku because of the silvery top. and her sleeves. Being the official thing, the green edging is painted neatly, and she articulates well. Her face is also cute and Miku-y. 

Face:

I like this face – it’s nice and cute. Here we can see there’s a tiny scratch in the silver from her being a secondhand figure. Suspect some of the black on the green part of the skirt might be secondhand issues. Some creasing in her clothing, so it isn’t entirely flat. Her tie clips have been painted nicely, and work to break up the large sea of green. The range of finishes is one thing that also attracted me to this figure.

Left:

Here we can see her large, sweeping hair and the aforementioned sleeves. Her black boots have nice green details at either end. The finish is nice, but not super-detailed. Her top has a good bits of detail – the hanging strap, the green border on her skirt and the silver part. The number she has on her arm is tattooed on nicely. 

Close-up of her sleeve:

I like the detailed keyboard on her arm, and this came out well. Here we see the “01″ in more detail too. Arm joint isn’t particularly hidden. Here we can see where the stand has gone a little rusty – guess they’re more prone to doing that in Japan. 

Her hair bands look a little lumpy up close, but fine at a distnace. Her headset has also been done nicely, with some little, coloured details.

Right:

More hair! Not much to differentiate this side – she doesn’t have a strap here, or the tattoo. 

Back:

Looks OK from the back. Some creases in her clothing, hair has sculpting onm the back. I like the fact her hair is articulated too – can be used to give her poses more life. I think this angle emphasises the lack of shading on this figure – she is an older Figma, so this is showing one thing that’s changed – there tends to be more paint detail in newer figures. I still think she’s cute though.

Accessories:

I may give her the leeks at some point. They’re nicely painted and sculpted for what they are, though I’m not particularly attached to Miku, so the accessories don’t hold any special place for me. 

Overall, I think she’s nice for an older Figma. I think it shows how the designs have gotten more detailed over time, whether that justifies their current price tag or not. I’d recommend this one, if you can find it cheap. Don’t think it’s really worth pushing the boat out for, as there’s plenty of other Miku stuff out there to choose from. 

Kyoshinhei – Figma SP-043

This Figma I was looking at on and off, for ordering. I ended up getting a promotional code from Solaris Japan, so I decided to use it on this fellah:

This review’s been a long time in coming, due to the fact the stand was missing in the one I was sent :(. Contacted Solaris, who sent a replacement straight out, so all worked out in the end :D. This dude doesn’t have the ability to stand without it, so yeah. Wasn’t gonna settle for no stand! 

Love his big wings – these don’t feel too delicate, which is nice. The texture on his body is well done, and detailed.

Side with the wings:

They have some depth to them, which helps them stand out. He has a butt spike stand and a claw stand part. I’m happy with him standing, so went with spiking him in the butt. Certain poses probably work better with the claw stand, but I like the butt spike, as they’re good at holding Figma in place. 

Back:

Yeah, he’s another dude that exceeds the size of my backdrop… The contrast between the spines on his wings and the wings themselves is nice. Does give him a really striking appearance. 

Here he is with his ‘weapon’:

He comes with two sets of hands – ones in the first photo and these to hold the spike, which looks disturbingly like frozen pee. It can be a bit awkward to move him around once it is in his hands though – the spike is pretty thin, so I wouldn’t try to stress it too much – if you’re playing around with him, I’d recommend detaching the spike halves, then connecting them when ready. 

Above, with the pee spike:

This thing is pretty big! Here we can also see the multitude of spikes he has on his body, without the wings. The back spikes are the wing replacement parts. I think both configurations look really good. When I bought him, I planned to display him with wings, no questions, but upon getting him out of the box, I then debated, prior to setting on yes, wings. 

Close-up of his front, and alternate head:

Here we have him chomping on… something. Or maybe spitting? Here I’m showing my ignorance of the source material ¬¬. Love the sculpt and paint on his body though. Lovely amount of texture and detail, and enough soft parts to keep him poseable. 

Right side:

He’s quite a lithe chap, some visibility of joints on his arm. Most of them are pretty well hidden, worst offender is the elbows. 

Back:

The spikes are well-blended into his back, and really look a part of him. The separate parts that cover up the places where the wings go blend in well, and don’t look out of place. I live the amount of detailing with all the dimples back here. Gives him a strong, gnarled monster vibe. 

Close-up on the spikes:

The orange really compliments his look, and it’s transparency without looking naff. So that’s a strong positive to me :). 

Overall, I love this figure and glad I got him. It’s fiddly doing the wing switch, as you need to pull out his joints, so it’s not something you’d want to do regularly. I love his looks, as I’m a sucker for monstery things, especially those with wings, so this one definitely ticks the boxes. Definitely wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night! Would recommend him, but not at a high premium, as he doesn’t come with too many extras for a Figma, but he certainly looks good imo, and poses well. 

Al Azif – Max Factory

This is a figure I’ve gone back and forth on owning. As it’s Al Azif, I decided to add it to a recent large Mandarake order, as she’s over the customs limit, and it was a parcel that was going to go over anyway. 

Here she is:

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Dat frakkin’ wall. OK, let’s start with some of the nice stuff: The figure is very nice. I love the flowing of the hair and ribbons, and the colours are very nice. Her dress is well-sculpted and nicely painted. The figure part of this figure is really nice – it’s everything else I have to complain about! She comes pre-screwed to the bottom part of the stand, which isn’t the prettiest piece of plastic ever. Not a fan of the nondescript greyish colour, and it’s shiny. 

Left shot:

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Now to go more into this wall. Seeing it not sit strait, due to Al Azif resting on it, though I wouldn’t have been surprised if it wasn’t that, and I bent it from the sheer force you need for it to go in ><. Eagle-eyed viewers may also spot the white tack – the pin on the “cookie” on this side snapped off soon as I touched it up against the wall – it must’ve been stressed already, and snapped before I started applying force to push it through the wall. Argh. If you have this figure, and you do get both “cookies” pegged to the wall don’t take them out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d break during the process. At least with it white tacked, I can actually now move this one to any position I like… 

Right side:

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This one did peg OK, but I daren’t try and push it any further. This one luckily fouls less on the figure, so it doesn’t need to go in all the way. Here we can see her ribbons and hair in the wind, which looks very nice. 

Back:

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Here she is from the back. Her hair looks nice, and I like the way she’s propping herself up on the wall. Here you can see the remnant of the left cookie peg. I you look carefully on the upper right, you can also see a scratch on the wall. She was unopened, so I guess the wall rubbed up against part of the figure/box during shipping. 

Close-up of her face:

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I like the look on her face, but I’d prefer it if she had a head up a tad more, so you could see it from more angles. 

Close-up of her shoes:

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These have been nicely sculpted and painted. The tiny bows on her shoes are nice, and the big, flowing ribbons on her socks are well done. The socks are slightly raised in the sculpt, so that it doesn’t look like she’s got white legs. One of the differences that tend to separate scales from prizes – details like socks are actually moulded instead of just painted. 

Overall, I can recommend the figure, but not the stand. If I were to recommend an Al Azif figure, it would be the BEAT normal version. Both parts of the stand kinda look cheap imo, and if I get into replacing bases, this one would quite honestly be a candidate. I think if it weren’t for the issues I had with the stand during assembly, I would’ve felt more positive about this figure – she’s in a nice pose, well-painted and well-sculpted, but the stand detracts from this. 

P-Body – Portal 2 – Figma

Today’s figure is P-Body Figma by Max Factory. This is the second of the two Portal 2 Figmas:

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This guy has all the mechanical details of Atlas, but he doesn’t have the face articulation that Atlas does – instead he has two alternative face plates – one of his eye half-closed, and one with his eye fully closed. I guess the latter’s useful for stop-motion or something…

Left side:

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Much more sleek than Atlas. 

Right side:

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His portal gun is like Atlas’s… only orange. Love the little details at the top of his arm.

Back:

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Much more of his inner-workings are visible from this side, unlike Atlas, where some stuff is pretty much visible on all sides. His stature is very much as it is in the game, so it’s all good. He’s a little more awkward to pose due to lankiness, but the joints largely twist nicely. 

Oh, what have you got there P-Body?

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Erm, er, I don’t think that’s part of the testing initiative. I think you may want to put that down…

Atlas – Portal 2 – Figma

It was my birthday recently, and my husband bought me the Portal 2 Figmas… well… erm, I ordered them, he paid for them XD. So thanks!

First up, Atlas:

Aaand this is all the accessories he comes with, other than some extra hands. Not even a companion cube… though I do have one of those. He his very nicely done though, and the mechanical parts have come out very nicely, and give him a very complex look. 

For posing though, he has some features that make up for it. He can look at you with suspicion: 

Or after a night of heavy drinking:

The top panel goes up and down, and can be twisted, as shown above. His eye can fully open and close, plus the eyelids are independent, which partly make up for a lack of accessories. 

Here he is having a nap:

Left side:

I like his fingers-spread hand. The electronics lool good from this side too.

Right side:

The portal gun looks good, and is kinda shiny on the beam part, which shows in the front shots.

Back:

The logo on his butt is crisp and clean, and they didn’t skimp out on the details on the back of his ball. 

Overall, he’s a very nice looking Figma, and decently well-articulated. With the Japanese price, he’s kind of on the pricey side, but worth it if you’re a Portal 2 fan. UK price… yeah, um about that. Juuust a little crazy! The retailers here are selling him at the “maybe if it was DX GLaDoS”  price. If you want this guy, I’d suggest importing him, as even paying the import charges would be cheaper!

Nitta Minami – Sleeping Little Devil

From the worst Nitta to this one… And wow, what a difference. This one was one of the things that I got in the Nippon-Yasan sale, and I’m glad I did:

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And wow, what a figure. The colours and shapes make for a very striking figure, and it’s a super-cute pose. The red “velvet” base is a very nice touch too. 

Close-up of her face:

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Here is her cute smile, as she snuggles up with her tail :). I love the little heart earrings, and the horns on her hairband.

Here’s an upper shot showing more of the hairband:

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The top of her hair isn’t much to write home about, but the colours of ht horns, and the studs are nice touches. Here you can also see the details on her tail. 

Close-up on her skirt/boots:

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The paint and sculpting are impressive on her clothing. Her nails are nicely done too. Impressed with the way the zips have turned out. 

Her left:

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Some lovely details on her skirt and gloves. Her sleeves have been done as a semitransparent material, and the effect looks really good. 

Close-up of the skirt detail:

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Loving this attention-to-detail in the figure. 

Right side:

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Her tail is curled around her arms, in a pleasing way.

Back:

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She has a pair of stiletto heels, that match her outfit. The hair looks really good from the back, and you can see some of her left wing here. 

Close-up of her wing:

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One of my minor gripes about this figure is the smallness of these wings. It would be nice if they were more distinctive, and stuck out more. But hey, she’s just cosplaying, so these’ll have to do :P. 

And just to complete all the angles:

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She’s well-sculpted down here too! Love the fact they’ve taken the time to make her look good at all the angles. 

I have very little to complain about this figure, and think she was well worth the money. The sculpt and painting are both really strong, and I think anyone interested in this figure should get it, assuming they have the funds. 

And as a bonus, here’s the instructions it came with:

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If you can’t read the highlighted parts:

  • Do not point, wave or throw the product at others. Product is designed for amusement purposes only.
  • Product will not stand on its own. Please use the stand included

*points figure threateningly at her husband*. Hm, nope, she didn’t spontaneously combust… And I don’t think I’ll be throwing her! But she does amuse… 

Also love the fact these instructions came with a sitting figure – she does stand just fine on any ol’ flat surface, but she doesn’t seem happy about it.. 

Yep, the fun of generic instructions!