Tag: yamato

Urara – Tandem Twin

Back to the Manda Mines… this was a small mine, with some other items included, as this one ensured I had to go parcel instead of small packet. 

Winning with a maiden bid, and averaging out the postage she ended up really cheap:

There is a tiny bit of missing paint on her hair I haven’t edited out, but that’s the only scratch I can see. She was quite dirty, but that cleaned up relatively easily. And there aren’t many half-sheep figures out there! I love her cute, smiling face, and the reddish-yellow blend going on in her hair. She also has some plastic lacing going on, which I really like. Nice to have these as separate parts, instead of being part of the figure moulding. 

Face:

Her green eyes compliment her pink-red hair nicely. Here we can see she has sheep ears and horns. She also has a wool choker and bracelets. Unfortunately wool doesn’t reproduce particularly well in plastic form, so they do look rather artificial, but they do the job. Her chest and collarbones have been moulded nicely and feel realistic. 

MIdriff:

Here we can really get to see the lacing, and I think it works really well. Not sure we have the best knot going on, but I’d risk breaking it to undo it – some of this kind of plastic can deteriorate, especially if under stress (the knots, not the boobs), so it’s best left alone. A little bit of the bronze edging has been missed at the bottom, but it hasn’t drawn my eye to it, barring when looking at this picture. The tops of her boots have been interestingly done, and I like this effect. 

Base:

Loving the contrast between the white and the pink. The bases are pretty simple, with the name & logo for Tandem Twin (Tandem Twin is just the name of this figure series by Yamato). The pegs on the base are decent, however both of the Tandem Twin figures I’ve got have both required the legs to be warmed so I could actually peg them on the base – they’re a bit too widely spaced – either that, or the figure are prone to closing their legs over time… On my other one, this has resulted in one of the pegs snapping from the tension, but this one was OK. I’ll likely heat her legs before removing her from the base, if I come to pack her, just to avoid snapping a peg on this base too. 

Left:

Here we can see she has painted fingernails, which is a nice touch. Her boots are also connected to her top, with a nice little detail – I guess this outfit came as a set ;). There is a nice amount of shading in her hair and horns, which I really like. She does come with two hair pieces, but I (for whatever reason) didn’t actually get the second one out for photographs. I won’t be using the other hairpiece, as it sticks out quite far backwards, which makes her a bit awkward to display. 

Right:

Here we have other other side, which also looks good. We can see her waving hand, and the creases in her outfit where the boots attach to the leotard. We also get a good look at the lacing on her boots, which matches with the lacing on her leotard. I like the way the outfit has been kept consistent throughout. 

Close-up of the side of her head:

Here we can see the painting of her horn in more detail here – I do really like the shading on it, and the colour complements her hair. We can also see her expressive hand, but it is a bit on the shiny side, in terms of finish. Looking close, we can see they’ve tried with the furry cuffs, but unfortunately they still kind of look like expanding foam. 

Feet:

Unfortunately, on her right foot, there is some white paint slop.The left one is fine, but the pink paint doesn’t quite go up to the straps on her boot. Fortunately, this is her back foot, so it doesn’t show too much. I like the way they’ve done the soles of the boots in a coppery colour so they’re distinct from the rest of her boot. 

Back:

Here we have a cute backside, and more lacing. Plus a reminder she’s part sheep. I like the way her nail polish matches the pinks in her outfit and hair. 

Close-up of the tail:

I like the little pegs that hold the lacing :). She also has this cute tail, where her outfit goes around nicely. This outfit must’ve been made for her :). The seamline on her outfit is pretty much where you’d expect a seam for a top, so that’s nice to see. 

Overall, I really like this figure – it’s something a bit different, and her outfit is really nice. She’s also a good size – these Tandem Twin figures are quite tall. Good if you like larger figures, possibly a pain if you don’t have a shelf tall enough. I feel as if it is lacking a bit on the “micro details” to make it a premium figure, but what’s there is really good for the most part, so I’d recommend this figure if you like the look of her. I wouldn’t pay huge amounts for these figures, as they are showing their age, but usually they’re pretty inexpensive if they come up on the secondhand market. Just be careful when putting them on the base! 

Compiler – Story Image Figure – Yamato

I’m a sucker for StoryImageFigures if I see them cheaply enough. And this was the case with this one, at €5. 

So here she is:

I love the swimsuit she is wearing, and wish I could look good wearing one like that, but alas, it’d look odd on me. Not to mention that ring is probably metal and I have a nickel allergy… As an older figure, there’s a noticeable lack of dfetail in her face and hair. Some of the StoryImageFigures haven’t aged too well due to this, but on this one it isn’t enough to put me off it. The contrasting textures of her body and her swimsuit is nice.

Left:

She’s got a good pose, with one hand on her hip. Hair has some shading, They have gone for a poofy hair look, but it didn’t quite work in the mould I think. Just something about it seems to say “low detail”. 

Right:

This angle looks OK. Hair shading a bit suspect towards the top. Is a hair seam, but I don’t find it distracting. 

Back:

You can see where they’ve aimed to shade her hair, with the darkest parts on the ridges. Which I think worked. Just maybe needed to persist to the top. 

The stand is simplistic, but OK. Helps her stand up just fine, but the texture isn’t anything to write home about. She didn’t quite want to stand up originally – I think some bending has occurred in the box, but once I got her to settle, she’s been fine. 

A good addition to my collection, and was easy to place on a shelf, with a couple of other StoryImageFigures. Nice to get the odd small thing, now that I have a sizeable collection XD. 

Tandem Twin – MOMO

This figure I was thinking on and off about buying, but pulled the trigger as I was buying the other items from the seller. She’s an original character, so isn’t in any anime or the like. So here she is:

image

She’s cute-looking and quite tall. She’s listed on MFC at 29cm tall, and I’d agree with that. I like her cute halter top, and her pose feels natural. The body paint is not the best imo, but I think it may have partly suffered with time. The body texture appearance is on the plasticy, unreal side though. Most of the painting is well done though. 

Here’s a side shot, showing more of her face:

image

Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you. From the front-angle she’s giving a smile, this angle looks like she’s aiming to be sassy, lol. I like the way they’ve put wrinkles in her clothes, to give them a more natural appearance. With her arm, you can “feel” the way she twisted into her pose. 

A closeup of her face:

image

Yep, definitely smiling. Nice detailing on the eyes, and the way the top hangs. 

Here is her back:

image

Her tail has plenty of shading on, and the creases are also present on the back. Her hair colouring has also been done strikingly from the back – this is definitely a figure that’s been designed to be looked at from both the front and the back – a feature I appreciate, even if I don’t use it all that often!

I like this figure, but feel the skin paint lets it down a bit. I don’t have another figure to compare it to, but feel like the shades may have separated over time, however, this isn’t the only issue with skin painting imo. 


The cast-off part is quite a large portion of the figure, which is nice, as it means the seams fall along natural seam lines:

image

Some OK-looking nipples, and a top that goes underneath her boobs. At first, I thought this was the first top pushed down, but it’s a different top entirely on closer inspection. She also has a different neck decoration. The paint is less orangey on this piece, which is why I suspect the other part may have deteriorated to some extent, but it’s still sort-of shiny and not as skin-like as other figures I own. 

The back of the cast-off part:

image

Fairly similar to the other one, but the neck is different, owing to the other neckpiece, and the back of the top is different too. 

Here’s what the cast-off piece looks like when she’s assembled:

image

And a closeup of her front:

image

The nipples I find a bit too stark, but I think it’s still a decent option. It did take me awhile to decide which piece to display her with for the time being – have settled on the non-castoff, but I may switch her in future.