Month: February 2018

Evangelion Trading Figures Part 1

As Suruga-ya took so long to ship, and I was going to end up with a parcel in limbo for several days, I decided to hit up Rakuten, and found a bunch of Evangelion figures I’ve been planning on ordering… for, erm, probably years. 

First up are the Capsule Q Fraulein series 4 figures that I wanted:

Asuka getting ready, Mari striking a pose, and Rei… hanging about. These were a pig to assemble, but they do look super-nice once completed! Rei was in my half-want pile for this series, as she’s in her black outfit instead of the white plugsuit. 

Sides:

The brown tape bits on Asuka’s side look a bit odd and un-tapelike to me. Had to check the reference art to see what that was. Mari is VERY bent, lol. 

Backs:

Some nice detailing on Rei’s backpack, which partially makes up for the lack o’ white plugsuit. Here the gaps are a bit more obvious on the legs, where I had trouble assembling. Did heat them up to get them to go, but they’re stubborn li’l buggers. Asuka’s hair is nice form this angle. 

Pleased with the ones I chose to get. There is a 4th figure of Asuka in casual clothes, but I wasn’t interested in it (not sure if the seller had it either). 

Mari and Asuka come with alternate heads:

These helmets are a viable display alternative, but I think I will go with the faces, and pose the helmets next to the respective figures. With these, if I came across the same pair for cheap, I’d probably consider buying so I could display them in both configurations. Maybe if I come across them in Japan!

To make up for the lack of white plugsuit Rei, I also got this trading figure:

She was also an annoyance to assemble (you can see where one of the pegs on her wrist has escaped in the last pic…), but she looks good once done. Had to heat up one of the arms, so the wrist peg would sit in the hole correctly, as it wanted to bend outwards. The pose is nice, and the paint job is mostly OK. Little bit of slop on the green parts. 

Overall, I’m happy with these figures, but wish they were a bit more friendly to being assembled!

Rick Sanchez

So this is the Rick I ordered way back when…. So was the wait worth it? No. No it was not. So let’s see what I got:

After clearing off the ridiculous amount of warehouse dirt, here he is. A bit less crap than the Morty figure, but still definitely not in award-winning territory. These figures do feel a lot more like kid’s toys, but I suspect they’d be too fragile, and not priced as such. First thing: paint issues. The unibrow goes onto his face, and his lab coat didn’t know when to stop around his wrist. The paint on the belt buckle is also too thin. You can also  see a bit of a scratch on his left eyeball, oth the outer side – thought this was more warehouse dirt, but appears not. He comes with a portal gun and a flask (not shown), and these accessories aren’t actually too bad. 

¾ shot:

Mmm, dat eye scratch.

Back:

His hair is actually pretty good from the back, and I love the bald spot. The portal gun… has the basic parts. Most simplifications of the portal gun have the recessed square painted red, and that would have been nice here. Another plus side is his feet don’t fall off… Yeah, it has that over the Morty figure. 

Honestly, I won’t be surprised to see these in B&M for £3-5 some months into the future. They’re pretty bad, so unless Funko can stop farting these out at the right point, where all the die-hard fans all have them, I can see them going unwanted. Especially for £12 (I paid a bit less than this, but RRP is around that). 

Devilman Art Collection Complex

Whilst I was buying something from Suruga-ya anyway, I decided to shove something else in the order, which was also kinda needed to meet the threshold for free shipping. 

Found a set of Devilman trading figures. Opened? OK, they won’t be too big… 

The main thing that threw me was that the picture used to advertise the set was just of the figures themselves, unboxed, so I expected to receive a pile of inner bags, and not the boxes and retail box itself! Included a standard-sized card for scale. 

So let’s get onto the figures! Trust me, this preamble is a lot shorter than the process of unbagging and assembling these figures!

Figures 1 & 2 of the set:

Wow, love these two. These are probably my favourite ones in the set – I love the colours, pose and the fact that the wings are semitransparent. 

3 & 4:

These two are solid entries, at least in looks. I prefer the orangey one – the green one looks a bit like he’s now a zombie! Unfortunately the orange one was broken in the bag, and I had to glue one of his arm horns on. There is a tiny bit of articulation, but it’s not very useful. Just enough to get them balanced and standing, though you can move the heads nicely. 

5 & 6:

These figures are of Satan, but it’s not particularly obvious imo. I love the colouring, especially on the green one, but it’s far too hard to make out the details properly. Too much see-through and an overly detailed sculpt kind of turns them into a bit of a mess, sadly. They look striking at first glance, but analysing them in detail is a pain. 

7 & 9. Did these together as they’re both busts:

I love the transparent wings on the left one, and his face is… interesting. It doesn’t really scream “Devilman” to me, but it’s still nice, and has a good arse! 

The one on the right stands out in the set, and takes advantage of its larger size to deliver a much cleaner sculpt. The colours work well too, and I really like this bust. The back is rather odd though, but it does help them save material. 

8:

Doing Google Translate on the paper that came with it, it sounds like this was based upon an illustration of Devilman coming out of the TV. So we have Devilman effectively splitting into two. I think it’s an interesting and ambitious figure, that’s sadly let down by its paint job. The Devilman looks a bit too “plasticine” too. I think if you made a larger figure of this, and gave it a more detailed paint job, it’d be a more exciting figure. 

Last, but not least, 10:

If the first ones are my favourite, this one comes in at a close second! He isn’t the best balanced of figures, so I may end up using a Glu Dot to prevent him from falling over. He can stand up, but it doesn’t take much vibrations to knock him over… which doesn’t help if your husband hoofs around. From the fact he is purple, to his transparent wings, and the included stomp effect… he’s an impressive one to look at! 

Overall, I’m very happy I got this set. There’s some very nice looking figures, and the less-good ones are still OK. With all my costs factored in, they cost about £3.70 each, which I think is good value!

Satan

It’s finally complete! This is the third of three figures in this set. I bought this from Suruga-ya, and had it shipped via Big In Japan. The process went smoothly, though I did have to wait for BiJ to reopen after New Year’s. As I heard that Suru has a tendency to use oversized packaging, I paid for the repacking service anyway, even prior to adding a second package to the “ticket”. Glad I did:

120 size means the box edges add up to 120cm. When BiJ repacked my order, it fit into SAL small packet, which means the box dimensions added up to less than 90cm (it was ~87cm iirc). Glad I paid for the repacking! 

So here’s Satan from the Bandai EX-F Devilman series:

This figure I found a lot less fiddly to assemble than the others – largely because there’s less parts. The clip that holds his wings to the rock was a bit fiddly to get in. It would be possible to not use the clip, but he’d probably eventually lean. Unlike the other two, I don’t think I’d display him on his own. Especially with the stone appearance, he’s a lot more bland than the others too, though the sculpt is nice. 

Facing Satan’s front:

He’s much more to look at from this angle – kind of a shame they didn’t find a way to make him face more forwards, so he’d show more from the front. The sculpting definitely shows form this angle. 

Here he is from the side:

Pointin’ at you! Looking very stern. 

His back:

The wings look nice from this angle. Does look like he’s in mid-movement. Painting of the rock is nice, but there’s a pretty visible seam there. Though you’re probably  not going to look at this angle much. So how does the set look?

Like this:

These figures go well together as a set (as they should do!). Sirene could be displayed on her own quite happily, but the front two need at least each other to look right. It’s a very nice set, and I’m looking forward to having somewhere to display them soon :). They’re nice on the dining room table, but I don’t think they want to “live” there!

Super Sonico – FREEing S-Style

This is the last 1/12 feature for a little while, as I have other figures to show! 

So… here she is:

This is the only Sonico figure I own, which is mildly unusual considering the size of my figure collection. She is a nice Sonico imo – an interesting choice of pose, and she’s nicely sculpted and painted.

Here is her right side:

I like the fact she has something to hold, but the ice-cream is a bit too easy to knock out of her hand. Would be nicer if she gripped it a bit more, or it was a bit of a higher angle so it was more gravity-assisted. The headphones are nicely detailed. 

Here she is from the back:

Her hair flows nicely, and I like the gradient in it. 

And the angle I’m sure some are here to see:

She seems pretty well featured in this regard. Out of Sonico figures, there are better candidates, but I think it works well enough for this figure. 

I like this figure – for me, she comes somewhere in the middle for the FREEing 1/12 figures I currently own. She’s not my favourite, but she’s not my least favourite either. I think she will look great with the rest though. 

Shimamura Uzuki – FREEing S-Style

This is the last of the three Idolm@aster figures that were released together in the S-Style series. I planned to get this one anyway, as her pose was rather different from the rest of the S-Style figures.

So here she is:

I love her smiling face, and the blue of her swimsuit is a very nice colour. Kinda wish the base matched her swimsuit more, or they matched the stands for the Idom@ster figures. Due to her pose, she’s very tiny though. 

Left side:

Her hair is nice and detailed, but evidence of seams, which is a bit of a shame. 

Right side:

This side looks much nicer, and showcases her hair better. Some nice shading on the swimsuit, plus some wrinkle lines on the suit. 

Back:

Her hair in detail! Probably a little on the shiny side, but her backside has been sculpted well. 

Top:

This shows the main issue of the hair: the sudden change between the hair on the top of her head, to the hair lower down. Her back looks nice though.

Underneath shot:

She doesn’t have any pegs to hold her to the base, so you can sit her wherever :). 

Chest writing:

The writing on her to translates to Uzuki (her name). 

Overall, I like this figure, though she does feel very small, due to her pose. She’s painted nicely, but imo, it would’ve been nicer if they made her slightly bigger, though she is a scale. 

Nitta Minami – FREEing S-Style

After getting Anastasia, I decided to get the rest of the “set”. This one was the one I was most on the fence about, but she was the cheapest of the bunch. So let’s see what we got:

She looks cute, I love the swimsuit, but she looks a little “flat faced”. Imo, she looks better than the promo shots, though.

Left side:

Even with a “simple” pose, they’ve managed to add some dynamicness to it. The fold in her hair is a nice touch. The hair is more shaded than the promo shots, which helps with her overall look. 

Right side:

Not too much different than the left, though her hair appears to sit more naturally this side.

Back:

Some nice shading work on this side, with her hands clasped behind. 

She is probably one of the plainer S-Style figures, but imo she matches up to the quality of the others. 

Rin Kagamine – FREEing S-Style

Another Vocaloid – Rin Kagamine. Ever since getting Len, I’ve planned on getting her. Was checking up on Mandarake recently, and saw she was available, so nabbed her quick. 

She has a super-cute pose, and is the perfect companion for Len. Didn’t take any pics of them together during this photoshoot, but I do plan to do some group photoshoots, once I have more of the S-Style figures.

Here she is from her left:

Her headphones/headband are very nicely done. 

Right side:

One cute, waving hand, plus you can see the shading in the tips of her hair. 

Her back:

Her back is sculpted nicely, along with the bow on her back. 

Overall, she’s a very nice, cute figure, but I have had one issue with her:

Her middle is a bit curmudgeonly, and is a pain to fully get rid of the gap between her midriff and her skirt. I did imagine to improve matters for these photos, but she does seem a bit prone to not going together 100%. However, the skirt is removable, if you want to display her just in her pants.

Hatsune Miku – FREEing S-Style

I have decided to try and collect most of the FREEing S-Style figures, so long as I can get them for a reasonable price. Four of them have recently entered my collection, from various sources, with more on the way.

This one I got from Solaris Japan, using a discount code, to make it a price I was willing to pay. 

I saw a bootleg of this one online recently, and yeah, the real thing is far nicer! I wouldn’t say it is free from paint flaws, but you have to look close to notice them. Love the large, flowing hair, and the dynamic pose. 

Her left:

You can see her headphones here, which are nicely painted. Her hair flows nicely, and you can appreciate the sculpting on her body.

Right side:

She has a light bit on the outermost bit of hair – not sure how I feel about it. It does stop the hair from being one solid mass of green, but I think it is a little too light. 

Her back:

Lovely shading on her back, which helps her look real. Her backside is nicely sculpted, and no, I didn’t take a pantsu shot, so this is what you’re gonna get today. 

Still loving these small figures, and I think they’ve done an excellent job for Miku, which is probably why she’s harder to find and more expensive if you do.