Month: August 2018

Ryo Asuka – Devilman – Limited Color ver

It’s time for some more Devilman! This time we’ve got Ryo Asuka:

Here he is, with his normal head. I think the greyscale scheme works well with him. and I love the silver on the black. What I love less, is he has some stray silver paint on his left arm. Also the metal is a little rusty in spots – Japan doesn’t seem particularly friendly to metal parts. 

He certainly has a sculpted body, and I think his trousers might be overly tight :P. I guess fashion wasn’t his first thought when summoning demons… but I doubt he needed clothes for long ¬¬.

Left:

Here we see him with clawed hands, and some wonderful tribal tattoo detail. I like his cuff, and the trouser wrinkles have been sculpted well, to give them the feel of being clothes. 

Right:

On this side we have a metal bracelet instead of a cuff, and a different tattoo. Out of the designs, I prefer the left one to the right one, but both have been painted well. 

Back:

His pants have been pulled tight across his backside, but the rest shows wrinkles, as appropriate. His back tattoo looks good, but I’m seeing some more stray silver on his right shoulder. A bit of a shame the paint has ended up flicked about a bit, as it shows up quite easily against his dark skin. Here we can see the buckles on his cuff, which is a nice added detail. 

Plonk, on goes the mask:

It fits on well, and here you can see one eye staring out :P. This part glows in the dark, but I didn’t take any shots of this. 

Closer look at the mask:

Same mould as the other ones in previous reviews. Lookin’ scary. 

He also has a winged head:

I like this head, and this is the one I think I’m going to display him with, then display the mask separately. 

Side:

I love the wing effect, being more of a bird wing than a skin wing. Gives a difference between him and Fudo. 

Back:

*flap flap flap*. 

Overall I really like this figure and glad I got it. I think he works well with the stark colour scheme, and the subtle differences between him and Fudo in this transitional stage work well as a pair. If I see the normal version of Ryo for a good price, I may also pick that up, as I don’t have a pair to display. 

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Introjection ver

Here we have a small Rei trading figure:

Bought this one in Hobby Off, along with another small figure. I don’t usually go for Rei in her uniform, but this one was nicely painted and cheap. I like the fact they’ve added some shading detail to her hair, and her thoughtful pose. 

Left:

Seam on her side is a bit ugly. Socks are flat to her skin, making the tops look odd. Sculpt looks decent.

Right:

Again, another seam that isn’t particularly well neatened. Little bit of escaping paint on her sleeve. Other than that, she looks pretty neat.

Back:

Paint scuff on her collar, which shows badly from the back. Thankfully it is on the back! The back of the figure looks overly plain imo – I’m not sure much effort was put in here. The blue paint doesn’t quite get to her collar on the right hand side. I’ll just admire the base, which has some shading to it, which is a nice addition. Hair looks good from the back, so a bit of a shame the uniform is so “flat”. 

Overall, I don’t think I can complain for my ¥324. She looks really good from the front, which is what I care about most. A small, cheap addition to my collection, but probably not a figure I could recommend people get. Unless you’re really into Rei and you find it cheap, like I did. 

Nanael – Queen’s Blade – Revoltech

This is a character I decided I wanted a figure of… just because. Ended up coming across her whilst I was in Japan for a reasonable price, so picked her up:

image

Starting with the face shot here, as the front shot features panties. Here she is, being surprised by spilling her milk. Here, the joints do look rather strange, but her face is cute, her hair is OK in the sculpt, but I’m seeing some stray bits of excess paint. And a bit of missing pink on her hair decoration. The neck strap on her dress looks overly industrial – I think this would’ve been improved by being thinner. Her belt is nice though, and the bow on her dress. 

Front:

image

Here we see her uneven wings – at first I wasn’t sure if there was a piece missing, not being overly familiar with the character, and her having a joint where a wing piece could go. Found a pic of her “holding” her sword with her wing, so decided to replicate that. One thing that stands out to me is she does feel a bit overly chunky – her legs seem a bit too wide for her body. She does have a nice pair of panties though :P. Her top is nicely wrinkled, but again, feels a bit too thick of a material. Her milk bottle looks good, and has the equippable splash – you can choose if you have the milk splashing out or not. Though obviously there’s only one choice really. 

Pantsu, seeing as we mentioned them:

image

Enjoy. 

Left:

image

She naturally goes into a bit of a leaning-back pose, which fits with the milk splashing out at her. Silly angel, forgetting her bottle top! The base holds her well, but was a bit fiddly to set up. The writing is nice on the base, but a bit of a pain to get her standing so she wasn’t blocking it. 

Right:

image

Obvious hair seam, as her fringe removes so you can change her face. She looks good from this side imo – everything looks to be painted nicely, and she looks less unnatural in shape. I prefer the hands where she has her fingers sculpted – in these shots, her left hand looks like it’s in a mitten. 

Back:

image

Hair looks overly simple from the back. Wings look OK, but a bit plain on the left wing. 

Base:

image

Here’s the base of the base. Writing looks OK, nothing special, but nice to have something to say what the character is. I like the transparent base effect, but the base itself could’ve done with a bit more weight on the bottom – a common theme with the old Revoltech bases is they easily tip over, as they’re top-heavy  ><. 

Accessories:

image

If you want her more nude, here are the ripped clothing options. Chose not to put them on her, as it looks like it was gonna be a bit of a lengthy process to do so. We also have some hands so she can hold her sword. And a face if you want her post-milking. I think this face has been well done, and I’ll probably switch to it at some point. 

Overall, she’s an OK action figure. I think some better design decisions could’ve been taken, but there are slim-ish pickings as far as

Nanael

goes. Would recommend if you want a Nanael action figure. 

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.

Red Pyramid Thing- Silent Hill – Figma

This was the figure I bought with Miku – Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. This was one that I was dithering about buying, as it’s not a franchise where I’ve actually played the game, but I’m sort of fascinated by Pyramid Head. 

So I decided to buy him, as I could do so for a reasonable price:

So.. the differences between this one and Miku… Here we can see there’s a lot more detail and texture. He has sculpting and shading on his arms, which I think works well. What doesn’t quite so well is what’s supposed to be his gloves – just sort of looks like his hands are miscoloured somehow. 

The pyramid looks nice though, and his dress looks good with the creases, buckles and rips. Here we also see him with his spear, which I particularly like the paintwork on the pointy end. 

Left:

Here we get to see… some sloppy brains. I think they’ve done some good things at the side to help hid the joint. The shading on his arm helps to give it a fleshy texture. We can also see he has articulated toes, to help pose him. 

Right:

Ouch, that nail in the brain has got to hurt! Shading looks good here too, and a fabric semaline sculpted into the side of his clothing, to add detail. 

Back:

Here we have some leather scraps nicely sculpted & painted. I like the power stance he naturally has, and the shape of his body. Brain has some paint details to emphasise the wrinkles in it. 

Hm, let’s get a closer look at his brain:

Gorey! I like the way they’ve fully painted this. Definitely helps with the horror vibe.

Back part:

Yeah, that guy’s gotta have a headache! 

Accessories:

Here are his other hands, which appear saran-wrapped. This other neck piece, on the left, has a hole where you can put the base part of the spear “through” his neck – I though this was a really cool addition, but I’m probably not going to use it as I like him wielding the spear, and I’ll likely keep knocking it out or it getting in the way if I put him with other figures. The large knife looks good, but I wish the wash followed the curve of the blade. Overall some OK accessories. 

I do really like this Figma. I have a soft spot for horror stuff, and this dude fits the bill. If you can pick him up at a reasonable price, I think fans would be happy with him as an action figure. He seems to lack much competition in the action figure market. Sort of surprised someone like NECA hasn’t picked him up, but hey, we have this one at least 😀

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:

image

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. 

Metal Art – London

This set I bought for cheap in TK Maxx (TJ Maxx in other parts of the world). Well, I say “cheap”, still possibly slightly pricey, partly considering my set was missing the pliers, as I found out later. Thankfully, awhile before I got into building plastic models, so I had a full set of tools, and one set of those pliers fit perfectly into the hole in the packet – not that I used that pair much! I bought this a while ago, but built it not too long ago. Let’s see how it went! 

First up, “Big Ben”:

image

Looks like Elizabeth Tower to me :P. It’s the bell that’s officially Big Ben, but everyone knows the tower by that name, even if it’s not the tower’s name </trivia>. If you get this set, I’d recommend starting with this one – the build is relatively straightforward and short, compared to the others. Didn’t quite get the top bit straight.. oops. 

It does look good though:

image

The etching is clean, and looks good. Building it involved some swearing. 

Next up, Tower Bridge:

image

This one involved a lot more swearing. The end result is… a bit wonky. But is a fair representation. One of the pieces broke whilst I was constructing it – one of the flat edges of the middle stands, but fortunately this does not show, as it’s held up by hooks and the rounded parts. Oh, the rounded parts. Getting them curved just so and then getting the flaps in is not for the faint of heart. I’d recommend grabbing both pins with a pair of straight pliers, and bending them together, and get the angle right as you can. Also work left to right – tried the middle pin first on one, didn’t work out quite as well. Getting the corner towers on the middle towers was a pain in the ass too – you have to bend them into shape, then poke the pegs through into the central tower, then get some pliers/stiff metal down into the larger tower, then bend the pins enough so they don’t ping out (here’s where curvy pliers came in really handy). Once done though, they’ll stay on there well. One note to make – when folding them into tower shape, bend half of a side with pliers, but not to the full 90 degrees. When you bend the other side, the side you just did will bend in slightly if you have no rig to hold it (I don’t), and when you finish, it’ll be the right shape. 

Top:

image

The bridges are a pain, and will likely crinkle. Given the effort, I’m happy they’re as straight as they are, lol. 

End:

image

I like this – it looks good. Might not got the tops of the towers completely neat. These end bits on the bridge were far easier than the rest of it, but still a bi fiddly. Again, having curvy pliers as well as straight ones likely helped. 

Bottom:

image

Not too much to see here. One of the straight parts that the curved parts are attached to is the part the broke – the straight parts are attached to the base piece with the four “dots” in. These are tabs from the tower part on top. Probably fairly obvious from the uneven shapes how much of a ballache it was getting the curved bits right. 

Overall I’m pleased with the end result:

image

Hm, I called this one back, and the other one front, but I think this side might be neater. The flat metal bits bend out of shape easily, and here we see I didn’t get the pliers and correct the spires. The side triangles I used tweezers on a couple to help me get them in place. These slotted into place a lot easier than expected. 

Now for the shard:

image

Ha. Started with this one. Really shouldn’t have. Assembling the first three pieces was a MASSIVE pain – you have to bend them into precise shapes, then try to get the tabs bent enough to hold the damn things in. Then came the fourth piece… which wouldn’t fit in! The instructions for this one are terrible and not very well drawn, so it’s hard to even work out what tab goes in which hole. And pinching the outer tabs is really hard, due to the way the pieces go together (or not). 

Here’s the back of the above construction, to show there are parts attached:

image

Look at this mess. Like fuuuu…. Fourth piece didn’t want to align fully with the tabs present, so no idea if I messed something up or not. 

Just to show the insanity of the instructions:

Just. Look. At. It. This method works passably well for the other two, but here, it’s not even clear what exactly pegs into what. Would have been nice if they separated up the bending instructions from the pegging instructions, or etched markers on the model to show what goes in where, as it’s so hard to draw in 2D. 

So if you want an exercise in frustration, buy this set. Then throw away The Shard, and build the other two. Oh, and said “tools included”. No idea what they intended you to use the ruler for, the magnifying glass is crap and the pliers it should have come with I don’t think I used. Did use a couple of different pliers though. Would I do one of these metal kits again? Probably not. 

Benny & Spaceship – Lego Dimensions

These sets were being sold off in Poundland for a fiver. For those living under a rock, yup Poundland sell things for more than £1 now. 

Whilst I don’t own Lego Dimensions, £5 isn’t too bad value for these sets – a mini-fig averages out about £2.50 if we go by blind bags, and we also have a little set to go with it, so £5 is around the right mark for it being “just Lego”, so I decided to buy it:

Here we have Benny & his ship. Not exactly to scale. The instructions don’t come with these sets, as you’re supposed to use the game to get the instructions to construct it, but working how to build it wasn’t hard. There are some extra pieces attached to mine, as I like to embellish sets with the spare pieces they give. 

If you’re not familiar with the movie – Benny is supposed to have a cracked helmet and faded logo – these are true to his appearance in the movie. 

Here they are from the back:

So far, so Lego. Benny’s pretty much as you’d expect him, Back of the ship loks good. 

Overview shot of the ship:

I like the colour scheme used in this. The design seems well-thought-out, which is something Lego tend to do well.

Top:

Here we can see the ship is of a decent size, and is reminiscent of older ship styles. 

Base:

The “LL 929″ is a reference to an older set (LL 928), and we also have the Space logo. Here we can also see the RFID that gets scanned when you place it on the Dimensions base. However, this one ain’t gonna get scanned, unless I get really bored. 

Overall, I think these sets are worth £5 if you’re a Lego fan. For me, I find them kind of mildly overpriced, but that’s just Lego – I think if it wasn’t part of a game Lego would’ve charged £5 for these sets. So I would recommend these sets at that price, if you’re just interested in them as sets… Though you may need to use the internet to get the plans for a set, if you can’t figure them out. 

Lunatic & Origami Cyclone – Edge of Hero – Tiger & Bunny

I was perusing the small anime goods at Animate and was surprised to see a new collectable figure set for Tiger & Bunny. I thought they were relatively pricey, so I bought two, with a potential view to buy more if I liked the box contents to justify buying more. So here are the two I bought to see.

The first one to be unboxed turned out to be Lunatic:

These figures are REALLY small, so the macro lens made an outing. The plastic bridge he sits on is a stand that came with each of the figures, and can be used to display the figure and a card they came with, The stands are pretty big relative to the figure size, so I’m likely to display two on one stand.

And it’s only just now I remember that these figures came with display cards. That’s how exciting the card design is…

So, onto the figure itself. It’s definitely Lunatic’s colours, and it’s nice to see he has a fireball, even if it isn’t translucent. The paint is definitely a bit haphazard in places – noticeable on his legs and the green curves on the inner edges of his cloak. His face lacks detail though, and it makes it kinda look like he doesn’t have eyes. If they did his eyes in white it would have done, but a bit of extra detail on his head would have helped a lot.

Left:

Here we see an obvious seam, and the paint kind of giving up.

Right:

This side is far better than the other one, and the blend in his fireball is nice.

Back:

Paint on the back I think is an acceptable level of quality for such a small figure. The flaws are mostly small and not too noticeable. Some blue paint has gone walkies higher up on his back though – you can see two paint drips.

He does stay nicely on the stand, and doesn’t fall off too easily. It’s a decent sculpt for its size, but the painting of his face really lets the whole thing down imo. Not a big fan.

Now for the second, Origami Cyclone:

Here we see a lovely range of colour, which feels accurate to the show. However, where they put the colour… not so much. If the painting was done accurately, he would have been show-accurate, but there’s missing paint and slop all over the place. Most noticeable of this is on his chest – part of the blue triangle has been missed, giving him mutant chest. He also appears to have flesh-coloured armour on his right arm. The other paint miss I noticed fairly early on was the bit hanging from the middle of his belt, and the bit on his trousers. His hands and the upwards points on his mask haven’t been sculpted too well and are a fair bit blobby.

Let’s see if the back fares much better:

Erm, kinda, yeah… The oversized shuriken thing on his back looks pretty decent, but does have one mark on one blade. Gold edging paint is all over the place though, and one of this sword handles has been given a half-effort. Red edging on this “skirt” was given the other half effort. Also note the huge blobs of missed blue paint on his upper back – this looks truly awful when looking at the figure from the back. 

Overall, these figures were a neat idea, executed poorly. If they made them 1.5-2x bigger, I feel they could have done a much better paint job, and the details would be so much more visible. As it stands, they’re REALLY small and the paint’s a mess. After seeing these two, I was not inclined to buy any more. I would not recommend these figures to anyone tbh. If you want to buy small figures of Tiger & Bunny characters, just go buy some of the trading sets that are out there. 

Behemoth King & Marlboro – Final Fantasy XIII

These pair of creatures I picked up cheap at a Hobby Off, without boxes. I was impressed with the prices in the Hobby Offs I visited, even if they didn’t do tax-free shopping.

Firstly, let’s have a look at the Behemoth King:

Looking at these creatures close-up, there are many small details to be seen, such as the stitches on his sleeve, and the metal edging on his shoulder… ribbons? His tail curls around him nicely, and for this figure the “front” isn’t the best viewing angle, but you do get to see his face.

Left:

This I would regard as his viewing angle, as you can see mos of his pose. Here we see his tail has a heavy metal end that I’d definitely not want to tangle with! The muted blue and purple colour scheme works well, and definitely counteracts blandness in colour design for a creature, without going full-on fantasy. I also wouldn’t want to tangle with the clawed gloves he seems to be wearing on all his limbs. The weapon on his back is also nicely sculpted and painted.

Right:

Here we can see he has a good amount of shading in his back paint. The rock “stand” is largely visible from here, and the textures and colours on it are nice and feel like stone. The ribbons on his shoulder look like they are blowing in the wind, which is a nice touch.

Back:

Here we can see the ribbons (as I’m calling them…) are textured nicely and are shaded down their length. Also liking the spiky collars on his wrists/ankles.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the sculpt and the paint for this figure, plus I love his overall design.

Now for Marlboro:

My research revealed, that yes, his name is a reference to the cigarettes, as he kills you with his stink. I love the detail of this creature’s design, and the muted colour scheme. He also feels kinda cute to me, by monster standards. Here we see him looking like he’s wrapped himself over a dead adventurer, who still had his sword. I love his big, gaping mouth, with all its teeth. The paintwork is quite detailed around here.

Left:

Here we see His Plantiness has orange tips on all his extremities. I like this touch in his design, and the paint seems blended well with the green, so there isn’t a harsh transition.

Right:

Again, more orange-ended tentacles, plus some skulls beneath him. Yeah, don’t think I want to tussle with those teeth.

Back:

Here we see an obvious join about halfway up his back – this is the only noticeable flaw imo. Here he also has some yellow accents on his vines, which adds some depth and detail to him. I think a decent amount of detail has been put into his sculpt, and definitely gives him a plantlike appearance.

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure too. On a personal level, I think Marlboro is my favourite of the two, but that’s down to creature design rather than quality. I could recommend these figures, who would like some more creaturey small figures in their collection.

Catwoman – New 52 – ARTFX+

This figure was pretty much an instabuy when I saw it… after some price-checking.

So here she is, out of the box:

They’ve nailed the shiny outfit she wears, though the zipper doesn’t feel super-detailed. I like her pose, as it conveys her confidence and strength. Her collar also looks nice, and her lipstick is painted well. The base is the standard Kotobukiya magnetic stand that they use for their Western property figures.

Left:

Here we can see she is endowed, but not overly so. There are a couple of creases in her outfit, and her buckles on her boots are painted well. Here we get a look at her whip – this is mostly a cord, which looks OK at a distance, but would prefer if it was something with a poseable wire.

Right:

Her small ears on her hood work well. Buckles on this side are also well painted and sculpted – I like the way they’re not perfectly even. Here we can also see her spiked gloves, which look good.

Back:

Here we see a bunch of creasing in the back of her outfit – I do like the fact they have sculpted it like this, instead of totally flat, like most Catwoman figures. The band for her goggles looks a little odd though – just doesn’t feel like it’s any particular material.

She also has switchable goggles, here is a close-up of the ones used in the above figures:

These goggles are pretty decent. Please ignoe the dust on her chest… Here we can see the lack of sculpt detail in the zipper, above the zipper itself. Would’ve been nicer if the teeth of the zipper were more defined.

Without glasses:

Her eyes are painted well, though her eyes do look a little bloodshot, as it seems the eyelid edge paint went a bit walkies into the whites of her eyes. If you look just above her eyes, on the sides of her hood, you can see the indentations that the glasses attach to. Looking at the zipper pull in this shot, it does appear to be a bit distorted.

Alternative glasses:

After trying these pair of glasses on her, I think these are the ones I will display her with. I like the way they are see-through, so you can see her eyes. The orange colour is nice too.

Overall, this figure is fairly decent, but does have a couple of flaws. I could recommend it at a good price, but not worth an inflated aftermarket price. Personally, I quite like this figure, and am happy to add another Catwoman to my collection.

Al Azif – Demonbane – Crystal ver

This Al Azif was the version I was glad I didn’t spend all the money on, but I saw it super-cheap in Lashingbang, so decided to go for it. There were a few notes on its condition, but they were mainly related to the box, which was definitely in poor condition (the glue had gone on it).

So let’s look at this ‘special’ version of Al Azif by BEAT:

Personally, she doesn’t look bad like I thought she might. The purple hair actually works decently well, helped by the shading in her fringe. The sculpt is the same as the other, so it has that going for it. The outfit still looks nice and frilly, and her bows are well-sculpted. However, in this version, she doesn’t have any shading on her top, and instead it’s a pearlscent finish, which does look a little odd. Her skin is also a different tone, compared to the other, but looks OK. The base is identical.

Face:

Here we see her face, wit the colours, it looks more doll-like to me, like a Western-style kid’s doll. I like the effect of her hair on her head, and she is neatly painted. The hair being plain but translucent lower down doesn’t help the figure though, but I don’t mind this.

Left:

Here we see even her socks got the shiny treatment. Her floating “cookies” look good, and have avoided being made shiny. I still like her pose, and her top is realistically creased. We can also see how her hair isn’t entirely one colour, which is one thing I was afraid of, which would’ve made the figure look cheesier than it does.

Right:

‘Nother side, another cookie. The bows are all looking good and neatly painted. Here we can see how her skin is paler than it is on the other one. They have done some shading on her leg, by her sock, which really helps the sock look like a sock, instead of paint on her leg.

Back:

Here we see on mine there’s some “freckling” going on, on the back of her legs. Pretty sure this is discolouration, and likely won’t be present on other ones of this figure. From the back, her hair looks like it’s a large hard-boiled sweet to me and it’d be some berry flavour, lol. The ribbon entwines her hair nicely, and I do like the sculptwork that went into this.

Overall, I like this figure, but recommend picking this one up cheap. She’s not bad, but not as good as the other version, which is what I suspected. If you’re looking at images of the box, this one should have a black sticker on the front to state it is the crystal version, if you’re looking out for it.

Here are the two figures side-by-side:

Here we can see the original version has a more natural skin tone, and the extra shading in the top that helps it stand out. The shiny finish on the crystal one is interesting and a bit different, but I think the lack of other paint details drag it down significantly. The hair I think is a personal choice – it definitely doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would, but I’m probably still going to go for the original version’s hair.

If I were to recommend one, I’d definitely say save up for the original version, though I don’t think the crystal version is as bad of an option as I originally thought. I’d only recommend getting both, if you’re like me and you really want both… for reasons my brain won’t explain.

Lara Croft – Tomb Raider

More old Western action figures! This time Lara from Tomb Raider:

That’s one helluva face… Her head is too thin, and that lipstick is way too red. The material shorts were an interesting choice. Looks like one of the legs has come unfurled during this photoshoot, which doesn’t help. Note to self: go fix that. I think with the top not being fabric, this doesn’t work so well, and maybe they would have been better off moulding them, but this was probably the easiest way, without losing leg articulation entirely. 

Left:

… and I didn’t pose this uzi correctly – her finger does fit in the trigger, and sits well in her hand. The holsters do feel super-large to her body, but they were designed to fit the guns she comes with, so you do have the option of holstering them. Her hair looks OK, but isn’t super-detailed. You can rotate her pony tail though. 

Right:

Here we can see where the white paint on her sock/shoe is a mess. Bit of a shame. The black bands on her leg are supposed to be where her holsters attached… but here they’re just um, garters? It might be possible to pull the holsters down so they reach, but it won’t look good. On the fence about them adding these – it is more accurate to her design, but defeats the point if her holsters aren’t attached to the bands. 

Back:

Here the stitching is a bit of a mess on the back, but the rolled short looks nice. Her backpack is pretty decent – not too much detail to it, but does the job. The joints in her arm are very visible, but this is typical of older figures. The stand in these photos is one of the spare bases I have – without a base she doesn’t really balance, so I’d recommend getting one of these plastic disc bases for her. She has a standard sized hole though (these bases work with NECA figures, for an example), so if you have a spare base, it’s worth trying with her. 

Watch out Lara!

The thing that attracted me to this figure other than the fact it was Lara was the fact she comes with a couple of creatures. She comes with this bat, and what’s apparently an Atlantean Guard:

I really like this little guy – he has a fair amount of detail to him too. Possibly more so than Lara! He also has a peg on his tail, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what this pegs to. 

Right:

Vicious lookin’ bugger. Don’t think I want to cross him. The eye is painted really well. 

Back of the guard and bat::

They’re both nicely detailed on the back. These accessories are almost better than the main feature, lol. 

Here are the other two guns she comes with:

You can sling these over her shoulders, if you like. I find that a bit overkill. They’re not hugely detailed, but I like the fact they’ve been included. I may sling one over her shoulder, but not both. 

Overall, I don’t think I could recommend this figure, and it’s one for the more hardcore collector/fan. I have a soft spot for things Lara, so couldn’t resist adding this to my collection, with the low price tag. If you’re in the US, you should be able to pick this up as cheaply as I did, however it could end up pretty costly in other countries. She feels like an experimental figure from the 90s, of ideas that would be later refined, and she has a face that only a mother could love… 

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Chess Piece

Just a small loot item today, Barnaby as a chess piece:

I like the pose in this figure, and the backdrop. And the fact it doesn’t even look like a chess piece. The paint is pretty decent for a figure of this size, and he has the translucent pieces he should do. 

Left:

Here we see he’s very close up to the backdrop. His chest is done well, and nicely detailed. Here we can also see his eyes are painted, and he has paint details on his inner arm. And the “TV” part of the “Hero TV” logo.

Right:

Here we have a goodly amount of detail too – he has his thrusters, and all his back plates. 

Back:

Not much to see here, though apparently I have the base rotated, so the only clue that he’s a chess piece is back here. You’d need a pretty big board if this is the size of a chess piece… the base isn’t too big, but he’s the size of a trading figure, so you’d need a good-sized board if you had a set of pieces… However, researching it, it’s more of a ‘concept’ set, where you’d just collect one of each, rather than a chess set’s worth. 

Here’s an angled shot:

I really like this piece. I’d collect the others, if I came across them for a decent price. A good amount of detail has been put into the sculpting and the painting for this figure. I’d recommend these figures, but maybe not for actually playing chess. 

Lala Satalin Deviluke – Metamo ver – To Love Ru

Aaannd now for a figure I got before Japan, but didn’t blog about… because I had to take more pics. Reason why shown later in the blog.

So here she is:

Definitely a happy Lala! I like the shading in her hair and her smiling expression. Her tail curves nicely around her, and the shower makes this figure a bit different from most figures. 

Face close-up:

Yep, diggin’ that grin and Peke (the hair decoration). The curls on the top of her head looks good, and her cleavage has been well done. The thin line of dark paint in her mouth adds a good element of definition. Here we can also see there’s some shading painted onto her skin too. 

Left:

She’s moulded nicely from this side – we can see the detail in her toes. In a way, she’s a fairly plain figure, but the shading in her hair really helps her not be boring. 

Tail close-up:

Her tail is nice, done with a shiny finish, which I think fits Lala. The tail can be rotated and displayed at differing angles. Here we can see a seam on her leg, but it does appear they’ve done some work to help hide it, so it’s not super-noticeable. 

Right:

Here we see more of the shower, which definitely helps her stand up – without it she can bend over a bit. The hair is nicely sculpted around her ear.

Back:

Her backside looks good, but the back of her leg has been interestingly sculpted. We can see here they’ve attempted to sculpt tendons, but it looks a bit wrong to me. Love the way her tail is a big feature from this angle. 

But wait, what’s this?

What’s going on? Britain is having a summer? Wait what? One of the selling points for this figure is that it changes colour when it gets hot – on the day I took the first set of photos it was hot enough for this to start happening. This should start happening around 30C, which is very hot for the UK. So she had a stint in the fridge before the above pics, then I couldn’t be bothered to heat her up and take more. 

So here’s some shots from the second photo shoot:

It transforms well, and will stay like this for a long time. Ended up putting her in the fridge to turn her back – I think between certain temperatures she will stay whatever colour she is, which is a nice thing. I think both options looks good, but I prefer the black version, so back in the fridge she went for awhile :P. 

Overall, I think this is a decent figure. I think she’s a cut above a prize figure, but not really comparable with scale figures. I think her original RRP might’ve been a bit on the high side, and the price I got her for, the aftermarket agreed. Glad to finally have a Lala figure that doesn’t break the bank. 

Lady Demon – Chaos

And now for another Moore Collectables figure!

Lady Demon:

Also a sucker for demon figures :). I like her red skin and accessories – here we see her wand. The skull crotch looks good too. Her face and hair are painted well, but I think her horns could do with a bit of work. Also the rings that are part of her loincloth could’ve done with more paint, as they blend far too well into her skin, and can look unpainted from a distance. Her top is sculpted, which gives it needed depth, but the boots are painted and gloves are painted on. 

Left:

Yep, she’s deffo got some boob goin’ on. The sculpting is nice in her hair, but is quite obviously two pieces. She leans a bit on the stand – this is fairly common on Moore figures, as they only have one foot peg. I love her clawed hands. 

Right:

Tiny little skull detail on the side strap for her loincloth :). I wonder what demon magic keeps her boobs that perky…

Wand:

I like this wand – it is nicely detailed, with the claw & horns on the gem, and the bone effect on the handle. Imo, the bone effect came out really well.

Back:

Here we see she has a very full head of hair :). Again, she has a case of copyright-butt. I do like the stands for these Chaos figures, as the Chaos logo makes for a good stand design. The indents are also useful for propping the figure/accessories. 

Sword:

I really like the shiny red this sword is painted. The black wash at the bottom also works well, and we have a small detail of a skull on the base of the handle. I couldn’t get it into her hand so I came up with a different way of displaying it:

Here you can see where I use the base to help the sword stand upright. As long as it doesn’t get jostled, it’ll stay in place, helped by her hand holding it. The arm articulation actually comes in useful here, so you can pose her with the sword. 

Overall, I like this figure. The colours work well, and she has some nice small details. Again, it’s a Moore Collectables, so has that “look” to it. I’d recommend this figure, if you like this style. 

Aspen Matthews – Marine Metallic Ver – Fathom

I was attracted to this figure, thanks to its colour scheme and aquatic theming. And, er, also cheap.

So here she is:

I love the sheen her skin has, and the blue & greens work well, and definitely give the figure an aquatic feel. The blue-green weapon part comes separate, and you clip this to her arm. I like the detail in this piece. Her body is well-defined and she has a decent amount of definition in her harms. Her legs suffer from the “Moore Collectables” plainness though. 

Face:

I like her face, and it feels well-sculpted. The “fabric” part of her outfit feels very flat to her body though, with the aquatic plantlife being raised fully. 

Top of her head:

Some parts have been missed on mine, in some of the deep gaps of her hair. It ends up quite noticeable when looking at her from above, but not so much from the front. 

Left:

Not sure what the muscles are doing on her arm… she might want to get that looked at. She has painted nails, which is a nice touch. Her neck joint shows quite a bit – not sure what the point of the articulations are in these figures – it doesn’t work particularly well, but some articulation is definitely a Western thing, lol. Some of the black background paint is a bit much on her leg – it works well on the lower, denser part, but looks a bit odd higher up.  I love the use of colour on her shoulder. 

Right:

Yeah. should’a retaken this shot… but I like the shapes in the “weapon” part she has. Rest of her on this side looks good.

Back:

Lotta deformation action back here. And the copyrights somewhat spoiling it… I think they’ve given her back too much definition, and it doesn’t quite make sense. And her butt could do with a little more definition. 

Despite the figure’s flaws, I really love this figure. From the colour scheme to the theming, it falls into a few categories of “stuff I like”. If you’re OK with Moore’s style of figure, I could recommend this one. Looks far better than the default colour scheme – I’ve seen this figure being sold in a store before, and the colours make it look very messy. This is definitely the superior one for me. 

Jack the Assassin – Fate/Grand Order

This was one of the figures on my “to buy” list when I headed to Japan – it was one of two Jack figures I was thinking of buying, and I decided to go with this one.

So let’s look at her out of the box:

I like the pose, but not sold on her expression. According the the promo shots, I actually have her daggers in her hands the wrong way up, but honestly, I prefer them pointing upwards rather than downwards (please don’t shoot me Fate fans!). 

Face:

I like her eyes and the scar. Here we can see the paint job is mediocre – the edges on her top are a bit messy. and the straps on her arm have paint all over the shop. 

Left:

I like the diamond parts on her leg. Her hair looks OK, but isn’t particularly detailed. The side of her top is nicely detailed, and I do love the knife holders on her back.

Right:

She looks good from this side. Still likin’ the knives and the details on her top. 

Arm close-up:

They tried to make the bandages on her arm look dirty, but I’m not sure I like the effect. However, I do really dig the daggers – they’re a detailed shape, and the paint with the gradient is really nice. Definitely one of the highlights of this figure.

Side of the knife sheathes:

Here we see some of paint marks that aren’t uncommon on certain prize figures. Other than that, the sheathes are pretty nice. 

Back:

Here we have a bag o’ tricks and all them sheathes. She looks really good from this angle. 

Close-up of her back:

The pack is painted decently well, but the knives are a little bit of a mess. Not too much of a problem, as they’re on her back. 

Front shot:

Her outfit is an interesting one… looks like she forgot her trousers this morning :P. The body is sculpted decently well, with some definition near her hips and groin, and she has a belly button. 

Overall, it’s an OK prize figure. She should be pretty cheap to get hold of – I wouldn’t recommend spending a whole load on this figure due to her flaws, but she is a reasonably decent figure imo. 

Angela – Limited Edition – Spawn

This figure came with a VHS tape, with some Spawn episodes on… but that went straight into storage. So let’s look at the figure instead:

I was attracted to this figure due to its blue colour… and cheap price tag (¥500). I love the colour scheme on this figure – there’s a variety of colours, but they work together. The blue and goldish colour pairs well.

Face:

Here we have her hair and headband. She looks like the wings are part of her head, but if we look up close, we see this is not the case. Whilst the translucent wings are a nice effect, it may’ve been better to keep the headband as the same colour as her armour. The paintwork is average for McFarlane – which is reasonably neat if you don’t look too close :P. The black belt across her midriff terminates a bit early, which looks odd. 

Left:

Her weapon is neat, and she holds it well. The tip can fire out, and does so with some force. I like the armour on her arm, and the purple boot is.. interesting. 

Right:

Here we can see the button that fires the tip. The gold armour on her arm on this side I like quite a bit. I like the spiky shoulderpads too. 

Back:

Here we can see the brightness of her hair – it is quite a bright orange, that contrasts with the rest of her. There’s a decent amount of texture sculpted into it. Paint on her backside is a bit sloppy. I like the sword on her back, which she can also hold, if you prefer it to the staff. 

Overall, I’m really glad I picked this one up. I was trying not not buy all the McFarlane figures, as the quality isn’t the best for these older figures, but certainly worth it for ¥500! She’s grown on me a fair bit since I’ve unpacked her, so she’s staying on display 🙂

Alien Shocktrooper – Independence Day

This was another super-cheap Western figure from Mandarake that I couldn’t not buy. Also… shiny…

Shiny and blue is also a winner with me :P. And tentacles. This figure feels very 90s. And being 90s style, it has to have an action feature:

Not entirely sure if this cardboard dude is supposed to come out or not. He doesn’t easily, so he’s stayin’ in there. Here we can see there is plenty of glitter underneath the sealant. 

Here is the head closed:

The red eyes stand out from the rest of the figure, but aren’t too hash a contrast. The sculpting is good for its age, though the colours chosen are probably somewhat Marmite if you like them or not. 

Left:

Here we see the majesty of this thing. The tentacles take up quite a bit of room, but the upper ones have wires, so they can be posed. The lower two he stands on are solid so they can prop him up. The purple accents on these tentacles are a nice touch. The upper tentacles are pre-attached, but the lower ones are an absolute arse to get in – would recommend warming the figure to ease insertion. 

Close-up of the body:

Still looking shiny and decently detailed. The protruding bit on his upper back is the clip you squeeze to open the head. The head will spring closed. 

Right:

This shot shows the levers and hinge aren’t really that hidden. Does give you a good grip to open it though, which makes sense as a toy aimed at kids. 

Close-up of the lower tentacles:

Decently detailed, and reasonably easy to balance him on these back “legs”. 

Back:

All the tentacle you could need! Haven’t posed them much, but with some fiddling, they’d look good.

Close-up of the tentacle ends:

Here we can see there is more than one tip type, which is a nice detail. I like the way these came out. 

You also get a host dude:

He has a certain amount of flexibility, but isn’t designed to be poseable. The paint colours are nice though. I’ll either find somewhere he can hang onto, or maybe hang him onto a tentacle. He’s a decent little accessory to the figure, but he’s not capable of standing on his own, so that’s a bit of a shame. Would have more display potential if he did. 

Overall, I like this figure, not sure who I’d recommend it to. It also came with a floppy disk, but haven’t been bothered to try and see if it still reads. As of the time of writing, here’s some videos that I found of the mission disks that came with these figures: https://www.youtube.com/user/JTcheatwood/videos They’re all very short minigames (my brother had the Area 51 one as kids, which came with a mini playset, which is why I know the vague content of the disks).