Month: October 2018

Feisar FX350 – Wipeout

This is the first of two Totaku based on ships from the game Wipeout. 

Right:

I like the dirty/weathered effect they’ve added, and the details and decals look good for the most part. However, that ladder looks kinda derpy for being painted on. Maybe they should’ve taken the time to mould that a bit at least… 

Left:

Ladder on this side actually looks less derpy in this shot, as it seems to have a bit more detailing and not be just black lines… hm… This side is pretty much a clone of the other, and looks good imo.

Front:

Hullo. Not much to see here!

Top:

Love the shape of these craft, lovely sleek design. 

Back:

The vroomy bits! Don’t look very vroomy though. 

Bottom:

Looks a bit like a bike seat! Not too much detail down here, but some at least. 

Overall, I like this figure. The detailing and paintwork is good, and I like the fact it sits on a ball joint, so you can position it at any angle you like. They’re fairly small figures though, and kind of expensive here, at £10 each. I don’t mind too much for these ones, as there isn’t really much Wipeout loot out there, and this one is done decently well. 

Zombie Pigman – Minecraft

This figure I picked up at the same time as the Demogorgon because I sort of semi-collect these figures… and he was a fiver.

Presenting… Zombie Pigman:

He’s gonna cut yah… I like the fact that this figure has been done with two levels on his head, instead of it being flat – it definitely gives extra depth and detail to the figure. The paint alignment is a bit eh in places, which isn’t unusual for these figures unfortunately. Overall though, it is faithful to the design in the game.

Left:

Here we see the design on the side, with the Zombie Pigman’s skull showing through. Sword looks OK, but the alignment has wonked over to the left a bit on mine. 

Right:

Figure looks OK, netherstone block looks good, but the print on the sword isn’t the best. 

Back:

Print alignment? Who ares about that? Erm, don’t think I’m going to look back here much if I can help it. 

Well, it’s one of the Minecraft figures. Paint’s janky, found an official distributor’s pic, and their pic wasn’t much better than mine… It doesn’t look quite so janky at a bit of a distance, so it is what it is. Nice to have an addition to the Minecraft shelf, though. 

Hela – Thor: Ragnarok

Here is a figure of Hela, from her appearance in Thor: Ragnarok:

This figure I kind of missed in stores, then had to pay UK RRP when I saw her in a figure store, and didn’t want to let her out of my grasp again. I love Hela’s look, and was happy to have an opportunity to have a larger figure of her, as I only have the Eaglemoss figure prior to this. 

In the box, she definitely looked the part, out of the box… let’s see. When I first got this figure, I put her on the kitchen table, but with no stand. She then ended falling over (on the table, not off it) and all four parts of her headpiece came out. And then they were a bugger to get back in, requiring the assistance of a hairdryer. So, erm, be careful of that. And that’s why I borrowed the Demogorgon’s stand for this photoshoot. 

Face:

I love the helmet, and the face is painted well. What I love less… is her cape. They’ve made it floating so it doesn’t restrict the movement of the arms, and so you can use it to hide her arm joint, but… it has a habit of going into a mess like in this photo. I’ll probably have to heat and then “freeze” it to get it to stay in a halfway decent spot :/. 

The green paint on her top is done very nicely, and it is a nice, appealing (and shiny!) shade. With the lined pattern of her top though, I wish they didn’t bother with a cut joint tbh – figures like this always look stupid when it’s not properly aligned. 

Left:

The horns on her helmet have a good amount of depth to them, which makes them have an impressive look to them. Her sleeves are painted nicely, and she seems not too big in the chest area. 

Right:

Here you can see the cut joint being a bit blergh. Can we have extra foot/hip articulation and do away with this cut joint? Face looks nice though. 

Weapon:

A nice pattern to it, but fairly simple. Doing some quick web research, it is supposed to be just black, so we can let them get away with not putting paint accents on the weapon this time :). We can also see her painted fingernails here, which is a nice touch.

Back:

Cape looks decent enough on the back. Texture isn’t too plasticy and we have some shiny bits up top. Overall, probably one of the better capes I’ve seen on a PVC figure.

Overall, I’m glad I finally got her, and can see why she was a popular figure. She’s a decent bit ahead of other figures of this type, though she has a couple of annoying flaws. Wish the cape was a bit different so it wouldn’t float about like it does. Maybe have some kind of fastener on the ends of the loose parts so that they can be clipped in when you’re done posing? Also some glue for the helmet horns wouldn’t have gone amiss. 

Demogorgon – Stranger Things

This is a figure I aimed to chase down on release, and found it at a local comic book store for a good price.

So here he is:

image

Love the paint on his erm, face? The body paint is also really good, and gives the figure extra depth and detail. 

“Face”:

The teeth are done well, and there’s some lovely blending in the red paint. Love the fact they’ve added the bony protrusions on its “leaves” as well as having he teeth ring. Wouldn’t want to get too up close and personal with that!

Left:

image

He has been textured well throughout, and I like the clawed hands.

Right:

image

The textures and colours are good on this side too. Joints blend in decently well, where they show. 

Back:

The leg joints are very square. It looks fine when he’s standing straight, but moving the legs at an angle like his left one is in this shot… looks a little odd. Again, the texturing is very good. The rest of the joints have been made to not stand out too much, so it’s just the leg joints that are an issue. 

Base:

The base has the logo on, but however you pose him, it’s going to obscure a good chunk of the logo. I like having a logo on the base, but feel it’s kind of pointless if the figure’s foot is going to cover it… still, it’s a nice touch, even if it isn’t the best execution.

Overall I really like this figure and glad I got him. Think he’s a bit prone to fally-over, but I’ll find out over time. He doesn’t seem too hard to balance, just that you will have to balance him to ensure he poses OK. If you wanted him in more of a fighting position, you may want to invest in a claw stand. Really glad I got him. 

Leafa – Sword Art Online – Noodle Stopper figure

Pre-ordered this one on AmiAmi, and finally got it just after I got back from holiday:

And yep, she came out cute :). I’m really happy with the way this one came out. The swimsuit is sculpted well – happy they’ve sculpted the top strap separately, and the hair is nicely shaded.The small green details have been painted nicely too. 

Close-up:

Looking close, one of the green lines on her bikini is actually way off… oops. Her hair decoration has a bit of stray green paint, but nothing too bad. She ha a goodly amount of detail in her body, which gives her a good look. Her eyes are pretty detailed, and the small details on her face are painted well.

Left:

The detail lines in her hair work well, with the shading that’s also present. I like the posing of her legs – it works well and she sits well, keeping my Mug Shot nicely stoppered. She also has some small details in her ear, which is a nice inclusion for a prize figure. My only minor complaint on this side is the strings on her bikini look a bit too wide. 

Right:

I like the way her hair tumbles down behind her, and the plaits look good. Her foot is well-sculpted and posed. The bow looks less “noodly” on this side. 

Back:

Her back has a nice realistic shape, and she has a bit of butt cleavage showing. The bow looks really good on the back. I like the way they’ve included some folds near the knot. 

Overall, I really like this figure and would recommend her. She should be fairly cheap as she’s a prize figure, but that all depends on what her aftermarket does. Would still recommend her at more than I paid, as she’s possibly a bit nicer than other figures I have of this size (and paid more for!). 

Amon – Apocalypse of Devilman

The third and final figure of this set is Amon:

Big brute! He has a pretty large presence, with his bulky chest and muscly arms. He’s also the tallest of the three. I love the big head wings and the furry texturing on his legs. His torso also has a better blend than Devilman’s, making it a less jarring transition. 

Left:

Not too much to see on the site – the hairy arm texture looks good though, and his feet have a fair amount of sculptwork going on. Love the added veins. 

Right:

Here we see more hairy texturing – and the hair seems fairly well blended on his ankle to his foot. Those elbow claws must get in the way though!

Back:

Not a big fan of the sculpting on the red parts of his back – seems kind of.. unrefined? Not quite the same level of detail as the front of the figure for me. The rest of his back looks OK though, and he has a nice end to his tail.

Though for my figure, I knew he was coming in a sun-damaged box, but apparently the base is also prone to sun damage, and that had yellowed too – the other figures did have yellowing to their boxes but not to the bases. Hence why it is a more yellow piece in the other blogs.

And for this blog, here is all three together:

They do overlap a bit too much for my liking, but definitely look impressive as a set. Glad to finally have the set, even if one is a bit yellowed. Would recommend this set if you can get them at a reasonable price, but getting hold of Devilman and Amon might be quite the challenge. Saylos seems to be fairly readily available when I was hunting this set, but the other two… not so much. 

Super-glad I can now display them together!

Devilman – Apocalypse of Devilman

Ever since I got Saylos from this set, I’ve been wanting to get the other two. And thankfully both turned up on Mandarake! 

So here is Devilman:

image

I love the blue-purple colouring of his body, and all the details in the body sculpt. The lower parts of his arms blend well to his arms, but below the torso… not so well. 

Face:

image

His face looks good, and the antennae came out well. I love the little fangs poking out of his mouth. 

Left:

image

Here we can see he leans forward slightly – this can be slightly annoying for balance, especially as his ankles aren’t the tightest joints. The body detailing extends to his sides, which I’m appreciating in this photo, and his hands look nice n’ spiky. 

Right:

image

Here we can see more of his tail, which looks like it has a lethal end. I like the way it curls down to the side of his body. He has plenty of spiky details.

Back:

image

The backs of his wings don’t really have any details to speak of, but the body has some sculpting. Here we can see how he is flicking his tail behind his back. 

Close-up of the wings:

image

Here we can see the wings are hinged – I like the fact they included this articulation, so you have a bit more in terms of posing options for him. 

Overall I rather like this figure and glad I got him. Certainly a worthy addition to the set.

As a bonus picture, here are the three bases for all of the figures:

image

Yes, one of them is a bit yellow, which I’ll go into in tomorrow’s blog. The skeleton effect is excellent, and does look very neat imo. Love the amount of designwork that went into these bases. Though having two foot pegs for all of the figures would’ve been nice… 

Izuruha – Ru/Li/Lu/Ra

Now for the fourth and final Izuruha:

Clothed, her body shows through the clothes, and gives a good silhouette, without showing anything off. I like the more serious expression on this one, contrasting with the smiling one on the other figure. 

Left:

With this figure I had to heat up the legs on the stand – when I first tried to assemble it, the back leg was very far off from the back stand – hence why I’m fairly sure the arm has drooped some on yesterday’s figure. 

Right:

Here you get to see a lot of her body. Sneaky side view :).

Back:

The creases are well done in the clothing, and there is a hood evident too. Hair is also nicely sculpted. Overall, I think she looks good clothed, if this is your preferred option. 

Now to cast her off:

She does look somewhat younger than the other version, so I can imagine this not appealing to some people. Again, the body is well-sculpted and painted giving it a lifelike feel. 

Left:

Again, the pose is fairly dynamic, giving a unique look to these figures. And look ma, no seams!

Right:

A bit of an interesting line from he leg to her stomach. Not quite sure that’s right, but it doesn’t look bad to me. 

Back:

Again, hair is well-sculpted and shaded. She has a more slender frame on this figure, and the backside to match. I like the fact you can see her shoulderblades. 


Overall, I like this figure as much as the other ones. I’d recommend them, if they’re your kind of figure, and they shouldn’t be too expensive to buy, if you find them for sale. 

Izuruha – Golden Diva ver – Ru/Li/Lu/Ra

After getting the blue/grey pair, I decided to eventually pick up the golden pair. 

This blog will be about the Golden Diva version:

I didn’t quite get her robe back on quite right when taking these pics… The blonde/gold versions are certainly more colourful. The outfit is pretty, and her hair flows well. 

Right:

I like the pose of this figure, which is why I ended up getting a second one of her XD. 

Back:

The robe does a good job of covering up the parts you may not want to see, if you prefer clothed figures, but leaves it so you can see her back, which has been sculpted well.

Now for the NSFW pictures.

Front:

The painting on her body is really good and looks natural. The other nice thing about these figures is the bodies are one piece of PVC, so there are no seams. The head is a separate part, so there is a connection there, but not visible normally, with it being under her chin/hair. 

Face/chest close-up:

Her face has been painted well, but her nose is a bit pointy. Her chest is painted well, and looks realistic. I like the fact her chest isn’t comical sized. 

Left:

Her body is sculpted well, and the curves look good. The hair also has some nice highlights to it. 

Right:

Her chest is probably most visible from this angle. I like the way the light works on this figure. I’m thinking her outstretched arm may have sagged a bit over time, and I may fix this at some point. I know from the next Izuruha figure I’ll be blogging about that these figures do bend a bit over time. 

Back:

The hair looks nice from the back, and so does her backside. We can see that her ankles have been sculpted well too. 

Overall, I really like these Izuruha figures, and this one isn’t an exception. If you like the figure (and not too bothered about source material – doesn’t seem like it’s something that’s particularly accessible outside of Japanese language things),I would recommend it. 

Geara Ghirarga – Gundam Build Divers

This figure I saw on AmiAmi, and was like… yes, I have to preorder that. I really want to build that. 

And build it I did:

Overall, it was a decent build – not too many stickers, I don’t remember any bits being overly complex on the main body. but the tail was fun. Also I probably need to tidy up the plastic nubs a bit here and there… My fault, not the kit’s fault. I do have some better cutters now… 

Left:

Here we have the articulated back parts, which look really good imo, and give the figure some decent depth. Also I like the design detail in the boots – and the yellow accents in general. 

Right:

Here he is, tail half-posed. His head looks menacing, with all the angular parts. I love these little details. 

The blue translucent parts come out of his back like so:

And, even cooler, you can shut them like so:

So need to tidy the plastic nubs…But I thought this was a pretty cool feature to have on a model kit. 

Both of the pods closed:

Some of the kits I’ve built, this would be a choice you’d have to make during building, but I love the fact that he transforms, so you can quickly and easily transform him between “stances”. Credit to the kit designers here!

Back:

Looks very angular from the back, and you can see the leg joints here, but they’re not disruptive to the design of the figure, which I like. The yellow accents contrast nicely.

Close-up of his upper back:

I like this cooling fin detail on this back. 

Tail:

Ahh, the tail. You have to be careful building this – the end segment only pushes on, so you have to be careful not to shove the next fin parts down onto it too hard. And the holes in the fins are only just big enough for them to fit on the wire, so some of them were buggers to get on. And then resulted in me knocking the end off, and then having to start over. You then have to wind the other end of the wire around some parts in the end part, to secure it in place. Adjusting this bit was a pain, and I’m not sure I got it quite right. Also the fins can turn over and go a bit all over the place – see the top of the tail. But the end result does look pretty nifty overall. 

You can also pull his tail off, and he can wield it, but I think I’ll leave it as a tail. If you like his design, I’d recommend giving this kit a go. Just… be patient with the tail. 

EVA-02 Beast Mode – Evangelion

Now onto EVA-02… in beast mode. Decided to go for this one over the normal EVA-02 as it is a much more interesting look to it. 

So here she is outta the box:

Grragrarrrgghh. I love the cores popping out of its back, and the hunched pose. Though working out what to do with the feet was a bit problematic. It doesn’t pose very easily imo, and feels a bit of a strain to get it looking good. I love the paint on the legs, and the overall beastly look. 

Close-up of the face:

You can leave the blood off the top of its head, and there is a picture on the box, including the issue of doing so – you’re left with an odd, flat bit and a hole in the head that doesn’t look good if the top of its head is showing. 

Here we can see some of the sloppy paint – a white dribble on its chin, and some orange creeping out from underneath. Overall, there’s a few lines that aren’t neat here, giving the overall painting a bit of a scruffy look. The jaw does move though, so it has that going for it. 

Another effect for the head:

This one is a little awkward to get into place,  but looks cool once done. Fire! 

From the top:

Gives a good feeling of motion, and the paint jobs are done nicely on these effect parts imo. 

Left:

I think the hunched-over part of its back has been done very well, and I love the blending of colours here, plus the shape. You do get a sense of the inorganic giving into the organic. Looking at that arm in the foreground, I am definitely seeing some wandering grey paint. Also a paint chip on its back – recessed part, near the reflection. There are a couple of paint chips, and the paint feels like it could be easily chipped. It’s part of why I’m not so happy with these Evangelion figures – they’re not finished to a high standard, which doesn’t make them look as good as they should close up. It leaves me kind of frustrated, as there aren’t many options for articulated EVAs, and they’re figures I feel work well with articulation. I like the size of these too – you can fit a few in a display, unlike my model kit EVA-01. 

Right:

Still liking that blood splatter from the head – at least I think it looks good on the figure. The colour blends look good on this side too. Also we have the equipped “claw” – I did have both equipped at one point, but needed to remove the other as it was getting in the way of photos. 

Close-up of the “claw” swipe-lines:

These are supposed to be giving the hands motion, to show The Beast clawing at things. I think they kind of work. However, putting them on the hands is a bit of a tricky challenge, but once all four fingers are in, they stay on OK. I think it’d be cool to have two EVAs fighting, and use this effect. 

Back:

Here we get to see the cores closer… and that damn scratch. I’ll just keep looking at the cores/rods… yeah.. I like them. 

EVA in the box:

Now for some first impressions time… I love the way the figure was presented in the box – the pose looks really good and certainly looked good when it was boxed. If I saw it in a shop, I’d definitely pick it up and look at it, even if I didn’t know Evangelion. And now for the other thing… a bunch of large accessories, and no small ones. No spare hands, no extra arm parts or anything like that… but you do get a blood splatter for if you tear its arm off! Or a part of your choice! I do like this idea, and is worthy of losing some accessories for this one. However, the swipe claws I would’ve liked to see something else tbh. Some more hand poses could’ve been interesting – maybe something with the fingers outstretched and the thumbs flat/backwards, for posing in a crawling pose. The dirt smash accessory I could take or leave – I think it’s a decent idea, but I just don’t like the look of this splat. 

Overall, a bit of a mediocre figure. I still love the design of it, just the execution could’ve done with some more work, as it feels kind of half-baked. I can’t really see this one going up much in the aftermarket, but I think it’s decent enough. 

EVA-01 Awakened Ver. – Evangelion

Here we have the second Evangelion I’ve bought from the Legacy of Revoltech series. 

So here he is, out of the box:

Mostly I like this guy from the front. The striking colour scheme works well, though you can see a couple of paint flaws – one on his right arm, one on the upper right part of his chest in red are visible in the photo. I find the arm transition a bit sudden – maybe it could’ve done with a paint job to blend it more. The flare on this pearly part of his arm is a bit flat too – could’ve done with more texture so it didn’t look like a plastic offshoot. 

The halo looks nice though, on reflection, I think I prefer the downwards part, rather than a less-sturdy connection method. 

Left:

The flare on his lower arm is less of a distraction than the upper one. I really think they should’ve gone for a smaller elbow joint. The clear hand looks really good though, and I like that they transitioned to a transparent part. The joint shape in his knees works well though. I like the way the shoulder parts on these figures articulate, so they don’t get in the way whilst playing/adjusting with the figure. 

Right:

Mostly loks good from this angle, but there are some shaky elements to the paint if you look closely. I like the shiny black, though I think it’s supposed to be more matte. 

Back:

Again, no subtlety to that arm transition. Here we see the hidden ball joints form the back. And the plug

hatch

alternate part designed to hold the halo – if you don’t like the halo, by default there’s a

plug

hatch part that doesn’t have the peg for the halo. Think it’s good that they included this option, as halos can usually look a bit cheesy, at the best of times. 

Face close-up:

His jaw hinges on this head, which is a cool feature. Grrowwwl. 

Halo from the side:

This clear peg part works well. 

Halo from the top:

Annoyingly, there’s a tiny paint chip on mine. Nice texture on top, though maybe less transparent than it should be to feel “halo-y”. 

Alternate head:

This head has a fixed mouth, but you can “equip” the starry eyes. They seem to stay on there reasonably firmly. 

Default plug hatch:

This was an absolute ass to take out, but does eventually come out if you keep prying! 

Extra arm:

For if you don’t want glowy action. 

Gun and charging cable:

Might get the gun out, but the charging cable would be a pain, so that’s going in the accessory bag for me. 

Hands. More hands:

I guess the arm accessory is for switching sides of the glowing arm? And plenty of hands, for all your hand-posing needs. 

And that’s your lot. Overall, the figure does feel on the cheaper side, which it is. Posing may be a bit of an issue – he does come apart at the middle rather easily for me. Posing, I had a bit of an issue getting the joints where I wanted. However, he certainly is well-represented in the accessories department, which does help make up for the QC issues. Overall, I’m OK with this figure, but not wild about it. The prices are certainly more reasonable than Figmas though, not that there is ones of these dudes. 

Deadpool – Marvel

Now for some articulated action with Amazing Yamaguchi Deadpool:

Yeah, this fellah here. I won’t be doing much articulation of him in this blog post though – am trying to catch up a bit with my bloggery. He does have some decent articulation to him though. 

Love the paintwork on the figure – the shading on his chest looks really good, and his mask is sculpted well. The ammo pouches and the gun pouch are detailed well. 

Left:

Looks OK from the side. Not too much to say here. Joint on the back of his head sticks out a bit, looking at him from the side. 

Right:

Pouches look good from this side, and he’s also got a large knife/small sword strapped to his leg on this side, as part of the figure. Imo, with the knife on his leg, the straps on his lower leg look a lot better- they look kind of odd on the other side, as there’s no paint separating them from his leg. 

Back:

Love the sheathed swords accessory. Looks good on his back, and pegs well. The straps on his forearm look good. Leg joints, whilst visible, do meld in well for me, compared to other figures. 

Accessories:

He comes with a good range of accessories – no Chimichanga though. He has a good range of hands, plus his guns and swords, if you wish for him to wield them. There is also a spare head. 

And now for what the weird red bar is for:

You can pop his eyes out, and replace them with the ones in the plastic tray. pictured above. I think this is a pretty neat idea, and gives you many head options at a cheap price. 

Overall, this is a decent, chunky figure of Deadpool, and I would recommend it. Looking at pictures of the Figma one, it does seem to be more refined than this one, but this one won’t eat at the wallet so hard. Having a brief read around the internet, it does seem to come down how much you want to spend vs the look and feel you like as to which one you get. For me, the price of the Figma was not worth it, and there’s not enough in it to make me get the Figma. And I already had the Marvel Legends large Deadpool. 

Retsuryu – Gundam

And now time to say farewell to the Japan loot with this small model kit of Retsuryu. I wanted to buy a Gundam model kit, as I was in the Diver City mall, but didn’t want anything too big due to luggage space, and I’m not the most Gundam-y person. 

So enter this little fellah:

Yep, was attracted to him thanks to the shiny blue. Can’t go wrong with blue. He’s a cute and colourful-looking dude. From what I remember from the build, he was a pretty easy one to do. Also the end result is pretty cool imo. A couple of the stickers you definitely have to be careful with – especially thinking the eyes and his chin. 

Claws stretched out:

He has a reasonable amount of posing ability, given his actual arms don’t move that much. He rotates at the head and the waist, plus these outer claws can be moved and grab things. 

Left:

Mmm. Shiny. Blue. I like the ribbed effect on his arm, and he’s got some material motion going on in his skirt. 

Right:

Here we see the holder for his axe, which we will look at later. The holder doesn’t work very well though, imo.

Back:

Looks decent enough, but very plain. Might’ve been nice to have a couple of gold/red stickers to put on back here. 

One last look before we move onto the aforementioned axe:

Would’ve been nice if we had some back stickers that matched thematically with the ones on his arms. The green shiny part on his helmet adds a nice central focal point to him. 

Axe:

He has this shiny axe, which you can have a short or a long handle on. This is the long handle mode, but you can remove the blue part and the lower part if you wish. You can then put that part in his hand. 

Close-up of the head:

Yeah, didn’t do the stickers so good here… glad the green parts are painted green. Though only on one side. The box shows the axe coloured, would’ve been nice to have a couple of stickers to add to the front design. Alas, not to be.

He can also fold up the axe:

Which, apparently, lore-wise he can use to fly! Pretty neat, huh? I like the way the axe parts and the dragon head are hinged, so you can do this transformation. 

Overall, he’s a cool little dude, and these small kits are very cheap to buy. These mini-kits I think would be good for beginners – not too many pieces or stickers. If you want to try making a model kit, I think these small Gundam kits would make a good intro kit. The other small kits I’ve done (Mecha Colle ones) have been on the fiddly side, and might be a bit much, but this one was a nice balance of things. Though looking at that axe, reminds me it was kind of a pain to get the green bits to stay put XD. 

Thresher – Spawn

And now for a Spawn figure, Thresher:

I already owned the blue/red variant, but this one was ¥380… How could I turn that down? And she looks cool in both colour schemes! This one also has the advantage of being complete (as it was still sealed)… believe the claw is missing on my other one. 

Here she is without her mask:

And a close-up of her face:

She does look more diseased than speckled than the other variant, what with the grey skin and purple dots. Her makeup is nice though. 

Close-up with mask:

I love the masks for these figures, so will likely display her like this. The chest paint is a nice fade from yellow to green, though her belly is painted green rather than grey, which looks kind of odd. Looks like they designed it to be a gap in her top, but it’s not painted like that. Fairly minor for me though. 

Close-up of one her arm parts:

This is where a bunch of the attraction of this figure comes in – the number of articulated “extras” she has. I love the bio-mechanical design. The serpentine bracelet(?) on her arm looks good too.

Left:

I like the gun she has – is an interesting design, and there are some paint accents so it isn’t a fully flat silver colour. She has that “big leg” thing going on that most Spawn figures have – but I guess it does help figure stability a fair bit! The bone-coloured parts work well with the green. If I had to nitpick, the grey under her arm is eerily flat grey – could’ve done with a tad of shading in there. 

Close-up of the gun:

Plenty of sculpt detail here. The spiky claw parts help it fit thematically with the figure. She also has a knife down here, as a backup, but this part is part of the figure, so she doesn’t have one to pose her with. 

Right:

Here she wields some bio-gun and a claw launcher. I tried to pick which angle would look best for the claw, but managed to screw it up and not notice until I was writing this blog… The tube plugs in securely into the relevant holes, and as it is loose, it won’t snap if it snags on anything. 

Close-up of the claw:

The painting is really nice on this – the paints blend well. And it fires pretty good too! Pull it back, let it go, lose it on the other side of the room… 

Back:

Other holes are available, should you wish to plug the tube in elsewhere. Back looks OK, but I wish they did more with the area where the parts hinge on her back – added a bit of sculpting so that they fit in with the figure more, instead of looking like round lumps. Sculpting on the back of her clothes is nice though. 

Overall, happy to have two of her, so I can appreciate her in more than one room :). For a bargain price too! Would recommend this Spawn figure, even at less of a bargain. 

Yoko Littner – Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

Managed to get my hands on an affordable Yoko figure whilst I was in Japan, of which is a rarity. The box was in poor condition (no acetate), but the figure itself was in good condition.

So here she is:

Not the best looker out of action figures, but a decent effort overall. Being scantily clad, she lends herself to action figure form more, as the articulation can be put at the edges of her clothing, which can be seen here. She does have a shiny belly, as she’s a bit rubbery. I really like the hair and the glasses on this figure. 

Left:

Here we can see the budget/older nature of this figure. The boots are a nice sculpt, but she has some noticeable seams on her leg. Also note the sticker dot – these are supplied with the figure so you can cover the screw holes. I chose to use them as the screws are pretty ugly. Her hair curves around nicely. 

Right:

Her bum sticks out awkwardly here, but that might be partly the fault of the stand. Again, seam city, and her back looks odd from the way it articulates. 

Back:

And here we can see how ugly the screws actually are. I didn’t sticker these ones, because I couldn’t be bothered, but there are enough stickers to go around, if you want to do the full job. I’d rather keep them as spares, if the ones I applied get knocked off and lost. The back view definitely isn’t winning any awards, and there are a lot of compromises to allow full articulation, such  as her legs, so she can crouch more. I think this is definitely a figure you want to pose o look at from the front, rather than any other angles. 

In terms of accessories, she has a hairpiece with no glasses, loads of hands, barefoot legs, a little Boota, an extra face, her gun, and some parts for it. 

But due to laziness, and the box being in a different room, I only took pics of her gun:

I think the gun looks pretty decent, but nothing special. The paint is neat, but simple. Matches the figure, really. 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this figure. Imo, this figure has its flaws, so I’d only recommend if you want everything Yoko, and/or she comes up cheap. I paid ¥2200 for her, so didn’t exactly break the bank in buying her. I don’t own it, but the Fraulein versions would likely be a better bet, and probably not too much more to buy. 

Alien Big Chap – Alien – Revoltech

I couldn’t come back from Japan without an Alien figure:

The first thing that stands out on this figure is the detail in his head and on the main part of his body. He also has some copper-coloured highlights on his body, which stand out more in-person than they do in this photo.

A closer look at that head:

The ridges are nice and pronounced, and the shading on the plastic looks really good. Not many figures have the clear plastic shaded, so a plus for this figure. 

Left:

Here we can see the highlights more, and his slender hands. I think the shading on the “back pipes” is a bit overdone, but still looks cool. I like the neutral-ish pose for his hands. 

Close-up of a hand:

The fingernails are painted well, and I like the way they’ve sculpted his tendons. The brown-to-black paint is blended well. The lines on his arms are sculpted well, and he has the pokey bit from his elbow. 

Right:

Love the shininess and the detail. The fin that pokes up above the “pipes” has a nice evenness with the parts protruding. You do rather see the ball joints in his legs quite well from this angle though. 

Closer look at the tail:

I think the texture has been replicated well for a 1/12 figure. Some colour highlight here too. Tail indeed does end with a barb. 

Back:

Everything barring the ball joints looks good back here. I think if this figure was reproduced today, they’d use smaller ball joints for the knees and ankles, so they don’t protrude so much. I could run my hand down the middle of that back though… and down his tail. 

“Pipes”:

I think the colours could have been blended better here, and made a bit darker. Looks kinda odd having the tips be such a bright colour of brown. 

And what kind of accessory would a xenomorph come with?

An egg, complete with facehugger! I really love the paint job on these two, and the amount of detail that went into the bottom of this facehugger. 

Side view:

Not too much to see here, but nice to see it isn’t totally flat, which makes it feel more natural. If you can call it natural. 

Back:

The level of detail is replicated on the back – his spine looks good, and you can see where the body goes into the “fingers” of the facehugger. The egg has a very nice green-to-black fade going on. 

Top of the egg:

The detail looks really good here too. The facehugger is a separate part, so you can display it separately if you wish, but the egg holds it sturdily despite the small connection between the two. 

Egg base:

Love the wormy, alien texture here too. The paint is also neatly done, and this is actually slightly transparent, which looks really good in person when the light goes through it. 

Overall, I’m very pleased with this figure. Would recommend to a fan of xenos, but don’t expect anything in terms of accessories – the xeno is “as-is”, plus the egg. Both are great pieces imo. 

Ben Jackson & Doc Saito – Tiger & Bunny World Collectable Figures Vol. 3

And finally, the side characters! 

First is Ben Jackson, the taxi driver for Wild Tiger:

Here we see him as his positive self, with the obligatory hot dog. The painting is really nice on the front of this figure, and the sculpting is good too – his face looks really good, and the creasing in his trousers gives this figure a more realistic feel. 

Left:

His hair is definitely smooth…. could’ve probably done with some kind of knobbly texture. Rest of him looks fine though. 

Right:

Go Tigher! Yeah, that hair is deffo lookin’ odd…

Back:

The arm seams actually look good on this figure, and match with the coat style. They’ve added creasing to the clothing at the back, so he also looks good from the back.

Most of this figure is really good imo – just the hair could’ve done with more detail so he looks less like a brown bowling ball. 

Now for Saito the Scientist:

The paint is neat, and looks good. Though with his badge not painted, that part does look odd – more like he’s got it underneath his labcoat, and it is showing through…

Left:

Paint for his glasses got a bit escapey, and not quite enough on his hair. His shoes and coat look good though. 

Right:

Glasses a bit better pained on this side, but looking odd. Hair is of an interesting geometric shape…

Back:

Back doesn’t do the hair any favours either, but the coat looks good, plust the other clothes we can see here.

Overall a decent figure with a couple of oddities.

Blue Rose & Huang Pao-Lin – Tiger & Bunny World Collectable Figures Vol. 3

Now for some of the other heroes! 

First up, Blue Rose:

This figure was one of the reasons I went for Vol 3 – as I really like Blue Rose’s design. Aaandd… with my luck, she was broken in the box! I ended up ordering this replacement from Mandarake. And I’m glad I did – the paintwork is mostly pretty solid with this figure, and the colours are really nice. Unfortunately assembling her is not fun, and it was hard to get her ice tentacles in, as well as attached to the stand ><. You will want to warm this figure to assemble it. 

Left:

Her head feels overly egg-shaped. Her hair should stick back some, but this feels… kind of unnatural. Otherwise, she looks fine from the side.

Right:

Hm, that vine isn’t quite in her side… yeah, she’s a pain to assemble. Bit of mould mess on the side of he head, and could do with a few more lines to make it more hairlike. Her earring is nicely done though, and the ice gun looks good. 

Back:

Despite the pain to assemble, the ice tentacles look good. The paint on her collar looks really good too. 

Overall, I really like this figure, and glad I ordered a replacement. With the broken one, her tiara split. I did try to repair it, but really with the wrong glue, so the glued part shows quite badly. 

Now for Huang Pao-Lin, aka Dragon Kid:

I like her in her casual outfit, so was glad to have this one in the set. The paint is very nice on this one, and there’s been some detail put into her clothing, with the creasing. Her hands aren’t very well moulded though, and look kinda blobby. 

Left:

The black linework is mostly OK, can see some flaws if you look close, but not as bad as other figures in this set. 

Right:

Bit messier on this side, plus some mess on the hair. 

Back:

Not sure what’s going on with her back up top – looks a little overly flat, and teh seams/creases by her arms look odd. I guess the sculptor was distracted by her backside…

Overall, a decent figure, but not anything special. 

Tiger & Lunatic – Tiger & Bunny World Collectable Figures Vol. 3

Today’s two figures will be Tiger in his suit and Lunatic. 

Here we have Wild Tiger:

In this figure we get to see his face and his suit, which is a rarity with his figures. I like the fact he’s wearing his eye mask under the suit… like he needs it. The paint on his is really nice, but a little less neat on the suit, The clear pieces of his suit are nice – on his should, arm and helmet. Though, like the Bunny figure, the tint is too pale on the green parts. 

Left:

Not too much to see here. 

Right:

Paint is fairly neat, and I think he’s posed well.

Back:

His pose also works well from he back. He has a few small details painted too, which makes the figure look good – his boots, bit on his back, and the green parts on the back of his helmet. 

Overall I like this figure – and he’s a welcome addition to my collection for the different pose. 

Now for the villain of the piece, Lunatic:

His head is painted well, and his hand, but the green paint feels rather rushed on his right of his cape. The white lines on his trousers have come out well, though. 

Left:

His head is painted well, but again, paint on the cape looks rushed, and there’s a bit of a transfer mark in the middle. Think he needs to give his cape a wash!

Right:

Ditto the remarks for his left-hand side.

Back:

The green and blue paint seem a fair bit neater back here than the sides, but still has some slop and misses. Black paint didn’t feel like going within the lines on his collar. 

I’m really impressed with his head, and the sculpt overall, but the paint on his cape is rather the letdown. One to display at a distance… which fits Lunatic. But it would’ve been nicer if the painter paid a bit more time to his cape.