Month: October 2018

Bunny – Tiger & Bunny World Collectable Figures Vol. 3

I will be doing these trading figures in pairs, as there are 8 of them, and a week of blogs dedicated to these guys feels a bit much.

So, today’s pair is… Bunny & Bunny. 

Barnaby in his casual outfit:

The sculpting on this duded is pretty nice, and the paint is mostly neat. I especially like his hair, and the amount of details that went into his jeans – the stud, the belt and the linework. 

Left:

Here we can see some of the red of his jacket escaping int the white, and some dodgy texturing on the hair, which is a lot less apparent from the front. Jeans and shoes loog good though.  The cream part on his shoulder doesn’t match the white on the main part of his jacket, which makes it look a little odd to me.

Right:

Hair has a nicer finish on this side, seam is fairly well hidden imo. 

Back:

Hair sculpt is good, jeans look good from all the angles imo, as well as the boots, belt paint is a bit suspect back here though. 

Overall, I think this is a good trading figure and has a good likeness to Barnaby Brooks Jr. 

Bunny, darkness edition:

From a first glance, this figure looks pretty good, but does have its flaws – the one that isn’t so apparent from the photos is the side fins on his head do fall off rather easily. They do stay, so long as he isn’t nudged, though. This figure does have a fair number of fine lines, which I think does show the limits of painting on small trading figures – it does feel a bit uneven in places. 

Left:

I think the fins on the sides of his head could’ve done with a bit more dye, so that his head didn’t show so clearly through these parts. Lower arm guard colour looks about right. I do like this use of transparent parts.

Right:

Mostly more of the same. I like this pose though – “ready for action”. Paint on his collar looks a little dinged up. 

Back:

The backpack parts are nicely shaped, but appear to be a different colour to the rest of the pinkish parts. Would’ve been nice if the pinkish parts coordinated more. I think the proportions have gone a little odd due to the chibification though – I feel as if the backpack is a bit too wide, and doesn’t sit how it should. 

Overall, a decent likeness, but best not looked at form the back. 

Food Keychains – Daiso

No trip to Japan is complete with a visit to Daiso. And I noticed the food items on ball chains, and had to buy some. I limited myself to three, so here are the three I picked.

First up, a fried egg:

Mmm, nicely fried. 

Back is plain:

Rice n’ stuff:

Not sure what the pink stuff is, but it does spring onion and seaweed. 

Noodles:

Also some egg in this one :). I like the fact this one includes chopsticks too. 

All three look tasty, but can confirm they are not. Well, they don’t have much taste to them… lol. But they do look really good, and only cost ¥108 each. 

Crane & Rabbit Gachapon

And now for the last of the random gacha. First item today is a crane origami gashapon:

These were in various colours, glad I got a blue one, as I like the colour blue. This crane has a soft rubbery feel, and does look like a paper crane. 

And lastly, a gashapon from a set called Cage la Usagi, which translates to Rabbit Cafe:

A cute little gacha, but probably not one I’m going to display. It’s nicely done, but doesn’t really appeal to me. I’d like to see more of the rabbit. Might have somewhere where I might sneak it into at some point, but this one is likely headed to the drawer of trading figures. 

Meiko & Sheryl Nome – Vocaloid & Macross Frontier

So theme of these two is…. gacha that aren’t usually gacha. 

First up is a Nendoroid Petit – I found a Goodsmile Company vending machine in Japan, and it vends Nendoroid Petits. There were 3 series to pick from, can’t remember what my choices were, but I went for the Vocaloid ones, as I’m familiar with some Vocaloids. So ofc, it gave me one of the ones I didn’t know, Meiko:

I remember this one costing a bit more than your average gacha, but being a Nendo Petit, this makes sense. From even a quick glance, it’s fairly obvious these are a fair bit higher quality than a gacha. 

My main issue with the figure is the mic – it is a bit of a pain to get into her hand, then it very easily falls out. The mic is attached by a peg, but the hole isn’t quite tight enough to hold it well. 

Other views:

Overall, I think she’s a decent Nendoroid Petit, but don’t have any personal attachment to her. The clothes are sculpted well, and she has some nice shading on her hair. Just wish she’d stay in one piece once assembled.

Next up, Sheryl Nome:

Originally, this was an Ichiban Kuji prize, but one of the shops in Japan had a gacha machine vending stuff from Evangelion and Macross respectively. Blog about the Evangelion items here. So this was the one I got from the Macross gacha. I like Sheryl’s outfit in this figure, plus the shading in her hair. 

Without hat:

I really like her hat, but displaying her without it is a viable option, if you prefer to see her hair. It’s fully sculpted, so she doesn’t look like she’s missing anything without it. 

Other views:

I really like the piping around her hat, and her outfit looks good from all the angles. She does have some fairly noticeable seamlines in her hair though, so she’s best viewed from the front. 

Overall, really happy I have this figure. I didn’t know it existed, and is the kind of figure I’d want the moment I knew it existed… and even better, I already owned it on knowing it existed 😀

Hresvelgr & Ram – Frame Arms Girls & Re:Zero

Another couple of gashapon today. 

First up, Hresvelgr:

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Here we have one of the Frame Arms Girls creeping out of their box. This series is ordinarily model kits by Kotobukiya, so this is what these are based on. The boxes for model kits often look like this – a plain cardboard bottom, with the artwork printed on the lid. 

Front:

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Aww, cute face. The reason I went for one of these gacha was because they looked so cute in their boxes.

Sides:

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Paint’s a bit messy, but does the job. 

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Top of the box isn’t a replica of the model kit boxes, but does a good job of replicating the feel. 

Ram from Re:Zero:

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At the time I went to Japan, there was a lot of Re:Zero merch about the place, but I haven’t seen the show. I decided the gashapon looked pretty, so decided to go for one. And I got Ram. Personally, I prefer Rem, due to the blue hair. Overall, the paint on this gashapon is OK, but a bit blobby on her hair. 

Other photos:

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I think this gacha has been sculpted decently well, and would make for a nice charm. 

Devil & Butt-head gachapon

So… going to classify today’s blog items as “misbehaving”. Because why not. 

First up, Butthead from Beavis and Butt-head:

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Had to get a gacha from this machine, seeing as I felt it was a very random thing to be producing gacha for in this day and age… The hair is nicely shaded and sculpted, and the face looks good. Rest of him… does the job. He’s on half a sofa, as Beavis comes with the other half, but I didn’t feel like buying any others of this set. 

Other angles:

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Looks decent from the other angles imo. With the side of the couch painted, it doesn’t look too distracting for being one half.

Next up, a devil:

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This one I got from a gacha shop rather than a machine. They were selling him for his RRP, so hey, that’s good with me. I like the overall design, though it would’ve been nice if his wing claws were black, Even for a gacha, this guy was cheap though, lol. His main design flaw is he’s hard to stand up – has a habit of rolling over, despite having his loincloth designed to help him stand. As he ain’t standing on his feet. 

Side:

Here we can see how he sits on his loincloth. After bending it a bit, he did stand up a bit easier. Neck looks a bit too thick from this angle.

Back:

He has some texture moulded into his wings, so isn’t entirely plain here. Overall, an OK gacha, but nothing special.

Parasyte… and parasite!

More gacha, and something a bit different. This blog will focus on the gross. 

First up is a Parasyte charm:

The outside of this charm is pretty nifty, but the print in the middle spoils it – it’s not very high-quality, and it shows. Would be nice to have more contrast in the print, and a bit of a higher resolution. I’d also settle for a Migi-themed charm, without the pic. Migi’s eye has been nicely done. 

Back of the charm:

Some details on the digits, and a big ol’ logo. I like the dangling blade part too. Just a shame the front ain’t so pretty. 

Now from Parasyte to parasite:

This li’l guy is what it says on the top – Nybelinia Surmenicola. This dude likes to parasitise certain sea creatures. Bought this at the Meguro Parasitological Museum (as the bottom of it says), was a bit of a different museum to visit – kinda small, but interesting. 

And now for something that sorta fits the theme, another gacha, and this guy is called Chad the Gross:

This is his “normal” colours – the characters came in two varieties. This guy seems to be playing the cello, in his sparkly, see-through slimy glory. I love the colour of his hair, and the eyes stand out well. Was attracted to buying one of these because they reminded me of 90s/00s toys. And I don’t feel disappointed.

Other shots:

Looking at the figure stand, I’m not sure if they intended this to be a stool or a growth. I’m gonna go with growth, because that fits the “The Gross” theme. An hey, would be kinda cool to have another limb to act as a chair, no? 

Overall, I really like the colours on this guy, and he’s a cool, little, almost-nostalgic figure, so he’s going somewhere in the collection. 

Hope today’s blog wasn’t too scary!

Mediamon & “Sorry” – Digimon & Bekkon Robotonics

So… time for some gachas! 

This first item I got from a ¥100 random item gacha – no idea what I was going to get.

And I got Mediamon:

Overall, a decent gacha item, but not one I’m particularly interested in. I think he may have gone into my Drawer of Purgatory already (every house has one of those… right?). The quality seems decent, but I have no familiarity with the source material, so can’t pass too much comment about him. 

This gacha I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be, so I decided to grab an item out of it anyway:

Apparently this is some kind of mascot for Bekkon Robotonics, and this particular gacha item was entitled “Sorry”. Here we seem to have two cats with masks walking along… interesting mascot action!

Some more pics:

Well, now I have something for a “loljapanese” display. This one is also likely to live in the Drawer of Purgatory, unless I have room for a random display. Maybe I could squeeze these into an ita bag of some sort? 

So yeah. That was two random gachas I ended up with. Because I like shoving money into gacha machines. 

Sirene – Devilman

Bought this figure from a store that sells gachapon/trading figures loose in small bags. Post tagged NSFW, as Sirene doesn’t know what clothes are. 

So enjoy this SFW shot to start with:

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Her face looks OK from the side, but we can see my bugbear with this figure in the first shot… the head wings keep falling off :(. She’s a bit of a fall-to-bits figure, which is not really shown in the photos. At some point I may use some tack or glue to stick her together, if it gets too annoying. 


Front:

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She comes with a little plastic stand to help her stay upright, but it does a mediocre job. The sculpting, however, is really nice – the wings are feathery, we can see her collarbones, and her forearms and shins are detailed. The paintwork is mostly neat, but leaves a bit to be desired in the shading department. Overall, this isn’t too bad as it is a small trading figure. 

Face:

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Here we can see the wings are well-textured, and her nipples well-defined. Her right arm can move around a bit, but it’s not meaningful movement – more of an artefact of assembly. 

Left:

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Her boobs are decently shaped, but maybe needed a bit more of an attachment to her body. The side crease seems to go a little high. Here we can see also where her arm has come slightly off from the peg. 

Right:

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Some copyright notices here… and a seamline up her body. Her body feels a bit oddly shaped from this angle to me. Her feet are nicely sculpted though. Talons could’ve done with being painted black though. 


Back:

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Her hair looks nice from the back, between the wings. Her tail looks odd, but that’s more to do with character design… Her shoulder blades look too flat, on the upper parts, but it’s nice to see some shape to her back.

Overall, it’s a fairly solid trading figure, if you can get it to not fall apart. Its flaws mostly seem to reside in making a small figure to a budget, so I’m happy with it. Might have to heat her legs to sort out her stance, though. And add something to her to stop parts falling off…

Vending Machine Gachapon

OK, what would you like out of a vending machine? How about more vending machines! 

So I paid my money, and got my machine:

Erm. Um. So my first go at the machine got me the bonus drink set:

So then I had plenty of things to vend! There were 2 trays like the above in the box, so plenty of cans. 

Here’s a couple of close-ups:

This above shot shows the issue with these cans – the glue doesn’t stick overly well to the plastic, so they do become unwrapped a bit easily. Though the design is simple, but nice. 

So that left me needing to give the gachapon a second go:

Yay! I got me a vending machine! The design is nice and detailed, and looks very much like the vending machines you find all over Japan.

So let’s load ‘er up and give it a go:

Yay! Cans! It works decently well, but will often vend multiples with one press. Occasionally cans can get stuck, due to the aforementioned sticker issue. 

Now for a tour of the machine. Sides:

Hair is, uh, optional extra. Here we can see the slots that guide the door on the front of the machine, and the bars that guide the can release mechanism. These parts move smoothly in their slots.

Apparently I didn’t take a pic of the back, but it features a small slot-in door at the top (think mini battery compartment), where the cans can be inserted. 

Whee, this thing is fun:

The machine itself came with the one Power Horse Can, shown in the bottom-right of the above photo. 

Close-up of the Power Horse can:

Print is a bit blurry, but it is a very small item. Does the job.

I’m glad I got the cans first – it’s much more fun to play with when you have more than one can. I also love the fact it’s a working machine. Happy I went for this gacha :). 

Fate/Stay Night keychains

Here’s four keychains based on characters from the Fate franchise – two of Medusa (Rider), one of Rin Tohsaka and one of Gilgamesh.

First Rider keychain:

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This is a new piece of merchandise, based on the new movie (Heaven’s Feel). Haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve been liking Rider’s look on the merch that’s been coming out. Love her outfit on this keychain, plus her hair is nicely done too. 

Back:

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Nope, not much to see here. The back print seems to have a decent feel to it, and doesn’t feel it’ll scratch off too easily, but isn’t covered (most Japanese print keychains seem to be like this). There are some translucenty black squares around the outside, but I don’t feel it brings anything special to the keychain.

Second Rider keychain:

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Thought this one was quite cute, and I liked the fact it had an extra dangly bit. This keychain is metal, so it is a bit weighty. The print on this one is enclosed between the metal backing and clear sealant on the front. Not entirely sure what the gold cube represents, but hey. 

Back:

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Nice brushed effect on the back. And some copyright text. 

Rin Tohsaka:

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I got this in a convenience store, and can’t find any reference to this exact keychain on the internet – there is another very similar one that’s larger. Rin looks good on this keychain, and I also like it for this:

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As the design is printed on the front face, it has a 3D effect, which gives it some depth. I like this effect, though the design isn’t protected with any kind of coating. 

Back:

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Not too much to see here. Not hugely thick print, but deffo does the job. 

Gilgamesh:

I got this in a blind box, so didn’t get this one by choice. Not a fan of Gilgamesh in this form – much prefer him in his armour, so I didn’t recognise who this was at first. Thinking I may try and sell this one. 

Back:

Nice logo on the back. Not totally boring! Also there’s an earphone jack, so you can attach it to your phone if you like…

And that concludes my Fate keychain collection! And now I get to stop typing keychain and resume being English.