Author: tharglet

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. 

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. 

Silver Crow – Accel World – Be@rbrick

Here is a Be@rbrick of Silver Crow:

Hi me! When I went to buy this, I had to ask at the counter for it – turns out they had just about every other Be@rbrick on display, but not this one, despite having three or more in the drawer… He was one of the specific items I was after, so was glad to get him. 

Love the shiny visor they’ve given him, and the Silver Crow design has translated reasonably well to Be@rbrick form. The lines are nice and crisp, and the design has many key features to make it recognisably Silver Crow. No wings though. 

Left:

Here we see his “power” gauntlets, and the twiddly design bits on his arm. And he’s not quite as slender as Silver Crow himself! Some nice linework gives his helmet a techno feel.

Right:

Same design here, as the left. Still definitely bear-shaped instead of Crow-shaped, but that is to be expected.

Back:

Here we have a bit of a spine decoration, and the plates where his wings would protrude from, should he deploy them. Be@rbrick isn’t in the habit of giving accessories to their bears, so this design choice makes sense. He has some detailing on the back of his legs and head, to finish off his design.

Overall, I’m happy with this Be@rbrick, especially as he was decently cheap. I feel the design was translated well, especially given the very different body types – it’s still very much recognisable as Silver Crow imo, whilst fitting to the Be@rbrick shape. A nice bit of small merch to add to the Accel World collection. 

Smile Slimes! – Dragon Quest

Here are a couple of Smile Slime items. I’ve not played Dragon Quest, but I have a soft spot for these squishy fellows.

First up, a magnet set:

Their cute faces have been done well, and I love the translucent effect.

Back:

These flat backs stick to surfaces well. Have had them stuck to various radiators in the house, plus they just about fit on the Detolf handles. My favourite one is a tie between the purple one (on account of being purple) or the blue one, as the colours fit well together… and it’s the traditional colours. 

I also had a go at a Dragon Quest gacha and got this fellow:

He’s made of a soft, smooth rubber, and is air-filled. Was quite strange picking him up for the first time! Not quite what I expected. 

Back:

Nothin’ much to see here. Not sure what you’d expect, really. 

Overall, an OK gacha. Still undecided if I like the fact he’s air-filled or not – at least if he does burst, he won’t make a mess. 

So keep smilin’ and slimin’ out there!

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – VN02

This figure I wanted for a long time, but because she won’t fit into a SAL small packet so held off ordering her, as the postage would be more than the figure secondhand. Plus customs fees on top of that… So this was one of the few figures on my “hit list” when I went to Japan, as putting her in a suitcase would be MUCH cheaper.
So I did:

Upon unboxing her, she turned out to be really dusty, so had to give her a good wash. I love the pose of this figure, and the shades of green, even though they aren’t very “Miku”. The figure took some effort to assemble – main issue is getting the leg protrusion lined up with the notch in the base so she stands solidly. I love the detail in this figure – her costume has a lot of details in it, and I like her face. I can see this figure not being too appealing to people who are distinctively fans of Miku, as it’s kinda fairly far off her normal design. For me, I love the future tech aesthetic. 

Face:

The face looks really nice to me – her skin is reasonably plain, but the parts of her face work together as a whole for me. I love the detail in the hair – the strands are really well-sculpted here. She also has a bit of a videogame character vibe going on, what with the green part jutting out, which if Dead Space is to be believed, is where you keep your HUD. 

Left:

Here you can see the large amount of movement in the figure – I love the way her hair curls up and backwards over her, and the clear tips. The fading-to-clear theme is also repeated on her sleeves. Here you can see where her knee support goes into the stand – the way the stand is part of the figure is another reason this figure stood out to me. It’s also surprisingly stable, which was something I was worried about, given her pose. Here we also see the speakers(?) attached to her back – these weren’t too hard to attach to the figure (and come separate in the box). I also love the shiny boots. 

Right:

Here is mostly more of what we saw in the left side. Here we can see her boots are held up by suspenders, and some of the speaker inside the stand. The white crest that juts up from it holds her quite sturdily. Her gloves and boots have been given similar designs, which helps tie the figure together thematically. 

Closeup of the speakers:

These parts have lots of small details, mostly painted ones too. The lines running around them help sell the technology feel of the figure, plus there’s some pink accents in there. I also love the holes, and their green edging.

Inside view:

They certainly didn’t slack on the details here either. Lots of small gold accents here, with some smaller dots. If you’re not busy being distracted by her backside in this shot… which is well-curved, and her legs are well-sculpted at the top, and give a lifelike loot. 

The rest of the back:

I love the gold bands around the bottom of her head, and the green parts running down her spine. This is a figure that can look good at any angle, should you have somewhere to display it where it can be viewed from different directions. 

OK, back to the backside!

I took this more for the spine detail, and upper back detail. But it features her backside a fair bit too. I like the fact they’ve sculpted creases back here too, as well as on her front. I’m a sucker for armoured spines, so I do like her back design. Here you can see where the speakers connect too – the gold parts have the pegs attached. All of the paint is neat, which is very nice. I feel maybe the back of her hair could do with a few more lines to make it feel less plastic, but that’s definitely not a biggie. 

Back of the base:

Looks good from all the angles imo. I do like the way these parts curl and crest over – only downside is the speaker isn’t very visible from many angles, though this isn’t a bother for me. Though it seems a partly odd choice to mostly hide it this way. 

Overall, I’d highly recommend this figure, if you like the look of it. I think with the colour scheme and theme, it probably is a bit of a Marmite figure, hence its lower price in the aftermarket. Though the postage cost is probably going to bite, unless you’re used to EMS/SAL parcel, or shipping other stuff with it. Or if you’re super-patient there is surface shipping… So I’d say this one probably isn’t for the Miku fan, but rather for people who love the themes in this figure. Or if you want a figure you can display on a higher shelf and it still look good – her leaning pose is really good for this. 

Raven Spawn – Spawn

Ah, a Western figure for the first time in ages! I have been buying Western stuff, but this is still part of my Japan haul… so a bunch of other stuff to get through… 

So let’s have a little look at Raven Spawn:

He was sold as a loose figure, so I don’t have his base. As far as I can tell, that’s all that’s missing, barring the box. I did think that one of his hands was missing at one point, but it had just escaped and hid behind him in the bag. I’m not bothered by the missing base, as I find the bases that these figures come with way too big and ugly. They have a feature where they can spin around, but this is kind of pointless… 

From the front, I love the pose, and the brown-black-grey colour scheme works well. 

Face:

A mean-looking dude! Wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night. His arm is sort of poseable, but not to any significant degree – he’s definitely been designed to hold his sickle aloft. 

Closer look at the sickle:

Fairly uncomplicated weapon, though mine looks like it might be a little damaged at the end there. The sculpting is pretty nice though. 

Middle:

I love this skull tucked in here – it does a good job of holding the chains, and adds detail to his armour. 

Hand & lower chain:

Mmm, spiky. I like the way this stands out from the rest of him, so his hand can be clearly seen, despite the muted colour scheme. This hand is perfect for holding the lower chain half from his body. 

Left:

Here we get to see his leather strips cape. I like the texture on it, and the texture on his boots. 

Right:

Oops, looks like I had the chain a bit twisted up here… Love the “feathered” bits on his arm and ankles – they add a fair bit to the figure. The texture on the side of his chest looks good too. 

Back:

His cape feels a bit flat form the back. I feel almost it needed more separation of the leathery strips, so you could manually add a bit of depth, but then again, this could become annoying and tangly. Overall, not a figure that the back warrants much attention, further making the spinning base that he should have come with kind of useless. 

Overall, I like this figure – the small details really makes this figure. The sculpt really helps with what could potentially be a boring figure into an interesting one. Would recommend if you’re OK with him being more of a poseable statue and like the stylised look.