Author: tharglet

Nagisa Kaworu – Evangelion – Gacahpon

This was from the same set as the Rei from yesterday:

His shirt has the same plasticy finish as Rei’s, but it’s more apparent as he has more shirt showing. Main finish issue for me though is his trousers – almost looks as if he’s wearing PVC pants due to the shininess. Hair sculpt is pretty decent, but his shirt is overly orange. Could’ve done with a slightly less bright paint here.

Face:

Hair is a bit rough, but that’s kind of to be expected by gacha figures. The moulding is nice though, and his face looks decent. 

Left:

Paint looks tidy, and the pose looks good. His hands go neatly into his pockets too. 

Right:

Hair also looks good from this side, creases in his clothes have been moulded nicely. 

Back:

Everything seems to be finished off nicely on this side. Belt and paint is neat. The texture on his trousers almost looks better on this side than the front, as it is less shiny. Shirt still looks like it’s made out of a thick binbag or something though.

Overall I’m happy with Kaworu, and both of these gacha figures. Glad I found the machine :). Just wish I didn’t get a double of each! Would’ve possibly tried my luck some more, had I more change at the time. Ah well. Happy with the two I did get!

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Gachapon figure

I found one ‘legit’ gachapon machine with Evangelion figures in it! This one was the first one out, and was Rei Ayanami:

An OK gacha – decently well painted for its small size, and straightforward to assemble. Not so keen on her hair colour though. Sculpt is decent, and looks good. Main complaint is the bow is painted on top, which makes it look translucent & odd. 

Left:

Can see where part of the dress was filled from in the mould. Seamline isn’t too bad, better hidden than some larger figures I’ve had. Shoe is a bit of a mess on the side. 

Right:

Skirt and shoe are both a bunch neater on this side. Hair also looks nicer here too. White sleeve looks a little odd – more plastic than shirt. 

Back:

Mould is decent at the back, and has a moulded seamline for her dress, lol. Paint also doesn’t quite go to her shoulder like one of the other Rei figures I blogged about… hm, maybe Rei just doesn’t have her dress go to her shoulder… 

Overall a decent gachapon figure. Nothing impressive, but does the job for the price point.

EVA01 Test Type – Evangelion – LM-HG 001 Bandai

I couldn’t escape Japan without getting at least one model kit. So here’s EVA-01:

This one was a fiddly mess to build, and made me appreciate more modern model kits. The waterslide transfers were… a fair bit more tricky than I thought they’d be. From the front, he looks OK, but definitely a kit that could benefit from paint. Some of the areas are large and bland, and the blue plate could’ve done with some black dot stickers. 

Head:

Rawr. He’s lookin’ at you. Face looks pretty good from the front, wish there were some black insets or stickers to go on the front green parts. Head itself articulates well. 

Knees:

Just about got these stickers on OK :P. Here you can see the green stickers like to escape a bit. I like the use of colour here, and looks good from a distance. 

Left:

The purple stickers on the fins went OK. Here you can see the green decal didn’t go on too well, but the black ones were OK. From the left he looks pretty decent, and the colours work well. Here you can see some of the fluff stuck on the black parts of his arm already – this is a rubbery part. Not entirely sure why, but it’s kind of annoying due to being a dust magnet.

Head:

The triangular corners could’ve done with fitting on better. I like the green part on the lower arm though. His head looks good, though doing the stickers on his eyes was a pain. The head spike sticker works well though. The black parts on his arms articulate, which helps with posing.

Right:

So… no 1 sticker on this side? Yeahhhh… it didn’t go well and ended up breaking up into three pieces, then one folded over, making it impossible to apply. Shame, because it was on OK, but then I accidentally nudged it with a finger :(. Though the green part at the top fits better on this side. The ribbing that forms his back looks good from the side too. 

Close-up of the transfer that made it:

These ones worked well, once I worked out what I was doing. Still weren’t fun to do, but at least these look great once completed. 

Back:

I like the shapes on the back. Here we have some black inset stickers – much-needed for the back, otherwise it’d look too flat. And we can see a bunch of mould edges – this kit was rather prone to them and I’m too lazy to sand ‘em all off. 

Top of the head:

Here we can see some rather special pieces…

*Ptcffff*:

Here we can eject the entry plug! I like this little feature. And, um, I need to poke that sticker back on… The mechanism is a fun thing, but the little part that goes over the entry plug does have a nasty habit of popping off, and it’s a pain to get back on :/. The fact it has a few moving parts is nice, but could really do with having better ways of connecting! 

He also came with an oversized Shinji (well, a figure to fit that entry plug ain’t happening), which you could paint, but that got chucked in a drawer. It’s beige, doesn’t stand up on its own and looks rather meh. 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this kit. The result is OK, but not really worth the effort imo. He did come with some other accessories I didn’t photograph, which could make for good posing opportunities, but they’re nothing particularly special. There’s a big gun, but it can have a habit of falling apart and is plain grey unless you paint it. I don’t have any other EVA model kits to compare him to, though. Maybe get this one if you plan on painting it, as it would be a fairly decent base for that. 

Trinity – The Matrix – N2 Toys

Another cheap pickup, due to Western figure not popular in Japan:

Always thought about buying one or two of The Matrix figures, but the quality vs price tends to be pretty bad. But hey, this one was cheap. 

Let’s start with her head – the sculpt is nice, but the paint leaves a bit to be desired. For some reason, they’ve done her glasses in a matt finish – this looks odd and makes it look like she’s wearing opaque goggles. A more shiny finish would’ve helped here. though in a modern figure, they may have actually done her glasses with a transparent plastic. Her hair looks a little derpy too. 

In isolation the clothes look nice – the finish is good, and the wrinkles help to add realism and depth. However the paint got a little sloppy at the top, making it look painted on in the upper part. And +1 for the pointless articulation – she only looks good with her arms outstretched, so the arm articulation is… kinda useless. Maybe some point if you’re setting up a specific diorama and need her pointing slightly up/down. Action-wise, you’re not going to get a lot here. Her belt paint is crisp, though.

Left:

Her hair has some good texture to it, making it look good from this angle. I feel she might want to give her clothes a bit of a tug to straighten them out, at least a little bit. Here we can see that with the arms, if you were to point them a bit too far up or down, things are gonna look a little weird. The guns themselves are sculpted nicely, with some small details in there, making them look like guns. She also holds them well, and looks like she’s shooting. 

Right:

Here we can see a nasty seam on her neck. It’s partly visible on the other side, but here, you aren’t missing it. Here we see they’ve sculpted her ears too – much better than Taserface *ahem*. Her belt loops are painted crisply too. Her body pose I feel fits with her arm pose, when aiming. 

Back:

Bit of broken leg syndrome going on there! Her hair abruptly stops, which looks a little odd. Also the paint on her top is a bit of a mess here too, which is a shame. Her ensemble still feels like PVC back here, so that’s good. Arm joints look a little blergh though, and I do feel they maybe should’ve gone all out on the frontwards aiming and forgot about articulating it, when they’ve gone for a specific arm pose. Articulating the arms does mean she can hold them flat in the box, seeing as how assembling your figures was less of a thing in the early 00′s. 

Other accessories:

I feel these are surplus to requirements, and don’t have a way of fitting with the figure. The knife is painted nicely – if she had a sheathe for this, I’d put it on her side. The machine gun, however, feels kind of misshapen, so this one is for the accessory drawer for sure.

All in all, one for the older figure fan. If you can handle pointless joints and a bit of a derp paint job on the top, then maybe this figure will interest you. I’m happy to have a Matrix figure in my collection that manages to be semidecent and look fine at a bit of a distance. 

Tiger – Tiger & Bunny – S. H. Figuarts Movie Edition

Saw this dude cheap in Mandarake, so added him to my pile of stuff:

He’s surprisingly weighty, as he’s part-metal, and feels a good, solid figure. Overall, his design feels clean, and he’s easy to articulate. He does come with a stand, but he stood up just fine on his own, so decided to take pics of him in a neutral stance for this blog. The colours are nice on this figure, and he looks the part. 

Left:

His face has that slightly menacing look from the side. His arms are nicely detailed, and the “cover” part looks good. His leg is nicely finished, with a silver stripe. 

Right:

Very much the same as the left. He’s a symmetrical character, barring the logos, so this was to be expected. 

Back:

Here we can see the small details on the back of his head, and the angular patterns of the armour on his back. However, the whole thing feels… too flat. Especially on the lower part of his back and upper legs. The green detail around his ankles is nice though. 

Accessory time!

He comes with two of these guns, but was only arsed to equip one. They’re nicely detailed, and have a bit of paintwork on them. 

Side:

They peg into the inside of the arm “cover”, and the handle goes into his hand. It’s hinged at the handle join, so you can still pose him when he has it equipped. which I really like. I love the effort that went into this accessory, especially comparing it to the boring one-colour accessories Western figures can frequently come with. 

From the top:

Yep, definitely happy with this one. 

The other pieces:

Due to the peg, the guns have specific sides. And a decent selection of hands, for all your favourite Tiger poses.

And his base:

Will likely assemble this so I can have him in a more action-y pose.

Overall, I think as a figure he is a little on the plain side, but solid. This figure can be picked up cheaply, so would recommend it if you like what you see here. Was a bit worried about what he’d be like out of the box due to the cheap price tag, but I think he’s fine, just mostly because Tiger & Bunny isn’t too popular, and a lot of the figures are pretty samey. 

Taserface – Guardians of the Galaxy – Dorbz

Needed something cheap to meet the tax-free threshold… after dithering over the sale goods I settled on this dude, despite not seeing the film (yet):

I was attracted to him as he was… purpleish. From the front he looks decent – his beard has a good sculpted texture, and his face seems to be painted decently neatly. His outfit is also a detailed pattern. 

Left:

Aaand here is where it gets messy. Bis body looks fine from the side – the print looks neat on his body. As for his head, his ears have been reduced to flat, barely-shaped pieces of plastic. And that seamline… not even a little bit of sanding? On his hair, there’s places where yellow paint have been blobbed about, and small areas where the paint is too thin. The purple paint on his hair shows some of the same issues. Looking at pics of the character via the magic of Google, these design pieces don’t fit at all… He does have bands in his hair, and the yellow seems even a bit brighter than the brightest one. And the purple bits? What? 

Right:

Smooth and seamy. Just.. blergh. Getting a feeling why this dude was on clearance now. At least the ear is actually ear-shaped here. I know he’s misshapen, but it should either be clearly so… or not. The other side looks like a mould fault rather than a sculpting thing. 

Back:

His hair does give the feel of a braided mess, which is accurate to the character, whilst being simplified to fit into the Dorbz design.

Top:

Let’s get to the bottom of the hair issues… or not. As far as I can tell, the purple bits are supposed to be bits of skin showing through his hair? Just makes him look like he’s got a poorly-painted centipede trying to make its way out of his skull… It doesn’t look good on this figure, and it doesn’t look like anything I can see from the movie. This figure would be much-improved if these pink tentacles were removed and the front bands were painted orangey yellow instead. 

All the major flaws, all at once:

Yeah. Blergh. His gun isn’t shown too well in most shots, as it’s mostly hidden. Shame, because it actually looks OK. 

Overall, can’t recommend. He looks OK from the front, from any other angle… well, a bit shit. I may use him for painting practice or something. Shame, as the body is really nice, and some minor tweaks would have him looking better from certain angles. Not sure why they didn’t sculpt his ears – whilst they are deformed in the movie, they weren’t completely flat like this. 

Ryo Asuka – Devilman – Limited Color ver

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Plonk, on goes the mask:

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

Closer look at the mask:

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

He also has a winged head:

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

Side:

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

Back:

*flap flap flap*. 

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

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Introjection ver

Here we have a small Rei trading figure:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Nanael – Queen’s Blade – Revoltech

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

image

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

Front:

image

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

Pantsu, seeing as we mentioned them:

image

Enjoy. 

Left:

image

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

Right:

image

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

Back:

image

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

Base:

image

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

Accessories:

image

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

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

Nanael

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

Rider – Fate/Stay Night – Figma

This is a Figma I’ve wanted for awhile, but her aftermarket price is rather potty. Was hoping to see some re-releases of Rider figures due to Heaven’s Feel, but not much announced right now. Some new figures, but nothing that took my fancy.

So here I have the Rider Figma that I picked up in Japan:

… who was a “reasonable” price as she’s a bit damaged, and had no box. Here you can see where the rubbery purple stripe that goes along her top has been scraped off partially – when I display this, I will likely use her hair to cover it. 

Her legs have a weird gap where they join to her boots – looking at someone else’s pic this isn’t unique to mine. The colours are nice though, and look like Rider’s colours. The top has some detail in it, but not a huge amount. She is one of the earlier Figmas though. 

Face:

I like her masked faceplace – always preferred Rider with her blindfold. Her face is painted and sculpted nicely. Must ignore the mess. I like her collar, but the silver isn’t quite in all the places it needs to be – it’s painted on the front, but some silver paint on the top of it would make it look better imo. 

Left:

I like he hair, though her fringe is pretty loose. Not sure if that’s just mine or a common issue. Have to be a bit careful when posing her. Her spike-weapons are nice, and look the part. She also holds them well, and plenty of chain to pose should you wish to!

Right:

Lotsa hair! Her sleeves look OK, but nothing special. 

Back:

Here we can see the hair parts enough for the stand to fit through. The hair is super-flexible, so this isn’t an issue. Screws could do with replacing on this stand though. Or, erm, get another stand.

Weapon close-up:

Yep, lookin’ nice. It doesn’t feel particularly detailed, but I don’t think there’s a huge need for them to be.

Overall, I’m glad to have this figure, but I think it’d be really good if they did a “renewal” version with more detail. Whilst she has a lot of stranded hair, it’s pretty blandly done in execution, which I think would be improved in a newer version. Her legs could do with sorting so the joint shows itself yet, and some shading on her top wouldn’t be amiss. Overall she’s an OK Figma, and I’m glad to have her, but I wouldn’t have wanted to pay the full aftermarket price for her. Maybe with modern improvements, she’d be worth more to what Figma prices are now, but in her current incarnation, I’m less inclined to pay full whack. 

I’d say this one is for the Rider fans.

Red Pyramid Thing- Silent Hill – Figma

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

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

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

Back part:

Yeah, that guy’s gotta have a headache! 

Accessories:

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

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

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – Figma #14

Saw this figure, and can say this one was an impulse buy. Also partly because buying it allowed me to buy this figure and another tax-free. Gotta save dat tax. 

So here she is:

image

As she didn’t have her box, she was really cheap, but all her accessories were included. Here she is with her microphone.The microphone feels solid, given its thinness, and definitely looks the part. This one I considered buying the bootleg of way back when, just to get an idea of what Figma were like and to see how the bootlegs compared. In the end, I didn’t, and looking back I’m glad I didn’t. 

I was attracted to buying this particular Miku because of the silvery top. and her sleeves. Being the official thing, the green edging is painted neatly, and she articulates well. Her face is also cute and Miku-y. 

Face:

I like this face – it’s nice and cute. Here we can see there’s a tiny scratch in the silver from her being a secondhand figure. Suspect some of the black on the green part of the skirt might be secondhand issues. Some creasing in her clothing, so it isn’t entirely flat. Her tie clips have been painted nicely, and work to break up the large sea of green. The range of finishes is one thing that also attracted me to this figure.

Left:

Here we can see her large, sweeping hair and the aforementioned sleeves. Her black boots have nice green details at either end. The finish is nice, but not super-detailed. Her top has a good bits of detail – the hanging strap, the green border on her skirt and the silver part. The number she has on her arm is tattooed on nicely. 

Close-up of her sleeve:

I like the detailed keyboard on her arm, and this came out well. Here we see the “01″ in more detail too. Arm joint isn’t particularly hidden. Here we can see where the stand has gone a little rusty – guess they’re more prone to doing that in Japan. 

Her hair bands look a little lumpy up close, but fine at a distnace. Her headset has also been done nicely, with some little, coloured details.

Right:

More hair! Not much to differentiate this side – she doesn’t have a strap here, or the tattoo. 

Back:

Looks OK from the back. Some creases in her clothing, hair has sculpting onm the back. I like the fact her hair is articulated too – can be used to give her poses more life. I think this angle emphasises the lack of shading on this figure – she is an older Figma, so this is showing one thing that’s changed – there tends to be more paint detail in newer figures. I still think she’s cute though.

Accessories:

I may give her the leeks at some point. They’re nicely painted and sculpted for what they are, though I’m not particularly attached to Miku, so the accessories don’t hold any special place for me. 

Overall, I think she’s nice for an older Figma. I think it shows how the designs have gotten more detailed over time, whether that justifies their current price tag or not. I’d recommend this one, if you can find it cheap. Don’t think it’s really worth pushing the boat out for, as there’s plenty of other Miku stuff out there to choose from. 

Metal Art – London

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

First up, “Big Ben”:

image

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

It does look good though:

image

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

Next up, Tower Bridge:

image

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

Top:

image

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

End:

image

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

Bottom:

image

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

Overall I’m pleased with the end result:

image

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

Now for the shard:

image

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

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

image

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

Just to show the insanity of the instructions:

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

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

Benny & Spaceship – Lego Dimensions

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

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

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

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

Here they are from the back:

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

Overview shot of the ship:

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

Top:

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

Base:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Now for the second, Origami Cyclone:

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

Let’s see if the back fares much better:

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

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

Behemoth King & Marlboro – Final Fantasy XIII

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Now for Marlboro:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Catwoman – New 52 – ARTFX+

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

So here she is, out of the box:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

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

Without glasses:

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

Alternative glasses:

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

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

Al Azif – Demonbane – Crystal ver

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

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

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

Face:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Here are the two figures side-by-side:

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

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

Lara Croft – Tomb Raider

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Watch out Lara!

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

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

Right:

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

Back of the guard and bat::

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

Here are the other two guns she comes with:

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

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

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Chess Piece

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Here’s an angled shot:

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