Author: tharglet

Shinji Ikari – Evangelion

This is the third of these figures I have, and the final one that I currently own. Not sure if I will get any more of the set if I come across them. Maybe, maybe not.

So without further ado:

I feel his face is the weakest part of this figure – it has a very retro/old feel to it. Does almost make him more like a doll (but not of the expensive variety). Again, his suit is on the plain side, but does feature enough that it looks like Shinji. 

Left:

Not too much of a leaning issue here, and more paint details than Rei. Also the paint is more neatly done than Rei’s. Hair does look plastered to his head though, unlike Rei’s.

Right:

Shiny hair! Yeah, that’s not a good finish for his hair, and I think a big part of the old-but-not-good look. Rei’s hair looks to have been done separately, and has a matt finish. Dark blue paint is a bit messy on his arm, but the rest looks fine on his suit.

Back:

Here you can really see the shiny hair. Uh, lay off the hair gel there Shinji. His body looks a little “square” around his butt imo. Doesn’t seem quite natural. The paint is good though. 

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion

These are two older figures. I own the Asuka of this set, which I’ve previously reviewed. No idea what year these were produced, but they’re certainly on the older end! 

First up, Rei:

Definitely a “miffed Rei” look going on. For a basic figure, the sculpt hits all the important parts. The paint however, does show that this is a basic figure. There’s a little bit of escaping the lines, and no shading to speak of. 

Left:

Yeahhhh… she really does have a leaning problem. I did almost fix it, but was likely too impatient waiting for the plastic to “set”, so she ended up leaning again. Here we can see where the dark blue escapes the lines a bit, but the “bolts” on her shoulder and arm mark are good. Hair surprisingly looks decent to me. 

Right:

Pretty much the same observations as the left side. Though here you can see a seam line running down from her below and down her leg. 

Back:

The “0″ feels a little big on her backpack. Hair has been sculpted back here. She has a bit of creasing in her suit behind her knees – I think this is the only nod to the plugsuit being clothing, but to be fair it is usually skintight on most figures. 

Overall, these older Evangelion figures I more collect for nostalgia of an era I never had, and well, Evangelion. They were cheap, but I wouldn’t really recommend them. 

Akira & Miki Tribal Fusion double-pack – Devilman

Been wanting to buy this for some time, but with it being marked as SAL parcel only, I ended up waiting until I had another SAL parcel item I wanted. This turned out to be Urara, so I added this to my order.

Here they are, out of the box:

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The table isn’t part of the set – this was bought at a car boot sale, around the same time as this parcel arrived, but it made the perfect place to display the book. Miki does currently lean a bit – these sets are a bit prone to the plastic bending, so it’s not a big surprise that there’s some bending for a set made around 2000. The interesting colours attracted me to this set – Miki’s shiny outfit and Devilman’s translucent red body. 

Let’s take a closer look at Devilman:

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The translucent body is kind of nostalgic to me – reminds me of old kid’s toys of the late 90s/early 00′s where translucent plastic wasn’t uncommon. However, this I think is far better done that other items of that era – the sculpting is good, and the varying translucency gives it a better look. 

Also the flame pattern on the bottom of his trousers – that’s definitely of another era! 

Left:

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His muscles are well-sculpted and show well, especially given the translucency. His trousers also have cuffs, showing the detail put into this figure. 

Right:

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Here we can see the metal accessories have unfortunately gone a bit rusty over time. Isn’t too bad though. Tattoos on his arm and neck look good. Oh, and he’s leaning a bit too. Is a bit of a theme of these Fewture figures. 

Back:

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Here we have his pants disappearing into his backside… Not sure I’m a fan of that look, but the flames on his trousers are looking rad. Neck does look a little overlong from some angles. 

Now for Miki:

Here she is, bending to her left. Her outfit is very shiny and pink. She also has copper hair to complete the gaudy look. I like the fact her nails are painted, but her hand angles are kind of awkward for posing. 

But what’s that pattern showing through the see-through skirt?

A little skull. Interesting choice of underwear there, Miki! 

Left:

Here we see her backpack, which was separate in the box. It sits OK on her shoulders, but looks  a bit odd from the side. Might be possible to reduce the issue with some heat and careful bending. The book will fit neatly in her backpack. 

Right:

Her boots are nicely painted, but it would’ve been nice to have a bit more accent painting, such as the recess in the sole. Love the little skull detail on her armband. This picture shows off the glitter in her outfit quite well.

Back:

The backpack has a nice silver accent, and has a smooth and solid opening and closing action. Here we can see some creasing in her skirt, but nothing but copyright info on her stockings. 

Alternative head and mask for Devilman:

This head can be used if you wish to equip the mask onto Devilman. 

Book:

For such a small item, this book is very nicely detailed. I do like this addition to the set, and seems a shame to store it in Miki’s backpack. It looks great on the table I bought though! 

Overall I’m happy with this set. I can see this being a polarising set, with the very distinctive look. However, I enjoyed this recolour more than some others I’ve seen, due to the distinctive and nostalgic look. Overall, I’d recommend the Fewture figures to action figure collectors, though be prepared for them to lean forward a bit – they do bend with time, and the stands only have one peg, which doesn’t help with standing the figures up. Also the limited articulation that older figures have – no ankle-rockers here. 

Asuka – Deformation Maniacs – Evangelion

This one I won via auction. I had this picture to go on: 

And thought “ah yeah, that looks like some small, cute figure of Asuka”. You know one of those ~8cm trading figures you get in Ichiban Kujis. 

Nope, wrong. She rocks in at about 14cm in height:

Ended up laughing as I got her out of the box of loot, as she was twice as big as I expected. So much for sneaking her onto the corner of a shelf! Her plugsit is rendered very nicely in chibi form, but I find her face rather too plain, especially at this size. The front of her hair is done rather nicely though. 

Left:

Her nerve clips are most definitely being used as hair clips here. Always a bit unsure on this point – does she use them as actual hair clips, or just have the ponytails just below them? Her ear is well-sculpted, and she looks less plain from this angle than the front to me. Suit is also lookin’ good and detailed. 

Right:

Yep, pretty much the same as the left, but with longer hair on this side, and a different arm pose. 

Back:

Hair so big she needs a stand for it 😛 Not much to see back here, other than the copyright on her nerve clip. 

Base:

Logo for Evangelion@School, plus some lines to make the base not plain. I do rather like this base design. 

Overall… it’s large chibified Asuka. Nothing really special to say about it. It’s nicely done for what it is, so all it really hinges on if you want a large, chibified Asuka. Not entirely sure if I did… but I have one now, lol. 

Urara – Tandem Twin

Back to the Manda Mines… this was a small mine, with some other items included, as this one ensured I had to go parcel instead of small packet. 

Winning with a maiden bid, and averaging out the postage she ended up really cheap:

There is a tiny bit of missing paint on her hair I haven’t edited out, but that’s the only scratch I can see. She was quite dirty, but that cleaned up relatively easily. And there aren’t many half-sheep figures out there! I love her cute, smiling face, and the reddish-yellow blend going on in her hair. She also has some plastic lacing going on, which I really like. Nice to have these as separate parts, instead of being part of the figure moulding. 

Face:

Her green eyes compliment her pink-red hair nicely. Here we can see she has sheep ears and horns. She also has a wool choker and bracelets. Unfortunately wool doesn’t reproduce particularly well in plastic form, so they do look rather artificial, but they do the job. Her chest and collarbones have been moulded nicely and feel realistic. 

MIdriff:

Here we can really get to see the lacing, and I think it works really well. Not sure we have the best knot going on, but I’d risk breaking it to undo it – some of this kind of plastic can deteriorate, especially if under stress (the knots, not the boobs), so it’s best left alone. A little bit of the bronze edging has been missed at the bottom, but it hasn’t drawn my eye to it, barring when looking at this picture. The tops of her boots have been interestingly done, and I like this effect. 

Base:

Loving the contrast between the white and the pink. The bases are pretty simple, with the name & logo for Tandem Twin (Tandem Twin is just the name of this figure series by Yamato). The pegs on the base are decent, however both of the Tandem Twin figures I’ve got have both required the legs to be warmed so I could actually peg them on the base – they’re a bit too widely spaced – either that, or the figure are prone to closing their legs over time… On my other one, this has resulted in one of the pegs snapping from the tension, but this one was OK. I’ll likely heat her legs before removing her from the base, if I come to pack her, just to avoid snapping a peg on this base too. 

Left:

Here we can see she has painted fingernails, which is a nice touch. Her boots are also connected to her top, with a nice little detail – I guess this outfit came as a set ;). There is a nice amount of shading in her hair and horns, which I really like. She does come with two hair pieces, but I (for whatever reason) didn’t actually get the second one out for photographs. I won’t be using the other hairpiece, as it sticks out quite far backwards, which makes her a bit awkward to display. 

Right:

Here we have other other side, which also looks good. We can see her waving hand, and the creases in her outfit where the boots attach to the leotard. We also get a good look at the lacing on her boots, which matches with the lacing on her leotard. I like the way the outfit has been kept consistent throughout. 

Close-up of the side of her head:

Here we can see the painting of her horn in more detail here – I do really like the shading on it, and the colour complements her hair. We can also see her expressive hand, but it is a bit on the shiny side, in terms of finish. Looking close, we can see they’ve tried with the furry cuffs, but unfortunately they still kind of look like expanding foam. 

Feet:

Unfortunately, on her right foot, there is some white paint slop.The left one is fine, but the pink paint doesn’t quite go up to the straps on her boot. Fortunately, this is her back foot, so it doesn’t show too much. I like the way they’ve done the soles of the boots in a coppery colour so they’re distinct from the rest of her boot. 

Back:

Here we have a cute backside, and more lacing. Plus a reminder she’s part sheep. I like the way her nail polish matches the pinks in her outfit and hair. 

Close-up of the tail:

I like the little pegs that hold the lacing :). She also has this cute tail, where her outfit goes around nicely. This outfit must’ve been made for her :). The seamline on her outfit is pretty much where you’d expect a seam for a top, so that’s nice to see. 

Overall, I really like this figure – it’s something a bit different, and her outfit is really nice. She’s also a good size – these Tandem Twin figures are quite tall. Good if you like larger figures, possibly a pain if you don’t have a shelf tall enough. I feel as if it is lacking a bit on the “micro details” to make it a premium figure, but what’s there is really good for the most part, so I’d recommend this figure if you like the look of her. I wouldn’t pay huge amounts for these figures, as they are showing their age, but usually they’re pretty inexpensive if they come up on the secondhand market. Just be careful when putting them on the base! 

Starfire

When this figure originally came out, I ended up passing on it. But then I recently had the opportunity to buy it at a store, so I decided to go for it:

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I love Starfire’s hair and purple outfit. With the colour and the shapes, it’s an eye-catching ensemble that compliments her fiery hair. She has a well-sculpted face, though I think the eye shadow is a bit dark. 

Left:

I like the way her hair blends from opaque to transparent. I think they nailed this effect for an action figure. Here you can see she has the typical joints for an action figure, though she doesn’t have ankle-rocking ability. With her shoulder pads being high up, these don’t restrict arm movement. 

Right:

Here we can see where mine is sun damaged…. If you look at her thigh, you will see where it transitions from light to dark… but personally I prefer the lighter colour! She is supposed to be on the orangey side, but personally I’m not a fan of that – it can feel rather overdone to me. If you look closely in the front shot at the top of this blog, you will see where the twisty tie went across her stomach. Hair transition looks smooth on this side. One thing that irks me slightly is her hand positions – she’s not a character that holds any weapons/items, but her right hand is posed almost like she should be holding something. Not quite sure what pose they were planning for you to put her in, but I think a more neutral hand position would make more sense. 

Back:

Here we can see her hair and original skin colour. He hair somewhat limits head poseability. Also she’s not the easiest to get balanced, which isn’t much of a surprise. These days they’d likely give her some ankle-rocking action to make her easier to pose, but she’ll always be back-heavy, thanks to her hair. 

Overall, I think this is a reasonable figure. It’s nothing special, but I feel it has been competently produced. Though… probably best not buying her from a comic shop that likely had her on display for years like I did, lol. However, she seems to be rather hard to get hold of, unless you really want to pay far over the odds for her. 

Kaworu Nagisa – Evangelion

And whaddaya know… more Kaworu! Got this a bit ago, but forgot to blog about ‘im. 

But I certainly didn’t forget about him:

He also has semitransparent hair, but I think I prefer this head o’ hair, though it does look like he has a layer of gel on it or smth. Could do with being a tad lighter.

For his face, it seems very close to the other one, with the darkly shaded mouth. He’s even looking in the same direction, lol. 

Now onto the main part of this figure – his chest:

He has good definition on his chest and arm muscles. As he’s a prize figure, he is mildly shiny and lacks shading, but on this figure, the lack of shading isn’t too bad, as the sculpting makes up for it somewhat. And didn’t cost eleventy billion bucks. 

His trousers are nicely done, though the finish doesn’t complement them – I think this is where the finish works the least. The creases in his trousers look more like dents in some places, like the one by his pocket in the above picture. 

Base:

I like these bases, for not being totally plain. Not much to write home about, but works. Could quite well be a tile inside of NERV… 

Left:

His pose has some depth to it. which makes him look good from the side. Whilst his build is wiry, it’s the kind of wiry that suggests he might actually be strong, which fits with Kaworu. 

Right:

Looks fine from this angle. The lighting worked well in this pic, and has given him a decent amount of definition. 

Back:

Less of a backside on this Kaworu, but I think that’s mostly due to the style of the trousers. Whilst they aren’t baggy, nothing’s tighter than a plugsuit, lol. Here you can see his shoulderblades and, erm, the dents in his trousers. I like the fact they’ve added some paint detail to the boots, with the red stripes around the back. 

Overall, I think this is a very nice prize figure, and would recommend it if you’re a Kaworu fan, and would like him dressed in something that isn’t his plugsuit. 

Kaworu Nagisa – Evangelion

Because you can’t have too much Kaworu…

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I ordered more Kaworu Nagisa. I have another version of this figure – this one has the green parts on his plugsuit, a red rock and… most importantly, semitransparent hair. These figures are on the lanky side, but this does make displaying them towards the back of display easier, without missing out on too much. 

Close-up of his face:

His mouth feels a bit overemphasised, but the rest of his face has been nicely done. The semitransparent hair is an interesting effect – not sure if I prefer it or not. Some red paint has escaped the lines on his plugsuit, with the pip-shaped parts on his collar. The paint job is OK for a prize figure. 

Left:

Here we can see him leaning forward, and how thin he is. I like the grey parts of his plugsuit. 

Right:

We can see he has some shape to his backside, and bits of hair where you can see his fate through. His ear has been sculpted well. 

Back:

Yep, deffo an arse on this dude. Back of the rock hasn’t had any detail put on, but the back of Kaworu himself is properly detailed. All the paint looks good. 

Stand:

Here is the rock, which does transition from grey to red. I think the lower part of the rock works, but I think the pice on the right of this pic would’ve been better just to be solid red, as it looks like someone halfarsed spraypainting a rock, instead of some kind of shading, which I think was intended. Overall, the base is what it needs to be, but isn’t anything special. 

I think the liking of this figure hinges on his transparent hair and if you like this interpretation of Kaworu. I don’t think there’s any real need to own all the repaints of this figure, unless you’re like me and want it in more than one room – I’d suggest picking your favourite/what’s available and order that. 

Sakuya – Sister Princess

Another “bargain” purchase from the same retailer as Barnaby. This one I tried to find pics of online… but came up blank. So decided to go for it anyway. 

So let’s see what she looks like:

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Her swimsuit is a nice marbled orange colour. From the prototype pics I couldn’t work out if it would have a shiny effect – turns out not, and I think it works fine as-is. The fabric necklace was a nice surprise – I like mixed media touches like this. What is disappointing about this figure for me, however is her hair – it dangles very significantly over her face, and you don’t really see much of her face. In the prototypes they’ve lit her in an unnatural way so there isn’t as much shadow. Displaying this figure, you’re likely to get a decent amount of shadow over her eyes. What compounds this lighting issue is the dark colouring of her eyes – when strongly lit from one angle, this causes her face to look overly plain as it overemphasises the light areas. You can also get the same effect from viewing her from above, where you can’t see anything but face. 

Let’s have a close-up of her face before we move on from it:

It’s not a bad face when viewed close. Just something doesn’t quite work between face and hair. She’s quite cute when viewed from below. 

A closer look at the necklace:

… and the chest. There’s some lifting going on with that swimsuit, despite what those bra straps are saying :P. It does give her body more definition, so I think the curvy boobs are needed. OK, back to the necklace… she has one painted onto her – here the paint does look messy on it, but this really isn’t visible when looking at the figure normally. Here we can see the binding is painted on, and the string simply inserts into this part. Had me fooled until I looked at this photo, lol. And I’m thinking the marbled paint on her outfit is the best feature of this figure. 

In terms of painting, this figure does lack in the body shading department:

This isn’t just my photo-editing whiting things out – as far as I can tell, there isn’t any paint shading on her body, or what’s there is incredibly subtle. She does have some sculptwork that’s gone missing in the editing of this photo, but it is pretty subtle. Imo her stomach could’ve done with a small amount of shading to bring out the curves in her body. 

Base:

A fairly simple base, but I love the heart shape. Contrast got upped a bit too much here, and it’s more of a “red red”. I think the colour complements the figure. 

Left:

Here we see the sculpting carrying the figure. Her pigtails are mostly the same colour, barring the tips. She has nails sculpted, but I think they’re the same colour as her skin. Her toes are definitely not painted in a different colour. 

Some more of her hair:

There is some shading up here, but it’s pretty subtle. Could’ve done with some darker paint all the way down her crown. 

Right:

The gun and gun holster are painted nicely! We have some shading here! And I’m pretty sure she’s knotted her hair to get it into pigtails. Not sure how she managed that, can’t imagine it’s too practical!

Back:

Some distinct join going on under her top. Looks a bit too, erm, linear to be the top pressing into her imo. Backside is sculpted well though. Again, no shading in the paint on her back or legs. 

Time for a break:

Bwah! This is how she comes apart, so you can put her holster on her .

With mine I think I need to have the holster on her:

Due to her leaning back pose, the upper half of her leans back a slight amount, giving a bit of a gap. Fortunately I prefer her with the gun. 

Back, without the gun:

Here the joint is OK. Not sure how prevalent this issue is, as I only have one, and well… there’s a lack of pics of her on the internet. But I’d be prepared to mod her joint to get her upper half to sit fully upright. 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot on this figure. I paid £18, and I think I got my money’s worth. She’s a bit above a prize figure – she doesn’t have the shiny plastic that plagues prize figures and the paint that is there is well-applied without flaws, but equally well she has a lot of areas where the paintwork could’ve done with more detail. Also she’s a short figure, as she’s a fairly short character – she measures just under 18cm without the stand. If you like her simple, clean look, then maybe consider her, but I don’t think I could give a strong recommendation for her. Maybe if you have to have all the Sakuya figures?

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Tiger & Bunny

This figure is the G.E.M figure of Barnaby Brooks Jr, by Megahouse. Got this cheap from a retailer in the UK. One that garnered a poor reputation, but seems to be now just concentrating on liquidating their stock, so I grabbed a few good deals, including this one. 

So let’s have a look at him:

Certainly plenty of shading on him, and the sculpting is really nice on him imo. You can imagine him settling into this pose, and he has an appropriately serious expression, which fits Barnaby. Plenty of detail has been put into the clothing, which I like, as there was the large potential to leave it bland. 

Close-up of his face:

His eyes are painted nicely, and his lips have been well done, without too much colouring. 

You can also exchange the front of his hair:

And have him wearing his glasses. Both options are equally viable, and I think come down to personal preference. On initially purchasing the figure, I thought I’d only want to go for this look, but on experimenting, it left me indecisive. 

Both of the hairpieces have been shaded well, so no issues there. 

Necklace:

Tucked into his jacket, you will see his signature necklace. Was particularly pleased this was included. Here we can also see his jacket has a “lived in” feel, which is rare in a figure. 

Hairline:

This is what the hairline looks like with his glasses hairpiece. A bit more visible than other figures, but this is not surprising given you can exchange his hair. 

Boots & stand:

Love the red leather of his boots, and they’re painted neatly. The base has his logo and name. In isolation, the stand is nice, but I’m not entirely sure it fits the style of the figure. I don’t find it really detracts from it, though. 

Left:

Here we can see how much work they’ve put into the creases in his outfit. Gives all of his clothes a lifelike feel. Some of the trouser shading feels a bit randomly placed, but it doesn’t detract for me. Here we also see his hand with his ring on. 

If you prefer him ringless, he also comes with this hand:

Which is identical to the other hand, barring the ring. Switching the hand in and out is easy enough, but probably want to go careful, to avoid scratching the hand or his trousers. With the connection under his jacket cuff, it doesn’t look like a replaceable part when on display. 

Right:

He is thrusting forward, which feels more evident on this side, as his arm & hand doesn’t obscure it. He has a slender build, which feels true to the anime. Paint application looks good here too. 

Back:

His backside looks rather small from this angle! Ok, maybe they overdid the slenderness? Definitely doesn’t feel like there was any slacking off here when it came to the sculpting and the painting. All looks good, if you’re happy with his build. 

Close-up of his head & shoulders:

Join on the left doesn’t look quite aligned, but I think I can let it off for that. Hair is nicely shaded, and the off-white of the top of the jacket looks good. I think they nailed the colour for this. 

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure, and can recommend it, if you’re a Barnaby fan. Some day I might get the Kotetsu that goes with him, but I do have other Kotetsu figures, so not rushing out to buy it, unless I come across a good deal. 

Rei Ayanami – 20th Anniversary

This was a prize figure for the 20th anniversary of Evangelion. Decided to order this as I had a coupon code, and you can never have too much Rei:

In terms of a figure, she’s not that big, but with the base and the Lance of Longinus she takes up quite a bit of height. She comes attached to the stand, but you need to put the lance in her arms, which was a slightly awkward operation. 

Close-up of Rei’s face:

I think they were aiming for a blank expression, but she seems somewhat miffed to me. The paint is in the lines, and of the right colours (to me). The sculptwork is nice too, plus the lines on the lance are nice and even. 

Top of the lance:

Looks the part, and I think has some subtle shading. 

Base:

Here we see the pool that Rei seems to be standing in. There’s also a ripple for the lance, but I find it doesn’t quite land in the middle. Some fiddling may get it to do so though. It doesn’t bother me too much. 

Left:

Lines are clean, and the hair seam is fairly well hidden. She has some movement in her pose, making her look natural. 

Right:

Here we see where I haven’t quite got the lance into her hand. Paint lines are also clean on this side. 

Close-up of the side of her face:

She seems more serious than miffed from this angle. Comparing the shaft of the lance at the top of the image to the bottom, you can see there’s some shading there, which seems rare with her lance in figures. It’s not always needed imo, but it does help this figure. And we can take a moment to admire the silver parts on her suit arms. 

Back:

A little bit of a booty wiggle :). Most of the paint is fine back here, but I can see a bit of a flaw on one of the stripes on her backside. Otherwise it’s clean, and nicely done, which is always a nice thing to find on a prize figure. 

Overall, I really like this Rei, and was glad to have one with her lance at last. Though I’ve acquired two more since XD. Not sure why this one hasn’t done as well as the Asuka of this prize set – Rei was the “A” and Asuka was the “B”, but I think the Asuka is probably more unique than this one. I’m happy with just the Rei though, unless I find Asuka at a too-good price to pass up. 

Kuroyukihime – Sega PM Figure

Found this randomly on MFC, and decided I ‘needed’ it. So went and found it on Mandarake and ordered it:

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I love the pose of this figure, and the partially transparent clothes. Not a big fan of the split in her dress on her left side – would’ve preferred this to be whole. Her hair isn’t as dark as it should be imo, but it still looks pretty, if not really accurate. 

Close-up of her face:

She has a cute face, nothing special. Her frills don’t seem to be white, but I think this is for the best as they’d clash with Kuroyukihime’s clothes too much. 

Dress close-up:

The fading is really nice, but the plastic does give off prize figure vibes. 

Shoes:

Love these cute heels and the ribbons around her ankle. They’ve put some of the butterflies on the base, which give it an accent. 

Left:

Here we can see her wings – I think they were a nice idea, but didn’t quite work in execution. The contrast between the colours doesn’t make them blend well and don’t match with the style of the figure, which I think is a bit of a shame. There’s a nod to matching with the fading, but it’s much sharper than the clothing, which doesn’t help it match. A smoother fade would’ve helped them look nicer too imo. 

Close-up of the wings:

Here you can see the fade better – towards the bottom is decent, but not a fan of the upper wing portions. Looking at the lines like this, I much prefer the lower part, where the lines are much thinner and closer to each other, than the scribbled business going on at the top. 

Close-up of her skirt:

Here we can see the clothing break, which doesn’t look realistic, and I rather they didn’t do this. Fade on the back part of her dress probably is best admired without close scrutiny. 

Foot:

Here we get a closer look at the butterflies on the base – simple but effective. Her foot is glued to this part of the base, and this slots into the round disc. 

Right:

Her arms are posed well, and give a good sense of motion. Here we have some derpy black lines at the top of the upper wing. I think Kuroyukihime would’ve spent more time designing her wings to get them looking good than the artist did here. Bottom wing is more Kuroyukihime. 

Back:

The wings are quite striking from this angle. I like the use of colour, but I think the pattern could’ve been neater. 

Close-up of the wing joints:

No real blending here, as they slot into her back as four separate pieces. They were a bit of a pain to get in – you have to be careful to not knock other ones out whilst doing it. Also, don’t be surprised if you have to heat her back up to get them in. Once in, they haven’t fallen out though. 

Overall, I think she’s a striking display piece, who isn’t necessarily character-accurate, but a fun interpretation of Kuroyukihime, that isn’t similar to other versions of her (not including the repaint version). I think this one is more of one to admire at a distance, as close-up scrutiny is likely to reveal paint flaws and little oddities. 

Flamebound Myr – Puzzle & Dragons

Decided to complete my set of Myrs by buying the Flamebound version. So here she is:

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This time I remembered to take a pic with her backdrop :P. So now you can see how she is pointing at the clock in the background. 

Here she is without the backdrop:

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I love the shiny burgundy colour of her dress, the shading in her hair and horns. 

Close-up of her face:

Her face is nice, and I love the red eyes. I do wish the bows had more contrast to the rest of her – they kind of blend in too much for me.

Arm close-up:

The sculptwork is nice in her hand/arm, and a bit of subtle shading on where her arm transitions to skin. 

Staff close-up:

Same design as the other one, but this time the staff was in her hand out of the box, instead of wrapped up separately. 

Tail side close-up:

Tail looking nice, but here you can see where the black paint is a bit off on the “boot” ribbon. 

Left:

She looks very nice from this angle. Love the way the dress flows, and the detail on her upper arm. The straps around her “boots” is tied nicely.  Her tail is nice, and you can see a small ribbon she has at the end of her tail.

Right:

Looks OK on this side, but the seam in her dress is pretty obvious. Not a big fan of that. 

Close-up of her dress:

Yeah, that seam… isn’t great. Because it runs across the ripples of her dress, and her dress being a plain and shiny colour makes it stand out. 

Back:

Has the same downside as the other, with the huge base hole in her back. Kinda wish they provided a plug for this or made it smaller, but this is a prize figure. Does mean she doesn’t wobble about much, with such a large pole though. Her skin and the red colours contrast well imo. 

Close-up of the back of her head:

Ah, hmmm… some blobby paint back here in her hair. Bit of a shame. Her collar is nice though, along with her horns. 

Close-up of the tail from the back:

Some lovely shading and sculpting here. I do rather like her tail. 

Overall, I like this figure, but isn’t my favourite of the three. It is a repaint of the Illusionless version, which does partially detract from it. I do love the shiny burgundy, but the rest of her outfit doesn’t really contrast or compliment this well for me. Also the blobby hair. I don’t think this is a bad figure, just less attractive than the other two for me. Unless you want both colours of this one, I’d recommend picking whichever colour scheme appeals and go with that one. 

Kin – McFarlane

Here we have Kin from the Spawn universe:

You can choose to display him with or without the pig mask, and the arm he carries is a separate part. The demon on his back is attached via a wire, and cannot be removed, but can be moved to sit in various places on his back. 

Close-up of the demon: 

Love the paint job on this figure – a fair amount of detail, and I particularly like the detail on the demon’s face. Having some articulation in the demon is nice too – allows some customisation of how you sit him on top of Kincaid. 

Without the pig mask:

Didn’t focus on his face in this shot, but  here you can see he’s fully detailed, if you don’t like the pig mask. The placing and sizing of the holes that hold on the mask are such that they don’t really show when you have his mask off, which is a nice touch, if people don’t want the mask. 

Left:

Here we can see the length of the mask – is pretty long! The hair effect on Kin’s arms is good, and I really like the stippled blood effect on the demon’s back. One of the better recreations of blood that I’ve seen on a figure. Often bloodied bits look rather fake, but this one doesn’t. 

Close-up of the axe:

Yeah, I think this axe comes with a side of tetanus. Some lovely paint details on his boots too. 

Right:

And that’s one putrescent arm! I love how they’ve mailed most of the textures o this figure. Only one I’m not a fan of is the trousers – they look a bit wooden rather than cloth due to the paintwork. 

Back:

Even from the back, there’s a lot to be seen in the moulding and the painting. The way the demon is climbing onto Kin’s back gives a sense of motion to me. Love the way they’ve given the trousers a bunch of highlights to help add to them, though the paint does leave them looking kind of woody instead of hessian sack. 

Kin’s jacket:

They didn’t skimp on the detail, despite the fact it is likely to be covered up by the demon. The paint has been neatly done, which shows of the details in the jacket. Almost a shame the demon is permanently connected to Kin – would’ve been nice if there was a connector on the wire. However, I do have a McFarlane figure with detachable wires and they do fall out pretty easily, so maybe this was the best solution. 

Overall, I can strongly recommend this figure if you like the looks of it. It’s not very poseable, but if you’re OK with that, this is a solid figure. 

Minecraft Chest Series Blind Boxes

Found these at Poundland, so I picked up the 6 that they had.

The first two, zombie, and zombie on fire:

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Originally these retailed for £3. You only get one of these per box, so I think £3 is a LOT to pay for such a tiny figure (they’re around 2cm in height). £1 is still…. kind of a bit. At least they’re painted OK. 

Sides:

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Fire zombie has more to look at, by virtue of the fire. Sleeves aren’t painted too straight on him though. The normal zombie has pretty blobby paint. though the textured areas are nice. 

Back:

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Hm. Yeah. Distinctly average. 

Alex and Steve:

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These two are more interesting than the zombies, but you can see the seeming cheapness of the plastic, with the patterns on Steve’s armour. There is a bit of overpaint here and there, but no too noticeable.

Sides:

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I like the design of Steve’s shield, but it is poorly painted. Alex seems to have had a hard life, and there’s a number of paint scratches in her hair. Pickaxe has a number of paint flaws, but at least they’ve done the head in a proper gold. 

Back:

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Here you can see where the plastic was poured into the mould. Not much hiding Paint on Alex is much neater back here. /sigh. 

And finally, Blaze and Snow Golem:

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Brown paint missed on the Golem. Blaze paint is also a bit messy. The transparent bit on the Blaze is kind of a nice touch. 

Sides:

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Snow Golem looks fine, but the red paint on the Blaze is a bit of a mess. The paint is mostly where it should be, but with the groove going all away around the edge of the Blaze, it makes it look like the paint didn’t quite come up to the edge it should do. 

Back:

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Again, clear mould marks from where the moulds were filled. Paint is neat back here though. 

Even at £1, I wouldn’t particularly recommend these. Definitely not for £3! Would’ve liked to see some of the more interesting picks from this collection, but overall, the quality and size doesn’t justify a premium price for these figures. Unless you’re hardcore into Minecraft and really want these, I wouldn’t particularly recommend them.

Whilst I was at Poundland, I also bought this minecart:

The print quality of these vary, so I’d recommend inspecting it in the packet, if you care. Some of them are not printed straight at all. I’ve decided to leave this one in the packet, so not sure of the quality of the wheels etc. 

If we look at the back:

… we can see that they’ve released the same minecart, in various different packaging. Collect them all? Nah, think I’ll pass on that. I don’t think I really need more than one of these tbh…

Joker, Harley, Cyborg & Mr Freeze – Metal Nanofigs

Ended up getting some more Nanofigs from Asda. Not sure quite why I keep doing this… oh yeah – they’re cheap… 

So first up, Joker:

Well-painted, for such a small figure. He has purple boots though… and the shiny jacket might be an acquired taste, 

Left:

A little bit of an ear going on, and a very red smile. Hair has some shape to it. 

Right:

Bit more definition in the green hair paint on this side. And a sea of shiny purple. Good thing I like shiny purple.

Back:

Some details in the sculpt back here. Am happy with this nanofig. 

Next up, how did his ‘partner’ Harley go?

Ah. Hm. Yeah, she didn’t fare so well. Missed paint on her hair, by the bat and the lines aren’t too crisp on the jacket. Not sure what’s going on with the bat, being flesh-coloured… that doesn’t quite work. She has a full face though, unlike some of the nanofigs, which is a nice change. 

Left:

Yeah, definitely evidence of some painty mess here.

Right:

Seems to be some mess going on with her hip, and her foot seems poorly moulded. Or maybe overpainted. 

Back:

Faaail. A number of black marks, and not much attention paid to paint edges. You can’t see the back of the figures, and this one shows it. 

Cyborg:

Recognisably Cyborg, but he does have some mutant growths on his shoulders. There isn’t a large amount of detail in the paintwork, but what’s there has largely been done neatly. 

Left:

A sea of silver. Think some definition has been lost in the legs from the thick paint apps, but probably better this than seeing through the paint. 

Right:

Head paint has been done well, rest of it is what it is, lol.

Back:

Yeah, looking decent back here, no real complaints. 

Overall, he’s pretty decent, but does suffer from the lack of paint details these figures have. 

Lastly, Mr Freeze:

Mr Melty Face! His head looks distinctly mutant, like they couldn’t decide if it was his helmet or his head. I think it would’ve looked far better if they shortened his skull, so he didn’t have his helmet on. Paint on his left arm looks like a “yeah, that’s about right” job. Rest of the paint, such as it is, looks like it has gone where it was supposed to. 

Left:

Not much definition here. Looks OK. 

Right:

His glove and boot lack detail in the moulding imo, and look overly plain. 

Back:

One large paint gouge here, at his mid-back :(. His left glove looks really good from this angle, with the gun… looks better here than on the front!

Overall, Mr Freeze looks OK, barring that stupid head. Argh. Goggles could’ve done with more work too. 

My favourite out of these is the Joker. Harley is probably the weakest out of this set. For less than £2 each, they’re pretty decent, and better than what you can get out of some pricier blind bags. And you can pick the ones you want! Wouldn’t recommend ordering these off the internet (unless you’ve got good pics of the ones you’re buying) as the paint jobs can vary massively. Did try to pick the better looking ones, where I could. I remember there only being one Mr Freeze though. 

Kyoshinhei – Figma SP-043

This Figma I was looking at on and off, for ordering. I ended up getting a promotional code from Solaris Japan, so I decided to use it on this fellah:

This review’s been a long time in coming, due to the fact the stand was missing in the one I was sent :(. Contacted Solaris, who sent a replacement straight out, so all worked out in the end :D. This dude doesn’t have the ability to stand without it, so yeah. Wasn’t gonna settle for no stand! 

Love his big wings – these don’t feel too delicate, which is nice. The texture on his body is well done, and detailed.

Side with the wings:

They have some depth to them, which helps them stand out. He has a butt spike stand and a claw stand part. I’m happy with him standing, so went with spiking him in the butt. Certain poses probably work better with the claw stand, but I like the butt spike, as they’re good at holding Figma in place. 

Back:

Yeah, he’s another dude that exceeds the size of my backdrop… The contrast between the spines on his wings and the wings themselves is nice. Does give him a really striking appearance. 

Here he is with his ‘weapon’:

He comes with two sets of hands – ones in the first photo and these to hold the spike, which looks disturbingly like frozen pee. It can be a bit awkward to move him around once it is in his hands though – the spike is pretty thin, so I wouldn’t try to stress it too much – if you’re playing around with him, I’d recommend detaching the spike halves, then connecting them when ready. 

Above, with the pee spike:

This thing is pretty big! Here we can also see the multitude of spikes he has on his body, without the wings. The back spikes are the wing replacement parts. I think both configurations look really good. When I bought him, I planned to display him with wings, no questions, but upon getting him out of the box, I then debated, prior to setting on yes, wings. 

Close-up of his front, and alternate head:

Here we have him chomping on… something. Or maybe spitting? Here I’m showing my ignorance of the source material ¬¬. Love the sculpt and paint on his body though. Lovely amount of texture and detail, and enough soft parts to keep him poseable. 

Right side:

He’s quite a lithe chap, some visibility of joints on his arm. Most of them are pretty well hidden, worst offender is the elbows. 

Back:

The spikes are well-blended into his back, and really look a part of him. The separate parts that cover up the places where the wings go blend in well, and don’t look out of place. I live the amount of detailing with all the dimples back here. Gives him a strong, gnarled monster vibe. 

Close-up on the spikes:

The orange really compliments his look, and it’s transparency without looking naff. So that’s a strong positive to me :). 

Overall, I love this figure and glad I got him. It’s fiddly doing the wing switch, as you need to pull out his joints, so it’s not something you’d want to do regularly. I love his looks, as I’m a sucker for monstery things, especially those with wings, so this one definitely ticks the boxes. Definitely wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night! Would recommend him, but not at a high premium, as he doesn’t come with too many extras for a Figma, but he certainly looks good imo, and poses well. 

Harley Quinn – Arkham Knight – DC Collectables

This one I bought at Hawkins Bazaar, who had a few characters on clearance. But some of them are being sold at B&M for cheaper, so if you see figures there, check if they’re in B&M or TK Maxx first. 

Here is Harley Quinn, based on her appearance in Arkham Knight (not played the game, but does she appear in both of her outfits?):

Most of the paintwork is well done, but there are a few dodgy bits here and there. The paint quality varied between figures, so I picked the best one. Some of them, the white paint was encroached upon by the black/red paint. 

This figure is very shiny. Not sure if I’m a fan of the look or not. Wish the black line on her left side was a bit straighter. The diamonds on her leggings are painted nicely though. 

Close-up of her face:

I like the rouge on her face, the lipstick and eyes are painted very well. Not too much of a fan of the “blow-up” hat look. The hat has been given seams like it’s an inflatable, not sure if this is intentional detail, but not really a fan. The creases are nicely realised. Some of the white n her collar does seem to let some of the undercoat show through, but not too badly on mine. 

Left:

Here you get to see the extent of the shiny. Does make it look like she’s wearing some plastic-y fetish suit. The colours are very vibrant though. 

Right:

Looks fine from this angle, other than some previously made points. 

Back:

Quite a bit of creasing detail throughout her body and hat. The pom-pom balls are nice. Her neck looks odd from this angle though, from the way they’ve done the joint. 

And now for some notes about posing her:

Why, DC, why?! No hopes in her feet to add a stand, so you’ll either have to go for no stand or a claw stand. Without a stand, she’s a bit finnicky to stand up. You can get her to stand, but she will be prone to falling over. Also getting her to hold her bat can be troublesome, though looks good once you get her to hold it properly. 

Overall, I can see why this figure was reduced. She’s a bit of a pain to pose, and I think the shiny look would be polarising between collectors. She articulates well, but this is let down by the lack of stand. If you see this for around a tenner, and you like the look of her (and prepared to throw in a stand if you can’t prop her up), I’d recommend her. But I’d recommend also leafing through the stock to ensure you get one with a minimal amount of paint flaws. 

Manic – Scary Fairy

Bought this at a comic shop that was selling it off for £5:

One scary fairy, as the box promised! From a distance, this figure looks good. It’s also weighty, made out of some kind of resin. 

If you look closely at the hair and the logo on his T-shirt especially, you can see the sloppiness in the paint. 

Hair close-up:

Here you can see where the black doesn’t quite go into the gaps at the front, and some places where it’s escaping onto the white paint

Left:

Not too much to see. Though having the trouser base colour the same as the skin colour makes it look odd from the side. Paint isn’t too bad this side.

Right:

Couple of little bits of stray paint, and some little white marks in the hair. Not too much different from the other side.

Back:

Wing attachment could’ve done with some more hiding. But I do like the wings -they’re made out of a clear plastic, and are mostly painted neatly. However, would’ve been nice if they added to the central connector so it’d appear more “in keeping” with the wings. 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend paying a lot for these figures, but it is a nice, fun figure, that’s a bit unusual. Due to the weight, they’re probably not economical to be shipped internationally, so I’d recommend looking for them domestically where possible. 

Batman – Q-Fig

I’ve been holding off buying this particular Q-Fig, as it looks like kid Batman. But then B&M reduced them to £3 so I went… why not? 

The paint job is decent, but the sculpt…. Batboy! Not entirely sure what they were aiming for when they did this, especially as subsequent Q-Figs didn’t have this young-age style. The stone effect on the eagle is nice though. And the whiteboard speech bubble is a nice touch (I used the supplied whiteboard marker to write on the speech bubble). 

Right:

Here we can see his very basically sculpted body, which adds to it being “kid Batman” rather than some kind of chibi Batman. One mould line visible on his fingers. 

Back:

Not much to look at back here. 

Overall, it’s a well-painted figure, but the sculpt really lets it down. It’s not sold as “kid Batman”, and it fails at being chibi-Batman. I can see why many of these got to the “final discount” stage at B&M. A few more details in the sculpt could’ve added some age to him, which would’ve made for a better overall figure. I can see people being rather disappointed with this, when it was included in Loot Crate. If you’re OK with it being kid Batman, it’s an OK figure though. And you have the added feature of the whiteboard,