Category: Eastern

Etna – Disgaea – Griffon Enterprises

Now for the figure that instigated my Suruga-ya order:

What can I say? I’m a sucker for things with red hair, wings and blue outfits. Love the cute pose, and the distinctive, spiky hair. 

Close-up of her face:

Very cute :). Not a paint job that would win any awards, but she’s neatly painted. Love the shiny blue of her outfit. Her earrings have been nicely sculpted and painted.

Left:

She has a very thin, lithe body. And her chunky boots. I like the way her tail loops too.

Right:

Here we can see there’s shading in her outfit, and her body is slightly shiny. 

Back:

Here we can see the tops of her wings, and the fact her skirt isn’t hiding much. The wings are nicely sculpted, with the spines clearly visible. Not too much in the way of blending into her back though. 

Back:

I like her body shape, and here you can see where the wings are shaded, with a tinge of red, which works well. 

Pantsu:

Yep, this figure has fanservice. I like the way her tail is lifting up her skirt slightly. The knickers have been shaded also, which is a nice touch. 

Overall, I really like this figure – the pose is what mostly sells it to me. Usually this figure is pretty expensive in the aftermarket, but I got a good deal on her via proxying her from Suruga-ya. There is a small paint transfer on the base from one of her shoes, but I can cover this up with Etna herself. Overall, I think the Max Factory Etna is my favourite, but this one comes in at a close second. And I don’t think I’ll be getting the Enterbrain one, which suffers from a poor paint job and mediocre sculpting. 

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:

image

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:

image

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:

image

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:

image

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:

image

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! 

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…

image

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:

image

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:

image

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:

image

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:

image

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. 

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. 

Succubus – Chara-Ani

This figure I’ve been considering on and off, as I have a liking for succubi. Finally decided to pull the trigger and buy her. Weirdly, in the two listings Solaris Japan had, one could be shipped by small parcel, and the other… could not. Thankfully the cheaper listing allowed small packet shipping. She did fill up nearly all of the shipping box, but she survived fine. 

So here she is:

The chain is a loose part that hooks to her necklace, and you wrap around her body, in whichever way is pleasing to you. I love the pearlescent finish on her top, but I wish there was more contrast between her top and her body. I bought the normal edition, so don’t have the limited edition hand and tail. Would’ve liked those parts, but not prepared to pay a few k yen for them. 

Close-up of her face:

A wonderful cheek “o” expression. Love the colour of her eyes. Her tiara feels kind of flat though, and not quite painted to the corners, making it feel not-quite-there. 

Close-up of the chains:

I do really like the chain that comes with the figure, and is probably my favourite part. 

Close-up of her right leg:

Love the glossy shininess, and the gold colouring, but the gold paint is a bit off in places, which doesn’t give this figure a very premium feel. 

Tail end:

The shading is very nice on the tail, and the little golden ring. Here you can see a bit of sloppy paint around her panties. Not sure if things are particularly well-sculpted around here, the sides of the panties look a little on the odd side to me. And large black panties over a leotard? The black framing works well, but up close it’s a bit… hmm. 

Left:

She’s posed well, and here you can see the odd design they went for the panties… or whatever they are. I guess she’s Supergirl gone bad :P. I do like the gold blade parts on the back of her boots. 

She’s pegged to the base by the black lump under her shoe – this part is permanently attached to her shoe, and the base peg goes into this. The upside of this is she sits on the base very organically. 

Right:

I like the way she has one figure poking out – gives a more natural pose feel. Again, that gravity-defying loop on her panties though. Her hair looks good from this angle – love the messy look they’ve gone for. 

Back:

Here you can see a good chunk of the heart-shaped base they’ve gone for. Props for the non-boring base. Here you can see where I haven’t neatened up the chain :P. Her leotard is shown to be more of a different elasticated top, and I do like they’ve done this, so it shows more skin. Her hair is sculpted well back here. 

Top of her head:

Pretty decent seamline, and she’s got 4 head wings. Flapflapflapflap. 

Close-up of her back:

The tail has a bit of a gap. Not really tried to fix this, as she’s displayed where it doesn’t show. Here we see a nicely posed hand, with pink nail polish. I do like her back overall. 

With this figure, it has a good amount of strong points, and I’m glad I got her. But there’s just some bits lacking in the paint job, which hold the figure back and doesn’t make it worth full price for me. If you can pick her up cheaply, and prepared for a few minorish paint flaws, then maybe this is the figure for you. 

Mammon – Seven Deadly Sins

This figure I got super-cheap as the owner no longer had her box, and has glued her to the base, due to the fact she had a wobbling issue. This figure is cast-off, which will be shown in this blog, hence the NSFW tag. 

She displays just fine, so the issues aren’t an issue for me:

image

The rest of the photos won’t feature the basket, as it’s pretty easy to knock out of her hand (… and I forgot to bring it downstairs for the first few pics I took…). 

Here’s the veggies up close:

image

Tis a mean-looking set of veggies! I don’t think I will eat these… 

Mammon with her full base:

image

This base allows her to stand at the back of a shelf and remain visible :). But you can display her as per the first pic, if she has too much height. 

Close-up of the “Mammon” side of the base:

image

And the other side, which tells you what sin she is:

image

Bit of a scratch on the base on the “GREED” heart, but it isn’t too bad. Love the horned demon o this side of the base. 

Base from the top:

Is a large thing, the two dark dots top and bottom are pegs that go into the upper base. As these are evenly spaced, you can pick which side of this base is facing forward (Greed or Mammon). 

Close-up of the part of the base she stands on:

image

Coins being the perfect companion to greed. The gold lines on her legs are really nicely done and sharp. 

Front:

She has a very nicely sculpted and painted face, nicely framed by her horns. I love the way her hair curls at the front, though the complexity of her hair does make her assembly a bit awkward when casting her off. The gold lines on her clothing offer a good amount of contrast and give a more sophisticated feel to the figure. The black print on her stockings is also crisp and stands out well. 

Left:

Left… or is it front? Because here you have a lot of front! Here you can see the black print better, and the shading in her stockings. They’ve also put a heart in her thong, which is a nice attention to detail. Her cast-off clothes look really good imo – some cast-off figures have the issue that the clothes look a little iffy. but here they are shaded and have hidden connectors. 

Right:

Love the little bat above her backside :). She has the wings every succubus should have, though these are detachable. Her cape nicely frames her shapely backside. 

Back:

Here you can see the sheer amount of hair she has. They’ve gone to a fair amount of trouble to sculpt all these strands, and I think it has paid off. We can see some of the underside colouring of her wing too, which is a reasonably vibrant red. Her horns are also shaded, which is evident here. 

Underside of the wings and cape:

Love the red and black contrast under here.

Close-up of the bat:

Some of the paint has gone a bit walkies on this part – little bit evident on the claw and I think the bat face a bit. Still love this little detail. 

Mammon without the wings:

She also comes with the strap part shown above, if you want a clearer view of her backside, or just don’t like your women winged. This strap forms a heart with the top of her dress, ad has a little heart-shaped ring to join the straps together. 

Close-up of the straps:

All the small details here were well thought out. 

Now for some less-dressed shots.

Casting her off:

Her head and right arm come off, which allows you to remove the clothing on her shoulders, and her top. The top is three pieces which fasten together – the two boob cups, and a part which clips to her neck. 

As her shoulder clothing piece comes off, you have a few choices in terms of dress level:

I personally think she looks best with her top off, but her shoulder piece on, which is the middle of these three shots. 

Cast-off, no wings:

If you want a view of all the assets. I think the colour is a little too strong on the nipples, but it works. 

My preferred level of cast-off:

Yeah, gotta have the wings! 


Really glad I bought this figure – she’s an excellent figure, and I could easily recommend her. Though these figures usually go for a fair amount of money, and upon owning this one, I can see why. Glad I had the opportunity to purchase this one. 

Gwendolyn – Alter – Odin Sphere

I bought this figure from a seller on MFC, along with tomorrow’s figure. I’ve been debating getting this one, but with shipping & import, it was adding up a little high, but this seller was in the UK, so no import, woo. 

So here she is:

image

I love the pose on this figure – the thin line with the wings outstretched makes for a dramatic pose. I was also attracted to this figure thanks to the blue hues in her wings. 

Close-up of her spear:

I love the crystal on the end of this, with its gentle blue colour. The moon gives the staff a good focal point too. 

Close-up of her face:

She’s clearly looking at something, but not sure the expression goes with the pose? She has a cute face tough, and her upper body is moulded well. Love the little tiara on her head, and her hair looks good.

Close-up of her wing:

I love the translucenty look of these wings, and the subtle gradients. Gives the figure some colour without being overpowering. The downward angle means they also show well when viewed from the front. 

Left:

Bit hard to photograph well from the sides, but here we can see her holding her spear aloft, and her left leg poised to show movement. 

Close-up of her leg:

She also has mini wings attached to her knees. These ones are more brightly coloured, and the purple was a good inclusion. The metal parts of her armour here are nice and shiny. 

Right:

More wing covering up her face :P. The pins on her skirt are painted well. Her right leg has metal pins into the base, and she stands sturdily. 

More leg close-up:

Some creases behind the knee, which is nice, and the lovely sculpting on the knee wings. 

Back:

Her dress is flared out, showing us she’s likely landing on the tree stump, which explains the more neutral expression. 

Close-up of her back:

Bit of a seam on the back of her dress, but I’m assuming this is going to be her zip. The gold choker gives a good look to her neck. The dress is separate from the body, which helps with the overall realistic look. Love the way the dress flows in the wind. 

Close-up of the base:

The base is very detailed and well-painted imo. Plenty of shading in the dirt and the plants – even some dirt on the plant to the left of this photo. It does have a more anime vibe than a realistic one, but I think this fits well. 

Overall, I really like this figure, and glad I finally picked it up. If you want a more “sophisticated” statue of Gwendolyn, I think this is a good one. And likely cheaper than Alter’s new one… which will probably come out after this blog does… 

Assassin – Fate/Zero – Banpresto DXF

This is a figure I’ve been considering buying for years. After getting Caster, and seeing her in a shop in Belgium, I decided I would. The price was a bit high at the shop I was at, but found AmiAmi was selling her nice n’ cheap… cheaper than the store I was in, even with shipping factored in. So I left the shop and ordered her 😛

A week or two after I got back she arrived:

One notable thing about her is she’s nowhere near as heavy as Caster. Also… a lot less parts. The sculpt and the paint are still good though. She isn’t as impressive as caster, but she’s still a solid figure. Her body is sculpted well, and she looks the part. 

Left:

There’s not much shading to speak of – this figure largely relies on natural light to provide that. The knives on her hip look and “feel” very basic. Feel they could’ve done something here. The bandings on her wrist and leg could’ve done with some paint accents to make them more leathery or something. 

Right:

Bit of a seam not-in-hiding here, on her middle. And her wrist. The bangles on her wrist are nice though, along with the ones around her neck. The creases on her clothes feel nice and realistic. 

Back:

I think her hair helps sell this figure. I love the shades of blue running through the hair. I feel the sides and front of her hair work better than the back of it, though… which is probably a good thing, seeing as I won’t be staring at this angle much. 

Overall, I love the pose of this figure, and for some reason, I have a soft spot for Assassin from Fate/Zero. I’m not surprised she goes for less than the other DXF servants do, as she’s not as impressive, but she’s still a solid figure imo. However, if you want an in-proportion figure of her it’s… this one or this one. So. Yeah. This one it is! 

Accel World – Toy’s Works Collection… the other one

Finally ordered the other set of figures… but as separate lots, as it was cheaper than ordering the 5 as a set at Suruga-ya. Go figure. It was just these 5 mini-figures, just to see if Suruga-ya had small boxes. And the answer was… kind of. The box fit into small packet, so I didn’t have to pay for repackaging, but man, they were overpacked:

So yeah…. probably worse than AmiAmi. Probably doesn’t make much odds domestically for the shipping cost, and the domestic shipping is free when you spend over ¥1,500, so it mostly costs me the repackaging fee. 

First of the figures we have is Black Lotus:

It’s an OK figure, but I prefer the Dengeki one, as that one a bit better and a more matte plastic. Plus the Dengeki one has the purple parts in her head “fins”. 

Side:

Back:

Overall the sculpt seems good. I haven’t straightened out the pointy bits, but the box does advise heating these in water and straightening them. They’re not too bad on this one, so haven’t tried fixing them up. 

Harayuki with food:

I love this cute Haruyuki Arita. The paint is really well done on Arita, pancakes are slightly on the sloppy side, but not really noticeably so for me. Love the stars in his eyes… he must be happy to have a whole stack of pancakes to himself!

Arita playing squash:

Another iconic activity of Arita’s. Love the little eyebrows, conveying concentration. I really like these Aritas, as he’s depicted doing two of his most iconic activities – eating and playing squash. Really fits with the character, and gives him more accessories than all the other little avatar-Aritas I have. 

Scarlet Rain, with gun:

The one thing I really like about the Scarlet Rain figures – they have a bit more articulation than the others, and you can move her arms and head pieces around. However, the finish on her head on both figures I received is a bit rough. Not sure if this is an issue peculiar to mine, or a problem with the manufacture. She’s lovely and shiny though, and the colours stand out well. Kinda sad that they didn’t put the wires into the figure, that they had on the box art – she usually has two wires coming from her back, or can do. 

Scarlet Rain in grump-mode:

Yep, this is the Red King we know and love :). Again, this one has the funny finish on her head. There isn’t a huge amount to differentiate between these two Scarlet Rain figures, but with the poseable parts, it is possible to make them look sufficiently different. 

Overall, I’m happy with this set, and my favourite figures out of this set are the Aritas. If it weren’t for the oddity of the finish on the Scarlet Rain figures, I’d probably like them a lot more. I paid £4.20 each (with shipping factored in), which is around about the asking price for these kinds of small figures. If you can pick them up for a few quid each, and are an Accel World fan, I’d definitely recommend the Aritas, and possibly the Scarlet Rains… or maybe whichever’s your favourite. The Black Lotus… I prefer the Dengeki one, though this one was half the cost. So if you were to get one, I’d recommend the Dengeki one, unless you want this set, or you don’t want to spend more on the Dengeki one (if you can find it…). 

Asuna – Noodle Stopper – Sword Art Online

Upon arriving home from my travels, I had this figure to unbox:

Asuna, from Sword Art Online, in noodle-stopping form. Or more like a shelf-edge figure… not sure how many people are actually going to use these figures to keep the steam in their Cup-o-Noodles. Initially I wasn’t going to get either of the SAO noodle stoppers, but upon seeing this one, I decided to order her, and I’m glad I did. FuRyu have done a really good job with her!

Front:

Her feet seem really detailed, with her toes. She also has a good amount of shading in her hair, which not all of these figures do. Most of the red lines are pretty neat, a bit wobbly on her left hand boob, but nowhere as bad as the initial pics implied it could be. She has a good amount of definition around her stomach and neck/collar area. 

I love the expression on her face, and her face has been well-painted. No complaints here from me. 

Left:

Here we can see the cross detail on her swimsuit top, which has been crisply done. Her hairstyle has been well-recreated, with her plaits and mini-ponytail. Love the way they have her ear sticking out, and the towel over her lap looks good. 

Right:

The large bow looks really good, along with the one on the back of her swimsuit top. She also has well-defined shoulderblades. The cuff around her wrist has been painted well. 

Back:

Here’s the back of her, which does a look a bit prize-figure-y in sculpt, but the shading is really nice. She rests well on a flat surface, with her backside, hair and hand. Left arm looks a little funny on the join,but tbh, it’s a minor complaint. 

Overall, I really like this figure, especially for the price I paid. I’d recommend this figure to anyone who’d like a figure of Asuna to perch on the edge of a shelf or similar location. Mine currently sits on the edge of the vivarium :).