Category: Eastern

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 :). 

Devilman Keyrings

I had some promotional credit from a proxy service that I wanted to try out, so decided to go for a cheap item. I found these Banpresto Devilman keyrings on a “Buy it now”, and decided they were a good option. 

The proxying worked fine, with no issues, so that was good. 

Firstly we have this small Devilman keyring, that was already on one of my keyring display bars:

He was the smallest of the three keyrings, and of a decent quality.

Next up, a larger version of Devilman’s movie appearance:

With the larger size, there’s a lot more detail in the sculpt and the paintwork. I prefer the expression on the other keyring though. 

Devilman in his original cartoon form:

The sculpt isn’t hugely detailed, but gets the Devilman feel across. Logo on his belt is a bit squiffy. but his face is nicely rendered. Not sure if I’ll put this one on display, but it’s nice to have it. Might as well have one figure in his original appearance :P. 

Overall I’m happy I went for these keyrings. 

EVA-13 – Revoltech

Initially I missed the re-release of this figure, but then randomly found it in stock again on AmiAmi. Wasting no time, I ordered it – stuff like this doesn’t tend to stay in stock for long with AmiAmi if it comes back into the store. 

Here he is in his “default” configuration:

Decided to equip him with both the lances, so most of the shots will feature these. Other options available, and will be shown later in this review. 

I love the shiny purple paint, and the yellow & green that complements it. He also articulates well imo, and his midriff segments bend pleasingly. I prefer a more stoic pose though. 

Left:

Here he is… having a bit of a nap apparently. The paint is nice and striking, but a wee bit uneven in spots. Not really noticeable from the distance I’m taking photos at. 

Right:

Closer look. Here you can see a bit of a paint flaw, in the black paint on his upper arm, where it spills into the green stripe near his elbow. And a bit of an uneven line going into the canary yellow. Whilst the paint job is mildly iffy in places, the articulation seems plentiful, and feels good. 

Close-up of the head:

Paint job  is OK; like all the little details in the mould. And ofc, you’ve got that wonderful impaling spike on his head :D. 

Back:

Some nice painting and moulding on his back – love the silver bits running down the middle. 

Here are the other spare parts, not shown in the rest of this review:

Plenty of hands to choose from, if you don’t want him wielding the spears of destiny. Also has the gun, if you wish to go for a less epic weapon. 

Also in accessories is the AT field:

That sits on an arm…:

…which can be attached to the stand. Then you need to balance EVA-13 up on his own, which he will do. Though I’d prefer to have a separate stand, tbh. 

And after taking this pic, I realised I was some parts short. So I went to dig up the other bag of spare parts, and assemble him in the configuration I really wanted him in:

Yeah, much better! This form consists of a new upper torso and two more arms. The uppermost purple V in his chest is rubbery, and sits above the joint that attaches into the grey part of his torso. With the extra arms, the spears are far more stable, so now I can have him hold them aloft, and not worry about them swinging out of place, like with two arms. 

Some more views:

Looking good :).

Close-up of the arms:

Love the shiny silver, and the cuff that both the lower arms have. Does make assembling on his lower hands a little on the awkward side. 

Overall, I really like this dude. He’s probably not as good as a Figma, but he comes at a lower price point, and far more accessories. Really happy to have him, and will be getting more of the Evangelion Evolution re-releases. I won’t be getting all of them – just a select few. 

Dva – Native

This figure is a futanari figure, so this is definitely a NSFW blog.

So let’s start with a SFW pic:

image

She has a very cute face, that has been well-painted. Love the shading underneath her fringe, and the slight smile. 

Here’s the “company is coming around” configuration:

image

The pasties covering her nipples are made out of metal, and she has magnets in her boobs. This makes them stay put, yet be easy to take off and put on. I like this! This figure benefits from strong lighting – her skin is quite plain, as far as paint jobs go, but in the light, it adds a fair amount of natural shadow, as seein in the pic. I love the shiny purple of her ribbons, and the methods used to hide the figure’s seamlines. 

Dva’s base:

This thing is big. Takes up most of a shelf of a detolf cabinet… The texture’s nice, and the butt divot does help keep her in place, but there’s no shading in the paint. Fortunately Dva mostly covers it, so it isn’t too much of an eyesore. And she certainly is a distraction, lol. 

Close-up of her with the pasties:

The paint appears to be thickly applied, and is a good, solid layer. Also shiny, which makes them nice, if you’d like to display her with them. 

Here she is without her pasties:

Yep, those look like a pair of nipples on a couple o’ melons. They’re big, but somehow don’t look ridiculous like some anime figures can do. 

Close-up on the flower in her hair:

Nice, vibrant colours, that contrast well with her hair. 

Let’s look at her different downstairs options, before looking at the rest of her in detail.

First up, if you want to keep her 100% woman:

Just the string, with some well-sculpted inner female parts. Not sure if she has a labia majora? 

If you want her to be futanari but not have everything on show:

You get this option, where she has a bright blue condom. The condom has a moulded ridge at the bottom, so it doesn’t appear painted on, which I thought was a nice touch. 

And for the full futanari effect:

One member please! It does have a particularly dark tip to it, which is a bit odd, but I honestly don’t mind it. Is a bit of an odd choice, but hey. Does ensure it contrasts strongly with her body and doesn’t blend in with it, from a front-on view. 

With this part, there is a labia minora visible underneath:

S’cuse the blurry shot. Was trying to hold her and focus the camera at the same time… maybe I should’ve taken the part off first. But I think this shot gets across what’s there, though it really isn’t visible when she’s on display. 

Close-up of her left leg:

I love the purple bows – the shiny purple is a lovely colour. The bottom part of her leg detaches, so you can slip the golden ring onto her ankle. The golden rings are packed separately in the box, so no need to worry about paint transfer. 

Right leg:

One nicely sculpted leg. Not much to say about this one. Some suggestions of shading in the paint, but not a lot. 

Midsection:

Yeah, this shot for your work PC wallpaper :P. The strings are nicely moulded, and slightly dig into her flesh. Hate it when they overdo it with the tightness, but I think this is a nice balance. The gold rings are also painted well, without stray paint. 

Left:

Here we can see she is arching her back slightly. Nothing too strenuous. The ribbon on her leg hangs down nicely. 

Close-up of her side:

The black strings are neatly painted. 

Right:

Here we can see where she’s resting her hand behind her, and the subtle shading in her hair. 

Close-up of her arm:

The band is nicely placed on her arm, and here is the other bangle you can place on her, if you’d like. Her lower arm detaches, so you can slip this on easily. Some people have complained her hand doesn’t lean on the base, but for mine, it does to some extent, and looks fine from the front. 

Close-up of the bangle:

Shiny 🙂 Here you can see where her hand does touch a bit to one side, but not so much in the middle. 

Back:

Yeah, bit of a seam visible here, but I love the gradient in her hair. And a nice shot of the penis :P. 

Lastly, here’s a shot of one of the penises not attached:

This peg simply plugs into the front of her, and the pieces stay there snugly. The penises are easy to remove, but the female parts are a bit of a pain to get out. Was able to do it with a fingernail from the bottom point. Once you’ve loosened them a bit, they’re easy to pull out. With the snug fit though, it does make the thong/genitalia parts look seamless though, which is good. 


This was an expensive figure, and an even more expensive one to get in the aftermarket. Glad I decided to be decisive about my preorder (had to do it through a third party too as Native won’t ship to my country :/), so I was able to get her at a more reasonable price. I think it would’ve been nice to have a bit more shading on her skin, but in the right light, she looks amazing. If you like a chick with a dick ;). though the options to display her without are both viable. 

Blind Box Pack

The stall that sold me the Harley Quinn XXRay figure also had a blind bag on display, and I was, for whatever reason, determined to buy some kind of blind bag at FACTS. I looked around his stall, and he seemed to have a decent selection of blind box stuff, so I decided to go for it and buy the bag:

image

So… let’s see what we got. The figures were brand new and sealed, but I didn’t take pics of the items whilst they were still boxed. 

First up was this “Vamou” figure:

image

Decently made, lookin’ pretty dead. Would’ve preferred to get a purple one. The box was a choice of this dude in various colours. Not too interesting, but well-made. 

Side:

image

Back:

image

He’s decent enough, and has ended up on a shelf of other small collectables.

Next up was a Be@rbrick. Was kind of excited to get this, as I wanted to see what these are like. Inside I got one entitled “Animal”:

image

An interesting texture, and the articulation was better than I thought it would be – the arms are on ball joints, so you can move them into many positions, unlike a minifig. The legs also bend outwards slightly. He can rotate at the hips, head and wrists, which is good. Not the best pattern, not the worst. He also came with a card, which I didn’t take a pic of, as it’s already in a drawer. 

Side:

image

Back:

image

Close-up of the text:

image

Interesting addition on the back. I guess it makes the copyright text less boring! 

Lastly, Shah Mat chess pieces:

image

Each set comes with 4 tiles that clip together (each tile is a separate piece) and a pawn. My bind box figure was the king, who is the rare one, uh, yay! If I could find a buyer, it would likely be worth something, but I don’t think people are clamouring for a chess set that you have to get through pricey blind boxes… They do make pretty display pieces though! 

Back:

image

And they are cute. 

Overall, I felt I broke even on this. Buying the boxes would’ve likely cost me more, but would I have bought them….? I’d say definitely “no” for the Vamou, and a likely “no” for the Shah Mat dunnies. Though none of them are headed to the the “box of trading figures”, so I got things that I like. Maybe not the wisest use of €15, but it was a fun one. Out of blind bags, I could’ve done much worse, so glad how it turned out. 

And here concludes my loot at FACTS! Money well spent I say!

Compiler – Story Image Figure – Yamato

I’m a sucker for StoryImageFigures if I see them cheaply enough. And this was the case with this one, at €5. 

So here she is:

I love the swimsuit she is wearing, and wish I could look good wearing one like that, but alas, it’d look odd on me. Not to mention that ring is probably metal and I have a nickel allergy… As an older figure, there’s a noticeable lack of dfetail in her face and hair. Some of the StoryImageFigures haven’t aged too well due to this, but on this one it isn’t enough to put me off it. The contrasting textures of her body and her swimsuit is nice.

Left:

She’s got a good pose, with one hand on her hip. Hair has some shading, They have gone for a poofy hair look, but it didn’t quite work in the mould I think. Just something about it seems to say “low detail”. 

Right:

This angle looks OK. Hair shading a bit suspect towards the top. Is a hair seam, but I don’t find it distracting. 

Back:

You can see where they’ve aimed to shade her hair, with the darkest parts on the ridges. Which I think worked. Just maybe needed to persist to the top. 

The stand is simplistic, but OK. Helps her stand up just fine, but the texture isn’t anything to write home about. She didn’t quite want to stand up originally – I think some bending has occurred in the box, but once I got her to settle, she’s been fine. 

A good addition to my collection, and was easy to place on a shelf, with a couple of other StoryImageFigures. Nice to get the odd small thing, now that I have a sizeable collection XD. 

Lilith – Darkstalkers – Capcom Girls Collection

This figure was also an instabuy for me – and even better, this one was on sale! After leaving the shop, at first I though there was damage to the wings, but it turns out I was mixing up the lugs with her claws. Was super-pleased to find out that there’s nothing wrong with her, and she was just reduced for quick sale. 

Here she is, blowing a kiss:

image

Pic towards her face:

I like the sassy pose she has – it suits her character. Her outfit isn’t overly detailed, but it does the job. The bats on her leggings are nicely done, but I would’ve liked to see a bit more contrast so they stand out more. They do blend too well into her leggings.

Close-up of her face:

A cute, if simple, face. Hair strand moulding is nice, and the creases on her sleeve. 

Opposite side:

Here we can see she is well-posed, with one leg bent in a suggesive pose. We can also see where i didn’t quite get the pegs all the way in. Didn’t want to end up breaking them, so ended up leaving them as-is for now. Back of her head is largely flat, which doesn’t make it very hairlike. Other part that doesn’t look so good imo is the white edging on her sleeves – the finish and colour leaves it looking plasticy, instead of more like fabric. 

Back:

One well-sculpted butt :). Her spine and back are detailed in the sculpt, which is nice. 

Close-up of the wing:

No shading, but I think they still look good and striking. Due to their shape, natural light adds some natural shading :). I like the way they’re posed so they frame her. The tops of her wings aren’t detailed, but I don’t see too much of them. 

Overall, I like this figure. It is a simpler figure aimed at a lower price point. If you can pick her up for a good price, I’d recommend her. 

Wasp – Kotobukiya Bishoujo

The day before I went to FACTS, I went to a handful of comic book shops and Japanese merch shops in Belgium.

First purchase was Wasp from Super Dragon Toys, as she was on sale. Had seen her clearance in the UK, but didn’t get her as I wasn’t sure if I liked her. Seeing her in person made me decide I wanted her. So here she is:

image

I love the happy expression, and the shiny wings. The gold has also beeen superbly done – gold can often look poor on figures, but here, it’s a good hue and shiny. 

Close-up of her face:

image

Love the shiny lipstick and moulded mouth. She’s also got some shading painted into her eyes, which is a nice touch. Her hair is sort of simple, but nicely sculpted. Here we can also see a couple of creases moulded into the neck part of her suit, giving it a lifelike appearance.

Close-up of the base:

image

A nice, creative base. No solid-coloured disc here. The splash looks good, with the blue fading out towards the droplets. Also some ripples on the disc part of the base, so it isn’t just flat. The colour complements the figure imo.

Right:

image

Here we see the bulk of her outfit – I love the gold piece running down the middle, and the gold on her palms. The suit itself also has a few well-placed creases, to show it is indeed a bodysuit. 

Left:

image

Here we can see where the wings peg into her back, and the paints nicely match up. And her shapely backside – she has a pear shape goin’ on here. 

Close-up of the gold on her shoes:

image

I don’t think she has much grip on the floor, but the finish is nice and gold colour attractive. 

Back:

image

This shot shows off some of the iridescence of the wings. I love that they’ve managed to make the wings iridescent – it shines quite well, and looks great in the sunlight. 

Her hair looks good from the back too. 

Close-up of the wings:

image

This is definitely one of the features that attracted me to buying this figure. More figures need iridescent parts! And well-done gold parts! 

Overall, I really like this figure, and kind of wish I bought it sooner XD. Might’ve got it for a bit cheaper, but hey, I have her now!

Liko – Active Raid – Figure-Rise Bust

I saw a video of this model kit, and decided I would like it, to continue on with my interest in all things model kit. I’m not familiar with the series, but loved the colour scheme, and thought she was cute. So here she is:

Not the easiest thing to take a picture of, due to her outstretched arm. And those dot stickers on her collar were in the right place when I built it *goes to fix it*. 

With this kit, the things that attracted me to it was the face, the base and the colour scheme. I love the way they have done injection moulding for her eyes – they’re actually constructed from plastic, rather than being stickers, which gives them a fantastic finish. And no need to worry about getting them crooked! My main issue with the kit was getting the flesh-coloured parts of her body to sit well together – here you can see the bit at the front is still a bit gappy. Other problem was the stickers – some of them didn’t quite seem big enough – main pain-in-the-backside are the ones above her chest – those V-shaped stickers seemed too small for the space they fit in. 

Left:

Here you can see some of the details on her sleeves, which are nice. Here you can see one of her body seams – they’re just kind of butt-ugly. She looks fine from the front, but the seams kinda make other angles a bit “eh”. Her hair flows nicely though,and I like the frill she has on her headband. Maybe I could go for a partial disassemble and sand down those bits of the sprue, but not sure it’s entirely worth it. 

Right side:

Another weird seam here. I do like the way she “projects” out of the base. Another interesting thing about this base is you can attach it to a Bandai stand, along with the mecha that goes with her. Probably won’t get the mecha though. 

Back:

Here we can see her flowing hair, which I think looks good. 

Top back:

A closer look at those unusually-shaped hair buns, which give some personality to the figure. You can also rotate them, to get her micro-pigtails at whatever angle is preferable to you. 

Bottom of the back of the base:

Here we can see how she is hollow and attaches to the stand. Getting the disc into the correct orientation was… fun. There wasn’t much guidance of how it was supposed to go, but some trial and error later, I got it. She attaches firmly to the stand, so not concerned about her dropping off or anything. The way her hair connects to the stand means her head does not articulate though. 

Above:

I love her sleeve. All of the translucent green pieces have silver stickers underneath, which help the green bits “pop”, which adds to the figure. Her arm at the white armband is a bit easy to knock apart though. Did knock her arm off mid-assembly, oops. 

Overall, I like this model kit. It wasn’t too hard to assemble, but I don’t think I would’ve paid a lot for it. If you find this cheap, and like the end result, I could recommend it, but kind of has limited display angles, due to the way the seams are, unless you really want to get some model putty and paint out.