Went for a trip to the cash point… decided to make a detour to the one place within walking distance that sells figures. Found two things that appealed to me.
First is Aki Ross from Final Fantasy. I haven’t played the FF games, but I liked the look of this character. Also she was cheap 😀
Second thing I bought was a Deadpool keyring:
Can’t go wrong with a bit o’ Deadpool!
This figure… been wanting this one for a veerrryyy long time, but not been able to justify the cost of it on the secondhand market. At one point, it came up on Solaris Japan for a reasonable price, but then I missed out on it, due to funds.
Then it came up for a reasonable price again a few months ago. So I decided to order it just before I went on holiday, thinking I’d get it just after I got back. Only during the order process I noticed that it was sea shipping. And then thinking I could have ordered it two weeks ago ><, oh well.
So the wait was on. The long, looong wait. So how long was it? 73 days of wait… but totally happy to have it now!
Side of the figure:
And her back:
What was surprising is that I ordered a secondhand one, but this one seems to have never left the box! Well, she has now :P, and gone to the safety of one of my cupboards.
The Kuroyukihime part of the figure can be displayed separately, which is a nice touch, but probably not something I’m likely to do.
Kinda tempted to put an LED in the base, so it glows, but not totally sold on the idea as of yet. Maybe if I move and she’s in a Detolf or something… or I have the wiring/connectivity so it can either be easily toggled on/off outside of the cabinet, or synced up with the room lighting or something.
So would I do sea shipping again? Probably not, unless the figure price is very touch-and-go to what I want to pay. £10 more for express shipping could quite well be the better option, lol.
Saw this on eBay and sent in an offer. After a bit of back-and-forth, a price was agreed on, and now I have her :D.
One pretty Kuroyu… uh how does this name go again… Kuroyukihime. Can never spell it. Already looked it up twice in the writing of this blog…
A slightly more top-down view:
Love this figure, she was unopened, so she came with all the bits, but decided not to sit her on her sand tiles, as there’s not really enough room in the detolf where she’s sat, and she sits just fine on the shelf (I have another sitting Beach Queen, and she’s got a plastic rest on her stand, which is very much needed).
Going to be getting some more Accel World figures in the post soon, so watch this space for more Accel goodies 😀
Came across one of these in an action figure shop… but found an auction on eBay that didn’t have too long to run, so decided to risk it and bid on the auction.
A day or two later, I was the winner with the maiden bid :D.
Love the bright and striking colours of this figure, and the interesting pose. Kind of a shame you can’t see her weapon from the front though.
And here she is from the back:
If I had a figure turntable, she’d be a candidate for it. As it atm, she’s in one of my Gnedby units.
I also ordered an Oni-Musume III from a seller from Amazon at the same time, but sadly this happened:
I have returned the second one, and have been refunded for it. Ah well.
Now I have a Oni Musume III on order from the US, in the blue colour scheme. This one is actually being dispatched from an Amazon US warehouse, so it should be the right one this time!
And now for the dregs! There was bound to be some broken/incomplete stuff, and here it is.
First up, not broken, but kinda cheapy – some Japanese warrior figures.
They’re not terrible, but they’re more kid’s toys than something to really display imo. They’ve been sent to the Drawer of Purgatory. Feel kinda sorry for the dude in the middle with his wilting sword.
The next item I initially thought was a decent item, but on closer inspection… not so much.
Here is Neptune from One Piece:
Unfortunately, on closer inspection, the pain on his large mane of hair is badly chipped:
Was considering listing this on eBay, but don’t really want to with the condition it is in.
Now for half-a-Akagi from Kan Colle:
No head in the box, so this is a bit pointless. I’ll keep the bits, just in case I can combo it with something at a later date.
Lastly, the body of Hiiragi Tsukasa from Lucky Star and a
Sound Capsule Gaia Memory of Ryuki. Nope, Hiiragi’s head doesn’t fit on Akagi’s body. I tried 😛
The sound box is made to look like a USB drive, but it very much isn’t. You can press the button at the bottom (raised bit near the “plug” end), and it will cycle through a bunch of sounds. Doing some research, this set came with some kind of candies/sweets, and there were others done as blind boxes.
Has annoy-o-tron potential, so it’ll get lost in a drawer somewhere. Or thrown at someone who professes a love for Kamen Rider.
And that concludes the Box o’ Random! There are a couple of items I haven’t covered, as I’ve listed them on eBay. The items are a couple of pin badges and a phone strap, from series I’ve not heard of.
And here we have the things I like, but have no idea what they are! Tried asking on MFC and Reddit, but no-one, as of writing, have identified what they are
First up, a pile of cute:
Copyright on this figure is listed as “GOE”.
Nex is a fox-inna-bowl, with some food on his head:
No copyright or anything on this one, so I assume it’s a random mass-produced item. He’s now dangling off one of my keyring & charm bars.
A badge of a girl:
No copyright on this one either, but being a pin-badge, it could quite well be something fan-made. Not sure I can go wearing this one in public though…
First up, two trading figures, of the same character – Meyrin Hawke from Gundam SEED Destiny:
Nothing much to write home about… second one looks like it has had its feet glued or re-glued to the base. Cleaned up some of the mess, but some residue remains. The hole is supposed to have a pole to stop her from leaning. She has leaned a bit, more than likely because the pole isn’t there. Mediocre painting job on the pair, so they’re just sat in random places.
Next three figures are from One Piece, which is a series I know of, but haven’t watched/read.
These guys are called Aokiji and Akainu:
These guys are still a little bit dirty, even after being cleaned. The dirt was really rather stubborn on these dudes. Really doesn’t help with their capes being white! Also Aokiji’s right arm has a habit of falling out, but I think I’ve got it to stay now.
Third dude is called Kame and is a… turtle?
This dude is nicely-made, and even has pegs on the stand to keep him upright. He’s been recently made (2016), and I think it shows in the quality of the figure. He is a prize figure, so the paint job isn’t 100%, but certainly good given that condition.
aHere’s more of the small items from the Mandarake box o’ random. First up, a couple of items from Kamen Rider. The first is a bottle cap & stamp figure, that was included in its box, and the second is Kamen Rider v3, who came with… ¾ of his box…
The rubber part on the bottom has a pattern you could potentially use for stamping on things, but I don’t think I’ll bother :P.
This little dude, the cardboard bits came as part of a TCG-type card, and you can pop them out and combine them in a couple of different ways. You can either use the to decorate the figure like this, or make a cardboard dragonfly. I was originally going to throw the box out, as there’s two round-ish holes ripped into it (… mouse ate it?) but it has the instructions on (fortunately the holes weren’t in any necessary instructions), so it’ll get filed away.
Next up, a Banpresto random-box figures of various maids. This one is a eCafe maid:
When I first got her out of the box, she was leaning at like a 60 degree angle… had to warm her legs up and straighten her. Also I damaged the sticker on the base, as it went in the sink with the rest of the stuff, as I didn’t realise it was a sticker. Kinda tempted to scrub the sticker off, as I think it makes the base look ugly though.
This next dude is apparently called Moguro Fukuzou. Apparently he’s a salesman from a manga, where he “helps” people with their desires, but instead ruins their lives. Apparently he’s well-known enough, he has his own TV Tropes page:
Sadly the sucker he comes with doesn’t work very well. I may just take it off, and have him just pointing, with his comically oversized finger.
And one last thing with a sucker:
A cat. Not much to say about this one. Has a couple of marks, probably because it really easily falls off stuff. Well-detailed and painted though, more so than thee things usually are. Bit of a pain to get stuck on anything, but it will do, with some perseverance.
So let’s start with the stuff from series I’ve watched/know about.
First up is a Sheryl Nome gacha figure (she’s from Macross):
I was considering buying this gacha figure on eBay at one point, think i was looking at an auction for this and some other Macross figures. She isn’t in pristine figure, but I don’t think the marks show up quite as clearly irl. Was a mild pain to put together with no instructions, but worth it :).
Next, a Nanoha Nendoroid Petit:
This one even came with the instructions! No box though. Her arms are a bit odd, and she doesn’t hold the weapon terribly well, so I can see why someone would want to trade this one in… but she’s still cute and lookin’ awesome, so decided to have her balance her weapon on her arm, instead of hold it 2-handed.
Alicia Testarossa, also from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha:
Never watched the series, but I do like the character designs. Have a feeling I wouldn’t be a fan of the show, but I’ll probably watch some of it at some point, as it seems pretty prevalent in the anime community.
Tiiiny little Vocaloid figure of Kagamine Len:
This teensy dude is about 3cm tall, and is sat on top of one of my monitors. Looks far nicer than the Poundland fodder he replaced (a Predasaur).
Shana from Shakugan no Shana:
Keep running into stuff from this series, but never consumed any of the media from it. Maybe I should put the anime on my to-watch list, lol.
And now a character from Bakemonogatari, another series I keep running into merch for, but haven’t researched/watched:
Love this little figure, nice and brightly coloured, with the autumnal theme. Her name is Sengoku Nadeko. Nearly thought she was just a “box remnant”, what with having no feet, until I found the base.
And here’s two things from an anime I’ve never heard of, that’s called “My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute”.
This is a character called Gokou Ruri, sat on a character called Comet-Kun:
… probably should have dusted it a bit before taking that pic.
And this is a character called Makishima Saori:
The first one I like, the second one is… OK. And that concludes this part of the box o’ random. Some nice selections of smaller stuff here, enough to be deffo not disappointed by this box.
This post will cover the expected bits, plus an unexpected item, which pretty much made the box worth it on its own.
So what is this unexpected mystery item? A stand!
These Play Arts Kai stands can be quite useful, and tend to be pretty expensive to get a hold of on their own, so this one was a welcome addition, It also came with a few different sized “arms”, one of which I’ve used so I can set a figure further back on the shelf it is sat on. I don’t currently have any large figures in need of it, but I won’t be surprised if I eventually use it. It did come with one claw with the screws in, but I suspect it originally would have come with more screws & nuts. Not an issue for me, as I have a ton already, lol.
Next up, the Rei I saw in the packet… plus the Asuka that goes with her!
The Rei especially needed a good scrub. Looking closely at the Mandarake pic of the package, you can actually see Asuka’s feet sticking up. Super-happy this pair was in here, as they’re designed to go together and it’s Evangelion.
Photo showing Asuka more clearly:
Next up, the EVA-01 that I saw sticking out:
He’s got a bit of an interesting smooth and almost-soft plasticy texture to him. He has a limited amount of articulation, but is decently sculpted and painted. He seems to be too nice to be a bootleg (even the bottoms of his soles have been detailed and painted!), but no idea what he is, and couldn’t find him on MFC. On his leg he has the following: “© k.G”, and underneath that “B China 19131″.
And finally… what did that beach base belong to?
C.C. from Code Geass! She sells for around the same price as I bought the box for, so yeah, was worth it :). Though I did have to give her a good ol’ scrub down first, and there are some minor marks. With the ball, I have it white-tacked to her hand – I thought you were supposed to be able to wedge it in her hands, but it was, uh, not playing ball, so I just white-tacked it. After looking up pictures, I found out that there’s a stand for the beach ball, and it was actually included in the box. Not sure I’m going to bother with it though, as it looks a little naff.
Figure from another angle:
So that concludes the larger items in the box. Tomorrow, some of the smaller items in the box.
Been considering buying these since getting the other Eikoh prize figures. These ones tend to go for a bit more on most sites, but on Mandarake they’re around the same price as the others. Initially I was considering one of the other… in the end it was both 😛
So, first up, Dark Archangel Metatron:
Top-down-ish view:
Love the colours, and the double-wings looks really good. Assembly was smooth, the wings were clearly keyed (not that it’s hard to work out which went where), the book I had to take a bit of care to ensure I didn’t snap the pole it goes on.
And now for Archangel Metatron:
This one was a pain in the backside to assemble, with having to balance her on three poles at once. There’s also a paint flaw on top of her lower left wing (not shown in the pics) where there’s a small dot of missing yellow paint. Bit of a shame, but displayed in the right place, it isn’t visible.
Out of the two, I prefer the Dark version of her, but both are welcome additions to my collection.
I bought the Asunas as a pair, from someone on a Facebook buy-sell group. The Rei was one I nearly bought from a Facebook seller, but theirs was without box, and there was a Japanese seller I’ve used before on eBay who had one boxed for cheaper. So I went with that one instead. I do intend to move one day, so I prefer to have the boxes for figures, if possible.
So here’s Rei and the first Asuna:
As this is on an upper shelf, the paper doesn’t show from ground-level, and looks OK. I love the Rei figure – it’s a bit shiny, and I love the Rei figures with the transparent hair. The swimsuit Asuna is also nice, and is quite striking, in its simple way.
The other Asuna, fairy Asuna:
She’s a nice figure, but the condition wasn’t 100%. There were a couple of marks on her, which I did manage to erase mostly (one on her back is a bit visible still, but can’t be arsed to completely get rid of it), and she’s a bit unstable on her base, which I may get around to fixing, if it’s ever an issue. Looks like the peg hole the water peg goes in has got a little duffed up, but it’s not a visible factor when displayed. She’s a nicely detailed figure, and happily sits on the fireplace, next to swimsuit Saber XD.
If one trip to Gloucester wasn’t enough…. I went again… the following week. Due to the rainstorms, I never got to go to the Gloucester New Antiques Centre, and still really wanted to go. Managed to talk my husband into going, and he wasn’t disappointed, lol. An amazing place with a lot of things and unexpected finds.
First up, I bought a Warcraft Mystery Mini. The box was sealed, but managed to get a character I’m happy with, Blackhand:
Neatly detailed, but deffo some sloppy paintwork on it (not really taken pics that shows the wandering paint blobs). I paid around half the going rate, which I think was a fair price to pay. I find the RRP a bit much to pay for these.
And the super-random finds… Evangelion merch!
First up
Nagisa Kaworu:
He’s supposed to come with a pole & clip, but this one didn’t have it. He doesn’t really need it though, and hasn’t leaned much. If he does, I’ll warm him up and give him a good straightening. He was on the stand backwards when I bought him, and turning him around made him stand up straighter… lol.
And a figure that I’ve seen online, that I’ve weirdly wanted, but couldn’t really justify getting imported, of Ikari Shinji:
A lesser quality than those in the Portraits range, but a rather stand-out trading figure, which is why I wanted to pick it up.
Someone was selling this on MFC, and almost didn’t go for it – was a bit more than the re-release would be, but wouldn’t involve waiting 6+ months for it. This is now my most expensive figure!
Here she is in her box:
And here she is outta the box:
Top-down view, with her holding the globe:
Closeup of her face, without the globe obscuring it:
And here’s her chibi-mates she comes with:
Overall, I’m happy with the figure, though it was a lotta money to shell out in one go. She has a space in one of the Detolfs… don’t wanna risk this one getting damaged :P.
So for these… initially picked one of them up, asked how much it was, expecting it to be something that I’d maybe buy one or two of them for. In the end, I picked up all but one, and paid for those to start with. Wasn’t so interested in the 6th – the silver octopus dude – but he let me have it for cheap, and in the process I realised I bought an entire set… so that’s a rarity for me! An entire set of something!
Here they are in all their boxes:
Some of the boxes were certainly the worse for wear, but they were all still sealed.
And here they all are outta the boxes:
When I was adding them to MFC, I realised that the catlike one is the “special” gold version, and not the one on the packet XD. Initially I thought it was just inaccurate box art, but nope, ‘tis the unadvertised version… so technically still one away from a set 😛
Bought this from a seller on Facebook, after a minor mishap with the postage.
Took a little longer to arrive than anticipated, but super-glad to have him:
Getting him spurred me onto sorting out the second hanging rail, seeing as the first one is full!
Here’s a pic of the new rail:
Not much on it for now, and I’ll possibly shorten Sonic’s string. Scissors may also move, so I have them temporarily mounted to the right for now.
Had this one shipped from France, from an MFC user.
This one I had been wanting for a short-ish length of time. Saw it in someone’s loot posts, and was like “man, I really wanna get that one”, but wasn’t hugely available, and the size potentially made shipping awkward. So I filed it into the “possibly at a later date” pile.
Then at a recent point in time I was browsing the new posts in the User Sales thread on MFC, and found someone selling stuff in euros… this one among other stuff. Asked for a shipping quote, it came up reasonable, so I bought it.
A week or so later:
Yep, I really like this one!
And from the back:
Especially love her hair 🙂
During the day, my husband sent me “📦📦📦📥”, so I joked about putting my parcel in his in-tray.
And thus I found out he can get very close to his in-tray and not notice there’s a figure in it:
He collected some paper out of the printer, I asked if he liked the contents of his in-tray, only to find out he didn’t see it!
Bought this one with Jungle Emmy, as I got a deal on the pair. Don’t know much about her, but she looks pretty.
She was smaller than I imagined, but am happy with her size. Means she’s easier to place somewhere in my rather large collection. One of these days I’ll pay more attention to the quoted sizes :P.
This figure was a bit difficult to photograph, as it doesn’t lend itself to being photoed from many angles. Think I did OK though.
Other problematic thing was putting her together – needed to heat up her feet to get her on the base, and the clear blue bits are actually two pieces, so it was an interesting time getting them to stay together whilst slotting them into her scarf.
Tried to fit her in the Gnedby, but that was a no-go with her smoke/scarf(?) trails.
Bought this one from an MFC user. This one’s an interesting figure – the clothes are kinda soft, and has a somewhat clean-but-detailed appearance.
Closeup:
The back. Couldn’t get her to pose with the spear as per the art.
Have pre-ordered the re-release of the Figma Matoi, and was hoping they would re-release Kiryuuin too, so I could get for a reasonable price… but I came across someone selling her at a price I couldn’t pass up, so I have ended up with her prior to Matoi
Super-pleased with her, and excited for Matoi. I will aim to find a space for them together :D.
I have also displayed the Rending Scissors dangled from a thread:
And a zoomed-out shot:
