Category: Eastern

Luna Luna – Queen’s Blade Rebellion

This was one figure I was planning to pick up prior to visiting Japan, after seeing it on the Mandarake website. 

Here’s her upper half, in her clothed form:

Even clothed, she’s not really that SFW, but we’ll get onto that in a minute. Her top sits nicely, and definitely looks like part of the figure when she’s wearing it, so her clothed option is definitely viable if you’re not so fond of having boobs hangin’ out. I love her four tentacles posed around her head, and her hands posed in a very dancer-ish way. I love the small details here – her rings and nail polish are both well done. 


So let’s have a look at the rest of her:

Yep. Nothin’ hanging out here at all. All good. Perfectly fine for the in-laws. Her body is well-sculpted and she has a range of details – from her shoes, to the bells on her thighs, and the gold beading encircling her lower body. Her hair also has a wonderful gradient in it, and the blending looks good. 

Back:

Here we can see where her headpiece reaches around the back of her head and also has a nice range of colour. Her hair gradient feels both subtle and vibrant. With her clothing, it dangles down and hides her bum from view. The clothing has a nice sheen to it, and I like the fact it is translucent. From this side, we can see her tentacles also have metal rings on them, which are nicely sculpted and painted. 

Now for some disassembly:

There’s a fair amount to disassemble here – both her arms, and the two tentacles that aren’t wrapper around her arms, plus her head. 

After that, we can take her top off and begin reassembling her:

Aww, still looking a bit sad here.

Assembled:

And this feels the way the figure has been designed to be displayed. Her pose somehow feels better like this to me. And the clear base definitely doesn’t do anything to distract the eye. 

Face:

I like the way her nipples don’t have the severe shading a lot of other figures seem to have. This feels much more natural. Here we can also admire the fastener for the beads around her midriff, if you’re not too distracted by boobs. 

Photo of her a bit less close:

Here we can see how two of the tentacles jut out from her arms, and are nicely curled around them. And her purple protrusion, that also acts as a clip for her body jewellery. Is it a penis? Is it not? Sources say no, but that doesn’t say it isn’t hangin’ out there like one. Nope, totally wasn’t this feature that attracted me to this figure. Not at all. Nope. 

Legs:

I love the amount of detail put into her shoe – from the vibrant, well-painted colours to the creasing down by the sole. The leg behind her fishnets feels a bit flat though, and some of her skin could do with a bit more shading imo. 

Other leg:

I like these small bells dangling down, and their flowery appearance. The top of her fishnets also is nicely coloured and designed. Some of the green paint didn’t quite reach the edges, but I feel this is a minor gripe. 

“Flower”:

Clearly not a real one, but it definitely seems to be doing its job. The translucent plastic is nicely coloured. 

Left:

Her pose feels very dynamic from this angle, and she is quite a lithe body type. 

Upper half:

I like her neckpiece from this angle. and her hair’s pretty. The seamlines feel nicely hidden in her hair. 

Right:

Maybe her leg is bulging a little bit too much here? The bell/flower on her leg dangles well, and feels correct for the pose. 

Closeup on the hairpiece:

It’s not terribly easy to photo, but I love the greenish colours, and the metallic finish. She’s also got some moon earrings on, one of which can be see at this angle. 

Back:

And here we can see her shapely backside. I love the way the jewellery has been don on her back, and finished the model nicely. Her hair is probably the most vibrant from this angle.

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure and glad I got her. She’s a nice piece of (tentacly) colour, in an interesting and dynamic pose. I love the darker skin tone, and the amount of smaller details that went into this figure. If you like this kind of figure, I’d recommend her. 

Lunatic – Tiger & Bunny

Now for the Big Bad in Tiger & Bunny, Lunatic:

I’m not sure he’s the most compelling of foes, but I do love his bright blue-green colour scheme and snappy sense of dress. For this figure, I’ve “equipped” one of his flaming hands and the flaming head. He also has another head without the flaming eyes, but that just isn’t cool enough for me. 

Left:

I love the shape of his head from the side, and he’s well-articulated. He also seems to be doing a good line in trying to get flares back into fashion. The paint is nicely done, though I’m seeing one tiny bit of sprue :P. Meh, any model kit I make is way worse. 

Right:

Here we can see his sheathed crossbow – his flaming weapon of choice. I’ve chosen to use the holstered version, as I wanted to have at least one flaming hand. It clips on decently well to his side. 

Flame:

The blues and greens are blended well in the flame parts, and look really nice imo. We can also admire some of the details in the crossbow sculpt as we’re here :). 

Back:

His suit is decently detailed on the back. His shoulders are a bit gappy though. 

Crossbow and default head:

I love the flaming detail on his crossbow. His heads are both nicely painted from the front, though a little gappy on the sides. 

Rest of the small accessories:

He has a good range of pieces, which I think gives a lot of posing options, which is something really good with this figure.

Cloak parts:

Whilst these pieces look really cool, I had massive issues getting them on, and it does somewhat limit your posing options, so I’ve decided to leave them off for now. Maybe I’ll have a go with them some other day in the far future. 

Overall, I think he’s a decent figure, even if he’s probably not a popular character. I’m glad to have him, and if you’re after him, he shouldn’t be too expensive to obtain. 

Haruna Sairenji – To Love Ru

More chibi! Get yer chibi here! Today we have Sairenji from To Love Ru in a gym outfit:

The paint quality is really nice on this one – the eyes have a fair amount of detail, and I like the blush on her cheeks. Her hairclips and clothes are also painted neatly. I like the fact she has some animation in her pose, instead of being static. 

Left:

Hair has a pretty distinct seam in it, but the hair highlights look nice, She has some shading in her hair, which is a nice touch. 

Right:

Some blobby paint on this side, d’oh, but the same isn’t quite as bad. Otherwise, fairly the same as the other side.

Back:

Not too much to see here, move along. Though the pattern on the base is nice. 

Overall, I really like this Sairenji figure. The paint quality is a cut above most chibi figures I’ve seen, and looks like Sairenji. She also wasn’t a crazy price, like most of the the To Love Ru chibis, so glad to have her. Would recommend this figure. 

Wild Tiger – Tiger & Bunny

And now for some main character action:

Whilst I don’t usually go for chibis (yet I’m doing a series of blogs featuring them…) I do rather like this one, and well, in Japan they’re cheap, lol. I liked this one for the detail on it, and I like the clear part on his head. He’s been painted well, and he has a decent amount of detail – his eyes have the black inset, the silver parts have been split into separate parts, and he has the clear shoulderpads and the guards on his arms. 

Left:

His head does have the wideness of a chibi, but doesn’t feel drastic compared to Fire Emblem. The shapes work well, and the colours feel well-chosen.

Right:

Same as the left really. I like the detailing on his legs – he has the silver edging and the green part that goes around his anke. 

Back:

He’s sculpted well back here, and you have the details of the back of his helmet, and the shapes in the white portion of the back of his suit. Some small green paint details, which help add accents to the figure.

Overall, I rather like this chibi, and am glad to have bought it. His base is better than Fire Emblem’s as you can see more of the company logo, which is also helped by his wide stance. I’d recommend this chibi, if you want a Tiger chibi. 

Fire Emblem – Tiger & Bunny

This figure I found in a bargain bin, with only half of its packaging, so he was cheap:

I love the bright colours of Fire Emblem, and this one is painted well. The decal on his head is nice, and the blue contrasts nicely with the red. They’ve made good use of transparent plastic to have him making the small flame that he does in the show. His cape is also nice and bright. 

Left:

The tip of his mask has a nice gradient to it, and the stripes are painted neatly. I find his chibi head shape a bit awkward from the sides though – looks a bit too fat. 

Right:

Some stray mustard yellow on this side, and the head seam is a lot more obvious here. Didn’t quite go fully together in assembly. His gloves looks nice though, and the cape curves a bit, which is nice.

Back:

Really liking the gradient in his cape, and the detailing on it is good. It has a sculpted shape to it, which really helps, especially with the parts at the bottom. 

The base has his company logo on, plus his name, though the logo is mostly obscured by his feet. Might’ve been better just to stick with whatever parts of the logo fit without his feet in the way, but eh. 

Again, this is a character without too many figures, so it’s nice to have him represented in my collection, even if it is in chibi form. 

Caster – Fate/Zero

GillesThis figure I bought for cheap, as he’s missing his base, but he doesn’t really need it:

And also because it’s Gilles De Rais. I find his expression a little on the odd side, but what’s there is well-painted. He has a bit of a seamline in his hair, but nothing too drastic. I can see a bit of paint slop on the bottom of his dress, but the rest is painted nicely, including the pattern on his left arm. 

Left:

Couple of seams visible here – one on the upper part of his clothing, and one in his hair, but they’re mostly hidden. Here we can see more of the linework on his arm, which looks really nice. Top has a bit of flow to it, which is nice to see.

Right:

Clothing seam is pretty well blended here. The points on his hair are sculpted nicely, and he has some fine details on his hand – you can see his rings and pointy fingernails. I love the red and blue of his… collar? Whatever it is. 

Back:

His cape hangs nicely, and the collar is painted well. Nothing to complain about here.

He’s definitely a decent chibi figure, and one I’m glad to have. I don’t think the stand really adds much (apart from ugly whiteness), so I don’t miss it at all. He doesn’t fall over either, due to his wide base for a chibi figure, so I think he looks great without it (and possibly why his previous owner no longer had it…). Glad to have another Giles to add to my collection, as there really aren’t many figures of him. 

Nagisa Kaworu – Evangelion – Gacahpon

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

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

Face:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Gachapon figure

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

EVA01 Test Type – Evangelion – LM-HG 001 Bandai

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

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

Head:

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

Knees:

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

Left:

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

Head:

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

Right:

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

Close-up of the transfer that made it:

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

Back:

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

Top of the head:

Here we can see some rather special pieces…

*Ptcffff*:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Accessory time!

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

Side:

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

From the top:

Yep, definitely happy with this one. 

The other pieces:

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

And his base:

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

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

Ryo Asuka – Devilman – Limited Color ver

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Plonk, on goes the mask:

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

Closer look at the mask:

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

He also has a winged head:

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

Side:

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

Back:

*flap flap flap*. 

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

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Introjection ver

Here we have a small Rei trading figure:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Nanael – Queen’s Blade – Revoltech

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

image

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

Front:

image

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

Pantsu, seeing as we mentioned them:

image

Enjoy. 

Left:

image

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

Right:

image

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

Back:

image

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

Base:

image

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

Accessories:

image

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

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

Nanael

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

Rider – Fate/Stay Night – Figma

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

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

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

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

Face:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Weapon close-up:

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

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

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

Red Pyramid Thing- Silent Hill – Figma

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

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

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

Back part:

Yeah, that guy’s gotta have a headache! 

Accessories:

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

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

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – Figma #14

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

So here she is:

image

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

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

Face:

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

Left:

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

Close-up of her sleeve:

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

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

Accessories:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Now for the second, Origami Cyclone:

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

Let’s see if the back fares much better:

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

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

Behemoth King & Marlboro – Final Fantasy XIII

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

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

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Now for Marlboro:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Catwoman – New 52 – ARTFX+

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

So here she is, out of the box:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

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

Without glasses:

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

Alternative glasses:

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

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

Al Azif – Demonbane – Crystal ver

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

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

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

Face:

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

Left:

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

Right:

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

Back:

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

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

Here are the two figures side-by-side:

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

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