Category: Statues (non-articulated figures)

UnBound – Shion

This is the first figure by the company UnBound so was a gamble of a preorder. However, they have partnered with Native for distribution so less of a gamble than an independent manufacturer. Native usually have fairly high standards for their own figures and those they distribute.

In recent years, Native has partnered with AmiAmi for international distribution and this was my first Native-distributed preorder with them. After placing my preorder I waited. Then I waited. And waited some more. He was originally supposed to release in January 2025 but didn’t release until December 2025.

In terms of price, he was JP¥25,200 and the shipping was JP¥3,310 for registered air small packet.

Box

For the front and the sides they went with a mostly greyscale photo:

And then a colour shot of him on top:

Felt it was rather interesting to do the art this way but does make for a striking box. The texture of the box is plasticky – I’ve seen people comment it feels cheap and I agree. The cardboard isn’t of a premium thickness, but the main issue in my opinion is that it was a poor choice of cardboard texture. It makes it feel like a cheap plastic folder – the kind you’d get from Daiso. There are parts that have gloss on them like the feathers on the front of the box so I don’t think they were cheaping out on the box design overall.

It also has a nice liner:

We’re greeted with a silhouette of the figure with logo and chains. Wasn’t initially going to include a photo of the liner in this review, but thought the detail here warranted showing it off.

Technical difficulties

When taking him out of the box one of his wings flopped off:

Er, that’s not supposed to happen. Reading the My Figure Collection comments for this figure, I’m not the only person this has happened to. Guess the QC didn’t double-check the glue on the wing pegs. From the grey smudging, I’m guessing gluing was attempted but didn’t see any evidence of residue otherwise. Pretty sure the pegs are not supposed to be friction-fit into the wings themselves.

Thankfully AmiAmi supplies you with plenty of paper, so I was able to tear a corner off and use it to gently plier out the loose peg and glue it back into the wing. Then delay the photoshoot a few hours whilst I waited for it to bond…

Clothed spin-around

Wing fixed, we can now take a good look at him as he comes out of the box:

Upon getting him out of the box his small size is immediately noticeable, compounded by the chosen pose. He’s pretty much a palm-sized figure and I don’t exactly have large palms. I like the way his wings are posed around his body and the way he has a lead attached to his clothing – wish this was an option you could clip to the other body piece.

Clothed close-ups

Face:

He has a concerned expression to fit with the “tied up” theme, along with flushed cheeks and droplet on his face. Sweat? Tear? Whichever you like. The eyes are nicely detailed and the purple colour is up my alley. The hair unfortunately lacks paint detail in the bulk of it, and in my opinion the shiny grey is odd. I’d like to see a bit more shading here and a different finish for the hair.

Clothing-wise, everything is painted neatly and there is a nice range of textures- from the metallic shiny of the clothing fabric to the shininess of the belts.

Hair from the back:

They’ve given him braids, but… ehh. The mould really isn’t selling them. There is more shading back here, but it’s not really making up for the overall finish and moulding. The two manacles look good, but one major issue – there isn’t any way of connecting them to anything without supplying your own part. His arms are nicely painted and so are his fingernails.

Side of the top:

Not sure if the pattern is supposed to represent something but does add detail to the top. Looking up close I’m not sure the inner and outer parts aligned properly but not really noticeable at a viewing distance. As this part I believe is supposed to be fabric, alignment between the pattern and the fold isn’t necessarily to be expected. In the ring they’ve snuck in a purple gem detail to give it a bit more colour.

Wings:

The sculpt isn’t super-detailed here – we just have large, coarse wings with no feather patterning but the feathers are sculpted on both sides. The paint has a few colours in it which helps add depth to the wings and not make them feel plasticky.

In the lower picture we can see where his skirt has lacing detail, which is a nice addition, plus his painted toenails.

Back:

He has a cute tie at the back of his top. Plus the super short skirt that covers absolutely nothing. They’ve sculpted some creasing back here to give the impression that it is tightly pulled over his backside, however this illusion is somewhat broken by it being a loose floating part.

Looking at this skin we can see some subtle shading – this does help add depth to his skin and I do like the gentle shading.

Feet:

Here we can see his delicately-sculpted toes and the fact they’ve actually painted the strap from his stockings around his toe. I do like this attention to detail. There is a bit of a gap where his crotch is, but that might have been me pulling at it before I did the photoshoot.

Changing of the parts

In the box he comes with a replacement crotch and upper body half. Despite already knowing this I still turned around the upper body part thinking it was a lower half at first – and I know I’m not the only one to do this. So here it is the right way up:

The skin shading is nice on this part, and we have shiny nips. Yay for male figure with nipples.

As can be seen here, there is a lot of reassembly to be done – remove arms, head, wings and lower body. The removal went smoothly, but getting his head on and wings in were a struggle. And I really didn’t want to risk being too rough with the wings with the earlier issue – I did heat up the body which helped some, but didn’t quite get the wings fully in. Likely with enough persistence I could get them fully in, but just would rather not risk it.

And now we have some leggies:

I don’t know why this amuses me, but it does. Without the skirt on, we can now see why he has some of a skirt – it works to hide the joins between the front panel of the underwear and the waistband.

In this half-assembled state we can also gain an appreciation of the skin shading – is one of the standout features of this figure in my opinion. They did well to highlight his body shape without going overboard.

Close-up before we change out the crotch:

It does look a bit gappy here, but I think that may be my fault. Wasn’t particularly noticeable until editing the photos so don’t think it’s a big issue. Though the underwear join will still show – if you don’t like this, can hide it with the skirt.

This figure doesn’t have a full SFW option – his manhood can be seen pressing up to his underwear. The effect is nicely done and looks like skin under fabric – I have seen other figures that fail to replicate this effect so kudos for UnBound doing a good job on this. Oh, and the dust “pube” isn’t included – sorry, that’s dust floating around the room.

The tattoo is cleanly printed but isn’t very detailed. Would have liked to see a bit more flair here, but it’s fine for what it is.

The crotches connect via a magnet:

We don’t see this much in licensed products, so nice to see it becoming more common. And if you’re curious, yes the chain he comes with is magnetic and can stick to the shown magnet 😆

And if you’re scrabbling around in your box going “where’s the penis?!”, it’s hidden under the cross. I think this is the other reason that people think the upper half is a lower half at first – you’re expecting to unbag a penis and you get…. a chest piece. But no, you have to dig deeper into the box to find the “goods”.

Installing the second option:

As expected of this body type, he has a dainty member. He has a very dark tip and pale shaft. I like the way they’ve done the underwear – they’ve made it fit in with the figure and be revealing at the same time. Whilst a fully naked lower would’ve been nice, this does keep the figure cost down by not having to have another lower body part.

And before we fully assemble, here he is without the wings:

If you just want a cute male figure without the wings, this works from the front. I’ll think you’re missing out, but if you prefer your men to not fly away this is an option. I’m sure there will be at least one person out there who’ll display him like this.

Less clothed spin-around

Whilst I call this his “naked form”, he’s definitely not fully naked, with the underwear, leg and arm coverings. But if you prefer your men less clothed, this “mode” definitely provides. The strap across his chest does well to hide the join and fits with the theme of the figure.

Base

The base is a fallen cross in some kind of courtyard to fit the theme of the figure:

I like the weathering and crumbling effects. I’ve seen some people complain about this base, but I like it. There is paint detail here, but the stone isn’t super-stonelike. Though to me that just makes it feel more like a modern, veneered type construction.

Close-up on the paving:

Plenty of shading to be found here. For me, I don’t mind the very defined edges, but I can see people not being a fan of how sharply the edges are defined, especially around the stairs. For me, I don’t mind it being a vignette.

In the top-right near the stairs there are some round dimples – these are for his toes to help hold him in place. There’s also a dimple for his knee by the raised tile plus two more toe dimples near the base of the cross. It’s not a sturdy hold, but does make it so he’s harder to accidentally skid across the base.

Base display spin-around

Now to put the bits together!

The base compliments him well in my opinion – it really does add to the piece especially with his small stature. Often with freestanding figures I’ll display them without base, but this one I’ll make an exception as the base adds to the figure.

And a bonus shot with him with his skirt on:

I did try to get it to sit under the tattoo – it would fit under it but it “pings” up. Probably fixable with some heat, but not bothered enough to try. I’ll be displaying him without. Not having it clip in does mean he’s displayable without it, but any deformation and it doesn’t sit in the right spot. Not 100% sure what the best solution would be to make it friendlier to fit overall, but if you do want to display him with skirt you may need to deal with it not sitting exactly in the right spot. And displaying him without means you do have the gaps in the underwear.

And pondering that – maybe bigger gaps in the underwear would be the answer – the skirt could peg into the gaps and then supply a couple of wing-shaped bows to plug in the gaps when he isn’t wearing his skirt would look cute and hide the join. Have seen this on other figures, usually on their armbands when casting off.

Base and chain

The instructions say “you can place the chain freely”, and I suggest you should – the suggestion in the instructions is to wrap it around the cross, but doing that it is barely visible. One thing I will point out is the chain is magnetic so there is likely to be iron in there – this means if you’re in a hot and humid country you may want to periodically check for rust or place it on the base only if you don’t want to risk the figure. UK has the humidity but not the heat – not personally had issues with figure chains rusting. I have imported some from Japan that did have rust, but the rustiness hasn’t increased on figures with the imported rust. The chain I believe is painted so that will also help not having it mar the figure. The rusted chains I’ve “inherited” were unpainted.

Tied to the cross:

Chain me up:

It is disappointing that his manacles don’t allow you to attach the chain nor is there any connecting loops provided. I would’ve liked for the latter to be provided – easy and cheap to supply a pile so there isn’t any issue if the connectors break. Can understand the manacle loop being all as one part – it does make it far more delicate to have a joint or gap here which may break during assembly. Have had to assemble manacles with a gap before – it’s very nerve-wracking as it’s so easy for it to go wrong and break. Plus there can be issues with the chain slipping back out again.

From the front, the chain display looks good, but from a side angle you can see his manacles aren’t attached to anything and that looks a little goofy. So if you have him displayed where you can see the side and want to use the chain, you may want to consider supplying your own jewellery rings/clips.

Conclusion

Overall I’m happy with this figure and hope to see more male figures by this brand. They do have one in the works, but awaiting for pre-orders to open for that one. Especially for a first figure, this is a solid piece and would recommend to anyone interested in it. The use of textures and shading is great, the sculpting is fairly solid and he’s cute overall. On the downsides, he is pretty small so may feel rather petite amongst bigger figures and the wing sculpt is rather on the basic side. There’s also some minor technical issues with the fitting of parts – notably that wing joint, the way the skirt sits and getting the parts into the unclothed top half. I don’t think any of them are dealbreakers personally, but can see these things being of a big annoyance to other people.

For anyone pre-ordering from this brand, I’d bear in mind he was delayed by a year. Whilst we don’t know if this will be a trend going forward, you may want to consider buying in stock if delays may affect your enthusiasm.

As of time of writing, he’s still in stock at AmiAmi if you want to grab him.

Tooth Fairy Studio – Feathered Viper – Iysis

For this one, I originally decided to pass on the preorder, being very undecided which variant I wanted and the price. However, I saw some photos from Wonfes Shanghai and changed my mind – so I ordered the last one in stock of the “Isys” variant. They did three versions –

Blue Prey (Unlimited):

Keraha (limited to 20):

And the one I ordered, Isys (limited to 20):

The limited variants were CN¥2,280 to preorder and Blue Prey was ¥1,980. I couldn’t resist the shininess of Isys, so into my cart it went.

Box

The box is nice and sturdy, decorated with a custom sticker that wraps around it:

You do need to tear through the sticker to open it, but at least this ensures it won’t open in transit. They have carefully placed the designs so you don’t need to tear through one to get into the box. For a small producer, it’s a very nice box, higher quality than my previous purchases with them which is nice to see.

Inside of the box:

The foam insert held the parts well, with extra foam pieces to ensure nothing rattles in transit. I didn’t have any big issues taking anything out of the foam. The small square held some head feathers and some putty to help stick them.

Bonuses

In the top of the box, there were two promo images printed on photo paper:

As they’re printed to photo paper, it does give them a glossy finish. I got prints 56 and 77 in the run 😆. I like the fact they gave two so you can choose what vibe you want if you wish to display these. I probably won’t, so they’ll go into my postcard album.

Instead of an edition stand, it came with a signed coaster:

Confirming I did indeed order 20 out of 20. So I suspect they did take into account the order the limited editions were ordered in – which is nice because usually you get a random allocation. I likely won’t use it as a coaster but it’ll probably float around the desk as it’s pretty. I prefer to use coasters I don’t care about ruining.

Figure spin-around

Wow, he’s a shiny, fancy fellah. I love the way he coils around the skull and feels like he’s looking at you.

Figure close-ups

Head:

So much detail to the head – the shading is excellent, the eyes have a fiery shine and the tiny details on the horns.

The three feathers on each side to the back are not initially attached to the figure – these need to be added with the putty provided. Looking into the gaps, they did do a test fit so there was already some putty on the figure. They did give plenty of extra putty if there isn’t enough – I did end up having to add a tiny bit more to get a couple of the feathers to stay. There isn’t a guide of which one goes where, so had to just fiddle around and look at the photos to work out where to put them. So whilst this was a fiddly process and I did need to reseat one after it slipped it does mean they’re not at risk of breaking whilst in transit.

I may have gone a bit overboard with the head photos (this wasn’t all the ones I took….), but it is so well-shaded. The colours are lovely and blended well. It has a very striking appearance thanks to the well-chosen colours. The glass domes over the eye print give the eyes some depth, but do not give a “following eye” look. Though the rest of this guy’s presence, you know he’s watching.

Crest:

As well as the head feathers, we have some going down the top of his spine. I like the black banding detail – gives a vibe of snakelike patterning to them. The feathers also have a good texture sculpted into them which helps with the feathery vibe.

Belly scales:

If you’ve seen my review on the Animal Planet Baron’s Racer, here’s what a more expensive belly scale paint job looks like – the shading is much more blended in and gives more depth to the scales.

Body scales:

Man, painting this must have taken forrevvverrr. I just love the shininess of the blue paint and the stripy pattern down the back. The scales are also raised, giving a spiky appearance befitting his lava skull.

Tail scales:

The colour and patterning changes at the tail, which is a neat inclusion. The colours gently shift so there isn’t a stark change between the two.

Skull:

Last but not least, the skull. With this feathered viper it has been given a lava theme, which I think fits well with Isys’s colour scheme. Here you can also see where Isys’s body colours shift from the main colour to tail colour. There is also shading on the body to represent the glowing light coming from the skull which is a neat addition. The texture and colouration of the skull work well to complement Isys himself.

Conclusion

Often with garage kit pieces, you don’t get to buy a prepainted version. Tooth Fairy Studio often offers both unpainted and painted versions of their pieces – and for this I’m grateful! I have little painting ability, let alone enough skill to produce a paint job of this quality. At CN¥2,280 it’s not a small chunk of change but for a limited production piece with this quality of paintwork I definitely felt like I got my money’s worth with this one. This is my third purchase of their prepainted kits, and it is definitely my favourite. If they release any other prepainted kits in my wheelhouse, I would definitely be considering an order.

Animal Planet – Blue Baron’s Racer

For the more budget-conscious snake figure collector, I now present the Blue Baron’s Racer (philodryas baroni) by Animal Planet. This figure was CN¥428 and is the second figure in their “Realistic Nature Series”. Most of Animal Planet’s figures have a chibi quality, so this is a line of reptiles with realistic proportions.

As they’re a company that mass-produces, we get a pretty retail box:

The company name gets translated a few different ways so you may also see “Animal Heavenly Body” and “Animal Nebula”, but it will always be the same logo. It’s a very solid box, and we have some product photos so we know what we’re getting. The lid slides off, but due to the sturdiness of the cardboard it forms a strong vacuum seal so takes some effort and time to open. They do provide a couple of small cut-outs to grab the inner of the box, but they don’t give a huge amount of purchase.

Foam:

Interestingly the foam that contains the snake is on top and the base is underneath this. Most companies will put the base on top to make it obvious it’s in there. Wonder if they’ve had to field complaints of a missing base when it’s really just hidden underneath.

The hole in the top right is for the bonus item, for those that preordered.

Front:

The Baron’s Racer comes preassembled onto the branch and does not come off. It’s not glued on, so will move around a bit. Apparently I had him slid up the branch for most of the photos, but it does slide down and sit on it properly, which will be shown in a later photo. The branch attaches to the base via a peg moulded into the base. The attachment is sturdy – sturdy enough to make it feel OK to pick it up by the branch only, but I wouldn’t recommend doing this lest the base does detach itself.

I do like the dynamicness of the pose – it was the main thing that attracted me to buy this figure.

Face:

D’aww, what a cutie. Up close we can see how the paint is less precise than expensive small batch figures – the black line does bleed a bit but will still look great on your shelf.

Lookin’ atcha:

From here we can see where there’s darker colouration near its spine and the upturned nose. It’s definitely not letting go of this tree.

Tree view:

They’ve done a really good job of the bark on the tree. Definitely has a realistic feel to it. In the second photo above you can see where there is a join in the snake – as far as joins go on mass-produced items this is actually pretty well-hidden.

Back:

The belly scales are nicely sculpted and have been given their own shade of paint and dark wash. Close-up it is a bit uneven, but from a short distance it does the job. With the unevenness of the colour some bits look a little like it has picked up some dirt vs shading on the scales.

Tail:

At first, you may miss where its tail ends, but here it is. Looking at photos of Baron’s Racers (they’re not a snake I’m super familiar with) they do indeed have no real distinction between “arse” and “tail” – whilst snakes may look like one long tail, they do actually have a tail below where their cloaca is. On some snakes there will be a distinct size/shape/pattern difference between body and tail, others you have to flip them over to find their tail. On this model we can actually see where the tail starts – if you look at the top photo you’ll see a dark line – pretty sure this is a paint detail to show the anal plate (that’s where the stinky poos and wee come out of).

Looking at the inner part of the tree, I like the texture on it but the way they’ve painted the core makes it feel like a cartoon tree versus the rest of it. Whilst some trees do have a band between the lighter and darker parts, I feel it would have been better to either not have it or blend it in. It’s far from a dealbreaker though as this part isn’t really that much on show.

Couple of angles:

I love that they went for a tangled pattern around the branches and it is poised to potentially strike – it certainly gives the figure more interest versus a simple coil or pile. So what it may lack in paint detail it makes up for in pose and sculpt.

And now for that preorder bonus:

Aww, a hatching Baron’s racer! So cute! Does seem to have a bit of bug-eye but it’s not a real snake, so no need to worry about its genetics.

Some other angles:

I feel some artistic license has been used here to make it more aesthetically pleasing – snake shells are normally quite thin and snake babies normally cut a slit (or six..) so they don’t fold out as is shown here. But to model that would be a pain and potentially not show much of the snake head, so I think this is a reasonable compromise as this way you don’t get any seams on the egg. You wouldn’t get the egg yolk-looking stuff in the egg either – normally it’s mostly snake with some egg white. They may have some yolk left to absorb attached to their belly button (yep, they have them!).

When displayed, you don’t really see into the egg unless you plan to put it on a low shelf. The base has a velvet bottom so you can place it on the main base without damaging it:

The eggs bonus helps the large base look less featureless:

You can also enjoy the main Baron’s Racer being sat properly on its branch in this photo. When the egg is posed like this, it does look more like a slit in the egg rather than a large hole, so the artistic licence paid off. It’s also a bonus item that you technically paid less for, as the instock price for this figure is CN¥448, so preordering saved CN¥20 as well as netting this extra cutie.

I do like the way it adds detail to the base and stares up at moma? papa? Due to the way the main snake stretches out on the branch it needs a bigger base to counterbalance, so having something to add to the base does make the whole piece more aesthetically pleasing. For instock orders however, going to have to find your own snake-flavoured decoration if you want to add to the base.

Overall I like this figure – it’s pretty unique as far as snake figures go on the current market. In terms of improvements, I’d prefer if the tree ends were less cartoony and if the seam was a little better hidden, however the seam does show up less when not under photography lighting. For the price point, the paint detail and quality is as you’d expect. For anime collectors, it’s about the same price as a Pop Up Parade or a couple of prize figures. I feel it fits into that space of premium budget figures, but is a figure for snake lovers.

Snake Gorge – Ball Python (normal morph)

Continuing my snake purchases from Snake Gorge, I pre-ordered this ball python figure. I was particularly interested in this one as I have a normal morph ball python as a pet. Ball pythons are also known as Royal pythons and have the scientific name of Python regius.

So I paid my deposit, paid the balance and CN¥1,880 and some days later…

See the red writing on the right? Yeah, that restriction stops you from shipping an item out. Oops. And that’s a lot of money to spend on something I couldn’t return and potentially ship out. After writing an email to support, thankfully they changed the restriction and allowed me to ship out. I wasn’t worried about customs issues personally – on an x-ray it would appear as an inorganic “poo” (last I checked PU resin didn’t have any bones or organs), and anyone inspecting it for more than two seconds would know it was a resin model. However the proxy was nervous about it, so slapped it with the most restrictive restriction… which still allowed EMS, so EMS it went. Didn’t even hesitate to clear Chinese or British customs. Glad to know I can still import PU resin.

But hey! It’s a testament to Snake Gorge’s quality! So realistic your proxy may refuse to ship it 😅. I would love to order one of their 1:1 scales, but they’re around CN¥5,000 and not sure if I want to deal with the back and forth to be allowed to ship it. Oh, and also scrounging up the CN¥5,500-6000 to buy and ship it.

Snake Gorge just package their snakes in foam:

Not the most glamourous, but gets the job done. The snake itself came in a plastic bag so that it wouldn’t rub up against the foam.

So let’s have a look at him:

Well, I say “him”, not sure how you can sex a resin snake, especially when the species lacks external physical traits to denote gender. No cloaca to probe on this one. But hey, this one I won’t have to clean up any stinky poops! Or get lost behind my desk…

Let’s take a better look at his face:

D’aww. Certainly looks the part with his cute face, heat pits and triangular body. At first I wasn’t so keen on the whitish areas between some of the scales, but this is part of the patterning of a ball. Can see my pet snake has these too. The painting is very precise – the patterns are sharp and keep to the scales.

Some side views:

Honestly can’t fault the shape. They’ve even given his body some folds near where he’s sharply folded himself. This fellow has decided to tuck his tail up into a fold – mine I’m pretty sure prefers to curl his tail beneath him and tuck it in there.

Back view:

He looks nice all around – his pattern stretches all over his body which is nice to see. The faded areas are where the pattern would fade towards his belly scales, but think there are some areas that may have benefitted from a bit of darker paint.

On the second image you can see where they have moulded a flat bottom for him – one key feature a real snake doesn’t have. This doesn’t show when viewing him normally, and didn’t really notice it until photographing him to show it off.

From the top:

Yep, that’s definitely a ball python in a ball! Can definitely appreciate the pattern from this angle, and the way they’ve incorporated the colour fade into the head stamp. His head looks a lot like my pet python’s head.

Bottom:

Instead of the coaster depicted in the original promo images, they’ve gone for giving him a flat base and a layer of velvety material to protect your table/vivarium top.

And what’s that?

Another feature that real snakes lack – a logo baked into their side to say who made them. Another feature I didn’t notice until I sent some photos to someone on Discord. Can also get an appreciation of the paintwork up close – there’s some speckling to add texture and detail to the scales.

Overall, I’m really pleased with him. He was pricey, but you do get a lot of detail and accuracy to the real thing. He’s a handful in size – so you could think of him as a juvenile or a ~1/2 scale adult. There’s a good amount of weight to the figure – I’d say heavier than a python of this size would be. Would recommend to someone who has the budget for a realistic-looking snake model.

And for those who want to see what the cork base looks like, here’s the one I got with a hognose I haven’t reviewed yet:

He covers up pretty much the whole design, pretty much only leaving the outer circle. So I can see why they ultimately chose not to include the cork base. The hognose only takes up the centre so you can read the outer text. I put the hognose in an acrylic case with the other two snake models I reviewed and it wasn’t big enough to accommodate this base, so I could sit him on it if I want to.

Sense Energy Studio – Kenta

This fellow was a random purchase – bought him from a collector in a Discord for collectors who collect male statues/figures.

After doing some research, turns out this dude has a backstory:
In 2230, humanity’s exploration of multidimensional space eliminated material scarcity and simultaneously led to the evolution of the spirit, gradually progressing towards a higher level of life.
With evolution, humans lost their emotions and feelings, which circulated and were sold as currency. Only a few people are born with the ability to generate emotions; they are called emotion creators.
If it is proven that androids can generate emotions, it will be a great step forward for humanity.

So… I guess we’ll see what kind of emotions this guy generates!

In the box, he comes naked, so let’s try him out in his naked state:

Definitely some good muscle tone on this guy! I like the way the skin is shaded – adds a lot of definition to the piece. The joints on his arms are nicely blended in, however the legs less so. Whilst he doesn’t have any extra legs, they do detach to facilitate dressing him so you don’t risk breaking him at the crotch or ripping the trousers. He has speckled skin – not sure if I’m fully sold on the speckles. On some figures the speckling can help the skin look more realistic but on this guy I think they went a little over the top and in certain lighting it can look more like dirt than skin texture. At a distance it isn’t distracting though. I may have checked a couple of times it wasn’t dirt…

Face:

Some definitely chiselled looks going on here. Not sure I’ve seen a human with such a boxy nose, but he is an android, so we can let him off. Not quite sure what to make of his expression – I think he might be up to something.

He can also be pleased to see you:

Don’t think that’s made him much happier, but both these attachment options work well and look good.

Let’s check out another angle:

That’s definitely some sproing going on there. The muscliness continues around this side, though his upper arm muscles are looking somewhat odd. On this side, we can see he’s gone for a fade to blend his hair to his beard. The hair has been moulded so it is raised from the skin, but from some angles it does look a bit like a tattoo than hair as there isn’t texture to it.

Butt view:

He has an interesting pattern on his back – I think they were aiming for bodybuilder but it doesn’t really match up with that and looks like a symbol so I feel it gives “constructed human” vibes – which isn’t off the mark seeing as he is an android.

Looking at his hair also gives a bit of android vibe as the cut at the bottom of his fade is very straight, again, giving that almost tattoo look.

The arm and leg seams are pretty apparent – arm seams aren’t the most distracting, but there’s no missing the butt seam. Especially as it’s attached to one of the most rectangular butts I’ve seen – wish his cheeks were a bit more rounded.

Finally, we can see he didn’t skip leg day and we have some muscle definition back here too. Not quite as much as the front, but enough to let you know those legs are strong.

Closeup of the “goods”:

A good amount of sculpt and paint detail down here. No shading in the pubic hair, but his face/hair is more cartoon than realistic appearance. The colour tone also matches the body well.

OK, what if we prefer our androids to be more… cyber? Well, we’re in luck!

Yeah! The 90s strike! He has transparent arms and cock to match. In a very cyberesque blue-purple combo. There isn’t any transition between the shoulders and the arms, so I can see that being off-putting for some people. I think it would’ve been nice to paint a transition on the translucent part, but in some way it does give a “plug and play” feel to him.

Closeup of one of the arms:

Very glossy. Also highly refractive so you can’t really see through it which I think helps improve appearance.

Let’s spin him around:

Cyber sproing, Not too much to add, the arms do look nice with their glossiness and the colour transitions on them work well.

Let’s go to the back:

No cyberbutt to install, so just the arms back here. In a way, feels like there’s less of a seam versus the fleshy arms.

Flaccid cyberdick:

He also has a flaccid dick in the same style, just in case you don’t want him ready for action. This one does suit his expression better.

Close-ups of both the cyber options:

No blending in with the skin colour here, but the colours work well for what they are. Here we have the hair to help with the transition between body and penis.

Now to clothe him:

Heh, android torso.

OK, let’s put him back together:

Dressing him wasn’t too hard. The trousers were tight so getting the legs in was a bit interesting, especially when trying to not let the leg tops scrape each other when putting the second one in. Was expecting to go thigh up the trouser leg, but that wouldn’t go so he put his trousers in the more normal direction. Being able to put his legs in one at a time was certainly less fiddly than trying to get two very tight trouser legs on at the same time.

For the shirt, I ended up having to disconnect the arms to get them into the shirt then remagnetise them and slip the shirt over his shoulder. Due to being folded in transit, the clothes do have a bit of a life of their own, but could be fixed with an iron should someone want to.

Both the trousers and shirt have velcro openings. So you could shut the shirt if you wanted, and open his trousers to attach a penis – the trousers, much like a cheap hotel, have no ball room.

Closeup of his face and glamour shot in the shirt:

Honestly, I like the clothes more than I thought I would. If you wanted an ordinary dude looking figure, this would fit the bill. The clothes have been nicely made with a good amount of detail. We have the correct seams and buttons, which is nice to see at this scale.

The back:

Looking very smart-casual from the back. His shirt does ruck up a bit strange at the back, but it does give his body more shape. Can see the trousers hugging tight to his legs and buttocks. His arse does look better in the trousers imo.

However if we take the shirt off:

…he clearly didn’t get the trousers tailored. Due to the shape this gap isn’t helped by adding anything at the front. So if displaying him shirtless, he only looks good from the front.

Overall, the clothes look better than I anticipated – clearly effort went into making these clothes as they have details like buttons, pockets and belt loops. However, if the main appeal is the “cyber” parts, the shirt will obscure a portion of the arms and for the penis you’d need to have it poking out of his trousers. I won’t be using the clothes after this review, so can’t comment if they’ll stain over time – for clothes on figures, I’d recommend handwashing prior to use, and see about putting a protective layer between the figure and the clothes where possible. If dye leaches into a figure, it’s very difficult and sometimes impossible to get out.

Overall, he’s a nice figure but not without his flaws. Personally I’d be happy to do without the clothes and have the legs as part of the body. It may have been fun to have some cyber legs, but that may have been a bit much. Human upper, cyber lower may have been a fun look though.

Now, let’s get onto the price… From what I can find he had a domestic price of ~US$240 (CN¥1680) and was being sold internationally for ~US$270-300. I paid US$100 plus US$26 shipping, which is a far more reasonable price for him. I don’t think he’s worth over US$200 – there are too many seams and small imperfections to command this price, as well as being a very straightfoward pose. If we compare him to Gentleman Studio’s Samael, he was only CN¥888, and there is a lot more paintwork and detail on offer there. Gentleman Studio likely has far better economies of scale, but this guy should’ve really been closer to the CN¥1000 mark in my opinion. If someone handed this statue and asked me to guess the MSRP in USD, I probably would have said somewhere $100-150, not $250! So I’d say this is only one to chase down if you’re really into the aesthetic and happy to pay a premium for that or manage to find one cheap.

For me, I was attracted to the “cyber” aesthetic parts, so I’ll be displaying him with the clear arms and erect penis. Certainly a unique figure. And does he inspire emotions? That he does. Maybe not in spades, but there’s definitely something there.

Snake Gorge – Chinese Moccasins

Here are two snake figures from Snake Gorge, both of a  Chinese moccasin (Deinagkistrodon). The Chinese common name translates to “five-step snake”, so that’s what shows up on Taobao.

First is the snake equivalent of a bust:

Snappy bugger that he is!

He cost CN¥398 (~£42). He’s about 10cm tall, so not particularly large but the paint more than makes up for the small size. This one is out of stock, but they do have some of the large and medium cobra heads in stock.

And now for the second dude chilling on a rock:

Such a cute guy chilling on a rock! He cost a bit more at CN¥780. As of time of writing, Snake Gorge have 3 left in stock in their store. He’s about 12cm in the longest dimension and 4.5cm tall. So another small fellah, so I’d say this one is for the snake lovers willing to pay a premium for a snake resin plus the paintwork. As for the paintwork, the paint on the snake itself is on point, but the rock is only so-so in my opinion. Still, a cool and unique piece to add to my collection.

As these guys were small, postage was cheap at CN¥76 (£8) for the pair. I chose to double-box and add some loose EPE as the packaging they came in wasn’t super-substantial. Thankfully the foam in their original shipping boxes protected them. The packaging wasn’t commercial – just some cut foam held together with toothpicks, so likely a very small outfit producing these. If you’re willing to pay a pretty penny for some premium-painted snakes, these may be for you. If not, feel free to enjoy my photos of them :).

Official vs Bootleg: Tea Time Cats – Cow Cat & Lemon Cat

Time for a special one-off revival of Official vs Bootleg! This series isn’t coming back full time, but this bootleg was not to be missed. This will also be a bumper edition as we have two figure variants to cover. Hope you enjoy!

For those not familiar with these figures, the Cow Cat is the original release and the Lemon Cat was a limited edition recolour, though the edition size was large enough to satisfy demand. As of time of writing, Ribose have a number available in their Taobao store, and AmiAmi is still waiting on their stock.

Pricing

Cow Cat

MSRP (without tax): ¥JP 8,100
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥JP 7,635 (£40.05)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £9.50

The official I bought in a Hobby Genki sale

Lemon Cat

MSRP (without tax): ¥CN 369
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥CN 447 (£47.14)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £8.81

The official I pre-ordered from the Ribose Taobao store.

A bootleg that’s a fifth of the price of the original? What could go wrong, sign me up!

Box

Front:

https://i.ibb.co/j9VwY9PL/box-front-orig.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/jvgjF2cS/box-front-lemon.jpg

The bootleg boxes vary significantly in looks and size from the officials. Also I’m hoping there’s a TARDIS in there for the signature accessory…
The official boxes have nice touches like foiling, understated design elements and telling us what year these were conceived in. We also get to learn that “DLC” is “Decorated Life Collection”, not downloadable content. Whew.
The bootlegs? None of that. Poorly-taken photos of both the figures should you want to see them in a worse light than the box view gives you. Well, at least the box photography makes me feel better about my own 😆. Google Translate tells me the Chinese translates to “Tea Party Cat Series”, so at least that ties up.

Side:

https://i.ibb.co/k2P5Rpdz/box-side.jpg

Both the left and right sides are duplicates on all the boxes. The Cow Cat offers us a “breakfast tea” design, and the Lemon Cat offers us lemons. The bootleg offers us the same ugly photo. Here we can see that the bootleg box borrows the colour scheme from the cow version and the design elements from the lemon version. So a small amount of points in combining the designs like that, only we’ll take them away for repeating that poor photograph.

Top and bottom:

https://i.ibb.co/W4S0LP8r/box-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/gFWQwV5z/box-bottom.jpg

Not too much to see on these. The bootleg uses the same kind of box construction with the triangular flap bottom. Though we can see the crease through the back of the box where it came flatpack with the figures. Yes, I had to box my own bootleg…

Back:

https://i.ibb.co/KcPcX740/box-back.jpg

The backs of the official boxes come with lots of warnings and information about the figure, plus a blurb about the figure line. We also have a shiny authentication sticker.
The bootleg? Yep, same ugly photo as the other sides. Can’t get away from it!

Inner:

https://i.ibb.co/bMR62jQp/box-inner.jpg

Both the officials come with a liner that matches the theme of the outer box. The bootleg is plain – well, at least we get away from that haunting photo in here.

For the boxes on these, there’s no mixing these up. Whilst the official boxes don’t offer a view of the figure there is a reason for this – I expect most people know why, but if not it will be revealed shortly.

Unboxing

For the officials we have two foam blocks:

https://i.ibb.co/Hf2V6Tpt/blue-teapot-packaging.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/m5N04gkf/yellow-teapot-foam.jpg

For the Cow Cat only, we get instructions:

https://i.ibb.co/jPkgbxb1/blue-instructions-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/chLDvd3f/blue-instructions-back.jpg

And all the boxes contain some kind of packaged cat:

https://i.ibb.co/393bTB2K/blue-packaged-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/G4545qQV/blue-packaged-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/JWCGyTcx/yellow-blister-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/DHCbPsML/yellow-blister-back.jpg

Officials have some functional blisters and the bootlegs have a baggie. Well, I suppose the baggie stops all two or three pieces from making a break for it.

Accessories

Time to see what we get with each one!

Each one comes with an ice cube, should you wish for iced tea.
Cow Cat’s cube:

https://i.ibb.co/JwL3RSRW/blue-cube.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/jPwrZzW4/blue-cube-facing.jpg

(yeah, these were some of the first pics I took, managed to get them around the wrong way… it’s been awhile!)

Lemon Cat’s cube:

https://i.ibb.co/vvL89JH7/yellow-base-2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/vvL89JH7/yellow-base-2.jpg

The official ones are much more regular-shaped than the bootleg ones, plus have a yellowish tinge. The official ones are much more practical for posing, but I have to say the bootleg ones do have more character.

For the Cow Cat, only the official one has bases:

https://i.ibb.co/QFCkfD7m/blue-official-bases-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/bg00B17B/blue-twofoot-base-bottom.jpg

Yep, the two-footed base has “Illustrate by” on the bottom. The two-footed base is if you want to just display her balanced on the cube, the second base is for the accessory coming up.

For Lemon Cat both the official and bootleg have the two-footed base:

https://i.ibb.co/5W947Xct/yellow-base-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/j9wjYTvT/yellow-base-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/G4fYJ5P4/yellow-base-bottom.jpg

More “Illustrate by” action on the official one. The official base is paw-shaped but the bootleg has gone for a more flower-like shape. From the front view we can see this bootleg uses pegs whilst the official just has cups to hold the figure’s feet. The official bases also have the yellow tint the cubes do.

Only the official Lemon Cat comes with the singular foot base:

https://i.ibb.co/BKCd2Ngh/yellow-foot-base.jpg

And now for the pièce de résistance accessory, the teapot:

https://i.ibb.co/99VRm02G/blue-teapot-emerging.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/B5zshtVW/yellow-teapot-escaping-foam.jpg

The teapots for the official figures are packed well, so should survive international transit. Mine both did thankfully.

Cow Cat’s teapot:

https://i.ibb.co/TBZ4QTnX/blue-teapot-side.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Q37j5q3N/blue-teapot-top.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/mCMzG15g/blue-teapot-inside.jpg

It’s a nice teapot. No idea if it’s food-safe, but definitely looks the part.

Lemon Cat’s teapot:

https://i.ibb.co/Z6HzvNVg/yellow-teapot-with-lid.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/xqxJ2ng6/yellow-teapot-lidless.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/1JJTwVb1/yellow-teapot-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/cSyLPcV4/yellow-teapot-lid.jpg

This one feels more like a prop than a functional teapot, but it’s still pretty. Love the little design on the lid.

The bootlegs are sadly teapotless so not very tea time cats.

The official Lemon Cat also comes with this badge:

https://i.ibb.co/1YPcvbvX/yellow-badge.jpg

Is very sparkly and shiny.

Accessory-wise, you’re getting a lot more with the officials. Equally well, they cost more than a tenner. But in my opinion the accessories are worth it.

Cow Cat

Spin-around balanced on the ice cube:

https://i.ibb.co/N2nKgh0s/blue-spin-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/5h9bTH4Y/blue-spin-right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/N2kmjTp8/blue-spin-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/jv16mSDz/blue-spin-left.jpg

Oh, erhm, looking like we get what we pay for here… Not gonna lie, the serious derpiness of this bootleg is why I resurrected the series for a special. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and look at the details.

Face:

https://i.ibb.co/pBp7vZy0/blue-face.jpg

I swear that bootleg is being angrysad at me… The bootleg’s hair lacks paint shading and is shiny plus the moulding has gone a bit globby. The bootleg’s face shape has taken on a much more rounded shape making her look fat. Also she is reflecting my lighting nicely. The eyes are reasonably detailed on the bootleg but can see how the print quality has suffered up this close. The paint job on the bootleg’s hat is poor, plus we have some good ol’ dirt. Just what everyone wants with their figure.

Let’s take a closer look at that hat:

https://i.ibb.co/fYLZQYjT/blue-hat.jpg

The golden detail is supposed to be an anchor, not a candelabra! Or maybe a fishing hook? Not sure. Whatever it is, it shows how slapped-on the paint is on the bootleg and the lack of mould detail in some parts of this very cheaply made bootleg.

Backs of the ears:

https://i.ibb.co/WvKrMXKC/blue-ears-back.jpg

An attempt was made at shading for the bootleg, but it is very roughly sprayed plus not a colour that blends into the design. Whack some white paint on it, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Pigtails:

https://i.ibb.co/WNGjCBFp/blue-pigtails-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/nNMCsQNy/blue-pigtail-side.jpg

Here we can see where the bootleg had the extras added to the hair mould instead of being separate parts. One of those things you wonder if it was an earlier scrapped design or they actually went to the effort of modifying or recasting the mould to include them. Looking at the little details, I don’t think they parted out an original one and recast that – the shapes don’t align for that. Having the separate parts definitely adds to the figure – glad the official went this route so we didn’t have mutant hair. In the side shot you can see how it adds more dimension to the figure too.

Tail:

https://i.ibb.co/35p6Bb9K/blue-tail.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/svgrXYhz/blue-tail-tip.jpg

Again, some half-attempted shading for the bootleg and nowhere near enough paint applied to get it to properly overpower the black, plus a scratch on top. Official went for a more cream colour, which I think is more in keeping with the aesthetic of the figure. The bootleg has also lost detail in the mould as well as having a fairly obvious seamline. And more of that glossy-shininess.

Bow on the back of the dress:

https://i.ibb.co/yn7yLbJJ/blue-bow.jpg

The official is a much more delicate sculpt and has shading on it, whilst the bootleg ends up a bit too thick and a flat blue.

Bow on the side of the dress:

https://i.ibb.co/dJsF4qdQ/blue-dress-bow.jpg

The bootleg has gone for making this part of the dress mould, which again loses that extra dimension a separate part would give you. Also missing the pearlescent paint that the official has.

Hands:

https://i.ibb.co/9HD0q66w/blue-cuffs.jpg

And yet more flattening of the moulded details with the cuffs – starting to think the bootleg’s dress is a dupe 😆. The white band on the bootleg is surprisingly competent given the rest of the paint mess in this area – not to say it is good, but better than other bootlegs in this regard. Interestingly, the bootleg’s hands stick out much further from the dress and are angled differently. The official has gone for some shading on the skin, but no nail polish whilst the bootleg goes with nothing.

Feet:

https://i.ibb.co/ds7r6QSM/blue-paws-side.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/4gTzndyp/blue-paws-bottom.jpg

For the legs, both have gone for a bright white. Back leg on my official isn’t shaded the best, but the bootleg one has both legs shaded poorly plus scratches.
When we look under the feet, the official has toe beans, but the bootleg misses this detail entirely. Instead we’re treated to extra seams.

Under the dress:

https://i.ibb.co/9H13X2VR/blue-underskirt.jpg

Interestingly, the bootleg adds in knicker detail whilst the official doesn’t allow looking that far up the legs. Weirdly the bootleg has a peachy underskirt whilst the official’s is white. I didn’t capture it well in this shot, but the bootleg’s underskirt has a chunky and less refined feel to it, as well as being shiny plastic.

Lemon Cat

One cat down, one to go. So how does this one compare? First we need to assemble the bootleg, as the head fell off in transit:

https://i.ibb.co/chHxPWpT/yellow-bootleg-parts.jpg

The head doesn’t fit on too well on this bootleg so not surprised it fell off in transit. It wasn’t so bad it was falling off during reviewing but isn’t the tightest fit.

Here she is with her ice cube:

https://i.ibb.co/zvDrmrn/yellow-front-with-blocks.jpg

Ooh, ehehe. These two can balance without the cube, so here’s a spin-around without the cube:

https://i.ibb.co/PGLWYYnp/yellow-front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/xtMVfngk/yellow-right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/gMXyMWB4/yellow-back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/27L2t9Xg/yellow-left.jpg

With its neon-green dress, this bootleg doesn’t disappoint either. Well, so long as you weren’t buying this expecting authentic quality…

Now for the detailed look – let’s start with the face again:

https://i.ibb.co/mrsx1kHc/yellow-face.jpg

Some sad pouting from the bootleg. And oh yes, more dirt. The hair on this bootleg looks worse in mould and colour versus the Cow Cat. The eye prints also fare worse as they’re not only slightly poorer quality but the wrong colour too. She also has the problem of an overly round face and shiny skin. She also manages to suffer from some poorly-applied rouge.

Hat:

https://i.ibb.co/0jMV9kpm/yellow-hat.jpg

Didn’t take a photo of the hat emblem apparently, but the bootleg’s is the same “fish hook” design, but even worse paint. Feel like they tried even less with the hat on this bootleg and just feels like someone stuck a green macaron to her head.

Back of the head:

https://i.ibb.co/twJTtSHn/yellow-ears-back.jpg

Some more poor airbrushing on display here with the bootleg. The colour is different, but works in its own weird way. The shiny yellow of the bootleg hair still looks tacky though.

Hair details:

https://i.ibb.co/ymWqScDp/yellow-hair-bows.jpg

Same story here of the official having separate parts but the bootleg moulding everything as one. And boy, did that bow on the right suffer for it. Interestingly the bootleggers busted out the gold paint for the starfish.
Looking at the dress collars the bootleg significantly deviates from the original design – it did sort of try and emulate the round part, but seemingly on a shirt under the dress. The tie mould is an utter mess and we’re entirely missing the white panel and instead have some smaller buttons painted directly onto the dress.

Tail:

https://i.ibb.co/sJQ3jDCB/yellow-tail.jpg

We have the same colour mismatch here as the head, and the same mould loss and shininess of the other bootleg.

Hands:

https://i.ibb.co/HLhFFMBz/yellow-hands.jpg

The bootleg’s cuffs are even worse than the Cow Cat’s – barely painted with white and lacking the stripe. The hands also are poking out further, but this bootleg’s mould is so, so bad – mutant stubby hands.
Also the bootleg’s arms look like gummies to me. Mmm, forbidden sweeties…

Side of the dress:

https://i.ibb.co/XkJnpR9y/yellow-dress-side.jpg

And this is where the bootleg Lemon Cat really lacks – there is no attempt at the print on the official’s dress. Plus for whatever reason they’ve gone for bright green translucent plastic – not sure what they were thinking with this one to be honest. Some kind of 90s chic? We’re also missing the gold lining on the back part of the sailor uniform.
Again, we have bows made into part of the dress, plus the bow on her back shares the same flaws as Cow Cat’s.

And the front details of the dress:

https://i.ibb.co/6c03PWTB/yellow-skirt-front.jpg

Well, details for the official. Not so much the bootleg. Man, this bootleg dress is so, so bad…
As the bootleg lacks the white front piece, here are more buttons directly on the dress whilst the official informs us she’s the Lemon Tea cat.
Still unsure what the bootleg was thinking choosing this plastic for the dress.

Underskirt:

https://i.ibb.co/nq8N3RSS/yellow-underskirt.jpg

Again, the knickers make an appearance on the bootleg plus another peachy underskirt. The official mixes it up with a lemon-toned underskirt to match the figure’s theme.
The bootleg has much bigger brown patches on its legs, whilst the official the brown is limited to the feet.

Feet:

https://i.ibb.co/HpYJyGf7/yellow-upskirt.jpg

The bootleg’s feet have holes instead of toe beans – the bootleg they actually pegged to the base. Which was probably the most sensible design decision on show here from the bootleg. The official can balance fine on its base, but pegs would allow for the bootleg to be less centrally balanced. Not tested, but wouldn’t be surprised if the balance was off.

This bootleg, in my opinion, manages to be even worse than the Cow Cat one. The shininess issues are more apparent and it is very noticeably different than the official. If you bought this bootleg advertised with the official pictures there would be zero question you weren’t sent the item in the photos. And seriously, what’s going on with the dress? If it was 90s, sure, clear plastic was cool, but here it manages to look even worse than a mediocre paint job.

Conclusion

Overall, these bootlegs likely aren’t fooling anyone unless they’re unaware that an official version exists. But sometimes it’s fun to see how bad bootlegs can get. They’re not “Sader” level of bad, but… they certainly aren’t great. There are much better things to spend a tenner on than these.

You could use the ice cubes that come with the bootlegs with the officials if you wanted:

https://i.ibb.co/tTzBKLFJ/blue-official-kitty-with-boot-cube.jpg

But that’s about the extent of the use of these figures. The moulds are bad, the paint’s bad, you don’t even get the full product. Sure you could repaint them, but you’d still have bits of blobby mould to try and cover up. Can only polish a turd so much.

Teapot time!

As the bootlegs didn’t include the teapots, I didn’t include them in the main body of the article. But I’ve gotta try ’em in their teapots!
Here’s the Cow Cats and Lemon Cats in their respective teapots:

https://i.ibb.co/zVz6QHsJ/blue-kitty-in-teapot.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/ynPhDD31/yellow-in-teapot.jpg

It kinda helps the bootlegs be more cute… but let’s face it, not improving their looks.

Then I tried switching them:

https://i.ibb.co/Q3gqQp0z/blue-fatsoing.jpg

Yeah, bootleg Cow Cat won’t fit into the glass teapot 😆.

So here they are, best as I could pose them:

https://i.ibb.co/JwPHKD1b/yellow-in-blue-teapot.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/RkHD5vSr/blue-in-yellow-teapot.jpg

Lemon Cat works in the blue teapot as well as the official Cow Cat in Lemon’s tea pot. However, nothing stopping bootleg Cow Cat looking beached. Truly not a good fit.

Hope you enjoyed this comparison, see you in, uh, three years or so?

Sanis Alternate Colour ver – ClayM

Have you ever bought a figure or item just to document it? Well, now I can firmly add myself to that list. I have bought stuff out of curiosity, but this one firmly falls into this camp. If you are just here to see the figure, feel free to skip down to where the pretty pictures start :).

I did a review of the original figure – which can be found here

The ordering

I skipped out on the pre-order. I was curious about seeing it but didn’t feel the need to own it – whilst she had 90s cool, I had the original which has a more appealing colour scheme to me. I could just wait for photos to appear on the internet from someone else who bought it right? Was especially curious how the silver parts would turn out.
So I waited. And I waited. Nothing. She’s not MFC-eligible, so that was one source that was out. Nothing appeared on hpoi or anywhere else I searched.

Finally I cracked, and tried ordering her from the ClayM store – only the order languished unfulfilled so I cancelled it. AmiAmi had stock – playing with the basket they only appeared to have one in stock – so it felt like now or never. No waiting for her to hit clearance like I originally expected her to go – her original version did get clearanaced at AmiAmi. So I ended up ordering her, she went to “orders closed” as expected, but then a day or two later they had another in stock. Not sure if they didn’t know their stock level or found another one when they went to pack my order – but she’s now out of stock again. As of writing, Hobby Search as “a few left” of the deluxe edition.

As she’s a big box I sent her surface. Took 78 days to arrive to my door – surface has been slowww from Japan to the UK for the past 6-12 months. But she finally got here, for me to share with the world.

Notes about the figure

Manufacturing/Production

This figure is a prime example of how the whole Chinese “pipeline” works and why the MFC data with manufacturers and producers gets all tangled up.
Both Sanis figures were produced (which includes manufacture) by 寶德(香港)貿易有限公司’s (Baode (Hong Kong) Trading) subsidiary 惠州市盛世文化有限公司 (Huizhou Shengshi Culture). However, for the first release this was distributed under Lechery in the Japanese region – some Japanese “manufacturers” actually just commission stuff to be produced under their name. Years ago, this would be an opaque process and it’d be regarded as some nameless factory did the production, however in the 2020s we’ve seen a lot of “behind-the-scenes” manufacturers become their own brands and market their own figures. For this recolour, Lechery wasn’t involved and Shengshi released it under their own branding of ClayM in all regions. A lot of what is presented as a manufacturer, especially for Chinese figures, is actually just a brand. Often the underlying company has a longer Chinese name and then the brands are often in English and have much more attractive names to a casual audience. For ClayM, you will have also seen their releases under the Kaitendoh branding – Time Rabbit Yuki was also a ClayM product and you’ll see their logo on the box.
If you want to know how the Chinese work out who is related to who, they can look up the company on their company registry (which they have now locked down from foreigners, RIP) and see what trademarks are registered to the parent company. Ones that are separate company entities can share directors, revealing there’s a relation between certain companies.

Scale

With the mixed distribution, the scale of this figure is either 1/5 or 1/6 depending on who you believe. So whilst you’ll see the original marketed as 1/5 or 1/6 depending where you buy, there isn’t two different-sized versions of this figure – ClayM advertised her as 1/6 and Lechery advertised her as 1/5. Which is right? Who knows. If it helps you decide a scale, her head is about 43mm tall from chin to top of head (not including horns). By my calculations, if you believe her to be human-sized she’s 1/5 (average human head is 18-20cm, so 21.5cm full size is close), if you think she’s more Amazonian then she’s 1/6. As far as I know, the original artist hasn’t been fully revealed, so can’t ask to see if she has anything of a canonical height.

Review!

Box

Front:

https://i.ibb.co/nqrt53Cs/box-front.jpg

Interestingly, despite going back and editing the box they haven’t updated with new photography – we see the original colour variant on the front and the sides. As the sides are identical to the original, I didn’t photograph them. For the front the ClayM logo is now printed onto the box and the “Sanis” logo has been refined. It does look classier, but is less legible. The heart pattern that existed as a background on the lower half of the box is also gone.

Back:

https://i.ibb.co/Kz5v036H/box-back.jpg

Again, the ClayM logo is now the default. For some reason the original art now has a purple background crudely edited behind it – not sure why. You can see remnants of the original background in the holes in her wings and as part of the tail flame. Here we can see the producer listed as Shengshi, and the studio listed as ClayM. The scale has been left as 1/5 on the box and a sticker over the barcode. What’s under here?

https://i.ibb.co/V0W77Nxs/old-barcode.jpg

The original barcode. I wonder if they just plain forgot to edit the bottom section with the new details (barcode, scale).

Top:

https://i.ibb.co/Nn76Zmwt/box-top.jpg

The only indication we’ve ordered the correct version – a sticker stating it’s the “Black skin, different colour” version. Whilst I knew her outfit and details were a different colour, I didn’t realise she’d be tan as well lol.

Opening the box:

https://i.ibb.co/5gWht3Kh/box-innards.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/x8j0znCn/inner-packaging.jpg

Same as the other version, a polystyrene inner with ClayM-branded strapping. Not the highest quality polystyrene so don’t be surprised if you end up with some on your floor if you buy either variant.

The parts:

https://i.ibb.co/G4z0ZNMj/blister.jpg

It’s a 2-layer blister, the parts arranged for efficiency of packaging rather than ease of assembly. So you’ll want to lay both out prior to assembly. There aren’t any instructions but assembly isn’t too difficult. I’d recommend assembling the base first, followed by sitting her body on the leaf. From there, you can turn her backwards – assemble the lower wings first, then the rest in any order you like.
Only one change from the original – the tail hole has a slightly different shape, which will be revealed why later.

Base

Bottom:

https://i.ibb.co/QvZ32sMD/base-bottom.jpg

Not much to see here. Same as the other variant.

Top:

https://i.ibb.co/jk1CDJt7/base-butt.jpg

The black paint is more matte than the original, but we do have a purple shiny finish on the upper areas that shows when the light reflects off of it. In low lighting conditions it’ll appear near-black, but we have the advantage of photography lighting to show the shiny purple effect :).

Base assembled:

https://i.ibb.co/35WLXsdb/base.jpg

The leaf also has the same purple shine to it – I really like the effect.

Closeup:

https://i.ibb.co/chQhPmwM/leaf-top.jpg

There are dimples to help her rest correctly on the leaf. There are two magnets where her butt sits that holds her firmly to this leaf base, so you don’t need to worry about her falling off of it.

Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/RkrYwbNc/front.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/mrxkF7dW/right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/LXWxv1NN/back.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/zTjYSL86/left.jpg

Definitely something of a 90s aesthetic to this colour scheme. Her face has a bit of gloss to it, and the eyes are definitely attracted to her thigh-highs with the colour contrast and shine.
The other thing that stands out to me is her skin colour doesn’t match the base – her base didn’t get the tan treatment. Guess she ran outta bronzer. I’m sure for most people it’s going to be her giant bazongas that are stealing the show – they’re definitely up front and centre and plenty of skin to look at.

Cast-off

For casting off, it’s the same procedure as before and honestly something they should’ve documented so you don’t risk breaking her. Her right arm wiggles out – may take a bit of waggling – it is magnetised into the side of her body, then you can pull it downwards (do this off of her base). The chest cover then can be pulled downwards with a bit more wiggling to reveal her chest:

https://i.ibb.co/99dj0YcM/34-headless-no-arm.jpg

Her left arm is firmly attached, so don’t try to remove that one.
Chest cover itself:

https://i.ibb.co/zhx0h2PM/chest-cover-bottom.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/m7vSFt0/chest-cover-side.jpg

It has some purple shading on the part between her arms, but you won’t see much of this. The purple line running around the edges is a bit sloppily painted but not too bad.

The figure!

Before we get her head on:

https://i.ibb.co/VpqtJnLK/front-headless.jpg

What was immediately apparent to me was the more visible chest lines – she has these on the original but they’re very subtle. Here they’ve used a silver paint so they have much more contrast to her tan skin. It was putting her body on the base for the first time that I realised she was tan rather than the very pale skin of the original. Personally I like the skin tone, but wish the veining was a bit more subtle – in between the original and what we have here.
The pink-silver transition on her legs has been done well. Not sure if these are tights or boots lol. Not a big fan of the “texture” of the pink personally – would prefer shiny or more matte rather than this semi-gloss. The silver is shiny enough to check out my lighting at her knees 😆

Back:

https://i.ibb.co/9knSmZZR/butt-no-head.jpg

Here we can see the back pattern which will get covered up by her hair. Oh, and also her wide dump truck – she has plenty to stabilise herself out back. The pattern on the edges of her clothing have been sculpted so there is extra definition between the clothing and body. The paint isn’t 100% so she does have a bit of mutant flesh. The skin tone difference is quite noticeable against the base.

Closeup of the back pattern:

https://i.ibb.co/SXJ6BjVh/back-pattern.jpg

With this version, still lamenting she doesn’t come with a short hair/updo head that can show this detailing. The paint is quite sloppy in places so maybe it is best covered… Can see a bad paint slop to the lower right and there are a couple of streaks of silver on her skin. There’s also mutant skin here as the edges haven’t been painted silver in all places. Looks like they were aiming not to paint the edges but imo it’s better when manufacturers can so the raised parts can be attributed to the clothing rather than being mutant flesh.

Once her head is on this is about all we see of the back patterning:

https://i.ibb.co/B5ZgVDST/back-nobbles.jpg

It’s something, but not a lot.

Face:

https://i.ibb.co/QRs9yyY/face-closeup.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/jZ1MS2w2/face.jpg

She has sculpted eyebrows – personally not a fan of these. Also I think she was drunk when she applied her lipstick – it’s a bit of a mess. Irl, certain angles it looks fine, others you can tell it is a bit of a mess. The silver line at the top of her lids looks better irl than this closeup photo. She’s lost the angled eyebrows of the original and gone with a more conventional shape. What is visible irl is the silver overpaint from her horn crest. I do like the colour scheme on it though.
For her collar they didn’t fully lean into the silver/pink colour scheme and kept the base colour close to the original and just made the tip part pink. Though if they did go with silver there would be less contrast between her hair and her collar.

Side of her head:

https://i.ibb.co/Rk1SgKC7/head-right.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/PsgZJqqc/head-34s.jpg

I do love her horn design. For this variant they’ve given her horns different colour schemes – her front horns go from silver to pink whilst her back horns go from purple to pink. I think it’s a nice touch to add two gradients for this one. Am also a fan of the plated horn design of the back horns.

Back of the hair:

https://i.ibb.co/zW4w70RP/hair-back.jpg

Their hair is a bit rough on this one – if you’re not too close it doesn’t show too much, but there are definitely some marks that aren’t supposed to be there. I think some of the speckling may be intentional but it doesn’t make for a good finish imo. The gradients are also less exciting than the original – I wish they added some tones to her hair – either some blue ones to contrast with the scheme or pink highlights to fit with the theme.

Neck closeup:

https://i.ibb.co/v4xshMXK/neck-detail.jpg

Due to the collar being a separate part, the heart design does look a bit wonk from certain angles. One of the red dots on her collar didn’t get its proper allocation of paint, and we can see how rough some of the hair tips are. This isn’t a figure that looks good close up.

Chest cover closeup:

https://i.ibb.co/0Vqr716H/chest-cover-closeup.jpg

It wasn’t until I edited these photos that I noticed the chest cover had some paint scraped off – looking to the left you can see a crusty bit where the sliver paint either didn’t adhere or got scraped off at some point. Here we can see the contrasts between the silvers – the silver parts do have slightly different tones and textures. Whether you like this will depend on your preference – but I think it does help add contrast to the figure which silver can normally lack. Also note how you can’t see the shading on the chest cover mentioned earlier – this isn’t something you’re going to see unless you’re specifically angling the figure to see it or taking it off so feels a bit strange they added that but not shading in other spots. And you’re not going to be picking up and rotating this figure – more on that later. The red detailing at her wrists is fine, no major paint errors or anything.

Chest from above:

https://i.ibb.co/tTSGsmQ2/clothed-boobs-closeup.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/mF2Q5yLw/chest-no-head.jpg

Here you can see how the veins are very drawn on with this one – they almost look like pencil squiggles and I could see someone mistaking these lines for paint transfer. If I didn’t own the original Sanis I know I’d be wondering if they’re intentional or not. She has nipples of the pointy variety and some subtle darkening around them for her areolas. So nothing crazy in the nipple department, which is fine by me.

Tail:

https://i.ibb.co/x8687Nz0/tail-tip.jpg

This is the one part that’s differently sculpted versus the original – her tail loops around the front instead of the back. For the tail tip, the sculpt is the same but we have two red dots painted on it. There is some blobbed paint on one of the lower nobbles on the tail. To me, there’s just something a bit unsatisfying about the paint job – the shading and colours don’t quite gel together for me.

Wings:

https://i.ibb.co/wrJPkYyg/wings.jpg

This is the only part where assembly order matters – the lower wings want to go in first before the upper wings. Tail can go in before or after – whichever you find easiest.
And oh boy, the wings. Both editions have this problem – the wings aren’t magnetic and the fit is extremely loose. If you have putty, I’d recommend using it. If not, buy some – can get some white tack or similar. For this review I haven’t tacked the wings, but I will likely do so before I move them again. And this is a big reason why you probably don’t want to be picking up and moving this figure much – the wings will very easily drop out.
As for the wings themselves – they’re quite pretty – lovely silver and pink gradients. It’s just the fit into the back that’s poor – and unfortunately that shows too. Would’ve been nicer if the holes were sculpted just right for the wings to fit in. The “flapping” really is not a feature.

Sanis and Sanis
Didn’t do a full spin-around for this but here she is next to the original and both cast off:

https://i.ibb.co/vfYLkJr/sanis-and-sanis.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/pvr4qxDF/sanis-and-sanis-boob-angle.jpg

Here you can see how the tails are different, and pretty much everything else the same. I wish they did more with the variant’s hair – just seems a washed-out version of the original and it would’ve been nice to have something more distinct for this one. For the collar, can see how the original version had better cohesion with the collar colours – feel like they could’ve done more to make the collar different on the variant. Overall, I think the paint was less rushed on my original than the variant – there is less paint spillage on it. However, looking at the tail I do wonder if my original has a paint error and there is some black paint missing on the tip in the middle – one of the middle blobs was painted but the other not.
The base butts are different skin tones from each other, but not massively so.
Overall, the original is my favourite of the two – but the alternate colour variant has grown on me. With her being tan, it does add more difference than just having an outfit change. I think the colour scheme has less mass appeal than the original but it does work as its own thing. With the tail change, it would’ve been nice if the the wings were fixed too, but no dice. Though that means you could do a certain amount of part swaps – wings, tail, base. Head swap would look strange with the different skin colours. Personally I don’t feel the need to do a part swap – I don’t feel like the original would be improved with the alternate colour’s parts.

Conclusion

Would I recommend this figure? If you’re asking, no. The quality isn’t there, and the colour scheme is something you’ll know if you want it or not. If I was recommending between the two, I’d recommend the original over the variant. When I saw this variant originally, I was confused who wanted it – the original wasn’t super-popular – on MFC it has 67 claiming as owned and 38 on hpoi. This variant has only 2 people on hpoi claiming as owned and one of them is me. Looking at the “wished” statistics on hpoi, approximately 1,000 were contemplating the original and less than 200 for the variant. So I feel like these colours didn’t really appeal to the masses.
But it’s an interesting figure, and I’m glad to have finally seen the final product.

Elf Saint Sora Loyes – ODD

In celebration of ODD being whitelisted, I’ve decided to review one of my ODD figures that I’m yet to write a review/article for.

So today we have Elf Saint Sora Loyes, Arrested and Charged. The Future Fantasy series storyline is that beings with beneficial abilities/properties are captured and their DNA taken. From the DNA, clones are made which are placed in machines which the super rich can buy and take advantage of them. So that gives them an excuse of why there are so many copies of the same figure :}. And also places them firmly in the NSFW+ section for MFC.

The buying

This was one of my early preorders on Superbuy. I didn’t have a specific list of Taobao sellers, so I picked one who seemed to be legit. Fortunately for me they were, and 9 months later after some fraught checking for the final payment I was able to settle up and receive my goods:
https://i.ibb.co/BjJ7nNL/458c3f60-08f1-45fc-a219-19e1eb46ef07.jpg
Thought it was cute they used the loyalty card to censor the image.

I was reading on hpoi how she weighted “20 catties”. After some research I found out that a “catty” was 500g, so that makes her 10kg… and sure enough it was 10kg shipped weight! ODD figures don’t shirk on the weight – and most of it is the figure’s container. The vending machine is very heavy.

Being ODD’s first figure, this order was a gamble. But I was willing to risk it for such a relatively unique figure. Between it being ODD’s first and the fact distribution was limited to China, not many people followed me down the rabbit hole for this one.

The figure

Let’s admire her in her full glory:
https://i.ibb.co/9rYd28z/front.jpg
Assembly for this figure was a pain – getting all the parts to sit right was a challenge, and I actually broke one of the parts in the process – one of the tubes to her chest snapped when I was tying to bend it – it did say in the instructions ODD uploaded to heat and bend it so I was expecting more flex, but nope. Fortunately the break isn’t very visible and is hidden behind her during display. And I’m unlikely to ever sell this figure.

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/nc5tfTq/face.jpg
She doesn’t have the happiest expression…. but neither would I if I was trapped in vending machine. There’s a good amount of detail in the eyes and the mouth is sculpted, which I appreciate. The hair sculpt is a bit on the chunky side, but we have some shading here albeit minimal. Bearing in mind this is the first figure from a new brand, I think it’s pretty solid. We have an ear tag detail – would’ve been nice to have some numbers here instead of the line of circles, so have to make up your own mind what it means and why she has it.

Let’s follow the ring around her neck:
https://i.ibb.co/Q9LmZcC/heart-monitor.jpg
It magnetically clips to the back of the vending machine – assumedly this is some kind of health monitor to ensure we don’t accidentally kill our elf. The sculpt and paint on this part is a bit on the iffy side, but overall I don’t find the flaws distracting.

Looking to the other side:
https://i.ibb.co/7Qtw0D1/intercom.jpg
We have what seems to be an intercom, if we want to talk to our elf. I like the way they’ve connected it up to the panel for the milking cable to give a sense of realness to the construction.

Chest:
https://i.ibb.co/C6DgNyr/boobies.jpg
The body paint is nice, with the pinkish highlights. Gives a fair amount of depth to her body. Getting the milking cups to her nipples was a massive pain – they didn’t naturally sit in the right place out of the box and I had to white tack them to her nipples to get them to stay. Can see a bit of it on her right boob. Now they’ve been in that position for a few years, they do stay there now (and probably don’t need the white tack any more). She has a pair of decently sized milkers.

Restraining bar:
https://i.ibb.co/RTRD7kH/bar.jpg
Augh, this thing. It does the job it needs to, but can be one of the more annoying parts to get right when putting her together. It goes under her arms and has some tack to attach it to her back so it doesn’t move around whilst you’re getting her into the machine. If you do get it just perfect it can wedge up against the walls. It helps prop her up by leaning on the two rests. In some ways it’s nice she’s not “marred” with pegs or divots, but on the other hand it would’ve made assembly easier. Nice for people who may want to display her outside of the vending machine, a pain for the rest of us 😆.

Body:
https://i.ibb.co/sgD5c5N/body-upwards.jpg
There are a fair amount of shading accents on her body – some people may find the effect rather unsubtle, but personally I like it. She does have a bit of “webbed leg” going on, but nothing too drastic for a figure like this. Looking close the paint on the ankle restrains is a bit messy but it’s not visible when not up close. They have given her bands around her legs – no real explanation for them, so enjoy the eye candy?

Blood draw:
https://i.ibb.co/JF48g9T/leginjection.jpg
This part plugs into her leg – this close up you can see where I didn’t quite get it flush with her leg. A plastic band is painted on her leg, pretending to be what holds the line into her leg.

“Juice”:
https://i.ibb.co/v3486jm/mirror.jpg
I wonder what they could be harvesting here 🤔. Her toenails are nicely painted. The ankle restraints simply sit atop the holders in the machine. The dildo is held magnetically in a hole in the base so is securely attached. So you could leave this part off if you wish, but there is a hole in the mirror for it. Nice of them to have a shield to prevent the machine door from getting dirty.

More of the mirror:
https://i.ibb.co/b5TLzkq/mirror-2.jpg
It allows some viewing of what you can’t see from the front, but with the dildo there’s less to see.

OK, now we’ve looked at what’s doing the vending, what can we vend?
https://i.ibb.co/gWHgNgz/options.jpg
Saliva: ¥CN 50 ($US 7)
Pussy juice: ¥CN150 ($US 21)
Urine: ¥CN 50 ($US 7)
Milk: ¥CN 100 ($US 14)
Blood ¥CN 400 ($US 50)

(USD rates based on exchange rates in June 2024 if you’re reading this in the future).

So, uh, what do you fancy? A nice cup o’ wee? And do they serve it warm or cold?

Interestingly the selection dial has the options in English:
https://i.ibb.co/f4Ywr9M/dial.jpg
All of these controls are static – no moving parts here.

Once you’ve made your selection it’ll go into the cup below the dispenser:
https://i.ibb.co/0Kb5LrZ/drink.jpg
Cup handily labelled “elf juice”. So you don’t mix it up with your coffee. This cup is a separate part so you can also display it elsewhere but I decided to tack it down after moving the vending machine a couple of times and having it fly off across the floor. The ridge does help it not fall if you’re sliding it around but greater movements will send it flying.

Escape!
https://i.ibb.co/B3mrXjp/no-ji.jpg
Agh! Where did she go?! Getting her back out for photos wasn’t too bad, though I did break part of the blood line :/. Yeah, wouldn’t recommend disassembling unless you have to, and leave the blood line in or very carefully pry it instead of pull. When moving it, she does stay in place with the amount of resting points she has.
The details inside the machine are good – enough details to give it a sense of realness, but maybe the vent at the back could’ve done with a bit of shading. The silver parts of the milking wires magnetically connect like the health monitor – they have similar but larger square slots behind the panels. The lighter pink inside gives a good contrast to the outer hot pink.

Handle:
https://i.ibb.co/bvMMsYq/handle-back.jpg
The handle has magnets on the back to hold the door shut. On mine, the handle is a bit loose when the door is open, but shutting the door pulls everything tight.

Here she is out of the machine:
https://i.ibb.co/ZNRJ99Y/body-front.jpg
The health monitor does come off, just didn’t fancy taking off her head to do so. Her genitalia look somewhat odd when she doesn’t have the dildo in there.
The silver part of the blood line is not supposed to be here…

Hair:
https://i.ibb.co/zb7CyWx/hair-back.jpg
A little bit of shading towards the ends of the strands, but nothing other than that. Is sculpted with a decent amount of detail though.

Butt:
https://i.ibb.co/S0WmcTN/butt.jpg
Here we can see how the bar tacks to her back. Yeah, this is how you’re supposed to do it. The little mark on the bar was there when I unpacked it – not damage inflicted by me. They have shaded back here and given her wrist restraints, though you won’t see those when she’s in the vending machine.

But what happens if we “unlock” the coin door?
https://i.ibb.co/0JC79bN/coinstore.jpg

The keyhole here is a button that you can press to turn on the light:
https://i.ibb.co/Y7xRrDv/front-light-on.jpg
The light will show up any dust adhered to the acrylic door 😆

With the door open:
https://i.ibb.co/P55Rcxy/closeup-light-on.jpg
LED lights don’t photograph the best, but it’s quite a nice yellowy light.

The light itself:
https://i.ibb.co/mq1z4FK/light.jpg
A strip of LEDs allows you to enjoy Sora Loyes in the dark.

The panel also lights up:
https://i.ibb.co/Wvn9tH4/list-lit-up.jpg
I do like the light-up effect for these. Very reminiscent of a vending machine, though maybe not a modern one.

Lastly, a quick tour of the outsides of the vending machine:
https://i.ibb.co/Dp8cy19/top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/725BkzB/left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7jddcCv/right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/g6f8Bm1/back.jpg
There’s details to be found on all of the sides, which is much nicer than it just being exceedingly plain. The mark on the top was my fault.
The front-facing picture of Sora is creepy though – with the very round, blank eyes and drool. Feel like they could’ve made this cuter and fit in a bit more but it’s nice they’ve added some artwork to the sides. The vents here have deeper grooves so don’t look as flat as the one inside.

Overall, I think she was a strong start to ODD’s figure-making “career”. There are some bits that could be polished that would’ve made it a better figure but am happy with what I received. I’d prefer it if the vending machine wasn’t so heavy, but it does make it feel like you get your ¥CN 2000’s worth.

DreamX Studio – Rei Ayanami

DreamX are producing a line of these Evangelion undressing figures. As I’m not collecting Asuka or Mari I’ve skipped on those, and just gone for the Rei. There are some more coming, but not decided if I will order them or not.

She does come with both a long-haired and short-haired head but I have only taken photos of the long-haired one.

So here she is:

The tape player is just a “bonus” accessory – it doesn’t have a place on the figure, but you can put it on the base for a more messy dressing scene. Or you could get a table prop to put it on.

The figure itself I’m really pleased with – the shine on the plugsuit is good and the blue hue of Rei’s hair is mesmerising. The paint is a liitle off in places, but that won’t really show on display. She was smaller than I expected, but that’s more because Rei herself is petite. She does have translucent hair, so that will put some people off but I’m not bothered by it. The glasses took a little bit of adjusting to get in her hands, but they sit well and she’s not at risk of dropping them. She has a nice skin tone too. Face could maybe do with a little more shading, but not a dealbreaker imo. Overall, I’d recommend this figure to a Rei fan. It’s an unlicensed figure though, so may not be easily obtainable.

LingZe Studio – Kaworu Nagisa

Here we have a spicy statue of Kaworu – I got the deluxe edition which comes with the naked lower half and 🍆. He also comes with his trousered lower half, so you can enjoy this half-dressed Kaworu if you don’t want to see what’s under the fold.

Here he is with the clothed arm and legs:

You can use the unclothed arm in this configuration too, which I prefer:

The paint detail on Kaworu is fantastic imo, but the EVA Mark.06 colours leave a fair bit to be desired – the finish is nice, but the colour choices are a poor match. The blue is far too light of a blue and the silver parts are more white than silver. The lower head spike also doesn’t quite match the rest of the blue parts, but not distractingly so. Definitely noticeable when assembling, but not attention-grabbing on display. However, if you are familiar with EVA Mark.06 the lightness of the blue is distracting. If you’re not bothered by this colour mismatch, then this is a great statue for Kaworu fans…. if you can get hold of one… I declined to buy when he went up for preorder, but did manage to snag one slightly over MSRP on Taobao after seeing photos of him on Twitter and kicking myself for skipping the preorder. A day or two later, the seller sold out of the 6 units they had.

And now for the spicy bits!

The nails are really nicely done and lifelike. Plenty of detail on the penis too, but doesn’t quiiite look like it belongs – probably needs a bit more of a skintone match near the base to make it match up with the body. All the penises have this in common. I swear his upper body fits in better than I have it shown here. I do like the “bonus” red details on his hips. The silver band might be distracting for some, but I kinda like it.

And now for a 🍆 brigade – he comes with a lot of options to choose from, so here they are:

Plenty to choose from! But I’ve gone with the one used in the intial photos. Maybe some day I’ll switch it up a bit. Am glad I was able to get this statue, as Kaworu isn’t exactly blessed in the figure department. I did want it when his POs went up, but I had so much on order at the time I couldn’t really justify adding to cart. But since then my orders got thinned out so I was able to pick him up on release.

Gentleman 18 Studio – Sukuna and Megumi

This one spicy? Yes. Very. Much spice under the fold. Warning: 🍆 ahead.

Gentleman 18 Studio did a really good sculpting and painting job on this one. It was a bit of a pain to assemble, don’t have everything in perfect orientation here, but some fiddling would likely get everything sitting just right.

I ordered the normal edition – this didn’t come with the medical bed and extra heads, but it did come with a drip and stethescope, but didn’t really feel like setting them up. Unfortunately did a bit of damage to the strap in Sukuna’s hand, but can’t see it so oh well.

Hope you enjoyed your lewd journey around this statue 🙂

Top cast-off for Kanno by Otherwhere

Instructions of how to cast off Konno – instructions under the fold as NSFW.

1. If they haven’t fallen off already, remove right arm and head

2. Twist around left arm and remove (it is on a round joint to allow you to do this)

3. Remove her tie – it pops off from the centre of the knot.

4. Unpeg top where tie was attached

5. Heat up top for a few seconds with a hairdryer.

6. Gently pull off top

7. Remove bra

8. Reattach head and arms, and display!

NL Studio – Thanos – Jack-o pose

The meme, the legend… presenting Thanos in the Jack-o pose! This figure took the internet by storm in 2022 when NL Studio announced they were going to produce him. If you’ve not heard of this figure, oh boy, you’re in for a treat! Warning: eggplant ahead!

This figure was offered in 1/6 and 1/4 scales, both with a standard and a deluxe edition – the deluxe coming with two bodies, one “clothed” and one naked. I went for the 1/6 deluxe edition – with Thanos being a large chap in general I felt the 1/6 would be sufficiently large and wanting the two bodies, the 1/6 deluxe was pricey enough at CN¥1880 (US$265).

Shipping woes

Deposit went fine, replenishment (final payment) went fine, studio didn’t take long to dispatch. Then came the fun with international shipping. He was just under the limit for volumetric shipping so ended up paying for the shipping service so I wouldn’t have to pay an eye-watering amount for volumetric shipping – his shipping via SAL was CN¥560 (US$80), volumetric was clocking in at least double that. So I stumped up the cash, and waited. Then Chinese customs refused it. Arrggghhh. Then came an agonising 2.5 months wait for it to be returned to the agent’s warehouse and get stocked back in, not knowing for sure if it was going to happen.
Thankfully it returned and my shipping was refunded, whew. In the intervening time, EMS prices came down significantly so it cost “only” CN¥585 to reship via EMS. And another CN¥20 for the shipping service…
And if the shipping wasn’t cursed enough, EMS took 14 days, when other parcels were taking 7. But he arrived and that’s the main thing!

Base

Let’s first see what number I got by flipping the base:
https://i.ibb.co/xHnmqd0/base-bottom.jpg
I think the universe is telling me he is indeed cursed. I hope the mail delay wasn’t him trying to Thanos Snap the other parcels he was shipped with.

Top view of the base:
https://i.ibb.co/zF33rmG/base-top.jpg
The base is decently weighty which is pretty common for resin bases. As Thanos is known for his destruction they went with a destroyed piece of concrete with bits of twisted metal reminiscent of parts of a building. The metal parts look good, but the concrete/asphalt looks a bit bland in person and could’ve done with a bit more variance in shading. As it is, from certain angles it does look plasticky. It’s nice they have included some earthy bits though I think they could have done adding in some darker earth tones.

Closeups:
https://i.ibb.co/m0PZDwq/base-closeup-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Njq52yf/base-damage-closeup.jpg
The sculpting is really nice, but the paintwork could do with a little work. Overall, it’s decent in my opinion.

Edges:
https://i.ibb.co/bdDYf89/base-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/h7kVrnK/base-back.jpg
The layered effect is really cool, but the dirt bits aren’t really selling themselves properly as dirt – the bits that have more definition between the dirt and surface paint do look better than the ones that seem to be blended.

Overall, the base is not cursed. Unless we’re counting the 66 on the bottom of it. The paintwork isn’t top-notch, but mostly does the job. I could see someone with painting talent adding in a bit more shading and definition, but I don’t think it’s a necessary thing. The figure does cover up a good chunk of the base when on display, so the greyness of it isn’t overly obnoxious.

Figure parts

Starting off with the sword:
https://i.ibb.co/LJW9G2y/glaive-up.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GkWHdVJ/glaive-down.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/378kQ6W/glaive-side.jpg
The detailing on the sword is nice – everything is painted neatly. And it’s apparently a sword rather than a glaive but being double-ended it was a bit hard for me to tell XD.
Mine curves downwards at the ends – I don’t believe this is intentional, but will have to monitor to see if it bends over time. May have to unbend it or put it away if it becomes a problem over time.

Head and limbs:
https://i.ibb.co/9yqwKGs/parts-top.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/kxvNRqZ/parts-botttom.jpg
As he has two bodies his legs, arms and head are all separate parts which connect using the power of magnets. His armour (barring the infinity gauntlet) has had battle scars and weathering applied which is nice attention to detail. We even have some dirt on the soles of his boots. No complaints with the parts here.

Let’s take a closer look at the head:
https://i.ibb.co/Kj8MFtS/head-front.jpg
In my opinion the head has been done really well – he has a creasy face and they’ve managed to replicate that well. We also have some realistic-looking eyes and they’ve given his lips a different colour and sculpted his teeth.

Other views of the head:
https://i.ibb.co/Zgwjksk/face-34.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pPMJsgh/head-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Vg8h3yC/head-back.jpg
His helmet has been really nicely done – the small details are painted well and all the battlescars in the sculpt.

The infinity gauntlet divides into two:
https://i.ibb.co/S7Mf5Hq/gauntlet-batteries.jpg

And we have a switch and two batteries:
https://i.ibb.co/FqmvgVn/gauntlet-batts-closeup.jpg
I had to have the original batteries removed for shipping reasons, and one detail that was lacking attention was the direction of the battery compartment – the plastic part is actually the wrong way around. One prodding it with a bench supply later confirmed this fact. It’s a very minor detail and doesn’t affect anything – just gotta put the batteries in the opposite direction than labelled. The terminals are around the standard way.
Getting the batteries in there can prove a little interesting as the gauntlet magnet can “steal” them, so have to watch out for that!

Gauntlet turned on under photography lighting:
https://i.ibb.co/0nfwZMv/gauntlet-on.jpg

Gauntlet under room lighting:
https://i.ibb.co/N13jYkh/gauntlet-on-no-lighting.jpg
So under very bright lighting you only see the large stone light up – but under normal conditions the second photo is more accurate.
It’s a neat feature, I don’t think it’s the best it can be but is neat for people who like lighting effects.

Bodies

OK, here’s where the cursedness will begin – time to show off the bodies!
First up is the body that sports a rather fetching metal thong.

Here it is from the front in its chickenlike glory:
https://i.ibb.co/v3ZprVZ/thong-body-front.jpg
Yeah, these bodies look rather funny without the head and limbs attached. The skin texture has been well done, with multiple colours of paint. We’ve also got his speckled skin texture replicated along with the lines that run across his body.

From above:
https://i.ibb.co/VNZk7My/thong-body-top.jpg
The thong consists metal straps that fit with Thanos’ style and I like the work that’s gone into imagining how a metal thong would work. It also slightly presses into his skin – much prefer this than some of the “bikini bites” some Japanese figures get where the clothes dig very deeply into the skin. We’ve also got a little bit of asscrack on show :). And plenty of muscles to admire.

Getting close to the thong:
https://i.ibb.co/GMtKTKt/thong-body-thong-closeup.jpg
A little bit of “skin webbing” going on here, but not enough to be noticeable. And two very pert buttocks. Thanos definitely didn’t skip bum day. Is that a thing? It should be a thing :P.

From the back:
https://i.ibb.co/qyP483K/thong-body-back.jpg
Lighting went a bit bad on this photo so has ended up coming out a bit different. But this is what we get to see from behind.

Let’s flip him over:
https://i.ibb.co/34cC5hL/thong-body-chest.jpg
The body sculpt and painting is really nice – plenty of shading and detail to his body. And painted male nips! C’mon Japanese manufacturers… give us more like this. Well, you don’t have to make them purple.

Closeup of his pouch:
https://i.ibb.co/SmNkGT7/thong-body-pouch.jpg
Shiny enough to reflect my lighting! If you don’t want the full Thanos experience, this leaves at least something to the imagination. Reasonably spacious, but I think he’d be in trouble if he got an erection in this thing – trouble with metal is it doesn’t really flex.
If you didn’t want to think about erect Thanos, you came to the wrong blog – don’t worry, you won’t have to use your imagination for too much longer.

Arm muscles:
https://i.ibb.co/znTh8fV/thong-body-arm-muscle.jpg
These look a little odd in the way they don’t quite meet, but this bit isn’t very visible once assembled.

And now for the naked body – if you want to leave Thanos’ nether regions to your imagination, this is where you’ll want to get off of this ride.
Now for some untrussed chicken:
https://i.ibb.co/CVmWRSg/naked-body-front.jpg
From the front both the bodies are similar – only the lack of a thong.

View from above:
https://i.ibb.co/xMDjn0b/naked-body-top.jpg
Above is also similar, only we’re now treated to a full view of asscrack.

Let’s lower our angle:
https://i.ibb.co/zVfbHY3/naked-body-butthole.jpg
Aaand here is where we get a full view of his balls and butthole. The butthole does look a little crater-y – not the best sculpting here. They have gone full ham on the ballsack giving it shading and texture.

If we go lower, we can start to see the penis:
https://i.ibb.co/Bj8b9fx/naked-body-back.jpg

Let’s flip him over:
https://i.ibb.co/YbsX9pY/naked-body-bottom.jpg
So this is what the posing pouch was hiding! I think from this we can ascertain he’s a grow-er rather than a show-er. For the rest of the body it’s the same as the clothed one.

Looking down at the offending article:
https://i.ibb.co/FJyGjSY/naked-body-chest-closuep.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/7tTcQDY/naked-body-penis-tip.jpg
There is a dimple representing the hole. I think the hole could have done with a little bit of dark shading to make it more hole-like. We can also see he has an oval penis rather than round.

From certain angles this makes it look kind of weirdly flat:
https://i.ibb.co/JHGCGxQ/naked-body-flat-penis.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pr3C34p/naked-body-penis-closeup.jpg
Whilst penises can be oval I feel like this one is a bit too oval which makes it look deflated from certain angles. I’d associate Thanos being girthy in every direction. We have plentiful vein sculpting and shading though.

Full twig and berries:
https://i.ibb.co/G0FwqNQ/naked-body-penis-bottom.jpg
Looks good from this angle, and is plentiful in the size department without going crazy.

Naked body from the sides:
https://i.ibb.co/rcBh9Xd/naked-body-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/8BvRpk2/naked-body-right.jpg
With him unassembled, we have a glimpse of the twig from the sides. He’s got a vey bendy back but the pose kind of necessitates that.

OK, that’s the bodies checked out on their own – time to put on some limbs!

“Clothed” body

Clothed might be an exaggeration for the body sporting the thong. But it’s the easiest way of distinguishing it.
Spin-around:
https://i.ibb.co/NWYkw1S/thong-thanos-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BT0ZWpR/thong-thanos-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Z1vx4vw/thong-thanos-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vVvL9ZZ/thong-thanos-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tMxwNvR/thong-thanos-top.jpg
If you just want a Jack-O Thanos without the full nakedness, this one delivers. The pieces all fit together well, and he looks good with his head just above his arms at a slight angle.

Time to swap some pieces:
https://i.ibb.co/yfsPb6Z/bodyswap.jpg

Naked body

And now we have the version not suitable for guests:
https://i.ibb.co/KX0zzGJ/naked-thanos-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/XstjPjR/naked-thanos-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/F4tkYbP/thanos-naked-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Dw8h1wh/naked-thanos-right.jpg
With the limbs attached to the body it gives a greater viewing angle of his penis. Still requires selective angles to see it, and you don’t see it from the front. So whilst he’s exposed, it’s not immediately obvious. With my naked body, his left leg doesn’t attach snugly to his body though I could likely remedy this with some white tack. It doesn’t affect his display but when you put him down his leg does shift a bit – a minorly annoying defect which doesn’t exist on the other body.

Some more shots for some closeups of the goods:
https://i.ibb.co/2kXrLWq/naked-thanos-penis-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sP5tsbX/naked-thanos-penis-closeup-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/WxQ6kvH/naked-thanos-ballsack.jpg
Yep, definitely there and pointy. He might have an eye out with that thing :).

Display mode

And now for the final spin-around on his base:
https://i.ibb.co/80Y7QJG/assembled-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tKsMfGL/assembled-gauntlet-on.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0qj3RB5/assembled-34-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fC4S1mV/assembled-balls.jpg
He doesn’t have pegs to attach to the base – you simply rest him on there. So he needs to be displayed somewhere where he won’t get knocked, but he has a decent amount of weight so he won’t shift too easily. The sword slots into a hole on the base, but was a bit difficult to get into the right spot.

Overall, he’s a surprisingly good-looking figure – though that should be partially expected as he is pricier than other 1/6 resins I have. The figure isn’t flawless – if I could improve one thing it would be the paint detail on the base to make it a bit more lifelike. I’d say most of the issues I have are minor and he looks fine on display. And he can sit around, surprising anyone who dares go for a side view :D.

ODD Mastermind – 10cm edition

Marketed as just an ordinary brain, we have the Mastermind from ODD. This figure comes in two sizes – this small 10cm edition and a 30cm edition that’s not released yet. In imperial units, that makes it 4″ tall.

The box:
https://i.ibb.co/kQdXWt9/odd-box.jpg
In ODD style, it’s pretty plain with some warning information on the back.

Inside the box was just the black EPE foam protecting the figure – no story card with this one. So we’ll just have to make up our own story of how this brain came to be – it it reminiscent of yours…? Let’s take a look to see!

The figure:
https://i.ibb.co/WK124GV/jar-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YDbrzQn/brain-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FnTLM9W/brain-34.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Fn2Dqsd/upwards-angle.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/DfzvK8Z/closeup.jpg
For the size, I’m impressed with the details and the paintwork. You can make out the brain’s components quite well and the wires are nicely patterned to give them that chunky industrial wire vibe. All the parts are nicely shaded to give them definition.

And it also has a light-up function:
https://i.ibb.co/FKtDwZV/light-on.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/c81PW97/light-dark.jpg
It’s not the most impressive feature, but it’s a nice addition. Probably not going to use it much, if at all. I hope they go mains powered for the larger version as they tend to provide better LEDs with their mains powered figures, but we’ll see.

Overall happy with this smol brain and looking forward to the big one being released. But not looking forward to the shipping cost for that one! This smol brain currently displayed in one of my cabinets, but may sneak around the house to surprise unsuspecting guests.

So who’s smarter… you or the ODD Mastermind? [According to MFC, 70% are dumber and 30% are smarter]

Marin Kitagawa – JM Studio

This figure is an unlicensed resin. I bought this figure as I fell in love with the succubus design – as of time of writing, I haven’t read/watched My Dress Up Darling.

The box

Front:

On the front of the box, we get to see both versions of the figure, and I get a banner on mine saying the first 100 preorders get a womb tattoo. Ooh! And some quality censoring on the nipples 😆

Box sides:

The left side is the contiunation of the image on the back of the box. On the right we have a list of information you usually get at the time of preorder, and a QR code that is the link to their QQ group.

Back of the box:

We have a nicely posed photo of the figure 🙂

Top of the box:

Not much to see up here.

Foam (with the pieces taken out):

We have a decently compact layout, and everything was well-protected so everything came intact. Each hole held one part, so no poking around for missing parts.

The extras

As I preordered early, the figure came with this transfer you can apply to the figure. Haven’t decided yet if I will apply it.

The clothed body:

Assembling was a bit involoved when it came to the head, neck ruff and wings, so didn’t want to reassemble on this body. Not a bad looking body, but the top does look weird whilst the body is unassembled like this. There is a lot of part reuse between the bodies – feet, tail, arms, wings, ruff and head. So not hugely convenient if you want to switch between bodies.

The rest of the review is NSFW, so click the button below to see more.

Assembled body

With assembly, getting the right order took some work. It’s best to put on the ruff, the head then do the wings. There’s enough space between the hair strands to slip both the wings in. Getting the ruff aligned took some work, but I got there in the end. The tail was a bit of a fiddle to go in, but the feet, arms and ponytails were easy. Getting the cushion orientated correctly took a bit of time – eventually I worked out the corner “nibble” goes against her right arm. Once assembled she needs the cushion to not roll over.

The body is nicely shaded as well as the hair, and also enjoying the shiny tail. The black parts of the clothing don’t have shading, and the shading on the ruff is very subtle. I’m not bothered about the lack of shading on the black parts, but I think the ruff could do with some detail to differentiate the buttons and the bow. You can’t really leave the ruff off – it hides the join between her head and neck, but you could fashion some choker for her to wear pretty easily, if you wanted her more naked.

Face:

She has a cute smile and the eyes are done well. Also loving her little horns. The hair shading is pretty stark – I like it, but it is a bit mismatching with the rest of the figure.

Moving down to her chest, the nipples are nice and not overdone, and I like the nice round shapes.

Left:

She looks nice from this angle, can work as a viewing angle if you’re not bothered about her facing you. The cushion is a nice texture and nicely sculpted.

Right:

From this angle, we can see the light doing the heavy lifting on the shading for the black part of her dress. I like the way she’s sitting twisted around, and the sneaky tail poking over her leg.

Close-up on that tail:

Was a bit of finagling to get the tail at the right angle. Assuming this is the correct one :). I like the way it is wrapping around her body as well as the glossy finish.

Back:

Here we can find her wings and 🍑. She has very shapely buttocks. Some people may find her wings a bit bland, but I think for this scale they’re fine and fit the figure well. Once you work out the assembly order, the wings go in pretty easily, which is nice as they often can be difficult on figures. They seem to fit firmly, and I didn’t have any issues with them escaping whilst photographing a figure so they shouldn’t fall out when on your shelf.

And finally a shot of her on display:

Looking very cute on her fluffy base :). Overall, the stand-out parts of this figure is the body and the head. None of the details are bad, and what’s there is neatly painted. Resin collectors may not be happy with her size – she’s a 1/6 with a pose that is compact – but fits well into a PVC collection that isn’t all FREEing bunnies. The figure to the right of the photo above is a 1/4 scale, so she will look dwarfed by them. Being a small figure, her packed weight was 1.6kg, so she was cheap to ship.

Overall I’m happy with my purchase and to have another cute succubus in my collection 🙂

Sanis – ClayM

This figure is by ClayM, and distributed by Lechery in Japan.

The box, as imported from China:
https://i.ibb.co/vYZY9NF/box-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/99mqJfD/box-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Xkt22HK/box-other-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VLdN2zL/box-back.jpg
Interestingly for the Chinese release they have stickered over the Lechery logos and address on the back of the box. Looking at Hobby Search, under the big logo labels there is a Lechery logo and a ClayM logo without the text.

Here are the parts in the polystyrene:
https://i.ibb.co/zhqFq7Q/boxtrays.jpg
Nicely protected, but would’ve been nice to have instructions. Most of the assembly is obvious, however I did break the cast off chest cover by doing it wrong. If you want to avoid this, I’ll cover that later.

With her chest part on:
https://i.ibb.co/vksyfgZ/clothed-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/3Tf2yys/clothed-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/JrGRHct/top-closeup.jpg
The cast-off part is a bit wiggly but does seem to stay put if positioned and left alone. It can wiggle and reveal her nipples though.

Cast-off chest part:
https://i.ibb.co/hYGzPyW/top-side.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/0D4vb6m/top-front.jpg
If you look at the right of the image just above, you may be able to see the hairline mark where I broke it.

To avoid breaking it, remove her right arm first:
https://i.ibb.co/55dMM3W/armless.jpg
Very important! Even if it appears you can wiggle it out, learn from me. No you can not.

Putting the arm back on and noticing an odd hidden seam:
https://i.ibb.co/hsLNnSG/seamline.jpg

Cast off:
https://i.ibb.co/RBBbs32/uncovered-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CskRmLF/uncovered-front-offset.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/YRVVTYy/right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TBnfcj1/left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ggwpxJh/back.jpg

Having a look at her bassy base:
https://i.ibb.co/KxFyjCp/butt-base-solo.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZN0p0PR/butt-base-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Cw7pFf7/base-base.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/TtZ18mZ/butt-angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/3BLMXfF/but-base-with-feet.jpg
A demon butt, with themes from her own design.

With the base tail attached:
https://i.ibb.co/MM9fBy0/tail-seat-base.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZKMfZD0/tail-seat-top.jpg
The base provides a nice, stable perch for her to sit on. It’s more leaflike than her own tail, and has its own vagina… If she overbalances when moving her, it’s more likely for the tail to pop from the base than her fall off this leaf. Or at least that’s what I found.

Head:
https://i.ibb.co/fGVNzbp/face.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f15CDV5/face-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jGfBfxp/hair-back.jpg
Her face has a very resiny look to it, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I do love her hair and horns though.

Part of me wishes she had a shorthair head too as she has this lovely design on her back you can’t see for her hair:
https://i.ibb.co/WVbWqvr/back-no-head.jpg

Chest:
https://i.ibb.co/Ksp6qZf/bewbs.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dPjGZTG/veins.jpg
She’s certainly blessed in the chest department. She has some subtle veins painted across her chest too.

Other detail shots:
https://i.ibb.co/j570HFn/neck-detail.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jbSQBxD/wrists.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HxMmwcn/rigth-left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/V92zmzs/left-leg-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2tS6HZQ/wings-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fCJL3Td/tail-end.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CvP7mP5/cake.jpg

Sleeping Cthulhu – Blue ver. – WeArtDoing

Decided to do some showcase blogs of some figures I’ve got recently, that aren’t necessarily featured on MFC. As I won’t be providing much in the way of analysis, I’m filing these under the “loot” category, rather than review.

This figure is of a sleeping female Cthulhu in a can. The figure is by WeArtDoing. I now have two of the three variants – this one I bought in stock from a random store on Taobao. She was 1188rmb with 15rmb freight collect. International shipping ended up being 270rmb – may’ve been cheaper if I had them remove the batteries, but I was juggling a couple of other parcels at the time, so just shipped as-is.

The figure comes with an edition card and three mediocre-quality postcards. I got #19/299 – which is ironically a lower edition number than the one I preordered.

https://i.ibb.co/9s65KdC/postcards-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/f0rRcYs/postcards-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/NFd3qXF/card-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5BFxbHG/card-back.jpg

Photos of the figure:
https://i.ibb.co/FHs4XMq/angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZfdyLfP/can-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6gLcbJr/body-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/PcK9KVk/right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/fkZ3xJ0/left.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/crVdTcL/hair-back.jpg
I do love the strange theming and the blue colorations. The body is a bit plain for its shininess – in some lights it does look a bit like bootleg plastic, so it would’ve been nice to see some extra shading to offset that.

Tentacle close-ups:
https://i.ibb.co/GcvDw1Z/tentacle-closeup.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gyqqYsJ/back-tentacle-closeup.jpg
I love the texture moulded into the tentacles and the colour transition.

But wait… there’s a feature:
https://i.ibb.co/x7GXJjB/can-bottom.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/VxFjQkH/can-button.jpg
There’s a hidden switch that turns on an LED in the can. The can bottom is held on by magnets, so it’s easy to take off and put back on again.

Here’s some photos with the LEDs on:
https://i.ibb.co/mz461zh/light-angled.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FW5XdKZ/light-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/BtMz6mJ/light-top.jpg
The light is quite pretty and does add to the figure.

Overall, I’m happy with my purchase. It’s a fairly unique figure, and I do love me some Cthulhu-themed things. Out of the blue and pink variants, I think I prefer the pink one, but both are pretty.
I have her displayed with the pink variant, with another one of WeArtDoing’s figures:
https://i.ibb.co/2q4Pmgk/shelf.jpg
This shelf is a work in progress, so it’s fairly empty right now. If you like to see a similar blog for either of the other two figures in the above photo, let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Idol Cthulhu (Fengrong Culture)

Do you like your figures cute, but just a bit scary? Then this figure is for you!
This review is pretty long – feel free to scroll past any sections that don’t appeal.

About Fengrong Culture

Fengrong Culture is a Chinese manufacturer, so you won’t find this figure in the MFC database.
Fengrong Culture was established in 2017, but this is their first release – they did intend to release another figure prior, but was cancelled before being available for order, likely for licensing reasons.

One thing to note this is the review of the figure without the DX base – the DX base is a separate release in China, and I do have this on preorder. Fengrong currently estimate 15th-20th August for the base’s release. The base was originally going to be resin, but due to the number of orders received, they changed it to be PVC & ABS. Oh, and it has lights and a speaker…

My history with the figure

I believe this figure was first revealed at Wonfes Shanghai 2019 – my first glimpse of it via an image posted to a Discord server I was on. I then promptly forgot which server it was posted on, and then couldn’t find it a week or so later. Thankfully awhile later someone reposted it, which allowed me to track down the details.
From there, I discovered Fengrong’s Weibo, which allowed me to keep track of the figure. I also discovered hpoi’s site (a Chinese MFC), so also watched the figure there.
Not knowing if the figure would see any international distribution, I registered with a Taobao proxy and did a couple of in-stock purchases to investigate how it worked, as well as looking into how deposits/preorders worked.
I decided to preorder this figure with hpoi’s store, as it was highly rated and seemed to be a good bet.
Then came the usual preorder wait. And delay. Then delay again… At one point the release date wasn’t known, but eventually Fengrong published that she’ll be sent out at the end of July. True to their word this time around, I was able to pay the replenishment (final) payment, and she was at my proxy very shortly after.
EMS from China to the UK took 11 days, so didn’t have too long to wait once she was enroute.

Figure box size and weight

As some of you reading this are likely waiting on their preorder from AmiAmi, the box weight & dimensions are:
Weight: 1875g
Dimensions: 330 x 265 x 190mm
So prepare for hefty shipping.

Figure’s box

Front:
https://i.ibb.co/wYNmC45/box-front.jpg
We have an interestingly-shaped window here, showing off most of the figure. We have some glossy-printed tentacles which give a nice texture and detail to the box.
We also have the figure’s name in Chinese and English, plus the tagline “Rhythm from R’lyeh”, which I like.

Sides:
https://i.ibb.co/G94Bpqb/box-right.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/Y2YtYXn/box-left.jpg
Not too much to see here – some little star windows, and the continuation of the front and back designs.

Back:
https://i.ibb.co/N94bySW/box-back.jpg
We have the figure in front of her illustration. Interesting choice, works OK. At the bottom we have mostly the standard warning text and figure information, plus an authenticity shiny from Fengrong and the barcode.
The design is pretty enough, but not hugely exciting.

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/WtYtmjr/box-top.jpg
This was taken after I did the photoshoot, so we can’t see the top of her head here, but it wasn’t the most exciting angle in the window. Does the job.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/tM8WRF4/box-bottom.jpg
Nothing to see here. Move along. S’gone all moiré though…

Liner:
https://i.ibb.co/YpGVNCB/box-backdrop.jpg
Seem to have a jumper pattern here. You don’t really see a lot of it through the box’s windows when the figure is in the box, so it’s fine. Not sure how they decided on this pattern – doesn’t really have anything to do with the figure.

Info card:
https://i.ibb.co/KDLpxcc/info-card.jpg
Has some basic safety/warranty information. However, we have some kind of exchange code at the bottom – for an app/website that doesn’t exist yet… Well, I’ll keep an eye on their Weibo for more info! See if I can get anything good, despite not being in China.

Box inner, if you’re curious:
https://i.ibb.co/YhJbRrK/box-inside.jpg

Blister

https://i.ibb.co/cxVSX4x/blister-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HT4TpK0/blister-back.jpg
It’s a reasonably sturdy blister, but has bent a fair bit on the front. As a blister, it clips together well, and kept the items secure as I pulled it out of the box.
Looking at the blister contents, we have the main figure, a basic base and her mic. We also have an empty hole to the bottom right – nothing was in here, and looks like that’s the case for other people’s copies. Maybe they planned to include some headphones for her at one point?

Base

Top:
https://i.ibb.co/dbGx85R/base-top.jpg
I swear this came pre-fingerprinted. Ah well, it was gonna invariably gain some of mine at some point anyway, plus I have the deluxe base coming soon. Not a very exciting base – some detail to the edges and that’s about all we get. And one bit to support her foot.
This was more base than anticipated, as the prototype shots just showed her balanced on her tentacles.

Peg:
https://i.ibb.co/hLxWJZQ/base-foot-peg.jpg
The plastic pieces didn’t go together so well here, so we have some protruding edges. They’re hidden once she’s on the stand though.
A decently long metal peg here, to keep her stable – nice to see a metal peg, as that’ll stay nice and sturdy when displayed.

Bottom:
https://i.ibb.co/BsPBTDL/base-bottom.jpg
No copyrights, no nothing. Plastic grid might be useful if you want to put her on a display plinth smaller than her diameter though.

Unpacking the parts

Mic:
https://i.ibb.co/xqMY0fQ/mic.jpg
Not too much to see here – it is pretty small, so the details are sufficient. No notable paint mishaps here.

Cthulhu with her protective materials:
https://i.ibb.co/TWYTbcH/plastics.jpg
She comes with a good amount of plastic separating the parts, stopping her from scraping against herself. She also has a foam block behind her legs to stop her from swinging back and hitting her hair.
Closer look at the foam:
https://i.ibb.co/fSvrxCb/foam-block.jpg
There weren’t any instructions with her, so I just squidged it up and squeezed it out between her leg and tentacle, being careful not to nudge the bow on the back of her ankle off. I did waggle her body around, but not sure if it detaches, so left it be.

Propped without base:
https://i.ibb.co/GxNcSVP/main-body-front.jpg
She can be balanced without the base like the prototype images show, but she looked a little wonky when I did this.

Assembly

Foot hole:
https://i.ibb.co/RDRyVrX/foot-hole.jpg
This fit fine onto the metal peg – was fairly easy to slide her on once I got the correct angle for the peg. Is a little bit of marking on her sole on my copy.

Hand for the mic:
https://i.ibb.co/3WpFp9S/mic-hand.jpg
This is what her hand looks like without the mic. You may see some excess rubbery stuff on her hand – I noticed this after this photo, but it just brushed off with a little force, thankfully.

*plop*:
https://i.ibb.co/7N1T4BM/mic-in-hand.jpg
It fit into her hand just fine, no issues here. Seems to be in there firmly enough too. Also note the lack of cruft on the back of her hand.

OK, that’s everything unpacked and assembled. Let’s give ‘er a spin.

Spin-around

https://i.ibb.co/9b9cQ43/front-with-mic.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/9sFpq6N/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sb1ZBVb/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/gM7hBVx/spin-left.jpg
Yep, she’s definitely a statement piece of a figure. A bold green and definitely tentacle-y. Very heavy too – guessing that the tentacles were cast solid, as she’s a weighty beast. Complete opposite of a B’Full/Insight figure. Unfortunately that means she’ll cost a pretty penny to ship.

Close-ups

Face:
https://i.ibb.co/HTTLm1n/face.jpg
She has quite a cute singing face. For some reason, her hair is propped a bit away from her face – I don’t think it shows much on display, but does look a little odd. The cast isn’t the best but it isn’t the worst I’ve seen. We do have some nice shading here though. Her stray hair has some stark contrast on it – it doesn’t bother me personally, but I can some people finding this to be a bit of a paint flaw.
Looking at her hair accessories, the cast is a little blobby, and the gold-y part hasn’t been painted neatly.
Her face skin hasn’t been shaded, so it relies on natural shadow to give it depth. We do have some shading in her mouth though, and two cute fangs.
Her eyes might be a bit divisive – it’s an unusual pattern that fits her, but they do look like faces, which is a bit annoying when you notice it.
Looking at her head wings, we do have some paint detail, but nothing really in sculpt detail.

From the side of her face:
https://i.ibb.co/VCR9b5y/side-face.jpg
I think her head and mic hand have been posed well – really gives off the vibe she’s singing whilst she waves at her fans.
Her sleeve is shaded nicely, and her cuffs add some nice detail to the figure. The lines on the cuff look neat, and the ruff has been nicely sculpted.
We’ve also got a couple of starfish in her “hair” here too. I do like these little details.

Cthulhu bow detail:
https://i.ibb.co/1fghgMV/shirthulhu.jpg
This li’l dude is neat imo. He’s been sculpted well, and the greens are nice. His eyes are painted neatly… but the stars, not so much – here the paint is too sloppy imo – the one to the right of the photo has a fair amount of overspill. In close proximity it’s very noticeable, a bit of distance less so, but you can see it’s there if you’re looking.

Lower half of the dress:
https://i.ibb.co/tQKZ7jX/dress-lower.jpg
This angle we can see the sloppy gold paint more in focus. If you wanted to…
The dress itself I think has been moulded well, and feels like there’s some life to it with the bottom ruffles rolling upwards in the middle. There is a little shading on the green panel, but it is a bit indistinct. The white parts do have quite noticeable shading.
Loving the three layers they’ve given her dress – adds volume and detail to the dress.

Bow:
https://i.ibb.co/XShSQ2N/bow.jpg
Close up it looks a little chonk – that’s to say a little blobby in the sculpt. Being close up to it doesn’t do it any favours, but looks fine from a viewing distance.

Wings:
https://i.ibb.co/BKVfkS1/right-wing.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/CvVNCs9/left-wing.jpg
Unlike the head wings, I feel like these two have had full attention paid to them – much more detail in the sculpt and paint here. These two wings add to her cuteness and cthulhuness :D.

Legs:
https://i.ibb.co/0MfVM8H/legs.jpg
Looking at the top of the stockings, it does look like the dark blue banding is a bit different in widths between the two legs, but I don’t think it is something particularly noticeable unless you’re looking up close.
She has bits of shading on her stockings, which help add depth, and a little bit of wrinkling at the back of her knee. I also like the little star details here too.
Her shoes match her tentacles in colour, but have been done with a gloss finish. Unfortunately where the paint blobs out ever so slightly it does produce quite a dark tone which makes her straps look like they’re a little dirty up close.
The bows behind her legs don’t stand out too much, but are a nice additional detail.

Boat:
https://i.ibb.co/tHyT0QX/boath.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/DL2zMVF/boat-side.jpg
I love this little cute detail – it does look like a boat tossing in the sea of her tentacles. Again, this is a detail that looks fine from a distance, but up close the sails are rather blobby and unshaded. If I was to change this bit, I’d probably add some grey shading to the sails to hide some of the deficiencies in the sculpting. Though I think a more experienced manufacturer might be able to work on getting a better cast for the sails.

Top of the tentacle-hair:
https://i.ibb.co/YQzgjqf/hair-back.jpg
Isn’t the most attractive meeting of hair, but the lower parts of the tentacle joins is fine. We can also see the shading on the tentacles – I was worried they wouldn’t have much shading, so I was very happy to see this. The shading is pretty striking from a distance, which can be seen in the spin-around shots.
For the backs of the wings, we can see the head wings lack detail on this side, but her body wings are also shaded and sculpted back here. Though one is notably darker than the other. I don’t mind a bit of variance, but some people may find this bothersome.

Lower meeting of the tentacles:
https://i.ibb.co/Ss7PbWZ/tentacle-cluster.jpg
These tentacles meet up nicely.

Wiggly tentacles:
https://i.ibb.co/QH0hqD3/backtacle.jpg
Here we can see more of the shading, and I do like the wiggly lines of these tentacles at the back. The top is slightly glossy, which I think works well.

Suckers:
https://i.ibb.co/LCwp7C8/suckers.jpg
She wants to stick right to you }:). The undersides of her tentacles have some subtle shading to add depth. The suckers aren’t sucker-shaped, but do mostly look the part. Now I’ve mentioned that, it’s probably going to annoy someone :P.

And that’s a tour of Idol Cthulhu!

Conclusion

So is she winning any awards? I think she deserves an award the concept – I love the idea of a Cthulhu idol. The figure definitely has a fun vibe to her, and I think the shading is better on the figure than I was hoping – most of her has some elements of shading, though her face doesn’t. With the liveliness of the figure, I think she’s fine on a simple base, though there is the complex base being released later.
Some of the paint details could’ve had more attention put in – though the only one that really bothers me is the stars on the chest Cthulhu. There are a couple of bits of sculpting that could do with refining, but nothing I find particularly bothersome.
I’m glad I went through the journey I did to order this unique figure, and I think it’s a solid first figure for Fengrong. Her recommended retail is around ¥12,000, which looking at the figures around that price point in my collection is a fair price for her.
With postage, she cost me around ¥18,550. If you’re in Europe, I’ll be curious how much she cost to ship (I shipped her via EMS from China) – see how ordering from AmiAmi compares when they have her.

Do you feel she’s worth her retail? Have you ordered her from China/AmiAmi? Excited or scared for her?
Thanks for reading this review! And a thank you from Idol Cthulhu!
https://i.ibb.co/mNSHwXL/facey-face.jpg

Official vs Bootleg: FuRyu Leafa Noodle Stopper

Today is another noodle stopper – Leafa from Sword Art Online.

Pricing

MSRP (without tax): n/a
Price I paid for the official (inc shipping): ¥2,160 (£15.09)
Price I paid for the bootleg (inc shipping): £3.00

Let’s get this blog started with the spin-around:
https://i.ibb.co/Lp8VCqC/spin-fail.jpg
Erm, time for some white tack and to start this again… The first fail of the bootleg – it won’t actually act like a noodle stopper as the weighting on her is so uneven she’ll just fall off what she’s perched on.
White tack sourced and applied…

Figure spin-around
https://i.ibb.co/tmZT60P/spin-front.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/nztYt5m/spin-right.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Qn7V4dz/spin-back.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Y7Q7wB2/spin-left.jpg
Yeah, the finish on the bootleg is looking rough – poor paint, gaps and that brightly yellow hair. Oh, and the unsightly white tack I’ve had to use to keep her on the stand.

Figure close-ups

Face:

https://i.ibb.co/b3dXv4c/face.jpg

The eye decals are almost competent on the bootleg – the various bits seem to be all present, albeit in the wrong colour and slightly squashed, plus the lines above her eyes are too thick. The too-thick lines also follow through to her eyebrows and mouth – the eyebrows look OK, but the mouth is somewhat scary at this distance, with the mottled paint.
The bootleg’s hair is a blobby, seamy mess, so nothing unusual for a bootleg here. The hair also entirely lacks shading, whereas the official has darker tones towards the ends of her hair.
I don’t think her hairbands look great on either, but the bootleg’s right hairband seems to have completely missed the mark.

Hairband:

https://i.ibb.co/Sy0DhBt/hair-flower.jpg

Both are flawed here – my official has some stray paint and the green loops are slightly off from where they should be, though I’d definitely rate the bootleg as worse here – less care has been taken to draw the green line in and the paint has got gaps in from the uneven surface. The bootleg’s moulding is also blobby, misshapen and rough.

Left side of head:

https://i.ibb.co/M6BC4DS/headl-left.jpg

Here we can see more paint shading on the official which is lacking on the bootleg. The moulding is also poor here on the bootleg – most noticeable from where her pigtail goes underneath her fringe – the lack of paint shading and depth makes this look odd. The bootleg’s ponytail also comes with a bonus seam.

Top of head:

https://i.ibb.co/KwXzd1T/head-top.jpg

Some rough bits to be seen on both here – both have a distinctive seam as part of the fringe part. The bootleg has some very uneven paint here – lots of blobs and mess in the paint itself… and no shading.
The bootleg’s ponytail looks like it is separating too – it didn’t fall off during the review, but I won’t be surprised if it comes off at some point.

Side of her head:

https://i.ibb.co/XzWbL1P/ear.jpg

Paint on the bootleg is decidedly rough here – lots of unevenness and blotches. Her hair parts haven’t been assembled correctly, leaving a larger gap above her ear than there should be.
We can also see some laziness with the green paint – the hairband doesn’t even go all the way around.

Back of hair:

https://i.ibb.co/gzYwVhN/hair.jpg

Neon, unshaded and bits of bonus plastic – yep, we’ve got most of the usual flaws in the bootleg’s hair. Her ponytail also hasn’t been attached correctly, meaning it sits to the left of her instead of over to the right. Whilst this does mean you can see more of her bum, it’s not doing us much favours due to the flaws (more on that later).
The flower band in the bootleg’s hair is also a plain white, instead of the official’s green-white, showing a cheaping out on the paint.

Let’s get a close-up of that backside:

https://i.ibb.co/HF58CbN/bum.jpg

I think on the official’s sculpt they sculpted it well – you get to see the shape but nothing on show. We’ve also got some creasing in the material to make it more lifelike.
Now the bootleg, oh the bootleg. For starters, the parts aren’t assembled correctly leaving unsightly gaps by her left leg and back. The shape of her bum is slightly lost, making it less well-defined. The green paint has been roughly done and we have what looks like a fingerprint in the white paint, making it look messy.

Arm:

https://i.ibb.co/2KKFXW4/arm-side.jpg

Here we have the typical armband that is used on a lot of figures to hide where an arm joins the body. On the official, it is mostly doing its job, though there is a little gapping. The bootleg on the other hand has a massive gap all the way around her arm so the join isn’t hidden at all. The paint is also too thin leaving the flesh-coloured plastic showing through. We also have an unsightly seam mark running down her neck and upper arm.
Moving to her top, the bootleg’s is very poorly assembled and the neck strap isn’t even pushed into the hole correctly, leaving it broken and revealing the unsightly assembly hole. The painting is also very poor – the strap lacks the buckle detail and the paint is very messy on the cup. We’re also missing the line detail on the cup.

Top:

https://i.ibb.co/chFnTZ1/swim-top.jpg

There was an attempt.
The official’s is far from perfect on mine – one of the lines runs wayyy off, the silver buckle paint is a bit lacking, but we do have the nice little flower ring detail.
And then we look at the bootleg and realise how much worse it could be. The strap is overly thick and rough, and the buckle details aren’t painted at all. The moulding has gone very badly wrong here – the ends of the straps have gone very blobby and odd. Due to this, neither side of the strap has been assembled properly, with her right side nowhere close.
Moving to the cups on her top, the edging paint is very messy – no neat edges here. The inner lines haven’t been painted at all, and the flower ring has missing flecks of paint. Just underneath her top on the bootleg, we can see a decent amount of overage on the white paint too.
Erm, is the bootleg’s stare-face also creeping people out in this photo?

Stomach:

https://i.ibb.co/TkvJGbp/stomach.jpg

Both of the actual stomachs on these figures looks fine to me, though the bootleg does have bonus shiny. To the bootleg’s side, we can see a visible seam line that doesn’t show on the official and we have some gapping between the parts.
The quality of painting of the green band on her bottoms is about the same on both, but the bows are much nicer on the original – the green paint matches and the bows have much better definition. On the bootleg we can see the peg hole where the bow should attach, and the bottom of the ribbon has gone to a strange rounded shape.

Left leg:

https://i.ibb.co/2g55pRp/left-lef-side.jpg

Yeah, the bootleg bow doesn’t look any nicer from this angle. And we get to see her leg looking like it might fall off.
The quality of the plastic on the bootleg’s leg is also particularly bad here – we can see lots of small scratchlike imperfections in the plastic.

Right leg:

https://i.ibb.co/x7WnnMv/leg-side.jpg

Again, the bootleg’s bow is very messy and the wrong colour – there’s a surprising amount of excess plastic left on the bow. Around the bootleg’s bow we can seemingly see some bits of stray glue.
Moving to her hand, the bootleg’s has sunk down a bit so it is no longer resting on her knee – though this change in pose isn’t particularly noticeable unless you have them side-by-side. The bootleg’s hand though lacks definition and has become blobby and looking slightly mutant.

Foot:

https://i.ibb.co/SKgv1CS/foot.jpg

Focus didn’t go so good here… Stupid bootleg hair getting in the way when it shouldn’t do.
Surprisingly, this part came out OK on the bootleg – was expecting it to be as deformed as the hands, but the feet actually came out OK.

The flat side:

https://i.ibb.co/dK84Fsm/bottom.jpg

Yeah, minimum effort here for the bootleg. Here we can see how poorly assembled this figure was, with massive gapping on both legs. We have a very obvious seam, and the shiny, rough plastic. Plus some excess plastic that wasn’t shaved off.
The official doesn’t have any of the above flaws, and actually has some paint detail on the skin, despite this part not usually being visible.

Conclusion

The bootleg you very much get what you paid for – it’s a low-quality copy of the original with many flaws. Even at a distance, some of the defects are visible – the extra paint on the top, the poor assembly of the parts (especially the top’s strap) and the poorly painted mouth giving her a slight creepy vibe. Even if you can live with the visual flaws, this bootleg has a propensity to roll over due to the incorrect assembly of parts – I believe it’s mostly to do with how her hair was glued on at the wrong angle. So as well as being kinda ugly, she’s not functional either, so definitely couldn’t recommend.
I think the poor quality is fairly evident, but I can see a novice collector dismissing most of the flaws as “cheap prize figure”. It’s a bit unfortunate my official does have a major paint flaw, but looking at the MFC gallery not all of the official ones are like this (might even just be mine).