Category: Statues (non-articulated figures)

Anastasia S-Style

Since finding out this series, I’ve set about buying some of the others that are already released. This one I saw for sale on a UK site for a good price, shortly after Christmas, so had to order it. 

Here she is:

Love the colour of her swimsuit, and she’s nicely posed. Love the necklace and charm details. 

Here she is from the left side:

And the right:

And her back:

Nicely sculpted posterior here. I find her hair slightly on the too-glossy side, but some of the post-editing may make it look a bit more distinctive than it actually is. 

She also comes with the option of an overshirt/top. To put her top on, you need to first take off her arms and head:

Not her prettiest angle! The dent on her right arm is where her forearm touches her upper arm, so this flat surface doesn’t show when she’s together. 

And with the top on:

It looks OK, but for me, it looks too much like a plastic mac, so I’m not planning to display her with it. There is some nice detailing in it though:

Zipper is well painted, and there’s the suggestion of some pockets. 

Top from the left:

And the right:

This side you can see where the top joins – it pops apart, so you can slip it over her shoulders. It comes apart and goes together with relative ease, so it’s unlikely you’re going to break the nubs, and it stays together well once assembled (have had figures where the clothes tend to pop apart). 

And from the back:

It hangs nicely over her. Is a pretty colour, but I prefer the purple more. 

Closeup of the hood:

Doesn’t look like a “true” hood from this angle, but you’re not likely to be looking at it like this. 

Happy with this figure, and glad they made the overshirt an optional accessory. Personally, I think she looks better without it, but I think it works if you like it. Whilst small, these figures have the quality of scale figures, which I think makes them great for collecting on a budget – of money and space. The line seems to be gaining popularity, as there are several being released in the next few months – some of which I have on pre-order. Hopefully I’ll be able to display the ones I buy as a collection together, but I don’t think I’ll pick up every release. 

Poison Ivy

I’ve had my eye on this one for a little bit, seeing as I saw it was released, but not really in the UK yet. Went to a local comic shop who were selling her for a good price, so I couldn’t resist picking her up, despite my December overspend.

The vine is a separate part, which can be posed however you like. The detail in her face is also impressive:

Looks like she paid special attention to her makeup this morning :). 

Right hand side:

Love the vibrant red colour of her hair. Her skin is also nicely painted, giving it a very skinlike appearance. 

Left side:

Hiding behind the leaves! I have them mostly going over her legs, are they are very much an expanse of green – on one side this does give you the place to display them, on the other hand she looks a bit too much on the bland side without the extra leaves. Her top is nice and leafy though – however, I’d prefer it if they prioritised the leaf shapes over the top shape, as it looks a little too flat imo. 

Back:

Perfect angle to admire her hair :). Maybe not as competent as more expensive figure manufacturers, but it does the job, in an eye-catching red. There uis a bunch of shades in there though, which does help it along. 

The base and her shoes:

A very simple base, but works surprisingly well. The boot painting is very eye-catching though, and I really like her footwear. The base is a translucent green, which matches the figure and probably looks better than the photo I took here. It’s not a base that’s going to win awards, but it works with the figure, and is more exciting than a plain disc, and doesn’t detract from the figure. 

This one is likely to have a prominent position in my new display cabinet… once it has been built… Can’t have too much Poison Ivy!

Tiger & Bunny: Kotetsu and Blue Rose

After pondering what I could pad my Mandarake order out with… I remembered I wanted to get some Tiger & Bunny figures. After some deliberation, I went for a Kotetsu prize figure and Chibi Arts Blue Rose. Ordinarily I wouldn’t go for a chibi figure, but Blue Rose seems to be woefully catered for in the figure market. 

First up, Kotetsu:

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Lookin’ nice from the front. Some good shading, most of the paintwork is good, a bit missed on the chin, but it’s not really noticeable. Not pictured are the way he fits into the base – he looks like he’s wearing platform shoes, but the extra “shoe” fits into the strangely shaped slots on the base. 

Here’s a close-up of the face to admire the beard paint:

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As you ca see, it doesn’t quite fit in the marked area, and there is some mould fuzz on his hand. For a prize figure though, the derps are minor. 

From the right side:

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He sadly has some marks on his hip, probably from rattlin’ around in his box. He hasn’t been out, but he was secondhand, so he may have been shaken around a bit. The marks don’t show from the front though.

Left side:

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Do love the accuracy of the moulding of the jewellery and hand. It’s also been nicely, which is a strong bonus in prize figures. 

Finally, his back:

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Some nice shading work here, if you want to admire his backside. Not doing it for me personally, but he does have good shoulders. 

All in all, pleased with my pic.

Next up, Blue Rose:

The speech bubble is of her catchphrase, and translates to:

“My ice may be a little cold, but your crime has been put completely on hold!”

She is a bit sticky with plasticiser, from being kept in her box, and she has some minor chipping on her headpiece, but this could be from when she was manufactured. This chibi works surprisingly well for me. 

Here’s two shots of her sides:

Her tendrils are nicely done in clear plastic, but her front hair doesn’t like to clip well into her back hair. May attempt to fix this at some point, with some hot air. Most of this figure slotted together surprisingly well, with the odd bits needing heating to get in place. 

Her back:

Tried to lean her against the board, but nah, she wasn’t gonna stand. Some details back here, which is nice. 

Here are her other parts:

Plenty of bits to choose from! The tiny guns go where here tiny holsters are on her legs (small blue lumps), if you don’t want her to be holding her guns. The arms in the top-right are the default ones, which she holds her hands out from her sides. I love the selection of items they provided. 

The other things she can say:

Yeah, I accidentally put the one in Japanese on its side… It translates to “I decided to believe my friends until the end as a hero”. At some point, I may swap in the Cutie Escape! one. 

Tiger & Bunny was a bit of an up and down show for me – some of it I loved, other bits I’m waiting for them to get on with it/less interested in what was going on. I may get figures of one or two of the characters, but I’m not going to be making a Tiger & Bunny display. Happy with my purchases though. 

Devilman & Migi

Shortly after writing the blog entry for Sirene… I went onto Mandarake and did an order, mainly for Devilman. Yep, I’m getting the set – the other one is moving around in the postal system, but may be some time before I see him.

So here’s Devilman by Bandai:

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This guy was rather the butt to assemble. Needed to heat up most of the parts, and the tail peg became very rubbery, which made it hard to insert. He was worth the assembly time though!

Here he is from the front of his body:

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Loving those wings, and the explosion. Here’s a closer shot showing the foot stomp (Deibru Smassshh~~), also showing some of the wing in more detail:

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The explosion is two pieces pegged to the base. 

Here he is from the back:

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Not too much to add here, still looking awesome.

Close-up of the wing:

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Love the way they’ve done the details and the shading on the wings, plus the translucent orange. 

Finally, Sirene and Devilman together:

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On his own, Devilman’s base does look lonely, and as if it should be part of something else. It looks a little lonely like this, but hopefully I should have the third figure soon! Really glad I found this set, it’s very nicely done, especially for the prices I got these two at, and hopefully the price I get the last one for. 

And as it’s just a short one to show, here’s Migi from this order:

He’s well-painted, and perfect to sticking to a Detolf :). 

Kaworu Nagsia

This was one of two figures I got as Christmas presents. This one I ended up ordering and having a sneak preview prior to Christmas.

And now I can finally appreciate him fully:

I love the shiny plugsuit, and the blue colour of it. Due to this and his pose, this figure is quite striking. 

Here is a close-up of his face:

Not much shading on his face, but it is nicely sculpted, and has good definition. 

Side of Kaworu:

Is a very arched pose, and he’s a very thin and tall chap :). Can also see where his hip bones jut out slightly, due to his slight build. 

The back of Kaworu:

Featuring one of his best features ;). He has a very shapely backside, so he might have to go in a mirrored cabinet, lol. The backpack is also nicely done. A decent amount of detail back here. 

I do love this figure – the colour and the pose really make it for me. He’s a figure I’m likely to pick up and appreciate, so I’m glad I asked for this for Christmas :). 

Sirene

Sirene is a character from Devilman. She’s a harpy with electric powers. This figure was on my Mandarake wishlist for some time, and my recent Urban Mine digging gave me the excuse to order it. 

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She’s designed to go with two other Devilman figures, but still looks great on her own. Am impressed with the detail in this figure. 

Here’s a close-up of the base:

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Her wings rest atop the branch, and her feet have some tiny little holes that her toes rest into. She’s a lot less easy to knock over than she first appears, which is nice. 

Close-up of her face:

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She’s got very big head wings here. 

She also has butt-wings:

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Never know when you might need to fan something away! Also there is a bit of a waterfall on this side, and the back is just “cut” water, rather than a waterfall. 

Back view of the figure:

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This shows how the back really is the back, but the branch has been done nicely. Her head wings are also highly detailed on the back, which is nice. This would be a good figure for a mirror cabinet. 

View showing the spike details:

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Glad I bought this figure – it exceeded expectations, and am now considering obtaining the rest have ordered Devliman. 

Ena Hoshijiro [Part 3] – Hoshi vs Hoshi

u So now I’ve introduced the two figures… let’s compare!

First off, the stands. FuRyu’s:

ACG’s:

Firstly, their holding capabilities… the ACG one is more awkward to get Hoshijiro onto, as it’s a bit of a tight fit, but she’s less prone to falling off it. If you so wish, you could actually pick Hoshijiro up, and have the stand come with her. However, the holder is actually visible from the front of the figure, unlike the FuRyu one. For the flat part of the base, I’m not particularly keen on either. ACG did try to do something to make it fit in with the figure, but I don’t think the amount of detail there justifies its size. The FuRyu one does the job of being a stand, and little else. I’d say the ACG stand wins out, but neither light my world on fire. 

OK, more important part, the figures!

With the ACG one looking matte, it definitely looks the more expensive of the two. Personally I prefer the ACG’s choice of Hoshijiro, as I like the flesh/meat mix more, but both are “valid” designs. For the hair colour, the FuRyu one is closer to the pics I can find. 

In terms of assembly, the FuRyu one was a mild pain, but it makes up for it in customisability. It would’ve been nice if ACG gave a couple of tentacle options, but it does have the added advantage that the tentacles can’t fall out :). 

The backs:

I do rather like the paint detailing on the ACG one. I feel if they did the hair shading brown instead of purple, it may have found more love. Both have clearly shaded parts, but the ACG one has stronger shading work. Which you’d expect from a scale. This angle does make the ACG support look less fugly than the FuRyu one though. 

Now for the bodies:

I think the ACG gets this one – there’s more to see of the FuRyu one from this angle, but I think the angle works better for the ACG one. I’m linking both from this angle though. 

Back view:

There’s more to see on the FuRyu one here. The ACG one is very “thin” from this angle. You can see a lot of the FuRyu tentacles here – the ACG ones have far better angles for seeing things. Also the seam line is apparent on the ACG one. 

All in all, I like them both, and they will have places in my collection. I think the ACG one is the nicer of the two, but they both have their strong points. Part of it comes down to what kind of Hoshijiro you like. With none of the other scales from other manufacturers panning out, these two are your main choices. The ACG one has potential – there could have been some additions and small changes that would have elevated it to a higher price imo, but I think its current price is a good one, if you like it and want to pick it up. 

Which Hoshijiro would you have gracing your shelves? Or would you choose ‘neither’ or ‘both’?

Ena Hoshijiro [Part 2] – FuRyu

So… this was the first Ena I got. FuRyu is one of my favoured prize figure makers, so I was fairly confident for this one when I bought it. Let’s see what I think about it currently. 

First up, a shot from her main viewing angle:

Her red growth is very much in evidence on this figure. Not necessarily a bad thing. Her tentacles are nicely visible, and you actually have a tentacle choice – the one with the pen can be replaced with just a tentacle. Let’s have a closer look at that pen:

Not perfectly painted, but I really like the fact they included this tentacle piece. However, if you’re not a fan, you can always just have tentacle. 

Here is Hoshijiro from the top:

Looking very tentacly, and shading in evidence on the red parts.

Now for her back:

Here’s where all the tentacles connect in. Initially, she has no tentacles, so you have to plug them into the holes provided. This does mean you could get rid of them entirely, if you didn’t like them, and displayed her in a way that the holes aren’t visible. Why you would do that with Hoshijiro, I don’t know, but hey, there’s probably somewhere out there doing that!

One downside of the tentacles is the connections are some are not the most secure:

Here, you can see little bits of the white tack I’ve used to “glue” them in. Fortunately this has been working for me, and they now stay in. Used to be they’d fall out if she got lightly knocked, which is a problem when I’ve displayed her next to a curtain. 

I like this figure – she does look prize-figure-y, but she won’t burn a hole in your wallet. The lattice bits do look rather painted rather than part of the growth, but the part on her leg is done nicely imo. Her flesh could potentially do with some more paint details, but the red parts are nicely shaded. With the base being white, it is very “there”, but I don’t find it detracts that much. My main issues with this figure have been her tentacles falling out and her propensity to leap off her butt stand. 

Ena Hoshijiro [Part 1] – ACG

The next three blogs will be dedicated to Ena Hoshijiro. This blog will be about the ACG version, the next blog will be about the FuRyu version (as I bought this prior to starting this blog), and the third blog will be comparing the two. 

First… some history with me and this figure. Originally saw this one up for preorder, but couldn’t really afford it, and I couldn’t find much out about it, so I didn’t preorder it, despite wanting to. Instead, I went for the FuRyu version, which had the added advantage of already being released. I remember searching a lot for it on eBay until it popped up at a good price, and I went for it. 

Recently, I went to search for the ACG version, to see what happened to it, only to find the price had severely bombed, to a price comparable to the FuRyu figure. To compare, I paid £20 shipped for the FuRyu one, and I paid just under £28 shipped for this one. There aren’t very many photos of the actual ACG figure, so I decided to just go for it. And super-glad I never preordered it for £80-90!!

So, with the backstory out of the way, here she is:

I honestly don’t think they did a bad job with her, but I can see why her price dropped. She’s not really comparable to the expensive scales I own, but there’s definitely some nice detailing in her. If you look at the picture above, you’ll see three of her tentacles have been formed into hearts. Personally, I think it would have been better to stick with one at her hand, and maybe the more subtle one towards the bottom. Not keen on the upper one. 

A closeup of the hand heart:

I like the path this tentacle takes, and did go “d’aww” when I first saw it. 

Here’s a shot of the top of her body:

I don’t find her face too far off what it should look like, but it could’ve done with some paint detail to make it look a little less flat imo. The shading on her “placental” parts is nice though, and gives them a rich variety in colour. The bit on her leg could do with some tweaking to make it look less blood dribble and more “connector”. One leg is shaded more than the other, not sure this was a good decision, but for me I don’t really see both legs at once. 

A shot from the back:

Some nice shading in her hair, but a pretty obvious seam line. The tentacles are attached nicely, with some proper “holes” for them to come out of.

A shot from behind the figure:

She certainly looks tentacley, and I like that. I think if they got rid of those silly, tight kinks I’d be totally happy with the tentacles. 

Now for closeup of the stand:

Hm. Floor tile. The original artwork showed her with a black stand, which may have been a better bet. It’s grown on me a bit, but my initial thoughts is that it would have been better with a black, smaller base to contrast against Hoshijiro, and make her stand out. I think the base could’ve done with some weathering, and maybe the pen she used in the series… almost tempted to add the latter to the base, to give me something to look at. 

She’s also a good figure if you prefer your Hoshijiro less covered in… meat. I don’t think her hair colour is particularly accurate, but I’m happy to ignore that, as I like the colour. I think she’s a solid figure for the price I paid, but I think her original asking price was too much, so not surprised her price tanked. 

Racing Mari

Out of all the Black Friday sales, this was my only purchase, and I bought this from HobbyLink Japan. I don’t have much Mari in my collection, but in recent months, I’ve decided I need more Mari. So this one contributes to the total:

The blue and pink really work well as a colour scheme imo, It’s definitely prize-figurish, so I wouldn’t have paid a lot for it… and I didn’t. 

Here’s a close-up of her face:

I like the way she’s posed, her hair and glasses are nice, but her top is a bit of a mess, especially with the black paint. They seem to have tried to make a semitransparent bit on her chest with the number on, but I don’t feel it works too well. The collar is nice though. 

Here she is from the back: 

The number decal bit is done well, and still liking the hair, but the blue stripes are a bit shaky. 

Here is a close-up of her bacl:

The paint shading in her hair is nice, but below her top, there’s definite evidence of sloppy paint. At least the red paint on this one is fast, unlike my other large Mari figure! Isn’t shiny though. 

With this figure, the pose works for me, but it is let down with fairly visible paint faults. This is a figure I’m likely to display at a distance, so that the paint flaws aren’t as noticeable. I think it’s an OK figure for the price I paid. 

Tandem Twin – MOMO

This figure I was thinking on and off about buying, but pulled the trigger as I was buying the other items from the seller. She’s an original character, so isn’t in any anime or the like. So here she is:

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She’s cute-looking and quite tall. She’s listed on MFC at 29cm tall, and I’d agree with that. I like her cute halter top, and her pose feels natural. The body paint is not the best imo, but I think it may have partly suffered with time. The body texture appearance is on the plasticy, unreal side though. Most of the painting is well done though. 

Here’s a side shot, showing more of her face:

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Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you. From the front-angle she’s giving a smile, this angle looks like she’s aiming to be sassy, lol. I like the way they’ve put wrinkles in her clothes, to give them a more natural appearance. With her arm, you can “feel” the way she twisted into her pose. 

A closeup of her face:

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Yep, definitely smiling. Nice detailing on the eyes, and the way the top hangs. 

Here is her back:

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Her tail has plenty of shading on, and the creases are also present on the back. Her hair colouring has also been done strikingly from the back – this is definitely a figure that’s been designed to be looked at from both the front and the back – a feature I appreciate, even if I don’t use it all that often!

I like this figure, but feel the skin paint lets it down a bit. I don’t have another figure to compare it to, but feel like the shades may have separated over time, however, this isn’t the only issue with skin painting imo. 


The cast-off part is quite a large portion of the figure, which is nice, as it means the seams fall along natural seam lines:

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Some OK-looking nipples, and a top that goes underneath her boobs. At first, I thought this was the first top pushed down, but it’s a different top entirely on closer inspection. She also has a different neck decoration. The paint is less orangey on this piece, which is why I suspect the other part may have deteriorated to some extent, but it’s still sort-of shiny and not as skin-like as other figures I own. 

The back of the cast-off part:

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Fairly similar to the other one, but the neck is different, owing to the other neckpiece, and the back of the top is different too. 

Here’s what the cast-off piece looks like when she’s assembled:

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And a closeup of her front:

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The nipples I find a bit too stark, but I think it’s still a decent option. It did take me awhile to decide which piece to display her with for the time being – have settled on the non-castoff, but I may switch her in future. 


 

Pajama Time Rei & Asuka

This is the last part of the MFC loot. And it had to be Evangelion :P.

Here they are both together:

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These figures can be stood up as shown – there’s a foldout stand on the back – or hung up like pictures. Or laid down flat, if that’s how you roll. Currently considering mounting these on a wall somewhere.

First up, a closer look at Rei:

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I love the weird, transparent clothing. One nice feature of it is that it does let you see more of the figure. Can’t imagine translucent nightwear irl would be made of anything comfortable enough to sleep in… I also like the wing pattern behind these figures – gives you the feeling that they’re dreaming, as well as being something related to Evangelion. Just a shame the frames are so plasticky. 

Here’s a closeup on Rei:

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Rei’s well-posed, but the paint definitely lack detail, largely owing to these being prize figures. For a prize figure, I’d be happy with this prize though. 

Now onto Asuka:

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Less transparency going on here, but with Asuka’s hair, there’s more detail to look at. I’d prefer her nightwear to match her flavour of red than pink, but that’s a minor gripe. Like with Rei, she has wings, but hers are less noticeable at first. 

Closeup on Asuka:

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And a closeup on her face:

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Yep, she seems happy and comfortable. 

I feel these two an interesting add to my collection. The frames are glow-in-the-dark, hence the kinda cheap look. Did look into whether they’re easily removable if I decided to change them, but the answer was no. Personally I’d prefer the bed “window” to be a bit clearer, to make the wings stand out more – in Asuka’s case, I think the artwork went a little too dark, which doesn’t help them stand out. 

If you’re short on shelves, these are a pair designed for your wall :). 

Saber Swimsuit

Today’s figure is Saber by Wave. No figure collection is complete without a few different Sabers, after all.

This one was packaged with her standing on the base – no assembly required. She has a nice-looking belly, and the ribbons give her a good “finish” of a figure that could’ve been quite plain. 

Here’s a more side-on view, showing one of the bows:

Nicely sculped and painted. I feel as if she could risk being a bit happier though!

Here’s a side shot showing off her hair:

And one from the back to show the bow more clearly:

Nicely coordinated with her side bows :). Unusually for a Wave figure, she actually comes with a second hair choice:

Side view:

I like this hairpiece, but I prefer the more “Saber” one. I feel it fits better, and I like the coordinating bows. 

The paint shading is very nice in this figure, and the blue bows really pulls her together as a figure. Don’t have any major complaints with her, she could be a bit more smiley, but that’s kinda Saber’s thing. 

Kazakiri Hyouka

I don’t know much about this character, but I was captivated by her looks and pose. There isn’t anything ‘critical’ shown, but I think she is more on the NSFW side in pose and coverage imo. So let’s start will a less direct shot of her:

In some ways, her face reminds me of my own, but my coworkers may disagree (um, do you? :P)

, especially as I haven’t worn glasses in many years . I definitely don’t have that sidetail though!

A more front-on shot, showing her pose and belly more:

I love the colours of her clothes – the back and canary yellow work well together. 

Here’s her back:

Hair is pretty simple, but does the job. 

I like this figure. It’s fairly simple in its way, but there’s something that captivates me. Part of it is her expression and pose, though. 

Lily – Vocaloid

This figure I almost requested my husband to buy as one of my Christmas presents… until I found something else I wanted XD. Was attracted to her by the yellow and blue colour scheme.

Mmm, shiny. And what a look she gives, lol. 

A closeup of the face:

Again, the hair is a bit meh with the paint, makes her look a bit sun-faded imo, but the sculpt is better. Here’s a back shot, showing the hair sculpt:

Not much goin’ on on top, but plenty of movement out back. You can also see the stand that holds her leg – was dubious about it at first, but it does make her much solid standing up, so it’s staying. 

Here is her left side:

Lots of wiry details, and a clear shot of the stand. 

And t’other side:

Both her hands are posed well, adding to her pose. I like the way the clothes are on her body, especially with the top being a separate piece. 

My favourite things about this figure are the blue, her belly and her collar. Not sure how I feel about her facial expression, but it does make her stand out. 

Sheryl Nome

Next up, Sheryl Nome. I saw this figure on Mandarake, and did think about adding her to one of my recent purchases, but decided to go for something else instead. Glad I waited, as I was able to add her to my MFC bonanza. 

For a prize figure, her body is nicely painted, but her hair quality definitely says “prize figure” to me. She took a little bit of heating to slot her waist into her legs. Dunno why, but her outfit appeals to me. 

Here she is from the back:

Again, the hair kinda lets it down a bit. The body has some nice touches – the metal detailing on her tube top/bra, creases in her knickers, sculpting of her back – but the hair colour just doesn’t seem that well blended. 

Here’s a closeup of her back & glasses:

Attention to detail was put into her hand pose. 

Here’s her right side:

And the left:

Some nice attention to detail in the sculpt, though you can see a little bit of a gap where she joins in the above pic. Might be able to fix it with a bit more of a shove. 

I don’t think this will be a fave fig, but she is a welcome addition to my collection :). Love the body, shame about the hair imo. 

Mashougun Astaroth

So… this is the first of 8 figures I bought from a seller on MFC. They were doing a giveaway of prize figures (just pay postage), but they had a couple of things for sale that I wanted. So I helped empty their closet…. and will be filling mine! (Watch this space…). 

This figure is one I’ve wanted since its original release. I remember seeing it for preorder, but not really wanting to shell out so much for a figure. Ah, how things have changed… 

So here she is:

Mmm, shiny blue demon! The painting is REALLY nice in this figure, and I adore the posing. And those shiny wings:

Didn’t know that the wings would be shiny, and it adds to the figure. They’re also ribbed on the back:

Here’s a closeup of her face:

The expression matches her pose. This pic also shows off her wing claws 🙂

Here’s another closeup of her upper half, showing her left arm and the tail wrapped over it:

And finally a shot of her back:

Love this figure, when I finally have somewhere to display these figures, she’s going to have a prime location to stand in. 

Figure Spotlight – Big Daddy

This was one of my first figures. I went to GAME to buy the original Bioshock, and the collector’s edition was only £5 more, so I went for it, because, hey Big Daddy figure:

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The other parts of the collector’s edition are scattered to various corners of my house, and this is the only thing that is out and displayed. 

Here’s the side with his hand, where you can see some of the meh-ness of the painting:

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And here’s his drill hand:

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Here you can see some of the blood effect, which is spread over various places on the figure. 

And finally, the tanks:

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Hm. Don’t think the paint effect they were going for really worked here. 

Not sure what the collector’s edition originally went for, but even if I was into collector’s editions at that point in time, I don’t think the figure really justifies a large increase in cost. Can’t argue with £5, you get a decently heavy figure that looks like something from the game, but the paint job isn’t the best. I think they could have dialled down on the bloodstains – I think it would be more effective to have it on the drill and maybe one other place. With it being in various spots, it kind of makes it look even less realistic to me – I’m not a massive fan of “blood” spatter on figures, as it rarely comes out well. 

All in all, not a bad start to my collecting habit. 

Figure Spotlight – Eren Yeager

I bought this fellah at a con, but amazingly wasn’t severely gouged for it. Would’ve been cheaper via Mandarake, but not by a whole lot, once shipping would be factored in. 

So here he is, in his full glory:

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One fairly noticeable paint flaw on his leg there – but he is a prize figure, so paint flaws aren’t unknown. Most of the pics I’ve seen of him have some noticeable paint flaw somewhere. In some ways, the sculpt was a bit too ambitious for the painters, and all the straps are prone to making the smallest mistake look large. 

Front-on view:

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The other downside to this figure: a few angles has his arm covering his face. Though the plus sides of this figure is his gear and jacket:

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Both look really nice imo, and with the simpler paint job, it came out well. 

Here’s a view of the gear from the back: 

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Almost looks like a different figure from the back. The wall makes a nice little addition to the figure, and gives it a lot more than a plain base would. Was one of the things that drew me to this figure. If I were to change one thing about this figure, it would be to move his arm so it wasn’t quite as in front of his face. This figure may also find itself becoming painting practice… if I can ensure that I’ll make less of a mess, instead of more. 

Figure Spotlight – Racing Miku 2012

This figure was the first one I had to pay customs for! I remember coming across pictures of this figure and absolutely having to have it, due to the the transparent skirt and the pose. I was looking at Racing Miku figures, and the ones that I found, this was my favourite. And possibly still is. 

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Searching around, I found it at prices I couldn’t afford. Then I managed to find one preowned on AmiAmi at a price I could stretch to! So I ordered it. Waited. Got a slip from Parcelforce, paid my moneys, and waited a bit more. Then eventually, she was with me!

And I could stare at her belly:

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Up until this point, I don’t think I’d seen pics of the actual base, so that was a bit of a surprise. The promo shots always have a clear base, so was expecting something plainer. Still not a big fan of this base – would personally prefer it to be a plain colour, but this is more “Miku”. 

The pose is fun though, along with her expression. Her skirt is removable, but imo she looks far better with it on than without. She comes apart just underneath her chest so you can take it off. 

Here’s the back of her hair:

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Lots of movement, lots of painful areas to dust. Other similar figures tend to have more rubbery hair, so they’re not as fragile but this one is quite tough plastic. Can be a bit nerve-wracking dusting it, but it’s stayed in one piece thus far. 

Still a quality figure in my collection, two years on.