Category: Statues (non-articulated figures)

Panther Alien – Aliens Retro Collection

And, finally, the panther alien:

I’mma gonna headbutt you… The body colours look really nice together, the orange head would look better if the paint app was thicker… seems a bit thin and uneven in places… 

Left:

I like the pose, has a feeling that he’s slinking. The colours also work really well, and I think they’ve chosen the right places to paint gold/silver, though some place are a bit sloppy. I think the tail adds to the impression he’s slinking. 

Right:

More of the same on the other side. I love the shape of his feet. 

Back:

Not too much to see here. Looks like the moulding got sloppy at the back of his legs though, unfortunately. Tail looks fine.

Closer look at the tail:

I like the shape of the end of his tail, and feel it is well sculpted overall.

Top:

They’ve added some orange down his back, not sure this worked too well. At his upper back, I think they should’ve stuck with just the dot-spine bits. The blend ion his spine could’ve worked, but I feel the paint app is too uneven for it to work, and was probably too ambitious with Eaglemoss’s usual final quality – their painters don’t seem to blend too well, so I think this would’ve been fine as just gold, or maybe a darker shade of orange. 

Overall, he’s pretty decent. He’s certainly an eye-catching piece, but does have some flaws in the paintwork. 

Scorpion Alien – Aliens Retro Collection

Today’s xeno is an alien crossed with a scorpion:

This one shares a similar colour scheme to the Revoltech Big Chap I got some time ago. I do like the contrast of the copper against the black. With him having a slight profile, not too much of the detail is visible front-on.

Left:

Here we can see much more of his pose, and I think he’s posed well. What I’m less fond of is how the gold highlights have been used – I think it would’ve looked better if the highlighting on the head was more like the silver on the Mantis. Again, the arms are half-copper, half black in a way that isn’t hugely appealing. 

Right:

I like the way the tail curls, but again, the odd colouration. Only place the half-colouring is working for me is the “pipes”, which are more like spikes on this one, to fit in more with the scorpion theme. 

Head close-up:

Sculpting is nice here, The copper almost fades away here, making it look less sudden than the other side. He’s also got his teeth painted in silver. Spine painting is mediocre close up. 

Back:

Back looks better as it has better copper coverage. For the tail, I’d like it more if the gold was over the top side and not on the bottom – I think that contrast works well. 

Back close-up:

I like the distribution of the copper paint on his back, though the sculpt feels “muddy” and confused. I feel the details got a bit lost here. Back spines are still cool though :P.

Overall, I think the sculpt is strong enough, and the colours work. Just would prefer the colours to be better distributed so it doesn’t look so odd. 

Snake Alien – Retro Aliens Collection

This one came with the mantis alien, and was the other figure to break in transit:

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Yeah, it has a really thin body, so getting this one through the postal service is a risky business. It also has a LOT of spines, so these may also snap off. Even on my replacement, I had one of the tiny bits snap off near the base of its tail, but fortunately it isn’t really visible unless you know it is supposed to be there. 

So let’s get onto the less broken one:

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HISS! He’s posed well, and the design is pretty decent. What’s there is sculpted and painted well. 

Left:

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He arches up nicely, and I like the spines on his head. The colour contrast between the green and the brown is nice. If you see the triangular bits sticking out of its lower back, one of those is missing, but can’t remember exactly where. 

Right:

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From the back, I’m not sure if the spines are painted as the sculptor intended, suspect they were going for a blend, but is a bit messy here. Head is nicely done though.

Back:

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I like the detailing on the back of webbing. Not too much to say about the back. 

Base:

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I like the way he’s curled up, to support his body. The base looks decent too. 

Overall, I like the look of this figure. However, I would’ve liked to see more meat on the body of it – not just for stability reasons. Whilst snakes don’t have too much to them, this snake seems to not exist in the middle, and is only bone and webbing in the middle. I think it would’ve helped the stability and design if this figure was given a snake’s body all  the way down. 

Mantis Alien – Aliens Retro Collection

Next up, the mantis alien:

This was the one I was most excited about… so let’s see how he fares. From the front he looks good – we have a couple of shades of green going on, and some silver. I’m glad they’ve used a couple of shades of green to paint him, as it does add a lot to the figure. I like the pose of the figure too. 

Left:

I like the pose of the arms and the body. The circular parts are nicely highlighted in the lighter green, and the sculpt o the head is lovely. What I like less is the webbing on his arm. The paint looks very sloppy on it, and it looks more like metal sheeting than skin. 

Close-up of the side of his head:

Couple of sloppy paint bits – the green on his shoulder and a little on the ribbing on the lower part of his head, but I do love this head design. The silver highlights on it work well too. 

Right:

And the webbing on this side… ergh. Awful. Looks like he’s got some metal in the crook of his arm. It’s like the sculptor didn’t even try to get the webbed effect the original had. If they did something similar to the shoulder sculpt, that may’ve worked. Anything but this… weird attempt. Nothing would’ve been better, but could’ve made the figure dangerously fragile. I’ll just stare at his lower arm instead… yes, that looks better. 

Back:

Weirdly, he has no tail. With the webbing and the lack of tail, I do wonder if the sculptor was trying to do this from memory instead of with source material… The back is OK, but not a strong point of the figure. 

Top of the head:

Pattern looks good on the top of his head :). 

Overall, he looks decent enough from the front, but the “webbing” on his arms really brings this figure down. I still like him, but there’s definitely some weird design decisions going on here, which I don’t fully understand. Yes, the arms probably needed more support material, but why no extra raised bits to look like webbing? Is this actually some kind of statue of the mantis alien, instead of a specimen? Yeah. Gonna go with that. 

Gorilla Alien – Aliens Retro Collection

With the bull alien came the gorilla alien:

This is one burly dude of an alien! I do love the “growling” pose, and we also get to see his inner mouth due to it. The blue dry brushing effect does help to accentuate parts of the figure, and I think this mostly works. 

Left:

That’s some big claws he has there on his legs! Love the colour scheme. What I love less is some of the line painting at the top of his head is a bit messy. The sculpting is nice, with plenty of details to look at. 

Right:

Here the lines are neater, but one pesky bit at the front of his head there. We have a lot fo the same details as the left side, and I do like how he’s posed. He also seems he’s got his hands curled, ready to pound the floor. 

Back:

Big butt! I think his body looks a bit awkward from this angle, and maybe needed a little more shape to it to make it less square. However, it is detailed nicely, and I do like the design of his tail, which has an interestingly sculpted end part that I like. 

Top:

He has a nice, shiny head, a little bit marred by stray paint. I like the way they’ve gone for a different finish here, and the effect it gives it. 

Overall, I’m a fan of this one. The colours are nice, and the posing is good. Feel they’ve done a good job of capturing the gorilla alien’s appearance.

Bull Alien – Aliens Retro Collection

This is the first of six blogs for the three Aliens Retro twin-packs. Bought all three packs when they were on sale on the Eaglemoss shop. Partly glad I got them there, as I was able to get replacements, as two arrived broken. However, they could’ve done a better packing job… 

These alien designs are based on the never-aired Alien cartoon designs. 

Anyways, enough ramble, let’s have a look at the Bull alien:

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Starting off with a side pic, as front-on doesn’t have as much to see. The head design is really nice, but I’m not too fond of the body – the stripes feel too flat, making the body feel too flat in general. The front arm and feet look good, but his back leg feels a little awkwardly shaped. Not a fan of the tail – feel as if this should be beefed up, and look more like the original Kenner version. Another advantage of doing this would be to make it less fragile – my first one the tail was snapped off in the box, and getting him out, I can see why. I don’t think they had to go this thin to achieve a bull tail effect. 

Head:

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The purple stripe is nicely painted, and faithful to the original design. The horns look good too, and I think they did a really good job here.

‘Face’:

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Nice set of grinning, silver teeth here. Got a seam line going on, which isn’t too much of a big deal, as you don’t usually see this angle – here I’m holding the figure to get this shot. The bottom of his body doesn’t look particularly well-sculpted from here, however, again, it’s not particularly visible on display. The ‘arm’ poses do work well at this angle though, and does make him look menacing. 

Left:

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Man… if only they gave the exoskeleton parts a bit more shape… The limbs look a lot nicer on this side imo, and the back leg doesn’t look oddly stretched. 

Back:

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I feel his back pipes are a bit short and stumpy. I think it’d be more aesthetically pleasing if they were bigger/more dominating on his back. I like the way the exoskeleton ribs end with spine parts, but still feel they could do with more shape in general. 

Back:

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His back looks OK, nothing special. I know bull tails are thin, but I feel as if they could add more weight to the tail, possibly remove the spine parts (maybe do ridges like the body?) to make the figure more robust. If you’re moving this figure around, be careful not to clip the tail on anything, as it will easily snap. 

Top:

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The plates at the top of his limb joints work well, and the body shape is nice and bulky. 

Overall, I think he’s a decent figure, but does have a fragility problem in the tail. Thankfully Eaglemoss is happy to provide replacements if they have them, though resin is fairly easy to fix with superglue if you break it yourself or can’t get a replacement. If I were to change anything, it’d either be the tail or to add a more rounded shape to the flat surface of the back parts. though I feel these complaints are relatively minor. 

Silica – Sword Art Online – Noodle Stopper

Pre-ordered this as it was a noodle stopper and SAO. She isn’t one of my favourite characters, but I thought this was cute and cheap enough to go for it.

So here she is, being cute:

And herein demos my main issue with this figure – she’s pretty hard to display, and get the most out of her. 

Closer look:

I love the cute, playful expression, and the hair is nicely done. There are little clumpy bits, if you look close, but these are sort of to be expected with a prize figure. The front of her swimsuit has been done nicely, and the red parts are enough within the lines to not be distracting. The posing of her upper half is really well done imo, and feels expressive. 

Left:

And here’s the everything we can’t see, if we use an opaque item to rest her upon. Her outfit is cute and neatly painted – I like the fact they’ve given her a collar, though it isn’t really visible from the front. Her tail curls playfully upwards, and the shading on it is nice. Love the detail they’ve put into her hair.

Unfortunately with this pose she’s a tad back-heavy – she will sit fine like this, but if she’s not fully resting on an object or you nudge her, she’ll fall off fairly easily. Out of the “noodle stopper” figures I have, this one wouldn’t function too well as one, even if you decided to use it for that imo. 

Right:

Paint is a tad more uneven on this side, but still looks decent enough. Love all the bits they’ve sculpted in the hair, and her tail shading fits the curve of her tail. 

Back:

The tail ends somewhere out of sight, which works for me. The frills in her skirt have been sculpted nicely, along with her butt. There’s a bit of an annoying paint flaw on mine – a little excess paint on her panties. Her legs and feet are sculpted nicely, and her toes look good. 

Close-up of the back of her hair:

I like the shading on her hair, and as mentioned previously, the amount of detail they’ve put into it. Seems a fair bit more than your average prize figure. Her top also has a fabric bit painted under her frills, which is a nice attention-to-detail.

Overall, the figure looks very nice, and has been executed nicely for the most part. The major issue that prevents me from recommending it is the display potential – I think it would’ve been better to have her head turned to the side, so she could be displayed side-on. Currently I have her sat on a clear U-shaped riser, so you can see more of her, otherwise it’s a toss-up if you display her face or her body. I suspect the pose was chosen to accommodate the tail, and it works on that front, but I think she would’ve been better coming with a small clear claw stand, so you can display her unobstructed…. as let’s face it, nobody’s going to use this as noodle stoppers. 

Rin Kagamine – Nuclear Fusion – Vocaloid

Here’s a Vocaloid figure with a difference… one that isn’t overly cutesy. When I found out this figure existed, I had to go and order it.

Not too long later, she arrived:

Rin Kagamine, as a rocker. As a fan of heavy music, this one strongly appealed to me, and I love the hairdo Rin is sporting. I think this figure was styled well, and the base is very much a part of the whole ensemble – no boring black disc here! 

I love the design of her guitar – I think it works well as a focal point for the centre of the figure. 

Face:

Here she is, not looking very impressed with you. I do love that hairstyle, and the white-black hair ties match up well with the rest of her outfit. From the parts of the outfit that can be seen in this photo, you can see the clean lines that the figure has, and the detailing that went into the sculpt.

What you can also see is the end of the darned headphone wire. This thing Does. Not. Stay. In. I wish there was more depth to the hole or it had some way of gripping the wire so it stays in when nudged. This is my main gripe with the figure. However, this wire is a separate part, so you can bend it however you wish, or choose not to have it. I like the curved lines you can create with it, so I prefer to have it, so long as I can get the damn thing to stay. It will probably meet up with some white tack at some point in its future. 

Left:

Here we can see they’ve put a good amount of detail into her clothing, and have her boot creasing at the ankle. The coloured rings look… OK, but I’m not 100% sold on them. I did think about displaying her without them, but decided the figure kind of needed them. I like the fact they’ve included some wires going into the speaker, and the four “legs” on the base, which make it super-stable as well as look cool. 

Speaker:

Here is a closer look at the speaker and its wires. I like the fin included in front of the speaker (not very practical, but looks cool) and the little logo thing on the top of it. The paint is also nice and shiny here. Here you can also see where the base has been given some weathered effects, and I think these work well. Also Rin’s boot has a nice neat yellow line going round the sole. 

Right:

Here the rings look cool, with the way they flow. Also got an opposite colour scheme going on with her clothing, which I really like. The light and shading on this figure work really well, which I feel is decently showcased in the white part of her dress.

Back:

I like this golden “fence” part. I like the colour, and I think it fits well with the figure… even though it’s kind of random. As a nod to Rin’s normal clothing, we have yellow lines on her arms, which are painted well.

Back of her head:

Here we can see they put detail into the back of her hair as well as the front. Also I plugged the headphones in properly for this shot (yay!), and it does look good when it is behaving. We’ve also got a small detail in the form of a stud on her shoulder. 

Ring attachment:

This is how the back ring attaches, so it appears to float. This one can be a little easy to knock out if you’re not careful, but will stay fine if you don’t nudge it. However, because of the holes in this back piece, it does show a reasonable amount that something’s missing if it isn’t in place. Also just having two of the rings really doesn’t look right imo. 

Overall, if you like some heavy metal in your figures, whilst they remain plastic, I’d recommend this one. I’m not sure how appealing this would be to a general Rin Kagamine fan, but I personally love the concept and think it is well-executed. Kinda wish the rings were more of an optional part, as they can look a little “eh” close-up, but think they work just fine at a viewing distance. 

Momo Deviluke – To LoveRu Darkness – Bottle Holder

This figure I came across randomly, and decided I’d like to order it, because of its kinda different nature. 

So here she is, Momo holding an invisible bottle:

This figure is very nice for a prize figure – she has shading in her hair, and a few other places. The paint is largely neat, without a bunch of messy lines. I love the cute expression on her face, and her shirt has been rendered well. The tail is also posed well, and I do rather like the way it curls. 

Front:

They’ve painted her chest darker, to show she’s wearing a sheer shirt, and she’s wearing a bra to match her knickers. Or swimsuit bottoms? The green bow helps to break up the pinkness of the figure, which I like. There is a tiny bit of overage on the knickers, but nothing too drastic. 

Left:

The flowers in her hair have been painted well, and the twist of her tail looks good from this angle too. Her feet look nicely detailed, and the pose has some dynamicness to it. 

Right:

Not too much extra to see here, but there’s shading on her leg, which is a rarity for a prize figure. Her toe has also been posed here – I appreciate the asymmetry here. The sleeve goes well around the arm, and looks realistic. 

Back:

Here, the back of her bra is a bit too heavily painted, and looks a bit odd. Fortunately this isn’t an angle I’ll be looking at, so not too much of a major issue for me. Here we can see the twists of the tail, which give it motion. Her knickers are also shaded too here. 

So that she can hold the bottle, her arms are rubbery and can be flexed about, so there’s no worrying about breaking her, if you want her to hug something. She can sort of hug a Nendoroid’s head. and I did have her hugging the Queen of Pain for a time. She’s a fun figure to play with, thanks to her pose, and would make for an interestingly posed piece. She’s made to hold a smaller size of bottle, so your average 500ml bottle doesn’t fit so well imo. 

So I could easily recommend this figure, if it appeals to you. If you want to find her, you may have more luck searching for just “hold figure” on figure websites. 

Klan Klang – Macronized ver – Banpresto

Now for a large Klan Klang! This one was an Ichiban Kuji prize figure:

And this figure certainly is large, to match her macro size! I love the shiny purple of her uniform, and the much more serious expression, to match her personality in macro mode. I love the bold colours of her uniform, which have been replicated nicely here. She does lack detailed shading though, due to her price status. 

Face:

Her face has been sculpted decently well, though I think her mouth is a little on the big side. We have the SMS logo on her uniform, but it looks a little elongated. Her chest is large like it is in the anime… but looks like they’re defying gravity a bit. Most of the black lines around here are neatly done. 

Left:

Here we can see she has her hand on her hip and is leaning forward slightly, to suit her stance. I like the way her hair curls around her body on this side. There’s a seam in her hair by her shoulders, but it is decently blended imo. 

Right:

Aand that’s some platforms to be using for piloting! Obviously doesn’t bother her, though… I like all the detailed creases in her uniform, and the hair down the side of her face is sculpted well. 

Helmet:

Here we can see some dodgy painting, but not too bad overall. She holds the helmet well, but I seem to recall there was some hairdryer action to get her to hold it in the first place. I’d recommend warming her hand to get it in there, as I think there’s a high chance of accidentally scraping some paint. I do wonder how comfortable a helmet is with all that hair though. 

Back:

Here we see they’ve done plenty of details on the back of her suit too, which really helps complete the design. The hair looks good, and is nicely out of the way so you can appreciate the detail they’ve put into this figure. 

Hair close-up:

Here we can see the sculpting is done well, but her hair ties are not translucent on this figure – not unexpected for a prize figure. I like the way they’ve done the hair underneath her headband though. 

Heels:

I like these little bows on the back of her heels – that little bit of girlishness that stays with her in macronized form. The sculpt isn’t too detailed, but they do the job. 

Overall, I do like this figure. I think it definitely has a prize figure feel irl, but it was very reasonably priced when I bought it (and I was able to kindly ask the store I bought it from to pack it so it fit into SAL small packet, which was awesome). Overall, I’d recommend this as an affordable version of Klan Klang, though shipping might be a bit high if the store doesn’t pack it tightly. Thankfully my local mail service isn’t too brutal with parcels, so her box wasn’t even dented on arrival. 

Klan Klang – Micronized Ver – Alpha x Omega – Macross Frontier

And now for some Klan Klang… as I went out and bought a whole bunch o’ Klan Klang figures & merch…

First up, we have the micronized version of her by Alpha x Omega:

And she’s very cute! Only Alpha x Omega produced any kind of premium scale figure of her, and thankfully this one is a nice one! They also did a macro version of her, but Santa’s told me I’m not seeing that one until Christmas… 

I think the pose works well – it gives off the playful vibe that micronized Klan Klang has. I can imagine she’s running up to one of the other characters and gesturing towards them. 

I like the way they’ve done her outfit – her jacket is overlaid on her dress(?), which gives her outfit some depth. Her boots are also sculpted at the top – they’re not a separate part, but there’s some depth there so it doesn’t look like she’s got painted-on boots. 

The shading in the paint is all very nice, and helps add detail to the figure. The details are also painted cleanly, which is especially important for the gold edging. 

Face:

She has a very cute face, and her mouth is painted well. Here we can see the jacket – the gold paint mostly holds up close-up – if I had to nitpick, the ends of the gold piping on the jacket edge are a bit dodgy. The creases work well, and she also has a small pocket here. Her hairband is done as a separate piece, which helps it feel like a band. They’ve even included some sculpt details in her ear, which is nice to see. 

Outfit:

The pink-blue border holds up well, and I love the contrast between the gold and the blue on the erm… tie bits? I like the way the ribbon she’s wearing curls nicely down and helps emphasise her movement. We can see a bit of a seam close-up here, but it has been blended well, and could potentially be regarded as a seam in her clothing, as would exist in a real dress. 

Left:

I live her playful, stretched out pose. She’s also got an interesting heel design going on there… I love the little pink ribbons on her cuffs. The base holds her well but personally I would’ve preferred for her front foot to actually be on the base, instead of her being “midair”. 

Right:

Here we can see she’s got the “SMS” on her ribbon, as well as the base. Nice attention to detail there. Her hair flows well around her body, and is well-shaded. Contrast is probably a bit too high in the photo… the figure is fine. 

Back:

Here we see she’s got a small gold detail on her back, so they haven’t neglected the back of her outfit. There’s also an intentional seam on the jacket, plus a paint detail on the back of her boots. 

Hair close-up:

Here we can see they’ve done her hair ribbons in translucent plastic. I think they could’ve done with a tad more paint/dye, but they do the job. 

Overall, I’m really pleased with this figure and glad I got it. I think this is a solid figure for Klan Klang in her micro form, which is good… as there aren’t a lot of figures of her. It was nice to be able to get a figure that wasn’t a prize figure for her. 

Alien Warrior – Alien Vs Predator

This xenomorph is based upon one in AvP, according to the box. This one I randomly came across on Suruga-ya and thus I decided to order it:

And he’s a big mofo… bigger than my backboard. In terms of painting… he’s black. And a bit more black. So,um, nothing to talk about here as regards paint… but the moulding makes up for this. 

‘Face’:

He has a translucent dome, but you can’t really see through it – just the vague shape underneath. The detail in the moulding is visible here – I love the texture on the webbing bits of its mouth. 

Chest:

The bones look good on the chest, and plenty of details further down. 

Left:

I like the preparing-to-leap pose. It’s also done so it’s fairy well balanced, and will happily stand on a flat surface. 

Arm close-up:

Again, good sculptwork that captures the textures and details of a xenomorph well. 

Right:

From this site, its tail tries to stab the camera :P. The back pipes stick out well, and we have the other wibbly protrusion here too. 

Side of head:

Liking the details on the neck, but the shoulder ridges look a little odd – there’s not a huge amount of texture on them, and I’m not convinced over the way the arms join into it. 

Back:

A lovely amount of sculpting back here – I like the spine and the lines that join up to it. Its hips stick out nicely too.

Tail:

One vicious-looking tail! Love the end of the tail. 

Overall, I like this figure. It’s a big, solid figure that’s well-sculpted, and balances well. If you want a cheapish statically-posed Alien figure, I would recommend this FuRyu series of figures. 

Locutus of Borg – Star Trek

Saw this figure, had to buy it:

A Locutus of Borg! That actually looks somewhat like what it’s supposed to be, which is a surprise for a Star Trek collectable. There’s a good amount of detail here – he seems to have the key elements the original design had. His head does seem a bit more elongated than Picard’s appears to be, but I can forgive it for the rest of the sculpt being solid. The paint accents that are there work well. 

Face close-up:

Looking Borg-y :D. Laser paint looks like it might’ve gone a bit walkies, but the rest of it looks good to me. 

Left:

Plenty of details on the arm, love the abundance of wires and small electronics-style details. The hair looks OK at this distance, but looks a bit like a grey smudge close up. 

Right:

The fearsome Borg “multitool”. Yeah, don’t think I want to be on the wrong side of that! Here you can see they’ve got a decent bunch of wires sculpted separately too. 

Close-up of the tool:

I like all the small details on this part, and there are some paint accents, to break up the blackness. In terms of colour scheme, they didn’t have much to work with, but they seemed to have squeezed in a few paint details here and there.

Back:

No shirking on the sculpt detail back here – there’s a goodly amount of detail, to complete Picard’s Borgification. 

Overall, I’m really happy I’ve added this figure to my collection. I paid £15 for him, which I feel is a fair price, but he usually retails above that… which, as nice as he is, I feel is too much for such a figure. There’s been a lot of duds as far as Star Trek collectables has been concerned, so it’s nice to see a nice one. 

Rem – Wedding ver – Re:Zero

I don’t usually go for wedding figures, but this one I felt was rather pretty and reasonably priced, being a prize figure, so I decided to buy her:

And, yeah, she’s really nice for a prize figure. I love the design, and the paint is neat. She has some decent translucent hair and the flowers contrast well with it. She hasn’t donned her dress yet, so she’s in her wedding lingerie… but with her veil and train. Rather the odd outfit if you think about it too much… She doesn’t have any shading to her, but the sculpting does leave her with some shadows to help out. I like the way this figure is constructed, as it has largely negated paint mess. 

Face:

Some white paint escaping on the top of her bra – that’s probably the largest paint flaw on mine. The flowers are sculpted well and look good. I like her shy/unsure facial expression and pose. 

Knickers:

These flowers are also done nicely, and you can see how the different coloured parts are separate pieces, for the most part. The other noticeable paint flaw for me is the yellow smudge on her glove, from the flower paint.

Feet:

These flowers have been painted neatly for the most part, but looks like some leaves got missed out, but not a surprise with their small size. Guess it avoids extra mess. I like the pale blue of these shoes. Not sure what’s going on with the strap/fold/thing on her left shoe though… 

Left:

I think she’s posed well, and I like the fact her straps are sculpted as a separate part – no weird foldy strap here. The veil and train look OK from this angle.

Right:

Her sides are sculpted well. Her socks feel more plastic than fabric, due to the finish and lack of shading paint. Her hair seam doesn’t show much, mostly due to the flowers.

Back:

In some of the photos I looked at of her prior to buying, I think the back looked better than it does irl – I think I’ve captured the plastic-y nature of the veil parts a bit more here. These parts are embossed on one side, and flat on the other. It’s not terrible, but I don’t think it’d fly on a scale figure. The lower part you need to push into her back, and for mine that was NOT an easy endeavour, and definitely required heating to get it into place… but once done, the connector is hidden, which I do like. From the front, I think these pieces look decent, but from the back it can make her look cheapy… but she is a prize figure. 

Overall, I think this is a strong prize figure, and worth picking up, if you want a decent budget figure that’s wedding-themed, if you can find her for a reasonable price. I bought her near her release, so she cost ¥2000 & postage. 

Hatsune Miku – Heart Hunter Ver – Vocaloid

This figure I thought about preordering, but ended up skipping on it. After release, I was on the fence about ordering her, then she ended up on sale at Nippon Yasan, so I ended up grabbing her:

And wow, she’s a nice figure. I was initially attracted to this figure, as she has a wings and a tail. The other parts that appealed were her pose, the bright colours and the varying finishes of her outfit. 

Face:

I love her face, and her mic is there, but doesn’t disrupt from the figure. I love the ribbon on her chest, and the ones in her hair contrast well with her hair. The hair looks OK from the front, but not sure on the finish – more about that later. 

Outfit:

I love the way the material has been stretched out over her chest, and the colours emphasise her body shape. The yellowy colour blended in with the salmon-y colour works really well, and is used to add depth and detail in many places. The belt has been well-painted, and the gold parts are all painted neatly. The purple edging used throughout also compliments the colours, and works well to finish the edges of our outfit. 

Heart:

I love the heart, and the creasing is done well, to show she’s standing on it. Love the little wings it has. Can see a tiny bit of paint smear when looking close to the bottom of her leggings. Not entirely sold on the moulded seam on the top of her shoe. The shiny purple of her leggings is nice though.

Side of her foot:

There’s a metal peg that goes up through her foot, protruding from the heart. She seems to be stable on it, and I’m not worried about her falling off/over. She will wobble when moved, due to the pose though. Love all the little details here, but there are some small bits of stray paint if you look closely. 

Left:

Her body is shaped well, and her clothes sit well on her body. I like the way the garters have been done separately and there’s a bit of a gap under her bum. 

Close-up of her outstretched arm:

Love the shading. And the heart cutouts, like the one here. Everything’s edged nicely. She also has some cute pink nail polish. 

Right:

Her pose looks good from this side too. Love the metallic shade of her stockings. The tail has a spot of shading on too, which I appreciate. Looks kinda sassy from this side.

Back:

Her wings are nicely shaded, and the ribs look good. I like the way they’ve added ribbed details to the back of her top, and the fact there are also window-hearts back here too.

Back of her hair:

This, for me, is the weakest part of the figure. Really not a fan of the finish that they’ve used on her hair – I guess it’s supposed to be pearlescent, but it comes off as “cheapy plastic”, without having extra shading in her braids. Some shading was done lower down, but I think it needs more shading to pull this finish off. Either that, or have the hair less super-shiny. 

Tail:

I love the way the tail curls round, and the sharp shape of the end, which contrasts nicely. I love the detail put into posing her fingers, and the detailing on her belt around her tail. 

Overall, I really like this figure and glad I decided to get it. It’s a very nice figure, and would make a statement on most shelves. Even if you’re not a Miku fan, I think this figure has an appeal of its own. Would happily recommend this figure, despite the hair, as the hair isn’t too bad from the front. 

Rei Ayanami – Swimsuit v1.5 – Evangelion

For awhile, I was toying with the idea of ordering the original version of this figure, but I didn’t quite like it enough to do so. Then I found out there was this v1.5 version, and went for it:

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The main differences between this one and the v1 is the hair and the matte finish to her swimsuit. The mould is the same for both versions.

Face:

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I love the soft faded effect to her hair, and am a sucker for translucent hair, despite its weirdness. I think her face has been rendered decently well for a prize figure. The matte texture certainly looks nicer than the shiny one imo, but it is more prone to showing up scuffs on the figure – of which there is a minor amount. She does have a seam line that is pretty noticeable on her left arm in this photo. 

Swimsuit:

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Here we can see they’ve added in wrinkle details, and seams to the swimsuit, but they haven’t added any markings to the labels. Usually the character’s name would be written in the space. Guess she’s borrowing a swimsuit for the day?

Left:

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Here we can get a good look at the shower – the finish is nicely rendered, but due to the way the peg is, it does lean a little. Overall, I like this piece, and seems to have all the details it needs. Unless you want some limescale 😛

Due to the way Rei is facing, this actually makes for a good viewing angle. I like her overall pose, and I think this side shows it off well.

Right:

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Here we can admire the details in her hair – she has a good number of strands moulded, which is a lot nicer than some prize figures where they just have the top of her hair smooth. 

Back:

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Erm, er, let’s try that again:

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Here we can see they’ve sculpted her spine and shoulder blades. The swimsuit hugs her backside, and is creased near her middle, which are all nice detail.s 

Base:

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I like the fact they’ve coloured the grout – this is also a feature new to the v1.5, and I think it really adds to the base. The shower drain has also been nicely done, and looks like a drain. Her foot does look a bit overly rectangular from this angle… but is nicely sculpted otherwise. 

Overall, I really like this figure and glad I got it. The shower could do with being a bit more stable, but I don’t think it’s critical, as it looks fine from the front, and not prone to falling out – just leaning a little. Glad I went for this one, and would recommend it. I don’t think there’s any reason to own both versions of this figure, and would recommend picking your preferred one. Looking at pictures of the other version, this is definitely my preferred version.

Black Aries –  Makai Tenshi Djibril

This was a figure I got along with the Saber Maid in yesterday’s blog. I hadn’t come across her before, but loved the design:

I love the pose of this character, the contrasting colours and the claw hand. Her hair also has a nice gradient, going from pink to purple. I also like the gold accents as they add some nice highlights to the figure.

Face:

I like the small marks on her face, and the claw from this angle looks menacing. The shading on her… leotard(?) looks very nice too. I love the small crystal on her belt, and the large bow looks good.

Left:

Here we can see the claw more front-on, and I love the crisp lines and details on it. Her hair looks nice, and has a good gradient to it. I also like the shading on her boots and gloves, so the black isn’t completely flat.

Right:

I love the gradients under her dress and the details on the bottom of her boots, plus they’e added creases where her ankle is bending the boots.

Back:

Here we finally get to see the wings that you attach as part of the assembly. In isolation, I think they look good,but they were a pain to get pegged in place. Due to the keying on the pegs, they don’t feel like the sturdiest of things, so I’d recommend being careful with them, lest the peg snaps. Once you’ve worked out which way they go in, and have them in place, they’re fine though. Love the motion in this figure, and I think this back shot really shows that off. 

Overall, I really like this figure, and glad I got her, despite not being familiar with her as a character. She only has this figure according to MFC, and at least it’s a very nice one if you are a fan, though. Would recommend this figure. She feels sturdy enough, and being an Alter figure, she’s likely to have support against leaning, so not too worried about that. With her relative obscurity, she seems to be fairly cheap to get hold of in the aftermarket.

Saber – Maid ver. – Fate/Hollow Ataraxia

This figure I got from a Discord user. 

Front:

She’s a pretty impressive figure in her own way, with a strong stance. I love the dark metallic blue of her outfit, and the attention to detail in the sculpting. 

Face close-up:

She’s a happy maid :). The figure definitely has an older feel to me, not that I mind. Hair is nicely sculpted, and I like her collar. 

Mop:

I like the way this mop sits on the base – it’s moulded to sit on the edge of the base, which I like. A fair amount of detail has been put into the mop, which I appreciate. The tassels are also shaded well.

Left:

There is a nice sheer effect to her leggings, and her shoes have been painted neatly. I like the bands around her leg, which match nicely with her outfit. Her hair has been done well to hide any seamlines. 

Right:

This shot shows the shiny blue of her outfit quite well on her skirt. Her hair is blended quite well to her neck. She holds the mop quite well, and it doesn’t seem prone to falling over. 

Back:

I love the way her back shows through the dress – it certainly adds a focal point to her back. The painting on her back really adds to the depth. The bow is also nicely presented on her dress, and helps show she’s moving her hips a bit to the side, causing movement to her dress. 

Hair close-up:

I love the details put into her hair – the sculpt is very nice. The bow is also really nicely sculpted and painted to match her dress. 

Top-down view:

Here we can see the cuffs she’s wearing got some attention too – the cufflinks are painted nicely, and there’s some texture here. Her nails are also painted neatly. 

For what could be a very simple figure, there is a lot of attention to detail, and I think it’s a really nice looking figure. There is an updated version of her, with a nicer base, so I’d likely suggest that one, especially as it seems to be around the same price secondhand. But this one definitely isn’t a bad figure, and I’d recommend it. Would be nice if the base was less plain, though. If it wasn’t for the fact I got a really good deal on this one, I may have gone for the updated version, but I could still recommend this one. 

Asuna – Aincrad ver – Sword Art Online

As I don’t have many figures of Asuna, I decided I wanted a scale of her, and this one cropped up on MFC for a decent price. 

Front:

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I was attracted to this figure by the pose and the golden rings. For this one, I think the promo version looks a fair bit more attractive than the final product, but it’s still a decent figure. I like her outfit and the rings, but they’re not as shiny as the promo version would suggest. The base is also a flatter colour – would’ve been nice to have more shading on this. 

For me, the weakest part of the figure is the hair:

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It has been nicely sculpted, but the paint makes it feel a bit plasticky. I feel it could’ve done with some darker shades. The rest of the details on this figure though, have been painted decently well, and the lines are nice and clean.

Left:

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Here we can see her launching herself from the pillar – I do like this pose. They’ve included the braiding in here hair, so that’s nice. The clothes are sculpted well, and include creases.

Right:

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Here is her sword – this detaches at the hilt. She holds it well, and looks good. Her hilt is also a part that has to be attached. I think this picture also partly captures the plastic finish to her hair. The shading looks nice, and I love the way it’s flowing out in different directions… but that finish… 

Back:

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Her cloak looks good from the back, and the pillar has paint details from the back. The texture on the broken part of pillar looks good too. 

Overall, I think this figure is decent, and worth what I paid for it. I think the RRP is a bit much for it, what with the hair and the other smaller downgrades from the promo version. She seems fairly available in the aftermarket, and you can probably get her for a decent price.

Crash Bandicoot – First 4 Figures

This figure I came across on a work trip…. then had to use my best Tetris skills to fit it into my luggage… being an EasyJet flight, I only had the one case to work with… but I did it! 

So here he is:

I love the clean line and bold colours. Certainly a figure that will stand out on most shelves. The painting is neat, and I love the sculpted tongue. 

Face close-up:

I like the way they’ve blended some yellow paint around his mouth, to add some shading to his fur. He also has super-shiny eyes to contrast with his skin. 

Left:

He looks good from the side, even with the cartoonish proportions. I think they’ve done a good job with his body shape. 

Right:

Looks good from this side, though you can see a seam on the side of his body. Looks a little odd, but not hugely noticeable. His shoes look good and are neatly painted.

Back:

From the back, you can appreciate the fur texture he has. They’ve also painted a light orange area on his back, so it isn’t totally plain back here. His gloves look good – the straps are well sculpted, and there’s edging around the edges, on the fingers. He’s got a couple of creases in his trousers too, which adds to the detail. 

Base:

Sadly you can’t see much of the logo, but what’s visible is printed crisply and looks good. 

Overall, I’m really happy I managed to get him home in one piece. I love the colours and the pose, and would recommend this figure to a fan of the series.