Category: Statues (non-articulated figures)

Al Azif – Max Factory

This is a figure I’ve gone back and forth on owning. As it’s Al Azif, I decided to add it to a recent large Mandarake order, as she’s over the customs limit, and it was a parcel that was going to go over anyway. 

Here she is:

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Dat frakkin’ wall. OK, let’s start with some of the nice stuff: The figure is very nice. I love the flowing of the hair and ribbons, and the colours are very nice. Her dress is well-sculpted and nicely painted. The figure part of this figure is really nice – it’s everything else I have to complain about! She comes pre-screwed to the bottom part of the stand, which isn’t the prettiest piece of plastic ever. Not a fan of the nondescript greyish colour, and it’s shiny. 

Left shot:

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Now to go more into this wall. Seeing it not sit strait, due to Al Azif resting on it, though I wouldn’t have been surprised if it wasn’t that, and I bent it from the sheer force you need for it to go in ><. Eagle-eyed viewers may also spot the white tack – the pin on the “cookie” on this side snapped off soon as I touched it up against the wall – it must’ve been stressed already, and snapped before I started applying force to push it through the wall. Argh. If you have this figure, and you do get both “cookies” pegged to the wall don’t take them out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d break during the process. At least with it white tacked, I can actually now move this one to any position I like… 

Right side:

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This one did peg OK, but I daren’t try and push it any further. This one luckily fouls less on the figure, so it doesn’t need to go in all the way. Here we can see her ribbons and hair in the wind, which looks very nice. 

Back:

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Here she is from the back. Her hair looks nice, and I like the way she’s propping herself up on the wall. Here you can see the remnant of the left cookie peg. I you look carefully on the upper right, you can also see a scratch on the wall. She was unopened, so I guess the wall rubbed up against part of the figure/box during shipping. 

Close-up of her face:

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I like the look on her face, but I’d prefer it if she had a head up a tad more, so you could see it from more angles. 

Close-up of her shoes:

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These have been nicely sculpted and painted. The tiny bows on her shoes are nice, and the big, flowing ribbons on her socks are well done. The socks are slightly raised in the sculpt, so that it doesn’t look like she’s got white legs. One of the differences that tend to separate scales from prizes – details like socks are actually moulded instead of just painted. 

Overall, I can recommend the figure, but not the stand. If I were to recommend an Al Azif figure, it would be the BEAT normal version. Both parts of the stand kinda look cheap imo, and if I get into replacing bases, this one would quite honestly be a candidate. I think if it weren’t for the issues I had with the stand during assembly, I would’ve felt more positive about this figure – she’s in a nice pose, well-painted and well-sculpted, but the stand detracts from this. 

Morrigan Aensland – Large Prize Figure!

Now for a jumbo prize figure of Morrigan:

This is one large lady and I still haven’t fully sorted her legs out ><. They have bent over time, so she wouldn’t stand up properly out of the box. Did try to set them into the correct positions, but failed thus far. Also the box… was in a REALLY bad condition – looks like mould had grown on the inner part of the box, and the glue had failed on the window for the box. Chucked out the inner of the box as I don’t really want to “collect” some mould! 

I really like this figure, though she is a bit on the simplistic side, in terms of finish. She has some paint detail on her skin, but not so much anywhere else. The bats on her leggings are nicely done though, if she’ll stand up kkthx. 

Left side:

Her wings are a good size, and look good from the front and sizes. Here you can see there is some crease detailing in her top, but it’s not really visible from the front. The white tassels are a nice addition. 

Right side:

Not too much different from the left, so I’ll mention the obvious side boob – yep, plenty of that. Her hair does look like a “lump” of green, not sure what they could’ve done to alleviate that, maybe have more shape on the bottom? It’s also thick as this is where her wings attach, as we’ll see in this next shot:

Getting these wings in was a bit of a pain. They could’ve possibly done with using more “regular” pegs, but I guess they didn’t due to weight and getting them to stay. Once they’re in there, they’ll stay though. I had to heat up her hair to get it to relent enough to get the lugs in. We can also admire her backside from this angle, and the ends of her gloves, which have been done nicely. 

So let’s get some close-ups in. Here’s her face:

Here I noticed the slight abrasions on her hair grumble. They don’t particularly show from a distance though. She has some lighter paint on her collarbone – for a figure of this size, it really helps that they actually did some shading on her – it’d end up looking pretty flat if they didn’t. Some stray white paint, but not too much. Her lips have been done nicely. 

Arms:

An obvious seam here, but not visible from the front. The purple-pink of her gloves is nice. In the previous shot, you can see they’ve also moulded the edges on her gloves, which is a nice detail. 

My main gripe with this figure is she’s overly shiny from the front, but that’s not uncommon in prize figures, especially older ones. If there were more readily-available Morrigan figures, I may not have got this one, but for an affordable Morrigan figure, I’m happy with her. Just need to fix them legs properly… 

Aoi Sakuraba – Ai Yori Aoshi

This isn’t a series I’m familiar with, I saw the figure, and liked it, so decided to bid on it. Not sure why I didn’t check the Mandarake store, but I could’ve got it for the same price, sealed. Oops. Ah well, the manga in the box wouldn’t have been any use to me anyways… so no loss there. 

So here she is:

Sitting in a puddle, with her kimono about her. A cute, little figure. This is probably the intended display angle. 

The front of her body:

A noticeable midriff seam. Anything lewd is covered up. 

Her left:

One of the strips wasn’t fully pushed down when I was taking these photos. Her hair has some nice shading, but there is a noticeable seam on her arm. 

Her back:

The ribbon wraps nicely around her back, and the kimono sits around her backside. 

Above shot:

I find it an interesting pose, but the water is a bit like a block of ice. Probably was the easiest way of setting the resin/plastic block, but does look slightly odd.

From the back you can see down her ass-crack: 

Definite case of bulider’s bum there. Hair seam is visible, but not that bad imo. 

With one part of the kimono block sticking out, it got me thinking… can I take this apart? Here’s the bottom, where you can see where the pegs are:

And moments later:

Aha! Here you can see they’ve sculpted her feet and legs, so they’ve intended for her to be removable. With a bit of fiddling, I worked out to remove her fully from the base:

Though like this, her middle seam is more visible. She doesn’t quite stay standing up, so you’ll see a small piece of tissue in some shots, which I was using to prevent her from rolling over. 

Her front:

Other side:

Here you can see the tissue I’m using to prop her up, and a little mould mark on her hip/backside. 

Back:

Seams are pretty obvious, but her foes are moulded. 

If you just wanted her as a small figure to display on her own, you could do this. I did some experimentation of displaying her with various parts of the stand.

First, with just her upper part of the kimono:

Works for this angle, and also props her up… however:

You can see the parts that attach it to the lower half. So let’s try that:

Yeah, this kinda works, but:

You do get to see the holes where the water plugs into the kimono. 

I know, let’s just sit her on the water:

It… kind of works. Needs the lower part, to hold her in place. 

Here are the parts separated:

So you could have the ribbon around her, to partly hide the mould markings, but it does have the two pegs on it to hold it to the base. So probably best displaying her whole or singly. Or you could have just a kimono-in-water, but the inside would look odd XD. And, um, why would you want that..?

She’s OK for an extra to a manga, or as a cheap figure. Don’t think I could recommend her, unless you really want her. 

Asuka Langely – Sega HG Christmas Figure

This one was a random bid on the Urban Mine auction, and shows what older prize figures are like. This one is Asuka, crossed with Christmas:

Yeah, that’s the last shot of the cake you’re going to get. It’s a big lump of white, and not particularly attractive. Unfortunately, as an urban mine item, not much care was taken when packing her, and she wasn’t tied to the box any more. This meant she rattled around, and one of her antlers broke off :(. Fortunately there was enough of the peg on the antler, I was able to jam it back in there, and it stayed. I may glue it one day, or leave it as-is. 

Without the stand:

I love the glossiness of her red outfit, the lesser glossiness of her skin? Not so much. I’m not sure who chose to give her purple leggings, but I don’t think it was a person with good aesthetics. The seamline on her leggings isn’t pretty either. But there’s something cute and different about this figure, which makes me not hate it. If it wasn’t for the purple leggings, I could probably forgive all the other flaws. She does look very plasticky though, which is the reputation for prize figures, though things are moving on these days. 

Right:

Quite an obvious seam in her hair, and some shoes to match her top. The cuffs are OK, but simplistic. 

Left:

Pretty much the same as the other side, though you can see the cotton balls on her shoes, which is +1 to detail. Some stray plastic lumps in her hair. She has some creases in her top, but not in her pants.

Back:

Her hair is one block colour, but there is some hair lines moulded in, stopping it from looking completely plain. Her shoes are nicely sculpted. 

Close-up of the holly on her neck:

This detail is nicely done and thematic. 

Not really sure I could recommend this figure to anyone, but for £4.76, it sated my curiosity to see exactly what this figure looked like irl, and can be a part of “weird stuff corner”. The stand is likely to be relegated to a drawer, but it could gain a new lease of life if I choose to decorate it and use it as a riser somewhere. 

I-19 – Kan Colle – Taito

I saw this figure on the Urban Mines, but it got bidded too high for me to bother with. But because I loved her blue-and-pink hair too much, I went shopping around for her, and found her cheap on Amazon. I had seen the figure previously, but didn’t go for it that time, but the Urban Mine auction reminded me she still existed. 

So here she is:

I love her hair and her outfit is revealing, without revealing too much. She was an arse to put together though – the pieces don’t fit quite right, and her hand won’t ever go into the top torpedo, even with heat/bending, but she will sit still in this position, unless you try to move her. Then she’ll fall off, and the two

torpedoes attached together will fall apart ><. 

Her right:

Here you can see the destroyed torpedo that sits in the middle. Nice to have some difference between the torpedoes, and does make an interesting base, which was the other thing that attracted me to this figure. Here you can see some stray blue paint on her back though. Outside of her head, the painting is decidedly average. 

Left:

Here you can see the shininess of the prize figure plastic on her leg, though her right leg is less shiny. There is some shading in the skin paint, so that’s a nice feature. Also there’s a scratch on the bottom torpedo for me. Swimsuit edge also didn’t get blue paint, so that looks a little odd to me, but I think is only really visible on close inspection. Her feet are moulded nicely. 

Back:

Here you can see where her hand doesn’t quite reach properly to the lug on the top torpedo. It just won’t go on mine, and I’d have to do some serious bending of the entire figure before that peg would have a hope of going into place. Her arm simply doesn’t reach down far enough for it to plug in on mine, but I did see an assembly video where they did get her to fit in properly. The stray blue marks on her back aren’t visible in this shot, but they are a bit annoying. 

Close-up of her hair:

I love the colours and accessories in her hair, even though it’s a bit cheapy prize-figure-y. The eye decals are really nice, along with the blush marks. Her chewing on a pin(?) makes her look really cute. 

A couple of close-ups of the stand:

I love the idea of this stand, but it sort of failed in execution, due to the imprecise nature of the manufacture. at first the destroyed torpedo wouldn’t stay in place properly, but with a bit of shoving of the top torpedo, it now sits in place better, but will still pop out on occasion. If I could get both of I-19′s pegs in, it would likely hold together a bit better. I’d love to see something like this on a more expensive figure. 

Overall, I like this figure. Once displayed, she looks nice, but she does have a notable amount of flaws. I’d probably only recommend this to anyone who really likes the look of this figure, and if you find her relatively cheap (she cost me £13.58 inc postage). Still loving the hair and the eyes, lol. 

Puzzle & Dragons – Abiding Sniper Dragonbound, Myr

I ended up staring at the Eikoh prize on Mandarke again, and couldn’t resist buying this one:

Unfortunately there are a couple of scrapes on her hair, but the rest of her is OK. The plastic backdrop slots into the stand, but because it was rolled up in the box, it curls inwards. Not a big fan of it, so I’ll display her without it, but it is nicely printed if you like it – just be prepared to store it under some books for awhile to get it flattened! 

Here she is without the sheet:

I love the use of colour in this character, and she’s got lots of shiny bits! The pearly coat is a lovely colour and sheen. She has a few bows on her outfit, which helps her look fancier. 

Left side:

Here we can see her tail, done in copper and bronze, and her clawed feet. The balloon she wields in her left hand is also well done. 

Right:

Here she is, leaning forward, wielding her supersoaker. I love the way it’s a water gun, rather than gun-gun. You can also see the lovely blend of copper and could on the underside of her wing. I do rather like her outfit too. 

Back:

The lovely pearlescent finish on her coat is very much visible here, along with the detail in the coat, where she’s got ribbon parts in the gaps. I love these little additions. The wings are also striking, have a good amount of detail on the back. 

Her back:

Here you can fully admire her wings :). The paint blend is really nice, along with the shininess. Also she has her tail flicking out – I really like the tail too. 

Now for some detail shots. Let’s get a close-up of her gun:

Cute, threatening, and watery. The pump bit seems a bit bent, but that’s likely fixable. Here we notice she’s also got gold hands. 

The balloon:

Nicely painted and moulded, plus she has some quite detailed cuffs, to offset the plain fabric of her coat. She has some copper claws on these fingers. Here you can also see where the ribbons weren’t painted quite right – both sets of ribbons are painted a bit sloppily. 

Here’s a close-up of the ribbons on the right side:

I love this as a detail, shame the orange paint didn’t quite go right. 

Close-up of her foot:

Nice set of dragon feet :). Not sure if she needed a size bigger sandals, but it does mean her claws aren’t confined by the shoe. 

Back of horns:

Lovely colouring here. 

Wings:

Love the way these shine, along with the coat. Also here you can see her coat has a hood, should she wish to use it. 

Warning: pantsu. 

Here’s how the tail attaches to her backside:

That’s some precision tailoring :P. Though pretty much what I expected for a prize figure. Here you can see the nice moulding and painting that went into the tail. 

I really like this figure, and it’s a shame that there are a couple of marks on her hair. One isn’t so bad, but the other is minorly distracting. I’ll just pretend they’re both hair highlights. Well worth buying for me, even though I’m unlikely to ever play Puzzle & Dragons. 

Sinon – SAO: Code Register – Ocean Cat

And the third of these figures I purchased, Sinon:

This one doesn’t have any additional accessories, but does have a “full” stand. I love her cute pose, and well, she’s a cat. The shading on her face is a very nice touch. 

Left:

Here you can see the cat-paw detail on her swimsuit top – a nice continuation of the theme. She holds the ball well, and the motion in her top is nice. She also has her signature plaits, which is a necessary feature of Sinon.

Right:

Here’s her tail. This comes as a separate part, and plugs into a hole in her back. He has a hood on her top, but doesn’t look big enough for her head, lol. The colours of this figure work well imo.

Back:

Don’t think there’s much new to talk about from this angle. Her hair has been sculpted with a good amount of detail. Her foot pegs are a bit visible, which can make her foot look a little odd if you’re looking at her close-up. 

Overall, I’m very pleased with these figures. They’re nice and big, plus they’re painted well, with interesting sculpts. If you’re into these figure designs, I would happily recommend them. 

Leafa – SAO: Code Register – Aqua Sylphide

Time for our second of three Sword Art Online: Code Register prize figures.

This one is Leafa:

And man, she’s a pig to assemble. Body-to-legs is fine, but the ball is attached to her head. This made it a fun game of getting the hair slotted around her arms, then fighting with her bows & arms until each goes in the right places relative to each other. For anyone assembling it, I’d recommend threading her hair through her arms to get it in the vicinity, then heat up the bows so you can freely bend them around her arms, until everything’s in the right place, and hopefully you can jam her head down on her neck. 

She comes with some waves, identical to Asuna’s. She also has a stand base, but she doesn’t really need hers, unlike Asuna, who won’t sit right without hers. I’m going to use the stand anyway, as it’s not intrusive, and it’ll ensure she doesn’t bend over time. 

Elevated shot:

Here you can see how I’ve chosen to pose the waves, plus well, her assets that are seemingly competing with the beach-ball. 

From the front:

She has a very nice, smiling expression, and her hair has some lovely shades to it. All her bows flow nicely, and I find her skin less shiny and plain than Asuna’s. 

Left side:

Bit of a paint slop in evidence on her straps. The ball fits well in her hands, once assembled. The bottoms of her feet are sculpted nicely. 

Right:

Her wonderful hair sweeping around her. I love that they chose to do this, and the daintiness of her hand holding the ball. She also has a bow around her wrist, which is a nice attention to detail. 

Back:

A decent enough backside, plus some sculpting detail on her back. Most of the painting is within the lines, but a tiny bit lacking on the lower strap on mine. This is where she joins though. 

Closeup of the top of her hair:

Here you can see the ball is most definitely affixed to her hair. It looks a little odd if you look at it closely like this, but it looks fine from the front. 

Close-up of her back:

Hm, maybe her head needed one more shove :P. The back sculpt comes out nicely, and the ball appears to rest well in her hands, which I was worried about given the arrangement.

This was the first of the three figures I saw, and I really wanted to get this one. Certainly glad I did. 

Asuna – SAO: Code Register – Blue Marine ver.

I saw these prize figures for sale some time ago, but only recently decided to fit them into my budget. This is a set of four, but I only bought three of them, as the fourth was pricier than the other three, and I didn’t like it as much, as well as being a character I wasn’t attached to. 

So first up, Asuna:

She wasn’t too bad to assemble – head joint was a bit tight, but some heat and force sorted that out. However, she has a small stand underneath her backside (not visible here), which can be a bit of a pain to position correctly, but once in place, it stays fine. 

Elevated view:

The mould and details in the pose are all very nice. Main thing she lacks is shading on her skin, which leaves her looking prize-figure-y. When the light catches her right, she’s very nice looking though. 

From the top:

The seam hiding is better than some scales from the top! That was a bit of a surprise. The hair is really nice on this figure. Here you can see the two parts that make up the waves. These are a nice addition.

Asuna from the front, without the waves:

Just goin’ for her ice-cream. The flower in her hair is a very nice detail, and the curling of her feet give her more emotion in her pose. 

Left side:

Darn, didn’t get her ring in this shot, but it’s there and nicely painted… behind her hair. Which is very nice and blue indeed! Some decently sculpted side-boob, plus the plait in her hair, which is true to her design. The one major flaw with this figure is also visible here – the dent where her left knee is supposed to be sat in/covering up. It doesn’t seem quite the right shape, so I’m not sure bending her leg would be worth it, but it isn’t visible from a display angle. Kind of a shame, given the rest of this figure. 

Right side:

Here we get a better look at the flower, and her expression as she goes to eat her lolly. Here you can see the stand that I mentioned – the transparent blue nub underneath her backside. I like the way her ankles have the bones moulded in them. 

Back:

Some very blue hair, and the plastic stand. I really love the shades they’ve put in her hair – it really makes this figure eye-catching. The stand does its job, once you find the right place for it to sit. 

Overall, I’m really please with this figure. She’s a good size, and very nice for a prize figure. I’d say she looks a bit more plastic-y irl with her skin, but with the right lighting, she’s definitely good for the price. 

Rias Gremory – Highschool DxD – FREEing S-Style

This figure is the second of the pair, and was the one I was looking forward to most:

I love her playful pose, and I have a liking for Rias’s design. The white swimsuit complements Rias well. 

Left side:

Here you can see more of her top, which just rests on her hand. It’s pretty stable, but due to the static nature of the plastic, it can look a little odd if it doesn’t sit right on her hand. Here you can see some of the lovely shades in her hair.

Right:

No too much to say about this angle – you can see her nicely-sculpted swimsuit bottom, and her similar pose to Akeno. 

Back:

Red flowing hair, what’s not to love?

Close-up of the top:

Nicely detailed and painted. Despite the drawback of getting it to sit on her hand, it’s been very nicely done otherwise.

And now to the figure’s flaw:

The ahoge. This is a separate part, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get it all the way in, or at least fully hide the unpainted part. Wish they painted it all the way down. Not entirely sure why they decided to make it a separate part – pretty sure it would’ve fit in the box attached – but having it like this is just annoying. Being so thin, it’s a bit nerve-wracking pushing it in, and hoping not to break it. If it wasn’t for this, I’d have this one as one of my favourites. It’s still up there but… sigh. 

Akeno Himejima – Highschool DxD – FREEing S-Style

With the Highschool DxD S-Style figures, I missed the initial pre-orders, and decided to wait until release to pick them up. A bit before they were to be released, AmiAmi opened up their pre-orders for them again, and I was able to add them to another open order I had. 

First up, we have Akeno Himejima:

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Her top is separate, and is to be threaded under her arm/hand. Her head and her hair are separate parts to assemble, but the rest of her is pre-assembled.

Both of the Highschool DxD figures are hiding their nipples with their hands, which makes them somewhat different to the rest of the S-Style figures. 

Left side:

I love the hair on this figure – long and flowing. The green and dark blue colours of her swimsuit fit nicely with the rest ofthe figure. 

Right side:

Her arm is attached as per the other figures, but was not a separate part in the box. Not checked if it is glued or not. The bow on her swimsuit bottom has been done well. 

Back:

Here you can really appreciate the flowing nature of her hair, and the orange of her bow. The hair is fairly stiff plastic, so needed to be careful not to”ping” it and break it. Would be better if it was slightly softer imo. 

Close-up of her hair bow:

The paint is nicely done, and is a lovely colour. 

I love this figure, and feel like the quality of this line is increasing. It’s not “epic tier”, but they’re certainly very nice figures. 

Izuruha – Another Color ver

As promised by yesterday’s blog – more Izuruha! This one appears to be an older version of her, with longer hair:

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Here she is, fully dressed. She has a more detailed costume than the other one. She also has more display options due to this – her outfit is two pieces.

From the left:

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You get a good look at her leg from this side, and you can see her outstretched arm. 

Right side:

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Here, her body is almost front-on, and it looks like I’ve nudged her cloak. Oops. Also her foot is floating – would be nice if they included another foot stand, like the other figure, to ensure she’s stable. With some fiddling, she may have her toes down on the stand though.

Back:

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The light shines well off the back of her cloak/robe. She also has the nice detail on the back of it, flowing with her movement. Her hair also adds to her sense of movement. 

Now for her cast-off:

She has a noticeably larger chest than the other one, and her skin has a fair amount of detail on it. Her pose really works with her cast off. 

Left side:

A nice view of her backside :). There is a stray dot on there, which i did start off trying to remove, but it looks like a mole to me, so decided to leave it XD. Give her a little bit more detail! 

Right side:

This angle gives you the best view of her fromt. Her nipples have been painted well, and I love the way her muscles show. 

Back:

Her nice, flowing hair, and some more admiring of her backside.

Izuruha with her outer robe on:

I feel as if this frames her quite nicely. She will also work with just her tunic on, but didn’t take any photos with her tunic and no robe. 

Semi-cast-off, from the back:

You get a bit of side-boob when she doesn’t have her tunic on.


She’s  very nice figure, and you can pick her up quite cheaply, if you like her. I suspect if the franchise was more popular, these figures would be more popular. 

Izuruha – MegaHouse – Normal ver

The next two blogs will be two figures of Izuruha. I saw someone selling these figures on MFC, and wanted them… came back to seeing them again, and this time actually messaged the seller! After agreeing their price, they were soon on their way to me. These figures are cast-off, so there will be female nudity. 

As for Ru/Li/Lu/Ra, I can’t really find out much about it on the internet, so these figures are just because I like them :). 

Enough waffle, now for some figure:

The clothing is very nice in its own regard – I love the way you can see her body through the clothing, but only partially. Also it’s blue and purple… and that’s a winner for me :P. I’ll probably display her cast-off though. 

Left side:

Not too much to say about this angle. Hair looks OK, stand supports her well. 

Right side:

You get a good preview of her body from this side:P I like the way they have her holding her top upwards, and not just for the view :P. It can sit quite nicely on her hand, which makes it flow well. It’s a hard piece, but it can take a little bit to get it settled in the right place to display. 

Back view:

Her robe has a hood, which is a nice touch. The top also catches the light nicely. 

Now to remove the robe:

This version of her has small breasts, compared to the other one, to go with the short hair. Her nipples and skin are very nicely painted, though she’s not really sculpted down below. She has a very nice-looking skin texture.

From the sides:

Her body is very well shaped imo, and the dynamic pose shows it off well.

From the back:

And a very nice backside too. 


Overall, I’m pleased with this figure, but undecided if I’m going to display her cast off or not. I will probably display one clothed (or partially so) and the other cast off. Unless I get the blonde versions… then I’ll cast off one pair, and dress the other. 

Tomorrow, more Izuruha!

Predalien – Eaglemoss

This is the third of three figures… and the reason the blogs about these figures got delayed.

Here’s the reason why:

Yeah, how did this pass QA?! The figure was pretty recessed in the box, so not convinced this happened during shipping. 

So a grumbly email and another wait… and we have:

This dude, who hasn’t been headbutting stuff lately! However, I think his paint job is slightly dodgier in places – note the unpainted bit on her hand, but that’s far less annoying than a scratch. 

So let’s look at the entire front of him:

They’ve chosen a very dynamic pose, which adds to the figure. There’s a good amount of contrast in the dark and light areas of his body. 

Left side:

He’s quite dark on  this size. Here you can see the dreads that are part of the signs he’s a predalien, along with his feet and colouring. 

Right side:

Here you can see his tail – which is definitely one of the selling points of this figure. Almost looks like he’s holding it from this angle! The painting has been nicely done on his tail, and the leg sculpts look very nice from this angle. Can see a couple of places where the dark overpainting didn’t quite get into the gaps, which is a bit of a shame. Guess the person who painted this one didn’t quite have enough paint on their brush or poke him enough. 

Back:

Some nice details back here, but not so easy to photograph them from this angle. Love the alien backpieces. Horns? Spikes? Protrusions?

Close-up of the base of his tail:

The moulding and paint transition from his back to his tail is very nice. And ridges have been replicated well.

The end of the tail:

Mmm, wouldn’t want to get hit with that! A suitably vicious tail!

Close-up of the base:

The mould of the broken mask is nice, but there is some silver slop at the top of the mask on the base, which can show from some angles and look a little odd if you’re looking close. At this angle though, it looks nice. Base is painted well – love the rust details on the grate. 

This one is my second favourite. If it wasn’t for the dark overpainting paint flaws, he’d be vying for the top spot, but he just isn’t quite up to the swimming alien for me. 

Swimming Alien – Eaglemoss

This is the second of the three Eaglemoss figures I bought. 

Swimming Xeno! I really like this figure, and is probably my favourite of the three. 

Here he is swimming the other way round on his base:

Not sure which display option looks best. His tail is impressively moulded and painted, and I love the way it sticks out. His head is shiny, which is a nice touch. He also looks like he’s swimming, so that’s a definite bonus!

Here is his other side:

Not much in between the two sides. Both look fine.

Here is a close-up on his back end:

Looks nice :).

And the front end:

Here you can see the shiny effect on his head, and his back “spikes” reaching up above him.

From above:

Head so shiny, you can see me! His pose does look kind of flat from the top, but that’s no biggie to me. 

And his belly:

He has a hole for the post that holds him above the base, but the paint shading has been done well on him. With the glossy finish on his legs, he could almost be wet. 

Close-up of the base:

A nice range of props, coloured green to match the film and look underwatery. See? They can blend paint! 

I love this dude – he will take up a decent amount of space, being so long, but with the rod, he can stand above other small figures, so he shouldn’t be too bad to display. 

Deacon Alien – Eaglemoss

This is the first of three figures I recently ordered from the Eaglemoss store, as I noticed them having a sale on. Unfortunately, the Eaglemoss store is still rubbish – no order status, takes ages to dispatch and aren’t quite up to speed with this new-fangled technology called bubblewrap:

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Deacon’s box got crushed, but fortunately they now use HUGE boxes, so the figure survived just fine. Not so nice for more dedicated collectors, getting a crushed box though. 

So here’s the Deacon himself:

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Full-body shot, focused on the body:

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He’s… OK. Bit of a disappointment tbh – the paint job isn’t blended at all, so he looks like he’s had paint slopped on him. Mould is pretty nice though, and I like the scenery they’ve given on his tile:

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Mmm, some ‘lovely’ entrails… 

Left side:

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That dark green paint… it almost works in a couple of spots, but meh. Looks like I painted it! Also a paint slop I didn’t notice until I did this photographs, sigh. Maybe I could repaint this…? 

Right side:

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I love the pose they chose for the mouth – nice to see them showing off his proto-jaw. The detail put into the neck and leg muscles is nice too. Still a shame about that damn paint! The base was painted nicely though. 

Back:

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Lovely mould work on the spine. The green lines almost work on his butt. 

The two things that disappoint me about this figure are the green paint blobs and his size. Due to his pose, he looks really tiny compared to the other figures in this range. I think it would’ve been nicer if they did him at a bit of a bigger scale, but then he wouldn’t be proportionally accurate to the others in this series and his diminutive size. 

Luka Megurine – FREEing S-Style

This was the last of the old releases of S-Style figures, prior to me deciding to collect them. I had this one shipped from the US, via a forwarder. The process went smoothly, and now I have all the currently-released S-Style figures!

So here she is:

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Not the best one to round out the set, but certainly not the worst either. Bit of a paint error goin’ on at her midriff, but the rest of the paint is fine. I think she also may be a bit more tan than she should be in places – this can happen over time with displayed figures, but I don’t have another one to compare. 

Left side:

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Nice detail including her hand holding her headphones. The pattern on her headphones has also been nicely reproduced, and her hair flows well.

Right side:

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Her hair flows behind her here, and you can see her headphones & mic. Also you can see her painted fingernails, which is a nice touch. 

Back:

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Some nice shading going on in her hair, instead of being one flat, boring colour. These are the things that makes these figures nicer than most of the figures of this size. 

Happy to finally have all of the set! I’m in the process of organising a display cabinet, so I’ll eventually have these figures all displayed together. It’s likely to be awhile though – need to sort out some LED lighting, so it could be a month before I get to blog about it! 

Figure Spotlight – Kotobukiya Raven

This was a figure that I had to have, once I saw it. Not sure what time elapsed between the wanting and the actual buying – think I did have to wait for funds – but this is a figure I really like. 

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And here she is, casting a spell at you :D. The paintwork is really nice on this, and the sculpting has nice, bold lines without being overly fussy. Also move the smile on her face. 

Here’s a shot showing how she stands:

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The cape is also her stand – this was one of the things that drew me to this figure – the fact she doesn’t need a plastic disc to stand. And she stands up sturdily too. 

Here’s the cape from the back:

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Imo the cape looks nice from every angle, and doesn’t look ‘tortured’ into being the stand. I can see people not liking her shiny, blue look, but I love the colour, so it doesn’t detract for me. 

Figure Spotlight – Halloween Chan

This one was one of those figures that I had on my wishlist for ages, then fiiinnally got round to buying many months (possibly years?) later. 

She came in a very yellowed box, but the figure seems to be fine. 

And here she is:

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Not as nice as the promo shots, but still cute, and I’m a sucker for purple. 

Here’s a closeup of the pumpkin and her face:

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And a side shot, which shows how she “floats” in the air:

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The downside of this stand is that the stand plastic is VERY wobbly. Originally had her in a detolf, but when you walked past she’d wobble, so I moved her to a shelf that’s firmly attached to the wall, where she gets to sit without wobbling.

Back of the figure:

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Nice pair o’ wings, and her hair is pretty nice. Would be nice if it was a bit more visible from the front, but it’s OK. 

Initially I found this figure pretty underwhelming when I first opened it, but now she’s an OK part of my collection. She sits somewhere in the middle of likeage. 

Shiro – Swimsuit ver.

When the Nippon-Yasan sale hit, this figure was the first thing I grabbed, before leafing through the rest of the sale, and making final decisions on what figures I’d buy and which ones I could let slide. I did see this for sale in the last N-Y sale, but stupidly passed on it. So it was nice to have the chance again!

Due to her canonical age, here’s a picture of her face for the blogbot:

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So for random passers-by and people who clicked to see the full post, here’s the full picture:

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I love Shiro’s colours, and they have been rendered very competently here. Her hair is nice and vibrant, and has been given an outfit to match. The gradients are really nice. My minor gripe is the white spot on the front of her hair is a little on the large side, and I’d prefer it more blue than white.

Here’s a shot of the top of her head:

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Her crown is a nice, shiny golden colour, with brightly coloured gems, and I feel strongly matches her intended design. 

Shiro front-on:

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I like the way they’ve shaded the ribbons dangling from her top. I like the blended tones in her stockings too. The underside of her jacket has been painted really well – the pattern looks nice, and well-rendered. 

Left side:

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Love her hair. The strands have been sculpted well, and I love the way they’re flicking in different directions. 

Shiro’s right:

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Here you can see her shoulder where she’s shrugging out of her jacket. 

Back:

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Here you can see the inner pattern of her jacket clearly – here it is red and blue, and blends into green and yellow at the bottom. You can glimpse the blending from the front of the figure – it’s impressive they went to this detail, when you can barely see it. She also has a bow on the back of her neck, where her top is tied, which is a nice detail. They’ve also modelled the cords on her jacket. 

The base is super plain – not sure if I’m a fan of this. It does help the figure stand out more, which is helpful due to her diminutive stature. It also means it doesn’t really add anything to the figure either. I maybe tempted to add an overlay for it, possibly of the NGNL logo. 

Overall, I really like this figure – the colours are very nice, the sculpting has been very nicely done. She’s quite an expensive figure though, so depending on how much you’re willing to spend will probably dictate if this figure ends up in your collection. 

(For me, this figure I’m not sure she goes with her given age, which goes for a lot of Japanese characters. Some people find her to be in an ‘attractive’ pose, but tbh, I don’t feel she gives off that vibe).