Category: Trading & Small figures

Borg Cube – Playmates

What do we have here?

Hm, looks cube-y. 

Yep, those look like some Borg cube patterns… 

Hm, this side doesn’t seem very Borg-y…

Let’s see what’s in here:

Lots of Borg out to play! The Picard and blue Borg came with the set, the others are a Borg Assimilation Team I bought many moons ago. Have been wanting this mini play set for some time, but finally decided to commit to getting one. Ended up getting this shipped over from America, along with 2 other sets which I may sell. 

Top-down view:

The inner parts pull out, and the bed folds down. You can partially extend the arm on the bio-bed, so it’s sticking up. Yeah, Playmates called the bed that. 

Glad I bought this – it’s nice having the Borg to have a home :). It’s nothing hugely fancy, but it does provide a good backdrop & stand to my assimilation team. There’s enough here to give the “feel” of a Borg cube, but I think it’s only good as a diorama, rather than a toy – there’s only so much room to pose the small figures… and it’s small. Very much more a backdrop than anything else. This playset doesn’t have the playability of a Polly Pocket, but it’s nicely executed for what it is. 

Aquaman, Superwoman, Spider-Gwen – Nano Metals Die Cast

And here we have the only other figure-related items I bought during Toys R Us’s closing. 

First up, Aquaman:

Paint on this figure isn’t too bad, though the trident with the green bits between the tines is a bit odd, but can understand they moulded it like that so the tines wouldn’t be too brittle. Not sure if the gaps would have been better as green or black. Green does kind of blend in, with the green base & legs of Aquaman. With these figures, they don’t have painted mouths, but honestly, that’s a better option than a poorly drawn squiggly line that can stand to make the figure look even more “off”. One thing I don’t like is the trident wasn’t painted on the back, but I don’t think I’ll be looking at the back much. What’s more annoying is they didn’t paint his belt – they had gold paint for the trident, so why didn’t the belt get painted, darnit? Hunting down a prototype shot, they painted his belt orange. Sigh. 

Next figure is Superwoman:

Looks like the front of the cape had a bit of a hard live, plus some flesh paint slop on the underside of her leg. Not too bad for a small figure though – logo is passable for this nano size. Back of her looks fine. 

Lastly, Spider-Gwen:

This one has no mouth, so this was a perfect fig for them! Paint is OK, but definitely a little sloppy in places. Amazingly, her back white paint came out well. There is some scratches on the base, but these were present from the moment I bought it – these were all last-on-the-peg figures. 

These figures are honestly fine for their super-cheap price point. Though if you have a selection to look at, I’d recommend leafing through for the best painted you can find, as the paint jobs do vary. 

Bob’s Burgers – Collectable Figure Pack

This figure pack I bought in Toys R Us’s closing down “sale”. When I looked up prices online, it was mildly cheaper buying it there, than to buy online, so yay, win. This pack is optimistically labelled “Series #1″, but who knows if there will be a series 2 of these figures. 

First up, Bob himself:

The sculpt is.. OK. The paint is… OK. It’s mostly within the lines, and it does look like Bob.

Next, Linda:

She seems to have jumbo-sized glasses, but she does seem to be painted well. Sculpting fairly typical of something blind-bag quality. 

Now for Gene:

He has some stray paint issues, plus a couple of marks on his shoes/socks. He stands up OK, and looks like Gene. Yup. 

Tina:

She looks pretty decent, but there could’ve been better delineation between her top and skirt. Would’ve been better to have a joint there, just like the other figures. Also she has a bad stray paint mark on her back. 

Lastly, we have Louise:

This figure has no chance of standing up :|. Not sure what they were thinking when they designed this figure, and didn’t give these figures some kind of stand. Paint app on the front is fine, but a bit lumpy on the back of her hat. I thought Linda was hard to stand up… but then came Louise with her micro-feet. She’ll definitely have to stand in some white tack :/. 

Would’ve been nice if they learned from the Japanese and gave these figures either ball stands or clip stands to help them stay up. It’s not like the backs of these figures have anything remarkable that’d be ruined by a hole for a ball stand… 

I bought these figures for £11.89, and honestly that’s too much for these figures. One site quoted the RRP as £16.99, and that’s just rip-off. These figures are on a par with blind bags that retail at £2 a pop. If it wasn’t the fact they’re Bob’s Burgers, and there’s a lack of good Bob’s Burgers loot, I wouldn’t have bothered buying them tbh. At least they’re better quality than the Regular Show figures. I’d only recommend these if you find them going for super-cheap somewhere, or if you really have to have some Bob’s Burgers loot. 

Rider – Fate/Zero

In my Suruga-ya order, I had two Rider figures. 

First one one is a chibi-style figure by Taito:

The paintwork is nice on this one, and she’s OK for a chibi.

Side shot:

Knife-onna-spike looks nice, hair seam, kinda average.

Back:

Some sculpting to convince us that she has hair. 

Now for a trading figure by GSC:

This one is really nice, but she hasn’t had the easiest life. There is a few marks on her. Thought I ordered the masked version, but looking back at my order… I didn’t. Oops. Her colours are represented well in this figure, and there’s some nice details in the moulding – with the secions on her boot, and the wrinkles in her clothes. Her face is nicely painted too. 

Back:

Some lovely shades going on in her hair, plus detail in the way it has been represented as strands. Her dagger has been well-sculpted, and looks nice. Really pleased with this figure, despite it being her non-blindfolded version. 

Accel World – Kuroyukihime

This is an “odds n’ sods” blog of two items. First up, we have a keyring of Kuroyukime:

She’s in her school avatar outfit, which has been rendered nicely in a simplified form. She was added to a Mandarake order, to fill it up to the customs threshold. Glad I added her. 

And another Kuroyukihime in figure form:

This one was in my Suruga-ya order, because she was cute and pouty :P. 

From the side:

Bit of mould markings. The arm with the shirt was a pain – it didn’t want to stay in. Finally got it in and staying though.

Back:

Her hair looks OK for a trading figure. She was pretty much order filler, but she’ll find a space among some of my other trading figures. The paintwork is OK, but she’s nothing special. 

And that’s my random bits featuring Kuroyukihime :). And I think I’ve finally learned to spell her name, with English letters at least.

Toy’s Works Collection – Accel World

This set of figures I came across on Suruga-ya, and had to buy. There are two Toy’s Works sets for Accel World, but the other one was more expensive, and this one I actually wanted more, as it has characters I don’t have in figure form. 

Let’s start with Ash Roller, stalking into battle:

The paintwork is pretty decent on these, Love the red and yellow flames.

Here’s a second Ash Roller, who is supposed to be giving a thumbs-up:

His thumb is pointing towards the camera, as I accidentally had his arm tilted down a bit. 

Side shot showing the flame pattern on his leg, and white-flame skull:

Back:

Nice pair of Ash Roller figures. Wish this guy had a scale/prize figure, especially as he’s one of the iconic characters. 

Now for Ash Roller’s nemesis/friend, without wings:

The shiny silver paint has been done really well, and all the armour details seem to be there. Lovely, cute figure.

And here he is with his wings deployed:

Love the flying sideways pose. And his visor is shiny enough to see me in it :P. Love this figure too. 

Lastly, Cyan Pile:

Looking menacing with his pile driver. Here’s the side of it:

And his other side:

And his back:

Nice fan detail on the back of his driver, plus lots of little details in his armour.

These small figures are very nicely done. Really glad I got these, the quality of these is good, which is great for a series that doesn’t really get a lot of figures for most of its characters (wouldn’t expect the cameos to get them, but nothing for Ash Roller? Pfft). They aren’t what I’d class as poseable (mostly just head movement), but I don’t think they really need to be, as the poses are pretty cool. 

Expelled From Paradise “Figgy” Figure Set

This is a set of 6 small figures based on characters from Expelled from Paradise, though it’s mostly Angela Balzac. I’ve not seen Expelled from Paradise (I should fix that really…) but I really like Angela’s look. This set of figures was made by Aniplex, and saw a limited release, though at the time of writing, Mandarake do have a few sets, which is where I bought them. 

For small figures, they were pricey, but the quality I feel justifies the price. 

First up:

This was the one that attracted me to the set – I found her pose funny. She’s designed to flop over a glass edge, or similar. Currently I have her propped on this piece of paper, though I may find her something transparent to “flop” over. 

Her backside:

Painting on this side is a little out-of-place on this side, but these things are tiny so it’s not a surprise they’re not perfect. She’s roughly 5cm/1.8in big, for scale. 

Here she is from the side:

I find her well-painted for the most part, and the colours are nice and vivid.

Kneeling Angela:

She really should have something for her hands to perch on, otherwise she sits sideways like this. I’ve seen a picture of her resting on a cup handle, and that worked well. Hm, maybe I need to get one of those glass espresso/tea cups. 

From the back:

Bit of missing paint there on the right leg… didn’t notice that until doing this blog XD. Her backside looks good though. On closer inspection, I’m not sure what’s gone on with the paint on the left disc. Oops. 

From the top:

Her back and hair look nice. Some of the green isn’t quite where it’s supposed to be on the clips, if you inspect her closely. Her back is nicely done though, and her hair. 

“Standing” Angela:

She’s designed to rest on the edge of a glass,but currently I have her propped up on some white tack so she stands up. I like the way these figures smile. 

Back:

Her hair is nice, again, the green isn’t quite sure where it wants to be on her clips. Legs are painted well, along with her back. 

Now for Angela in a different outfit:

At first, I wasn’t sure this was her, from the change in hair tone, but My Figure Collection tells me that, yes this is Angela. Nice to have a different outfit & pose, and this one is well-sculpted – the sculpting in this set is really good. 

Back:

Her shapely backside, and hair. All looking nice. 

More front-on shot to show off her swimsuit:

I like the holes design, and they have rendered it well.

From the top:

Hair seam, but that’s to be expected. He hairband is painted well, and the sculpting of her body shape is nice. 

Now for the two figures that aren’t Balzac! First we have Dingo:

The quality of the paint on this guy impressed me when I got him out of the box. There’s a lot of small details painted on him. Here we can see the details on the guitar, and the details of the sculpt in his trousers and shirt. 

On the end of the guitar, we have a small part painted, and we have his holstered gun, which also helps him stay sat upright. Here we can also see the ripples moulded in his waistcoat. 

From the back:

Here we can admire the sculpt of his hair, and the waistcoat buttons that have been painted well. They’ve also snuck the copyright notice onto the back of his guitar, which stops it from detracting from the figure. I really like this figure of the set. 

And lastly, Frontier Setter:

He’s a bit “drunk”. Need to sort that out. His paint is more straightforward than the others, but nicely done. He has an “action” pose, which is nice. Not much action, but more interesting than just standing there. 

Back:

Bit of paint slop on the left leg there, but otherwise OK I think.

Side:

Looks good from this angle, got some small dots painted on the wheels for the axles. Looks like a good sculpt. 

Overall, I like these figures – not sure if they stand up to close scrutiny, but they’re a nice set of fun figures, if you want something small to prop on a glass or sneak into a display somewhere. The paint flaws imo are much more visible in these close-ups than they are in real life, due to their size. In price, they’re about as much as a Titan Vinyl, or similar blind-box figure. I’d much rather have these! 

Morrigan & Lilith – Summer Edition

These figures are part of a set of summer figures, however I was only interested in the Darkstalker figures of the set. They do come with a segmented beach base, but I didn’t take photos of this. Here is the pair posed together:

These are small, older trading figures, so they’re not super-detailed, but they are posted and painted well for the most part. 

Let’s have a closer look at Morrigan:

Hair is rough around the seam, but the face is painted nicely, along with her bracelets and wings. Yes, this is Morrigan, despite the palette swap ;). There is a bit of stray paint on the upper parts of her top, but it’s not much. 

Morrigan’s front:

Here you can see the stray paint, were they didn’t manage to get clean edges. Around her hips there’s a join, hence why those lines are clean. The bat has been done well, and the straps are OK. 

Her back:

Not much to see here, but some moulding has been done in her hair. Most things are pretty flat back here. 

Opposite side:

She looks good from this angle mostly, but she does have a seam running up her leg. I think the black and purple wings work well. Most Morrigan figures have a more pinkish colour for her wings, so not sure if this counts as palette swap or not :P.

Now for Lilith:

She’s stolen Morrigan’s hair dye for the day. Unlike Morrigan, her wings are definitely a palette swap, as she’s usually red “struts” with black wings. Bit of stray paint on her skirt, and an… interesting expression. 

Her front:

A simple outfit. The shorts are nice, but the top looks super-flat and a bit out-of-place because of that. Looks like I might have to attack her belly with an eraser and see if I can clean up some of those blobs… Hair is a bit flat. 

Back:

Hair is very flat here. Back of her top looks nice, and I like the way they’ve don her wings. If it weren’t fro the hair, I don’t think I would have any complaints about this angle. 

Opposite side:

Leg seam line is more noticeable on this side, but other than that, pretty much the same story as the rest of it. OK, with a couple of minor flaws. 

As two separate figures they’re OK prize figures, but together, they look like a very cute pair, which is how I intend to display them. So if you get one, for maximum enjoyment, I’d recommend buying the other, so you can pose them as designed :). 

Lilith – Christmas figure – Banpresto

I bought a bunch of Lilith and Morrigan figures from Mandarake recently. First up, we have Lilith, ready for Christmas:

This figure is made to fit with other figures, so there is a chance I’ll make a custom base for her. With this figure, I like the striking red and yellow colour scheme, which makes her a bit different. However, the mould line in her hair is not-so-good. She was a cheap prize figure though. 

Left side:

Some shininess, and that finish older prize figures tend to have. The cane is mostly painted well. I like the texture they managed to achieve on the white fluffy areas. Hair is simplistic, but that’s sorta to be expected with an old, small figure like this.

Right side:

I like her pose. Her pointing fingers are a bit drowned in paint though, I like the way her wing curls around her. 

Back:

No real detail on the back of the wings, but I like the finish. Is a seam running up her leg, but this angle isn’t really much of a viewing angle. The base looks nice, and would probably look really good… if I had the set. If I did a custom base/modified this base, I’d likely keep the cream splats, as they’re done well. These both peg into the base, and her scarf/stole is a separate piece. Rest of her is pre-assembled. 

I’d only recommend this figure to people who are interested in collecting older prize figures. 

Skullsplitter, Rider Bust, Pocket Toy Land Fairy

This blog will showcase three smaller figures that I won in the Urban Mine auctions as singular lots.

First up, a Spawn trading figure. The auction picture looked like this:

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So I was hoping for two, but it turned out that he was out of his box, for whatever reason. But for £4.08, it was still good value for money, as these figures usually go for twice that. 

Here he is:

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Turns out he is a rare variant, so that might be why they were showcasing him out of the box – he seems to be a copper-coloured repaint. He’s rich with detail, and nicely painted. 

Side shots:

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Some nice shoulder armour going on there, and some good texturing on his cape.

Back:

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His cape has a nice texture, and I love the bronze edging they’ve given it. A rare, good Western trading fig :P. 

Next up, a Rider bust from Fate/Stay Night:

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I’ve been wanting this since I knew it existed, but it doesn’t come up for sale often, so I jumped on the chance to bid for it… and spend more than I should’ve on it XD. Did find I could’ve probably proxy’d it for cheaper, but not by too much probably, once everything was said and done. This figure has been very well done – the sculpting and paint are all really good imo. And the chain is a chain, which is nice, but may need to ensure it doesn’t rust. Can be an issue if Rider comes with a chain!

Back:

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Here is the tip of her dagger, and the hair that flows around her, plus the metal structure behind her. Everything’s nicely finished off back here. 

Here’s the chain spread out:

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It’s nice they have let you position the chain, but it can be a bit of a pain doing so. I love this little Rider :). 

Lastly, a fairy figure from “Pocket Toy World”:

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Yeah, I didn’t pay a lot for this one… it seems like it may’ve originally been bundled with a related one-shot manga, but nothing Urban Mine ever comes with the books, and the other figures in this series have no relation to each other. The painting is OK, but it’s nothing special. Has an almost garage-kit feel. 

Sides:

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Paint is a little sloppy, but the leaves are painted nicely. 

Back:

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In some ways, this might be the best angle, owing to lack of paint slop. But then there are less opportunities for mistakes here in the paint. I do like her wings. 

For these shots, she wouldn’t stand up on her own (spot the white-tack). but I heated her, and corrected her posture, so now she stands up on her own. An interesting buy, but I don’t think my life would be significantly different without her, lol. 

Urban Mine – Tiger & Bunny – Part 2

Now for the reason I bid on this lot! The J-Prizes! The set consists of 5 figures, plus one secret. With 9 boxes in this lot, I was semi-confident I’d get the “base” 5, but the secret was less likely, as it may’ve been someone trying to get the secret, and palmed off their duplicates. 

So let’s see what we got! 

Let’s start with the obvious character in the set, Kotetsu:

The paint is about average for this kind of figure. The bases for these figures are nice – they all include a logo and the character’s name. I like his pose in this figure. 

Back:

All the details you’d expect back here. A nice addition is they’ve got the fastener on the back of his hat. 

Now for Blue Rose, the character I wanted most in this set:

She’s nicely done, and the paint’s good considering her small size. I got two of these Blue Rose figures, but one had a broken ice vine :(. But hey, I got two, so I had one intact Blue Rose! Also the finish on the two Blue Rose headpieces is different – this one is mottled, and the other one is flat, and probably unfinished. There was a bit of a mark on the other headpiece too, so I went with this head, with the textured finish. 

Back:

A good amount of detail on her hair, for a prize figure. And a good shot of teh vines – don’t want to be missing one of those! This one could’ve easily ended up messy with the paint, but most of it is really good. Bit of slop on the back of the headpiece, but the more important paint on her body is good. 

Next up, Dragon Kid:

They’ve done a really good job on her too. Love her bright colours. She doesn’t have her logos in her discs, but I can’t say I miss those, lol. The gold & silver paint work, which is a nice thing to see. 

Back:

Her staff and headpiece are the most striking things in this figure, and have been replicated well, in chibi form. 

Now for Ivan Karelin, aka Origami Cyclone:

This one, for some strange reason, tends to prefer to rotate moreso than the others. I like his clothes on this figure. 

Here he is from the back:

Shame the stand goes right in the middle of his jacket’s logo :(. Makes me almost wish for a hair stand, but those are far more annoying than peg stands. The purple shiny paint came out well. 

Now for Keith Goodman, aka Sky High:

Looking happy and optimistic, like his anime-self! His clothes and face are painted really well. 

Back:

Oops, a bit of a mark on the back of his hair, oh well. It’s a paint chip, so I can’t fix it easily. I do have a duplicate of Keith, so I may choose not to sell the duplicate. The chip doesn’t show when I’m displaying him though, so I may not bother getting the other head out. 

So that’s the five that were advertised… plus the non-mentioned dupe which was Dragon Kid. Did I get the secret? Why, yes I did! 

And who was it?

Just who?

Have you guessed yet?

Erm, did someone say something? Speak up!

It was Doc Saito!:

I laughed when I opened this one up – a perfect figure for the secret! The super-soft spoken mad engineer himself! As a character less prone to getting figures, for not really being one of the main stars, it was nice they included him in this set. I wouldn’t have ordinarily bought a Doc Saito figure, but upon having him, I realised how much I needed one :P. Paint isn’t the bes ton this one, but I’ll let that slide because… Doc Saito. 

Here is his back:

Yep, the back of Doc Saito. Nothing to see here, lol, but no chips either. 

Glad I got this set, and was worth the money imo. They’re a cute set of figures, and a welcome addition to my collection. 

Urban Mine – Tiger & Bunny – Part 1

I saw two Tiger & Bunny lots – one for a set of Bandai figures, and one for some prize figures. The Bandai lot went for more than I was prepared to pay, but I won the other lot with the maiden bid of ¥100. 

I took a look at the lot, just prior to paying:

Agh, it’s not just the J prizes, but a few glasses as well. I would’ve preferred to not pay to ship a bunch of glasses over too, but at least there still was enough J-prizes to hopefully get a set. So this lot ended up costing me the same as the previous one (£16.22), due to the weight. 

This will be a 2-part blog – today’s blog will focus on the items that are not the J-prizes. 

First up, the glasses. There were 4 glasses – 3 of the same design, and the 4th being different. 

I have three of these glasses:

Which look like this out of the box:

This side of the box shows the full design:

Personally, I don’t like the design of this glass at all. The writing feels too bold and hard to read, and the design isn’t exciting. I also don’t have any need for more drinking glasses XD. 

The second glass:

And out of the box:

I think this glass is a much nicer design – much more legible, and has a nice thematic design on one side. However, I don’t really need an odd glass, so I’m likely to try and sell all four glasses at some point. Erm, anyone in the UK want to buy some Tiger & Bunny glasses? 

Next up is this metro pass holder:

It has words… it has Tiger & Bunny… and erm, what the heck is this thing trying to say?! I may actually use this when I go to Tokyo if I get a pass, as this’ll prevent me from losing it in a random pocket.. But I’m not sure what’s up with the design. 

Back of the holder:

Nothing going on here. Just a place to grab & pull the pass back out of the holder. If anyone’s wondering how this works – the metro passes have RFID in Japan, so you tap them against the reader, so it doesn’t need to come out of the holder. You then attach this holder to a bag or the like, then you can just grab it and smack it against the reader as you walk through the barrier. I may take a reel with me, as I may not always have a suitable bag on me XD. 

Last up… is one of the Bandai figures! For some reason, one of them was dumped in this lot, and it was Rock Bison:

Aww, cute. This figure is OK, but cemented the fact I didn’t want to pay a lot for the Bandai figure set. And made me wonder if this one was missing in the other lot… Most of the painting is decent on it, but I’m not really attracted to the design. 

Back:

Some nice detailing back here, and the paint is where it’s supposed to be. If you like him, he’s a good figure, but he isn’t anything special imo. 

So an interesting set of extras, but nothing I would miss if it spontaneously disappeared. 

Urban Mine – Evangelion, Gundam & Misc – Part 4

Now for the Gundam items. This blog will only have one figure opened, then an image dump of two sets of petit figures. I haven’t opened the petit figures, as I haven’t decided if I’m going to display them or try to sell them as sets, though neither are a full set. So feel free to skip the blog after Athrun. 

Originally I wasn’t going to open this Athrun Zala figure, but after seeing what he looked like, once unpacked, I decided I liked her:

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I love the determined pose, and the paintwork from a distance looks good, with complimentary colours. There is some paint slop, if you look closely though. Well, maybe not so closely by the collar. Assembling this figure was interesting, as the pegs are separate, and on a sprue, so I had to go dig up my model snips! Those have been getting some action lately, which will be upcoming in a future blog ;). 

Left side:

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This figure needs some side shots, to show off the aiming with the gun. The stance is good, and works from all angles. The gun and his hands are one piece, so he’s not in trouble of dropping it – sometimes small figures like these can have real troubles holding accessories. Heck, even bigger ones can have issues! His stance only works for firing a gun, so I think this was a good design choice. 

Right side:

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Looking good from this angle too. I like the way his hair flows around his ear. Also get to see some shirt, from his jacket flying up from him lifting his gun.

Back:

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Alas, there’s some marks on the back of the jacket, but at least they’re on the back. These kinds of marks are not uncommon on black finishes on cheaper figures. Kind of annoying, but not much you can do about it, I don’t happen to have any matt finishes on me, lol. 

I love his action-y stance and colour scheme. The logo on the base is also attractive, and adds a bit of class, and is far better than just a plain disc. 

Now for the image dump. This first set of bags are from Bandai’s Petit Figure Collection 1. Names of the characters are on the bases:

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The next three are from the Chara Puchi set, also by Bandai:

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They’re fairly run-of-the-mill petit figures for the most part. I’m more likely to keep the Chara Puchi ones, as I do like the little Haros the characters are given to sit on. I haven’t watched any Gundam, so I don’t feel attached to the characters, and the humanoid characters aren’t visually interesting to me, for the most part. 

Urban Mine – Evangelion, Gundam & Misc – Part 3

Now for the last of the Evangelion items. 

Let’s start off with a deformed-style Rei trading figure:

I don’t usually go in for this style of figure, but this one’s pretty cute, and well-done. The paint is really nice. The big *ahem* downside to this one is that her fat head doesn’t like to stay in the stand clip. Most of this kind of figure I’ve usually been able to find the sweet-spot where the figure will stay clipped in, but she loves to fall over if you move her. The shading in her hair is vibrant and attractive. Also she’s in her plugsuit, so that makes it more of a winner for me. 

Back:

Pretty obvious seam, but that’s pretty standard with these figures. Isn’t anything worth seeing on the back of her head, though the back of her body has been painted well, with the details you’d expect. I like this figure, and this will be going on display. 

Next, a keychain of Rei:

Here she is, very happy! It doesn’t look very “Rei” to me, but she’s still cute. 

Back:

Not too much to see here, but some shading in her hair, and her back has been painted well. 

She does pose well in front of a Nether portal:

I hung her here, soon after opening her. 

She comes with another part you’re supposed to connect her to:

She does look nice connected to this chain, but it’d dangle too much to go on the keychain bars. And she needs to guard the portal :P. 

Now here’s an interesting piece of Evangelion loot attached to my phone:

On the opposite side, it has Rei’s EVA:

The print is nice and vibrant, and a good design, given the space. Hence me attaching this to my phone. So what is it?

An extending ballpoint pen! More useful than the stylus I first wondered if it was. My finger suffices for my phone, but hey, a pen I might actually randomly need. I’ve left the nib protector on the pen, as I’m rarely likely to actually use this. It’s more of a decorative item that I can look at/fiddle with. Will keep it on my phone until it’s more annoying than soothing. Or it gets damaged badly. 

Time for a couple of different Evangelion characters. It can’t all be Rei! Just… mostly Rei :P. 

Here’s a figure of Asuka:

Cute! The card was a pain to get in place though. Love the plugsuit swimsuit! Would love to see this on a larger figure, and for the rest of the cast. Paint is good quality on her. 

Now for a Shinji. Funnily enough, I nearly bought this from someone, with some other Evangelion loot, but the asking price was too high. But he decided to pop up in my loot anyway!

A nice little figure. Not one I’d ordinarily choose, but will happily display now I have it. Love the angel details in the background. 

Some nice odds and ends! No real duds either, so I’m happy!

Urban Mine – Evangelion, Gundam & Misc – Part 2

Next up, let’s get onto some Evangelion loot! I opened one of the sealed inner bags and found… a full set of Portraits figures! Well, minus the secret one, but hey, 5 figures of a full set! I didn’t have any of series 2, so this was an amazing find for me! Well worth the £16 on its own! You wouldn’t normally get a full set for this price. So this loot was definitely a winner!

First up, Asuka Langley:

Looking very happy. A small scratch on her swimsuit top, d’oh. Other than that, she’s in good condition. The red swimsuit suits her – the secret figure in this set is her in a blue striped swimsuit, so I’m not overly fussed about it. Asuka’s colour is red. 

Back:

Lovely flow and shading in her hair. Her neuro clips are well-painted too. 

Now, ofc for a Rei:

Here she is in her plugsuit form, with the bandages from a…. not-so-good encounter. The bandage painting looks a little odd above her right breast. She has a pearlescent plugsuit, which is a nice touch – usually this form is a “secret colour” version in other sets, but is the standard colouring in this set. Her bandages appear to be done true to the anime. 

Back:

Some paint slop visible on the bandage around her hair. Her backpack has been nicely done. Not too much to say about the back, but she looks good.

Rei in her school uniform:

A nice amount of detail in her, but the stand was a pig to get in place and work out what should be clipped XD. The paint has been done nicely, and her pose is good. 

Back:

Here you can see some nice shading on her dress, and her hand in motion. Her hair also has detail at the back, which is nice. 

Misato Katsuragi:

Looking very summery and ready for the beach! This is a bit of an odd set, as you have her and Asuka ready for the beach, and the others in their work clothes XD. I like Misato’s pose, but her expression looks a little shifty… what’s she plotting now? Love the little flowers on her sandals, and the beach outfit is a good style. 

Back:

Her hair has shading, but does look like a bit of a sudden colour change in this photo. Her backside has been sculpted well, and she has pockets that look good. I really like her shorts, lol. 

Lastly, Maya Ibuki:

Unfortunately, time has hit her badly. She has a small scratch at the bottom of her coat, but worst of all, it looks like the paint has deteriorated, and she has an overly dark spot across her chest. Other than that, she looks good from the front, which makes the ageing a shame. I like her studious, laptop-holding pose.

Back:

Some ageing visible here too – one dark spot on the back of her jacket, and her leggings have yellowed. Not too much to see on the back, but looks OK. 

All of these figures have a base with the NERV logo, which is a nice touch. Kinda wish all the Portraits figures had this base. It’s nice to own this set, even though there’s signs of ageing. A welcome addition to my collection!

Urban Mine – Evangelion, Gundam & Misc – Part 1

So… this month I hit the Mandarake mines pretty hard. The next five blogs will cover this auction:

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I bid on this auction, as I saw two of Rei Ayanami’s head, and Asuka’s in between. The rest I didn’t really pay much attention to, but I saw the bag labelled ¥315, so hey, if I didn’t bid much, I was probably onto a winner! I won the lot for ¥400, and with shipping it cost me £16.22. 

So… let’s see what I got. This blog will concentrate on the miscellaneous items, that aren’t Gundam or Evangelion-related. 

The first oddity that caught my eye, after emptying the bag of items was this dude:

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But who could he be? So I turned him round and had a look:

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Oh! Docomo! One of the mobile (cell) phone providers in Japan! I did some research, and indeed they have a mushroom for a mascot, and his name is Docomodake. Well, their branding went a lot more successful than whatever it was Orange tried to do many years ago in the UK… He’s a cute, well-made little guy. He definitely gets a spot on the keychain bar. 

Here’s a photo of his head:

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Lots of brightly-coloured spots! The other keychain part that he’s propped upon will be featured in a later blog. An interesting and different item! 

Next up, three figures of Rio Rollins Tachibana from Super Black Jack. Never come across this series before, so can’t comment too much from that perspective.

Our first figure is of her in her normal outfit, looking like a dealer:

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These figures are surprisingly well-made – the paint is very nicely done, and the poses are good. They all have a bit of a gappy midriff problem, but this is not too noticeable if you’re not up close to the figure. This one you can’t pick up by her upper half usually though – she likes to drop her legs! The detail in the moulds is also a bit higher than your average trading figure imo – the creases in her clothes have been done well, and the paint/decal on the cards is very crisp. 

Back:

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She looks good from this angle, though less detail in her hair. You can see her cufflinks here – nice to see details like that. The support stand is on a ball joint, which makes it easier to manoeuvre into position. 

Now for Rio in a maid outfit:

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She was a bit more of a pain to get on the stand, but she’s also very nicely done. Some white paint slop visible on her legs though, but it’s not a biggie. Her apron pins onto her skirt – this is OK when she’s displayed, but the pins aren’t that long, so if you pick her up, you can accidentally knock this off. 

Back:

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Looks good from this angle. She has a standard rod stand though. 

Now for the third and final Rio:

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Santa Rio! This was the first one of the three I assembled, and probably the worst one for midriff gap XD. Once I had this one open, I was decided I was going to keep all three of the Rio figures. I love her face and pose, and the quality of the paint job. The bent-over trinket in her hand is odd though, but pictures suggest it should be like that! There’s a nice use of pearly finish on her stockings. 

From the back:

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The sack has been done well, along with her Santa hat. Love the high-heeled boots too. Very pleased with these three figures.

Also in the Super Black Jack theme, there was these playing cards:

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I haven’t opened them, not sure if I will, as I don’t tend to get to play card games. I’d guess this would be a nice collectable for those who like this series though – very thematic. 

One last thing for this post, Yuo Hirasawa from K-on!:

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In tiny charm form. I left this in the bag, but just prior to writing this blog, I took her out. She has a 2D guitar attached to her strap, as well as her head. May sneak this onto one of the keychain bars, or she may be relegated to the Trading Figures drawer. She was a freebie with an Ashai drink, so coupled with her size, she’s not really worth anything. 

So thus far, we’ve had 3 nice trading figures and a DoCoMo mascot… Probably not worth £16 to me, but at least a chunk of that. Let’s see what the next blog brings!

Cyborg – Metals Die-Cast

This is the second thing I picked up in the Toys R Us sale. 

Die-cast Cyborg:

I had three to choose from, and the paint job did differ between the three. One of them had quite sloppy painting with the silver on the cyborg part on his left eye, so I’d recommend inspecting these figures prior to buying. 

The sculpt is nice, and gives the figure texture it would otherwise not have. With the lack of shading though, his face looks somewhat flat in places. His eyebrow looks more comic-book-y than the rest of him imo as well. 

Back:

Use of different shades of grey help make him stand out. It’s nice to see this detail here. 

Left:

Looks OK, not much to say about this angle.

Right:

Looking at this photo… his hair does rather look like a brown orange XD. Can see a little bit of silver slop – this is the kind of thing to look out for when buying these figures. His arm looks a bit.. bouldery. 

Overall, I think it’s an OK figure. If you like it, it’s a nice figure, but I think it’s a bit 50-50. It also depends if you like this Cyborg design. I mostly bought it because it was Cyborg and reasonably priced, with the discount. 

Evangelion Trading Figures Part 2

These are the last two figures from my box o’ stuff I had shipped by Big In Japan. 

First up is an Asuka figure that I remember looking at on eBay when I learned gachapon were a thing:

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This is Asuka Langley in her plug. Having a bit of a nightmare! I love the expression on this figure. She was a mild pain to assemble, and she had warped in the packet over time, so I had to heat her legs up so I could bend them to fit correctly in the plug. For such a small figure, it’s amazingly detailed. 

Other views:

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Heh. Not much to see on the one above. Not a recommended viewing angle. Not too much to see here either:

Here is a photo showing the screen in a bit more detail: 

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I love this mini-vingette, and wish there was a similar version for Rei. But more… Rei. 

There isn’t, so I went for this gachapon of Rei in her plug:

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There’s more detail on the plug, but I’m not so keen on her hair colour. There’s also a bit of a mark on the plug, on this side. Ah well, that can be dirt *nod*. 

More views:

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And a view showing not much at all:

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Yeah, gotta give that top bit a bit of a shove… Meh, it doesn’t really show. 

Rei has a nice pose for this figure, but it was a bit hard to work out exactly how she was supposed to go, as there were no instructions, and I had to account for the fact she’s probably warped a bit over time, so had to work out if her legs fit under/over the front part. Her legs probably want a bit more bending, but I think she looks fine as is. It’s nice to have some gachapon figure that aren’t just a figure standing around. 

Evangelion Trading Figures Part 1

As Suruga-ya took so long to ship, and I was going to end up with a parcel in limbo for several days, I decided to hit up Rakuten, and found a bunch of Evangelion figures I’ve been planning on ordering… for, erm, probably years. 

First up are the Capsule Q Fraulein series 4 figures that I wanted:

Asuka getting ready, Mari striking a pose, and Rei… hanging about. These were a pig to assemble, but they do look super-nice once completed! Rei was in my half-want pile for this series, as she’s in her black outfit instead of the white plugsuit. 

Sides:

The brown tape bits on Asuka’s side look a bit odd and un-tapelike to me. Had to check the reference art to see what that was. Mari is VERY bent, lol. 

Backs:

Some nice detailing on Rei’s backpack, which partially makes up for the lack o’ white plugsuit. Here the gaps are a bit more obvious on the legs, where I had trouble assembling. Did heat them up to get them to go, but they’re stubborn li’l buggers. Asuka’s hair is nice form this angle. 

Pleased with the ones I chose to get. There is a 4th figure of Asuka in casual clothes, but I wasn’t interested in it (not sure if the seller had it either). 

Mari and Asuka come with alternate heads:

These helmets are a viable display alternative, but I think I will go with the faces, and pose the helmets next to the respective figures. With these, if I came across the same pair for cheap, I’d probably consider buying so I could display them in both configurations. Maybe if I come across them in Japan!

To make up for the lack of white plugsuit Rei, I also got this trading figure:

She was also an annoyance to assemble (you can see where one of the pegs on her wrist has escaped in the last pic…), but she looks good once done. Had to heat up one of the arms, so the wrist peg would sit in the hole correctly, as it wanted to bend outwards. The pose is nice, and the paint job is mostly OK. Little bit of slop on the green parts. 

Overall, I’m happy with these figures, but wish they were a bit more friendly to being assembled!

Devilman Art Collection Complex

Whilst I was buying something from Suruga-ya anyway, I decided to shove something else in the order, which was also kinda needed to meet the threshold for free shipping. 

Found a set of Devilman trading figures. Opened? OK, they won’t be too big… 

The main thing that threw me was that the picture used to advertise the set was just of the figures themselves, unboxed, so I expected to receive a pile of inner bags, and not the boxes and retail box itself! Included a standard-sized card for scale. 

So let’s get onto the figures! Trust me, this preamble is a lot shorter than the process of unbagging and assembling these figures!

Figures 1 & 2 of the set:

Wow, love these two. These are probably my favourite ones in the set – I love the colours, pose and the fact that the wings are semitransparent. 

3 & 4:

These two are solid entries, at least in looks. I prefer the orangey one – the green one looks a bit like he’s now a zombie! Unfortunately the orange one was broken in the bag, and I had to glue one of his arm horns on. There is a tiny bit of articulation, but it’s not very useful. Just enough to get them balanced and standing, though you can move the heads nicely. 

5 & 6:

These figures are of Satan, but it’s not particularly obvious imo. I love the colouring, especially on the green one, but it’s far too hard to make out the details properly. Too much see-through and an overly detailed sculpt kind of turns them into a bit of a mess, sadly. They look striking at first glance, but analysing them in detail is a pain. 

7 & 9. Did these together as they’re both busts:

I love the transparent wings on the left one, and his face is… interesting. It doesn’t really scream “Devilman” to me, but it’s still nice, and has a good arse! 

The one on the right stands out in the set, and takes advantage of its larger size to deliver a much cleaner sculpt. The colours work well too, and I really like this bust. The back is rather odd though, but it does help them save material. 

8:

Doing Google Translate on the paper that came with it, it sounds like this was based upon an illustration of Devilman coming out of the TV. So we have Devilman effectively splitting into two. I think it’s an interesting and ambitious figure, that’s sadly let down by its paint job. The Devilman looks a bit too “plasticine” too. I think if you made a larger figure of this, and gave it a more detailed paint job, it’d be a more exciting figure. 

Last, but not least, 10:

If the first ones are my favourite, this one comes in at a close second! He isn’t the best balanced of figures, so I may end up using a Glu Dot to prevent him from falling over. He can stand up, but it doesn’t take much vibrations to knock him over… which doesn’t help if your husband hoofs around. From the fact he is purple, to his transparent wings, and the included stomp effect… he’s an impressive one to look at! 

Overall, I’m very happy I got this set. There’s some very nice looking figures, and the less-good ones are still OK. With all my costs factored in, they cost about £3.70 each, which I think is good value!