In this article, I’ll detail the statutes and figures that caught my eye. Not seen much activity on Wonfes Shanghai on MFC, so thought I’d add something of my own.
The first thing I’ll cover is a figure I’ve already got preordered – Dragon Princess by ULoop Studio:
Original (requires Weibo account, Chinese): https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404786134344401123
This is a translated version of the operating instructions for Pick Me Up Miku. The wording has been machine-translated then rewritten by me to (hopefully!) make sense.
If there is a problem with the remote control or lighting effect, please refer to the following steps to check operation and diagnose issues.
NOTE: The following instructions are only for self-testing/fixing Pick Me Up Miku when the base lighting is not working properly, and is not suitable for daily operation. If it functions normally, please do not use this part of the guide, so as to not cause issues.
If the lighting does not work after these diagnostic steps, please consult our after-sales. [Author’s note: Not sure if this is available to international customers, but they do have an email of support^at^apex-toy.com. If you bought from an international retailer, I would advise contacting the retailer in the first instance]
Continue reading “Pick Me Up Miku instructions”Now for a figure I can’t tell you much about! There is a maker’s name on the back, but sadly I can’t quite read what it says, so can’t search/verify who made this XD. I bought him from a collectables shop in Southampton, and I don’t think the owner knew anything about him either (and he didn’t really like the fellah :P):
He has a few little dints, but nothing too severe, which is good for this kind of collectable. Too often these kind of things have quite large paint gouges secondhand.
Whilst I’ve called him a zombie in the title, I’m not sure he really is. Almost a gargoyle/demon look about him. He’s a fearsome fellow anyway! Not so keen on the super-lazy eye, but I love those eyebrow ridges and that screaming mouth. Paint on his cloak seems a bit on the rushed side, but the skin paint is very nicely shaded.
Left:
Here you can get a good look at one of the horns atop his head. They have a decently chitinous look to them irl. I don’t think this photo does them justice. Here you can see some scratching on his eye ridge. Some lovely moulding details in the side of his face, with the way it wrinkles.
Right side:
I like the way the skin has been done so it’s taught on his head, and looser on the face. Gives that demon/undead vibe. You can see where an attempt has been made to blend the darker parts of his cloak into the lighter parts, but could’ve done with some more blending, so there was less brush strokes in it. Maybe a wash would have been better in the lighter areas?
Back:
Some nice attention-to-detail in the mould. Here you can see he’s been stamped © 1998 and some kind of name/logo next to it. Not sure if this is a small-run item or mass-manufactured. I love the shading on the back of his head – gives a good amount of definition to him.
On display, the flaws in the cloak are less obvious at a distance, but it would’ve been nice if a bit more effort was put into blending the darker paint, or it was more of a wash instead. He’s still a cool-looking figure, who currently resides on my desk :).
… so where did P-Body get that, uh, enrichment equipment?
These two don’t have a lot to do with each other, but they’re both not figures and arrived on my doormat at the same time.
First up, the chopsticks:
And a closeup of the tops:
They’re nice, given the amount of space they had to work with. Might’ve been nicer if the chopstick with Rei visible either had the entry pod top be removable or not there at all imo, but it doesn’t get in the way or anything.
As of the time of writing, I haven’t used them yet, but they felt like they’ll be a decent pair of chopsticks to use, and more conventional than my Alien ones. I may order the Asuka ones in future, but currently on the fence about them.
Been looking at putting a display cabinet at the top of my stairs, to house more of my figures, but then my husband suggested converting the old airing cupboard into a display, so the need for large figure display is currently lessened. So what do with the wall… put a wall display ofc!
Ordered this on Amazon, built it on the same day I got it, then my husband kindly hung it on the wall for me.
I have a LOT of little stuff, so it was very easy to populate! The items on the second row of the display weren’t displayed anywhere yet – these are the Heroes of Might and Magic figures that were in the blind bags a number of blogs ago.
After many trips around the various rooms in the house, I have now populated it, and freed up display areas around the house (or made the displays tidier for now…)
I did suggest getting another one to go under the TV in the bedroom, but my husband doesn’t seem keen… Ah well.
Was browsing the Urban Mine auctions (again!), but only to find there’s less of them and mostly bags o’ stuff. So I combed through all the pics, looking for ones that were potentially worth the postage price.
Finally I settled bidding on this one:
I chose this one due to the EVA-01 arm sticking out and the Rei to the left. There was also the beach stand that could potentially be something exciting… or just a stand. One never knows with these bags of stuff, and there’s no guarantee anything is complete.
So a couple of weeks later, I got two boxes from Mandarake. A heavy box containing this stuff, and the Metatron figures I posted about yesterday.
Upon opening the bag above, and having a leaf through, the vast majority of the stuff was really dirty, so off to the sink it went:
Not the usual contents of my draining rack! Surprisingly, most stuff cleaned up a lot better than I thought it would.
Yep, not the usual contents at all:
As there’s quite the pile of stuff, the next few posts will be detailing and showcasing what I got in my bag o’ stuff.
I have bought two new Gnedbys secondhand, and have now filled up my second rail o’ trinkets.
So here are the Gnedbys at time of posting (I’m sure more stuff will be on them by the time anyone reads this :P).
One in the hall:
One in the spare room (and this has changed just prior to time of writing :P):
And the hanging stuff in the study:
The Harley and Poison Ivy keyrings came from Gloucester Comic Con, and the Hera-Is from Puzzles & Dragons and Irma from Final Fantasy (either side of Ryuk, in the middle) came from a comic book shop in London. The other pieces have either been previously featured in this blog, or obtained before I started doing it.
Went to the mini-con in Frome. Bought two items – one from the con, one not.
From the con:
This is supposed to be used as a bookmark, but knowing me, I’d break it if I used it like that, so bought it to add as a dangler on my study shelves. I used a small needle to thread the thread through the holes, In this shot, you can see a bit of the thread that passes behind it – I did it like this, so that I can ensure that Sonic is straight when I hung him. If he’s not, I can adjust the thread to fix it.
A slightly further away shot (you can see a bit of the pole with my other dangling items on it):
Thinking of adding another “dangly stuff” rod to this shelf, like the one on the left. If I do this, I’ll more than likely move Sonic to dangle off that instead. That way I can slide him to wherever I want, without having to re-tape him.
And the second thing… novelty warning…
SOLAR NODDING TOILET MONKEY! Every house needs one of these!
Side view:
Unfortunately, if it gets too much sun, he’ll faceplant in his newspaper with a little “tick” noise. Bought this for £2 in Pink Planet.
And that’s it for “stuff”. I have two pictures I bought, will upload those to the blog when I’ve had them framed (probably not any time soon).
Ended up buying some more furniture. Got two of the glass Kallax inserts, which is what I visited IKEA for, and a CD tower – Gnedby – as I saw one in Bargain Corner, and thought “I could fit that in my house!”. The one in Bargain Corner was the wrong colour though, so one quick visit to the IKEA website later, we were off back into the storage area to pick one up in beech.
First up, the Kallax insert:
Figures in the Kallax insert. Didn’t take a photo with the door shut, due to glare. Which is the downside. It’s nice having the extra shelf & door, but I don’t think I’m going to fill out the cabinet with inserts, as there’ll be too much glare. I may alleviate some of the glare with lighting, but not got anything planned at this stage. The second Kallax insert is still boxed, and am still debating if I’m going to use it or not.
Initially I wasn’t planning to use the shelf, but after rearranging the stuff I had, it made sense to use it,and put a good chunk of the small figures in there. I now have a few open spots for bigger figures in the spare room 😀
And now for the biggie, the Gnedby:
Apologies for the slightly pants pic. Fits really well next to the sofa, and the door doesn’t hit it, and Rei looks almost cosy in there :). It is wobbly without a wall bracket, so would recommend attaching it to the wall, if you have one. Has allowed me to move a bunch o’ figures, opening up their spots for other things :D. Will consider getting another one of these in the future, as their thinness means I can probably sneak them in another couple of spots in the house :].
Bidded on some Nendos… these will be the first two I’ll own. Don’t really see myself collecting them, but I couldn’t turn down some Black Rock Shooter figures.
Might buy one or two of the others if I like these ones, but most Nendorisations I don’t like too much, so might not get anything outside of the BRS ones.
… looks like Alana found it too hot as well. She’s fallen over a couple of times now, during the heatwave. Marko seems to not be bothered by it.
Had 3 other figures fall over, probably due to the heat. No fragile ones though, thankfully! Though if Alana’s wings fall out, they’re a massive pain to get to stay in. Thiiisss close to gluing them in.
Went to visit a friend who does framing, and had three things framed.
First was two pics I bought at Swindon Comic Con:
Closeup:
As I was gathering these two up, I remembered I had a mini-”poster” from an Asuka figure I got recently, and took that along too. Here it is on the Wall of Random, that I have in the bedroom:
Closeup:
Let’s see how this one goes. Will be in 2 boxes, hoping they distribute the stuff as I ask, and kinda lamenting that I didn’t add the first Spawn figure into my first order… I forgot :(. Then again, it probably would have caused the same box nightmare issues >
This should be my lot for awhile… hoping this stuff arrives before I go away. Should do, but there’s a chance it won’t :S. Gogo postal system!
Slightly more than I was intending to bid. Now to see what condition it is when it arrives… Thus far nothing I’ve had from the Urban Mines has been too bad (only one figure with breakage, that I glued back together)
Now to await the payment request, and I’ve got some other stuff in my cart to juggle. Let’s see how many parcels I’ll decide for it to be. Might end up with one large one and get customs’d or break it down into smaller ones and hope for the best.
… now will I win it…? Or will I be picking something else to buy in the Mandarake store?
Item will be revealed if I win.
Bunch of Urban Mine, and one store item, because I could shove it in.
Urban mine stuff is an Evangelion figure, something random I’ll post more about when I get it, and Mr Assemble. I have one Assemble Borg figure already, and hope to mix n’ match parts.
Will be another order in a couple of days, due to having one more Urban Mine item I’m bidding on. Items were gonna be in 2 boxes anyway, and with the deadline being 5 days for Urban Mine items now, one of the items needed paying for before the deadline.
I’ve had some IKEA strip lights for… some time, but didn’t really want them put up, as they’re too shiny to have them visible. After a wander around the internet, I found some LED lighting casing for a price I wanted to pay. Only issue was having to pick it up before work :P.
Overview of the new lighting.
Left-hand shelf
Middle shelf
Right shelf.
