Klingon Birds of Prey – Star Trek – Eaglemoss & Hallmark

Bought these two Klingon Birds of Prey from the same seller. Well, when you like a thing… you buy two of it :P. 

First up, the Eaglemoss figure:

Evidence Eaglemoss can make decent stuff  when they want to. Not quite sure what’s going on with the Klingon logo on the wing – seems to have more colours than it should? Maybe a Star Wars buff can comment.. However, the paint job gives a good weathered look to the ship, and the model is detailed. This model shows how little splashes of colour can really bring out a colour, with the gold accents on the end of the wing & gun, the gold accents on what I assume are auxiliary thrusters on the top and the red for the windscreens. 

Front:

Birds of Prey have quite a thin profile from the front, so not a lot to see here. Menacing though. 

Left:

Same details as the right, so I’ll pass a few comments about the stand – it stands fine, as long as you leave it alone. However, it is a bit easy to knock it out if moving/handling it. If you want to move these ships around, I’d suggest taking them off the stand first prior to moving. Don’t want to ding any weapons off!

Back:

Here we see the red of the main engine. I do like this stand’s general design – it does allow you to see all the angles, without getting in the way. No complaints about this angle. 

Top:

Here we get a much better look at the details – this Star Trek series has some impressive entries, which is why they hold their value on reselling sites. Star Trek is a bit of a weird one for licencing – they have a bunch of Playmates merch, which is largely meh, then they have really good things like this. 

Bottom:

Glad to see they didn’t skimp on the mould detail here, but… shouldn’t the undersides of the wings be red? Seems to be a different design underneath, than the one I’m familiar with. Pleased to see they did detail it, but not sure it’s entirely accurate, but I like it anyway. 

Overall, I’m really happy with this model. I do really like some of the “enemy” ship designs in Star Trek. 

The second Bird of Prey I picked up was a Hallmark Keepsake:

No stand for this one, as it’s a Christmas tree decoration, so here it is, with its butt parked on the floor. As expected for an ornament, it is less detailed than the Eaglemoss one, but still looks good imo. Here they’ve painted what looks like a heat sink in silver, which makes me realise the other one had this part in green. Hm, looks better in silver. Nice detail in having some Klingon writing on the wing. No idea what it says though. 

Top:

Here’s the wire that is designed to plug into a light string, but may get modified to work off USB, as the manual suggests it should work just fine on 5V. The “1994″ on the back above the thruster is because this ornament was manufactured in 1994. Interesting detail there, lol. No thread on the eye, but I’ve got plenty around here to supply my own. Top of it looks good at a distance. 

Front:

Yep, still small profile, though this one’s chunkier construction makes it stand out more. The yellow light at the front will light up when powered. 

Back:

Here’s a red light, which represents the thruster. I believe this one is meant to flicker when powered, but as I’m yet to test it, I haven’t seen it, only read about it in the information leaflet.  This isn’t a particularly attractive angle for the ship.

Bottom:

Red wings! Yeah, this is how I remember them! Despite the lack of shading, the paintjob on the bottom of this one outdoes the Eaglemoss one. Shame we’ve got some copyright info slightly spoiling it. This is probably one of the neater angles of this ship. 

All in all, this is a nice ship considering it’s an ornament. If you’re looking for an epically detailed display piece, this probably isn’t the ship for you, but if you like a Bird of Prey that lights up, this is an option. I’ll try to post an update if I get the lights working, but they’re yet to be tested. If I get it working, I may choose a display shelf that I’ll have powered items on, and have 5V available for LEDs. 

Alien Attacker – Independence Day

So now for the FACTS loot! First up is this spaceship that came with a collector’s edition of Independence Day. It came with the box, but not the Blu-Ray, though with the Blu-Ray it’dve been a lot more costly… and I don’t care about Independence Day that much. Just wanted the cool spaceship :P. 

Here it is – it has a nice plaque stand. so you know where it is from. It sits on two plastic supports, and is relatively sturdy. 

Closer look at the stand:

Here we see the base pattern, nicely shaded, and the plastic supports that peg into the ship. 

The underside of the ship:

Here we can see the two slits that the stand pegs into. Most of the paintwork is a black wash, but it isn’t evenly applied, so there’s lighter and darker areas, which gives the ship more detail. Some silver paint on the back, which provides a bit of a contrast. We can also see the guns that dangle down from the bottom.

Here’s a closer look at one of the guns:

They don’t give an overly detailed vibe, but they do the job. 

Left top:

The detailing is good, but the paint job just leaves it looking a little on the plain side. I love all the etched patterns and the fin on the top. 

Top front:

Windscreens are there, but no detail really. Would’ve been nice if they were in reflective paint, or there was suggestions of detail inside the ship – looking at some pics of the movie, there were lights inside. Also there seems to be a lack of wash or paintwork on the parts either side of the windscreen. I think it’s this and the lack of variety in depths of the etching that leaves it looking plainer than it should. It’s fine for a cheap figure, but I wouldn’t pay a massive premium for it. Also with most of it being the plastic’s colour, it does leave it looking like a plastic model. 

Top-down:

The patterns are what “make” this ship, along with its unusual shape. A credit to the original designers. 

Back:

Yep, that’s a ship’s arse. Line of the fin is good. Looking closely, there’s some stray grey paint on the base… 

If you like this ship design, I’d recommend it if you can get it cheaply. It’s definitely not the worst collectable that came with a movie or game (Max Payne 3 statue anyone?) , but I don’t think it would be winning any awards either. I think it’d make a great base for a custom paint job, but alas, I’m not the one to do that. Well, not at the moment anyway. I’m mildly a sucker for ships, and I liked the look of this one, so decided to get it. I don’t regret it, but do think the paintwork could’ve been better on the ship itself. 

Lara Croft – Union Jack variant – NECA

Last but not least from Forbidden Zone, Lara Croft in a Union Jack shirt:

Upon getting her out of the box, she has a platiciser issue, and her skin is quite sticky. Haven’t washed her yet. Had to buy her because… union jack. 

Close-up of her top:

Her hair they’ve tried to shade but not sure it worked. The texture seems a bit rough on her hair. Her makeup I think is a bit too on the severe side. Far off, the painting on her top looks OK, but close-up, it doesn’t really hold up. The neckline is particularly a mess, but there is some mess in the middle of the flag. The 

The shininess on her face is due to the plasticiser, and some of the uneven colour may be due to it too. If the makeup parts were done in a less severe colour, I think her face would look much nicer, and I wouldn’t have complaints about it. 

Close-up of her shorts:

Most of the painting is pretty neat. Some weathering effects, which is a nice touch. And a nice-looking belly button :). The guns can come out of the holsters – they start off in the blister, or she can hold the pistols. 

Empty holster:

They’re rubbery and hold the pistols quite well. They need a bit of a shove to get in there fully. 

Left:

She looks good from the side. Some weird orange line on her leg – not investigated if this is plasticiser effect, or if it’s painted on there. Unsure if deliberate or not, could be mud… Here I’ve taken the shotgun out of her hand, but here’s why you kind of need a weapon equipped:

Yeah. You can face the back of her hand forward, and that doesn’t look as odd, but the hands are moulded for holding her weapons, so you can’t do too much with them if she hasn’t got a weapon in her hand. Would’ve been nice to have some fists/flat hands so she didn’t look odd when not holding a gun or the sword. 

Right side:

Looking a bit sunburnt on this side, lol. I love this interesting-looking artefact weapon. I should probably really know what it is… 

Close-up of the weapon:

Love the blue dots on it, and the intricate design. 

Back:

Some mottling, which might be the fault of the plasticiser. But it does look like she’s been out adventuring to me :)> Plenty of grenades back here to fend off the beasties. Love her backpack – this has been well sculpted and painted. Hair still looks a little rat-tail though. 

Close-up of the grenades:

… and her backside. Not too much of a backside view, due to the accoutrements on her belt. The grenades look good, and painted neatly. 

And the last of her arsenal:

Pistols look OK, shotgun is painted OK, but the backend I think looks like it has been through a steamroller – I guess to make it thin enough for her to hold. Also not sure it’s actually faithful to any of the games? Grenade launcher looks… eh. That one is going into storage. She can’t hold it well either. And another point about holding her weapons – she seems to like to practice trigger safety, and it seems hard/impossible to get her trigger finger into the trigger guards on her weapons. Kinda like the weapons were a bit of an afterthought. Pistols look good in her holsters, even if they look mediocre out of them. And she has that sword to wield, which is the favoured option for me. 

Overall, I love the look of this figure and did a good job for the most part, just a shame about some of the more major paint flaws. Also she has very little articulation in her arms, which severely limits posing. However, I’m forgiving of this – with older figures, the elbow joints tend to suck massively and show far too much, so this is the better option. Would’ve been nice to have some replaceable hands, and dispense with the kinda crappy looking guns. 

Lilith – Darkstalkers – Capcom Girls Collection

This figure was also an instabuy for me – and even better, this one was on sale! After leaving the shop, at first I though there was damage to the wings, but it turns out I was mixing up the lugs with her claws. Was super-pleased to find out that there’s nothing wrong with her, and she was just reduced for quick sale. 

Here she is, blowing a kiss:

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Pic towards her face:

I like the sassy pose she has – it suits her character. Her outfit isn’t overly detailed, but it does the job. The bats on her leggings are nicely done, but I would’ve liked to see a bit more contrast so they stand out more. They do blend too well into her leggings.

Close-up of her face:

A cute, if simple, face. Hair strand moulding is nice, and the creases on her sleeve. 

Opposite side:

Here we can see she is well-posed, with one leg bent in a suggesive pose. We can also see where i didn’t quite get the pegs all the way in. Didn’t want to end up breaking them, so ended up leaving them as-is for now. Back of her head is largely flat, which doesn’t make it very hairlike. Other part that doesn’t look so good imo is the white edging on her sleeves – the finish and colour leaves it looking plasticy, instead of more like fabric. 

Back:

One well-sculpted butt :). Her spine and back are detailed in the sculpt, which is nice. 

Close-up of the wing:

No shading, but I think they still look good and striking. Due to their shape, natural light adds some natural shading :). I like the way they’re posed so they frame her. The tops of her wings aren’t detailed, but I don’t see too much of them. 

Overall, I like this figure. It is a simpler figure aimed at a lower price point. If you can pick her up for a good price, I’d recommend her. 

Angel Of Death – Hellboy 2 – Mezco

Second loot…. more Hellboy! This time the Angel of Death:

This figure is huge with her wings! Really love the wings for this figure. You can move them up and down, and hinge them back and forth a bit. I love her skin texture, suitably gross, with the hard, bonelike head. She looks the part imo, but picking her up, she feels a bit like a… lump. 

Close-up of her upper half:

Here we can see the nice details in the sculpt and the shading, which has largely been subtly done, and really adds to the figure. I wasn’t leaving the comic book shop without this one 😛 Other than the wings, you can move her arms, as shown here. The joints just rotate, but this is fine for this figure, imo. 

Left side:

Some shading is present in her cloak, and here you can see the hinges in the wings. She has some good detailing in her arms – you can see the spirals etched into her arms, as well as the scaly layering. 

Right side:

Pretty much the same story here. Some grasping hands, which fit with the character. 

Back:

The wings are fully sculpted on the back, as well as shaded, which looks really good. Kinda wish I could display her where you can see all angles, but she needs to go in my large cabinet to fit anywhere XD. And here you can see her not fitting into my “set”. I don’t have the space for too many large figures, so I don’t think I’ll be rushing out for another piece of wood yet… Though I will be reviewing a super-large figure soon™, which may require a new “set”…

I really like this figure, and super-glad I got her. 

Hellboy Mini-Bust – Gentle Giant

This is the first of the purchases I made at the comic book shop that ended up eating half of my budget… Forbidden Zone in Brussels. So the next four blogs will be the purchases I made there :). 

First up is Hellboy:

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Love the paint on this dude. One small mark on his right shoulder, but otherwise is in excellent condition. Love the strong red of his chest, complemented by the shading. But I agree with one review I read for him… he does have a lack of nipples. He could do with more in the nipple region :P. 

Close-up of his face:

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Hair/sideburn paint is a bit sloppy in places. And you can see the mark on his jacket in the corner of this photo. When looking at this picture, I do notice they’ve missed out some copper paint on the fasteners(?) on his jacket. The shading on his face seems kind of unfocused, but it works OK from a distance. I do like his eyes, 

Left:

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Here we have his gun hand. We can see a good amount of shading on his jacket too. The gun looks good and weighty, and looks the part imo. You can see the tendons in this hand, which makes it a good sculpt in my book.

Close-up of the gun:

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Texture looks good on the gun, and seems to have the right details to my untrained eye. 

Right side:

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Love the straps going down the arm of his jacket. The stone texture on his arm is really good, pleased with how that came out.

Closer look at the arm:

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Looking good 🙂 

Back:

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His jacket has some lovely shading in it – love the fact they didn’t go for a super-plain look, and does give the feeling it’s a more “lived in” jacket. Some minor marking here too, but it just kind of adds to the jacket :P. 

Overall, I really like this bust. Think it was worth the money I paid for it :). 

Wasp – Kotobukiya Bishoujo

The day before I went to FACTS, I went to a handful of comic book shops and Japanese merch shops in Belgium.

First purchase was Wasp from Super Dragon Toys, as she was on sale. Had seen her clearance in the UK, but didn’t get her as I wasn’t sure if I liked her. Seeing her in person made me decide I wanted her. So here she is:

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I love the happy expression, and the shiny wings. The gold has also beeen superbly done – gold can often look poor on figures, but here, it’s a good hue and shiny. 

Close-up of her face:

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Love the shiny lipstick and moulded mouth. She’s also got some shading painted into her eyes, which is a nice touch. Her hair is sort of simple, but nicely sculpted. Here we can also see a couple of creases moulded into the neck part of her suit, giving it a lifelike appearance.

Close-up of the base:

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A nice, creative base. No solid-coloured disc here. The splash looks good, with the blue fading out towards the droplets. Also some ripples on the disc part of the base, so it isn’t just flat. The colour complements the figure imo.

Right:

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Here we see the bulk of her outfit – I love the gold piece running down the middle, and the gold on her palms. The suit itself also has a few well-placed creases, to show it is indeed a bodysuit. 

Left:

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Here we can see where the wings peg into her back, and the paints nicely match up. And her shapely backside – she has a pear shape goin’ on here. 

Close-up of the gold on her shoes:

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I don’t think she has much grip on the floor, but the finish is nice and gold colour attractive. 

Back:

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This shot shows off some of the iridescence of the wings. I love that they’ve managed to make the wings iridescent – it shines quite well, and looks great in the sunlight. 

Her hair looks good from the back too. 

Close-up of the wings:

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This is definitely one of the features that attracted me to buying this figure. More figures need iridescent parts! And well-done gold parts! 

Overall, I really like this figure, and kind of wish I bought it sooner XD. Might’ve got it for a bit cheaper, but hey, I have her now!

Elite Praetorian Guard – Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Here’s a bit of a random pickup – a die-cast Elite Praetorian Guard. I haven’t seen The Last Jedi (can’t claim to be much of a Star Wars fan), but I love the design of this character, who looks like this:

The majority of the figure is a solid metal, and his skirt is rubbery, allowing to flex as you move him around. Weapons are also plastic. The particular thing that drew me to this version of the Praetorian Guard was the shininess of the paint, which I think works well with the red. As much as I’m not a fan of the films, I have to give them props for designing some interesting-looking characters. 

The base:

The base has this nice etched pattern. Shame it’s only passable as a base – it only has one peg, so getting him to balance can be tricky, as he’s quite top-heavy, so realistically, you’re not going to do action poses with him. If you want him in a more action pose, you may have to invest in a sturdy claw stand. 

Left side:

Here we can see a pinhole that’s the articulation for his arm, and one of the rubber bands I’ve left on for the weapon in his left hand. With the weapons, I took the one off the right-hand side, then had issues getting the weapon to stay in his hand. They are plastic-y, but not by much, so you could possibly get a better grip out of it. However, doing some research during writing this blog, I’ve found you can make the two swords into one weapon… but he’ll be holding it one-handed. Does stay in his hand better as the one weapon. 

On removing the pictured rubber band, I think it had started to go. I wasn’t planning on leaving it on long term, as they do eventually perish and then are an awful mess to remove sometimes. 

Right side:

So let’s get to those arm seams – yeah, they’re pretty visible. Probably less so on this side. I don’t think it’s too bad placement the seams, but they do remain visible. Here you can see the notch in the weapon, which attaches to a corresponding hole on the other weapon. Having the choice to attach them together is neat… however there’s a lack of articulation, so you can’t really do a two-handed grip, like the weapon should really be held. He has a lack of “flapping” motion in his arms – the joints basically articulate on one axis. 

Back:

They covered up four screws… but not the two on his arms?! I guess it was to avoid fouling of the joint, but damn. Seems an odd choice to do nothing, and not even paint the screws red. Some nice detailing in the mould of his upper body though – some bit son the back of his head, and the lines on the back. 

Honestly I think this figure would have been better as a statically posed figure, with maybe some swappable arms to change his stance to hold the weapon. The articulation gives you some options, but you’re fighting gravity to find stances that work. I think this is the kind of guy you’re going to pose once, then leave him, lest you knock him over and scratch him. The die-cast and the paint gives him a good finish, and makes him into a weighty collectable, but I think the articulation didn’t add as much as it should to a figure, and kind of loses out on that. A claw stand may’ve been nice, or maybe some stand that holds onto his leg, or wedges up between his legs, so you could have him more “action stance” and not have to fight gravity so much. 

I don’t mind him for what he is – I didn’t pay full price, and honestly, I think I can see why other people didn’t either… Once displayed, he looks fine, but there has been compromises in this figure that don’t quite work. 

Liko – Active Raid – Figure-Rise Bust

I saw a video of this model kit, and decided I would like it, to continue on with my interest in all things model kit. I’m not familiar with the series, but loved the colour scheme, and thought she was cute. So here she is:

Not the easiest thing to take a picture of, due to her outstretched arm. And those dot stickers on her collar were in the right place when I built it *goes to fix it*. 

With this kit, the things that attracted me to it was the face, the base and the colour scheme. I love the way they have done injection moulding for her eyes – they’re actually constructed from plastic, rather than being stickers, which gives them a fantastic finish. And no need to worry about getting them crooked! My main issue with the kit was getting the flesh-coloured parts of her body to sit well together – here you can see the bit at the front is still a bit gappy. Other problem was the stickers – some of them didn’t quite seem big enough – main pain-in-the-backside are the ones above her chest – those V-shaped stickers seemed too small for the space they fit in. 

Left:

Here you can see some of the details on her sleeves, which are nice. Here you can see one of her body seams – they’re just kind of butt-ugly. She looks fine from the front, but the seams kinda make other angles a bit “eh”. Her hair flows nicely though,and I like the frill she has on her headband. Maybe I could go for a partial disassemble and sand down those bits of the sprue, but not sure it’s entirely worth it. 

Right side:

Another weird seam here. I do like the way she “projects” out of the base. Another interesting thing about this base is you can attach it to a Bandai stand, along with the mecha that goes with her. Probably won’t get the mecha though. 

Back:

Here we can see her flowing hair, which I think looks good. 

Top back:

A closer look at those unusually-shaped hair buns, which give some personality to the figure. You can also rotate them, to get her micro-pigtails at whatever angle is preferable to you. 

Bottom of the back of the base:

Here we can see how she is hollow and attaches to the stand. Getting the disc into the correct orientation was… fun. There wasn’t much guidance of how it was supposed to go, but some trial and error later, I got it. She attaches firmly to the stand, so not concerned about her dropping off or anything. The way her hair connects to the stand means her head does not articulate though. 

Above:

I love her sleeve. All of the translucent green pieces have silver stickers underneath, which help the green bits “pop”, which adds to the figure. Her arm at the white armband is a bit easy to knock apart though. Did knock her arm off mid-assembly, oops. 

Overall, I like this model kit. It wasn’t too hard to assemble, but I don’t think I would’ve paid a lot for it. If you find this cheap, and like the end result, I could recommend it, but kind of has limited display angles, due to the way the seams are, unless you really want to get some model putty and paint out. 

Kuroyukihime & Arita Haruyuki – Banpresto

I saw these appear on an Urban Mine auction some time ago, but I believe that they went for more than I wanted to pay for them.

Then I was just browsing Mandarake randomly – and found they were in the store! And for the grand sum of ¥100! I quickly put a Mandarake order together for these two, and they arrived some time later. 

So here they are:

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Yay! A cute pair of prize figures. Arita’s avatar form isn’t much to look at, but it has been nicely painted. Kuroyukihime in avatar form though… is nicely detailed and well-painted. Definitely worthy of a B-Prize. Kuroyukihime’s base has her name on, and does have some of a design, but it’s mostly covered up by her dress. I like the way Arita’s base has a curly pink tail on it, and he sits in the middle, but it would’ve been nice to have his name on the base, to match Kuroyukihime’s. 

Left:

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Here we can see Kuroyukihime’s wings, which have been well reproduced in chibi-form. She has two pegs on her feet and this head stand, so she is stable. The dress is a nice texture, but her hair is on the shiny side. We can also see Arita’s cute, curly tail. 

Right:

Nice amount of strands in her hair on this side, helping it not look flat, though the top of the hair is standard for this kind of chibi figure. 

Back:

Here we can see more of the wings, which have been very nicely done. The paint and detailing is good. The dress also looks really nice, with the purple trim and the folded fabric. Not much to see with Arita, not that anything is really expected. His ears are shaped nicely though. 

Super-pleased with this set. I don’t usually go for these small chibi figures, but I really like this pair. Her hair does suffer from prize-figure shininess, but the rest of her is really well done. Glad I picked these up, especially for the cheap price! 

And just before I finish this blog, a quick addition:

I also bought these with this Mandarake order, but they’re not really worthy of their own blog post XD. Been on the fence about ordering them for some time, but decided to go for it. They’re a nice addition to one of my keychain rails. I think they look better than I was expecting, but I don’t think they’ll be a “favourite thing”. Still happy to get Evangelion loot though :D. 

Paréo Paradiso – Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft

This figure I bought shortly after the other one, at FACTS. It is entitle “Paréo Paradiso” which would imply she’s wearing a wraparound dress. I remember seeing the pose she’s based on (was it in one of the cinematics? Or just some out-of-game artwork?) and in that, it definitely looked more like a towel. So not sure if the original model was wrong or this one is “wrong” :P. 

Here she is, in her towel/dress:

As with the other one, there’s some noticeable paint flaws going on. Mine’s got a bit of stray paint on her foot, and a bit of blobbiness in one of her hair strands. With the fabric wrapping around her, it definitely looks more like a dress fabric than a towel, due to the way the creases are moulded. 

Left:

Her face looks OK, not sure she’s entirely pleased to see us looking at her in just a thin piece of fabric… The moulding looks really good from this angle imo, and probably is a better display angle than front on, where you can’t see her face too well. 

Right:

Mostly looks OK from this angle, but the dress is too flat against her right leg, which leaves it looking painted on. Could’ve done with a line of shading or to actually mould it, like it is on the left leg. 

Back:

Admire her shapley backside :P. It would’ve been nice if they added some detail to the dress, as it does look a bit like she’s been papier-mâché’d. With this one, there is a couple of rubbing marks on the back. Not entirely surprising, as she’s probably been kicking around for awhile. The forked hair looks a little odd – may’ve been better to either not fork it, or have the bits “lean” the same way. 

I paid €5 for her, so a cheap figure. Was glad I could find another one of this “set”. 

Lara Croft – Angel of Darkness – Strahov Complex

I bought this figure in a collectables shop, along with the zombie head. This figure originates from France, but I can’t find out a lot of information about this series of figures. 

So in lieu of information, here is a pic:

It’s quite a solid figure, paint job is on the sloppier side, but good enough at a distance. Love the camo on her shorts, and her face came out well imo. The sculpt is decent, but not overly detailed. 

Left side:

The black paint appears like it didn’t want to go where it was intended to go :P. Having the hair as strands is nice. Not sure what’s going on with that back shoe – looks like they wanted to have her feet more level, and tried to use the floor colour to make her soles an even shape. Yeah… didn’t quite work, and looks like she’s wearing one platform shoe… d’oh. 

The text across the bottom is “L’Ange des Ténèbres, Strahov Complex”, which is the name of the game in French, followed by the level she’s in. 

Right side:

Copyright to Core Design, showing these are official figures. And some serious platform shoe going on. The black paint is neater on this side, but mine has a couple of marks. Fortunately this is on the back, so it doesn’t show when displayed. Hair is a little sloppily painted on this side. 

Back:

The back looks fine, some nice details in the sculpt. Most noticeable paint flaw here for me is the strap on her left thigh, followed by the shoe top. 

Overall, this is nice for a cheaper collectable. I paid £8, and that would probably be the max I’d recommend spending on her. If you want a small statue of Lara, I think these are pretty decent, but there will be paint flaws. 

Illusionless Time Dragonbound, Myr

After receiving the previous Myr, I decided I need more Myr. So… more Myr!

The simpleness of the dress with the small details make this a striking figre. She’s supposed to be motioning to her backdrop… but this was in her box at the time of taking pictures. I love her expression and the orange ribbons on her dress. And one feature prize figures frequently don’t have: shading in her hair! 

Close-up of her face:

Some lovely, small details in her bows and lipstick. I like her blue eyes too. Hair lacks the definition a scale would usually have, but the shading makes it look the part. The horns also have eye-catching shapes, as well as being shiny. 

Here she is, more angled on the stand:

I think she is designed to be displayed at roughly this angle. but not so good for photographs to show her details. The lower half of her dress flows well over the empty part of the stand, and definitely looks like it was designed to be seen at this angle. I like the way there are cuts in the side of the dress, so you can see some of her, and her lithe body. It is a pretty outfit. The range of finishes on this figure work really well too. 

Let’s take a closer look at that staff:

Tiny scratch on mine. Mostly looks the part, but close up, you can see how flat it is – not sure it’s really like this in the artwork, so I suspect they flattened it for the sake of quality – making it rounded would be prone to more flaws, as well as being more difficult to manufacture. From a distance, it looks fine. 

Left side:

Here we can see her revealed skin. Some amount of detail has gone into sculpting her hand. Her tail looks good, and the lines painted well on the ribbon that’s on there. Love the amount of detail that’s gone into the ribbon and cloth “boot” she’s wearing on this side.Also you can see her ear poking out from her hair, which is a nice detail.

Right side:

Here, she’s less revealed. You can see the seams in the dress,the upper one is pretty neatly done, the lower one about average. I think she’s saying “that camera? I’m gonna destroy it if you keep pointing it at me…”. Uh, please don’t, I’m nearly through with this review, I swear!

Back:

The ripples on the dress are continued around to the back. Her wings are nicely detailed on the back, and catch the light well. Here you can see where her hair is darker towards the bottom – nice that they continued the shading all the way around. 

Let’s get a closer look at those horns and wings:

Some paint shading in the horns, which is a nice touch. And those wings are looking small but amazing. 

So… what if we don’t want a great big massive stand in her back?

Erm, er well…. Not too attractive! But we can get a better look at her tail like this. I find it interesting they’ve joined the tail far higher up than most creatures have a tail. We can also admire the neat painting they’ve done  on her tail ribbon. It’s kind of a shame they went for a back stand, as she looks really good from this angle too – would’ve been nicer to have a stand that maybe went under her dress or a clear claw stand. Foot pegs may’ve worked, but even if they were clear, she probably wouldn’t look like she was floating, which is the look they were going for. Ah well, can’t have everything.

Also she doesn’t work too well without a stand from the front:

You can lean her so she stands, but she’s looking down. You could get away with doing this, if you displayed her on a high-up shelf, but really she’s designed to be displayed with the stand. 

Really pleased with this figure – Eikoh has done a really good job with it. Would recommend it if you like what you see. 

Zombie Bust

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 :). 

Daenerys Targaryen – Eaglemoss

Two collectables that don’t have much to do with each other, but are both going to be quick entries I think… 

First up, this small Daenerys Targaryen:

Unfortunately she was broken across the feet when she came – you can see the lines across her boots where I’ve reglued her. As to why I didn’t return her: I won her for 99p + postage, so it wasn’t worth the hassle of returning it. It’s not very well painted, and is probably about the level I hope to achieve with a garage kit :P. Thinking of repainting her boots as practice, and cover up the break lines. The die-cast material she’s made out of isn’t very strong, so not sure if she was already broken (image for the auction was poor), or it happened in her journey to me. 

Sometimes Eaglemoss does an OK paint job. Sometimes they… do this. I guess the GoT line is one of the ones that’s going to/has binned hard. 

Here she is from the right:

Admire the… thing she is holding and blue paint in her hair. Base is also a bit naffed. Her This is probably the best angle for the moulding on Daenerys goes. The gold part is supposed to be one item, with a tassel coming off the end, but the tassel isn’t aligned to the base of the item. The tassel moulding looks OK irl. 

Left:

Apologies for the out-of-focus shot. Her face paint is actually pretty good close up, but the quality of her hair really mars it. It looks like they overpainted blue on the hair that’s on her shoulders, and it’s way too fat to look right. And that hand paint is damn awful, as well as a total lack of definition for her fingers on this hand. Part of the hair is the same colour as her cloak – the side of the hair that’s facing us, plus a bit on her back is the same way. I don’t think cloaks come up to meet your hair… 

Back:

Paint overruns everywhere. If you look at the hair dangling down her back, you can see the blue side on the left that I mentioned in the last paragraph. The bottom tip of her coat is also missing dark blue paint. 

This could’ve been a good figure, if more care was paid to the painting. This feels like a figure that shouldn’t have passed QA – there’s some nice bits like the clasps painted in silver in her hair, and the bead on the tassel of the… thing. The face weirdly was done well, considering the rest of it. The blue detailing on her front though, comes off very much like “cheap blind bag figure”, which is a shame. 

I don’t think I’ll pick up any of these GoT figures unless I can see them in person, and can verify the paint job isn’t turd. The LotR figures were marred with the same issues, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this line is similarly affected. 

Tiger – Tiger & Bunny – Figure-Rise 6

And what would Bunny be without Tiger?

This one, the stickers were easier than Bunny’s I felt. Especially as the ridged ones sit in the ridges. Main downside of the stickers on this one is the leg stickers are prone to peeling on the pointy bits. The bits that go over his shins are two pieces, which is why they peel back from the edge, when clipped. Second annoying thing is his hips don’t like to be straight, and he seems to like to stand with a slight wonk at all times. Like Bunny, I find he looks impressive, and articulates well. 

Left:

Love the armour on his lower arms, and the angular armour on his lower leg. And a wonderfully pointy face. 

Right:

The lines add a lot of detail to his legs, but with them being several stickers, it was a bit of a laborious process sticking them all on. Worth it though! Not so worth it: Those white arm stickers. I don’t find they lie particularly well on the moulded plastic. 

Back:

Love the lines on the backs of his legs. The back shoe stickers were a pain though, as they’re a rounded blob that you have to sort of try and smooth them onto. There are some cuts in the sticker to aid with this, but not sure how much they helped. He also has a hidden peg hole, underneath a piece on his spine. I like the way this part blends well into his back, but it does have a protrusion, so it’s easy to remove with just a fingernail. 

Overall, these figures were mostly fun to build. Did make some mistakes along the way, but these weren’t too hard to rectify. Am pleased with the end result, and was worth it. If you want to kill an evening and end up with a nice-looking action figure, these kits may be for you. 

Let’s say goodbye Tiger:

Thanks for reading!

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Tiger & Bunny – Figure-Rise 6

After making the Black Lotus and Silver Crow model kits, I decided I needed more. After hunting around for something from an anime I was familiar with, I came across Tiger & Bunny. There were two versions – I chose the “Style 2″, as these ones looked nicer than the original counterparts. Doing the research for this blog, I think I made the right choice, but these ones were the far more involved to build, owing to the number of stickers they have. 

So, let’s see what the end result looks like:

I think he was worth the effort, and came out really well. The articulation is good too, and you can do a range of poses:

Here he is, running into battle. Or stopping Tiger from doing something stupid. The stickers, once on, work really well and give the figure a decent amount of detail. I love the blue shiny stickers. The downside of doing Barnaby’s stickers was that most of them sit on top of the ridges, meaning they’re hard to get in place. This is due to most of these areas having a coloured border. 

Left side:

Love the clear areas on the armour. His head has a good shape, and his head “fins” look neat. Also love the way the side of the legs turned out, where the colours work well together. 

Right side:

Not too much different from the left. Looks good 🙂

Back:

Love the wings/jets on his back. The detail of the red plastic behind the clear plastic works really well imo. Here you can see where some of the sticker son the back of his thighs didn’t quite sit right on the ridges. Annoying. And one of his butt stickers has since walked off :/. Not sure where that one went, sadly. 

The base of his spine comes out, to reveal a peg hole. I have some bases on order, so I can put Tiger & Bunny in action poses, when I display them. 

Overall, I’m definitely pleased with this figure, despite having to be careful not to nudge the stickers, and the amount of rude words that went into putting them on XD. If you’d like a more involved model kit, I would recommend this. 

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. 

Blue Beetle – DC Icons

Here we have a bit of a random buy – Blue Beetle:

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Am a sucker for winged things and blue. Found him in a discount pile, priced at £5 for the mildly damaged box. What was even better, when I brought him to the checkout, I found out the store was doing a half-price on all damaged & discounted goods…. can’t argue with £2.50!

Here he is with his wings pointed upwards:

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The wings freely rotate, so can be positioned freely, on the axis given. However, they are not hinged so you can’t ‘flap’ the wings backward, but not sure this is entirely necessary for a beetle.

Close-up of his wings (the pegs do shove further in to mostly hide the unpainted section):

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They are attached to a beetle, who clings onto his back. I think this is a pretty neat design,as someone unfamiliar with the character. It also gives him some cool ‘spikes’ either side of his head, by virtue of its antennae.

Back shot:

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I love the shininess of the wings, and the details upon them. The dark blue areas are also metallic paint, which shines nicely. I’d say he isn’t a super-detailed figure, but what’s there is well done. The contrasting textures on his suit are nice, and the grooved lines neat. 

Side shot:

For some reason, I only took a pic of his right side in this configuration, but this will do for demoing what he’s like. The joints are nicely done and largely blend well. I love the way the beetle’s legs hang onto him, and you can see the beetle’s antennae, which make cool ‘spikes’ over his shoulders. The white areas on his legs help break up the large amount of blueness. 

One thing that annoys me slightly is that his forearm seems a little big for his upper arm, and seems to show at any angle. I suppose I could pretend it’s a gauntlet, but it doesn’t look distinct enough for that. 

However, if you don’t like his forearms, he can be ‘armed’: 

He comes with two blasters that you can equip on his forearms, hence the forearm split. These guns are pretty neat, but do look a bit like “lump of plastic” from certain angles imo. There really isn’t much paint detail on these – mostly what you can see here. 

Here he is from the left:

The gun on his left arm has a decent amount of detail and some other paint details. It’s also sculpted to fit properly around his arm, making it the clear candidate for the left arm. 

From the right:

The moulding is nice on the right gun, but it just seems too… solid? Would’ve been nice to see some kind of painting/shading on it. Same with bits of the right gun – maybe the banding on the barrels could’ve been painted a darker blue or something. But hey, I bought him for £2.50 so I’m not that fussed! I’ll likely display him with the left gun and with his right hand. 

Overall, I’m pleased with this figure, definitely think he’s worth the price I paid! Not sure I would’ve paid full price for him personally, but he seems to be a solid figure in the DC Icons range. 

Figure Spotlight – Naked Jehuty

This figure was a birthday present from my husband, though it took the form of pointing him at the direction of the auction and having him buy it. Iirc it was on eBay as Buy-It-Now. When my birthday rolled around, this fella came out:

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Originally I didn’t think he came with a stand, but I had a spare Play Arts Kai one, from a figure that could stand up fine on its own (a rarity with PAK!). Later, I got a second Revoltech figure, and found the stand taped to the back of the plastic. I then went up into the loft to retrieve the box, and indeed Jehuty did have a stand! Though I never switched to it, as the Revoltech stands aren’t very good, and this figure especially would pull it over. 

Here’s his back, with the shiny gold plating:

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Here’s his side, showing his arm and face:

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And a shot of his other side, showing the cable coming from him, and some of the detail on the back of his leg:

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I love the colour scheme on this figure, and I have a thing for this kind of mecha. I did watch ZOE, Dolores, I but this dude doesn’t feature in it. I did enjoy it somewhat, but it isn’t a firm favourite. 

Still love this figure, maybe one day I’ll go hunt a playthrough of the game, so I can watch and learn more about the characters.