Rem – FREEing S-Style

Pre-order Rem and Ram as a pair, and they look pretty together:

This blog will focus on Rem:

She has an expression that looks like she’s about to eat that ice lolly :D. She looks really nice from the front, though it’s a pain to get her to hold the lolly :/. 

Side:

Her pose looks really good from this angle, and the details in her hair are really nicely done. 

Other side:

She looks fine from this side, bit of wandering white paint on her skirt. Getting her arms in fully was a bit of a pain, which is slightly visible here. 

Back:

Aaand this angle shows the downside of the new middle joint design. Both of these new figures were hard to get their middles to connect correctly, and not leave a gap at the back. Admittedly I won’t be looking at this angle much, but it is annoying. Also if you’re hoping you can display her without her skirt, this is not an option – it is attached to her legs. 

Barring her middle joint, she is nicely sculpted and painted, and looks good. The two downsides are the middle joint not quite going in fully, and the fact her hand isn’t moulded to hold her ice lolly well. I could probably heat and mould her hand to hold it better, which I may do if she drops it. However, it does seem to stay in place, if you get it balanced. 

Mari Makinami Illustrious – Seat of Soul

And to complete the Seat of Soul set, we have Mari. As I bought the second Rei, I thought I might as well get Mari too. So I did:

She is also well-crafted, like the others in this set. 

View from the front:

I love the fact they’ve chosen a different pose from the others, where she has her leg curled up, as it helps give variety to the set. 

Mari’s back:

Not the most exciting view, but her hair is nicely done. Arm seam is a lot more visible here, but being a plugsit, it kind of gets away with it.

Back of the chair:

Yep, still nowt to see here.

Top:

Nicely sculpted and painted. One nice thing of her having a headband is you don’t get the hair seam you get on a lot of figures. She sits nicely in the chair, and doesn’t feel at threat of falling out. 

Glad I got this one to complete the set 🙂

Meta Blog: New backdrop

From this point forward, I will be experimenting with my backdrop, after deciding I’m no longer happy with my scratched-up bit of wood. Surely I can do better! 

Here was my first attempt, with some wrapping paper:

image

This is a cropped photo only – usually I’d do more processing, but this shot shows most of the issues – a couple of the test figures ended up taking on a blue hue, odd things would happen with the lighting, and the shadow of me, thanks to using the window as light. 

So I switched to a blue fabric backdrop that came with an el cheapo “portable photo studio” I bought ages ago: 

image

Yeah, I ended up with ironing board marks on it… oops. It was very creased though, as it was stored folded in its original packet, so not ironing it wasn’t an option. Pattern is kind of pretty though… 

The “blue” issue affected a couple of figures, but far less when it did. So I’ll probably try to get hold of a more neutral coloured piece of fabric at some point. Even though this one does match with my table mats :P. Don’t really want to go with black fabric, as this won’t look so good if I’m doing a dark-coloured figure. May prepare the black backdrop as an option, though. Could go with the white one, but I’d like something that isn’t overly plain. 

So starting today, be prepared to see new backdrops now and then :). And the occasional reappearance of the plain wood backdrop, as pre-prepared posts pop out 🙂

Rei Ayanami – Seat of Soul Vol. 1

With this figure, I’ve been going back and forth about buying it. Prior to owning any of the Seat of Soul figures, I was happy to own either, and the best price I found was on the Vol 2 one, so I got that. At one point I saw it on Mandarake, but dithered too long and it sold. Then someone wanted to sell some figures, but the price they were asking was higher than what I wanted to pay, but then I checked Mandarake again… and there it was. Didn’t want to miss it again, so grabbed it. 

So here she is:

image

These figures are nicely sculpted and painted for prize figures. Seeing her in person, I do like her pose more than in the pictures. 

Side of the plug chair:

image

She’s not quite looking in this direction. 

Front of the chair:

image

She just fits around the bottom middle part. This part comes unattached, so you can place her in there in the seat, which makes it easier to get her in ther. 

Other side of the chair:

image

I love the fact they’ve posed one of her hands leaning on the side. It’s a nice attention to detail, instead of having her hand curled up or something. Her hair is more sculpted than other prize figures of Rei, which is nice. 

Back of the chair:

image

Yep. Nothin’ to see here. Move along. 

Erm, OK, safer territory, her face:

image

She has a Rei-expression. The face I find a bit nicer than the average face you get on prize figures, and her hair is very nicely done. The paint is also really good – little in the way of slop. 

Overall, I’m glad to get this figure, and I have now since purchased the second in this set – Mari. I will display Rei & Mari together, near to where the other Seat of Soul figures are displayed. 

Kiryuin Satsuki

And now for the promised Satsuki! 

This figure isn’t quite as impressive as the Ryuko one, but it is still a nice figure. The pose is very ‘Satsuki”. From the front, she has a lot less “shiny leg” problem, as she wears tall boots, though these are painted on which does make them look flat at the top. The sword sits nicely in her hands. Unlike Ryuko, the stand for the sword is fixed, but this is understandable, given her pose. 

Her left:

The sword is slightly bent – I may heat-fix this at some point, but it doesn’t show from the front. The shiny paint on this figure does help it stand out, and it is nicely done. Her hair is also nicely dynamic.

Right side:

Similar to the left, but less to see. The mould mark down her middle is more obvious in this photo than the left-hand photo. 

Back:

Hair blowin’ in the wind. Simple, but effective. The gold parts are painted well here. Some detailing on her shoes, which is nice. 

Overall a nice figure, but with the white, it can look a little overly plain and a bit plasticky. I don’t think I would have bought this figure separately, but with Ryuko, they do make a nice pair. 

Matoi Ryuko (SEGA)

Came across someone selling Ryuko and Satsuki on Facebook. 

Today’s blog is about Ryuko:

image

Been wanting these prize figures for some time, but they rarely come up for sale, or at least at a reasonable price. These ones weren’t in perfect condition, but at least they didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Not gonna pay scale prices for prize figures! 

From the front, she looks good, but her hand can obscure her face a bit from certain angles, and her legs can look overly plain if she’s under strong lighting. 

Here is a close-up of her face:

image

Love her expression. This is also one of the few figures with Ryuko wearing Senketsu in his non powered-up form. I love the pose chosen – of her about to activate Senketsu. 

Ryuko’s left:

image

Not much to say about this angle – hair’s nicely sculpted, and a nice detail on the skirt. 

Ryuko’s right:

image

Pretty obvious seam in the hair on this side. Also an angle that shows off the lack of shading and shininess on the legs can make them look a bit odd. Boots are also an interesting shape. 

Back:

image

Back angle looks good, barring the aforementioned legs. A bit of pantsu present… The movement in the cloth is nicely done, and her hair looks good.

The scissor blade:

image

This is actually a standalone piece, with a stand to keep it on. The red paint has been done really nicely, and the glossiness really works for the blade.

The back:

image

Here you can see where the scissor blade fastens in place. I like the design of this stand – it takes advantage of the design of the scissor blade, so there’s no extra mould parts on the blade. This means you could choose to display it in some other manner, and it would work. She can’t hold it though. 

All in all, I like this figure. I wouldn’t pay the premium prices some people seem to for her, but she is solid for a prize figure. 

Ryuna – Shining Tears

So, with some space still left in my box… I went for the totally random. I looked at the pics of this figure on Mandarake, checked them out on MFC, and decided to go for it, despite zero familiarity with the source material. 

Here she is out of the box:

She does come with a round, wooden-style base, but it was on the large side, and I wasn’t particularly fond of it, so I left it in the box. Which was not easy to do, when the box was falling apart, due to a lack of glue! 

One downside of this figure became apparent immediately after taking it out of the box – it is prone to paint transfer. There was a white line on her skirt, and the burgundy paint had transferred to parts of her skin. So she had to spend some quality time with an eraser, but it all cleaned up well. 

Here is her left side, partially showing her face:

One thing I saw someone comment on was her eyes – which you can sort of see here. They’re much more detailed than your average anime-styled figure, which gives her an interesting look. The cloth round her arm is sculpted nicely, and flows well. 

Here’s a close-up of her face:

Her eyes are very much doll-like, and I quite like the look. I think with some more work on her skin, it’d be a neat effect, but I don’t think they quite got the finish right, so she’s ended up slightly too shiny. Maybe a bit more shading would be needed too. 

Her other side:

From this angle, her hair doesn’t look very detailed, but it is in places. Her skirt flows well over her foot. 

Her back:

I think she looks really nice from this angle, as well as the front. The “metal” disc dangling down is a separate part, but is not designed to be movable. It’s made out of plastic, so you can wiggle it a bit, but not reposition it. It lies nicely on her skirt, so there’s no real need to. 


Here she is from the bottom:

Always amuses me, looking at sitting/lying figures from underneath. She gives a very flattened appearance XD. Though to her credit, they did actually mould some wrinkles on teh bottom of the parts that would be lying flat, so she’d look the part if she was on a transparent shelf. 

Her skirt is removable, and it looked less silly than I thought it would:

If you like her like this, I think it’d be a viable display option. Not my choice though. But in doing this I can show the paint transfer problem, from a bit I didn’t clean up:

The skirt paint has a habit of getting on anything it touches, so if you get this figure, you may need to spend some time cleaning her up. This might be one of the reasons she’s really cheap to get hold of. The other is she’s not particularly epic as far as figures go, but I think she’s a fairly solid figure.


And also good at guarding Percy the Parcel Box’s brain:

This is the Raspberry Pi that controls the maglock on the parcel box, plus makes the calls from the door intercom. 

Kotetsu T Kaburagi – Bunny Party Edition

So with only one thing in the “box” for Mandarake, I couldn’t simply just order that. So I went for a wander around the Mandarake mail-order site. 

First thing I found was a Tiger figure I simply had to buy:

This is Wild Tiger heading to the surprise party he arranged for Bunny. With his bunny present. We know it’s Wild Tiger, as he’s in his mask. Nope, definitely not Kotetsu. 

Here he is from the site, showing his bunny present:

D’aww, that thing’s so cute. His other side:

His watch and bracelet look nice. Nice detailing on his shoes too. 

Back:

Some nice shading going on in his waistcoat, plus the buckle is well-painted. Trousers look a bit overly shiny in this shot. 

Close-up of the base:

Just in case you forget who you’re looking at!

He also comes with an arm which you can swap with his bunny-carrying arm. Not sure why you’d want to use that – half the fun of this figure is the bunny present he comes with! This is a nice, inexpensive figure, which is more interesting than your basic Kotetsu. 

McFarlane Assassin One – Red version

Can’t stay away from the Mandarake Urban Mines. This was one of two figures I was bidding on, but the other went for more than I wanted to pay, so stuck with this one:

He is called Assassin One, and is part of the Wetworks series of figures by McFarlane. The “default” colour of this figure is blue, then this is the red variant. From looking at the pictures, I actually prefer the red variant. 

The sculpt on this dude is nice, and here’s transparent sculpting working :). The silver spray on his weapons is a nice touch. 

Here he is holding his crossbow aloft:

And me trying to make him hold his scythe thing:

Not sure why they chose to make a hole in the scythe, instead of a peg, like the crossbow. He has holes in both hands, so he can hold the crossbow. 

Here he is from the side, with his crossbow loaded:

You can pull back on the end of the projectile, and it will fire across the room. 

Here’s some of his left side, focused on his arm armour:

The black parts are nicely detailed in the moulding too. 

And his back:

Looks OK from this angle, does look like he’s got a fire in his belly! Not much to speak about in the trunk department. 

He’s a striking figure, well-moulded, and his colours (what he has of them!) work well. He’s also decently poseable, which is good for an action figure ;). Certainly think I got my money’s worth from him, seeing as I paid about as much for him as a trading figure :). 

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:

image

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:

image
image
image

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: 

image

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:

image

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:

image
image
image

And a view showing not much at all:

image

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!

Rick Sanchez

So this is the Rick I ordered way back when…. So was the wait worth it? No. No it was not. So let’s see what I got:

After clearing off the ridiculous amount of warehouse dirt, here he is. A bit less crap than the Morty figure, but still definitely not in award-winning territory. These figures do feel a lot more like kid’s toys, but I suspect they’d be too fragile, and not priced as such. First thing: paint issues. The unibrow goes onto his face, and his lab coat didn’t know when to stop around his wrist. The paint on the belt buckle is also too thin. You can also  see a bit of a scratch on his left eyeball, oth the outer side – thought this was more warehouse dirt, but appears not. He comes with a portal gun and a flask (not shown), and these accessories aren’t actually too bad. 

¾ shot:

Mmm, dat eye scratch.

Back:

His hair is actually pretty good from the back, and I love the bald spot. The portal gun… has the basic parts. Most simplifications of the portal gun have the recessed square painted red, and that would have been nice here. Another plus side is his feet don’t fall off… Yeah, it has that over the Morty figure. 

Honestly, I won’t be surprised to see these in B&M for £3-5 some months into the future. They’re pretty bad, so unless Funko can stop farting these out at the right point, where all the die-hard fans all have them, I can see them going unwanted. Especially for £12 (I paid a bit less than this, but RRP is around that). 

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!

Satan

It’s finally complete! This is the third of three figures in this set. I bought this from Suruga-ya, and had it shipped via Big In Japan. The process went smoothly, though I did have to wait for BiJ to reopen after New Year’s. As I heard that Suru has a tendency to use oversized packaging, I paid for the repacking service anyway, even prior to adding a second package to the “ticket”. Glad I did:

120 size means the box edges add up to 120cm. When BiJ repacked my order, it fit into SAL small packet, which means the box dimensions added up to less than 90cm (it was ~87cm iirc). Glad I paid for the repacking! 

So here’s Satan from the Bandai EX-F Devilman series:

This figure I found a lot less fiddly to assemble than the others – largely because there’s less parts. The clip that holds his wings to the rock was a bit fiddly to get in. It would be possible to not use the clip, but he’d probably eventually lean. Unlike the other two, I don’t think I’d display him on his own. Especially with the stone appearance, he’s a lot more bland than the others too, though the sculpt is nice. 

Facing Satan’s front:

He’s much more to look at from this angle – kind of a shame they didn’t find a way to make him face more forwards, so he’d show more from the front. The sculpting definitely shows form this angle. 

Here he is from the side:

Pointin’ at you! Looking very stern. 

His back:

The wings look nice from this angle. Does look like he’s in mid-movement. Painting of the rock is nice, but there’s a pretty visible seam there. Though you’re probably  not going to look at this angle much. So how does the set look?

Like this:

These figures go well together as a set (as they should do!). Sirene could be displayed on her own quite happily, but the front two need at least each other to look right. It’s a very nice set, and I’m looking forward to having somewhere to display them soon :). They’re nice on the dining room table, but I don’t think they want to “live” there!

Super Sonico – FREEing S-Style

This is the last 1/12 feature for a little while, as I have other figures to show! 

So… here she is:

This is the only Sonico figure I own, which is mildly unusual considering the size of my figure collection. She is a nice Sonico imo – an interesting choice of pose, and she’s nicely sculpted and painted.

Here is her right side:

I like the fact she has something to hold, but the ice-cream is a bit too easy to knock out of her hand. Would be nicer if she gripped it a bit more, or it was a bit of a higher angle so it was more gravity-assisted. The headphones are nicely detailed. 

Here she is from the back:

Her hair flows nicely, and I like the gradient in it. 

And the angle I’m sure some are here to see:

She seems pretty well featured in this regard. Out of Sonico figures, there are better candidates, but I think it works well enough for this figure. 

I like this figure – for me, she comes somewhere in the middle for the FREEing 1/12 figures I currently own. She’s not my favourite, but she’s not my least favourite either. I think she will look great with the rest though. 

Shimamura Uzuki – FREEing S-Style

This is the last of the three Idolm@aster figures that were released together in the S-Style series. I planned to get this one anyway, as her pose was rather different from the rest of the S-Style figures.

So here she is:

I love her smiling face, and the blue of her swimsuit is a very nice colour. Kinda wish the base matched her swimsuit more, or they matched the stands for the Idom@ster figures. Due to her pose, she’s very tiny though. 

Left side:

Her hair is nice and detailed, but evidence of seams, which is a bit of a shame. 

Right side:

This side looks much nicer, and showcases her hair better. Some nice shading on the swimsuit, plus some wrinkle lines on the suit. 

Back:

Her hair in detail! Probably a little on the shiny side, but her backside has been sculpted well. 

Top:

This shows the main issue of the hair: the sudden change between the hair on the top of her head, to the hair lower down. Her back looks nice though.

Underneath shot:

She doesn’t have any pegs to hold her to the base, so you can sit her wherever :). 

Chest writing:

The writing on her to translates to Uzuki (her name). 

Overall, I like this figure, though she does feel very small, due to her pose. She’s painted nicely, but imo, it would’ve been nicer if they made her slightly bigger, though she is a scale. 

Nitta Minami – FREEing S-Style

After getting Anastasia, I decided to get the rest of the “set”. This one was the one I was most on the fence about, but she was the cheapest of the bunch. So let’s see what we got:

She looks cute, I love the swimsuit, but she looks a little “flat faced”. Imo, she looks better than the promo shots, though.

Left side:

Even with a “simple” pose, they’ve managed to add some dynamicness to it. The fold in her hair is a nice touch. The hair is more shaded than the promo shots, which helps with her overall look. 

Right side:

Not too much different than the left, though her hair appears to sit more naturally this side.

Back:

Some nice shading work on this side, with her hands clasped behind. 

She is probably one of the plainer S-Style figures, but imo she matches up to the quality of the others. 

Rin Kagamine – FREEing S-Style

Another Vocaloid – Rin Kagamine. Ever since getting Len, I’ve planned on getting her. Was checking up on Mandarake recently, and saw she was available, so nabbed her quick. 

She has a super-cute pose, and is the perfect companion for Len. Didn’t take any pics of them together during this photoshoot, but I do plan to do some group photoshoots, once I have more of the S-Style figures.

Here she is from her left:

Her headphones/headband are very nicely done. 

Right side:

One cute, waving hand, plus you can see the shading in the tips of her hair. 

Her back:

Her back is sculpted nicely, along with the bow on her back. 

Overall, she’s a very nice, cute figure, but I have had one issue with her:

Her middle is a bit curmudgeonly, and is a pain to fully get rid of the gap between her midriff and her skirt. I did imagine to improve matters for these photos, but she does seem a bit prone to not going together 100%. However, the skirt is removable, if you want to display her just in her pants.

Hatsune Miku – FREEing S-Style

I have decided to try and collect most of the FREEing S-Style figures, so long as I can get them for a reasonable price. Four of them have recently entered my collection, from various sources, with more on the way.

This one I got from Solaris Japan, using a discount code, to make it a price I was willing to pay. 

I saw a bootleg of this one online recently, and yeah, the real thing is far nicer! I wouldn’t say it is free from paint flaws, but you have to look close to notice them. Love the large, flowing hair, and the dynamic pose. 

Her left:

You can see her headphones here, which are nicely painted. Her hair flows nicely, and you can appreciate the sculpting on her body.

Right side:

She has a light bit on the outermost bit of hair – not sure how I feel about it. It does stop the hair from being one solid mass of green, but I think it is a little too light. 

Her back:

Lovely shading on her back, which helps her look real. Her backside is nicely sculpted, and no, I didn’t take a pantsu shot, so this is what you’re gonna get today. 

Still loving these small figures, and I think they’ve done an excellent job for Miku, which is probably why she’s harder to find and more expensive if you do. 

Die-cast Black Widow & Schleich Cyborg

Found the large Black Widow die-cast figure at TK Maxx for only £3, so decided to pick her up:

Still being impressed with these Jada Toys Metals figures. There isn’t any shading, and her face could almost do with some, but the paint is accurately placed, and she has a nice finish. 

Here is her left side:

Bit of a blob here, and an unfortunate seam. 

Right side:

The seam is better done on this side, but still visible. 

Back:

Revenge of the CE logo! Screw on her back is a bit of a disappointment. 

Overall, I’m happy with this figure. I don’t think I’d pay the full RRP for it, but was a steal at £3. 

Now for Cyborg:

This is a plastic figure by Schliech that I got from Home Bargains for £2. This was the only one they had, and fortunately it doesn’t appear to have the “last figure in the shop” look. Schliech figures can have very variable paintjobs, though this one is probably largely assisted by being mostly grey. 

His left side:

Not super-detailed, but enough details to be distinctly Cyborg. Blaster seems to have the major details, and it also has this one:

Nice to have the red lens there. Though you can also see the messy paintjob on his head. Had to be at least one paint mess 😛

His back:

Again, enough detail to be distinctly Cyborgh, but not overly detailed. The use of shades of grey paint is nice, and helps it stand out. 

I wouldn’t have paid a lot for this figure, but it’s nice to have a little Cyborg to add to my collection :).