Classic Archer – Archer

Here’s a bit of a fun figure… Archer being Classic Archer:

When I found this figure existed, I had to get it. It’s not the fanciest of figures, being on par with a trading figure, but the pose really makes it. 

For the paint, what’s there is painted neatly, but there isn’t any shading. Might’ve been nice to have some shading on his jacket, so it wasn’t so flat and grey. Unfortunately mine has a bit of a scrape on the knee, but I did buy this secondhand, so this may’ve been the previous owner. Being flat-shaded though, it’ll probably be easier to fix if I do. 

Let:

I can hear him glugging down his drink, whilst he’s making Mallory wait… This figure is certainly posed well. I like the fact they’ve sculpted texture on his hair, and the seam is mostly smoothed out on his side. The bottle also has some good decals on it, which look good. 

Right:

I, uh, focused on his leg? Though there isn’t too much more to see here than the other side – seam appears blended, and the paint is neat. Here we can see the bottle is semitransparent, which is a nice touch. 

Back:

Some little nods to fabric creasing at his shoulder and elbow. His shoes have the soles sculpted, which is a nice touch. Fairly plain back here though. 

Overall, I’m pleased with this figure. The paintwork might not be overly complex, but being a cartoon character, this isn’t super-necessary. What’s there is neat, which is more important imo. This figure is really good in the posing and the sculpting, which is what sells this figure. The iconic pose works well, and I think this is a good collectable for an Archer fan. 

Nagisa Kaworu – Chibi Plugsuit – Evangelion

Just a small figure for today, a li’l chibi Kaworu:

Got him in a shop in the UK, who sells a few small anime collectables. I like the light shading in his hair, and the facts he’s in his plugsuit. Not sure if the face entirely fits him, but I’ll mildly let it off for being a chibi. 

Left:

Here we see he has a painted ring shine, which I’m not a massive fan of. I like the sculpt of the hair though, and the plugsuit looks decent from the side.

Right:

Again, more shine, and a li’l tuft of hair at the top for added cuteness. Hair mould lines are mostly blended in, giving the hair a “finished” feel. Plugsuit is also neatly painted on this side, and I like the fact his ears have been sculpted and are poking out of his hair. 

Back:

Looks OK from the back, but the stand does rather hide him. With the stand going most of the way up his hair, it’s pretty distracting, if you want to look at him from the back. Also he has a nasty habit of pinging out of the stand when you move him, which I don’t like. Kinda wish it was lower down somehow, or he had a body stand. With a poke-in-the-back stand you do lose some design, but they do tend to hold figures better than these claw stands. 

Overall, he’s an OK chibi, but I’m not sure how much it really captures Kaworu, though this is based on his Evangelion@School appearance rather than the show. Wish the stand would hold him better than it does, but it is functional if you leave him be. 

Momo Deviluke – To LoveRu Darkness – Bottle Holder

This figure I came across randomly, and decided I’d like to order it, because of its kinda different nature. 

So here she is, Momo holding an invisible bottle:

This figure is very nice for a prize figure – she has shading in her hair, and a few other places. The paint is largely neat, without a bunch of messy lines. I love the cute expression on her face, and her shirt has been rendered well. The tail is also posed well, and I do rather like the way it curls. 

Front:

They’ve painted her chest darker, to show she’s wearing a sheer shirt, and she’s wearing a bra to match her knickers. Or swimsuit bottoms? The green bow helps to break up the pinkness of the figure, which I like. There is a tiny bit of overage on the knickers, but nothing too drastic. 

Left:

The flowers in her hair have been painted well, and the twist of her tail looks good from this angle too. Her feet look nicely detailed, and the pose has some dynamicness to it. 

Right:

Not too much extra to see here, but there’s shading on her leg, which is a rarity for a prize figure. Her toe has also been posed here – I appreciate the asymmetry here. The sleeve goes well around the arm, and looks realistic. 

Back:

Here, the back of her bra is a bit too heavily painted, and looks a bit odd. Fortunately this isn’t an angle I’ll be looking at, so not too much of a major issue for me. Here we can see the twists of the tail, which give it motion. Her knickers are also shaded too here. 

So that she can hold the bottle, her arms are rubbery and can be flexed about, so there’s no worrying about breaking her, if you want her to hug something. She can sort of hug a Nendoroid’s head. and I did have her hugging the Queen of Pain for a time. She’s a fun figure to play with, thanks to her pose, and would make for an interestingly posed piece. She’s made to hold a smaller size of bottle, so your average 500ml bottle doesn’t fit so well imo. 

So I could easily recommend this figure, if it appeals to you. If you want to find her, you may have more luck searching for just “hold figure” on figure websites. 

Karina & Pao-Lin – Tiger & Bunny – Half-age Characters

Now for the second two half-age characters I got out of the blind boxes.

First one today is Karina Lyle, aka Blue Rose:

As she’s young in the anime, she looks very young here. The figure itself is neatly painted, and looks good. 

Left:

Her hair looks decent, bit of stray paint from the skirt. Shoes are well-sculpted and painted.

Right:

The snake is printed well on her towel.Her hair sculpt feels a bit imprecise,but does the job. 

Back:

Hair looks good from the back, and she is posed well. I think it gets her shy nature over well. Her shirt is well-sculpted, though I think the skirt is a little overly flat. 

Overall, I think it’s a decent figure, but nothing special.

Lastly, Pao-Lin Huang:

I like the pose on this one – feels dynamic, and fits the kung-fu stylings of Dragon Kid. Most of her is painted well – special mention to the hair clip – though there is some stray black paint on the stripe that extends down her left leg. I like the sculpting on her suit, and gives it a good “suit” feel. 

Left:

Hair is a bit overly flat here, and some knobbly paint. Her pose works well from this side though.

Right:

Again, the hair feels overly flat, her shoe is painted well, though her pants paint did escape a bit onto her shoe. 

Back:

Hair looks OK from the back – a bit more detail here, so it doesn’t feel so flat. The suit is creased nicely back here, and the black lines are nice and sharp, so she looks good from the back.

Overall, two more nice figures that fit the theme of the sets (two were from one series, the other two from another). Out of these two, Pao-Lin is my favourite. Out of all four, I’d probably pick Kotetsu as my favourite, followed by Pao-Lin. 

Kotetsu & Keith Goodman – Tiger & Bunny – Half Age Characters

In a fit of rarity, I actually bought these in a brick n’ mortar store, for a not-too-unreasonable price. I got four of these figures total, and will be splitting them into two blogs.

This first blog will feature Kotetsu T. Kaburagi and Keith Goodman.

First up,

Kotetsu:

image

Looking cute in his half-age form, I think they did a really good job on this one. The paint is mostly pretty neat, with a couple of stray bits – main one that can be seen here is the collar.

Left:

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Bit of a loose lump on his lower leg here. Paint is neat around the beads and strap he wears on his left wrist, and the buckle on his hat. 

Right:

image

Bit of blobbiness on the waistcoat seam, but again, nothing too bad. Seam on his hat is fairly visible, but not really a dealbreaker. Paint on his sleeve has decided to take over his arm a bit, though. 

Back:

image

Buckle on the back of his waistcoat looks good, and the wrinkles on his clothes look fairly realistic. Hair is also nicely sculpted. 

Overall, I’d say this is a decent trading figure, that succeeds in looking like a young Kotetsu. 

Now for Keith Goodman, aka Sky High:

image

Here he is, definitely with an air of the “cool kid” about him, which I think works well for him. I don’t think the paint works quite as well on him as it does on Kotetsu – it feels a bit shiny in places, and I think his jeans could’ve done with a bit of shading to blend them in a bit more. 

Left:

image

The logo on his jacket is rendered well, and the sculptwork here is nice. Not really sold on the slight shininess of the jacket though. 

Right:

image

I’m liking the dynamicness of his pose, and the detailing on his shoes. 

Back:

image

Slight paint lump on the back of his hair. Would’ve been nice to see some more strands back here in his hair, but overall it looks OK. Nothing to really complain about back here – looks like I’d expect, so that’s good. 

Overall, I think he’s also a decent figure, but I think Kotetsu has the edge in quality over Keith. Still, they’re both solid figures that I could recommend. I think they both succeed in being the half-age counterparts of the characters they represent. 

Joker – DC Comics – Eaglemoss Batman Universe

This is the last of the busts I currently have to review, and it’s The Joker:

image

From the front, this one has a lot more to look at than the other ones, which I think really helps with the overall look and feel. Not a big fan of the paint on his bowtie – the darker lines aren’t blended at all, which makes it looks sloppy close-up. However, the bold colours overall work well together, and this figure does work at a bit of a distance. 

Face:

image

I appreciate them including some pink paint to represent his tongue, and this surprisingly works. His lips are OK, and they can get away with some rough paint here, what with the Joker being a bit slapdash himself. The eyebrows feel a bit severe though, as there is no detailing to them. The hair is really nice in of itself – there is shading present here, which really helps it look like hair. Some bits are missed though, as you can see on the left-hand side of his face. The right is pretty much the same on mine, but with a bit of paint on his ear. 

The gun:

image

The lettering came out well here, but mine has some marks on this side. Also you can see how the gun started off bent – this part is a softer rubbery material, which does mean it won’t break in the box, but you may have to straighten it out. What is more annoying than the black splotches is the super-lazy painting on his hand… really? This passed QA? As it’s black, maybe I’ll actually repaint this… 

Here is how bent the gun was when I got him out of the box:

image

I heated it up with a hairdryer, held it in position, then doused it for awhile in cold water:

image

Ah! Much better! I’m not too bothered about this, as it’s not the first bendy figure I’ve had and it’s pretty easy to fix, but I feel that they may have been able to go stiffer with this or use a metal wire/rod inside of it to hold it straight. Especially if someone’s new to collecting, this is going to be a really disappointing feature, and I don’t think there’s any need to have it this soft. 

Left:

image

I like this pose – there is a dynamic quality to it, and his face looks good in profile. The main messy edge here is the edge of his glove. The paint line between him and the base seems neater on this side than some of the others I have. 

Right:

image

This side of the BANG! banner is a neater than the other side, and looks good. The paint is a lot neater on this side too, with a lot less to complain about. There is a seam that goes down his side, but I don’t think this really disrupts the figure.

Back:

image

Looks like some dints got into the mould – not sure what happened here. The paint itself is smooth though, and the back of his hair is painted well. We don’t have much in the way of fabric movement back here, but it looks passable. We have one detail in the form of a suit seam running down the back, but I’m not sure it really adds anything. Collar moulding I think could’ve gone a bit better. Sleeves look nice though. 

Overall, I think this is a decent entry, and probably works better than the others as a concept – there is more going on here, which means he doesn’t look overly plain, as they decided not to fully shade these. However, there are some pretty sloppy painting mistakes and lack of paint blending that you’d get in a more premium product. I think if you set him off at a bit of a distance, it’s quite a striking piece, so would recommend if you’d like to see him sat on your shelf. Just be prepared to straighten out the gun!

Tumblr & the policy change

This wasn’t the first full text post I was planning on writing… but here we are.

Here’s the tl;dr version:

  • Tumblr’s policy change is not good
  • Tumblr’s bot is *rubbish*
  • I will see how this thing shakes out, but might be moving my blog in the new year

So, for those who are currently under a rock, Tumblr is banning pornographic content. This shouldn’t technically have anything to do with my blog, but it has and probably will continue to do so.

The policy in of itself shouldn’t affect my content, as I’m writing about things that should be classifiable as art in their definition – I’ve done some reading, and it looks like they’re targeting IRL nudity and things bumping uglies. However, the bot they’ve had on the loose has flagged a good portion of my posts.

The bot

Out of 488 blogs, I had 30 flagged – this is about 6%. 20 of those I’d consider safe for work (SFW) and 10 of those I’d consider not safe for work (NSFW). My definition may vary from yours – I’m going largely by more European standards, so bikini figures are fine unless they’re posed sexually. Most ‘lolwat?’ blog that got flagged was this one about gachapon. Yes, that naked rabbit is really harmful to the community! Or was it the origami?

Out of all the flagged blogs, all but one passed review. I have no idea why the last one didn’t pass review – the figure that failed to pass was Melona by MegaHouse. If you’re reading this prior to the 17th, and OK with NSFW, the blog is available here. Was it the absurd genitalia? The slime? No idea. Certainly wasn’t the nudity, as all the other cast-off figures passed review just fine. I have a support ticket filed with Tumblr so I can get to the bottom of why this post was not OK – if I don’t get a reply to it then I’m definitely out – I don’t want to risk randomly losing the odd blog due to poor policy enforcement. I don’t think people will confuse Melona with a real life human, as per their policy… This policy being: “Don’t upload images, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples —this includes content that is so photorealistic that it could be mistaken for featuring real-life humans (nice try, though).“

So in future, I can expect roughly 1-2 blogs a month to get erroneously flagged, with my chance being upped for a NSFW blog.

All of this is very irritating, as I’ll need to pretty much do daily checks to ensure nothing new gets flagged – before I could write a week or two’s content in advance and just leave the queue system to do its thing – I tend to write blogs in blocks, so it isn’t constantly consuming my time.

The community

Big thanks to you guys reading this! And those who have chosen to follow me. I don’t know how much the community will shrink, but if the effect is significant, I may as well move to self-hosting, whereby the content can’t be taken away from me by the platform itself. One of the reasons I stayed here was because I discovered how the tag system works, and it really does help drive traffic to my blog – but if a large amount of the community drifts off, then I may end up blogging to no-one again (I’m kind of a niche within a niche…), and I’ll be concerned for the longevity of the platform. If there are future troubles, I’d like to move before Tumblr’s owners question the longevity or start doing less-desirable things to try and sustain it.

Tumblr itself

In researching why Tumblr may have come to this decision to change their policy, I did discover some things I didn’t like. Certain issues were more prevalent than I thought, and this way of dealing with it feels very heavy-handed. They’ve kinda gone 0-100 in dealing with a very real problem. Part of me wants to distance myself from Tumblr for this reason too.

The future

As well as a potential reduction in the audience, there is no assurance that plastic titties may come under fire eventually – they’ve banned a significant section of the adult content, they may go even further in future to make this a family-friendly site. I don’t really want to split into two blogs – I don’t do NSFW blogs that often, so it really isn’t worth setting up a separate blog for those. I’m more than happy to tag/mark them as NSFW, but Tumblr is taking this away from us too – sensitive mode is going, because everything is family-friendly now. Wat? They’re allowing incidental chest shots and non-IRL nudity, but no way of marking these things so that people who don’t want to see it can’t hide it? I… wat. All of my wat. So now you REALLY can’t look at Tumblr in a work/public situation as there’s no hope for hiding the 18+ content that is still allowed.

Currently I’m writing blogs daily or in small batches (less than 5/time), due to my uncertainty. If I do decide to move the blog, I will blog about it though, and update links on my profiles elsewhere. If anyone knows of a site where my blog would fit in, and is OK with cast-off figures, I’d appreciate the suggestions. Many of the suggestions I’ve seen are for adult-orientated sites (so the bulk of my content wouldn’t fit in) or one that isn’t launched yet (but does look promising).

Harley Quinn – DC Comics – Eaglemoss Batman Universe

So after buying the other two busts, I decided to take advantage of Eaglemoss’s introductory offer for the first three busts in the series. I will only be reviewing two, as I plan to sell the Batman bust. 

First up, we have Harley Quinn:

image

I like the colours and design on this one – it feels less plain than the other two I reviewed, but there is still a fair amount of block colour going on. I love that they’ve included the hammer, as it definitely adds something to the bust. 

Face close-up:

The eye shadow colours fee a bit overdone and severe close up, though the pain seems to be neatly done on the face. Here we can also see the apint isn’t overly neat in certain places – especially her right breast, where there is red showing from underneath the black. 

Left:

Here we get to see mostly hammer. Not sure what the back blobby bits are about, under the lower thin ring. I appreciate the weathering effect though. What I appreciate less is the escaping black paint on the side of her jacket. 

Right:

Here we can see they can do some blending with the paint – her hair doesn’t look too bad. Though the orange doesn’t match the pink that the hair and eyeshadow should be, if you’re choosy about this kind of thing. Her hairband here is also hair-coloured. Again, there’s some marks and missing bits in the paint – red dots on her sleeve, her belt is a bit skin-coloured, and a couple of dots on her hip. 

Not sure if the munch in her hair was a divot that was supposed to line up with the mallet at some point or an air bubble in the mould. Whichever, it is a bit odd. 

Back:

The design on her back in of itself is printed nicely, but not quite straight. I think this would’ve come out better if the design was a bit smaller – it feels like it takes up just a bit too much of the jacket. Again, the painting is a bit hit-and-miss, but I do like the sculpted wrinkles in the jacket. 

Overall, an OK bust, but with Eaglemoss’ varied paint job qualities, you may not want to risk ordering this one from Eaglemoss directly, as I think the paint errors do show up fairly well unless you have her at a distance. 

Poison Ivy – DC Comics – Eaglemoss Batman Universe

This is the second bust I bought in Forbidden Planet, featuring Poison Ivy:

Initially, the design kind of appealed, but… this didn’t grown on me (pun partially intended). The paint is neat on her face, but her hair painting definitely seems to leave something to be desired, and the paint jobs varied on her leafy clothing. This one was OK, but still a bit messy in places. 

Overall, from the front of this figure, she suffers from plainness – her top is nice, but the large amount of flat-coloured skin just makes it feel like there should be.. more. Her hair could have done with some shadows and highlights, and some of the edges tidying so it doesn’t look like her hair is fusing into her skin in places. 

Left:

Here we can see where a bit of the green paint blobbed onto her hair, and some unfinished edges around the hair. Here, you can see a particularly sloppy job of the top painting – all of the edges here feature inaccurate paint. 

Right:

The edges of her top are better painted on this side – passable for a cheaper bust figure. However, there are little dots in her hair that don’t look very good. 

Back:

Definitely not a fan of this angle. There’s some attempts at shading, but the overall look is Cousin Itt waterfall of hair. The overall shape isn’t very pleasing to me, and the moulding is… enthusiastic, but just doesn’t feel like it fits to me. 

Overall, I not too happy with this bust, and question my wisdom in buying it. I bought it was it was Poison Ivy… and kind of because I was buying the other one already. I did try to go for a better painted one – some of the paint jobs were really questionable. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this one. Save your money and go and buy a Kotobukiya figure or something. 

Catwoman – DC Comics – Eaglemoss Batman Universe

I saw this in Forbidden Planet, and decided to pick it up with another bust, which will be tomorrow’s blog. 

So here she is:

I like the shininess of her outfit, and the face is painted neatly. I also like the interesting pose, with her getting ready for shenanigans,. 

Left:

Her fingers are posed a bit oddly – I don’t think that finger spacing is particularly natural. Her chest looks a good size though, and the buckle for her hood loks good. The finish on her hip doesn’t seem to be too well applied though, which doesn’t help distinguish it form her belt. 

Right:

Buckle also looks good from this side, but again, the shininess of her outfit seems to decrease on the way down. Looks like some black paint went a bit stray on the strap of her goggles. Also we have the strange finger posing on this side. Not entirely sure what’s up with that, but does look OK if you don’t focus on it. 

Back:

Some suit seamlines sculpted in the back here, which look good. I like the way they shiny paint goes around her belt, to help the strands of it stand out. Paint looks a little janky around her google strap, but not too bad. 

Overall, I think a decent amount of detail has been put into this bust. I think for the price point, this is a decent bust, and glad I bought it. I got it a bit cheaper than the RRP, which I think was a fair price for it. 

Lala Deviluke & Misc Straps

First up is this mini-figure of Lala:

This figure has her wearing Peke, in his normal dress-form. Her hat was a pain – she now has a small blob of tack under it to keep in in place. It can balance on its own, but has a tendency to roll off eventually. Bad Peke! 

Her face is nice and detailed, and I like her hair. The paint on her dress is OK, but looks a little blobby. 

Sides:

The parts on the sides of her hat look really good, though the purple band isn’t particularly neat. Hair looks fine fromthe sides. 

Back:

Her hair looks good from the back, hat looks plain, not that there’s much detail to go back here. 

Overall, this figure is OK for a trading figure. 

Now for some dangling doodads that I bought around the same time. First up, Migi with some popcorn:

Migi, the bucket and the popcorn are painted nearly, and look good. I love this little strap, and glad I bought it.

This one is Hatchiyack from Dragon Ball Super:

This isn’t a character I’m familiar with, but I loved the design and the bright colours. The painting is neat, and he has a decent amount of detail in the sculpt. 

This is helmet of 

Senkou Kishi Road/Flash Knight:

Again, not a series or character I’m not familiar with, but I loved the metallic purple colouring, plus the gold colour matches well with the purple. Painting looks neat from the front, but a bit iffy on the sides. Overall, an interesting-looking strap. 

Pose Skeletons – Re-Ment

In Japan I bought two diorama sets for these, but they didn’t come with any figures, so I ended up ordering them from AmiAmi. 

This set I haven’t got out of the box yet, but here’s some pics of the box to show what it would look like if I set it up:

Maybe I’ll carve out some space on a shelf for this sometime…

Let’s move onto the next set, with the addition of a skeleton:

Yup, I bought a toilet. I like the accessories it comes with. The mat that comes with this set, without it being an actual toilet mat as I know and love, this could potentially used as a doormat or something. 

Angled view:

…who doesn’t need a brown skeleton pooping on a toilet?

Here is another skeleton I’ve posed, on top of a flying alien queen:

These skeletons are very poseable, living up to their name of “Pose Skeleton”. If you’re a bit rough with them, the joints can pop apart though. 

Here are the other skeletons I bought:

The two in the middle glow in the dark. I thought, from the names given to them, they’d glow in different colours, but they both seem to glow the same shade of green – not sure what the difference is supposed to be between them. 

However, there’s no mixing up this skeleton with any of the others:

Demon skeleton! The wings articulate, which can be partly seen by the hinge on the tip of each wing. There’s also a hinge where the wings attach to his back, so you get a good range of movement with them. He’s also the only one to come with a stand – it works OK, but it doesn’t grip him too hard, so he’s fairly easy to knock over. 

Sides:

As can be seen from these two pics, his tail articulates, which is useful if you want to pose him sitting or leaning against something. The purple accents also make this guy stand out, and I like the way these have been done:

Back:

The detail on the back matches the front, which is nice to see. 

Overall, I’m pretty happy with these figures – the amount of joints mean you can do many poses, and makes them very expressive. Sometimes they’re a bit fragile and joints can become disconnected, but as long as you’re not rough with them, they should be fine. 

Asuka Langely – Evangelion – Parfom

As I bought Rei, I had to go for Asuka too, so here she is, having a good pout:

As with the Rei figure, her hair is very nicely painted, and the face works well. The plugsuit also feels well-designed from the front, to work with the articulation. 

Left:

Here I’m actually hiding the stripes with her hand :P. Again, these can look kind of odd when you articulate her. From the sides, her suit is pretty much the same as Rei’s, only red. 

Right:

Here are the stripes…. not lining up at all. So I’m not likely to pose these figures side-on. Her hair looks nice though, and the hair seam would be more hidden if I gave her fringe a bit of a shove ¬¬. 

One issue I’ve had with this figure is with one of her legs – iirc it is the right one – when I first opened her, it was loose in the box, and feels a bit prone to popping off. Not sure if this is common with Asuka, or a bit of a defect with mine. Should be fine when she’s standing still, but during posing, it’ll probably pop off again. 

Back:

Her hair flows nicely back here, and the shading really adds to it. Paint all looks good back here, though you can’t see much of her.

Doll:

I loved the fact that she came with such an iconic accessory – and the painting is all very nicely done. Only issue is getting her to hold it – there are no pegs or anything, so you need to either balance it or tack it to her hands, if you want her to be holding it, like on the box art. Currently I ended up putting this in storage, but I may choose to tack it to her at some point, so I can have her holding it and not get pissed off when I knock it out of her hands for the nth time. 

Faces and hands:

Same as Rei, she has two other faceplaces and two spare sets of hands. I almost feel as if there should be some kind of “wacky” set of hands that should come with Asuka, but that’s not to be found here. 

Overall, she’s a solid figure. I think what’s there is well-designed and thought out, but some more hands wouldn’t have gone amiss. Again, it’ll come down to what the price tag is – looking at Mandarake, the price tag on these has gone down a bit, and I think I agree with this assessment. 

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Parfom

This was a figure I got some time ago, but never did do the blog for. So… no time like the present!

Front:

First thing that stands out to me is her hair – I love the way this has been sculpted and painted. I like the colour of her eyes – it complements the colour of her hair. The green parts that go over her chest are attached to the other half, so they don’t block the articulation of her upper half. The red dot is also on her lower half, which helps her not look too odd when articulating. 

Face:

Her hair clips are nearly painted, and the shading in her hair is subtle but effective. I think this expression fits Rei very well. The lines on her suit are also neat. 

Left:

The way her hips are make the lines odd on her suit -they’ve extended them onto the hinge part to include it, but this ends up looking odd if you articulate her. Her arms look good though. Due to her chibi proportions, she has very small feet, and wouldn’t balance too well (if at all) without the stand. This stand design works pretty well though.

Right:

I like this splayed hand. Her hair also looks good from the sides, and I think the seam is pretty well-hidden, even though it is right there. As her fringe needs to come off for her faceplate to be changed, there had to be some kind of visible seam. 

Back:

The shading on her hair works well back here, and the paint on backpack looks really good. Here we can see better where they’ve added lines to make her suit work with the hinge style chosen for this figure type. 

Glasses:

She can’t wear these, but you can have her holding them. I think they look pretty decent. 

Alternative hands and faces:

I think the faceplates have been well-chosen to fit Rei, but you don’t get a lot of hand choices. I don’t see this as a big problem, as I don’t think chibi figures are necessarily suited to action poses. Might’ve been nice to have another set, just to round it up to the usual 3 alternative pairs. 

Overall, I’m pleased with this Parfom figure. I think the hip joints are the most problematic part, which will likely be a bit of an issue on most figures in this line imo – I think a decent part of if you’ll like these figures is if you mind the hip ball joints. For me, I prefer this proportions these figures have to “normal” chibis. I think they are a little on the pricey side for what they are, but the paint is above average for an articulated figure imo. So I think if you like the proportions of these figures, and aren’t bothered by the joints/hip design, then I think you won’t be disappointed. If you’re on the fence, I’d probably say give this line a miss. 

Klan Klang – The rest!

OK, last Klan Klang blog for awhile… These are the last few Klan Klang items that I bought in this tranche of buying stuff. Don’t worry, I have more Klan Klang items on order (not figures though), so there will be more Klan Klang in the new year! (Yeah, you guys can’t see the massive backlog I have right now… So. Many. Photos.)

First up, Klan Klang teaches!

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Aww, isn’t that adorable?! The paint on this figure has been well done, and is neatly painted. 

Here she is without the desk obscuring her:

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D’aww. Don’t think she felt like coordinating colours this day… I feel the orange and purple clash a fair bit with the pink. 

Sides:

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Hair seam is average, the spiky parts of her hair look good, and the paint neat. 

Back:

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Hair looks good, but a bit plain in the middle. Also the pink of her hair ties could’ve done with going a bit further up into her hair. Decent enough though. 

Top of the desk:

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Here we have some writing, but I can’t read Japanese. Talked to a friend on Discord, who helped me translate this to “Oi! You are not watching!”… poor Klan Klang, not getting the attention of the class!

Here’s the front of the desk:

I like the fact they’ve included a storage slot here – a fair amount of attention-to-detail has been put into this desk, which is nice. 

I was on the fence about adding this mini-figure to my order, as I didn’t feel it was very “Klan Klang”, but overall I’m glad I did – it’s a very cute figure, and a welcome addition to my collection. 

Next up, we have an acylic standee:

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I love the detailed outfit, and the colours work well. The shading details in her hair are really good too. These acrylic stands are of a decent size, so they don’t get lost in amongst the rest of the rubbish on my desk. 

Here’s the back, even though there isn’t a lot to see:

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And, lastly, a mini-shikishi board:

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Not sure if the colouring is supposed to be like this, or it has gotten faded over time – the colours seem a bit overly red. I like the design, but wish she looked a little happier tbh. I like the more casual nature of depiction, which sets it apart from the other stuff I own. May end up tacking another one onto an order, if I see another at a convenient time, just to see if this one is indeed sun-faded. If this comes up for sale, it’s usually cheap, so would be perfect to be tacked onto an order. 

Hope all the Klan Klang didn’t get too tedious! 

Klan Klang – Keyrings!

So in a few of my orders I snuck in a few Klan Klang keyrings, so let’s see what ones I got…

First up, one of her in a casual outfit:

A cute keyring, decently painted, though I find her outfit a bit indistinct from the front, with all the bits it has. Do love all the tiny details on the back though. 

This keyring also came with a second part:

Queedlun Rea! Or however you want to spell it… Klan Klang’s conveyance. I like the chibi design, which fits with the chibi keyring. No design on the back, so you want to ensure this part always faces forward when on display. 

Second we have micronized Klan Klang:

The painting is a bit rougher on this one, but the design holds up. The back pattern hasn’t got any gold highlights though. Would be nicer if her headband was a bit of a darker shade – looks a bit sat-in-the-sun coloured, but I guess they matched it with her outfit to reduce the amount of paints required. 

Micronized Klan Klang with a strap:

This one was rather cheat-y by Banpresto – it’s the same mould and paint scheme as the previous, only this one has a lobster clasp attached, instead of a chain and a ring. This makes it better for an ita bag, as you then don’t have a long, dangly chain to deal with. The paint seems a bit neater on this one, but it’s probably luck of the draw a bit with these minor prize items. I do really like the design of the strap though – lovely shade of purple, and features a Queedlun Rea silhouette. I think the font choice also works well. 

Now for a macronized Klan Klang:

Again, the lighter shade is used here for her headband and ties. No particular reason to do so either… but hey. It’s probably been all sorts of shades in the show. I like the little smile, but I think the eyes aren’t as good as the other keyrings. The suit is painted well for such a small item, though it doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. Nicely detailed though, and I really wanted Klan Klang in her suit, so definitely happy with this keyring.

What’s better than Klan Klang in her suit?

Klan Klang with some armaments! The eyes seem to work better for this one, despite being pretty much the same as the previous keyring. Paint seems a bit neater, but they’ve seemingly sacrificed line width detail for the closer paint, but I still think it looks good. I like all the little details on the armaments, and thnk they did a good job with these. 

I think the last one is my favourite of these, but none of the others are bad. I’d prefer if the strap one wasn’t a straight-up dupe of another keyring, but having a different attachment does help differentiate it. So now to Klan-Klang up all my stuff!

Klan Klang – Chibi figures – Macross Frontier

Now for two chibi-styled prize figures of Klan Klang. 

First one is Klan Klang in her “Lovely Bomber” outfit:

Here she sports something other than her pink headband, and a prettied-up guitar. I love the vibrant blue of her hair, and her outfit works well, for its small size. 

Sides:

Hair seam isn’t doing any hiding, but the sides of her uniform are neatly painted, and I like the shoulderpads she’s wearing. She also has blue hairbands to match her blue “Lovely Bomber” headband. 

Back:

Plenty of hair back here, and a nod to her usual hairstyle. 

Base:

Ah, Japanese translation, how we love thee. The logo is decently visible too, and her feet don’t obscure it too much, which is a nice touch. Her shoes look nice too. 

Now for a micronized Klan Klang:

Here she is in her micronized outfit. I think the cute face fits, but not totally sold on the skin tone. Her outfit is nice and vibrant, and features all the major features. Paint is a bit over the lines in places, but not excessively bad. Worst bit for me is the pink that doesn’t quite go to her right-hand-side of the headband. 

Sides:

Hair looks good, has some shading and joins up well. She has some stubby ribbon bits, which I think are fair for the smallness of the figure and the chibi style. Her ears are nicely pointed, and look good pointing out of her hair. 

Back:

Her hair flows to the side on this figure, so we can see the back of her uniform… or at least some of it, thanks to the support. The support on this figure actually works well. The hair coming out from behind her headband is overemphasised on here, compared to some of her counterparts. Looks a bit odd like this, but not too offputting. She does seem to have pink glasses-cleaners in her hair though, than the sheer fabric she actually has. 

Base:

Base looks OK, and does the job. Fits Klan Klang, by being a representation of her headband though. 

Overall, I’m happy with both of these figures. Overall, I think the quality of the Lovely Bomber figure is higher, but I prefer the micronized version for her outfit. 

Klan Klang – midi figures – Macross Frontier

Today there shall be not just one figure, but two! You lucky blog reader, you. 

Both these figures are by Bandai – one blind box, one just boxed. 

First up, Klan Klang in a casual uniform:

Quite a cute figure, and I like the translucent blue base. The colours work well with this figure. There’s a small amount of shading, but nothing to write home about – the dark bit on the skirt looks a bit like a grease stain imo, but the hair is nice. 

Face close-up:

Not too much to the face, but looks OK. Here we can see some of the smaller flaws with the paint, but overall, pretty decent. 

Sides:

Her hair is positioned so that it doesn’t foul with the stand, which was nice for assembly. The shaded ends of her hair show up well here, which is one of the things I like about this figure. I also like the little logo on her socks. Her shoes are also nicely detailed and painted neatly. 

Back:

Hair shading looks overly severe here – would’ve been nice to see more blending. Back of her clothes looks good though.

Top of her hair:

Some mould-blobbyness, but not too bad. The hair ties are translucent, which is nice to see. 

Overall, a nice-looking figure, competently painted, but could do with a bit more blending of colours in places.

Next up, half-age Klan Klang:

I accidentally ended up with two of these, so here’s just the one of them. She’s wearing her suit that she wears when she’s macronized in this figure, which is a mildly interesting choice. I like her in her suit though, so fine by me. On both of these figures, the paint is noticeably dodgy in places – here you can definitely see some paint errors on her legs. Again, she’s posed so you can see some of her long hair form the front. They have included some small details, like the SMS logo, but it’d be nicer if the paint job wasn’t quite so sloppy. 

Sides:

Again, some derpy paint, but the sculpting and pose hold up. 

Back:

Her back is fairly obscured, so not much to see here like this. The main details are there though, but we’ll just have to admire the bows on her shoes. She was a tad fiddly to pose initially, but she’s fine once done. The clear stand holds her well, without being too distracting from the figure. Her hair ties are not translucent though :P. 

I think the first one is the clear winner, in terms of overall quality. I like the idea of the half-age figures, but their execution leaves something to be desired. I do like seeing Klan Klang in her suit, but the paint issues let the figure down as a whole. 

Klan Klang – Macronized ver – Banpresto

Now for a large Klan Klang! This one was an Ichiban Kuji prize figure:

And this figure certainly is large, to match her macro size! I love the shiny purple of her uniform, and the much more serious expression, to match her personality in macro mode. I love the bold colours of her uniform, which have been replicated nicely here. She does lack detailed shading though, due to her price status. 

Face:

Her face has been sculpted decently well, though I think her mouth is a little on the big side. We have the SMS logo on her uniform, but it looks a little elongated. Her chest is large like it is in the anime… but looks like they’re defying gravity a bit. Most of the black lines around here are neatly done. 

Left:

Here we can see she has her hand on her hip and is leaning forward slightly, to suit her stance. I like the way her hair curls around her body on this side. There’s a seam in her hair by her shoulders, but it is decently blended imo. 

Right:

Aand that’s some platforms to be using for piloting! Obviously doesn’t bother her, though… I like all the detailed creases in her uniform, and the hair down the side of her face is sculpted well. 

Helmet:

Here we can see some dodgy painting, but not too bad overall. She holds the helmet well, but I seem to recall there was some hairdryer action to get her to hold it in the first place. I’d recommend warming her hand to get it in there, as I think there’s a high chance of accidentally scraping some paint. I do wonder how comfortable a helmet is with all that hair though. 

Back:

Here we see they’ve done plenty of details on the back of her suit too, which really helps complete the design. The hair looks good, and is nicely out of the way so you can appreciate the detail they’ve put into this figure. 

Hair close-up:

Here we can see the sculpting is done well, but her hair ties are not translucent on this figure – not unexpected for a prize figure. I like the way they’ve done the hair underneath her headband though. 

Heels:

I like these little bows on the back of her heels – that little bit of girlishness that stays with her in macronized form. The sculpt isn’t too detailed, but they do the job. 

Overall, I do like this figure. I think it definitely has a prize figure feel irl, but it was very reasonably priced when I bought it (and I was able to kindly ask the store I bought it from to pack it so it fit into SAL small packet, which was awesome). Overall, I’d recommend this as an affordable version of Klan Klang, though shipping might be a bit high if the store doesn’t pack it tightly. Thankfully my local mail service isn’t too brutal with parcels, so her box wasn’t even dented on arrival. 

Klan Klang – Micronized Ver – Alpha x Omega – Macross Frontier

And now for some Klan Klang… as I went out and bought a whole bunch o’ Klan Klang figures & merch…

First up, we have the micronized version of her by Alpha x Omega:

And she’s very cute! Only Alpha x Omega produced any kind of premium scale figure of her, and thankfully this one is a nice one! They also did a macro version of her, but Santa’s told me I’m not seeing that one until Christmas… 

I think the pose works well – it gives off the playful vibe that micronized Klan Klang has. I can imagine she’s running up to one of the other characters and gesturing towards them. 

I like the way they’ve done her outfit – her jacket is overlaid on her dress(?), which gives her outfit some depth. Her boots are also sculpted at the top – they’re not a separate part, but there’s some depth there so it doesn’t look like she’s got painted-on boots. 

The shading in the paint is all very nice, and helps add detail to the figure. The details are also painted cleanly, which is especially important for the gold edging. 

Face:

She has a very cute face, and her mouth is painted well. Here we can see the jacket – the gold paint mostly holds up close-up – if I had to nitpick, the ends of the gold piping on the jacket edge are a bit dodgy. The creases work well, and she also has a small pocket here. Her hairband is done as a separate piece, which helps it feel like a band. They’ve even included some sculpt details in her ear, which is nice to see. 

Outfit:

The pink-blue border holds up well, and I love the contrast between the gold and the blue on the erm… tie bits? I like the way the ribbon she’s wearing curls nicely down and helps emphasise her movement. We can see a bit of a seam close-up here, but it has been blended well, and could potentially be regarded as a seam in her clothing, as would exist in a real dress. 

Left:

I live her playful, stretched out pose. She’s also got an interesting heel design going on there… I love the little pink ribbons on her cuffs. The base holds her well but personally I would’ve preferred for her front foot to actually be on the base, instead of her being “midair”. 

Right:

Here we can see she’s got the “SMS” on her ribbon, as well as the base. Nice attention to detail there. Her hair flows well around her body, and is well-shaded. Contrast is probably a bit too high in the photo… the figure is fine. 

Back:

Here we see she’s got a small gold detail on her back, so they haven’t neglected the back of her outfit. There’s also an intentional seam on the jacket, plus a paint detail on the back of her boots. 

Hair close-up:

Here we can see they’ve done her hair ribbons in translucent plastic. I think they could’ve done with a tad more paint/dye, but they do the job. 

Overall, I’m really pleased with this figure and glad I got it. I think this is a solid figure for Klan Klang in her micro form, which is good… as there aren’t a lot of figures of her. It was nice to be able to get a figure that wasn’t a prize figure for her.