Tag: bandai

Rei Ayanami – Poolside Ver – Evangelion

This figure was part of a Suruga-ya order. Unfortunately, this one had an unpictured extra – cigarette smell :/. So this figure got a couple of baths too… 

Here she is, assembled with the pool piece:

I like the pose for this figure, which is why I chose it. Figure quality isn’t great as she’s a small gachapon figure. Main thing that bothers me is the kinda strange paint job on her hair – not sure what’s going on with the shading there. 

She also has a leg piece:

.. so you can do this if you really want to. Could look cool on a shelf ledge like this, or some kind of custom display.

However, it’s more so you can do this:

If you’d prefer to display her without the poolside, this piece allows her to look complete. Though her pose is a bit odd without the poolside. 

Some other angles without the pool:

“Don’t look at me”:

Back:

Here you can see where her parts need to be shoved together a bit more.. Her foot is nicely sculpted, and we do have some wrinkling in her bikini bottoms.

Front:

Not too much to see here. However, you can see the paint job that looks like some ink was spilled on her head… Probably needed to use a lighter blue here. 

Other side:

Not too much to see on this side. Hair is nicely sculpted, pool handle looks good.

View from below:

She has some nice sculpting on her body, giving her good body definition. 

Overall, she’s decent for a gacha figure, and would recommend as a “bonus” item to an order. Hopefully if you get one though, it won’t come with bonus smoke smell like mine :

Battle Break – Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of the Battle Break figures. Let’s see what the last few boxes bring us!

Here we have a Sphinx, Spin-X (スフィン-X):

Robo-sphinx! I love the design of this one, and he’s nicely painted. Looks like some of the green may’ve smudged a bit onto the middle of his wing by mistake. The colours work well together, and fit the Egyptian theme. 

Front:

Here his front is dominated by a large cannon. I like the ornate design on the end of it.

Back:

The bottom of his back looks a bit odd, with the way his legs are attached to it, giving to a strange, bulbous look. Back of his head looks OK. 

Ranch Lizard (牧場トカゲ):

A big one and a little one, aww. The overall design is reminiscent of a triceratops. The sculpting is decent, and the colour scheme works. 

Back:

More of the same. Paint looks OK for teh most part, but could do with a bit more dark paint on the brown part of the tail. 

Head:

Yup, don’t want to have this guy headbutt me. Thinking that’d hurt with that chitinous protrusion. 

So, if you’re a rancher, this is apparently the lizard for you!

Adams! (アダムス):

And now for something completely different… an alien beaming down! Loving the classic alien design. The colours work well together, and the sculpt is decent. This is probably one of my favourites. 

Side:

Here we can see the beam is translucent, and can just about see the alien through it. 

Back:

If you just want an alien craft beaming something down, this is the view for you. I think this figure has been well-sculpted and painted. 

And lastly, Waterline (ウォータリアン):

Here we have a water-based dude, with water protruding from his head. I like the colour scheme on this one too, and the purple parts seem to have been painted neatly on this one. The water on this one is a lot more effective than the foam stuff on the Horse Whale, and wish they went for more of this look on the Horse Whale figure. 

Side:

I like the design of his armour, and his watery hairstyle. The wave and foam have also been painted well, and it does look like a cresting wave. 

Back:

Yup, looks like a wave back here! Not too much to see, but the sculpt and paint are nice. Overall, I really like this one, but he is a bit hard to display so you can see him well due to the wave surrounding him.

With this set overall, I’m pleased with what I got. Some of the figures aren’t that great, but I think there is enough inventive designs here that they work as display pieces as well as game counters. Could also see these being re-purposed for another board game, if these characters fit the theme. 

Battle Break – Part 3

Three more figures from the Battle Break set. 

Starting with Horse Whale (ホシクジラ):

Yep. You read that right. Apparently this is a horse whale… Does look like a whale from this angle… but I’m not getting horse. There’s some foam added to the figure, but it looks more like clouds or ice formations. 

Left:

From the sides, it definitely looks more like a squid-whale than a horse-whale, with the squidlike appendages on its back. The foam has some pretty weird dark blobs on it, where it looks like the paint was incorrectly applied, which I don’t like. The creature itself has a nice design though.

Right:

I think the foam looks better on this side, but is still kind of ropy, and I’d prefer if it was waves instead of seafoam. The slots on the upper part of his head make it look like it might’ve been crossed with a submarine, and the regular spacing of the elements give it a machinelike feel to me. 

Back:

I like the patterns on the finlike protrusions on its back. Foam still looking kind of “eh” to me. I think the solidity of it is what ruins it mostly – if they used transparent plastic here, I think they could’ve achieved a better effect that wasn’t so solid. For a cheap figure it does the job, though. 

Overall, I like this one, and do like the creature’s design, but not so fond of the added parts.

Crow Teng (クロウ・テング):

Here we have a not-so-black crow. Which made me thing “eagle” prior to translating the name. Here we have an interesting battle pose, and a wandlike weapon, which makes me think this dude is a caster. Whichever, he’s a mean looking-dude. 

Right:

I like the sculpted texture on his body, but I think they’ve been a bit miserly with the light blue paint here, and it doesn’t highlight some of the key features, which makes look a little odd overall. I think the part on his leg could’ve been directly painted, instead of giving him a wash, and it would’ve improved the overall appearance. He does have a red beady eye, which is a nice focal feature.

Back:

Looks like he’s had a run-in with a tin of paint. Here the wash is VERY sloppy, and I kind of wish they didn’t bother. Makes it look like a statue in disrepair instead of acting as highlights. 

From the front, this a nice looking piece. From the other angles… not so much. 

Killer Panda (キラー・パンダ):

Vicious and cute. The colour scheme isn’t really befitting of a panda, but I do like the paint apps. The fading has been done well on his body, and most of the painted highlights are done neatly. They’ve even given him some grass to sit in. 

Left:

Paint between his parts didn’t get blended… oops. Looks a bit derpy from the side. We also have some paint chips, which aren’t great. 

Back:

His palms have been painted to match his feet, which works well. Faiding is done well on the back, so he looks good from this angle too. Just a shame about the paint chips on the left.

Overall, he’s not a very inventive character, but he is well-executed, apart from some paint issues on the sides. 

Battle Break – Part 2

More Battle Break figures! 

First one for today is One of Nine (ワン・オブ・ナイン):

A little ninja dude! I do like the purple-green colour scheme, and he also comes with a small piece of scenery. The painting looks OK from the front, but you can see some parts where they are a bit rough. 

Top-side:

Here, I think the grey parts of his helmet are likely intentional, but there seems to be a scuff on his shoulder, and uneven application on the outstretched arm. Arm blade looks decent though. His helmet has a suitably techno-looking plume on his helmet.

Left:

I do like the way they’ve got him running and leaning forward. Does make for an interesting pose. Here’s some more uneven paint though. 

Back:

His back is dominated by this ludicrously large ninja star… Not sure what he intends to do with it, but it does look cool! The sculpting and painting is nice on this part though. 

Bazooka infantry (バズーカ歩兵):

Fairly straightforward… a dude with a bazooka! Looks almost like some kind of golem, with him painted in green. 

Sides:

The sculpting job is nice, and the paint job is decent. 

Back:

The design of his suit does also give weight to him being a golem/stone warrior – the screwlike part makes me think more golem than human. 

Imo, he’s an OK figure, but not very interesting compared to the others in this set.

Aiai (アイアイ):

I love this cute dude… and certainly lives up to his name, with all the eyes… wondering if it should be translated as eye-eye. Whatever, he certainly has an eye on you! The colours work well together, and the painting is mostly decent, though there is a bit of wandering paint on its hair, in the middle.

Back:

No sneaking up on this dude! Big bit of stray paint on his lower left ear. Colour scheme feels well-balanced from the back too, and he is nicely textured in the sculpt.

Rather like this little dude. Don’t think he’s my favourite, but definitely like him more than some of the others. 

Battle Break – Part 1

and Another thing I added to an order on a whim – it worked out as £10.63 for 15 mini-figures

(would’ve been slightly less if the retailer didn’t screw with my order…), which is pretty cheap. These figures are supposed to be for a board game called “Battle Break” but isn’t something I’m going to play. 

Looking at the sides of the box, there were 17 possible figures, and I got 13 of them, which is a good innings for random-boxed items. 

First up, Lion King (獅子王):

This is the guy on the front of the boxes, and he does indeed look spiffy, though  he does lack lower legs and feet. I love the hair and mane parts, and I think the colour scheme works well.

Side views:

Ah, silly-sized weapons… gotta love ‘em. I think the design is pretty inventive, and I like the claw theme, which fits with he character. Here we get a good look at his hair, and I like the way it is sculpted. The eye adds a nice contrast to the rest of the figure. 

Back:

I do like the texture on his cape – has a rustic feel to it. Almost like a thatched roof type-thing. 

Overall, I think this miniature is nicely sculpted and painted. 

Leviathan (リヴァイアサン):

Here we have a green semitransparent dragon-y dude. I like the water effect included with this figure. What I like less is the super-obvious seam lines that don’t fit well. Not entirely convinced with the angles of his wings and head from this view. With him having a line of spikes on his stomach as well as his back, it makes it hard to notice we’re looking at the underside of his body here, which makes him look abnormally twisted until you look closer imo. 

Sides:

I really like the head of this figure – the shape and colours both look nice. There is a seam line on his head, but it is a lot less obnoxious than the one on his body and the wings. The translucent effect works well when viewing his right-hand side. 

Back:

Here I think his pose makes more sense. The coloration looks better on the back of his wings, but we do seem to have some of the sea colour creeping through on his right one.

Overall, and OK figure. Not my favourite. 

Lizard Magician (トカゲ呪術師):

Not a big fan of this brushed shading effect, but his sculpt is OK. The colours work, but aren’t anything special to me. The green ball came out well imo, and I like the design of his head.

Back:

Here we have a decent amount of sculptwork, though there seems to be some missing lines on his tail – we have indentations on the right, but not the left which looks odd. The back of his frills is nicely rendered though, and so is his spines. The other details are a bit “eh”. 

Overall an OK figure, but I don’t feel it’s anything special. Fine for Poundland fodder, lol. 

Akiba Blue – Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger – Season 2 version

This is yet another figure I bought because I thought it looked good… It was on sale dammit. 

So, here she is:

Loving the blue shade and her outfit, and the interesting range of accessories she comes with, that I have little idea about… Reading about her, she’s from a parody series, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they produced more of these than tokusatsu parody fans. In terms of a figure, her outfit isn’t very detailed, but this does give her a stark and clean appearance. I do like the shiny breastplate and the cool-looking helmet she’s wearing. However, her paintwork is flat and without shading, which puts her out of premium figure territory. 

Left:

She looks fine form the side, and has a couple of details on hte side of her helmet. She also has a ponytail thing going on, but it’s not hinged. Don’t try to do so, lest you want to break this part – the gold dot is just for show. The paint lines seem clean throughout – especially on the ball accessory… which I like to think of as a multicoloured bomb… 

Right:

More of the same on this side. A double-jointed elbow is visible, without much to hide it, so it does look lumpy. We can also see the ribbon thing she wears on her shoulder – I like the way they’ve sculpted this so it is flowing in the breeze. 

Back:

The sculpting’s nice on the back ribbon, but there isn’t too much detail here to speak of. There’s a couple of holes in her back – you could probably attach an accessory in here, or a stand. There wasn’t one in the box, but 3mm peg stands aren’t hard to come by. Was disappointed with the lack of stand, but she does have articulated toes, so she’s not too bad to balance. You can also use the accessories to weight her, if needed.

In terms of accessories, she does have a decent range of stuff. One that I managed to not photograph is another ribbon – it’s very similar to the one shown, only it’s more like one half of the ribbon shown, if you want less ribbon for posing. 

She comes with these guns:

I love the overly large “armed” mode this gun has. I guess this is for when the battle gets super serious. Both guns are nicely sculpted and painted, and would make great accessories for any figure they fit with. 

She also comes with many, many hands:

So if you need a certain hand pose, it’s probably in this lot! Always nice to see a range of hands, as it gives more posing opportunities, and especially useful for her, and the several things she can hold. 

Overall, I think she’s a decent figure, but probably not a popular character, hence her cheap price. If you need a random blue ranger for your collection, this one could possibly fit the bill. With the number of parts she comes with, she could be good for custom fodder too, if you’re basing something around a Bandai figure(s). 

Desura II Core Ship – Battleship Yamato 2199

Now for a model kit! This is the Desura II Core Ship, with a couple of support fighters. 

Let’s first look at the core ship itself:

‘tis a long bugger. And spiky! If you hit it, don’t be surprised if you go “ow” and a part flies off. However, I do think it looks cool and worth the pain :P. 

Building it wasn’t too difficult – the instructions were reasonably easy to follow, and the build process, from what I recall, was pretty smooth. 

Left:

Here’s a side shot to admire it in all its glory. I love the profile of this ship, which is why I bought it… despite having not yet seen Battleship Yamato. It is on my “to watch” list, though. 

Now to deviate from my standard walk-around, and look at this thing from bow to stern. 

So let’s start with the front end:

Here we have the stabby forward parts. The sculpting is nice on this model, adding details into what’s a largely plain-coloured vessel. 

Moving further back:

We have some clear parts here, which look nice. There are some transfers that you can add to these bits, to add a bit more detail, but I haven’t done so as of yet. I do like this bit of colour – looking at pictures of the ship from the anime, these parts glow. I could see someone modding this kit, so they could put an LED in this section, though I do believe these parts do back onto blue plastic, so it’d be a relatively hefty mod. 

Cockpit area:

One thing that mildly disappointed me is this purple plastic bit doesn’t push up into a blue plastic “cutout” part, so if you want it to look like the pictures, you need to paint this part. Kind of a shame, as I don’t think it’d be too hard to render a part this could push up into. But if you’re not going for anime-accuracy, you could leave it like this. 

Part below the cockpit:

And these are the spiky bits that tend to spike you and fall apart. The vertical “M” part slots into the one that attaches to the ship, so it’s pretty easy to accidentally knock out. Have had issues with these when positioning the ship on the stand. I do like the red detail parts though. 

Engine fins:

I do rather like this detail, and it has been rendered well. 

Back:

The thrusters look cool, and and I love all the little details back here. What’s less cool is two of the four fins you see here didn’t fit snugly into their slots and kept falling out. Ended up shoving a bit of White Tack onto the part that goes inside the fin, and that fixed that issue. So I’d recommend doing something similar, or glue these parts. I think the inner ring is supposed to help hold these parts in but… it doesn’t. 

Base:

This is the logo for the “owners” (Great Garmillas Empire) of the Desura II… only apparently this isn’t the right way up for it. Ah well, I tried. Stand does a decent job of holding the vessel, but one of the prongs can foul on the base, so you can’t freely tilt it, but you do have a reasonable choice of angles for the ship. 

And that concludes the main ship – I think it’s a cool model, and glad I bought it. Could do with some spots of paint, if I ever get around to painting anything. 

Now for the support fighters:

You get two of these, both identical. There aren’t too many pieces making these up, so they should be a quick build.

Quick tour of one of the fighters, as this blog is long enough already:

The mould has a decent number of details, so looks pretty decent unpainted. There are some decals that I haven’t put on yet, with the logo fro the Great Garmillas Empire. I think these are a nice inclusion to the kit, and look nice displayed flanking the core ship. One less-good part of the model is the spikes on the fins are easily bent, and this can happen when snipping them away from the sprue. Note one of them is a bit bent in the top pic. 

Some of the bottom of the ship is in the dark green – this would be something ideally fixed with some light green paint, so it looks less odd. Depends if you display these with the bottoms showing or not.

Overall, I’m happy with this model kit, and I should really do some painting, so I can paint the odd bit on this one, as I think it kind of needs it. However, the moulding is nice on this kit, so you could get away with not painting it imo. 

Raidramon – Digimon/Appmon

I bought this guy because he looked cool, was cheap, and potentially looked like he was compatible with Lego Bionicle figures. For the first part, whilst the construction pieces are similar shapes, they are a bit smaller and thus not compatible. So if you get these, don’t expect them to be compatible with Lego pieces. 

So here he is, fully built:

He wasn’t too hard to build, but one or two things changed between the instructions being written and the boxed product – mostly with pieces being pre-attached to each other. 

Overall, he looks pretty decent for what he is – decently painted, though I do wish they had a bit that clipped onto the under-wing to cover up the support structure – this will always be visible from the front, unless you have some very specific posing going on. 

Front:

Looking kind of squarish in the face there. He seems to stand up OK to me. 

Face:

His jaw can move, as demoed here – it has a couple of click points, so you can have it closed or open. Here we see a screw, which is a deviation from the Legoesque styling (this was not part of the construction process though – all parts that are left for the buyer to do is clip parts together). 

Left:

Here we see his tail, which I’m rather “eh” about. Doesn’t look particularly attractive, and doesn’t have any articulation. Would’ve loved to have been able to move it up and down or side-to-side. Head looks cool from the side though. 

Right:

Wires are kinda cool, not too much extra to say about this side.

Back:

The cape-wings look cool, and the shapes are nice. The wings have some articulation to them, as evidenced by the less-than-subtle hinges. 

Wire close-up:

Here’s what the wires look like up close – decent sculpting on them, for a toy of this type. 

Here’s me doing some posing with him:

So I wouldn’t class him as super-flexible, but you can probably get something decentish out of his arms and legs. The wing hinges are good for use as a toy, but I don’t think as useful for posing. 

So I’d recommend this one as a toy to play with, rather than a display piece. It is meant as more of a toy, but I don’t think it has the displayabilty of Bionicles, which make cool toys and display pieces. Overall, I think he was worth what I paid, but I think he’s going to be more of a toy that I put somewhere to fiddle with rather than integrate into my displays. 

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:

image

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. 

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. 

Geara Ghirarga – Gundam Build Divers

This figure I saw on AmiAmi, and was like… yes, I have to preorder that. I really want to build that. 

And build it I did:

Overall, it was a decent build – not too many stickers, I don’t remember any bits being overly complex on the main body. but the tail was fun. Also I probably need to tidy up the plastic nubs a bit here and there… My fault, not the kit’s fault. I do have some better cutters now… 

Left:

Here we have the articulated back parts, which look really good imo, and give the figure some decent depth. Also I like the design detail in the boots – and the yellow accents in general. 

Right:

Here he is, tail half-posed. His head looks menacing, with all the angular parts. I love these little details. 

The blue translucent parts come out of his back like so:

And, even cooler, you can shut them like so:

So need to tidy the plastic nubs…But I thought this was a pretty cool feature to have on a model kit. 

Both of the pods closed:

Some of the kits I’ve built, this would be a choice you’d have to make during building, but I love the fact that he transforms, so you can quickly and easily transform him between “stances”. Credit to the kit designers here!

Back:

Looks very angular from the back, and you can see the leg joints here, but they’re not disruptive to the design of the figure, which I like. The yellow accents contrast nicely.

Close-up of his upper back:

I like this cooling fin detail on this back. 

Tail:

Ahh, the tail. You have to be careful building this – the end segment only pushes on, so you have to be careful not to shove the next fin parts down onto it too hard. And the holes in the fins are only just big enough for them to fit on the wire, so some of them were buggers to get on. And then resulted in me knocking the end off, and then having to start over. You then have to wind the other end of the wire around some parts in the end part, to secure it in place. Adjusting this bit was a pain, and I’m not sure I got it quite right. Also the fins can turn over and go a bit all over the place – see the top of the tail. But the end result does look pretty nifty overall. 

You can also pull his tail off, and he can wield it, but I think I’ll leave it as a tail. If you like his design, I’d recommend giving this kit a go. Just… be patient with the tail. 

Retsuryu – Gundam

And now time to say farewell to the Japan loot with this small model kit of Retsuryu. I wanted to buy a Gundam model kit, as I was in the Diver City mall, but didn’t want anything too big due to luggage space, and I’m not the most Gundam-y person. 

So enter this little fellah:

Yep, was attracted to him thanks to the shiny blue. Can’t go wrong with blue. He’s a cute and colourful-looking dude. From what I remember from the build, he was a pretty easy one to do. Also the end result is pretty cool imo. A couple of the stickers you definitely have to be careful with – especially thinking the eyes and his chin. 

Claws stretched out:

He has a reasonable amount of posing ability, given his actual arms don’t move that much. He rotates at the head and the waist, plus these outer claws can be moved and grab things. 

Left:

Mmm. Shiny. Blue. I like the ribbed effect on his arm, and he’s got some material motion going on in his skirt. 

Right:

Here we see the holder for his axe, which we will look at later. The holder doesn’t work very well though, imo.

Back:

Looks decent enough, but very plain. Might’ve been nice to have a couple of gold/red stickers to put on back here. 

One last look before we move onto the aforementioned axe:

Would’ve been nice if we had some back stickers that matched thematically with the ones on his arms. The green shiny part on his helmet adds a nice central focal point to him. 

Axe:

He has this shiny axe, which you can have a short or a long handle on. This is the long handle mode, but you can remove the blue part and the lower part if you wish. You can then put that part in his hand. 

Close-up of the head:

Yeah, didn’t do the stickers so good here… glad the green parts are painted green. Though only on one side. The box shows the axe coloured, would’ve been nice to have a couple of stickers to add to the front design. Alas, not to be.

He can also fold up the axe:

Which, apparently, lore-wise he can use to fly! Pretty neat, huh? I like the way the axe parts and the dragon head are hinged, so you can do this transformation. 

Overall, he’s a cool little dude, and these small kits are very cheap to buy. These mini-kits I think would be good for beginners – not too many pieces or stickers. If you want to try making a model kit, I think these small Gundam kits would make a good intro kit. The other small kits I’ve done (Mecha Colle ones) have been on the fiddly side, and might be a bit much, but this one was a nice balance of things. Though looking at that axe, reminds me it was kind of a pain to get the green bits to stay put XD. 

Sirene – Devilman

Bought this figure from a store that sells gachapon/trading figures loose in small bags. Post tagged NSFW, as Sirene doesn’t know what clothes are. 

So enjoy this SFW shot to start with:

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Her face looks OK from the side, but we can see my bugbear with this figure in the first shot… the head wings keep falling off :(. She’s a bit of a fall-to-bits figure, which is not really shown in the photos. At some point I may use some tack or glue to stick her together, if it gets too annoying. 


Front:

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She comes with a little plastic stand to help her stay upright, but it does a mediocre job. The sculpting, however, is really nice – the wings are feathery, we can see her collarbones, and her forearms and shins are detailed. The paintwork is mostly neat, but leaves a bit to be desired in the shading department. Overall, this isn’t too bad as it is a small trading figure. 

Face:

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Here we can see the wings are well-textured, and her nipples well-defined. Her right arm can move around a bit, but it’s not meaningful movement – more of an artefact of assembly. 

Left:

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Her boobs are decently shaped, but maybe needed a bit more of an attachment to her body. The side crease seems to go a little high. Here we can see also where her arm has come slightly off from the peg. 

Right:

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Some copyright notices here… and a seamline up her body. Her body feels a bit oddly shaped from this angle to me. Her feet are nicely sculpted though. Talons could’ve done with being painted black though. 


Back:

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Her hair looks nice from the back, between the wings. Her tail looks odd, but that’s more to do with character design… Her shoulder blades look too flat, on the upper parts, but it’s nice to see some shape to her back.

Overall, it’s a fairly solid trading figure, if you can get it to not fall apart. Its flaws mostly seem to reside in making a small figure to a budget, so I’m happy with it. Might have to heat her legs to sort out her stance, though. And add something to her to stop parts falling off…

Keimi – One Piece – Rare Colour ver

Bought this one as a singular figure in a store selling unboxed trading figures. I believe they had both variants from this set, but I thought this was the prettier one:

I thought the white top went better with her pink tail (the other one had a black top with a gold star). The paint is iffy in a couple of spots (most notably n her top straps), but decent overall. Pappug also looks very happy indeed. 

Face:

I find her hair a bit of an “off” colour – not the nicest shade of green imo. For me this is the weakest bit of the figure. The painting around the edges of her top is a close second though – this mess is pretty visible. At least it didn’t go over her stomach. Her jewellery additions are nice, even if they are a bit roughly painted.

Pappug:

Strangely, he seems a bit better painted than the main figure! The sculpting on him is really nice too – the hat looks excellent, and I love his mouth. With the teeth sculpted in the way they are, it’s avoided some of the oddness that teeth on figures sometimes can have. 

Left:

Here, Pappug looks really nice from the side, and Keimi mostly does too. Her hand is a bit of an odd shape though imo. The top is nicely sculpted though, with the creases. 

Right:

Pappug still looks good, and I’m loving the sheen on her tail. The scales are also sculpted nice and evenly. I also love the shape of her waist.

Back:

The back of her hair is sculpted well, The back of her necklace has been painted neater than the the top part of her top. The bottom ins lovely and neat though. The top of her butt fin is a bit of a mess imo – looking at pics this should be more even with the top of her fin. The base is just smooth on the back, but not bothered by the lack of detail here. Imo the base does its job and does look good with the figure, but it only sort of fits thematically. Does look like she’s sitting on an iceberg, which I don’t think would be too comfortable!

Overall, I’m happy with this trading figure, and think she looks pretty. I haven’t read/watched One Piece, but I do like mermaids, and she hits the spot. 

Kaworu Nagisa – Evangelion – Portraits

And one more Kaworu for the road:

His hair is OK, but has a bit of a mould line. His shirt is nicely sculpted, and his undershirt neatly painted. His trousers look good, and moulded well around his hands. Or where his hands would be…. Belt paint is OK, but a bit scruffy in places. I like the sculpt job on his trainers – the laces stand out form the rest of the shoe, which not all sculpts capture. The base has been made to make it look like he’s floating a bit, which kind of works. My main downside to looking at him from the front is they have his head tilted too far down so you can’t see his face much. Would’ve liked to see his face feature more. 

Left:

His hair has a fair amount of detailed moulding from the sides – all the spikes have been sculpted. The arm goes convincingly go into his pocket, and looks good. There is a small detail on his sleeve, which is a nice touch. 

Right:

Hair also good looks from this side, and we can admire his ear on this side too – it’s been sculpted well. The collar is possibly slightly blobby, but doesn’t bother me. I like the creases in his clothes, and they look good. 

Back:

Here we can see his hair is shaded, which shows some from the sides too. His back pockets are sculpted well, and the belt painted neatly back here. 

Would recommend this as a small figure of Kaworu. If you don’t mind him looking at his shoes, he’s a nicely sculpted and painted trading figure. 

Mio Honda – Idolm@aster – Gasha Portraits

This was the most expensive gachapon figure I got from a gachapon machine whilst I was in Japan:

And personally, I think she was worth it. The sculpting is really good for a trading figure, and the paintwork has a fair amount of details. 

I love her happy expression and pose, and the shading in her hair. The jewellery is nicely painted, which is especially good on a small figure. I love the bright colours they’ve used on her bikini, and the colours are blended well. The only real issue I have with the front of this figure is the join above her bikini bottoms – it doesn’t quite go together, and leaves a little gap. 

Face:

Here we can see the small details on her face – where she’s blushing. The painting is mostly really neat, with only some small bits outside of the lines. Her bust has been well-sculpted, and look like boobs instead of balloons. 

Left:

Here you can see the gap at the front a bit better. The lettering on her bikini top is crisp and clear. Her hair seam is quite nicely hidden. 

Right:

The hair seam is more obvious on this side, but still reasonable. The hair shading is a bit off – the back is shaded quite differently from the front. Her pose looks good and is quite dynamic.

Back:

Her hair looks good from the back, and the bow on her top is sculpted well. The stripes on her bottoms look good, and follow the contours on her backside. I also like the details on the top of her bracelet, which you can see from this angle. 

Hey, look at this!

… from this angle she ain’t just pointing at herself…

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure. I might not be into Idolm@aster, but this is a nice figure in its own right. Glad I got this gachapon. 

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Tiger & Bunny – Darkness Edition

Good Luck Mode Activated:

Here we have a dark version of Barnaby Brooks Jr. with Good Luck Mode leg equipped. He starts off with a normal leg attached, but couldn’t resist trying this one out. Attaching it was a mild pain, and did require reading the instructions so that I didn’t pull the leg apart at the wrong points (… I may’ve tried). 

From the front, I’m impressed with him, especially as he was around a fiver. The black gives him a more classy look, with the “old gold” colour accents. I’m not sure if the pink the transparent parts quite goes – might’ve worked better if these were a deeper red. 

Face:

The parts joint nicely, and there’s some detailing around by his neck. Love the head sculpt, tho the chest feels it lacks depth somehow. 

Left:

The paint is mostly decent, without too much deviation from the lines.  Ilike the sides of his head, and there are some details in the Good Luck Mode leg, showing the machinery behind it, which is a really nice touch. 

Right:

Yeah, that leg is simultaneously cool and ridiculous! Just like the show :). His arms look good from the sides, and the silver hands complement the scheme nicely. 

Back:

Back of the legs aren’t hugely detailed imo, and serve just to “complete” the figure. The boosters are nice, and include the inner details, which show through the transparent parts well. He has some nice details on the underside of his arms that I like. 

Leg:

It does a good job of looking like the extended version of his default leg. The copper “spine” works well, giving the feeling of that’s where all the parts attach to. Yep, I wouldn’t want that thing heading towards me at high speed!

Accessories:

Not too much to speak about here. A couple of arms, and his default leg, plus a shut mask. So if you’re looking for customisabilty, this figure doesn’t really offer it, though I’m not sure what much else he would come with – he doesn’t do much of a line in weaponry. That’s more Wild Tiger’s thing… 

Overall, I think this is a decent figure, especially for the price you can get this one for. I think he could do with a decal on the white part of his chest – on the normal versions he has a little bunny logo – incorporating that would’ve helped break up the chest area a bit. I can see this being a bit of a Marmite figure – he’s decent for what he is, but I feel he a very niche appeal. Though if you do like him, you should be able to get him for a good price.

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Portraits – Nurse ver

And the last in this series of Reis!

One to make you feel better:

This one is also in the Portraits series of figures. Not sure if Rei would have the best bedside manner as a nurse… but here we are! The paint is a bit iffy in her stripes, but the shading on her dress does add a fair bit to this figure. 

Left:

She has a blue bow detail on her sleeve, but it looks a bit like a paint mistake. Would’ve been nice if this was a separate part. The stand holds her well, and its positioning makes it the least obtrusive it can be for the style of holder chosen. The band on her slipper is painted well and is sculpted, which makes it look good.

Right:

She has a seam in her hair, but decent for a trading figure. 

Back:

One more paint-bow back here, and some nice shading. I like the way the slipper bands dig into her skin slightly. Her hair is a bit too rounded and smooth, especially compared to the one I reviewed yesterday. The shading is still nice though.

If you want a small nurse Rei, this one hits the spot. I like collecting these Portraits figures, as they’re usually of good quality for a reasonable price. 

Lunatic – Tiger & Bunny

Now for the Big Bad in Tiger & Bunny, Lunatic:

I’m not sure he’s the most compelling of foes, but I do love his bright blue-green colour scheme and snappy sense of dress. For this figure, I’ve “equipped” one of his flaming hands and the flaming head. He also has another head without the flaming eyes, but that just isn’t cool enough for me. 

Left:

I love the shape of his head from the side, and he’s well-articulated. He also seems to be doing a good line in trying to get flares back into fashion. The paint is nicely done, though I’m seeing one tiny bit of sprue :P. Meh, any model kit I make is way worse. 

Right:

Here we can see his sheathed crossbow – his flaming weapon of choice. I’ve chosen to use the holstered version, as I wanted to have at least one flaming hand. It clips on decently well to his side. 

Flame:

The blues and greens are blended well in the flame parts, and look really nice imo. We can also admire some of the details in the crossbow sculpt as we’re here :). 

Back:

His suit is decently detailed on the back. His shoulders are a bit gappy though. 

Crossbow and default head:

I love the flaming detail on his crossbow. His heads are both nicely painted from the front, though a little gappy on the sides. 

Rest of the small accessories:

He has a good range of pieces, which I think gives a lot of posing options, which is something really good with this figure.

Cloak parts:

Whilst these pieces look really cool, I had massive issues getting them on, and it does somewhat limit your posing options, so I’ve decided to leave them off for now. Maybe I’ll have a go with them some other day in the far future. 

Overall, I think he’s a decent figure, even if he’s probably not a popular character. I’m glad to have him, and if you’re after him, he shouldn’t be too expensive to obtain.