Tag: eastern figures

P-Body – Portal 2 – Figma

Today’s figure is P-Body Figma by Max Factory. This is the second of the two Portal 2 Figmas:

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This guy has all the mechanical details of Atlas, but he doesn’t have the face articulation that Atlas does – instead he has two alternative face plates – one of his eye half-closed, and one with his eye fully closed. I guess the latter’s useful for stop-motion or something…

Left side:

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Much more sleek than Atlas. 

Right side:

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His portal gun is like Atlas’s… only orange. Love the little details at the top of his arm.

Back:

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Much more of his inner-workings are visible from this side, unlike Atlas, where some stuff is pretty much visible on all sides. His stature is very much as it is in the game, so it’s all good. He’s a little more awkward to pose due to lankiness, but the joints largely twist nicely. 

Oh, what have you got there P-Body?

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Erm, er, I don’t think that’s part of the testing initiative. I think you may want to put that down…

Rias Gremory – Highschool DxD – FREEing S-Style

This figure is the second of the pair, and was the one I was looking forward to most:

I love her playful pose, and I have a liking for Rias’s design. The white swimsuit complements Rias well. 

Left side:

Here you can see more of her top, which just rests on her hand. It’s pretty stable, but due to the static nature of the plastic, it can look a little odd if it doesn’t sit right on her hand. Here you can see some of the lovely shades in her hair.

Right:

No too much to say about this angle – you can see her nicely-sculpted swimsuit bottom, and her similar pose to Akeno. 

Back:

Red flowing hair, what’s not to love?

Close-up of the top:

Nicely detailed and painted. Despite the drawback of getting it to sit on her hand, it’s been very nicely done otherwise.

And now to the figure’s flaw:

The ahoge. This is a separate part, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get it all the way in, or at least fully hide the unpainted part. Wish they painted it all the way down. Not entirely sure why they decided to make it a separate part – pretty sure it would’ve fit in the box attached – but having it like this is just annoying. Being so thin, it’s a bit nerve-wracking pushing it in, and hoping not to break it. If it wasn’t for this, I’d have this one as one of my favourites. It’s still up there but… sigh. 

Akeno Himejima – Highschool DxD – FREEing S-Style

With the Highschool DxD S-Style figures, I missed the initial pre-orders, and decided to wait until release to pick them up. A bit before they were to be released, AmiAmi opened up their pre-orders for them again, and I was able to add them to another open order I had. 

First up, we have Akeno Himejima:

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Her top is separate, and is to be threaded under her arm/hand. Her head and her hair are separate parts to assemble, but the rest of her is pre-assembled.

Both of the Highschool DxD figures are hiding their nipples with their hands, which makes them somewhat different to the rest of the S-Style figures. 

Left side:

I love the hair on this figure – long and flowing. The green and dark blue colours of her swimsuit fit nicely with the rest ofthe figure. 

Right side:

Her arm is attached as per the other figures, but was not a separate part in the box. Not checked if it is glued or not. The bow on her swimsuit bottom has been done well. 

Back:

Here you can really appreciate the flowing nature of her hair, and the orange of her bow. The hair is fairly stiff plastic, so needed to be careful not to”ping” it and break it. Would be better if it was slightly softer imo. 

Close-up of her hair bow:

The paint is nicely done, and is a lovely colour. 

I love this figure, and feel like the quality of this line is increasing. It’s not “epic tier”, but they’re certainly very nice figures. 

Izuruha – Another Color ver

As promised by yesterday’s blog – more Izuruha! This one appears to be an older version of her, with longer hair:

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Here she is, fully dressed. She has a more detailed costume than the other one. She also has more display options due to this – her outfit is two pieces.

From the left:

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You get a good look at her leg from this side, and you can see her outstretched arm. 

Right side:

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Here, her body is almost front-on, and it looks like I’ve nudged her cloak. Oops. Also her foot is floating – would be nice if they included another foot stand, like the other figure, to ensure she’s stable. With some fiddling, she may have her toes down on the stand though.

Back:

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The light shines well off the back of her cloak/robe. She also has the nice detail on the back of it, flowing with her movement. Her hair also adds to her sense of movement. 

Now for her cast-off:

She has a noticeably larger chest than the other one, and her skin has a fair amount of detail on it. Her pose really works with her cast off. 

Left side:

A nice view of her backside :). There is a stray dot on there, which i did start off trying to remove, but it looks like a mole to me, so decided to leave it XD. Give her a little bit more detail! 

Right side:

This angle gives you the best view of her fromt. Her nipples have been painted well, and I love the way her muscles show. 

Back:

Her nice, flowing hair, and some more admiring of her backside.

Izuruha with her outer robe on:

I feel as if this frames her quite nicely. She will also work with just her tunic on, but didn’t take any photos with her tunic and no robe. 

Semi-cast-off, from the back:

You get a bit of side-boob when she doesn’t have her tunic on.


She’s  very nice figure, and you can pick her up quite cheaply, if you like her. I suspect if the franchise was more popular, these figures would be more popular. 

Izuruha – MegaHouse – Normal ver

The next two blogs will be two figures of Izuruha. I saw someone selling these figures on MFC, and wanted them… came back to seeing them again, and this time actually messaged the seller! After agreeing their price, they were soon on their way to me. These figures are cast-off, so there will be female nudity. 

As for Ru/Li/Lu/Ra, I can’t really find out much about it on the internet, so these figures are just because I like them :). 

Enough waffle, now for some figure:

The clothing is very nice in its own regard – I love the way you can see her body through the clothing, but only partially. Also it’s blue and purple… and that’s a winner for me :P. I’ll probably display her cast-off though. 

Left side:

Not too much to say about this angle. Hair looks OK, stand supports her well. 

Right side:

You get a good preview of her body from this side:P I like the way they have her holding her top upwards, and not just for the view :P. It can sit quite nicely on her hand, which makes it flow well. It’s a hard piece, but it can take a little bit to get it settled in the right place to display. 

Back view:

Her robe has a hood, which is a nice touch. The top also catches the light nicely. 

Now to remove the robe:

This version of her has small breasts, compared to the other one, to go with the short hair. Her nipples and skin are very nicely painted, though she’s not really sculpted down below. She has a very nice-looking skin texture.

From the sides:

Her body is very well shaped imo, and the dynamic pose shows it off well.

From the back:

And a very nice backside too. 


Overall, I’m pleased with this figure, but undecided if I’m going to display her cast off or not. I will probably display one clothed (or partially so) and the other cast off. Unless I get the blonde versions… then I’ll cast off one pair, and dress the other. 

Tomorrow, more Izuruha!

Luka Megurine – FREEing S-Style

This was the last of the old releases of S-Style figures, prior to me deciding to collect them. I had this one shipped from the US, via a forwarder. The process went smoothly, and now I have all the currently-released S-Style figures!

So here she is:

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Not the best one to round out the set, but certainly not the worst either. Bit of a paint error goin’ on at her midriff, but the rest of the paint is fine. I think she also may be a bit more tan than she should be in places – this can happen over time with displayed figures, but I don’t have another one to compare. 

Left side:

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Nice detail including her hand holding her headphones. The pattern on her headphones has also been nicely reproduced, and her hair flows well.

Right side:

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Her hair flows behind her here, and you can see her headphones & mic. Also you can see her painted fingernails, which is a nice touch. 

Back:

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Some nice shading going on in her hair, instead of being one flat, boring colour. These are the things that makes these figures nicer than most of the figures of this size. 

Happy to finally have all of the set! I’m in the process of organising a display cabinet, so I’ll eventually have these figures all displayed together. It’s likely to be awhile though – need to sort out some LED lighting, so it could be a month before I get to blog about it! 

Figure Spotlight – Kotobukiya Raven

This was a figure that I had to have, once I saw it. Not sure what time elapsed between the wanting and the actual buying – think I did have to wait for funds – but this is a figure I really like. 

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And here she is, casting a spell at you :D. The paintwork is really nice on this, and the sculpting has nice, bold lines without being overly fussy. Also move the smile on her face. 

Here’s a shot showing how she stands:

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The cape is also her stand – this was one of the things that drew me to this figure – the fact she doesn’t need a plastic disc to stand. And she stands up sturdily too. 

Here’s the cape from the back:

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Imo the cape looks nice from every angle, and doesn’t look ‘tortured’ into being the stand. I can see people not liking her shiny, blue look, but I love the colour, so it doesn’t detract for me. 

Figure Spotlight – Halloween Chan

This one was one of those figures that I had on my wishlist for ages, then fiiinnally got round to buying many months (possibly years?) later. 

She came in a very yellowed box, but the figure seems to be fine. 

And here she is:

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Not as nice as the promo shots, but still cute, and I’m a sucker for purple. 

Here’s a closeup of the pumpkin and her face:

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And a side shot, which shows how she “floats” in the air:

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The downside of this stand is that the stand plastic is VERY wobbly. Originally had her in a detolf, but when you walked past she’d wobble, so I moved her to a shelf that’s firmly attached to the wall, where she gets to sit without wobbling.

Back of the figure:

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Nice pair o’ wings, and her hair is pretty nice. Would be nice if it was a bit more visible from the front, but it’s OK. 

Initially I found this figure pretty underwhelming when I first opened it, but now she’s an OK part of my collection. She sits somewhere in the middle of likeage. 

Shiro – Swimsuit ver.

When the Nippon-Yasan sale hit, this figure was the first thing I grabbed, before leafing through the rest of the sale, and making final decisions on what figures I’d buy and which ones I could let slide. I did see this for sale in the last N-Y sale, but stupidly passed on it. So it was nice to have the chance again!

Due to her canonical age, here’s a picture of her face for the blogbot:

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So for random passers-by and people who clicked to see the full post, here’s the full picture:

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I love Shiro’s colours, and they have been rendered very competently here. Her hair is nice and vibrant, and has been given an outfit to match. The gradients are really nice. My minor gripe is the white spot on the front of her hair is a little on the large side, and I’d prefer it more blue than white.

Here’s a shot of the top of her head:

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Her crown is a nice, shiny golden colour, with brightly coloured gems, and I feel strongly matches her intended design. 

Shiro front-on:

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I like the way they’ve shaded the ribbons dangling from her top. I like the blended tones in her stockings too. The underside of her jacket has been painted really well – the pattern looks nice, and well-rendered. 

Left side:

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Love her hair. The strands have been sculpted well, and I love the way they’re flicking in different directions. 

Shiro’s right:

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Here you can see her shoulder where she’s shrugging out of her jacket. 

Back:

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Here you can see the inner pattern of her jacket clearly – here it is red and blue, and blends into green and yellow at the bottom. You can glimpse the blending from the front of the figure – it’s impressive they went to this detail, when you can barely see it. She also has a bow on the back of her neck, where her top is tied, which is a nice detail. They’ve also modelled the cords on her jacket. 

The base is super plain – not sure if I’m a fan of this. It does help the figure stand out more, which is helpful due to her diminutive stature. It also means it doesn’t really add anything to the figure either. I maybe tempted to add an overlay for it, possibly of the NGNL logo. 

Overall, I really like this figure – the colours are very nice, the sculpting has been very nicely done. She’s quite an expensive figure though, so depending on how much you’re willing to spend will probably dictate if this figure ends up in your collection. 

(For me, this figure I’m not sure she goes with her given age, which goes for a lot of Japanese characters. Some people find her to be in an ‘attractive’ pose, but tbh, I don’t feel she gives off that vibe).


 

Nitta Minami – Sleeping Little Devil

From the worst Nitta to this one… And wow, what a difference. This one was one of the things that I got in the Nippon-Yasan sale, and I’m glad I did:

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And wow, what a figure. The colours and shapes make for a very striking figure, and it’s a super-cute pose. The red “velvet” base is a very nice touch too. 

Close-up of her face:

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Here is her cute smile, as she snuggles up with her tail :). I love the little heart earrings, and the horns on her hairband.

Here’s an upper shot showing more of the hairband:

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The top of her hair isn’t much to write home about, but the colours of ht horns, and the studs are nice touches. Here you can also see the details on her tail. 

Close-up on her skirt/boots:

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The paint and sculpting are impressive on her clothing. Her nails are nicely done too. Impressed with the way the zips have turned out. 

Her left:

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Some lovely details on her skirt and gloves. Her sleeves have been done as a semitransparent material, and the effect looks really good. 

Close-up of the skirt detail:

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Loving this attention-to-detail in the figure. 

Right side:

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Her tail is curled around her arms, in a pleasing way.

Back:

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She has a pair of stiletto heels, that match her outfit. The hair looks really good from the back, and you can see some of her left wing here. 

Close-up of her wing:

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One of my minor gripes about this figure is the smallness of these wings. It would be nice if they were more distinctive, and stuck out more. But hey, she’s just cosplaying, so these’ll have to do :P. 

And just to complete all the angles:

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She’s well-sculpted down here too! Love the fact they’ve taken the time to make her look good at all the angles. 

I have very little to complain about this figure, and think she was well worth the money. The sculpt and painting are both really strong, and I think anyone interested in this figure should get it, assuming they have the funds. 

And as a bonus, here’s the instructions it came with:

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If you can’t read the highlighted parts:

  • Do not point, wave or throw the product at others. Product is designed for amusement purposes only.
  • Product will not stand on its own. Please use the stand included

*points figure threateningly at her husband*. Hm, nope, she didn’t spontaneously combust… And I don’t think I’ll be throwing her! But she does amuse… 

Also love the fact these instructions came with a sitting figure – she does stand just fine on any ol’ flat surface, but she doesn’t seem happy about it.. 

Yep, the fun of generic instructions!

Melissa Seraphy – Good Smile Company

Someone linked this figure in a Discord chat, and I decided I wanted it. Shortly after, I found it a bit cheaper on Mandarake (below the customs limit, yay!), so went for it:

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Cute demonic things are my weakness! Also loved the pumpkin. Her pose is also very cute, and I love the design of her top. 

Left:

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Cute bow on the pumpkin :). Here you can see a couple of marks – probably the first thing I’ve bought from Mandarake where I could find marks. They’re not hugely noticeable though. 

Here is a close-up of the bow:

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The bow has been nicely sculpted and painted. 

Here is a close-up of the pumpkin face:

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The eyes and mouth are clear plastic, and you can just about see her legs through it. There is a nice gradient of orange on the pumpkin itself. 

Right side:

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Not much excitement here, so here’s some words on the base. The base itself is translucent grey plastic, with a peg that sits into the pumpkin. There is a pattern on the base, but honestly I don’t like the look of it overall. With her on the base, it doesn’t look so bad imo. 

Back:

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Her wings and hair are nice, and the pumpkin looks lovely and shiny from this side. Here you can see the stand piece that holds the pumpkin (and her) up. 


You can also take the pumpkin off and display her without it:

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This stand is a cheap one from China, but surprisingly holds her up well. When I looked up pictures of her, I wondered why someone had balanced her in the back half of the pumpkin – turns out that’s the only way of using the original stand to hold her. 

Taking her out of the pumpkin was paint-transfer-city, however. She had several bits of orange paint around her midriff and ankles. Most of them came off with an eraser, but one on the ankle is a lot more obstinate, and maybe part scratch. She does look amazingly cute out of the pumpkin. 

Close-up of her upper half:

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If she was wearing some pants/knickers that matched her top, it’d be a no-brainer for me to display her without the pumpkin. As it is, I’m on the fence about it. Maybe one day I’ll get two of her… 

From the back:

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OK, didn’t get a good shot of her backside, thanks to the stand, but she looks nice from this angle. On her left leg, you can see a dot – the obstinate paint transfer. 

Side view:

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She has some details on her knickers, which make them look nice, if you’re into that kind of thing. Maybe if I get some matching PVC, I could fashion some shorts… 


I think she looks nice with or without the pumpkin, though if you get her secondhand, be prepared to deal with pumpkin paint transfers. If you’d like to display her out of the pumpkin, you’ll likely want to get a replacement stand, to support her in place. I don’t like the look of the pumpkin open – it has four peg-holes for the front half of the pumpkin to peg into, which doesn’t make it look great. 

Pleased with this figure, for the price I paid. 

Alleyne – Queen’s Blade – Orchid Seed

This figure I was thinking of preordering, but saw one come up at a good price on MFC, so I went for it. Negotiated a bit more of a discount, due to peg damage (yeah, and it’s deffo not one I’m fixing with a bit of glue…). 

Aand this arrived:

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Not surprised the Hermes lady skedaddled that day, and didn’t check to see if I was in (though she doesn’t normally). 

By the merciful Postal Gremlins she was fine though:

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There is one paint scratch in her hair, but the seller’s shots don’t show that part of her hair, so not sure if that happened in transit or not. Due to the scratch’s location, it was probably prior to transit ><. 

But… she’s definitely a stunning figure. And that peg ain’t gonna be fixed – it’s a hollow peg, which allows for a metal reinforcement rod to sit inside of it, so it’ll need re-architecting to act as a peg again. She stands reasonably well as-is though. 

Alleyne’s left:

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I love the leaf details on her arms. The colours work well together and they’re nicely detailed.

Alleyne’s right:

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I like the way her hair flows over her arm. Her body sculpt is very much in evidence here – muscly and looking realistic. 

Her back:

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Her hair flows nicely down her back, and she has some detailed butt-leaves. Unfortunately with the leaf-panties they’ve only put in one peg, so they’re very difficult to get off – had to watch a video to see how it was done, as I don’t have her instructions. Also, due to the way they come off, it’s likely to be paint transfer city, so not in a hurry to do that. Already had to remove some transfers from her hair and chest leaves, and I know there are a couple on her backside. I have the feeling that she may have not been cast off before, hence the parts rubbing some, and transferring paint. 


Alleyne with her top cast off:

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Her nipples are painted nicely and realistically, which is a nice change from several of the cast-offs I own. Her arm decorations help her from looking super-plain when cast off. 

Chest close-up:

Love the details in her sculpt :). 

Alleyne’s right:

Alleyne’s left:

Not much to add on these angles. As I didn’t cast off her bottom half, I didn’t take another picture of her behind. 


Overall, I think this a very nice figure, where dressed and cast-off work well. Just a shame that they didn’t put two fasteners in her underwear to make her a lot easier to cast-off & redress. She is quite tall, and a good, chunky size. If you like what you see, I would recommend this figure. If buying secondhand, definitely find out about peg condition  she does stand OK on the one peg, but is a little on the wobbly side. 

Ryuko Matoi – Kill La Kill – Phat

With the re-issue of this figure, I thought about pre-ordering it, but missed the pre-order period. When kicking around on Nippon Yasan, I noticed they had her in stock for a decent price, so went ahead and ordered her:

Here I have both of the blade parts in her hands, though you’re not really supposed to do this, so removed the longer blade for the rest of this review. On the subject of the blades, both are really nicely painted, and have shading on them. 

Here is a close-up of the shorter blade:

Probably a little hard to see in that photo, but if you look closely, you’ll see it’s not an even shade of red. 

Let’s get a little closer:

My main gripe with this figure is the pose doesn’t really show her off. Imo she needs to be displayed higher than eye-level for you to see her well, and her twisted body can lead her looking like she’s hiding her details from certain angles. The broken ground is nicely painted, and feels like it should be heavier than it really is Sadly the piece you put in, which has the clear peg, is not too well painted on mine. Initially it is a similar piece without the plastic peg, but I don’t really want to risk her bending over time… though on the subject of bending… When I was putting her in the base, I did try to warm her legs to get her to bend, but I think there’s reinforcement in them, so didn’t have much luck with that… so she might stay up just fine over time. However, with them providing the support, I’m not going to risk it.

Slightly angled view:

Looks more imposing this way. 

Matoi’s right:

Some definite side-boob in evidence. Her hand is at a funny angle, but this is just a round peg, so you can correct that. She also has another hand that’s splayed, which is the one she’s initially “equipped” with. I have this one on, as she was holding the long scissor blade. Some nice-looking upper leg there.

Left: 

I think her body looks nice form this angle, but the back strap looks too flat. More on that later. Her clothes are shiny, which can be seen here, which might not be to everyone’s taste. 

Matoi’s back from above:

I do like the back of the suit here- it’s really well done. Back strap does actually look OK in this photo. 

Arse:

That boob really wants to make a showing :P. I think the back strap in isolation maybe doesn’t look as bad as when you’re looking at the figure irl. I think it’s mostly because it’s done in a different technique than the front ones (this one is part of the figure, whilst the others float) that makes it look odd. I think they may have used a separate sculpted piece, like the front straps, to make it not look like a tattoo in comparison. 

One thing I didn’t capture with these photos is some of the red paint is a bit sloppy on the lines on her boots. Bit of a shame for a more expensive figure. Waiting to see if this one grows on me some more, but it’s not quite as epic as the pictures of it made me feel. In the right spot this one could work, though. 

Sheryl Nome – Banpresto SQ

This was the second of the two figures I got from the seller that contacted me on MFC:

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And wow, what a figure she is. The outfit is what attracted me to this figure, and the amount of detail. She’s especially nice for a prize figure.

Her left:

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That’s a mess of hair! A lot of different pieces plus some of her outfit.

Her right:

Her face captures that mid-singing moment. I do really like her top, but wish she’d picked some shorts that matched better with it, though both are well-presented here. No accounting for taste 😛

Her back:

Here you can really see the flowing parts of her outfit, which look really nice. The support on her left leg looks a little odd from the back, as she seems to be mid-step.

From the top:

Here you can see the bow/fascinator in her hair, and where all the strands meet up. Looks more natural than some more expensive figures. 

Now for some close-ups. Here is one of her upper half:

Slight miracle she hasn’t lost her shorts! I do love that top though. 

Face:

I do love her expression. Yeah, the end of the mic is broken – not been tempted to glue this yet. This was done prior to my owning of the figure (was mentioned by the seller). I may wait for it to be knocked off before gluing it though, as it doesn’t really show once positioned.

She even has a ring:

For a prize figure, she is very nice. My main gripe would be the skin – it could do with a bit of shading. Overall, she is a very nice figure, and glad I chose her.

Akira – Mon-sieur Bome

Whilst I was in the process of buying yesterday’s figure, I got a message from another MFC user, offering me more loots :D. I’ve bought a number of their figures previously, so they gave me first dibs on some figures they were giving away, in payment for the postage.

This was the first of two things I was interested in:

When I was unboxing her, I found out that she is also cast-off, which was a surprise. It did say on the MFC page, but I didn’t notice. 

Here is her left side, which is her main viewing angle:

I like her purple dress, and the detail of the sculpting in her hair.

Looking at the front:

She has a cute face, and the maid outfit works well. 

Her right side:

I like the bows she has spread around her outfit – here you can see one on her arm. She also has some hairclips in her hair, one of which is visible here. 

Her back:

Her ribbon looks nice on her back, and her outfit looks a bit more revealing from this angle. 

Underneath view:

Some flatness to be seen. She balanced surprisingly easily like this. 

Now for her cast-off “mode”:

Whilst you can fully cast her off, her midriff looks a little strange to me, with the ridge under her corset. 

Close-up of her chest:

Nicely sculpted, but her nipples aren’t particularly painted. Would’ve been nicer if her nipples were a bit darker, but hey, better than the bright pink some cast-offs get. 

From the back:

She looks surprisingly good from the back, considering the front. This angle works, and I don’t have any major complaints.

Here is how I am likely to display her – half dressed:

The skirt matches up with her corset, removing the odd look. Her chest looks good, without it looking like she’s oddly dressed/covered.

Close-up of her front without her top:

The ring in her collar acts as a subtle hint she’s more of an entertainer than maid, but doesn’t really attract the eye if she’s not cast-off. 

From the back:

All options seem to work just fine from the back! 

I like this figure, glad I chose to get her. I was on the fence about her for ages, but she looks better in person than I imagined. 

Alice – Queen’s Gate – Alpha x Omega

Saw someone selling their collection on MFC, and asked about buying this figure. One of the figure’s accessories was broken, so he charged the lower price for her. 

Here she is with her clothes on:

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And here’s a photo of her with the unbroken gun that attaches to her waist:

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Honestly, I think the guns look a little weird, so I’m happy to display her without them. They attach to her top, so you can’t display them with her, if she’s cast off. In this shot, the breakage that occurred during shipping also shows >< – her left cuff. Due to it being shadowed by her pose normally, the glued bit doesn’t really show. 

She has very nicely moulded hair, and I live her hair accessories. All are nicely painted and sculpted. 

Here is the gun from the side:

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The gun has a peg on the back, which is how it attaches to her clothes. Bit of an odd way to attach. I think it would’ve been nicer if they had pegs on the sides, so that it could dangle downwards/backwards. 

So what’s she like without the gun?

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The hole is visible, but not a biggie. Top looks nice. 

Top from underneath:

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There’s a lot of nice detail on the top, and is a viable display option, unlike some cast-off figures.

Side shot:

Here are some pics of her top whilst she’s not wearing it:

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Bit hard to take pics of her wearing it due to her pose, but it’s a very nice top, and clips together well. Have had issues with other pegged cast-off clothing, but this one seems to work. 


Some clothed shots that are probably NSFW:

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Her clothing does nothing to cover her backside :P. Here she is from the back cast off:

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Not much difference! A nicely-sculpted backside though. Her remaining clothes have some well-placed crease lines, and you can see where they press into her body. 

Now for the definitely NSFW:

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Her chest isn’t super-visible from the front, but you do see more of her legs.

Side shots:

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She has a nicely-sculpted, lithe body. I like the way her tail is joined to her body – a lot of demonic-type figures have the tail just kind of stuck there, but with ALice, hers has some form of attachment to her back. The guns she holds are also super-detailed. 

Chest close-up:

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She seems to like to stay mostly SFW :P. Her expression looks good from this angle too. 


With this figure, I also like the way her tail curls around her leg, and was one of the things that attracted me to it. I also love the way her hair flows. She works as a cast-off or as a non-cast-off, whichever you prefer. I find the paint quality really good on her, but not sure if I’d pay full aftermarket price for her. If you like Alice, I’d say this is a solid figure of her. Well, erm, on the point of solidity – might want to ensure her dangling parts are still attached prior to buying. 

Mari Makinami Illustrious – Figma

With Rei on order, I decided to buy Mari too, as she’s the cheapest of the three, poor Mari. 

I deceided to go with her screaming face, and left her with the red cuffs/light. There are green pieces for her wrists and chest light, if you want her in ‘berzerker’ mode. 

Front of Mari:

Looks almost if her eyes are closed on this photo, but they’re not. 

Close-up of her face:

Her chest piece sadly looks a little odd, if it isn’t straight. I half-wonder if they’d have been better off without this articulation, or had more of her on her upper half, so she doesn’t look… kind of robot-ish when her upper half is rotated. Those pointy chest pieces don’t help, lol. Rei is articulated in the same way, but with the consistency of colour and roundness, it looks a lot less odd. 

Sides:

Looks fine, pretty much the same as Rei. Only Mari. She was a bit easier in the leg department to pose properly in the char, but not sure there’s any actual reason behind that. 

Back:

Yep, still nowt to see here 😛 If it wasn’t for the arms poking out, you wouldn’t be able to tell if it was Rei’s or Mari’s chair. 

Closeup of the controls:

Quite a large joint joins the handle to the the arm. Not sure it goes within the theme, but I’m not too bothered about it. These are identical to Rei’s. 

Overall, I’m happy with Mari, but I’m pretty sure that chest joint helped dent the figure’s popularity. If you’re not after doing a whole bunch of poses with her, she works as a display piece. This coupled with Mari’s seeming lack of priority, these one is pretty cheap to pick up, so if you like what you see, I’d recommend it. 

Rei Ayanami – Figma

Decided to go for this Figma, despite the aftermarket price, as I really, really wanted it. One thing to note about this Figma blog and the next one – I’m not going to fully review the figures – they do come with more accessories than pictured, so this is NOT a full review. Just my thoughts 🙂

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After getting her out of the box and assembling I’m glad I got her :). She was a bit of a pain to put together, but once done… wow. I love having the plug chair for her to sit in.

Close-up of her face:

Shh, I’m trying to pilot a mecha here!

From the front:

She mostly sits nicely in the chair – getting her legs in the right position was a bit difficult. The sides of the chair near her legs swing out – which makes her easy to put in, but if her joints aren’t bent in the right way, she’ll push them open slightly. The body clip keeps her nicely in place. 

Sides of Rei in her chair:

I love the fact the controls are articulated, so you can pose her controlling the mech. Looking her completely side-on, the clip does have a bit of a long base, and does show a bit, but I think the main way of enjoying this figure is from a more front-on angle. You can also choose to omit the clip, and there is a piece that covers up the hole, if you wished to pin her in the seat differently. 

The double base configuration is interesting, and allows you to pose the seat in many different angles, if you want a more “In combat” pose. It also makes the chair decently sturdy. 

Back:

Not much to see here. Some sculpting here, but not a lot, however this angle isn’t one you’re gonna want 😛

Overall, I’m pleased with the figure, and she has a decent amount of poseabilty. The thing that really makes this figure is the chair though – it’s a really nice accessory to have. The most annoying thing about this figure is clip-on joint between the chair and the controls – it was a bit annoying to get on, and it can become unclipped when posing. 

If you wanted to display the chair and Rei separately, you could do this. The chair would have one stand, and Rei would have the other with the clip. Not tried balancing the chair without Rei, though, but I assume it would work… 

With new Figma coming in at the same price as Rei is in the aftermarket, she’s probably still value-for-money compared to new releases. I think she holds up well, and am glad to have her. 

Shion Toudou – FREEing S-Style

This is the second of the PriPara figures, and also has a distinct pose:

I like her purple hair and swimsuit top. The stripes really add to it, imo. 

Opposite side:

Her hair is painted well, and the towel wrinkles are nice. 

Her back:

She has a nicely-sculpted back, and I like the way she’s supporting herself with her left hand. 

From the top:

Here you can see more of her top – it’s nice to have one with a less plain costume. You can also see where the towel joins – and this is the part that annoys me about this figure. It’s quite hard to get it to clip around her, and you sort of need to, as the peg hole is in the towel! She doesn’t have a hole in her backside, so you could possibly display her without stand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you had to support her somehow (the towel has a flat bottom). Would’ve been nice if she was stand-compatible without the towel.

Again, a nice, interesting pose, which helps keep this series varied. But again the stand is kind of the weakest part – needing the towel to place her on it, and the fact they don’t give you a second stand piece, so if you want her touching the ground, you need to pair her up with another figure. She’s designed to sit with Mirei, which she does well, but without another S-Style figure next to her, she looks a little odd and floaty due to her legs. 

Mirei Minami – FREEing S-Style

This character is from a show called PriPara, which I’ve come across before, but never watched. So let’s get on with lookin’ at the figure:

She’s in an interesting pose of sitting on a stone. Not sure what a grey block like this is doing at the beach.. ah, well, let’s imagine a stone wall here. The base is a violent orange – eye-catching, but probably a bit too so! I like her outfit and her hair – she feels a bit different from all the others.

Her front:

She looks a bit odd from this angle, due to her bending her head so far around, though her hair looks good from this angle (woo, no seam!) and her clothes look nice. Whilst we’re looking at her shoes… she doesn’t fit in the lugs too well, and will fall out pretty easily if the stone isn’t there, which makes her a little awkward to set up, or if you move her, she can fall out. 

Her left side:

Hairball! Whilst it is oval-ish, the sculpt with the strands is nice. 

Her back:

Bit of an odd seam on the top edge of her top, and her short pockets look a little.. flat. Rest works just fine.

Overall, I like this figure, and it’s nice to have one of a different height, that can sit in front of the others. My main gripe would be the neon orange base – the pegs aren’t large enough to hold her properly, and the colour is just too neon. I think if they made it a darker orange, it’d complement the figure better.