Tag: eastern figures

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Gachapon figure

I found one ‘legit’ gachapon machine with Evangelion figures in it! This one was the first one out, and was Rei Ayanami:

An OK gacha – decently well painted for its small size, and straightforward to assemble. Not so keen on her hair colour though. Sculpt is decent, and looks good. Main complaint is the bow is painted on top, which makes it look translucent & odd. 

Left:

Can see where part of the dress was filled from in the mould. Seamline isn’t too bad, better hidden than some larger figures I’ve had. Shoe is a bit of a mess on the side. 

Right:

Skirt and shoe are both a bunch neater on this side. Hair also looks nicer here too. White sleeve looks a little odd – more plastic than shirt. 

Back:

Mould is decent at the back, and has a moulded seamline for her dress, lol. Paint also doesn’t quite go to her shoulder like one of the other Rei figures I blogged about… hm, maybe Rei just doesn’t have her dress go to her shoulder… 

Overall a decent gachapon figure. Nothing impressive, but does the job for the price point.

EVA01 Test Type – Evangelion – LM-HG 001 Bandai

I couldn’t escape Japan without getting at least one model kit. So here’s EVA-01:

This one was a fiddly mess to build, and made me appreciate more modern model kits. The waterslide transfers were… a fair bit more tricky than I thought they’d be. From the front, he looks OK, but definitely a kit that could benefit from paint. Some of the areas are large and bland, and the blue plate could’ve done with some black dot stickers. 

Head:

Rawr. He’s lookin’ at you. Face looks pretty good from the front, wish there were some black insets or stickers to go on the front green parts. Head itself articulates well. 

Knees:

Just about got these stickers on OK :P. Here you can see the green stickers like to escape a bit. I like the use of colour here, and looks good from a distance. 

Left:

The purple stickers on the fins went OK. Here you can see the green decal didn’t go on too well, but the black ones were OK. From the left he looks pretty decent, and the colours work well. Here you can see some of the fluff stuck on the black parts of his arm already – this is a rubbery part. Not entirely sure why, but it’s kind of annoying due to being a dust magnet.

Head:

The triangular corners could’ve done with fitting on better. I like the green part on the lower arm though. His head looks good, though doing the stickers on his eyes was a pain. The head spike sticker works well though. The black parts on his arms articulate, which helps with posing.

Right:

So… no 1 sticker on this side? Yeahhhh… it didn’t go well and ended up breaking up into three pieces, then one folded over, making it impossible to apply. Shame, because it was on OK, but then I accidentally nudged it with a finger :(. Though the green part at the top fits better on this side. The ribbing that forms his back looks good from the side too. 

Close-up of the transfer that made it:

These ones worked well, once I worked out what I was doing. Still weren’t fun to do, but at least these look great once completed. 

Back:

I like the shapes on the back. Here we have some black inset stickers – much-needed for the back, otherwise it’d look too flat. And we can see a bunch of mould edges – this kit was rather prone to them and I’m too lazy to sand ‘em all off. 

Top of the head:

Here we can see some rather special pieces…

*Ptcffff*:

Here we can eject the entry plug! I like this little feature. And, um, I need to poke that sticker back on… The mechanism is a fun thing, but the little part that goes over the entry plug does have a nasty habit of popping off, and it’s a pain to get back on :/. The fact it has a few moving parts is nice, but could really do with having better ways of connecting! 

He also came with an oversized Shinji (well, a figure to fit that entry plug ain’t happening), which you could paint, but that got chucked in a drawer. It’s beige, doesn’t stand up on its own and looks rather meh. 

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this kit. The result is OK, but not really worth the effort imo. He did come with some other accessories I didn’t photograph, which could make for good posing opportunities, but they’re nothing particularly special. There’s a big gun, but it can have a habit of falling apart and is plain grey unless you paint it. I don’t have any other EVA model kits to compare him to, though. Maybe get this one if you plan on painting it, as it would be a fairly decent base for that. 

Tiger – Tiger & Bunny – S. H. Figuarts Movie Edition

Saw this dude cheap in Mandarake, so added him to my pile of stuff:

He’s surprisingly weighty, as he’s part-metal, and feels a good, solid figure. Overall, his design feels clean, and he’s easy to articulate. He does come with a stand, but he stood up just fine on his own, so decided to take pics of him in a neutral stance for this blog. The colours are nice on this figure, and he looks the part. 

Left:

His face has that slightly menacing look from the side. His arms are nicely detailed, and the “cover” part looks good. His leg is nicely finished, with a silver stripe. 

Right:

Very much the same as the left. He’s a symmetrical character, barring the logos, so this was to be expected. 

Back:

Here we can see the small details on the back of his head, and the angular patterns of the armour on his back. However, the whole thing feels… too flat. Especially on the lower part of his back and upper legs. The green detail around his ankles is nice though. 

Accessory time!

He comes with two of these guns, but was only arsed to equip one. They’re nicely detailed, and have a bit of paintwork on them. 

Side:

They peg into the inside of the arm “cover”, and the handle goes into his hand. It’s hinged at the handle join, so you can still pose him when he has it equipped. which I really like. I love the effort that went into this accessory, especially comparing it to the boring one-colour accessories Western figures can frequently come with. 

From the top:

Yep, definitely happy with this one. 

The other pieces:

Due to the peg, the guns have specific sides. And a decent selection of hands, for all your favourite Tiger poses.

And his base:

Will likely assemble this so I can have him in a more action-y pose.

Overall, I think as a figure he is a little on the plain side, but solid. This figure can be picked up cheaply, so would recommend it if you like what you see here. Was a bit worried about what he’d be like out of the box due to the cheap price tag, but I think he’s fine, just mostly because Tiger & Bunny isn’t too popular, and a lot of the figures are pretty samey. 

Ryo Asuka – Devilman – Limited Color ver

It’s time for some more Devilman! This time we’ve got Ryo Asuka:

Here he is, with his normal head. I think the greyscale scheme works well with him. and I love the silver on the black. What I love less, is he has some stray silver paint on his left arm. Also the metal is a little rusty in spots – Japan doesn’t seem particularly friendly to metal parts. 

He certainly has a sculpted body, and I think his trousers might be overly tight :P. I guess fashion wasn’t his first thought when summoning demons… but I doubt he needed clothes for long ¬¬.

Left:

Here we see him with clawed hands, and some wonderful tribal tattoo detail. I like his cuff, and the trouser wrinkles have been sculpted well, to give them the feel of being clothes. 

Right:

On this side we have a metal bracelet instead of a cuff, and a different tattoo. Out of the designs, I prefer the left one to the right one, but both have been painted well. 

Back:

His pants have been pulled tight across his backside, but the rest shows wrinkles, as appropriate. His back tattoo looks good, but I’m seeing some more stray silver on his right shoulder. A bit of a shame the paint has ended up flicked about a bit, as it shows up quite easily against his dark skin. Here we can see the buckles on his cuff, which is a nice added detail. 

Plonk, on goes the mask:

It fits on well, and here you can see one eye staring out :P. This part glows in the dark, but I didn’t take any shots of this. 

Closer look at the mask:

Same mould as the other ones in previous reviews. Lookin’ scary. 

He also has a winged head:

I like this head, and this is the one I think I’m going to display him with, then display the mask separately. 

Side:

I love the wing effect, being more of a bird wing than a skin wing. Gives a difference between him and Fudo. 

Back:

*flap flap flap*. 

Overall I really like this figure and glad I got it. I think he works well with the stark colour scheme, and the subtle differences between him and Fudo in this transitional stage work well as a pair. If I see the normal version of Ryo for a good price, I may also pick that up, as I don’t have a pair to display. 

Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Introjection ver

Here we have a small Rei trading figure:

Bought this one in Hobby Off, along with another small figure. I don’t usually go for Rei in her uniform, but this one was nicely painted and cheap. I like the fact they’ve added some shading detail to her hair, and her thoughtful pose. 

Left:

Seam on her side is a bit ugly. Socks are flat to her skin, making the tops look odd. Sculpt looks decent.

Right:

Again, another seam that isn’t particularly well neatened. Little bit of escaping paint on her sleeve. Other than that, she looks pretty neat.

Back:

Paint scuff on her collar, which shows badly from the back. Thankfully it is on the back! The back of the figure looks overly plain imo – I’m not sure much effort was put in here. The blue paint doesn’t quite get to her collar on the right hand side. I’ll just admire the base, which has some shading to it, which is a nice addition. Hair looks good from the back, so a bit of a shame the uniform is so “flat”. 

Overall, I don’t think I can complain for my ¥324. She looks really good from the front, which is what I care about most. A small, cheap addition to my collection, but probably not a figure I could recommend people get. Unless you’re really into Rei and you find it cheap, like I did. 

Nanael – Queen’s Blade – Revoltech

This is a character I decided I wanted a figure of… just because. Ended up coming across her whilst I was in Japan for a reasonable price, so picked her up:

image

Starting with the face shot here, as the front shot features panties. Here she is, being surprised by spilling her milk. Here, the joints do look rather strange, but her face is cute, her hair is OK in the sculpt, but I’m seeing some stray bits of excess paint. And a bit of missing pink on her hair decoration. The neck strap on her dress looks overly industrial – I think this would’ve been improved by being thinner. Her belt is nice though, and the bow on her dress. 

Front:

image

Here we see her uneven wings – at first I wasn’t sure if there was a piece missing, not being overly familiar with the character, and her having a joint where a wing piece could go. Found a pic of her “holding” her sword with her wing, so decided to replicate that. One thing that stands out to me is she does feel a bit overly chunky – her legs seem a bit too wide for her body. She does have a nice pair of panties though :P. Her top is nicely wrinkled, but again, feels a bit too thick of a material. Her milk bottle looks good, and has the equippable splash – you can choose if you have the milk splashing out or not. Though obviously there’s only one choice really. 

Pantsu, seeing as we mentioned them:

image

Enjoy. 

Left:

image

She naturally goes into a bit of a leaning-back pose, which fits with the milk splashing out at her. Silly angel, forgetting her bottle top! The base holds her well, but was a bit fiddly to set up. The writing is nice on the base, but a bit of a pain to get her standing so she wasn’t blocking it. 

Right:

image

Obvious hair seam, as her fringe removes so you can change her face. She looks good from this side imo – everything looks to be painted nicely, and she looks less unnatural in shape. I prefer the hands where she has her fingers sculpted – in these shots, her left hand looks like it’s in a mitten. 

Back:

image

Hair looks overly simple from the back. Wings look OK, but a bit plain on the left wing. 

Base:

image

Here’s the base of the base. Writing looks OK, nothing special, but nice to have something to say what the character is. I like the transparent base effect, but the base itself could’ve done with a bit more weight on the bottom – a common theme with the old Revoltech bases is they easily tip over, as they’re top-heavy  ><. 

Accessories:

image

If you want her more nude, here are the ripped clothing options. Chose not to put them on her, as it looks like it was gonna be a bit of a lengthy process to do so. We also have some hands so she can hold her sword. And a face if you want her post-milking. I think this face has been well done, and I’ll probably switch to it at some point. 

Overall, she’s an OK action figure. I think some better design decisions could’ve been taken, but there are slim-ish pickings as far as

Nanael

goes. Would recommend if you want a Nanael action figure. 

Rider – Fate/Stay Night – Figma

This is a Figma I’ve wanted for awhile, but her aftermarket price is rather potty. Was hoping to see some re-releases of Rider figures due to Heaven’s Feel, but not much announced right now. Some new figures, but nothing that took my fancy.

So here I have the Rider Figma that I picked up in Japan:

… who was a “reasonable” price as she’s a bit damaged, and had no box. Here you can see where the rubbery purple stripe that goes along her top has been scraped off partially – when I display this, I will likely use her hair to cover it. 

Her legs have a weird gap where they join to her boots – looking at someone else’s pic this isn’t unique to mine. The colours are nice though, and look like Rider’s colours. The top has some detail in it, but not a huge amount. She is one of the earlier Figmas though. 

Face:

I like her masked faceplace – always preferred Rider with her blindfold. Her face is painted and sculpted nicely. Must ignore the mess. I like her collar, but the silver isn’t quite in all the places it needs to be – it’s painted on the front, but some silver paint on the top of it would make it look better imo. 

Left:

I like he hair, though her fringe is pretty loose. Not sure if that’s just mine or a common issue. Have to be a bit careful when posing her. Her spike-weapons are nice, and look the part. She also holds them well, and plenty of chain to pose should you wish to!

Right:

Lotsa hair! Her sleeves look OK, but nothing special. 

Back:

Here we can see the hair parts enough for the stand to fit through. The hair is super-flexible, so this isn’t an issue. Screws could do with replacing on this stand though. Or, erm, get another stand.

Weapon close-up:

Yep, lookin’ nice. It doesn’t feel particularly detailed, but I don’t think there’s a huge need for them to be.

Overall, I’m glad to have this figure, but I think it’d be really good if they did a “renewal” version with more detail. Whilst she has a lot of stranded hair, it’s pretty blandly done in execution, which I think would be improved in a newer version. Her legs could do with sorting so the joint shows itself yet, and some shading on her top wouldn’t be amiss. Overall she’s an OK Figma, and I’m glad to have her, but I wouldn’t have wanted to pay the full aftermarket price for her. Maybe with modern improvements, she’d be worth more to what Figma prices are now, but in her current incarnation, I’m less inclined to pay full whack. 

I’d say this one is for the Rider fans.

Red Pyramid Thing- Silent Hill – Figma

This was the figure I bought with Miku – Pyramid Head from Silent Hill. This was one that I was dithering about buying, as it’s not a franchise where I’ve actually played the game, but I’m sort of fascinated by Pyramid Head. 

So I decided to buy him, as I could do so for a reasonable price:

So.. the differences between this one and Miku… Here we can see there’s a lot more detail and texture. He has sculpting and shading on his arms, which I think works well. What doesn’t quite so well is what’s supposed to be his gloves – just sort of looks like his hands are miscoloured somehow. 

The pyramid looks nice though, and his dress looks good with the creases, buckles and rips. Here we also see him with his spear, which I particularly like the paintwork on the pointy end. 

Left:

Here we get to see… some sloppy brains. I think they’ve done some good things at the side to help hid the joint. The shading on his arm helps to give it a fleshy texture. We can also see he has articulated toes, to help pose him. 

Right:

Ouch, that nail in the brain has got to hurt! Shading looks good here too, and a fabric semaline sculpted into the side of his clothing, to add detail. 

Back:

Here we have some leather scraps nicely sculpted & painted. I like the power stance he naturally has, and the shape of his body. Brain has some paint details to emphasise the wrinkles in it. 

Hm, let’s get a closer look at his brain:

Gorey! I like the way they’ve fully painted this. Definitely helps with the horror vibe.

Back part:

Yeah, that guy’s gotta have a headache! 

Accessories:

Here are his other hands, which appear saran-wrapped. This other neck piece, on the left, has a hole where you can put the base part of the spear “through” his neck – I though this was a really cool addition, but I’m probably not going to use it as I like him wielding the spear, and I’ll likely keep knocking it out or it getting in the way if I put him with other figures. The large knife looks good, but I wish the wash followed the curve of the blade. Overall some OK accessories. 

I do really like this Figma. I have a soft spot for horror stuff, and this dude fits the bill. If you can pick him up at a reasonable price, I think fans would be happy with him as an action figure. He seems to lack much competition in the action figure market. Sort of surprised someone like NECA hasn’t picked him up, but hey, we have this one at least 😀

Hatsune Miku – Vocaloid – Figma #14

Saw this figure, and can say this one was an impulse buy. Also partly because buying it allowed me to buy this figure and another tax-free. Gotta save dat tax. 

So here she is:

image

As she didn’t have her box, she was really cheap, but all her accessories were included. Here she is with her microphone.The microphone feels solid, given its thinness, and definitely looks the part. This one I considered buying the bootleg of way back when, just to get an idea of what Figma were like and to see how the bootlegs compared. In the end, I didn’t, and looking back I’m glad I didn’t. 

I was attracted to buying this particular Miku because of the silvery top. and her sleeves. Being the official thing, the green edging is painted neatly, and she articulates well. Her face is also cute and Miku-y. 

Face:

I like this face – it’s nice and cute. Here we can see there’s a tiny scratch in the silver from her being a secondhand figure. Suspect some of the black on the green part of the skirt might be secondhand issues. Some creasing in her clothing, so it isn’t entirely flat. Her tie clips have been painted nicely, and work to break up the large sea of green. The range of finishes is one thing that also attracted me to this figure.

Left:

Here we can see her large, sweeping hair and the aforementioned sleeves. Her black boots have nice green details at either end. The finish is nice, but not super-detailed. Her top has a good bits of detail – the hanging strap, the green border on her skirt and the silver part. The number she has on her arm is tattooed on nicely. 

Close-up of her sleeve:

I like the detailed keyboard on her arm, and this came out well. Here we see the “01″ in more detail too. Arm joint isn’t particularly hidden. Here we can see where the stand has gone a little rusty – guess they’re more prone to doing that in Japan. 

Her hair bands look a little lumpy up close, but fine at a distnace. Her headset has also been done nicely, with some little, coloured details.

Right:

More hair! Not much to differentiate this side – she doesn’t have a strap here, or the tattoo. 

Back:

Looks OK from the back. Some creases in her clothing, hair has sculpting onm the back. I like the fact her hair is articulated too – can be used to give her poses more life. I think this angle emphasises the lack of shading on this figure – she is an older Figma, so this is showing one thing that’s changed – there tends to be more paint detail in newer figures. I still think she’s cute though.

Accessories:

I may give her the leeks at some point. They’re nicely painted and sculpted for what they are, though I’m not particularly attached to Miku, so the accessories don’t hold any special place for me. 

Overall, I think she’s nice for an older Figma. I think it shows how the designs have gotten more detailed over time, whether that justifies their current price tag or not. I’d recommend this one, if you can find it cheap. Don’t think it’s really worth pushing the boat out for, as there’s plenty of other Miku stuff out there to choose from. 

Lunatic & Origami Cyclone – Edge of Hero – Tiger & Bunny

I was perusing the small anime goods at Animate and was surprised to see a new collectable figure set for Tiger & Bunny. I thought they were relatively pricey, so I bought two, with a potential view to buy more if I liked the box contents to justify buying more. So here are the two I bought to see.

The first one to be unboxed turned out to be Lunatic:

These figures are REALLY small, so the macro lens made an outing. The plastic bridge he sits on is a stand that came with each of the figures, and can be used to display the figure and a card they came with, The stands are pretty big relative to the figure size, so I’m likely to display two on one stand.

And it’s only just now I remember that these figures came with display cards. That’s how exciting the card design is…

So, onto the figure itself. It’s definitely Lunatic’s colours, and it’s nice to see he has a fireball, even if it isn’t translucent. The paint is definitely a bit haphazard in places – noticeable on his legs and the green curves on the inner edges of his cloak. His face lacks detail though, and it makes it kinda look like he doesn’t have eyes. If they did his eyes in white it would have done, but a bit of extra detail on his head would have helped a lot.

Left:

Here we see an obvious seam, and the paint kind of giving up.

Right:

This side is far better than the other one, and the blend in his fireball is nice.

Back:

Paint on the back I think is an acceptable level of quality for such a small figure. The flaws are mostly small and not too noticeable. Some blue paint has gone walkies higher up on his back though – you can see two paint drips.

He does stay nicely on the stand, and doesn’t fall off too easily. It’s a decent sculpt for its size, but the painting of his face really lets the whole thing down imo. Not a big fan.

Now for the second, Origami Cyclone:

Here we see a lovely range of colour, which feels accurate to the show. However, where they put the colour… not so much. If the painting was done accurately, he would have been show-accurate, but there’s missing paint and slop all over the place. Most noticeable of this is on his chest – part of the blue triangle has been missed, giving him mutant chest. He also appears to have flesh-coloured armour on his right arm. The other paint miss I noticed fairly early on was the bit hanging from the middle of his belt, and the bit on his trousers. His hands and the upwards points on his mask haven’t been sculpted too well and are a fair bit blobby.

Let’s see if the back fares much better:

Erm, kinda, yeah… The oversized shuriken thing on his back looks pretty decent, but does have one mark on one blade. Gold edging paint is all over the place though, and one of this sword handles has been given a half-effort. Red edging on this “skirt” was given the other half effort. Also note the huge blobs of missed blue paint on his upper back – this looks truly awful when looking at the figure from the back. 

Overall, these figures were a neat idea, executed poorly. If they made them 1.5-2x bigger, I feel they could have done a much better paint job, and the details would be so much more visible. As it stands, they’re REALLY small and the paint’s a mess. After seeing these two, I was not inclined to buy any more. I would not recommend these figures to anyone tbh. If you want to buy small figures of Tiger & Bunny characters, just go buy some of the trading sets that are out there. 

Behemoth King & Marlboro – Final Fantasy XIII

These pair of creatures I picked up cheap at a Hobby Off, without boxes. I was impressed with the prices in the Hobby Offs I visited, even if they didn’t do tax-free shopping.

Firstly, let’s have a look at the Behemoth King:

Looking at these creatures close-up, there are many small details to be seen, such as the stitches on his sleeve, and the metal edging on his shoulder… ribbons? His tail curls around him nicely, and for this figure the “front” isn’t the best viewing angle, but you do get to see his face.

Left:

This I would regard as his viewing angle, as you can see mos of his pose. Here we see his tail has a heavy metal end that I’d definitely not want to tangle with! The muted blue and purple colour scheme works well, and definitely counteracts blandness in colour design for a creature, without going full-on fantasy. I also wouldn’t want to tangle with the clawed gloves he seems to be wearing on all his limbs. The weapon on his back is also nicely sculpted and painted.

Right:

Here we can see he has a good amount of shading in his back paint. The rock “stand” is largely visible from here, and the textures and colours on it are nice and feel like stone. The ribbons on his shoulder look like they are blowing in the wind, which is a nice touch.

Back:

Here we can see the ribbons (as I’m calling them…) are textured nicely and are shaded down their length. Also liking the spiky collars on his wrists/ankles.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the sculpt and the paint for this figure, plus I love his overall design.

Now for Marlboro:

My research revealed, that yes, his name is a reference to the cigarettes, as he kills you with his stink. I love the detail of this creature’s design, and the muted colour scheme. He also feels kinda cute to me, by monster standards. Here we see him looking like he’s wrapped himself over a dead adventurer, who still had his sword. I love his big, gaping mouth, with all its teeth. The paintwork is quite detailed around here.

Left:

Here we see His Plantiness has orange tips on all his extremities. I like this touch in his design, and the paint seems blended well with the green, so there isn’t a harsh transition.

Right:

Again, more orange-ended tentacles, plus some skulls beneath him. Yeah, don’t think I want to tussle with those teeth.

Back:

Here we see an obvious join about halfway up his back – this is the only noticeable flaw imo. Here he also has some yellow accents on his vines, which adds some depth and detail to him. I think a decent amount of detail has been put into his sculpt, and definitely gives him a plantlike appearance.

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure too. On a personal level, I think Marlboro is my favourite of the two, but that’s down to creature design rather than quality. I could recommend these figures, who would like some more creaturey small figures in their collection.

Catwoman – New 52 – ARTFX+

This figure was pretty much an instabuy when I saw it… after some price-checking.

So here she is, out of the box:

They’ve nailed the shiny outfit she wears, though the zipper doesn’t feel super-detailed. I like her pose, as it conveys her confidence and strength. Her collar also looks nice, and her lipstick is painted well. The base is the standard Kotobukiya magnetic stand that they use for their Western property figures.

Left:

Here we can see she is endowed, but not overly so. There are a couple of creases in her outfit, and her buckles on her boots are painted well. Here we get a look at her whip – this is mostly a cord, which looks OK at a distance, but would prefer if it was something with a poseable wire.

Right:

Her small ears on her hood work well. Buckles on this side are also well painted and sculpted – I like the way they’re not perfectly even. Here we can also see her spiked gloves, which look good.

Back:

Here we see a bunch of creasing in the back of her outfit – I do like the fact they have sculpted it like this, instead of totally flat, like most Catwoman figures. The band for her goggles looks a little odd though – just doesn’t feel like it’s any particular material.

She also has switchable goggles, here is a close-up of the ones used in the above figures:

These goggles are pretty decent. Please ignoe the dust on her chest… Here we can see the lack of sculpt detail in the zipper, above the zipper itself. Would’ve been nicer if the teeth of the zipper were more defined.

Without glasses:

Her eyes are painted well, though her eyes do look a little bloodshot, as it seems the eyelid edge paint went a bit walkies into the whites of her eyes. If you look just above her eyes, on the sides of her hood, you can see the indentations that the glasses attach to. Looking at the zipper pull in this shot, it does appear to be a bit distorted.

Alternative glasses:

After trying these pair of glasses on her, I think these are the ones I will display her with. I like the way they are see-through, so you can see her eyes. The orange colour is nice too.

Overall, this figure is fairly decent, but does have a couple of flaws. I could recommend it at a good price, but not worth an inflated aftermarket price. Personally, I quite like this figure, and am happy to add another Catwoman to my collection.

Al Azif – Demonbane – Crystal ver

This Al Azif was the version I was glad I didn’t spend all the money on, but I saw it super-cheap in Lashingbang, so decided to go for it. There were a few notes on its condition, but they were mainly related to the box, which was definitely in poor condition (the glue had gone on it).

So let’s look at this ‘special’ version of Al Azif by BEAT:

Personally, she doesn’t look bad like I thought she might. The purple hair actually works decently well, helped by the shading in her fringe. The sculpt is the same as the other, so it has that going for it. The outfit still looks nice and frilly, and her bows are well-sculpted. However, in this version, she doesn’t have any shading on her top, and instead it’s a pearlscent finish, which does look a little odd. Her skin is also a different tone, compared to the other, but looks OK. The base is identical.

Face:

Here we see her face, wit the colours, it looks more doll-like to me, like a Western-style kid’s doll. I like the effect of her hair on her head, and she is neatly painted. The hair being plain but translucent lower down doesn’t help the figure though, but I don’t mind this.

Left:

Here we see even her socks got the shiny treatment. Her floating “cookies” look good, and have avoided being made shiny. I still like her pose, and her top is realistically creased. We can also see how her hair isn’t entirely one colour, which is one thing I was afraid of, which would’ve made the figure look cheesier than it does.

Right:

‘Nother side, another cookie. The bows are all looking good and neatly painted. Here we can see how her skin is paler than it is on the other one. They have done some shading on her leg, by her sock, which really helps the sock look like a sock, instead of paint on her leg.

Back:

Here we see on mine there’s some “freckling” going on, on the back of her legs. Pretty sure this is discolouration, and likely won’t be present on other ones of this figure. From the back, her hair looks like it’s a large hard-boiled sweet to me and it’d be some berry flavour, lol. The ribbon entwines her hair nicely, and I do like the sculptwork that went into this.

Overall, I like this figure, but recommend picking this one up cheap. She’s not bad, but not as good as the other version, which is what I suspected. If you’re looking at images of the box, this one should have a black sticker on the front to state it is the crystal version, if you’re looking out for it.

Here are the two figures side-by-side:

Here we can see the original version has a more natural skin tone, and the extra shading in the top that helps it stand out. The shiny finish on the crystal one is interesting and a bit different, but I think the lack of other paint details drag it down significantly. The hair I think is a personal choice – it definitely doesn’t look as bad as I thought it would, but I’m probably still going to go for the original version’s hair.

If I were to recommend one, I’d definitely say save up for the original version, though I don’t think the crystal version is as bad of an option as I originally thought. I’d only recommend getting both, if you’re like me and you really want both… for reasons my brain won’t explain.

Barnaby Brooks Jr – Chess Piece

Just a small loot item today, Barnaby as a chess piece:

I like the pose in this figure, and the backdrop. And the fact it doesn’t even look like a chess piece. The paint is pretty decent for a figure of this size, and he has the translucent pieces he should do. 

Left:

Here we see he’s very close up to the backdrop. His chest is done well, and nicely detailed. Here we can also see his eyes are painted, and he has paint details on his inner arm. And the “TV” part of the “Hero TV” logo.

Right:

Here we have a goodly amount of detail too – he has his thrusters, and all his back plates. 

Back:

Not much to see here, though apparently I have the base rotated, so the only clue that he’s a chess piece is back here. You’d need a pretty big board if this is the size of a chess piece… the base isn’t too big, but he’s the size of a trading figure, so you’d need a good-sized board if you had a set of pieces… However, researching it, it’s more of a ‘concept’ set, where you’d just collect one of each, rather than a chess set’s worth. 

Here’s an angled shot:

I really like this piece. I’d collect the others, if I came across them for a decent price. A good amount of detail has been put into the sculpting and the painting for this figure. I’d recommend these figures, but maybe not for actually playing chess. 

Lala Satalin Deviluke – Metamo ver – To Love Ru

Aaannd now for a figure I got before Japan, but didn’t blog about… because I had to take more pics. Reason why shown later in the blog.

So here she is:

Definitely a happy Lala! I like the shading in her hair and her smiling expression. Her tail curves nicely around her, and the shower makes this figure a bit different from most figures. 

Face close-up:

Yep, diggin’ that grin and Peke (the hair decoration). The curls on the top of her head looks good, and her cleavage has been well done. The thin line of dark paint in her mouth adds a good element of definition. Here we can also see there’s some shading painted onto her skin too. 

Left:

She’s moulded nicely from this side – we can see the detail in her toes. In a way, she’s a fairly plain figure, but the shading in her hair really helps her not be boring. 

Tail close-up:

Her tail is nice, done with a shiny finish, which I think fits Lala. The tail can be rotated and displayed at differing angles. Here we can see a seam on her leg, but it does appear they’ve done some work to help hide it, so it’s not super-noticeable. 

Right:

Here we see more of the shower, which definitely helps her stand up – without it she can bend over a bit. The hair is nicely sculpted around her ear.

Back:

Her backside looks good, but the back of her leg has been interestingly sculpted. We can see here they’ve attempted to sculpt tendons, but it looks a bit wrong to me. Love the way her tail is a big feature from this angle. 

But wait, what’s this?

What’s going on? Britain is having a summer? Wait what? One of the selling points for this figure is that it changes colour when it gets hot – on the day I took the first set of photos it was hot enough for this to start happening. This should start happening around 30C, which is very hot for the UK. So she had a stint in the fridge before the above pics, then I couldn’t be bothered to heat her up and take more. 

So here’s some shots from the second photo shoot:

It transforms well, and will stay like this for a long time. Ended up putting her in the fridge to turn her back – I think between certain temperatures she will stay whatever colour she is, which is a nice thing. I think both options looks good, but I prefer the black version, so back in the fridge she went for awhile :P. 

Overall, I think this is a decent figure. I think she’s a cut above a prize figure, but not really comparable with scale figures. I think her original RRP might’ve been a bit on the high side, and the price I got her for, the aftermarket agreed. Glad to finally have a Lala figure that doesn’t break the bank. 

Jack the Assassin – Fate/Grand Order

This was one of the figures on my “to buy” list when I headed to Japan – it was one of two Jack figures I was thinking of buying, and I decided to go with this one.

So let’s look at her out of the box:

I like the pose, but not sold on her expression. According the the promo shots, I actually have her daggers in her hands the wrong way up, but honestly, I prefer them pointing upwards rather than downwards (please don’t shoot me Fate fans!). 

Face:

I like her eyes and the scar. Here we can see the paint job is mediocre – the edges on her top are a bit messy. and the straps on her arm have paint all over the shop. 

Left:

I like the diamond parts on her leg. Her hair looks OK, but isn’t particularly detailed. The side of her top is nicely detailed, and I do love the knife holders on her back.

Right:

She looks good from this side. Still likin’ the knives and the details on her top. 

Arm close-up:

They tried to make the bandages on her arm look dirty, but I’m not sure I like the effect. However, I do really dig the daggers – they’re a detailed shape, and the paint with the gradient is really nice. Definitely one of the highlights of this figure.

Side of the knife sheathes:

Here we see some of paint marks that aren’t uncommon on certain prize figures. Other than that, the sheathes are pretty nice. 

Back:

Here we have a bag o’ tricks and all them sheathes. She looks really good from this angle. 

Close-up of her back:

The pack is painted decently well, but the knives are a little bit of a mess. Not too much of a problem, as they’re on her back. 

Front shot:

Her outfit is an interesting one… looks like she forgot her trousers this morning :P. The body is sculpted decently well, with some definition near her hips and groin, and she has a belly button. 

Overall, it’s an OK prize figure. She should be pretty cheap to get hold of – I wouldn’t recommend spending a whole load on this figure due to her flaws, but she is a reasonably decent figure imo. 

Yozora Mikazuki – Haganai NEXT

Here’s a figure I bought on my first day in Japan:

image

This figure is by the most-likely-defunct Griffon Enterprise. The thing that attracted me to this figure was her outfit – I love the shiny, red colour and the spikiness :). I also like her horns and the leg warmers(?). I like the detail that went into the legwear – the creases are nice and detailed, and the shading is well done. 

Face:

She has quite a cute face. Love the eyes, rest of the face doesn’t feel too detailed. Her necklace is nicely done though, and looks cute, if morbid. Her horns are a pleasing shade of blue, and are well shaded. 

Midriff:

This angle emphasises where the top doesn’t quite meet her boob properly, on the left-hand side of this photo. I don’t find it too noticeable on the shelf, but if you look up close, it’s pretty obvious under certain lighting conditions. The red is spiffy though. The black lines feel a bit shakily painted up close. I like the fact they’ve painted her fingernails. 

One thing that did stand out to me further away was the way the strap doesn’t quite line up between the different areas of her skin. Again, the problem is worse on her right side. I feel the joins on this figure could’ve been done much better, because it is a bit shoddy in places. On her legs, the thin lines are painted well. 

Feet :

I like her shoes, and more spikes down here too :). Whilst I can’t read the plaque, I think they’ve stuffed too much information here, and it doesn’t look aesthetically pleasing. I think it would’ve been better to stick to two bits of info and not the pile here. Her name and the series would’ve been enough imo, though the moons are nice. 

Left:

Her hair looks nice, and those shiny clothes are still looking good. I like the way the top of her legwear creases, and the bottom. 

Right:

This side is pretty much a repeat of the other side, but here you can see the side of her knickers. They look OK from a distance like this, but up close it does look a bit of a mess :(. Hair and ribbon looks good though.

Back:

Her hair has a good amount of motion, and has been sculpted with a decent amount of detail. Here we can see a couple of ribbons in her hair – this detail is nice. 

She also comes with this hairpiece:

This hairpiece is the same as the part with the horns in, only without the horns… what’s the point of this? Pfft. Though if you prefer her without horns, hey, it’s an option. Not a very compelling one for me, alas. Personally I’d be happier to have less seams in her hair, but I guess some people would like this piece. 

Overall, she’s an OK figure, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for her. I paid £42 for her, and tbh, that feels like the most I’d probably pay for it. She was sold for a bit more than that at release, so not surprised she’s gone down somewhat in the aftermarket. Now I own this one, I don’t feel like buying the more common black variant – I think owning just this one is enough. If you’re OK with some flaws in your figure, you may like this one if you can get it for a reasonable price, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it. She is shiny though.

Zanin – Devilman

Here we have Zanin from Devilman. I did end up getting the fully silver limited edition earlier in the holiday, but I prefer coloured versions, so picked this one up with little hesitation when I saw him:

I love the Devilman designs – they have a good range of colours and detailed designs. I love the shiny blue colour he has, and his wolf-insect head.

Let’s look closer at that head:

OK, I didn’t get the focus quite right…. His chest eyes have coppery irises, and blood vessel details, which make them look good without looking plain. His eyes on his main head are painted nicely too, but there is less to them, lol. The paintwork is nice, with a black wash that fits well.

Side of his head:

Ah, better photo. Here we can see they limited the black wash/painting to is hair, which works really well. His tentacles are nicely sculpted. We can also see his lower eyes also include what almost looks like an eyebrow.

Left:

Despite being articulated, there’s a limit amount of ways you can pose him without falling over. This dude doesn’t have a base. His body is an eye-catching shape, but this has the downside he won’t be cheap to get shipped boxed, as the box is huge, which is why I didn’t buy him prior to going on holiday, and planned to pick him up whilst I was there. Still diggin’ the shiny blue paint.

Right:

The hair texture on his legs is similar to his mane, and looks good. His head doesn’t have the best transtion to his neck. Still lovin’ him though.

Back:

… more eyes! He can see us from here too! The contrasting but complimentary colours look really good. I think they picked well here. Also the veins on his back are sculpted well, and painted in a shade of purple I like. There’s some shading on the green part of his back, to emphasise the ridges, which I think works well.

Overall, I’m really happy with this figure, and was glad I could pick him up. I’d recommend these Fewture figures to fans of Devilman. There is a mildly dated feel about them, but they’re still really good eye-catching figures. Just don’t expect to be able to pose them all that much. And prepare for some of them to be hefty on the postage, when they don’t fit in SAL small packet!

Christmas Rei Ayanami – Evangelion – Sega

So… it’s summer. So let’s review a Christmas figure.

Of Rei, naturally:

This is a really nice figure imo – her hair is nicely detailed, she has a good expression, and for the most part, she’s well painted. I like the way she’s posed, holding her jacket because it gives us a good view of her plugsuit-inspired dress. The figure also features a couple of different finishes, so her dress and boots are pearlescent, her coat is shiny and the other elements are more matte.

Face:

A fair amount of detail went into her face, which is a bit rare for prize figures. The fluffy parts suffer for being plastic, but I don’t find them too bad on this figure, and not as distracting as other figures I’ve blogged about. I love the red shininess of her jacket, and the badge on it is painted well. Some of the red does escape onto the edging, though. Also she’s one of the few Rei figures where the hair doesn’t go flat, and I really like this about this figure.

Left:

She sports a headband, which is a nice addition to help hide the seams, but being flat to her head it does look a little odd. She has quite a slender pose, which fits Rei. I like the red band at the top of her shoes.

Right:

Here we can see the fact her hair is moulded fully at the back, which is a rarity. The creases in her jacket give a sense of realism. We can see a bit of a seamline in her dress, but it doesn’t stand out much. Her legs aren’t shaded, but not much shows, so I don’t find that fact too significant. We can also see the headset she’s wearing, not sure why. Maybe she’s posing during a music video or some stage show…?

Back:

A bit of a miss with the red paint on her jacket, d’oh. Her bum sticks out slightly, which works well. I like the way the logo is printed on her jacket – I think silver paint was a nice choice, and the print is nice and crisp. The present paint looks OK from the back, but is a little dodgy on the front – some of the yellow paint wasn’t applied thickly enough.

Present boot:

Rockets… what’s possibly clips… yep, this appears to be presents from NERV! The bow is painted nicely, but there is a bit of a miss on the green paint on the ribbon, but it isn’t too bad.

Back:

Looks OK, nothing too special to say about the back. The toes on the boot feel a bit short though – feel like they could’ve lengthened them so it would feel more proportionate.

Base:

“December 24th 2004, we came in order to carry out a special duty to you tonight”. Mmm, special duty… Is Shinji getting the prize gift? I think the presents in the boot will keep Asuka happy for a bit.

Overall, I really like this figure. It’s definitely one of the nicer prize figures I have. Also being a Christmas figure she was really cheap – they don’t tend to keep their value as a lot of people don’t feel like displaying them outside of the Christmas period and end up selling them. But me being me, appreciates a good figure all year round :P. Yes, even the Christmas ones. If you need more Christmas and Rei in your life, I’d recommend this figure.

Seiki Hokuhou – Kantai Collection

This figure was a bit of a random buy for me. I was considering the scale, but the price for it turned out to be quite hefty, so I set my heart on getting one or two of the KanColle prize figures, as I don’t play KanColle, but I like some of the character designs.

So here is Seiki Hokuhou:

I liked this one as she looks quite cute, and I like all of the extras around her. With the present and the items she’s holding, it feels like it’s her birthday :).

Close-up of her face:

She has a bit of a worried expression, some food and a li’l plane. Nothing here is super-detailed, but what’s there looks good. I think he eye print could do with a little bit more vibrancy – it feels a little on the faded side. The Japanese sweet has a couple of flaws, but nothing seriously bothersome for me. Her hair has been done in a plainer style, but it’s one that works with this figure.

“Fiery chain chomp” companion:

These guys are cute, but quite basically printed. Here you can see the dots in the printing process, and I’m not using the macro lens here. From a distance they look OK, but close up, you can see this detail.

Present:

This present has been nicely done, and has a lovely anchor detail that has been sculpted well. Love the themeing here. The ribbon looks good and is flowing in the imaginary airflow around her. Dress side:

Here they’ve even thought to detail her underwear underneath her dress, which even has a little bow painted on. The dress shading itself is subtle, but effective. This is a figure that couldn’t be left plain without looking super-dull.

Left:

Here we see the bottom layer of the sweet is trying to run away. Pretty sure that’s not intentional. The edging on the cloth it sits on could’ve done with some work – the white edging would’ve been nicer if it had been fully painted red imo. The present is looking very spiffy though – it is shaded well, and he red band is crisp on this side. The dress also looks good, and a decent amount of sculpting went into the rips in her dress.

Right:

The back of her hair has a fair amount of life, and looks good. The poles the accessories are sitting on aren’t exactly hiding, so you have to wilfully ignore them.

Back:

Here we can see a greater amount of shading on her dress, which is what partly makes this figure. We can also see her feet and legs are well-posed and give her a good sense of motion. The anklets and bracelets she wears are also nice details.

Pantsu:

Yep, she has a pair of black panties. For those that care. I like the fact they’ve detailed them in. Here we can also see that her toes are sculpted well.

Overall, I think this is a decent prize figure. It’s one of the ones that is well-shaded, which is a win in my book. If I were to make one change, it’d be make the face print a bit more vibrant. And then align the sweet properly, though this probably isn’t incorrect on other instances of this figure. I’d recommend this figure to anyone who is interested in owning her. I think she’s reasonably available at a good price.