Tag: figma

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:

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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. 

Kyoshinhei – Figma SP-043

This Figma I was looking at on and off, for ordering. I ended up getting a promotional code from Solaris Japan, so I decided to use it on this fellah:

This review’s been a long time in coming, due to the fact the stand was missing in the one I was sent :(. Contacted Solaris, who sent a replacement straight out, so all worked out in the end :D. This dude doesn’t have the ability to stand without it, so yeah. Wasn’t gonna settle for no stand! 

Love his big wings – these don’t feel too delicate, which is nice. The texture on his body is well done, and detailed.

Side with the wings:

They have some depth to them, which helps them stand out. He has a butt spike stand and a claw stand part. I’m happy with him standing, so went with spiking him in the butt. Certain poses probably work better with the claw stand, but I like the butt spike, as they’re good at holding Figma in place. 

Back:

Yeah, he’s another dude that exceeds the size of my backdrop… The contrast between the spines on his wings and the wings themselves is nice. Does give him a really striking appearance. 

Here he is with his ‘weapon’:

He comes with two sets of hands – ones in the first photo and these to hold the spike, which looks disturbingly like frozen pee. It can be a bit awkward to move him around once it is in his hands though – the spike is pretty thin, so I wouldn’t try to stress it too much – if you’re playing around with him, I’d recommend detaching the spike halves, then connecting them when ready. 

Above, with the pee spike:

This thing is pretty big! Here we can also see the multitude of spikes he has on his body, without the wings. The back spikes are the wing replacement parts. I think both configurations look really good. When I bought him, I planned to display him with wings, no questions, but upon getting him out of the box, I then debated, prior to setting on yes, wings. 

Close-up of his front, and alternate head:

Here we have him chomping on… something. Or maybe spitting? Here I’m showing my ignorance of the source material ¬¬. Love the sculpt and paint on his body though. Lovely amount of texture and detail, and enough soft parts to keep him poseable. 

Right side:

He’s quite a lithe chap, some visibility of joints on his arm. Most of them are pretty well hidden, worst offender is the elbows. 

Back:

The spikes are well-blended into his back, and really look a part of him. The separate parts that cover up the places where the wings go blend in well, and don’t look out of place. I live the amount of detailing with all the dimples back here. Gives him a strong, gnarled monster vibe. 

Close-up on the spikes:

The orange really compliments his look, and it’s transparency without looking naff. So that’s a strong positive to me :). 

Overall, I love this figure and glad I got him. It’s fiddly doing the wing switch, as you need to pull out his joints, so it’s not something you’d want to do regularly. I love his looks, as I’m a sucker for monstery things, especially those with wings, so this one definitely ticks the boxes. Definitely wouldn’t want to meet him on a dark night! Would recommend him, but not at a high premium, as he doesn’t come with too many extras for a Figma, but he certainly looks good imo, and poses well. 

Figure Spotlight: Figma Silver Crow

To complete the three “larger” Silver Crow figures that exist, here is Figma Silver Crow:

He has an extra-tall stand, which is great for displaying him. I love the lithe body on this silver crow, and Figma excel at the thinner body types imo. His wings look nice too, but I’ve always had a problem with one wing getting it to stay in good places, and it has always had a habit of dropping down. The second one has got a bit worse over time. It’s a bit of a shame, because he looks really good with his wings posed properly, but if he’s statically placed, you can use some putty to support the wings in place. Here, I managed to get them to stay in the positions shown. 

Left side:

Looks good. His knee joints are rather visible, which will likely put some people off. 

Right side:

Here it seems I went for a non-charged gauntlet… showing his other forearm accessory choice. Both look good. 

Back:

Some nice scuplting on his upper back. Here you can see the pegs which have the hinge in, for the wings. The weight of the wings has a tendency to pull them down. Might be possible to add a layer of polish on the pegs, to prevent them slipping down. There are some metal covers which partially hide the hinges. 

Close-up of a wing:

Nice and silvery :). Only downside of these is seeing the S. H. Figurarts and admiring the effect they achieved on those. 

There are some transparent “charge” effects you can put on his arms, but these kept falling off All. The. Time. so they went back into storage, and I couldn’t be bothered with the fiddling to get them back onto his arms for the photo shoot.. sorry. Definitely one of the downsides to this figure. Overall, the base figure is very nice though, and I would recommend this one for anyone who wants a Silver Crow figure. 

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…

Atlas – Portal 2 – Figma

It was my birthday recently, and my husband bought me the Portal 2 Figmas… well… erm, I ordered them, he paid for them XD. So thanks!

First up, Atlas:

Aaand this is all the accessories he comes with, other than some extra hands. Not even a companion cube… though I do have one of those. He his very nicely done though, and the mechanical parts have come out very nicely, and give him a very complex look. 

For posing though, he has some features that make up for it. He can look at you with suspicion: 

Or after a night of heavy drinking:

The top panel goes up and down, and can be twisted, as shown above. His eye can fully open and close, plus the eyelids are independent, which partly make up for a lack of accessories. 

Here he is having a nap:

Left side:

I like his fingers-spread hand. The electronics lool good from this side too.

Right side:

The portal gun looks good, and is kinda shiny on the beam part, which shows in the front shots.

Back:

The logo on his butt is crisp and clean, and they didn’t skimp out on the details on the back of his ball. 

Overall, he’s a very nice looking Figma, and decently well-articulated. With the Japanese price, he’s kind of on the pricey side, but worth it if you’re a Portal 2 fan. UK price… yeah, um about that. Juuust a little crazy! The retailers here are selling him at the “maybe if it was DX GLaDoS”  price. If you want this guy, I’d suggest importing him, as even paying the import charges would be cheaper!

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.