Togainu no Chi - Akira - ES Series - 1/8 (Kotobukiya) Figure Review

This is a review of the delicious Akira from ‘Togainu no Chi’. I absolutely adored the game (in all its yaoi goodness :P) and it’s fantastic that Koto are putting effort into releasing male figures – let’s just hope they keep it up!

The face is beautiful! A definite bishounen extraordinaire! Although he does look pretty grumpy, haha :3.

Overall the paint job is great. The jacket is particularly well done with the fur on the hood even being slightly transparent for added affect. Akira’s hair is also painted in this style which looks lovely – it’s nice to see that Koto are being creative with their painting. Interestingly, the only thing that isn’t shaded is Akira’s t-shirt which has been left block orange. There are some minor glitches on his necklace and the bandage on his hand but these are barely noticeable.

As for the skin tone, I thought it was a little orange in places. I’m not sure whether you can see it so well in the pictures, but where the skin on his face is very pale that on his neck and chest super tanned -_-. I think Koto were a little heavy handed with the shading but other than that it’s absolutely fine.

He dagger is a really nicely detailed and as a bonus it was easy to insert into Akira’s hand :D. I always worry about accessories ‘cus I’m pretty clumsy and easily break things, so this was a real relief! Lolol butt close-up XD.

The base is really a highlight of the figure - a definite step up from the typical plastic circle you get with most figures. Admittedly I did have a bit of trouble actually getting Akira on the base though :S. He’s only attached by a single peg on the one foot, so not only does he wobble a little it’s also slightly tricky getting him to ‘sit right’ on the rocks. Nothing you can’t solve with about five minutes of tweaking though :D.

Mark 8/10

Hiiro no Kakera Kotobukiya One Coin Figure Set Review

In normal circumstances I stick to the rule that if I haven’t seen the series / read the manga / played the game, then I don’t buy the figures. These little guys were so cute, however, that I couldn’t resist! I can’t wait till I’ve got free time so I’ll actually be able to watch the anime. >.<

These are a brilliant example of Kotobukiya’s One Coin Grande trading figure collections. Which are great. Really great. I’ve also got both Hetalia sets which are amazingly cute and detailed, so it’s nice to see that Koto are keeping up the quality.

As I haven’t seen the series yet I’m pretty limited in what I can say about these figures, so I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves. The detail and quality of each figure is stunning as they’re so small (each figure measures around 4cm).

These have been re-released pretty recently, so if you have the opportunity then buy them! You won’t be disappointed! Mark: 9/10

Durarara!! - Niitengo - Toy's Works Collection 2.5 Anime Figure Review

As a massive Durarara!! fan, I was genuinely excited about receiving these trading figures. I hadn’t bought a Niitengo set before and from reading a few reviews of earlier sets I was pretty hopeful that they were going to be good. When they arrived, however, I was bitterly disappointed. They suck. And not just a little bit. They suck a whole lot. D: This review will be a gradual breakdown of what it is exactly that makes these trading figures so lame.

As you can see from the pictures of the Kidas, the character designs are clearly pretty lazy. I mean, most of the ‘variations’ are exactly the same exactly figure with a slightly different face. For example, the two Anris are identical apart for the eyebrows. -_-

On top of that, the quality of the bases is terrible. As my first Niitengo set, I thought that their system of attaching the figures to the bases by little pegs on their feet was a pretty good idea - unobtrusive and a lot less fuss than nendoroid petit stands. When I actually attached the figures, however, most of the bases cracked. -_- Now, not only do I have damaged bases but they’ve also got big ugly lines across them.

Rather than the nice matte skin tone that you get with Nendoroids or Kotobukiya’s One Coin Grande trading figures, these have a nasty plasticy sheen that I associate with fakes. This is really annoying as these are 100% official and from Amiami. D:

The paint jobs were generally okay – which isn’t surprising due to how simple the colour schemes are. One howling problem, as you can clearly see below, was with Mikado’s mouth. How did that get past quality control? The placement is obviously way off -_-. Luckily I got two Mikados, one of which had a correct mouth, so thankfully I wasn’t lumped with the weird looking one, but it’s still pretty bad.

Overall these were definitely not worth the price tag of around 6000yen. If you’re considering buying them, only do so at a discount – it’ll save you going through the same pain I did!

Mark: 4/10

Tales of Vesperia - Flynn Scifo - ALTAiR - 1/8 Figure Review

This is a review for the wonderful Flynn from ‘Tales of Vesperia’. If you haven’t played the game or watched the film then go and do it! :D They are sooo good! >.<



Right, Flynn is a little tricky to get nowadays for a decent price. Unlike his partner figure Yuri, Flynn hasn’t had a re-release, so most retailers will try and charge you an insane price due to the rarity -_-. I was lucky enough to get him from a wonderful seller on myfigurecollection.net at a reasonable price, so I’d recommend browsing through second hand adds on there and figure.fm.



This is quite possibly the best paint job I have ever seen on a figure. No kidding! I can’t spot a single flaw. The detail on Flynn’s armour and clothing is perfect - even the paint job on mini-Flynn is stunning. I suppose you could argue that Alter haven’t done much in the way of shading on this figure, but then that’s just them staying true to the original artwork of the game. Nice! :D

That face! >.< Aww, we need more male figures like this.



Back view! Lovely detail on the cape. I like how it looks like it’s swaying in a breeze, it adds a sense of movement to the figure.



Flynn’s pose is nice and dynamic - I like the hand on the sword especially :D.



Mini Flynn! He is so CUTE! Like a nendoroid petit but cuter (if that’s possible haha). With some figures the quality goes downhill the smaller you get, but not here :D. The paint job is beautifully detailed and I can’t spot any seam lines. As you can see from the photos he comes with his own mini sword, sheath and shield. These are attached by tiny little pegs and I was really worried I would break them when putting them on – thankfully they’re all okay! :D





Umm…negatives? I honestly can’t think of any. Flynn could be the holy grail of my figure collection.

10/10

Togainu no Chi - Shiki and Akira One Coin Grande Military Versions - Mini Figure Review

Mini review for the One Coin Grande figures Shiki and Akira from the visual novel Togainu No Chi!



I love these little guys soooo much! I’ve been after them for ages, but they’re really hard to find for a decent price D: Luckily I found a fantastic seller who was happy to let them go for $10 a piece ^_^ They’re really tiny and fantastically detailed – I love Shiki’s itty bitty chair!



Hat swap!



What’s that you’ve got there, Lelouch?



Surprise XD

Well, as the figures are tiny I’ll keep the review tiny as well :D. These guys are brilliant! Super cute and perfectly detailed – definite buy for any Togainu fan! XD

10/10

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica - Petite Nendoroid Set (GSC) Anime Figure Review

These little guys arrived yesterday :D. Puella Magi Madoka is one of the best anime I’ve watched lately, so I’m an absolute sucker for figures from the series. On to the review! (I think you can see a bit of a creepy reflection of me in the background of the photo - ugh, master photographer I am not, haha!)



Right – these are nendoroid petites and they’re trading figures. Trading figures tend to have lower quality than individually bought figures as they’re much cheaper. If you’re planning to buy the box set, retailers usually warn that they’re ‘randomly packed’ and that you aren’t guaranteed every type of figure. Personally I’ve never had this happen, but it’s not unheard of – sometimes producers mess up.

About the lower quality – my set has been pretty mixed. Some of them are absolutely perfect, others…not so much. I’ll go into this in this in a moment.

Let’s start off with the Madokas! School-girl Madoka is sooo cute :D. The paint job was perfect down to the tiny details on Kyubey’s face. As for Magical-girl version Madoka, I was really impressed with the paint quality on her dress. There are hardly any problems and she looks great!




My thoughts on the two Sayakas are really mixed. School-girl Sayaka is my favourite out of the whole petite set. The painting is impeccable, her expression is perfect and she even comes with a mini Kyubey!



Magical-girl Sayaka, however, sucks D: . The hole on her back to attach her to the stand was way too small, so I had to enlarge it myself and when that didn’t work I had to glue her to it. -_- The paint job also wasn’t that great. Just goes to show how mixed trading figures can be.

The Mamis! They’re lovely :D. As you can see the paint quality of magical-girl Mami’s skirt and legs is a bit shaky, but it’s not really that noticeable. I also think her chin is a bit big… she looks a little odd 0_0. School-girl Mami is fine.



Normal Kyoko is all good, I really like her expression. For some reason, magical-girl Kyoko had a massive blob of dried glue stuck to her face -_-. I’ve peeled off most of it so you can’t see it in the photo, but I have no idea how that got through quality control. On the other hand the rest is good and her spear is just lovely :D.



Where school-girl Homu is great (the glasses and hair is sooo cute!) there are poblems with the magical-girl version -_-. I just can’t get the arms in the right position, so her whole pose is a little off, meh…



The mystery figure for this set is God version Madoka (or Godoka, haha) . She’s stunning! The detail and painting is wonderful, so no let downs there :D. With all the small parts she is somewhat fiddly to put together, but she is sooo worth it!



Overall this nendoroid petite set has its hits and its misses. The quality is great in places, and really not so great in others (Sayaka/Kyoko – ugh…) so they’re pretty unpredictable. On the other hand for the price you’re getting pretty much the complete cast of Puella Magi Madoka in a super cute form, so I can’t really complain.

Mark: 6/10

Hellsing - Alucard - SIF EX - Bust Model (Yamato) Anime Figure Review

This is undoubtedly my holy grail of figures. It’s taken me three years (no exaggeration, haha) to find one. He’s out of stock everywhere (due to him being released back in 2006), so I’ve been checking ebay and Mandrake religiously for aaaages. And three weeks ago he turned up on ebay – I don’t think I’ve ever ordered anything so fast in my life, haha! And on to the review:



Paint quality – the red shading is impeccable. Admittedly I do think the skin is a little too tanned for Alucard (how would a vampire get a tan?) but it’s not a huge problem.

They even added a creepy face thing! Nice added detail!



Is it just me or do his eyes look a little crazy? But then Alucard is crazy…so maybe it makes sense…



I found that his face looks a little young for the Alucard depicted in the anime, OVAs and manga. It’s quite plump, and maybe could have done with being a little more angular.

There are some pretty messy joins on the hair. I’ve only pictured one here, but there is another on the front part of the figure. Little bit annoying, but at least the more noticeable one is on the back of the figure.



From this angle Alucard looks like he’s got a quiff 0_0… At least it doesn’t look like that from the front, thank God… XD



I love how the cravat is turning into a bat! Such a cool idea and the added shading looks great!



The base is a plinth black marble painted thing. It’s pretty heavy – so if you do manage to find one that’s going to rack up postage costs.



Overall – I love him. Despite all of the little problems I’ve mentioned, I think I’ve been searching for him for so long that I was going to love him no matter what XD

Mark: 8/10

Note: He is meant to be displayed with a partner ‘Walter’ bust, which I also have – so expect that review soon XD