Tag Archives: anime

Apr 8 2017

Figma “Sword Art Online II:” Leafa (ALO Version) by Max Factory

I don’t often get the time to squeeze a Figma review into Anime Saturday. These take me a lot longer than my usual Saturday morning prize figure fodder. But I was off this week, and it seemed a great opportunity to open up a new Figma I got a few weeks back. Besides, these things are really piling up, and I haven’t done a Figma review since last October when I checked out the ALO Version of Asuna. So, let’s check out another of the ALO Avatars from Sword Art Online II… Leafa!

There’s really not much new to say about the packaging. It’s a window box, it’s collector friendly, and it’s great for keeping all those bits and bobs together. I also love the character art on the side panels, because right now, I don’t have room to display my Figmas, so they’re boxed and lined up on bookshelves. They look great that way and I have easy access to them. I’m usually content to hunt for deals on Figmas, but I actually pre-ordered Leafa to make sure I didn’t miss out like I did on the first releases of Sinon and Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill. Thankfully, those are getting second releases, but I think Leafa is less likely to.

I’m a big fan of the costume designs in ALO, particularly Leafa’s. The sweeping jacket-skirt, the ballooning shoulders, the ragged cut sleeves and stockings, all make for some great swashbuckling fantasy garb. As usual, there’s a ton of sharp detail in the outfit. You get sculpted stitch lines in her corset, the gold bangles on her wrists, and the finery of her bodice. The coloring on this figure is pure perfection, from the dominant green and white, down to the yellow and brown accents. The pale shade of green and fine lining done on her hair tie is particularly sylph-tastic, which is a word I just invented and promise to never use again. There’s something about the look of these figures, whether its the quality of the plastic, or the rich coloring, or a combination of both, but there’s nothing else quite like a Figma.

Leafa’s portrait includes three different expressive faces. You get the standard smiling one, the angry, shouty face, and an adorable surprised and/or embarrassed face. All three of these are perfect, especially thanks to the gorgeous printing on her eyes.  I’ll also note here, that her ponytail is on a ball joint and the yellow they used for her hair is extremely rich and vibrant.

Obviously, Leafa comes with the familiar sprue of hands, mostly of the usual varieties: Relaxed hands, splayed hands, sword-holding hands, and fists. You also get a really cool piece, which is her hand interlocked with Kirito’s. It’s one that I can’t get much use out of now, but I hope to remedy that soon by picking up the ALO version of Kirito while I still can.

Next up, she has her sword, and I guess I’m a bad fan, because for the life of me I can’t remember if it had a name. Hopefully it didn’t and that’s why I can’t remember it. Because it would be folly to try to make a sword this small fit the scabbard, the SAO Figmas have tried different means of trickery. Traditionally, you get an unsheathed sword and a scabbard with a hilt you can plug into it, to make it look like it’s in the scabbard. Leafa mixes that up a bit, by giving you a scabbard, a blade with crossguard, a crossguard, and only one hilt. Now, follow me on this one. To “sheath the sword,” you pull the hilt off, peg it into the tiny crossguard, then peg that into the scabbard. The problem here is that the pegs are so goddamn tiny and thin, that it isn’t a question of whether they will snap, but more likely when. Is this just a way to save money by not including two hilts? On a $65 figure??? Whatever the case, be careful with the sword, folks!

Leafa also comes with her amulet on a string. I like that they included this, but I can’t really get it to lay flat around her neck, so I doubt I’ll be displaying her with it. It’s just as well as in the anime she usually kept it tucked betwixt her ample bosom. She does look great holding it… the necklace, I mean, the bosom.

And finally, Leafa comes with her set of wings. These peg into her back, very much the same way they did with ALO Asuna. You can use either an independent peg, or an adapter to use with the included stand. The regular peg doesn’t do a very good job of holding them in, but they work perfectly with the stand.

Leafa set me back around $65, a price which is admittedly getting a little steep for me. I don’t think it’s a bad value for the quality and all you’re getting, but with Figma prices all over the place, it feels odd to pay less for some of the KanColle Fleet Girls, which have a lot more accessories. Hell, it wasn’t all that long ago that I got Figma Link for like forty bucks. Then again, I’d bet even odds that Leafa may turn up for less after she’s been out a little while. Nonetheless, here was a case where I didn’t want to risk missing out while waiting for a deal, and after spending a morning playing around with her, I have no regrets making that decision.

Apr 1 2017

SEGA Hard Girls: SEGA Saturn by SEGA

Just in case the three times “SEGA” appears in the title didn’t give it away, today’s feature involves SEGA and the amazing gift that is SEGA Hard Girls. Based on the premise of SEGA’s video game consoles remade in the form of goddesses and having to graduate from school, SeHa Girls spans everything from light novels to anime to (appropriately enough) video games. It’s like a ridiculous miracle handed down from heaven for a SEGA Fanboy like me. And of course, there are figures too! You didn’t ask for it. You probably didn’t want it. But, on this Anime Saturday morning, I’m checking out the lovely lady that is SEGA Saturn personified! Hey, at least it isn’t something from KanColle or SAO for a change!

Saturn comes in a very standard prize figure package, magnificently branded for the Saturn console. Sure, it’s the usual fully enclosed box with perforations on the sides to make handles, but I just adore the presentation here. From the proud SEGA logo in the corner to the “SEGA SATURN” logo running down the side.  There’s some great artwork and shots of the figure, and just enough English to let you know what it is you’re looking at. Inside, Saturn comes locked between two plastic trays. I should confess, the Saturn is probably my least favorite of SEGA’s consoles, but I still have a soft spot for it in my heart, as I do all of SEGA’s hardware. I built some great memories off of that machine. Anyway, there’s a bit of assembly required on this figure, including plugging in her arms and getting her set up on the base, but you can get her ready for display in no time at all.

The 32-bit Goddess dons a black dress with a belt designed to look like the buttons on the front of the console. On top of that, she has a white sleeveless jacket with pink piping and detached sleeves that match. The pins along the right breast of the jacket are designed to simulate the buttons on the Japanese Saturn controller. Her high-heeled boots sport the Saturn S and also have blue console buttons at the tops, and her ensemble is rounded out with a wide collar that floats around her neck, also sporting the Saturn S logo.

Saturn wields twin staffs, with glorious 3D Saturn logos suspended in their heads. Both of the staffs levitate mysteriously in the palms of her open hands, proving that SEGA is both wondrous and magical. The floating staffs, combined with her pose, make her look like some kind of angelic 32-bit Messiah.

The portrait is simple but cute. Saturn features her black hair secured by pink rings into two impressively large pigtails. She’s got large, perfectly printed eyes, one blue and one greenish blue, and an adorable little smirk. The quality of plastic and paint on this piece is overall solid, but trails a bit behind some of my other SEGA prize figures. Not bad, especially if we’re grading on a curve because of price, just not exceptional either.

Saturn’s base is… a Saturn console! And a gray Japanese version, at that! The details, like the buttons and logo, are all painted on, and you get two translucent blue squares with the Saturn logos that peg in beside each of her feet. It was a little hard to get her pegs seated properly due to a particularly tight fit, but she eventually went in there. I don’t know that I’d risk disassembling her too many times.

Fun, simple, cute… these are all ways I would describe this figure. I’ve had my eye on the SeHa Girls figures for a while and I went with Saturn here first because I was able to get a really good deal on (sixteen bucks shipped!) her from a US Seller. I wasn’t 100% committed on picking up the others, but now that I have this one in hand, I think I’m sold adding Dreamcast and Mega Drive to my collection. Alas, I’ll likely have to go with a Japanese seller on those, so it could be a little while before I revisit this line on Anime Saturday.

Mar 25 2017

KanColle: 41cm Twin Gun Mount for Nagato “Super Premium” Figure by SEGA

Welcome to another relaxing Anime Saturday Morning! Back in February, I took a look at SEGA’s Battleship Nagato “Super Premium” Prize Figure. I loved the figure, but lamented the fact that the seller screwed me out of her Gun Mount. Well, after some hunting I was able to find a Japanese seller with reasonable shipping and after a little wait, I finally have Nagato all kitted out. So, consider today the second part of that feature, and if you happened to miss it the first time, I recommend checking out the figure review before reading this review for what is essentially an add-on piece.

To clear up any confusion, most of the KanColle prize figures put out by Taito and SEGA are not fully outfitted with their weapons, and I certainly don’t mind that. It makes the armed ones all the sweeter. But, SEGA’s SPM Battleship Nagato was one of the rare occasions where they gave collectors the option to buy her armaments separately and that’s what we’re checking out today. The kit comes in a fully enclosed box very similar to Nagato’s. Even with the slight amount of English copy on the box, they still do a good job of indicating what’s in the box. It’s also worth mentioning that this kit is designed so that you can display it on its own, without the figure, or perhaps beside Nagato. I’m not sure why anybody would want to do that, but I’ll start there anyway.

There’s a fair amount of assembly required here, but the rig goes together very smoothly and when you’re all done you have a pretty cool display piece that rests on its own stand. I like the fact that the stand doesn’t feel like an afterthought. Even though, I will likely never use this stand again, it’s clear that SEGA put some work into it, sculpting it in a smoked, semi-transparent plastic and giving it a gantry style look. There’s also a name plate (in Japanese of course!) and the entire gun mount tabs right into the stand for easy removal.

The guns are overall pretty clean, with only a slight degree of weathering here and there. There’s also some useful articulation, with each of the eight gun barrels are independently hinged and the all four turrets able to swivel. And that brings us to the moment of truth…

Awww, YEAH! The rig tabs right into Nagato’s back and holds in place very well. It also looks amazing on her. Sure, I can get this same look with my Nagato Figma (a figure I still need to review here one day), but this version is so much bigger and awe inspiring. The guns perfectly compliment her pose as she looks like she’s about to unload with all her weapons. There’s even a spot on Nagato’s stand if you want to transfer the little name plate.

This add on kit ran me $30 shipped, which was a pretty good deal considering I had to get it shipped from Japan. When you combine it with the cost of the figure, that brings the whole piece to about $70. It’s a lot to pay for a prize figure, but then this is no ordinary prize figure. She’s fully scaled and so far beyond what I tend to think of when I think of prize figures. SEGA absolutely outdid themselves with this one and she is most definitely the showpiece of my Kancolle collection. The only shame here is that SEGA didn’t do fellow Battleship, Mutsu in the same scale and style.

Mar 4 2017

Arpeggio of the Blue Steel Ars Nova DC: Iona by SEGA

Who’s ready for another Anime Saturday, eh? I’ve got quite a backlog of anime gals I want to get around to opening up and today I’m just pulling one at random off the pile. It’s Iona, the Mental Model of the renegade Fleet of Fog submarine I-401 from Arpeggio of the Blue Steel! If you haven’t seen this series yet, I highly recommend it and at only twelve episodes plus Cadenza, it’s a pretty quick ride. A while back I looked at Max Factory’s Figma of Iona and today I’m checking out Taito’s prize figure.

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The figure comes in a fully enclosed box with perforations on the side to make handles. It’s pretty standard stuff for a prize figure, but it’s colorful, collector friendly, and features a shot of the figure on the front and some artwork from the anime on the side panel. There’s precious little in the way of English on the package, so you really need to know what you’re looking at here. Like Figma’s Iona, this one is also based off of her look from the post-series film and not from the series itself. That’s fine, but one of these days, I’d like to get a figure of Iona in her darker blue sailor uniform.

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And here she out of the box, plugged into her base, and ready to go. At just under 8 1/2-inches, Inoa is closer to a fully scaled figure than your average prize figure. She actually scales perfectly with SEGA’s “Super Premium” releases. I like the pose well enough. Iona is balancing on her right foot with her left foot kicked up behind her a bit. Her arms are out away from her sides and her hair is kicking up around them. There’s a nice sense of kinetism to the composition and it shows off the figure splendidly.

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As mentioned, the costume is the two-tone paler blue version, which most of the Iona merch tends to gravitate towards. She has a white sailor’s collar with blue striping, a pink neckerchief, white knee-high socks, and tall white boots with blue lacing. She also has her fleet insignia on the lower back of her blouse.

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The portrait is pretty basic. I like the printing on her pale blue eyes and she offers a hint of a smile. The paint is overall fairly solid on this figure, although there are a few little blemishes here and there and the lines could be a little crisper. Still, I’ve got no complaints. afterall, these are the little things that set a twenty dollar figure apart from a hundred and twenty dollar figure.

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I like the base a lot. It consists of a raised black disc with white printing, which includes the fleet insignia, some hexagons and the title of the anime with “Ars Nova DC” in English.

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Now here’s the kicker: I paid less than $13 for Iona shipped from Amazon, where she’s still available at the time this review goes to press. THIRTEEN BUCKS! I’m still gobsmacked by what a great deal she is. Sure, there are better versions of Iona out there, if you’re looking to spend five to ten times that, and those figures are most definitely worth it. But, I get a kick out of hunting these less expensive prize figures, mainly because they still look great and I can put a lot more characters on my shelf and still stay within budget. Also SEGA does have a version of her in her darker outfit, and yes it happens to be on the way to me!

Feb 11 2017

KanColle: Battleship Nagato “Super Premium” Prize Figure by SEGA

Hooray! Anime Saturday is back again! I’m having a lazy morning, sipping some coffee and opening up a brand new Kantai Collection “Super Premium” figure from SEGA. I last visited with this line back in May of last year when I looked at the three Destroyers: Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi. These are technically still prize figures, but they’re also closer to fully scaled figures and I found them to be remarkable, especially considering how ridiculously cheap they were. Today, I’m checking out the big mama of them all, Secretary Ship Nagato! And what lies ahead are some choppy waters filled with both delight and disappointment.

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While the Destroyers came in window boxes, Nagato comes in a fully enclosed and very colorful box with lots of pictures and very little in the way of English text. It’s a pretty damn big box too! The Destroyers were large for prize figures and Nagato is similarly scaled, measuring in at a little over 9-inches tall. Between that and her wide stance, the box had to be considerably larger. Inside, the figure comes nestled between two clear plastic trays with the stand detached. All you have to do is plug her into the base and she’s good to go. But wait… that’s it? Isn’t there something missing? Well, that’s the disappointing part, and I’ll save that for the end.

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…because everything else here is nothing but wonderful. Nagato is absolutely gorgeous and it’s hard to believe that she qualifies as a prize figure by any stretch of the imagination. The Secretary Ships, Nagato and Mutsu are my favorite two character designs from the anime and it’s awesome to see one of them get this Super Premium format treatment. The costume includes her sleek rudder boots, crimson stockings, which are held up by straps that attach to her armament belt, and secured by adorable little anchor snaps! She has a very short white skirt, and her cut-off top exposes her midriff and shoulders, and her long, finger-less gloves. I also love the simple but effective pose here.  She’s looks so damn majestic standing there with her right hand on her rigging belt and her left arm thrust out, about to issue the order to attack the cursed Abyssinal Fleet.

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The quality of plastic and paintwork on this figure are both exceptional. The colors are vibrant and the lines are so sharp, you really need to get in pretty close to see any imperfections. When you take a budget-priced prize figure and blow it up to this scale, I would expect to see plenty of opportunities for sloppy paint work, but there’s simply no evidence of that here. What’s more, the skin tones are soft and even and the plastic looks and feels great.

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The portrait is spot on, with Nagato offering up a characteristically stern and defiant expression. I really dig the way her long hair crowns the head and blows majestically in the breeze and her big beautiful eyes are perfectly printed. Naturally, the head sculpt includes her radar and antenna array.

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The simple black disc base is absolutely huge to accommodate her wide stance, but it looks kind of vacant. It also has a rectangular outline in the front. What could that be for? So, yeah… here comes the disappointing part. She’s obviously missing her 41cm Twin Gun Mount. This was one of the rare cases where the figure and armaments were sold separately. The Outfitting Kit included a second stand to display the gun mount independently, but you could also combine it with the figure and stand. I knew this going in, but the seller stated that both were included. When just the figure arrived and I challenged the seller, the response was ship it back for a refund. The truth was, I love the figure, and opted to take a hit and keep her.

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Nagato set me back $40 shipped, which admittedly would have been an amazing price for both the figure and Gun Mount. But hell, even for just the figure, the price seems right. And besides, Nagato spent 95% of the anime without her weaponry, so she’s absolutely fine displayed this way. In that regard, it feels like a crime to come away from this beautiful figure with any sense of disappointment. She’s simply amazing in every way. But in the end, I couldn’t let it stand, so I’ve got her Gun Mount coming from another seller in Japan. Naturally, when it arrives I’ll get her all kitted out and we’ll take a second look!

Jan 28 2017

KanColle: Shimakaze (Four Seasons of Chinjufu Naval Base) by Banpresto

Anime Saturday has been gone for a while, I know, but I’m really making an effort to bring it back. This morning, for example, I resisted the urge to stay in bed and read comics and instead, I got up and opened one of the many prize figures that I have stacked in the corner begging for attention. And since it’s been ages since I opened a new KanColle Fleet Girl, that’s exactly what I’m doing today. Let’s have a look at another Shimakaze!

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Yup, I love me some Shimakaze, and this is actually my first Fleet Girl from Banpresto, all the others have been from Taito and SEGA. I stumbled upon this figure one night while doing a little inebriated Amazon browsing and was shocked because I had never seen her before. Yes, I do have most of these prize figures tucked away on a Wish List for easy ordering. Anyway, the price was right and there was only one available so I jumped on it! The figure comes in a fully enclosed box with virtually no English text at all, so this is one of those cases where you really need to know what you’re looking at. There is a familiar Kantai Collection logo on the box, but it too is in Japanese. Inside, the figure itself comes in two parts and needs to be tabbed together. The dock also requires the posts to be plugged into it. The assembly is easy-peasy and when you’re done, here’s what you get…

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Lovely! Shimakaze relaxes on a dock about to start munching on a piece of watermelon while her faithful Rensouhou-Chan stands beside her and looks to be begging for scraps. Now, I’m calling this a dock, but I’ll concede that it might be intended as a table. I’m going with dock because Shimakaze has her trademark striped stockings and rudder boots off, so I’m assuming that she’s paddling her toes in the water. If this was one of Taito’s releases, it would probably have fallen under their “Day Off” series. Neither figure attaches to the dock, so you’re free to place them wherever you want.

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The sculpt here is quite good, although maybe just a tad softer than what I’m used to seeing from the other guys. And while Shimakaze is partly out of uniform from the knees down, everything above that should be readily familiar to any fan of the character. She has her low riding blue pleated skirt, exposing her G-string, her cut-off sailor-style top, with big buttons and black necktie, and her long white gloves with blue and yellow cuffs at her biceps. And no figure of Shimakaze would be complete without her bunny ears hair ribbon. The paint is overall solid. It could be a little sharper in some areas, but there’s nothing overtly bad here when it comes to the paint quality.

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The portrait is excellent. I happen to be a fan of Shimakaze’s more vexed expressions, but here she’s just clearly happy to be enjoying a little down time, and that’s cool. The large eyes are beautifully printed and her pale blonde hair is parted down the back and blowing off to the sides.

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Rensouhou-Chan is as adorable as ever. This is one of the smaller Rensouhou from her retinue. His sculpt is complete with his little flipper arms and bright yellow propeller tail. His guns rise up from his head like antenna and he has an adorable little face painted on the front of his turret head.

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One cool thing is that this Shimakaze fits almost perfectly into the life preserver base from my Taito figure. It’s crazy how well this works despite the two figures being made by two different companies.

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There’s no doubt that this was an impulse buy. I hit that 1-Click Buy It Now the moment I saw it and I’m not disappointed. At about $21 shipped, it’s a pretty decent price. I’ve certainly gotten better Taito Fleet Girl pieces for less, but those were just ridiculously good deals, so I’m not going to hold it against this gal. I’m a sucker for Shimakaze, and I’ll pretty much buy her figures no matter who puts them out.

Dec 10 2016

KanColle: Myoko Class Heavy Cruiser Ashigara Kai II by SEGA

What, What? You want more KanColle? Of course you do! Everyone surely must share my borderline obsessive love for collecting figures from a browser game-slash-anime series, right? Well, that’s a good thing because I do indeed have more Kantai Collection love coming your way on this beautiful Anime Saturday morning. Today I’m checking out another character exclusive to the game and it is indeed The Myoko Class Heavy Cruiser, Ashigara, in her second upgrade, and oh boy is she a beauty!

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The figure comes in a fully enclosed box with perforations on the sides to make handles. It’s pretty standard stuff for a prize figure, but it’s also quite attractive. You get some lovely shots of the figure as well as some gorgeous character art. There is, however, precious little in the way of English on the box. Practically none, in fact, so this is one of those situations where you really need to know what you’re buying. And since Ashigara is a full 1/7 scale figure, the box is pretty tall. The back panel features a picture with simple instructions on assembling Ashigara’s rather large gun mounts. Besides that, you just plug her into the base and she’s good to go.

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And check her out! Most of the KanColle prize figures I own are the smaller ships, basically destroyers and below, which makes sense based on their size and complexity versus the relatively low price point of these figures. But here, SEGA tackled one of the big mamas and brought us a full on Heavy Cruiser in her most powered up form. This is definitely one of the most complex figures I own in either SEGA or Taito’s KanColle lines and she is absolutely splendid.

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Ashigara’s final form, so to speak, sees her wearing a regal purple blouse with white piping, an extravagantly patterned neck tie, a short black skirt, white gloves, white stockings, and a pair of ankle boots. There’s a little bleed through on her white piping and the patterns on her tie could be a little sharper, but I still think the paint on sculpt on her outfit are fantastic for a figure in this price range.

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Her portrait is simple, but attractive. Her long brunette hair shows some stray strands blowing in the wind and she looks off to the side as she is about to unleash the full force of her guns on her hapless adversary.

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And my, what guns she has! As a heavy cruiser, Ashigara is armed to the teeth! Most notable are her two arm assemblies, patterned after the prows of ships. The right contains three turrets and the left two, and each of those turrets are equipped with twin 20.3cm guns. These are harnessed to her back and she clutches the handle on one with her left hand while the other hangs free.

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Next she has two tiny guns hanging off her belt. I’m going to assume these are anti-aircraft guns, but they aren’t called out in her in-game character stats, so I’m not certain.

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Finally, Ashigara features two 61cm quadruple oxygen-powered torpedo mounts, one strapped on each of her thighs. All of her weapons are cast in gray plastic and feature simple, but effective use of detail. The gun barrels are soft plastic, but all the guns on my figure are pretty straight.

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The base is a simple white hexagonal piece with her name and class printed in blue. I really appreciate that her name is properly orientated on the base to the angle that I’m most likely to display her. That was a minor quibble I had with last week’s Sword Art Online figure by SEGA.

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While Ashigara is a full 1/7 scale figure, she isn’t perfectly sized to go with any of my other SEGA KanColle girls. She’s about the same size as the Super Premium Destroyers (Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki) but those are supposed to be younger girls and smaller ships, so Ashigara should be a little bigger. On the other hand SEGA’s Carriers, like Akagi are scaled smaller and closer to Taito’s prize figures. It’s not a big deal for me, as I’m just as happy having each character different, but it’s bound to irritate those looking for a more uniform display for their Fleet Girls.

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And here comes the best part of collecting these prize figures. How much was Ashigara? $18 shipped. Yes, Amazon continues to be a rich source for these imports with many of them shipping from inside the US and also qualifying for free Prime shipping. It’s such a treat not having to deal with long overseas shipping times and currency conversions when buying these imports. If it weren’t for Amazon as a resource, I probably would never have even realized this figure existed let alone have her standing on my shelf right now!

Dec 3 2016

Sword Art Online II: Lisbeth by SEGA

I wanted to start busting into my Kantai Collection Figmas for this weekend’s Anime Saturday, but work and holiday madness just didn’t allow it. As a result, I’m going to dig into my pile of Sword Art Online Prize Figures from SEGA and why not start with a character that doesn’t get a lot of merchandise? How about adorable blacksmith extraordinaire, Lisbeth!

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I’ve looked at some of SEGA’s Super Premium KanColle figures, but this is my first foray into their SAO line. While many of their KanColle pieces are actually fully scaled figures, these fall more into the 6 to 6 1/2-inch scale, which is not too shabby and fits in perfectly with Taito’s SAO offerings. The figure comes in a colorful, fully enclosed box with lots of pictures of what you’re getting. Inside, Lisbeth comes suspended in a plastic bubble and all you have to do is plug her into the base and she’s all ready for display.

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And hot damn, doesn’t she look great? There’s so many things I love about this figure, I’m not sure where to begin. This is, of course, Lisbeth’s ALO Avatar. I certainly wouldn’t have minded a figure of her in her SAO blacksmithing dress, but I’ll happily take her in her ALfheim adventuring gear, particularly since I love the ladies’ costume designs so much. The pose here is cute and she’s obviously mugging for the camera. She’s bent slightly over with one hand on her hip and the other up in the air, almost like she’s flexing.

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The actual armor plates are confined to a chest piece, hip plates, a left shoulder, and grieves. Under that can be seen a slightly poufy blouse, a sort of sideways sash, which just hangs down on the sides and leaves the front and back of her legs open, white ragged cut leggings, and boots. While the details on some of these prize figures can run soft, what’s here the sculpt is sharp and very well developed.

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Still, I think it’s the coloring on this figure that really sells it. The silver edging on the white armor looks fantastic and the red garment with yellow piping makes the whole thing pop beautifully. What’s more, the quality of the paint application is impressive for a figure in this price range. The lines are pretty sharp and the whites are bright. There’s virtually no slop or bleeding to speak of.

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The portrait is just perfect. Lisbeth offers a shy smile. Her gorgeous eyes are perfectly printed and she’s got a hint of freckles. Her short pink hair is kept in place with a little sculpted hairclip. The plastic used for the flesh tone is also quite good and not too waxy. And just check out the paint on her collar ribbon. It’s immaculate!

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The base is a simple white hexagon with Sword Art Online printed on it in both English and Japanese. My only complaint here is the orientation of the statue on the base in relation to the position of the lettering. To display it on my shelf from the ankle I like, I have to have the lettering skewed to one side. It’s probably not a big deal to most, but it aggravates my OCD.

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And, I couldn’t call it a day without an obligatory tushie shot.

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I was originally sticking with Taito for my SAO figures, but I had to go to SEGA to get Lisbeth on my shelf and after experiencing the quality of this piece, I quickly picked up some more. I’d say the quality on this one is on par with Taito’s Aincard Fencer Asuna, but quite a bit better than their ALfheim version of Sinon. Lisbeth set me back about $25, which is more than I’m used to paying for these figures, but I feel it’s still a good value for what you’re getting.

Nov 19 2016

KanColle: Destroyer Shimakaze by Taito

It’s been more than a few Anime Saturdays since I last tortured you all with my Kantai Collection obsession, so let’s visit with another one of Taito’s Fleet Girls. This time, it’s the adorable Shimakaze! Yes, for a change I’m actually looking at a character from the anime series and not just the video game!

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We’ve seen Taito’s packaging many times here, and there isn’t much different here. You get a fully enclosed box with some striping on the bottom half and lots of pictures of the figure inside. Despite Shimakaze kicking back in a life preserver, this release is not classified as one of Taito’s “Day Off” figures. I’m guessing that’s because Shimakaze is dressed in her uniform and not a swimsuit. Then again, some of the other “Day Offs” were in uniform. I’m so confused!!! Also, I know what you’re thinking. Hey, that looks an awful lot like the Submarine Ro-500 figure that you featured a few weeks back. Yes, there are certainly some similarities here, but it’s still an entirely new figure, preserver, and base.

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So, as already mentioned, Shimakaze reclines on a red and white life preserver and decked out in her uniform, but minus her armaments. Her outfit features her cut-off top, long gloves, blue skirt, exposed g-string, candy-striped stockings, and rudder boots. It’s all beautifully sculpted here and the skirt and top are layered onto the figure, which is always a bonus. Even the collar and neckerchief pops up off of the top to give it some added dimension and credibility. The figure itself simply rests in the tube, just like we saw with Ro-500, so you can pick her up and check her out from all angles.

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The life preserver sports a little less detail than R0’s, as it’s missing the rope running around the edges. And while I’m overall very happy with the sculpt here, I think the way the hair parts looks a little unnatural from the back. That having been said, it looks fine from the front and that’s the way I’ll be viewing the statue most of the time, so it isn’t a big deal.

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The portrait is fantastic and depicts Shimakaze with her traditional rabbit ear headband and perturbed expression. I’m interpreting the expression as her being annoyed at being knocked out of commission, hence the life preserver and lack of armaments, although it doesn’t explain why her uniform isn’t shredded, so I might be reading too much into that. On the downside, the above closeup shot shows that the quality of paintwork on this piece is really disappointing. The white ares show a lot of dirt and smudging and even her face and hair is rather dirty. The lines on her stockings are rough in some areas and there’s scratching on the preserver too. To be fair, if I’m viewing this piece from a display shelf, it’s not that bad, but the closer I get, the more noticeable it is. This is easily the worst paint on any of my Taito prize figures, and considering who the character is, that’s doubly disappointing.

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The base is very similar in design to Ro-500’s base. It’s a simple clear disc that uses three support poles to hold up the life preserver, which pegs in securely.

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Of course, you can’t have a Shimakaze figure without her Rensouhous and in this case you get the largest of the gang. Rensouhou-chan comes in his own little life preserver with a propeller sculpted on the back. He seems happy enough, which further suggests that I’m off base on my theory that this is Shimakaze after she’s taken a crippling hit. Rensouhou-Chan didn’t escape the shoddy paint problem either. There’s quite a bit of dirt on the white parts of his preserver.

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Shimakaze looks great displayed next to Ro. Now, I’m guessing she looks upset because she doesn’t have an ice pop, or maybe because her paint job isn’t as good. I’ve had my eye on this figure for quite a few months, waiting to finally find one shipping from inside the US. I also had to pay a little more for her, but she was still under $25 shipped, and I still consider that a great deal. It’s just too bad that the one I got has a sub-par paint job. If I had to choose, I would much rather have had rough paint on one of the Fleet Girls from the game, rather than one of my beloved characters from the anime series. Given the relatively low price of the figure and how much I love the character, I’d be tempted to roll the dice and try again for a figure with better paint at some point down the line. If I get around to doing that, I’ll likely post an Addendum here to report on how I make out.

Nov 12 2016

S.H. Figuarts: Sailor Venus by Bandai Tamashii Nations

I’m slowly wrapping things up with the S.H. Figuarts Sailor Moon line with just a few more figures to look at. In fact, today’s Feature will be the last of the Sailor Scouts! I’ll confess that I’m still considering Sailor Chibi Moon and I’ll most definitely be adding Tuxedo Mask to my Sailor Moon shelf at some point. And no, right now I have no plans to double dip by getting all the Super Sailor Scouts. Black Lady? Hmm… maybe. So, let’s press on and check out Pretty Guardian Sailor Venus… VENUS POWER… MAKE UP!!!!

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I’ve showcased this packaging enough times over the last two years that we should all know what to expect by now. It’s compact, colorful, and collector friendly. In other words, it’s pretty much perfect. The character art on the side panels also make these look fantastic when they’re all lined up on a bookshelf. I’ll be honest, I was not planning on buying Minako, because I had a weird love-hate relationship with her in the anime. But once I had all the other Sailor Scouts, her absence from my collection was just too much for my OCD to handle.

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Venus’ outfit is basically just a direct repaint of Sailor Moon’s, with the exception of her wearing shoes instead of boots. As a result, this is a pretty familiar figure to anyone who already owns Usagi, and even more so to those like me who saved Minako for last. The skirt and collar are painted with a very attractive metallic orange, as well as her shoes and the fringe on her gloves. The bow on her front is blue with a gold button and the rest of the outfit is the same pearlescent white that we’ve been seeing all along. Paint quality is generally not an issue with these figures and in keeping with tradition the paint here is exceptionally good and probably among the best out of all of my Scouts. I initially thought that Venus’ head sat unusually high on the neck, but it turns out I didn’t have it pushed all the way in for some of these shots. D’oh!

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There’s not as much to see from behind because of her copious mane of blonde hair that fans out behind her. She still has a bow on her back, under all that hair, and the more visible one up on the back of her head. The sides are connected by ball joints, so you can fan the hair out more or less depending on the look you’re going for. It also helps when you’re trying to sneak the arm of the stand in somewhere behind her. Despite all her hair, the balance on this figure isn’t bad at all and I’m actually surprised at how well she stands on her own most of the time, even with her tiny feet. In addition to the usual gaggle of extra hands, Venus comes with four faces with different expressions, each one more adorable than the last…

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You get the smile face, the stoic and serious face, the shouty face, and the delighted face. This is pretty standard stuff for an SHF release, but it gives you plenty of different display options. Each face is swapped out the usual way by removing the front of the hair. The printing for the eyes is nice and sharp and each face includes the detailed gold tiara and the tiny earrings.

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Two cool additions here are the extra hair piece with her glasses attached and the hand holding them. These are very welcome bonus pieces and go along way to give this figure a lot of personality. I particularly like the way they made the glasses part of the hair so you can use them with any of the different expressions.

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The articulation is pretty standard stuff for an SH Figuart and as always I was able to pull off most of the moves I was looking for. The joints can be a little finicky sometimes, but in the end these figures are so much fun to play with and really hard to put down. The clear heart-shaped figure stand features Sailor Venus’ name and symbols in orange and matches the stands from the other Sailor Scouts. It’s not always easy to make it work with the hair, and I’ll confess that more and more, I’m finding these a lot more clunky than the peg system on Figmas.

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And naturally, you get Artemus the cat. This is more or less the same as Luna, the plastic kitty that came with Sailor Moon. She has articulation in the neck and tail and with a little coaxing he can usually stand on his own.

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In the end, I’m sure glad I didn’t skip this one. I wound up buying Venus from the Points of Articulation Podcast‘s Ebay page, which they use to offset costs of their production. If you aren’t a regular listener, I highly recommend becoming one. Phil and Justin have roots in both toys and gaming, and POA is the perfect dose of light-hearted toy banter, especially since the shows rarely go longer than an hour. I can always fit it in and I never miss an episode. They also tend to do more LEGO talk than the other toy Podcasts I listen to and that’s always a treat.