This 1/8 scale Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) figure was released by Good Smile Company back in January. I don’t think Madoka needs any introductions, but if this posts survives for 10 years and someone then is reading this, Madoka is a 14-year-old girl who becomes a magical girl in order to protect the world from beings called witches. Madoka was sculpted by Kohata Takahiro, stands about 19 cm tall, and retails for 7800 Yen.

Overall Pose and Sculpt

The creators at GSC decided to make Madoka in her magical girl outfit despite the fact that she hardly ever appears in it in the anime. Her running pose isn’t too eye-catching, but it’s better than having her stand around looking pretty.

One of the great things about this figure is that it matches her character design perfectly. After reviewing some official Puella Magi Madoka Magica artwork, I could not find any discrepancies between the figure and the artwork.

The multi-layered skirt and the heart on Madoka’s backside were also included.

Her weight isn’t centered above her leg, but since it’s not too far off, I don’t think there will be any problems with leaning.

Madoka comes with exchangeable arms and hands so that you can give her her bow and put Kyubey on her arm. One complaint I had regarding the accessories was that it was hard trying to get her bow into her hand. I had to bend her fingers out in order to get the bow in, which made me nervous because I didn’t want to break it. The bow also does not have a string attached to it

Face

I’m sure anyone who has seen Puella Magi Madoka Magica will have noticed the unique art style and character designs. With Ume Aoki in charge of the character designs, they all ended up with her trademark wide faces, big eyes, and general baby-look. GSC’s Madoka managed to reproduce that same look in 3D on this figure. Not only did they get things like the wide face, but they even have the shade lines in the top half of Madoka’s irises that are found in Ume Aoki’s drawings.

Paint Job

The paint job on Madoka is near-perfect. Take a look at the following picture for example. Each of those vertical brown lines are thinner than the millimeter ticks on a ruler, but they’re still smooth and relatively straight.

Unfortunately, there is one defect that I would like to point out in the above picture. Just underneath Madoka’s left breast, you’ll notice a small bump. There is an outline of Madoka’s ribcage which you can’t see from this angle with the lighting I used, but this bump doesn’t seem to be a part of it. Since I don’t have a second figure for reference, I can’t tell if it’s a manufacturing defect or a sculpting defect. It’s only noticeable with light is shone on it at an angle.

Another area showing off the great painting on this figure is at the ends of Madoka’s skirt. The flower petal design is perfect and the red outline is smooth. There is also a colour gradient from a peachy-pink to creamy-white as you move outwards to the edge.

The frills on Madoka’s skirt are shaded in order to give the appearance of shadows when there are none.

Fine Details

My favourite aspect about this Madoka figure is the Kyubey that rests on her arm. He/She/It looks cute and is also well-sculpted.

The jewels in Madoka’s bow are diamond-shaped and it looks like the bow was formed around them.

Madoka’s soul gem necklace is less impressive, looking more like a blob than a gem. I found it weird that it was just sitting there at first, but looking at the artwork, her soul gem really isn’t being held by any type of string/chain or attached to her collar.

Here’s a closer look at some of the other frills on Madoka’s outfit. Yes, I think her designer went overboard with the frills, and I’m impressed that the sculptor included them all.

There are five layers to Madoka’s skirt and they all seem to be individually sculpted rather than making the outlines out of a big lump of clay.

The final details to really look at are Madoka’s shoes and the base. As with the rest of the figure, the shoes matched Madoka’s character design perfectly. The base is a bit nicer than a plain solid-colour one, but remains rather boring. It’s small and does its job though, which is all that matters.

Overall

Madoka’s pose may be average, but in terms of quality, this figure is top-notch. The painting and sculpting are as good as it gets, and with the exception of the bump under Madoka’s left breast, I think it’s flawless. In my opinion, Madoka was worth every yen. To wrap things up, here is one last shot with my first successful attempt at a pure black background.

I don’t normally review nendoroid petits since there really isn’t much about them to review, but since this is Ruri we’re talking about, I’m making an exception. Ruri Hoshino is the youngest member of the space battleship Nadesico from the anime Martian Successor Nadesico. She is the only survivor from a genetic engineering experiment to create individuals that are highly effective at interfacing with machines. She was purchased by Nergal Heavy Industries to work with the Nadesico’s supercomputer, Omoikane, to run all of the Nadesico’s systems.

This nendoroid petit is an exclusive figure that comes with the 4th volume of Monthly Anime Style. The magazine itself contains some illustrations and rough sketches from Nadesico, but I will just be covering the figure. The listed sale price is 1500 yen, but given its exclusive status and shipping costs, this figure ended up costing me 35 CAD.

Overall Sculpt and Pose

Ruri was created with a simple pose, having her hands behind her back and feet pointed slightly inwards. I’m not sure if they were trying to go for a shy pose or a military pose here.

Face

I was pretty happy with the details on Ruri’s face. There are no areas where paint has been scratched off or splattered on, and it does match Ruri’s look. Her expression is also very characteristic of her at the start of the TV series – cold and largely emotionless.

Paint Job

I’ve never been impressed with the paint jobs on nendoroid petits and Ruri is no exception. The edges are rough and there are a few areas with paint splatter. The red spot on her hand-held device is also missing a bit of paint.

The Nergal logo on Ruri’s shoulder was nicely done though. I wonder why they couldn’t have applied paint as smoothly as this on other parts of the figure.

Fine Details

When it comes to nendoroid petits, there aren’t many fine details to look at. The only one here is really the Gekigengar doll that Ruri is holding behind her back. I was actually very impressed that they were able to make something so small and still have distinct arms, legs, and a head. Unfortunately, the painting here is also a bit rough.

Overall

As far as nendoroid petits go, Ruri is average. There are no special accessories or extra faces, and all she can really do is move her head from side to side and her arms up and down. Is it worth the $35 to get her? Probably not.

She is great to have if you’re a Ruri fan though, and I am a huge Ruri fan. I like Ruri so much that I ended up getting three of her.

With these in my possession, my Ruri collection is now only rivaled by my Louise collection.

Some of you may remember a post I made last year on whether to purchase one or both versions of a particular figure. The figure in question was of Ruri Hoshino, my all-time favourite anime character and unofficial mascot of Nopy’s Blog. Originating from the 1996 anime Martian Successor Nadesico, figures of her are extremely hard to find, which was why I was elated to hear that a company called Kurushima would be releasing two versions of Ruri, titled “Way Back From Bakery” and sculpted by Keiko. As you can see above, I bought two of these figures, one is the polka-dot dress version and the other is the pink-dress Miyazawa limited version. They come in exactly the same box with only a couple of stickers identifying which version is inside. Each figure retails for 14200 JPY, making them the most expensive in my collection.

Unlike most figures, which are made out of PVC, this line of Ruri figures is made out of cold cast resin. While PVC figures are generally soft and pliable, cold cast figures are hard and brittle, making them extremely fragile. Enough description though, below you can see my review of the actual figures.

Overall Pose and Sculpt

I was originally going to write two separate reviews for each version, but thought that it would be redundant and combined them into one. As such, these comparison photos are not actually of the figures standing next to each other and were taken from slightly different angles.

As you can see from this first pose, Kurushima has generally done a good job delivering production figures that match their promo shots. The polka-dot version features a white dress with light green and magenta dots and matching yellow hair bands and shoes. The pink-dress version has a white and brown stripe near the hem and matching red hair bands and shoes. At first glance, it appears that both versions use the same sculpt, with the only difference being the colour scheme, but the polka-dot version actually has her head tilted down while the pink-dress version has her head slightly higher.

The colour and design of their bakery bags also differ; each one is designed to match Ruri’s outfit. One of the less noticeable differences that you can spot here is the colour of her underdress. In the polka-dot version it’s blue, and in the pink-dress version it’s white.

One of the advantages of cold cast figures like these are that there are no leaning issues. Due to the hard and brittle nature of resin, it will not bend under normal conditions, allowing figures to stand on a single leg.

The sculpting on Ruri’s backside, arms, and legs is smooth with no visible seam lines.

Her dress was also nicely done, with folds around her waist to show that she has just spun around and the waviness of the bottom of her dress adding to her pose.

In general, I was very happy with the pose that Kurushima decided to go with, and the sculpt did not have any major problems. I think that the slightly lowered head of the polka-dot dress version looks better than the pink-dress version, but they’re both still cute. You may have noticed that Ruri seems rather pale in these pictures, that’s not because of the lighting. Ruri is usually described as having pale, almost white skin because she is a result of genetic experimentation and mutation. It’s odd that the promotional pictures show her having more pinkish skin, which does not match her character design or the actual figures.

Face

In the anime, Ruri had very thick and pointy eyelashes. These figures got the thick part right, but her eyelashes aren’t as pointy as they should be. She is still identifiable as Ruri, which is what matters most. I was also happy to see that they decided to give her a happy expression, which is rare for the mostly emotionless electronic fairy (Ruri’s nickname among personnel of the United Earth Spacey and other military groups).

Unfortunately, my pink-dress version came with an obvious quality issue: part of her left eye is missing. The eyes are not painted on, but are on some sort of adhesive plastic film. This means that they can be torn off if you’re not careful. My figure came out of the box like this so there was nothing I could do.

Paint Job

The dots on the polka-dot dress appear to use the same film as the eyes rather than paint. That leaves the pink dress, which is actually painted. There is only a white and brown stripe on the pink dress and no complex pattern, so I would be shocked if Kurushima managed to mess that up.

Sadly, I dropped one of the bags; it does not stay on Ruri’s arm very well. It was then that I discovered that paint does not adhere very well to cold cast figures. As you can see above, a bit of the green paint has chipped off.

Looking at these two figures, I’ve come to the conclusion that while cold cast may offer a cleaner sculpt, it causes major problems when trying to apply an adherent paint or film.

Fine Details

Oddly enough, the most detailed thing on these two figures are the French baguettes that they are carrying. They have amazingly realistic texturing and a superb paint job.

The bows on Ruri’s shoes are decent, but not anywhere near the best I’ve seen. There is also some problems with toenail paint getting on other areas.

One of the big things I look for when judging the attention to detail in a figure sculpt is how accurate the hands and fingers are. If you look at your hand, each finger (minus the thumb) clearly contains three sections with two joints no matter what position you have them in. Ruri’s fingers look like little sticks rather than fingers, which is very disappointing.

Something that I have to mention is what happened with Ruri’s left twintail on both figures: they arrived broken. The fact that this happened with both figures from different suppliers and shipped at different times indicates a problem with Kurushima’s design or packaging. The pink dress version has the twintail partially detached, but it took out a piece of Ruri’s head with it.

The polka-dot dress version had the twintail entirely detached, and it managed to scratch up some of Ruri’s hair as it was tossed around inside the box. I did manage to reattach it without much trouble.

Overall

For 14200 JPY, I expect near-flawless and high-quality figures, but I was very disappointed in Kurushima’s quality issues. While the general sculpt was fine, blocky bows and stick-like fingers show a lack in effort. Figures missing a part of their eye should not make it into a box and the packaging should be designed so that pieces can not rub against each other if they do detach. Good Smile Company, for example, places plastic film in between removable parts. I do not recommend buying this figure from Kurushima unless you are a hardcore Ruri fan like me. If you are a hardcore Ruri ran though, this might be worth your while because Ruri figures like these only come around once per decade.

With the final season of Zero no Tsukaima set to air next season, I thought it fitting to review a figure of my favourite pink-haired tsundere. Before the re-release of this Louise figure by Alter was announced, I bought a pre-owned one from MFC, making this my fourth Louise figure. She was originally released in May of 2009 for a retail price of 6800 yen. The pose is based on an illustration of Louise that was used in a cardboard cut-out included in Megami Magazine’s Zero no Tsukaima artbook (I will also be reviewing this before the season starts).

Overall Pose and Sculpt

There are a few slight changes between the illustration and the figure. The most obvious is that Louise’s undies are not visible in the figure version unless you go really low. Alter also decided to give Louise a more generic facial expression rather than an embarrassed look. Her hands are also in a more lady-like position on the figure, which I thought was a nice touch.

Besides those few changes, Alter has stayed true to the original design, as you can see from the shots below.

The overall look and feel of the figure is cute and attractive. The sculpting is perfect, with slim arms and legs like how Louise should be, and her long flowing hair does not suffer from the problem that most figures have of looking like a big blob. The base is nothing special, just pink and flat with a magic circle on it.

Face

Going back to the face, while I would’ve preferred the one in the illustration, she still looks decent and recognizable as Louise. Thinking about it though, the face on this goth punk version is almost identical to Alter’s bustier version of Louise. The only difference between the two is that they’re facing opposite directions.

Paint Job

The paint job on Louise is nearly perfect. I did not see any obvious overlap or paint splatter anywhere. Two types of finishes were used on different parts. The dress and Louise’s hair had a more matte finish whereas her stockings and boots had a glossy finish. I actually found that decision to draw my attention to her legs and the ever popular zettai ryouiki, one of the big selling points of the figure.

There was one paint mishap though. On the back of Louise’s hair, I found what I believe is a small glob of paint, probably left by a brush. Normally this wouldn’t even be worth mentioning, but I was desperate to find something. That just goes to show what a high level of quality Alter put into this figure.

Fine Details

This is where I was most impressed with this figure. It’s the small things that often distinguish a good figure from an awesome figure. Bows often look disfigured because of their small size and relatively complex shape, but Louise has perfect bows with no sharp corners or squares. You can even see all of the folds in each one.

The cat skull on Louise’s boot is also very detailed, just look at the stitches on its mouth.

This is a combination of fine details and good painting, but you’ll also see that the painted laces on Louise’s boots never go past the outline, and the ring is almost of equal quality.

I think the hands are the most well-done detail on the figure. The fingers are individually sculpted so they are not stuck together, and they look like actual fingers with joints and bones, not sticks or nubs.

Overall

While I did pay more than the retail price for this figure, I’m still glad I got it. Alter did an exceptional job in everything from the sculpting to painting and the fine details. I was hard-pressed to find anything wrong with it and definitely recommend it to any ZnT or Louise fans. She’s available for preorder again and will be re-released in April so make sure you have your wallet handy :)

It’s been a while since my last post and even longer since my last figure post, but this August has and will continue to be a busy month for me. With that said, my presence online will be significantly diminished, but you can expect one or two more posts before the end of the month.

Today lets take a look at Xiao Mei, a 1/7 scale figure by Max Factory. I don’t know much about her other than she’s a Chinese cat-girl from the game Shining Hearts. Sadly, I can’t find her name written in Chinese anywhere so I don’t know which “xiao” and which “mei” her name is comprised of. I think it’s safe to just refer to her as “Mei” though.

As with all of the Shining Hearts figures released so far, Mei was also based off of an illustration by Tony Taka.

Max Factory did a good job, with the help of sculptor Nanako, bringing Mei into the 3rd dimension. A couple of differences I could find between the illustration and the figure are the placement of her feet (right in front of left instead of left in front of right), and her face is turned more towards the front. One difference that I did like was that Max Factory decided to put Mei’s legs closer together, which I think looks more feminine.

The original illustration only show Mei from the front, so Max Factory had to assume what she looks like from all other sides. I think they did an excellent job, as you can see below.

Mei is one of the few figures I’ve seen that manages to maintain a high level of sexiness and cuteness at the same time. Her clothing helps accentuate her slim wait, perfectly-sized bust, and curvy hips. At the same time, her “nyan” pose combined with cat ears and a tail give her a sweet and innocent look. I applaud Tony for creating this combination of clothes, and I applaud Nanako for being able to sculpt a goddess-like body.

I couldn’t ask for a better overall design or sculpt for this figure, but what really determines the quality of a figure are all of the small details.

Starting from the top of the figure are Mei’s cat ears. Her ears change in colour from black to  grey as you move towards the tip. What really impressed me here was how the interface between the two colours isn’t a smooth line, but a jagged edge, just like a real cat.

The inside of Mei’s ears have some fur, something I would’ve forgotten if I were making a figure. There is some black paint on the edges of Mei’s ears that got on the inside, but it’s not visible unless you stare inside her ears.

Mei’s hair buns (I forgot the actual name for them) are nicely shaped with no clumps, but there is a small seam line that runs across the center of both of them.

Something new to me are eyes with light reflection painted in. I’m assuming this was done to make Mei’s eyes look more fluid, and I think it works.

The pink ribbon over Mei’s glove is cute, but there is a small amount of pink paint that got onto the glove.

Thankfully, the pink trim and the designs around it on the shirt were painted very precisely.

I think this picture speaks for itself, nice sculpt.

One of the more subtle details about this figure are the folds in the clothing. Not only do they match the illustration, they are both painted and sculpted in. Figures with folds that have no change in the shading around it look bland unless you shine a light on it from just the right angle. Painting shadows into Mei’s clothes really helps make them stand out and ensures they always look right.

More shading can be seen on Mei’s backside. I also like how they’ve sculpted her shoulder blades showing through her shirt.

A white bow on the side draws attention to Mei’s hips.

For those wondering about the tail, it fits snugly into a slot in the back. The slot itself is rather big so you don’t have to worry about the tail falling off.

I’ve mentioned how much I liked the overall sculpt, but here’s a look at the finer details. I see a lot of figures with horrible looking fingers and I’m glad this is not one of them. Any figure with fingers that actually have joints is fine by me.

This is more for the guys. Yes, she does have a nicely shaped bottom and wears white panties.

On the other hand, I am rather enamored with Mei’s legs, which was a major reason for purchasing her. They are long, smooth, and simply beautiful.

If you don’t like bare legs, Mei also has one leg with white stockings, quite the fashionista.

Mei’s shoes have the same design that was on her shirt. Again, the precision of the paint job here was fantastic.

The base is a simple solid white with the Shining Hearts title on it. Since Mei stands relatively straight, there was no need for a large base so Max Factory only made it slightly larger than 9cm across. This is now the smallest figure base in my collection and really helps when trying to conserve space.

Overall, Xiao Mei is a stunning figure. I absolutely love her character design and the sculpt. The paint job has some minor mishaps, like the pink ribbon over the glove, but is excellent otherwise. I will probably never sell this figure, especially considering how well she looks next to Taiga.

Conditions of Nopy’s Big Figure Sale:

• All figures are sold as-is and come in their original boxes. I have included pictures of each figure just before boxing them so you can see exactly what you will get.
• Prices are in Canadian dollars.
• Shipping is not included in the price and will vary depending on the destination, shipping method, and the size/weight of the figure.
• I will only accept payments through Paypal.
• This is a first come first serve sale, so whoever sends me an email first stating they want a figure will get the chance to buy it first. Please note that I said email, do not leave a comment here saying you want to buy a figure (I need a way to contact you back and some people typo their emails in the comments).
• If payment is not received within 4 days, the figure will go to the next person interested in the figure.
• Once payment is received, I will ship out the figure within a week. I take no responsibility for lost or damaged figures once I drop it off at the post office.
• Promise that you will take good care of the figure.

Shipping Costs

• Costs will vary depending on size and location.
• Smaller packages can cost up to $18 for the cheapest shipping option.
• Larger packages can cost up to $45 for the cheapest shipping option.
• Contact me with your location and the figure you’re interested in to get a shipping quote.

The prices I’ve set are based on the MSRP of the figure and how likely I’ll ever be able to get another one. Additional images are available in the gallary at the end of the post. See part 1 for more figures.

Emu Emu a.k.a. Mei Mishima (Kemeko Deluxe)

Manufacturer: Max Factory

Scale: 1/8

Price: 80 CAD

Notes: She is able to combine with the Kemeko Nendoroid (not included).

Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Manufacturer: Freeing

Version: Bunny

Scale: 1/4

Price: 150 CAD

Notes: Some black marks on her legs and a scratch on her right bunny ear.

Hinagiku Katsura (Hayate no Gotoku) SOLD

Manufacturer: Kotobukiya

Version: Swimsuit

Scale: 1/6

Price: 85 CAD

Moka Akashiya (Rosario + Vampire) SOLD

Manufacturer: Gift and Good Smile Company

Version: Awakened

Scale: 1/8

Price: 200 CAD

Nagi Sanzenin (Hayate no Gotoku)

Manufacturer: Kotobukiya

Version: Swimsuit

Scale: 1/6

Price: 85 CAD

Notes: Some paint from her beach ball has rubbed onto the palm of her hand, but you don’t look there anyways.

One Piece Collection VS The Seven Ouka Shichibukai

Manufacturer: Bandai

Price: 15 CAD

Notes: Brand new in box and unopened.

Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)

Manufacturer: Unknown

Scale: 1/8

Price: 5 CAD

Notes: This is a BOOTLEG (fake, counterfeit), good for figure modding. One of the pegs on the base is broken.

I’ve had these pictures for months and Hinagiku for much longer, so I think it’s about time I finally wrote up a post. For those of you who don’t know, Hinagiku Katsura is a popular tsundere from the anime Hayate no Gotoku. She’s the student council president and excels at sports.

This nendoroid is my first from Max Factory. All of my other nendoroids have been from Good Smile Company or Phat, so it’s interesting to see what differences MF adds to the mix. Below are usual 360 shots.

There are a few things that you’ll notice about this nendoroid that’s different from regular ones. First of all, she has jointed arms, allowing you to bend her elbows. Unlike articulated figures though, they aren’t ball-jointed, to bend her elbows you have to twist the arm around. While it’s not very obvious, Hinagiku’s skin tone is rather gray compared to most nendoroids. It’s not much of a problem in photographs, but when you look at her in real life she just doesn’t seem right.

The last big difference is the base. Almost all of my nendoroids have come with the regular circular base and support. Hinagiku comes with this W (or M) shaped base that holds her by the bottom of her skirt.

Hinagiku comes with a pair of cat ears and a cat tail. She looks cute with them on, but you may notice something around her waist.

To my dismay, MF decided to attach Hinagiku’s tail by using a piece of plastic that wraps around her waist. Personally, I think it looks ugly and gets in the way. I’d much rather have a hole somewhere on her back where the tail can be attached. Her hair is long enough to cover it up when you don’t want the tail too.

Besides the cat ears and tail, there’s also a wooden sword and an annoyed face. The two of them together make for some great poses, and I’m sure they’d look even better with Hayate in the picture.

A bit redundant, but Hinagiku also has a bamboo sword. She could potentially dual wield her swords, but I would rather have a different accessory. Her last face is an angry/shouting expression, which again I think is redundant. Hinagiku is a tsundere so besides the default smiling face, I was expecting a tsun face and a dere face, instead I got 2 tsun faces.

One big problem I encountered with my Hinagiku nendoroid was that one of the pegs on an arm broke and got stuck in a slot on the torso. Luckily, I have had experience with this problem before and was able to get it out without damaging the torso piece. Upon investigating, I found that the part of the peg that got stuck actually solidified at a different time from the rest of the arm piece. What does that mean? Either the same mould was used twice and there was some leftover plastic in there, or a piece of plastic fell into the mold before it was used.

Another problem I had was that the faces didn’t fit perfectly into Hinagiku’s head. This leaves a pretty big gap when you try to put on her front hair. The easiest way to cover it up is to just put her cat ears on.

I think Max Factory could have done a far better job with this nendoroid, especially since they’re borrowing from Good Smile Company (as evidenced by the logo on the ball joints). While the paint job is fine and I like the elbow joints and the base, some of the accessories seem redundant, and the manufacturing quality is poor. Taking Hinagiku’s character type into consideration and perhaps having more QC staff would have made a better nendoroid.

Conditions of Nopy’s Big Figure Sale:

• All figures are sold as-is and come in their original boxes. I have included pictures of each figure just before boxing them so you can see exactly what you will get.
• Prices are in Canadian dollars.
• Shipping is not included in the price and will vary depending on the destination and shipping method.
• I will only accept payments through Paypal.
• This is a first come first serve sale, so whoever sends me an email first stating they want a figure will get the chance to buy it first. Please note that I said email, do not leave a comment here saying you want to buy a figure (I need a way to contact you back and some people typo their emails in the comments).
• If payment is not received within 4 days, the figure will go to the next person interested in the figure.
• Once payment is received, I will ship out the figure within a week. I take no responsibility for lost or damaged figures once I drop it off at the post office.
• Promise that you will take good care of the figure.

Shipping Costs

• International small packet (includes $100 coverage): $18
• USA small packet (includes $100 coverage): $13
• Canada regular parcel: $10 to $18 (Price depends on size of box and distance from Edmonton.)
• The above shipping prices are with Canada Post. Other shipping methods available upon request, but will cost more.

The prices I’ve set are based on the MSRP of the figure and how likely I’ll ever be able to get another one. So without further ado, here are the figures that are for sale. Additional images are available in the gallary at the end of the post.

EDIT: See part 2 here.

Eri Sawachika (School Rumble) SOLD

Manufacturer: Alter

Version: Swimsuit

Scale: 1/8

Price: 60 CAD

Hanyuu (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai) SOLD

Manufacturer: Wave

Scale: non-scale

Price: 150 CAD

Notes: She is not cast-offable.

Konomi Yuzuhara (To Heart 2 Another Days)

Manufacturer: Kotobukiya

Version: Frilled Tube Top

Scale: 1/7

Price: 50 CAD

Notes: Konomi is detachable below her top, and the base can be reversed to have Konomi on a beach or a mirror.

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Vallière (Zero no Tsukaima) SOLD

Manufacturer: Wave

Version: Limited White Swimsuit

Scale: 1/10

Price: 60 CAD

Notes: Louise’s head is detachable.

Unity May (Unity Marriage ~Futari no Hanayome~)

Manufacturer: Good Smile Company

Scale: 1/8

Price: 70 CAD

Rika Furude (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai) SOLD

Manufacturer: Wave

Scale: non-scale

Price: 140 CAD

Sakura Nankyoku (Penguin Musume Heart)

Manufacturer: Alter

Version: Maid

Scale: 1/8

Price: 110 CAD

Below are additional images of all of the figures. None of them have been altered except for resizing.

I have about a dozen figures lined up for review, but today I’m going to skip the queue and cover the most recent addition to my collection, a 1/8 scale Maxima Enfield from the JRPG Shining Hearts. I don’t know anything about Maxima or even the Shining Hearts game, but when Kotobukiya released the promo shots of this figure, I thought it looked awesome and I had to get it.

The figure is based off of an illustration by famed artist, Tony Taka (T2). For those of you who don’t know who Tony is, he did the illustrations and character designs for the Shining series of games, as well as for titles such as Sora no Iro Mizu no Iro, Tony’s Heroine Series, and Fault! All of his characters are female, and I think the most identifiable aspect of his work is the way he draws eyes.

Kotobukiya managed to recreate Tony’s illustration in figure form almost perfectly. The dress, sword, and even the card all match what was in the original illustration.

There is no illustration of Maxima’s back side, but I think Kotobukiya also did a great job here. Some figures look great from the front and have a horrible back, but Maxima looks great from every angle.

Now I did say earlier that Kotobukiya did an almost perfect job, so here’s the most obvious area where they fell short. On my particular figure, there are two smudges right around the area that probably (at least for guys) draws the most attention, highlighted by the top two arrows in the picture. From the size and shape, I’m assuming that one of the painters at the factory handled my Maxima when there was still wet paint on his fingers and it slipped through the quality checkers.

The second problem I had was with the design on the front of Maxima’s dress. From the illustration, the groove should extend down around the white design, not go through it. Unlike the paint smudges, this defect seems to be present in all of the figures and not just mine.

There’s nothing I can do about the placement of the design/groove, but I did try to fix one of the smudges. I tried using 600 grit sandpaper to remove the brown paint under Maxima’s boob, but I actually did not find any black paint underneath the brown paint. The only cause I can think of that would make the brown paint go all the way through is that the black paint was also wet when this piece was handled. That would also explain why there’s a black smudge on the white design.

Now I’m thinking of getting some black paint to paint over the brown, so if anyone knows what kind I should get, I’d be happy to hear. Enough with the defects though, back to the figure.

Tony illustrates characters with eyes that have a more circular iris (as opposed to a super-elongated oval) with a black outline. The eyelashes are relatively thin with a feathery appearance and extend across the top of the eye and down the outside corner, but never appear on the bottom of the eye. Kotobukiya managed to keep Tony’s drawing style intact here.

The ribbon around Maxima’s neck has some rough edges, but they aren’t noticeable from a normal viewing distance. I’ve seen better ribbons on other figures (i.e. Liu Meifeng by GSC), but realistically speaking, no one’s going to be sticking this figure in their face to examine the ribbon.

One of the things that make Maxima look great from behind is how her back is exposed. The large bow and the white lines on her collar piece draws your attention to the area, and her smooth white skin in contract with the white clothing, coupled with the excellent sculpt just make you want to stare.

While this has more to do with the character design rather than the figure, I love how it teases you with a peek at Maxima’s zettai ryouki and covers her panties with a semi-transparent underskirt.

Of course, if you really want to see everything underneath the skirt, Maxima comes apart at the waist. I don’t think it’s possible to tell what kind of panties Maxima is wearing (other than that they’re white) from the original illustration, so I’m guessing Kotobukiya took some creative liberties here. Personally, I think the design looks like an arrow pointed at a certain place, something for the guys I guess.

The high-heel boots are about as smooth as they can get, but while they look nice, I’m a bit disappointed with the white pieces under them. I know they’re used to keep the figure stable and prevent it from leaning, but I would have preferred for there to be a gap between the heel and the toe of the boots.

The base is nothing special, but the small size is great for someone like me who’s running out of shelf space for figures.

Maxima comes with two accessories, though I consider them essential to the character and have had them on throughout this photo shoot. The first is a card which she holds between her index and middle finger of her left hand. It is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY detailed. I have never seen anything with such fine printing on it before. Unfortunately, even with my new camera, I can’t zoom in enough to show all the details so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

The card fits perfectly between Maxima’s fingers, there is nothing else holding it, which just goes to show the precision with which Kotobukiya made the thickness of the card and the gap between the fingers. You can also see from this picture that her hands are very nicely sculpted, with clear joints in every finger.

The other accessory is her katana. The hilt has a smooth and well-defined design, however, if you look at the original illustration, there should be a green glow coming from it. It would have been cool to have the sword glow, but to do that in a figure, you would need lights or use transparent plastic. I think having pieces of green transparent plastic on the hilt of the sword would have just made it look tacky, so I applaud Kotobukiya for making the right choice and sticking with black and silver.

The hand guard also has a star design on it.

The blade of the katana is finely sculpted with no rough edges whatsoever; it’s flawless.

That covers just about every part of this figure. One last gripe I have is that the hair ribbon that next to Maxima’s ponytail doesn’t extend outwards like in the promo shots, instead just goes straight down. It’s not really a flaw though, and moving it closer to the body made the box significantly smaller.

If it weren’t for the smudges and the placement of the groove on the front side, I think Maxima would have been perfect. She is definitely one of the coolest looking figures I have now and the quality is above and beyond any of the other Kotobukiya figures in my collection.

Flandre Scarlet is by far my favourite Touhou character, so getting this nendoroid from Good Smile Company was a must for me. Flandre is the younger sister of Remilia Scarlet and is also a vampire. She lives in the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and has immense destructive powers. Her first appearance was in Touhou Project: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil as the extra boss. This nendoroid of her was released in January 2011 and like all of the other Touhou nendoroids, is a “For sale in Japan only” item.

Flandre has blond hair, red eyes, and wears a red dress. The nendoroid is true to her appearance, but one little gripe I have about it is that there is a small gap between the top and bottom half of her body.

On the back is a nicely sculpted ribbon with no noticeable seam lines or excess plastic. There are also two small holes where you can insert her wings. You’ll also notice that her hair is not just one solid colour, but has some shading to add some depth to it. Some of GSC’s other nendoroids don’t have shading on the back, which makes the hair look bland and flat, so it’s good to see they didn’t forget about it here.

Flandre’s ponytail on her left side appears like it is movable, but is actually glued in place. It’s not really a flaw, but when other nendoroids have movable hair pieces, I just expected Flandre to have it too. You can also clearly see the gap between the top and bottom half of the body here. This is as far as you can push the two pieces together.

I think the most attention-grabbing feature about Flandre are her iron-prism wings, and I’m glad to see that GSC did an excellent job creating them in 3D chibi form. Despite the small size, they managed to still make the iron portion look jagged and the prisms are the right shape. Not only that, but the colours and the order in which they appear are also correct. From her back to the tip of the wings, the colours are: light blue, blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green and light blue. There are other figures out there that either have the colours in the wrong order, or have colours that shouldn’t be in there.

Like her sister, Flandre also wears a mob cap, but her ribbon is on the opposite side. The bottom of the cap is contoured to fit on top of Flandre’s head so you don’t have to worry about it falling off when trying to set her into the perfect pose. Personally, I’m not a fan of the cap though, it just feels like something poor people in the past would wear.

Flandre also comes with her iron wand, the Leviathan. Unfortunately, it tends to fall out of her hand because it’s not an exact fit.

Up till now I’ve only shown her with the default face, but she also has a smiling face showing one of her fangs.

Her other face is a more mischievous look, as if she’s plotting something or about to blow someone up. The claw hands fit perfectly with this expression, but they are limited in the things/poses they can do.

I haven’t talked much about the paint job other than the hair, but this nendoroid has one of the best paint jobs I’ve seen. The lines are smooth, there’s no splatter, and the shading is excellent. The only flaw I could find was some rough edges on her shoes.

As with the other Touhou nendoroids, Flandre also has a painted base. The design on it shows the prisms of her wings on what appears to be a moon background.

One major downside that I found with my nendoroid was that the inside of one of the faces was cracked. It doesn’t affect the outside appearance at all (thank goodness), but I have to be extra careful when removing or inserting the neck peg, just in case it breaks. I guess it could easily be fixed with super glue though.

Design-wise, Flandre is one of the highest-quality nendoroids I own. GSC managed to get everything about her right, from the colours to the clothing and wings. Production-wise, while the paint job was near-flawless, the one thing that really bothers me is the gap in the middle of her body. If the peg connecting the two pieces was just a  little bit shorter or the slot was a little bit deeper, it would’ve been perfect. Overall, I am very happy with how this Flandre nendoroid turned out.