Apotheos Edit: Please try to keep it VG related with the occasional dalliance into anime rather than vice versa
Dev edit: What he said. This is G+T after all
. So please keep non-gaming related discussions to a minimum rather than letting them become the dominant topic.
We know you've got them. Sitting there on your shelves all pretty like. It's time to show them off and see what else you can get your mits on. This thread is here for all you folks to show us your collections and talk about figures and figure collecting~
HighlightsPersona ElizabethOdin Sphere GwendolynSwimwear Kos MosMaster Creatures GilgameshMaster Creatures PhoenixMaster Creatures ShivaOh it's shiny, now where do I get them from?
Popular websites for importing/shipping figures are
Play-Asia and
Hobbylink Japan.
You can find the range of high-quality Metroid and Legend of Zelda figures from First4Figures. Hobbylink Japan is well recommended for their good prices and friendly customer service.
Why can't I get some of these things? Why do they sell out so quickly?
Figures often have short production runs; they are not designed for constant manufacture, unlike things such as snap-together kits which have longer production lives. Companies may do second or third production runs if a figure is popular; for example, after the initial pre-orders for Max Factory's Haruhi figure sold out, they announced a second and third production run. Kotobukiya has done reruns of some of their trading figure collections. But this is the exception rather than the rule. Resin kits and prepainted figures are fleeting, always ready to be overtaken by the next round of announcements.
Trading Figures?
'Trading figures' work like trading cards. They usually come in a box of ten or more figures, randomly packed, so you never know what's in each individual box. Sometimes there are secret figures and alternate colours. The idea is to trade with other people to get a complete collection. Usually if you purchase a whole box you will get a full set plus some extras. Gashapon ('capsule toys', so named because they are individually packaged in plastic capsules) are similar to trading figures, but tend to cost less and thus have a lower overall quality.
This is just a perverted Otaku thing, isn't it...
Contrary to some belief, figure collecting isn't all about 'lol upskirt' and scantily clad women. People buy figures and become collectors for all sorts of reasons, whether it be the love of a character, series, or the skillfully crafted sculpt of a particular figure. And, well, the sexy women helps a bit too I suppose... :P
How do I avoid bootlegs?
Buying from credible sellers such as HLJ is a good way to avoid getting a bodgy, illegal recast. But, as with many older or out-of-production figures, sometimes places like eBay are the only way to go. So, how do you make sure you're getting the real deal? A few things to look out for when spotting bootlegs are:
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Price. If you've spotted a figure you want to get, try doing a little research on it beforehand to see how much you should expect to be paying. Places like [url=
http://www.hlj.com[/url]HLJ[/url] have pretty extensive back catalogues of figures, so you should be able to find the one you're looking for and see how much it originally retailed for. If there is a large disparity in price (like a 4000yen figure selling for under $20), you probably have a bootleg on your hands.
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Lack of official licensing tags or poor packaging. Most figures based off popular anime or games should have official licensing stickers on them. These stickers vary from company to company and are usually metallic or holographic in nature. Some examples include; a gold rectangle with a cat for Toei, a silver and blue clown for Studio Pierrot, a silver and black Phoenix for Kadokawa, or the orange smiley face for Namco. Not every official product has a sticker, but the lack of one can be a helpful indicator. Poor printing quality is also another mark of bootlegging; things like Chinese text where there should be Japanese text, or fuzzy/wonky images.
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Poor painting, casting and other sculpting faults. Bootlegs are mostly re-casts of existing figures, meaning they lose some of the crispness and details, and often don't fit together as well. Obvious seam lines, injection marks and poor paint jobs are another telltale sign. The following are some examples of bootleg quality versus the originals;
Bootleg (notice the misalignment of the arm and the tattoos on his chest, and the lack of black paint along the reverse sword edge)
Legit:
Bootleg (notice the poor paint quality and lack of crispness and details in some places):
Legit:
Unfortunately, the above won't always help you to spot a bootleg on Ebay, since many sellers use standard production photos instead of images of the stock they have on hand.
PVC?
Wrapped in plastic, it's fantastic. Polyvinyl chloride, to be exact. The majority of Japanese figures are made of this versatile material. PVC can suffer from what is known as 'warpage', which results from structural instabilities in the pose of a figure. Especially during hot weather, if a figure's center of gravity is off and it doesn't have enough base support, it may visibly lean in one direction.
Cold Cast?
Cold Cast has a more crisp finish and is popular in quality American models. Because of its hard quality, certain finishes and poses are possible to achieve, as oppose to PVC (Cold Cast can be sanded, for example, and doesn't suffer from warpage). It's also heavier and far more brittle, so figures will need to be packed in a protective casing to avoid damage while shipping. It's also more expensive.
ABS?
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is used in a lot of mecha models.
Currently Camwhorin'
Posts
... holy shit
Being female as I am, probably not
Fine stuff you've got there!
I also have a blog!
&
Edit: I also have this guy:
I have more, but my desk is a fucking mess right now, and I don't feel like cleaning it up for pictures.
I thought the same thing when i saw that. I thought my arcade machine addiction was bad. Atleast...This is space efficient.
I gotta say they do look pretty awesome.
That Snake looks awesome.
Neither of them have shipped yet (Skull Kid has only just been announced), so you've got plenty of time.
Ahahahaha.
My collection pales like Wanda against a Colosi compares to this persons room: Link ([edit] click on 'room'. Can't link directly there. Agh)
Also, it took me three years to collect mine.
Those Zelda figures are going to be the end of me. :? I really only want one, because if I buy more than one I will have to buy the entire series, but I don't know if I want one of those, since they'll have more in the future. I mean, if I order skull kid and they unveil Wind Waker Gannondorf or Twilight Princess Link, I am fucked proper.
There's a whole bunch of different versions, my favorite is Squares.
Current product development plans include, but not limited to:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Young Link
Sheik
Ganondorf VS Link Diorama
Dark Link
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Fierce Deity Link
Skull Kid
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Zelda
Link
I also hear they might do a Wind Waker Ganon.
But for what it's worth, lined up in some kind of order:
A Sailor Stars alarm clock
A Ken Ohki plush
An Artemis plush
A Dory ... figure thing
A Growlanser Generations standee
A Lain DJ doll
And the Lain schoolgirl doll
I keep both of those boxed, though. They seem too fragile to keep on display.
I just saw the boxed Lain on the stairway though, and it is gorgeous.
$49.99 though. Ow.
There's a Gunbuster figure on Hobbylink that's five-hundred dollars. The funny thing is, the $20 figure looks much better.
I really like those Zelda figurines. Fierce Deity Link = Want.
Boy, that's gonna be a hard position to fill. I mean, finding a scantily clad anime chick is such an arduous task.
...But I dont have those anymore either.
Im nothing but a shell of a man with noVG figures.
So yeah.
Haha. I know that most figures are marketed towards the male fans; it's what's to be expected of the industry.
It just gets a bit boring when every second figure is about how much panty you can flash or how her skirt or blouse comes off, or how many bikini figures you can churn out. It's especially creepy when you have young looking characters. Moe-tan is a mascot for a book series that teaches children how to read, yet you get get figures of her in suggestive poses. I mean, she looks about ten years old or something
Good male character figures are also hard to come by...
-Rockman (Bandai)
-Rockman X w/ removable armor (bandai)
-Rockman X Ultimate Armor metal plating (Bandai)
-Rockman Volnutt w/ Shining Laser and cannon (Bandai)
-Mega Man X (Jazwares Wave 1)
-Zero (Jazwares Wave 1)
-Mega Man (Jazwares Wave 1)
-Vile (Jazwares Wave 1)
-MMZ series Zero (Jazwares Wave 3 or something)
-Strider Hiryu vs Spiderman (Toybiz's MvC collection)
-Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram's Temjin, DNA Side (Kaiyodo)
-a Myriad of Pokemon figurines lost to who knows where (Tomy/Hasbro+BK toys), plushes and a pikachu clock
-The Link, Zelda, Gannon 3pack from Target from around OoT's release
the FFVII Figure 4pack with Cloud, Tifa, Aeris and Barret (Bandai)
-Squall from FFVIII (Bandai)
-Seifer from FFVIII (Bandai)
-a Link figurine from the 80s
-Mario riding a koopa figurine from the 80s
-Peach Figurine from the 80s
-The Collection of Mario3 Toys from McDonald's
-The Collection of Sonic Toys from McDonalds
-Tons of Sonic related Plush (at least 5 sonics of various kinds, Tails, and Eggman)
-Sonic the Hedgehog figure from some defunct toy company
-Crash Bandicoot figure by same company
-Several of Hasbro's crappy Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat toys that were GI Mold rip-offs
-McFarlane's MGS2 Collection
-Two Wendy's Mario Toys (parachute Mario and Double Dash Kart)
-Mega Man Battle Network P.E.T.
-Galeon Punching Puppet Lunar II preorder bonus
The sad thing is there's more that I've yet to get photos of.
A small selection linked below to get your interest.
I didn't think direct linking from Flikr worked so let me know if I'm red-x ing you all.
That's the one I have too
That coin is pretty awesome. My Kanji is terrible, but I recognise 'power' so they must correspond to the three Triforce elements.
Niiice.
Thanks :^:. Hopefully this will hang around as a thread and not fall off the page like the other picture posts.