Babes with Blades
My figure collection ushers in the Year of the Ox with the arrival of my first ever 1/7 purchases: GSC Ryougi Shiki and Alter Signum. They have been posted to the Babes with Blades sub-unit to join Alter Fate. It will be perfect if I can get my hands on Volks Fate. *fingers crossed*
Argh, this is a terrible photo even by my low standards. The flash rebounded like crazy off the gloss veneer of the plywood. Worse of all, the angle of the shot has Sig-nee’s face obscured by her own right fist and sword. orz In any case, I’ve also been thinking of getting a glass door custom made for this shelf to ward off the dust.
First off, I’ve been rather worried about Signum’s one-legged stance. Even though I was assured that the leg has been strengthened, I’ve heard from J that the peg on the stand itself has broken off for some Taiwanese collectors. It’ll be such a pain if said broken peg is stuck in the sole in Sig-nee’s right boot. I was thinking of getting some form of support. So far, the $3.20 doll stand from Art Friend can’t fit neatly underneath her arms due to the distance between the support clasps and the base of the figure stand and doll stand. OTL May have to go for a custom-made acrylic stand. Stripey recommended a shop in Bras Basah (whose name currently escapes me… I tried googling it but no one seems to remember either LOL). I’ll be most happy to hear any advice, suggestions from readers on sourcing and design of such a stand.
Alas I am also saddened to report that there were three distinct flaws with my figure. First, turning her to her (from her POV) left profile, there’s a depressed line right in the middle of her left breast. It almost looks like a depressed/inverted nipple which should be visible even in the poor photo above. X( Given that there doesn’t seem to be any damage to the paintwork, I’m guessing this was due to a casting problem.
Second, the puffed sleeve close to her left armpit also shows a spot of honeycomb-pattern-like roughness that I’m sure isn’t meant to be wrinkling of her clothes like that observed around her swivelled waist. Because of the whiteness of that area and my lack of camera skills, it doesn’t really show up on the photo. Probably a casting problem too.
Third, there’s a spot of white against the pink trimming of her skirt about a fifth of the way up. It’s visible even with the blurry quality of a Shaky Shot that I managed to take even though the anti-shake feature was on for my Lumix. OTL There’s no textural unevenness so this is probably a painting issue.
The odd thing about all of the above is that (1) they were not visible when the figure was inside the box and (2) they’re actually not that noticeable out of the box in her upfront pose. But if you just angle the view slightly to show her left side, then it all sticks out like a trio of sore thumbs. I wonder how widespread these problems are…
Still… I had been waiting for ages and ages and ages for a nice Signum figure and overall, the sculpt, pose and colours have been very pleasing indeed. So, overall, I’m still happy that I managed to get my hands on this flawed Signum figure.
[See foo-bar-baz's review: I was LOLOLOL at his comment about 'As expected of the Boobs Demon (^^;' as well as him finding the muscular quality of her (right) calf moé - ah, we have some common interests here! Ahaha~♥ ]
Briefly, no problems. The pose is not the most exciting but I think it conveys the stillness of a coiled spring and a leisurely yet lethal purposefulness. You can almost sense the caress of the wind from the flowing feel of her kimono. And the intricacies and colours of her obi. Ooh la la~~ I like this attire a lot more than her red jacket over yukata getup - I like the boots but in this version, her bare feet just seems to add to the aura of moonlit elegance. This figure would be sooo great for a night shoot against the full moon by someone with skill and proper equipment.
My only slight puzzlement is that she seems rather short and small built for a 1/7. Even 1/8 Alter Fate looks not very small next to her. And, of course, Alter Signum towers over her. I’ve tried chasing down their respective heights to get some perspective but the official websites don’t give any indications. Nonetheless she’ll still look fine displayed on her own level but definitely not beside my other blade-wielding babes.
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