Figma Makina and some fun

Last year I pre-ordered a Makina Hoshimura Figma from Toyslogic. I then got an email that she was delayed, then another a month later, until finally I got an email that she was canceled. I was quite upset so I talked to my friends, the owners, about it. They told me that their suppliers couldn't get any since there was shortage in Japan. I left it at that, but later on I watched an episode of Shikabane Hime that stars Makina Hoshimura. In the show she's a dead girl who hunts down and eradicates other corpses and monsters. I only saw the first episode, but it was cool enough to make me sad about not getting the figma.

Fast forward to this year, a couple of weeks back and I thought about not having a Makina figma. I checked out ebay and the prices were starting at $59 without ship. I kept checking and 3-4 days later I found one seller reducing the price to $46. Now at that price it's quite expensive for a figma. Especially since I had it pre'd at $27 from TL. Add to that the $10 shipping and it's $56 total. However, the figma is quite rare nowadays and Max Factory seldom do a second run of characters that aren't as popular as mainstream ones. So, I went for it and I got it in the mail a week later.

And there she is. She came in a nice box that has some reds and black to it which fitted the shows theme. She didn't come with a lot of stuff though. Just 2 faces, the serious one and a gritted teeth one, 2 Uzi's, 2 blast effects, a pair of hands in a grabbing pose, the usual tray of extra hands, and the usual stand. Now obviously the cool bits are the Uzi's with the blast effects and I posed her fighting Mikuru straight away.



Oh yeah! Girls with guns are hot. She has the usual figma points of articulation which are quite good and allows for some dynamic poses. Her twin tails at the back of her head are on ball joints and has adequate amounts of articulation.


The colors and the sculpt are what draws me to Figmas and the quality is as good as the ones I already own. There are no blemishes, chips, or cracks. The only flaw is that the left hand joint is a little loose which causes it to point down with the Uzi.




So there it is. Figma Makina Hoshimura from the series Shikabane Hime. She's a little plain with her school girl outfit, but the Uzi's make her quite a badass. Apparently, not quite as bad as battle waitress Mikuru though. However, Makina's the only Figma that I regret not getting last year, and now that I have her all is right in my Figma world.

Now for some random fun. With Mikuru battling Makina, Haruhi was up to some shenanigans of her own.
Saber: "Somethings not quite right here."

Saber: "And why am I bloody naked? Where are my trousers?

Haruhi attacks and gets Saber on the ground.
Haruhi: "He he. Looking good there miss pervert."

Saber: "You must be the one that stole my trousers."

Saber: "That's quite tough, that bat. It can take on even the most legendary of swords."

Saber: "Now it's time you get off of me, wench."
Haruhi: "Ow, crap!"

Their battle has only begun.

Figma Meiya repaint part 2

Whoa, it's been a hectic couple of weeks for me as a figma fan. First Yui and Ui are announced and preorders for Yui have now been closed. Fortunately I was able to secure one. Mio was announced earlier this week and I hope I'll be able to secure a preorder for her as well. I guess I'll see on friday when it officially opens.

Now onto what I've been working on this week. I decided to get started on the arms for my Figma Meiya repaint. I did the usual cleaning and some light sanding to prep the arms. Then I separated the arms and proceeded to paint them white.

It took quite a few coats of paint since I didn't primer the arms before hand. After letting it dry for a day, I masked it for when I put some coats of blue down. The tape I'm using sux and I need some better tape. There's quite a bit of leftover tape and some seeped paint on the shoulder patches.


Anyway, looks alright for now. I can just touch up and clean up the bits later down the line. I still need to paint the hands and the other leg. Then I can give the parts to my friend Eddy who has painted the body for me.

Star Wars Transformer Magna Guard

One of the best cross overs in toy brands is the Star Wars Transformers crossover. These are just the Star Wars vehicles seen in the movies given the ability to transform into a robot. A truly smart move by Hasbro. My friend Hsunami Prime did a review of one and had a favorable impression of it. That piqued my curiosity and after buying a Magna Guard fighter for him as a present, I soon succumbed to that curiosity and opened the toy.

All in all it's pretty solid as a Transformer toy. It's simple and prone to some parts popping out, but very efficient in transforming into it's fighter mode. The parts are all flushed and fit in nicely and the weapons storage in fighter mode is very impressive. The robot mode is pretty good, but I had one major issue with it. The head isn't painted silver like it's chest.


That's quite annoying to me and so I thought of painting it silver since I had the paint. Before that though, I noticed that the back of the hands could use some painting while I was at it.

So, first up was painting the head silver. I went all out and painted the entire head silver, even the eyes.


Once the silver was dry I painted the eyes gold and the stripe on the top of its head gold to match. Then I thought that the missiles on it's shoulders would look good with gold tips. I then painted those gold and put a silver base below the it as an accent.



I then painted the back of the hands gold to match the color scheme. While I was at it I painted the tips of the missiles in its guns gold, but ran out of paint then.

Now the cool thing about the missiles on its shoulders is that it forms his staff. With the tips painted gold, it adds to the look of the staff once formed.


Of course in fighter mode, the gold stands out and adds to it's overall look.


So there it is, my Magna Guard transformer. Since it was meant as a present for my friend, I went and bought another one before I hung out with him. When I did, I told him to compare the one I painted with the normal one and choose which one to keep. Of course he took the one that I painted like I'd hope. I was then able to go home and happily paint the second one. All in all it was just a simple modification but, it added a lot to the Magna Guard toy.

Figma Yomi and Kagome new pics

I was checking out figma blog this morning and I saw that they posted up some new pics of Yomi and Kagome.


And yay, she comes with a ponytail.



And she also comes with that iron looking type of weapon. I forgot what it's called since it's been a while since I saw the show.

A very nice piece and I can't wait to preorder. Now onto Kagome.


She comes with her bow and arrows.



Kagome is simple yet, it's also looking pretty good. I'm definitely pre'ing both when it gets put up.

FIgma Meiya repaint part 1

Happy New Year! My first post of the year and with a new year comes a new project. I've mentioned before that I planned a repaint and got my friend Eddy to help me out with it. He is painting the flesh parts for me, since it's a little intricate for my noobish skills, and I'm painting the limbs. Here's a preview.

For my past customs, I've always used water based Acrylic paints. However, for Meiya, Eddy uses Model Master Acrylic paint to paint the body and so I'm trying out the same paint. The thing is that Eddy is much more experienced, very professional, and he has the right tools such as an airbrush. All I have are a couple of brushes and so trying out new paint will lead to some mistakes. Anyway, it's good learning experience for me. Aother note is that he has my Meiya figma and all I was able to take home was the leg. So here's the leg on my other Meiya figma which I have at home.


So there it is. The leg is still not done though and still needs some white. It also needs some touch ups and detailing. There's also the rest of the figma, such as the limbs, to do. So that's my Meiya figma and this is how it starts.