Anime Figures (アニメのフィギュア）
Figure collecting and the otaku come hand in hand. In fact, figure collecting has been called the otaku’s “drug of choice.” The hobby as a whole can be quite overwhelming to the new comer with so many different brands, models, and sometimes outrageous prices. It can be a lot to take and at times will scare off those interested.

Why Collect Anime Figures?
Collecting as a hobby in general is nothing new. People collect all sorts of things, be it the classics like stamps and baseball cards or the more odd choices out there. Anime figure collecting can really be seen as a supplement to a love of anime and manga, because the characters portrayed in the figures are almost always from anime and manga. This is really where the appeal comes for many. Figures are a way to take your favorite characters off of the 2D screen or page and put them right in front of you. Individual figures can be appealing because of their detail, general style or mixture of both.

Hot Figures of 2018












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Guide to buying figures on Taobao

Differentiating genuine and bootlegs. The sellers are quite honest about them, it's up to you to read and understand item description.



Certificate of Authenticity



Taobao seller ranking system



This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Jan 27 2018, 01:04 PM

no nsfw stuff???

haha the v11 took almost 2 years to be closed
POed Aoi Tenjiku, because already owned Yae Shoubi

Should have few NSFW stuffs to attract more people hahahaha

hahaha... same here. but her kaki terangkat like that a bit hmm...

anyway, here's why skytube/alphamax is still my manufacturer of choice:

nsfw



This post has been edited by WingNut: Mar 3 2016, 06:12 PM

well the issue with skutube figures is most of them have the same faces, that same Tony artwork face
that's why i only go for the ones i like. It's almost like 1 single person cosplaying many different characters

anyone order this?




This post has been edited by ylchew77: Mar 3 2016, 09:57 PM

true... true... but i like that face

I want this so badly but is so pricy~~!!!

27k yen damn also rm1k here

Hello guys,

Anyone here try purchase goods or figure from Amiami?
I planning to buy some stuff and figure from Amiami for 1st time. What kind of shipping courier you guys prefer to use.
Thanks for the tips.

EMS

yup, it is pricey but i believe it worth that price. And i believe it value got potential to increase in the future.

I bought the play art kai quiet and now the price increase like crazy.



PS: the girl in the picture look like quiet!!

I see. TQ

pretty nice..but i'd rather hold hope hot toys would make a posable version. over even better phicen.

can i ask this one can order oledy? where to order?

If can order ady i cry lor

No idea how long have to wait. It can be up to years sometimes. Only one will be ready enough to go on preorder every few months.

Yes. I'm hoping Hot Toys will make a version of snake and quiet too. They already announced they got the license for MGS V in their 2015 catalog. Somehow i think the project is being put on hold

EMS = If you don't mind paying more for shipping and want the figure to reach you asap.
RSAL = If you can wait for it to arrive (usually 9-14 days) but at the same time want to track your shipment status.
SAL = If you are confident you will get your parcel. Shipping duration same with RSAL.

I have used every one of it.

This post has been edited by sheushen: Mar 7 2016, 12:07 PM

Hey guys, there's an official distributor for Good Smile Company in Malaysia now! Do visit and Like the page for updates and MSRPs

https://www.facebook.com/Good-Smile-Malaysia-590896887662719

Damn, i need to tag them whenever i come up with a new figure photography project

But why are they posting Kaiyodo stuff and selling diosaurs

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Mar 7 2016, 05:31 PM

Haha apparently Good Smile Company Japan doesn't distribute GSC stuff. They distribute products from many other manufacturers too

I know that FREEing, GIFT, Max Factory, Native, Aniplex, Phat Company, Wave, Penguin Parade are all under GSC. But I didnt know Kaiyodo is distributed by GSC.

Native is actually a division of Max Factory (just like Skytube is to Alphamax), just that it seems like GSC wants to be PG13 instead of 18SX so it seems like there are no obvious connections between the two on the surface.

Yup, that seems to be the case. Everything on the GSC website must be kept clean I guess

Now i get it. KC is Knight Connection. They are known to be an 'official distributor' of GSC's products here but i still dont get it. Being an official distributor their pricing is still higher than what some local and smaller shops offer us.

Seasoned collectors will probably not give a rat's ass about their existence and source what they want directly from Japan. Even with EMS shipping, EMS, not RSAL, the total amount is still lesser and cheaper. As for avoiding taxes, that's not really hard to pull off.

Possibly so...but I believe they don't do they're own retail to end users and only supply to retailers. Not too sure, but I guess the retailers do get better prices from them

do they get the pre-order bonus stuff from gsc as well?

IC, no wonder can't find any pre order online. I think aniplex is better than freeing in term of color and quality. I never see the actual figure just view from photo and video. Aniplex is more expensive than freeing though.

Do u manage to get the previous series? they all look awesome!



This post has been edited by ylchew77: Mar 7 2016, 10:08 PM

Expensive because they are exclusive. I am currently waiting for their Saekano girls. Once open for order, eyes sure bleeding 3 summore

http://goodsmileshop.com/en/CATEGORY-ROOT/...0107/zoomImages

aigis yukata version po open

Just returned from Kastam. And the result is...

Will still be confiscated Tried to explain about the clothes usually purchase separately (I even brought seamless doll as sample), but they say they will assess only on what's inside the parcel (which is just the figure in naked apron). Not helping when 5 of 6 officers who present in the room for the rayuan are Muslim women (one of them even said "sebagai Muslim macam ni tak boleh" ), and the Kastam director just agree to the verdict of the majority of the officers (those 6). The director did commented on there is no definite guideline about my case; what considered lucah for some might not be the same for others. But since all 6 officers agreed the figure is lucah, he have to agree as well. He did said I can appeal again another time (most probably hinting it could be passed depending on officers in-charge).

In summary, the figurine (Freeing 1/4 Kuroki Mikage) considered as lucah because:
- skimpy clothes
- sexy pose
- not articulated enough to be considered as a doll

Not sure whether I want to appeal again (maybe this time bringing other static 1/4 figurines with decent clothes on), but for now I can just deemed the RM 840 for the figure burned

Ouch, dude. I feel for you. RM840 is not a small amount.

How about at least asking the customs to return the parcel to the deliverer and ask for a re-delivery at a later date, or a refund?

Not applicable for this item; applicable only for item that need permit or item that was not claimed after the 30 days period ended

ouch... RM840 gone like that

oh dear! that doesn't sound good... not good at all

this is at the klia customs? wonder if there's a directive or you were just plain unlucky they declared it as a gift thus raising the alarm somewhat

i've got a couple with exposed boobies on po. thinking of whether to redirect shipment now

The latter. The figure itself is NSFW from the start

sigh... cuba appeal lor. otherwise



by the way, when she said "sebagai muslim macam ni tak boleh", was she referring to you?

This post has been edited by WingNut: Mar 10 2016, 09:18 AM

Appealed dy, hence why I posted. And yes she was referring to me.

aiya... should get your non-muslim kawan collect for you then. mebbe stand better chance?

anyone order this?



there's just something about her green eyes that attracts me so... plus the fact that this figure is SFW

This post has been edited by WingNut: Mar 10 2016, 11:13 AM

Oh, so u are a malay/muslim. They might have used that fact against you

Would be pointless then, since our friend here needs to show his IC and probably proof of residence that matches the parcel's address.


This would be the case, I'm afraid. If it were non-Malay, you can use the "my-belief-my-problem" trump card to end the argument, excepting the really crazy, highly xenophobic officer.

Reading your case, it kinda makes me feel bad to receive my Native-made loli princess without much of a trouble. I sincerely feel bad for Exiled_Gundam, and hope you can make necessary precautions in the future.

This post has been edited by dis0rd3h: Mar 10 2016, 01:17 PM

no... can appoint proxy to collect on behalf. proxy can goreng say is his friend help him order... but is actually his.

yeah, i feel for exiled_gundam too. i received my elevator girl also no issue... and she's far more nsfw than his kuroki mikage. really hope he get's her released...

i don't know whether this helps to get the item delivered to your doorstep without much hassle but i kinda get the feeling that using an office address also helps somewhat. i've had three parcels addressed to my home detained... but only once when i used my office address. and i have had more shipments to the office compared to my home.

For now if want to do second appeal might need to bring amoi to the negotiation

I used office address all these while hahah

Wait you mean parcel is more likely to get detained if I use home address?

Well, i use my University address lot for this reason
And i use my dad's tuition center as the address also, i slip in a fake student ID number beside by name hoping kastam would let things pass seeing it's student's stuff. My 17,300yen Black Heart was detained and opened mainly because of size of box and value, but kastam decided not to tax me since there's only 1 single item inside. I assume it could be because of my University address and student status.

you have a good point there. maybe i go dig up my old student card... but cannot use university address

i can almost hear your last line of reasoning... "tuan... ini bukan bahan lucah, ini bahan untuk bidang fotografi sebab kat malaysia kami tak boleh guna model bogel sebenar"

Anybody going for Summer Wonfes 2016?

summer wonfes on july ,give me more info about the price of flight i might go with you

Planning to depart on 22nd, and return on 29. From what I check on Air Asia, the fares for return trip, with meal and 40kg check-in baggage for return to KL, is around RM 1550

wah...

i follow you and claim i tumpang shipping with you, will they consider pass and just paying tax?

Most probably not Anyway I have given up on the figure. See la how in the future if I stumbled upon one and still have rasa want to buy or not

sure too sedih to get another

but mebbe can get one during wonfest?

Go japan buy another one and bring back?

If i still got rasa abt the figure la

sounds ok,and its always a great experience to go to this kind of event, but RM1550 can buy few more figures,thats some hard choice right there haha

HLJ got sale. Just sharing the news

Maybe add around 1k more for accommodation Anyway of course i will visit places other than the event (akiba, nakano etc)

alamak! why you tokking tokking like travel agent one? got other hidden cost or not?

Aiyoo I already mentioned wat, RM 1550 is for Air Asia flight ticket. Got other hidden cost; meal and transport, and shopping haha

Oh and SkyTube Saeki Ai delayed to April

boss ah... you see your earlier posting saying meals included... now saying meals not included

reread post. my bad. boss is meaning inflight meals. sorry boss

This post has been edited by WingNut: Mar 17 2016, 10:45 AM

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gc...017764&page=top

Guess who's getting a re-release?

Went twice to Japan, both total spending was around RM 7k for 2 weeks What I brought back from both trip
2012: http://www.figure.fm/en/post/45596/My+firs...rip+s+loot.html
2014 (most ly doujinshi ): http://www.figure.fm/en/post/54856/Japan+t...014+Part+2.html

Below 10k yen.

Relocated to SG, anyone have any idea how strict customs are here when it comes to risque stuff?

Sweet deal for those who missed out on it. I already got mine about a year ago from a fellow collector for about RM370 (BIB I think).

Customs generally don't bother opening to check if your items are less than sgd400

On.

This post has been edited by madmoz: Mar 17 2016, 04:59 PM

Can become my proxy aa

i've got the golden caliburn version. think i'll pass on this one...

I try first. See if detained.

OK mah, newer collectors can now easily get what was, and still is a really beautiful figurine.

i think he meant this figure has issues?

Oh.
If so my bad then, just kinda bored of ppl complaining about re-releases killing the value of their collection

Huh, what issues leh? Mine doesn't seem to have any.

leaning issues. my golden caliburn also no. just that the peg at her tapak kaki patah when i was moving her

shd i get this since i already have the golden caliburn? what you otai's think?

First batch master race. The very first batch that came out back in year 2010 or 2011 (around those years) was simply perfection. The 2nd release 2 or 3 years later, which is the first re-release, had issues, including minor white paint inconsistency on the skirt underneath her skirt armor. Now the 2nd re-release, well, we'll see. I dont know about any leaning issues because i dont display some of my figures, even more so for Saber Lily, a prized figure of mine since own the first batch, not to mention now the weather is bloody hot.

For almost every figure I know of regardless of brand, first batch is slightly superior because of strict quality controls on a new product - it will determine the figure's fate in the aftermarket - too good and chances are it will go up; too bad and sales number + value will drop (especially when some collectors have a wait and see approach, waiting for user photos and reviews before buying). Though, I was considering to snatch another one since she's only 9900yen in amiami. I wouldnt have hesitated if yen is still 0.03-0.032 rate.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Mar 18 2016, 08:08 PM

hmm... so close to making me pull the trigger on this. so close...

How do I check which batch is mine?

Well, all Saber lilies in the market now are the 2nd batch ones, if you can find one
The first batch one is totally gone from the market, i remember how it was sold out everywhere and there was a guy who messaged me and told me he is willing to pay me RM1200 if i sell mine, which i didnt sell. That was even before she got the first re-release.

If you bought yours between year 2009-2011, most likely yours is a first batch. I remember buying mine in year 2010

idk if the "first batch is superior" is true since sometimes seller use that excuse to justify why their's are more expensive when they just wanna keep the scalpers price.
also should be later batches are better since any problem with the first batches should be known and fixed.

but it's just my opinion anyway. i don't really care about the value of my stuff so rerelease is no matter to me, or only matters if i missed the first release.

actually i'm also thinking the same... how can second batch inferior (unless you're talking about 1985 saga)?

Ermm, this didnt came from seller's mouth, i have never had any seller telling me this kind of stuff before. It's from my personal experience. The same shyt happened to BRS original version, it was rereleased once and the 2nd batch one hair color a bit dfferent, it had bit too much blue in it. Im someone who can easily find faults even with kotobukiya's figures, not to mention Griffon or Chara-Ani, even the smallest flaws that GSC or Alter makes, i will notice it.

that one probably not a flaw, but maybe a fix as maybe some complained the hair wasn't blue enough? or something different so people who bought first release also have something to buy the second one lol. anyway i don't think a company would purposely do something wrong that would affect sales.

i also easily find faults in figures.. i rarely find a figure to be perfect i will always find something to complain lol.

maybe i am bias with the case of rerelease as the one i got actually got improved upon. it was yamato's rei ayanami based on the shunya yamashita art. first release was badly sculpted, badly painted, and didn't follow the art (basically yamato quality since they were really bad back then). second release fixed the sculpt, better paint and had an extra part that wasn't available in the first one, and also cheaper than what you'll find the first one selling on the internet lol.

so what was the difference between the first and second release for the saber lily that made the first release better?

Yamato has never been good with quality for most of their releases, so probably they improved on it upon a re-release. The company has now been renamed as Arcadia and their figures are still meh from what i can see so far

Companies aren't doing anything on purpose, the issue here is priorities. Companies often focus on the quality of a product that is new. Some ppl wait until after release for reviews and verdict before buying them, creating a great first impression is important. Re-released products sometimes dont get equal attention on quality control. Regarding BRS's re-release being too blue isn't a defect, probably, but many people didnt like it, me included. And we dont like the fact that the consistency of a product isn't there.

I used to review figures in detail a lot; i still do it nowadays but i dont write lengthy reviews anymore - they are simplified. Over 5 years of reviewing figures, only 4 figures have gotten a 10 out of 10 score from me, i.e. it's both extraordinary and perfect at the same time. Maybe if im richer and buy more figures i might find more figures that deserve 10/10. The highest a Kotobukiya figure has scored in my records is only 7/10 (That includes Dark Angel olivia). Many of the best figures people told me about (i have some of them), they managed to get 8 to 9 points only at most, a very select few managing to get 9.5/10. That's how harsh I am.


The first release was pretty much flawless. The re-released ones actually had minor paint job issues, of course, only on selected units (so, it's up to your luck) but apparent I saw enough complaints on forums and the net. I did personally see one with such defects, though it's barely visible unless u check in detail. Some of the flaws are underneath the armor or when you check her pantsu - some of them is underneath, on the white dress/skirt.

This post has been edited by EXkurogane: Mar 22 2016, 09:35 PM

check her pantsu...

My 1st release Saber Lily does have some minor defect hidden under the skirt.
I used to own one.

https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?act=ST&f...post&p=28969548

what four figures are those? not surprised a kotobukiya gets a 7/10 since they're just normal imo.
anyway still in my opinion that rereleases should at least be as good as the first release, unless they changed factory or such. (and also sometimes first release gets bonus as an incentive that rereleases won't have but that's another matter)

We're talking about mass produced collectibles here, glorified toys no?
I would think that a degree of imperfection is to be expected la.

Most of us aren't rich enough to afford sotheby's stuff lol.

I suppose they were overlooked over the assumption no one is looking at those parts
Well, as i mentioned, most of the time it's due to luck.

The 4 figures are Saber Lily Distant Avalon (GSC), Insane BRS (GSC), Tohsaka Rin (GSC), Mu-12 (Alter). I don't have the Mu-12, my friend lent me his unit and i went through the figure in detail enough. Following up, a 9.5/10, is Black Heart (Alter), and Ciel Alencon (GSC). Those scoring 9.0 are common - figures from Max Factory, Orchid Seed, Native, Skytube, all scored this high before. Well, remember that i reviewed the Saber Lily and Rin back in 2011-2012, these are pretty high standard figures in the past. In the past 2-3 years, only two figures managed 10/10. If a figure gets 8.0 and above, it already means it's worth buying one in my books.

Alter has a better reputation than GSC in general in terms of consistency, but most of their figures are not "hardcore" enough to earn a full 10/10. If a company can deliver an ultra detailed figure with a unique base without any flaws it scores the bonus points needed for a full score. A simple bikini/swimsuit figure with a plastic disc base, even though it's perfection, will not get a 10/10. One more thing is stability is a big factor in my judging. The figure's foot may have a shittonne of pegs but when u shake it, it wobbles, it loses points.