Hi, I'm looking for

(1)Bowen Modern White Queen Statue

and

(2)Kotobukiya Danger Room Psylocke

Anyone of you bros have info?

Thanks.

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Anyone eyeing on the upcoming Gentle Giant and HCG Marvel Licensed products on the horizon?

HCG is producing Marvel products based on Marvel VS Capcom 3.

I don't see J.Scott Campbell drawing regular comics anymore. But he still puts out really really mouth watering pin ups and artbooks.

Anyhoo, here's a new Red Sonja, that barbarian woman from Conan, designed by yes, you guessed it, J.Scott Campbell.



By the way, I always loved his soup.

Statue is 8", priced $179. Ouch.

Coming soon from Dynamic Forces.

No one can ever really quit. The statues won't let you. Muhahahahaha. Cough cough. ^^

Nice Emma LSB but the colours are a bit washed out /too light looking from the sneek.

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Just got her back from the post office.

When the post office guy took it out from the backroom, I was surprised because the outer box was the Kotobukiya Deadpool brown box. The box felt lighter than I expected. Excited and nervous at the same time. This is the 1st time I bought from this online store.

Anyways, after a quick stop at a nearby cafe for breakfast, I headed back home to open her up. Ah-ha, pristine Psylocke white box inside. Number 8XX.

A quick look with the plastic wrapping around Psylocke still on as she laid there on the styrofoam box, she didn't look so bad, I have seen worse. My Diamond Select X-Men Last Stand Halle Berry bust comes to mind.

Ok, after all the set up, I have to say, honestly, I wanted to come here and say hey I have good luck, she looks great and perfect. But, I'll be frank. But not overtly brutal and say this is the most horrible piece. Because, it isn't. But it could have been a lot better.

Paintjobs wise, my luck with SideShow pieces like the AH! and Brooks comiquettes and LSBs have been good. Paintjobs quality are like within the 85% to 95% mark.

On this Kotobukiya Psylocke, the first glaring thing is the light colored blue line on the part a bit above her left ribs and a bit below the left armpit. It looks as a result of overspray from the blue costume.

Her right hand with her Psyblade. Before I forget, I have to say the Psyblade is well done. The clear resin looks good. Not like cotton candy. But the fist, as some of you mentioned, the paint is really thick. It obscures the definition of the fingers. So instead of a feminine nicely defined female assassin's fingers, it looks gunky and goopy.

Same goes with the hair. A bit goopy on some parts.

The lips are ok, but I think the upper lip is painted very thin. The part between the nose and the upper lip looks a bit puffed. Perhaps due to thick paint.

The good part, eyes, lashes and brows are well painted. Even the light pink mascara effect for the eyes is good. No paint bleed or not enough paint for the few strands of hair covering her face. Just enough and crisp to cover the fine lines. The blue paint which looks a bit metallic on her costume is pretty much even(thickness wise) through out. But again, the individual rings of blue on her biceps are not even. The outlines have a little bit of trembling wavy pattern.

The sword is ok. Good. No bend, paint even. Looks very fragile though. Had to be extra careful.

Sentinel hand base. Good. No breaks, no chips. Looks good. If it were up to me, I think the orange circle in the middle of the palm could have been a transparent material. Right now, it looks sprayed over with yellow and orange. I think it would have looked cooler if maybe a transparent orange resin or transparent orange colored plastic was used. Just my opinion.

The crotch lines are ok. Buttocks lines ok.
But the lines on the skin to indicate stretching at the crotch area, had been sprayed with dark skin color, and the texture on it is a bit rough. My flash concealed it in the photos a bit. And if you look very very close, you can see the paint brush lines on the shoulder and thighs.

The one most particular thing which is most important to me is the face. I can overlook any other parts. But the face has to be 95% to 100%. On the tip of her nose, there is a bit of popped paint bubble hole. I'm itching to get fine sandpaper and try to smoothen it since the paint is pretty thick. But I'm afraid I might make it worse. I'll put that on hold for a while and think again.

All in all, this Psylocke to me, is ok. I think it could have been a lot more, a lot better. Because the underlying sculpt and design is fantastic. The idea of the Sentinel's open hand as base, and one of the few designs which are inspired by Jim Lee's art style, this was poised for a great win. It is just marred by the paint job. But it isn't the worse paint job, but not great. If there was rating like this:

Disastrous,
Very Bad,
Bad ,
Fair,
Good,
Very Good,
Excellent

I will say Fair, somewhere in the middle. For the painting.

Sculpt and Design:
Very Good if not Excellent.













You got the touch, you got the power!
When all hell's breaking loose you'll be riding the eye of the storm,
You got the heart, you got the motion!
You know that when things get too tough,
You got the touch! You got the.....oops, wrong song. Transformers.

X-Men Psylocke, Psylocke, you got the blade, you got the telepathy,
X-Men Psylocke more than meets the eye....
Ah, crap.....not a real X-Men song. She needs her own theme song, dang it! ^^

Thanks, LaoWai. I like to collect girl statues more than guy heroes statues.

Bought some Tamiya paint, Tamiya Abrasive Paper, Tamiya Brush, thinner yadda yadda.

Operation: Touch Up Psylocke.

After going at it on hours for most of the day, and carressing Psylocke all over to get the angles and put down the delicate brush strokes, holee kow, it was no 4 year old who painted these things. Man, if it was, those are mighty skillful 4 year olds. Try repainting the blue bands of her costume and keeping within the outline of the shape and keep your hand and brush steady at all time. Unless you placed some retardent into your acrylic mix, acrylic dries up pretty fast. So you gotta work a little fast. I hope the sword is not loose.

I sanded the nose a little and mixed flat flesh tone paint with a bit of white and a bit of red. So far, so good.

Touched up pink sash, where blotches of black stained onto it from factory. Repainted. Touched up X-Men 'X' on sash to have sharper 'X'.

Touched up a bit on Sentinel hand where there are scratch/tear marks with silver paint. Felt it was a bit too uniform. Made it more scratched/torn up a bit. But had to pull back and not overdo it.

Overall, repainted most of her metallic blue costume outlines to make the outlines more even and not wavy. Some parts where the original blue paint went to the flesh areas, I painted flesh tones over it slightly to cover it back up.

Part of buttocks bikini V line were slightly "broken-off" near sash. Added paint to fill it up and align it to have straight V shaped line.

Part of the blue costume on her hand holding sword broke off (meaning it was not painted right till the visible hand, so it appears broken off and not wrapping around her hand. Squeezed in to fill that part a little.

I'll continue touching up some minor parts here and there. Nice weekend project. Post pics tomorrow. Time to zzzzzz.

Good nite! ^^

Wah lau, concept helmet very cool leh. Drool. Slurp slurp.

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Touched up. Minor. I also tried to remove the armpit rash by painting over it. And painted upper lips to be slightly fuller.

You can try Ebay for Sucker Punch statues.
Local retailers in Malaysia, hard to get if you are expecting on the shelves.
I don't know about Amber and Sweet Pea. But when Baby Doll from Gentle Giant was listed on Shioktoys, within hours, preorder sold out! One forum member at another forum was lucky to get his order in at the last minute. Very limited pieces.

Dude, Gentle Giant is a mixed bag.

I loved their Matrix mini busts.
Star Wars mini busts are pretty ok. But not all of them. Some were very well painted, and some just didn't look so good. Some were horrible like a school project. Their Halo mini busts were well painted.

Some people are saying they are plague with delays and inconsistent paint jobs.

Some feedback on GG here in response to their Marvel license acquisition.
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=113240

Monica Belucci from GG. Coming right up.

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Added on April 12, 2011, 9:26 pm

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Added on April 12, 2011, 9:32 pmHey guys, how many of you coveted or wanted a statue or statues for a long time, a few years, you had been looking for it in the past. But gradually, kind of forgot about it because new stuff kept being made by SS,Bowen and Koto or other companies. Then, one day, you come upon what you had been looking for. It's second hand. But still pricey and available locally.

Do you still have the passion for that?

It's been quite some time. That piece you always wanted was from a very very hot movie 10 years ago. It's no longer IN, and no longer HOT. Do you still want it? Would you still jump at it or say it an Italian mobster: "Ah ferrgitt-about it." Pass it, and get something new and looks even better?

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Added on April 12, 2011, 9:43 pm

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Added on April 12, 2011, 9:52 pmGG Grievous and Jango Fett.



This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 12 2011, 09:52 PM

Kangaxx, my collection is very SMALL. Muahahaha. I'm not a heavy hitter yet like those guys you see whom can sapu 1/4 to 1/1 stuff without batting an eyelid or making a sneeze.

Oh ho ho, about dust, my enemy, and my second enemy Mr.Mould....well, to keep all these guys off my collection, through my experience, because they destroyed some of my precious X-Men comics, although I kept them wrapped and boxed (Wrapping stuff without airing is not always good, as the moisture may be trapped inside. With that, mould that gathered on very very fine dust will grow.), so, I was bitten once , and twice shy years ago, so ever since this is what I do on a regular basis:

1. Bought silica gel from camera shops and laid them around my collections and inside the boxes. Regularly sun dry them to get rid of absorped moisture and place them back to keep my statues free of moisture.

2. Use moisture absorbing products like Thirsty Hippo. Can get costly, but what the heck, it's part of maintenance cost. ^^

3. Dust collection every week. (Mi gosh, I dread to think how much work I have to do if my collection grows bigger, I dust them like an artist using Pentel Sable brush from Japan to carefully and lovingly dust every nook and cranny I can reach on the statue. Huff huff huff.

4. Always place them in glass display cabinets with little gaps or buy custom acrylic display covers.

I don't always keep them all in boxes, sometimes, I have to take them out to dust them and get some airing. In Malaysia with our hot and wet weather, moisture can easily get trapped inside the styrofoam boxes. So need to let them get some air. If you open some of your very old statue boxes(never opened for years), you may notice some yellow or whitish powdery stuff inside them. Depending on type of mould, some may be sticky or powdery.

Ah sh*t, I thought I could take a break from statues, and they turn out this Emma. I cannot say no to Blondes!!!!
I still miss the 1st girl LSB, Spider Woman, best lips ever and love the dynamic hair that goes upward. Ah well, there's always Ebay. But later. Need to reserve bullets.

Based on my experience and observation(in person at XL and Shioktoys), Kotobukiya is lacking in the paint application for their Fine Art series. But for their ArtFX(PVC) and Bishoujo (PVC) lines, the paint job is almost 90% excellent. I don't know why the disparity between these lines.Honest, PVC, very good paint job. Polystone stuff, needs more improvement.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 13 2011, 10:20 AM

Hygrometer, ah.......I learn something new everyday.

I have no doubt about your expertise, BeastX. You are always very factual,helpful, very straightforward at times, but no doubt you are a trained professional in your field of expertise.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 13 2011, 10:34 AM

Haha, reminds me of the old days as a college student, I ate cheap chocolate wafers for a month to save money for my action figures.

Nah, I don't want a Skrull woman. Not only it's green the wrinkly big chin(Skrull facial feature) is a turn off for me.

I was tempted to rush out to XL this morning after seeing bishoujo WW online last night. But alas, at that price, I might as well save it to use on something like Emma LSB.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 13 2011, 10:38 AM

I was in liason with a lady who worked at Hasbro. She was the marketing exec. My company(MNC-French origin company) needed some Hasbro toys(not TF though haha) as gifts for our club members(customers).

I asked her once if she could help me get a leader class Optimus Prime from the movie, she said no problem. Anytime, there's plenty of that lying around and she can help me get at staff price.

So, it's funny they would fight over that.

I did hear of a fight between a customer and local toy shop retailer.
The story was like this, the customer was unsatisfied with something, not sure what, and an argument ensued, and he tried to take down the retailer. Unlucky for him, the retailer is a burly man, pretty big. Result? Retailer subdued him easily and told him to take a hike. Embarrassing. Always size up your opponent. Don't let your emotions get the better of you.

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Added on April 13, 2011, 10:54 am
One of the best Campbell styled statues.
The best is of course Danger Girl Abbey Chase statue. Many years ago.
The Emma Frost PF was a miss in my opinion, didn't capture his style well.

Pic by Snyder Man

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Added on April 13, 2011, 10:55 am

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 13 2011, 10:55 AM

Wahahaha, Kangaxx, you've just given me an idea. I think I'll do a draft drawing of that. Red Sonja carrying naked dude as a paradoy of SS's Conan The Prize diorama. LOL.

Kangaxx, it doesn't melt. Melt means it is being 'dilebur'.

What actually happens is that these PVC statues, they have these things called plasticizers inside them. Plasticizers are to enable the PVC to bend and take shape. But plasticizers tend to migrate to the surface of the PVC over time. That is how you get the icky sticky feeling to it.

An expert in chemicals would be able to explain this even further. ^^

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Added on April 17, 2011, 3:37 pm
Ah...looking at the pic, SideShow artists do use the ever versatile Sharpie for their work, eh? Interesting. ^^ Or do my eyes deceive me. Nyuck nyuck nyuck.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 17 2011, 03:37 PM

Yes, it does look to be the PERFECT replica of Darth Vader's helmet.

It certainly will be the mother of all centerpieces in your collection, and you will be the envy of many.

"Join me, and together, we can rule the universe!"-----Darth Vader.

It works well if you have all the 1/4 and PFs like the guy whose photo you showed.



This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 20 2011, 09:39 PM

Hahaha.....don't worry, although SOLD OUT in 5 minutes, you still get your shot.

Look here:



http://www.shioktoys.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=142

Preorder Darth Vader helmet now! RM28XX!!!!!

It's out of my reach now. Good luck, gents.

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Added on April 24, 2011, 10:02 am

M.Bison: Hmmph. Feel my Psycho Powah!
Guile: Hmmph, real men use hair gel like this.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 24 2011, 10:02 AM

It's very hard to get pristine paint jobs anymore these days.
Depends on luck and factory.

For me, I am forced to learn up painting using Tamiya acrylics to do touch ups myself. Still okaylah, because I am an artist, so painting a statue is like painting on canvas, just that it is 3D and different type of paints and preparation. If the flaw is too big, then jia lat, I can not touch up already. Minor things here and there, still okaylah. Give and take, to me.

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rnbuda's pic of IM maquettes. Nice.

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Apr 27 2011, 11:26 AM

Yeah, the Berserker Predator life-sized bust is so big, you need a van!!!

Some dudes couldn't even fit the thing into his Estima car! And it's super heavy.

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EMMA LSB Paintjob REVIEW

Yesterday night, I accompanied a friend to pick up his preordered Emma Frost LSB from the toy shop and I got to see the paintjob clearly myself as he opened the box to inspect the bust.

Wow, I got to tell you, if you think the in-hand pics of her look great, wait till you see the actual product. I can't say it looks even better, because it is actually superbly done.

I'm gonna do a quick review of the paint job using Kangaxx pic.



As an artist, we are trained that in a portrait painting, the most important things you should get right and emphasize first are the eyes, ears, nose and lips/mouth.

So, likewise, a bust needs to show these parts in a well done manner to bring life to the portrait.

1.Eyebrows and Eye Shadows
i)The eyebrows are painted with different shades and tones. Broad strokes and fine strokes are intermixed to bring out a sense of realism to her eyebrows. Yet, it is subtly done masterfully to give a feminine feel. All the lines taper at the ends finely, and they do not go out of the paramater/shape of the brows.Other times, a statue's eyebrows are just one color and just simply stroked with noticeable gaps between the brow hairs drawn. To give the effect of randomness.
ii)Eye Shadows---For Rogue PF, from my observation of the pics, the factory used opaque paint and brushes to brush on the eye shadows. Also, the colors of the eye shadows did not blend themselves, neither did they blend to her eye lid and the surrounding skin. So, you got what looking like some kind of dark patch on her eyes instead of the eye-shadow make-up effect on women. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see that SideShow used airbrushing technique for the eye-shadow on Emma and the skill applied at spraying the eye-shadow is wonderful. It is dark at the center and fades out to her skin, a perfect blend into her complexion. Excellent.

2)Nose---subtle airbrushing of shades and tones to the nose brings out the form. Even her nostrils are well painted. Instead of just a flat paint color for the nostrils to show shadow, the painter actually done it in a manner to bring out the blending effect. Dark on inside and gradually lighter to the outside. Usually, care would not be performed here as it "negligible", not a very noticeable part of the face.

3)Luscious Lips!----On SideShow's stock photos, I thought Emma had pale lips, and quite frankly, the overall photos just looked a bit paler and bland online. But in person, the lips have a ton of details to would make a Maybelline make-up artist envy. First, the glossy effect is stunning and not out of place. A combination of different shades and hues of the base lip color, and coupled with just the right amount of highlights and shadows make her lips luscious and incredibly attractive. Care was also taken to paint the little bits of teeth showing, and I'm glad to say there is no "Chiclets Teeth" syndrome here. ^^

4)Hair----Nicely done. Not much to say here from me.

5)Eyes---Ok, on this part, wow, I have the Captain America LSB, and the pupils looked a bit fake because how they colored the white dot-reflection in the iris. But here, on Emma, the pupil kind of looks like a sticker/decal. I didn't touch it to confirm. But even so, the pupils have a better blend of colors instead of different colors that look strikingly different next to each to each other and do not blend.
I hope I'm using the next anatomy words right, other than her lashes being painted well with tapering smooth thin lines(very skillful & steady brush control by the painter), her anterior and exterior palpebral borders are also highlighted. Such fine details are not left out.

SideShow has really done it this time. I was not expecting much but they exceeded my expectations. If I could say something to SideShow apart from congratulations, great job done, I love your Emma LSB, I'd say, keep this factory. Whichever factory these painters are from, keep them, let them continue to paint your SS pieces. They did a fantastic job!

This post has been edited by demonhunter360: Dec 5 2011, 04:26 PM