Confessions of a Toy Addict

FFXIII Shiva Motorcycle

2010-05-23T18:58:00.006+08:00

This is the biggest action figure I ever had in my collection to date. Shiva motorcycle is about 53cm in length. Its size doubles the size of the Play Arts Kai because the motorcycle features two individual characters Styria and Nyx ... the awesome Shiva sisters imbued with the power of ice. Nyx is the darker half and Styria is the fairer half.

Packaging

The figure comes in a huge box that I have shown in my previous post. The box is double the size of the previous bikes i.e., Fenrir from FFVII Advent Children and Hardy Daytona from FFVII. Here is a comparison between the box sizes.

The packaging is much more solid than Fenrir and Hardy Daytona. The layers are thicker to support the weight of the bike. I did not weigh the bike but I think the total weight of Hardy Daytona and Fenrir make up the weight of Shiva motorbike. Small wires are used to secure the position of the bike in the box.

Motorcycle details

This is how the bike looks after opening the box.

Styria forms the hind part whereas Nyx forms the front part of the motorcycle with the handles attached to the sides of her head. Here is a closer look at both of them ...

Notice the details on each of the figure. They are very detailed and the designs are awesome especially the one on Nyx's head being a transparent plastic that shows part of the engine of the bike. Also note the details on the wheels and flaps.

Here is another picture of the motorbike after removing the wires and top plastic cover.

Here is another picture with Snow Villiers.

Next, let us look at both Nyx and Styria individually. Both of their designs are really unique and highly detailed. A word of caution when separating both figures from its bike form. Take note of the joints that form the bike and make sure you detach them carefully to avoid breaking parts of Styria and Nyx. The joints are delicate. Here is a picture of both of them individually.

Individually, both of them stand at an amazing 38cm. Here is another close up of their facial details.

The facial details are amazing.

Here is a comparison in terms of size among Fenrir, Hardy Daytona and Shiva Motorcycle.

Look at the size of the motorcycle @.@

Points of articulation

Both figures have great points of articulation to make up for the transformation process. For more pictures of the various poses, please check out the following link: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10104980p/10/1

You can view various poses and details that Shiva motorcycle has to offer from the link.

For me this bike has become the most precious toy I have ever own in my Final Fantasy collection. No doubt that this figure is very costly i.e., RM780 but for a true die hard fan of Final Fantasy, it is a great collectors' item. I will be looking forward to Odin which will be the next Eidolon scheduled to be released soon. From what I have seen in Shiva Motorcycle, I am very confident that Odin has much to offer in terms of size and details. Well done Square Enix Kai for manufacturing this awesome bike.

Final Fantasy XIII Play Arts Kai Volume 2

2010-05-23T16:08:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone,

I have just received two "surprise" packages yesterday after waiting for them for almost a month. Well, one had delivery issues and the other was just released. Of course, the element of surprise came from Shiva Motorcycle and it was really big and awesome.

Let us begin with a review of the latest FXIII figures first before checking out the bike in another post. As mentioned in my previous post http://confessionsofatoyaddict.blogspot.com/2010/01/release-dates-of-new-ffxiii-play-arts.html, Volume 2 of the FXIII Play Arts Kai series features 3 new figures from the FFXIII game i.e., Sazh Katzroy (no. 5), Hope Estheim (no. 6) and Oerba Yun Fang (no. 7). As usual, I will base my review on the four key features that make up the brand behind the Kai series.

Packaging
In terms of packaging, this time the boxes containing the figures are smaller in size in terms of its width because the figures do not come with the support stand. It is a bummer indeed. Besides that, the boxes are blue in colour compared to Volume 1 (green). Other than that, all the other features of the box remain the same i.e., height, logo, warning labels, description etc.

Size
Where size is concerned, Sazh and Yun Fang are comparable in terms of height. Sazh's height is about 22.5cm, Yun Fang about 1cm shorter at 21.5cm and Hope at 19.5cm. Well, Sazh seems a bit bulkier since he has his green trench coat on whereas Yun Fang and Hope are slender. Here is a quick look at their height.

Character details

This is another area that most toy collectors would love to scrutinise. Generally, in terms of looks, all three of them are unique but in terms of quality, Sazh seems to be better of compared to Yun Fang and Hope. I will tell you my reasons ... let the pictures do the talking ...

Sazh Katzroy

Hope Estheim

Oerba Yun Fang

There are no blemishes found in all three figures unlike the one I found on Snow (boils). The cufflings, coat, buttons, shoes and emblem on Sazh's right shoulder look detailed with nice colour tones. For Hope, his scarf tied around his neck looks good with his orange vest. His pants has nice details. There are two "strings" tied to the back of his pants... I did not notice that in-game. For Yun Fang, she looks sexy in her metallic blue saree. I can actually see the metallic gloss on her saree like the one in-game. At first I thought I will not be able to see that on the figure but I was mistaken. Even her hair is glossy. Good job SE. I can also see Yun Fang's Le'Cie mark on her left shoulder. However, I cannot see the mark on Sazh (covered by his shirt) and Hope (covered by his gloves).

The designs on her saree are great. I can clearly see the designs of the fringe of her saree. However, I think one part of the design on her behind is not complete. Look at the following picture and check out the left side of the white design ...looks like it has been erased.

Next, lets look at the facial details ... Out of the three, Sazh seems to have the best facial details. Here is why.

Well, you can see from the facial expression above and judge for yourself. Sazh can be said to be clean cut compared to Hope and Yun Fang. You can see Sazh's mustache, goatee and of course his signature Darlie grin clearly. Hope seems to have a "bad hair" day due to uneven colouring of his silver locks. Besides that, I noticed that the colour tone for Hope's hair is slightly different and he has pale lips. Look at the picture below. For Yun Fang, it is her lip problem like Lightning previously... No smear on the eyes for all three figures though.

The colour tone/shade of the font part of Hope's hair seems to be lighter than the back portion of his hair. Perhaps different colour pallet of silver is used to create a shading effect but from the picture above, the effect did not work well. It looks like two tones pieced together. You can actually see the joint lines between the front and back part of his hair because of the difference in colour tone. So I can conclude that despite Sazh having a "bird nest" on his head, he looks best in terms of facial details and colour.

Points of articulation

The three figures have nice points of articulation. They can actually mimic certain stance in-game. Hope can actually sit with his legs folded. This cannot be done for previous Play Arts figures. I did not try various poses for this review. Here are some ...

Please access the following link for more poses: http://www.finalfantasymerchandise.com/blog/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1204

Credits: Thanks to bro zelu1984 from FF Merchandise forum.

Additional parts

There additional parts for Volume 2 are roughly the same as Volume 1 i.e., hands and weapons. The weapons look cool. Sazh comes with dual pistols, Hope with his boomerang and Yun Fang with her 3 point staff.

Hope's boomerang and Yun Fang's three-point staff feature interesting details compared to Sazh's black pistols.

Despite having some defects in paint job, FXIII Play Arts Volume 2 is still a good buy for die hard FFXIII fans. I just hope that in future, Square Enix will be able to improve on all areas so that the package will be perfect for all Final Fantasy fans around the world. You can definately see the improvement in this Kai series compared to the previous releases.

Final Fantasy XIII Limited Collector's Edition for Europe revealed

2010-01-26T08:35:00.002+08:00

Square Enix has just announced recently that there will be a limited collector's edition to the Final Fantasy XIII bundle for Europe. This set will be made avaliable in two gaming platforms PS3 and XBox 360 on March 9, 2010.

The bundle includes the game CD, selected soundtrack CD containing tracks from the game and an artbook.Three prints of the main characters' summons and a decal of the brand of I'Cie are also included in the bundle. This set will be much anticipated by many Final Fantasy fans worldwide. Below are some of the pictures of the bundle.

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/22/final-fantasy-xiii-limited-collectors-edition-revealed-for-euro/

Release dates of new FFXIII Play Arts Kai Volume 2 and Odin summon announced

2010-01-23T16:27:00.001+08:00

An update regarding the release of the new set of FFXIII Play Arts Kai version (volume 2) and Lightning's summon Odin.

Volume 2 of the latest Kai version of the Play Arts features Oerba Yun Fang, Sazh Katzroy and Hope Estheim. Here are some prototype pics and further information about the estimated release dates.

Oerba Yun Fang

Source: Prototype pictures courtesy of AmiAmi Character and Hobby Shop at http://www.amiami.com

Release information
Date of release: Late April 2010
Height: 22.5 cm
Suggested price: Approximately 4,000 Yen
Status: Pre-order open at AmiAmi

Sazh Katzroy

Source: Prototype pictures courtesy of AmiAmi Character and Hobby Shop at http://www.amiami.com

Release information
Date of release: Late April 2010
Height: 23.5 cm
Suggested price: 4,000 Yen
Status: Pre-order open at AmiAmi

Hope Estheim

Source: Prototype pictures courtesy of AmiAmi Character and Hobby Shop at http://www.amiami.com

Release information

Date of release: Late April 2010
Height: 21.5 cm
Suggested price: 4,000 Yen
Status: Pre-order open at AmiAmi

FFXIII Summon Odin

Source: Prototype pictures courtesy of AmiAmi Character and Hobby Shop at http://www.amiami.com

Release information
Date of release: Late April 2010
Height: Gestalt mode approximately 35cm / Human mode approximately 41cm
Suggested price: 19,800 Yen
Status: Pre-order open at AmiAmi

FFXIII Play Arts Kai Volume 1

2010-01-22T14:13:00.002+08:00

This is my review on the latest Play Arts series by SquareEnix. A little bit of background on the new "Kai" series.The Kai series is a brand built upon the set of play arts produced by Square Enix. The Kai brand focuses on 4 key attributes in the play arts: greater attention to detail, more points of articulation, additional extra parts and larger size figures. The goal with these new attributes is to increase the element of realism in the play arts. I will use these 4 key features to write my review.

Let us begin by looking at the packaging.

Packaging

The boxes are slightly bigger than previous releases. Thisis because the figures are meant to be bigger this time around. I like thechoice of colours used for the boxes. It is pearl white with shades of emeraldgreen. It is kind of similar to the box used for Kingdom Hearts Play Arts SoraFinal Form. Here is comparison in terms of size of the box. The Kai logo andFFXIII are printed at the bottom of each box in metallic silver. You can also see that the height of thefigure is also taller than the previous Play Arts figure.

Size

The size of the figures is bigger, bulkier and heavier (last2 attributes applies to Snow only). Lightning and Vanille stand at roughly 23cmwhereas Snow is slightly taller, about 26cm. Since men are meant to be tougher,so Snow is built to be bulkier and heavier. That is also why he is the best"defender" in the game.

Here is another comparison that I have made with regards toheight. I compared Lightning with Cloud from FFVII Play Arts Volume 1.

Character details

Next, let us look at character details. This is usual thekey area that all toy collectors look for in the play arts.

Lightning

Snow

Vanille

This time, the details are great but I have picked upseveral defects. First, facial expression and details. The facial expressionfor all three characters are generally good but I like Snow's facial expressionbest. Here is why....

Based on the pics above, you can actually see abit of Snow'smustache and even though his hair is covered by a bandana, he looks good. Theoutlines of his eyes are fine but I still prefer the eyes for FFXII Play Artsbest.

If you compare with Lightning and Vanille, Lightning'sfacial expression seems to be the worst of the lot. It is due the"defect" that I have spotted on her lips i.e., the red line thatseparates the upper and lower lip. I think she would look better without thered line. You will not be able to spot defect without close inspection.Lightning's lips is the so called defect here. For my Lightning, the thin redline seems to be fine if viewed from far and also close up. I went to severaltoy shops to check on this and found out that the red line appears to be arough line that causes slight smearing on Lightning's mouth upon closeinspection. Well, if the red line is like the one on the Joker, then obviously,it would be rejected straight away.

Here are some pics that shows Lightning with nice lips.

Image courtesy of soulsync and zelu1984 from XL-Shop Toys Forum

In case of Vanille, the lower lip (lobe) appears to be toothin. It looks some sort like Japanese geisha when they use small brush tocolour their lower lip. This lowers her cuteness factor. Luckily, mine was not affected.

For Snow, there seems to be some defect on his back. Inoticed some spots on his back. Looks like boils.

I only noticed the I'Cie Mark on Snow's left hand but notfor Lightning and Vanille. Lightning is supposed to have one near her chest area and Vanille's on herupper thigh but it was not there.

Let us look at colour details now. Generally, the coloursused are realistic. With good colour details, the Play Arts can actually showbattle damage details. However, I found some colouring defects in this area aswell. It appears on Lightning. Check my close up on Lightning's face. Did youspot any colour defects? Look at her Adam's apple area. There is a smear on itand the collar of her jacket seems to be dirty. Perhaps the dirty part of hercollar is meant to reflect battle damage details but certainly not the smear.Colour details on Snow and Vanille seem to be fine though.

Points of articulation

Next we move on to another favourite topic of Play Artsreview. Points of articulation. This topic is laudable. The Play Arts can posein various positions due to their intricate points of articulation. I'm notsure how many points of articulation are there but you can pose is variouscomplicated poses with the new points of articulation. Even the base stand canbe articulated now. Here aresome of my poses of Snow and Vanille.

The lower part of Snow's trench coat can be removed or openup.

I tried to do the pose right after Vanille summonedHecatonheir and ordered it to attack where she twists her waist 180 degrees butcannot. The above is just a similar pose for the lulz.

Important Note

The joints are fragile. Take care of the joints when you dodifferent poses. The joints are easily detachable but you can fix it back. I donot know if this is good or bad but please exert care when you want to poseyour figures. I have this problem with Snow and Vanille when I did some oftheir poses to take pictures. The kneeling one for Snow and the "turnback" pose for Vanille where Snow's leg and Vanille's upper body wasdetached.

Additional parts

The additional parts to all figures are great. Lightning canpose with her gun or blade mode and Vanille can decide to keep her staff if sheneeds to do so. However, Snow does not come with weapons but just additionalhands.

There are two similar weapons for both Lightning andVanille.

Additional parts from the box

Above all, I feel that FFXIII Play Arts is a good buydespite some defects in colour details and molding. The new attributes added tothe Play Arts will gain the attention of many FF collectors out there. I lookforward to FFXIII Play Arts Kai Volume 2 which features Hope Esthiem, SazchKatzroy and Oerba Yun Fang.

Hot Toys MMS98 Goemon the Movie 1/6 scale Chacha Asai

2010-01-21T12:52:00.049+08:00

This is my first Hot Toys figure. I was mesmerised by the beauty of this figure when I saw the prototype pictures up on XL-Shop’s pre-order list few months back. Futhermore, she is reflective of the pretty Ryoko Hirosue. Being a toy collector for the longest time that I can remember, I have been an avid fan of fantastic movies and also games. As you all would have known, I am more of a Final Fantasy collector than a Hot Toys collector. It so happen that I find this figure produced by Hot Toys to be delicate and unique in its representation of Asian cultures which captures the rich history of Japan back in the “Sengoku” period of Japanese history. I hope to be able to provide an objective review of this figure because I am not familiar with the positive and negative points of figures produced by Hot Toys and I have not seen the movie yet. I only know that Hot Toys is one of the leading companies in producing 1/6 scale or 12 inch figures from various movies aside from Slideshow and Medicom.

Packaging

This figure is nicely packed into a white box with a magnetic flap that enables one to view the figure when it is opened. The design of the box is very simple. It has a picture of the Ryoko Hirosue who plays the character Chacha Asai on the front and the back of the box is a sample picture of the prototype figure. Once open, the figure is protected by two layers of transparent plastic cover and a black plastic box to hold the figure in tact. Amazingly, the head of the figure is also protected by a plastic cover to ensure that the paint job is not smeared. You may look for the 20 inch LOTR Gandalf figure produced by NECA few years back to see a good example of this smearing on his nose.

Figure sculpt

I have read some reviews on the sculpting of this figure from other forums such as Toys World Hong Kong, Figures.com etc. I must say that the real figure might not be a total 100% depiction of the prototype especially the head and face sculpt but nevertheless both hair and face are sculpted in detail. Then again, prototype figures are meant to advertise and entice collectors to buy them, so they might have been “photoshoped” to perfection… who knows …

Real sculpt and prototype sculpt

Coming back, the facial features of Chacha Asai are laudable: her eyes, brows, nose and glossy lips are nice. It is just that she needs a nice hair to suit her facial features. Some collectors in Toys World forum commented that she would look better with synthetic hair like other figures made by Hot Toys i.e., Silken Floss but in this case, plastic hair is not so bad after all. It is more like she looks better in synthetic hair because the facial features of this figure are very realistic. Once you are able to fit the synthetic hair onto the figure, her facial features will be slightly enhanced. This will also improve the overall impression of her hair sculpt. It will be interesting to see Hot Toys coming up with synthetic hair for her in future if they decide to make one to complement the Asian look.

Head sculpt of Chacha Asai

Photos from a HT collector in Toys World forum

Credits to: diodio18

Costume and accessories

I must say that her dress looks absolutely stunning. Costume is one of the reasons why I bought this figure. Chacha Asai looks gorgeous in this red kimono. Best of all the dress is designed with great details. I like the outer layer of her dress which combines intricate designs with the Japanese culture during the “Sengoku” era. Her dress is made up of two layers of fabric. The outer layer (coat) builds the “Sengoku” look of this figure with its gold-embroidered fabric whereas the inner fabric represents the basic kimono dress with additional designs sewn on it. The outer layer also forms an “obi” like piece of a kimono dress that looks like a big ribbon on the waist of the figure when viewed from the back.

Front and back view of the figure

Chacha Asai comes with few accessories compared to Goemon Ishikawa. She comes with a fan, a dagger, 2 interchangeable hands and a stand. Besides that, I think her Japanese slippers can also be considered part of the accessories that comes with this figure. It is typical of Japanese culture for ladies to have fans and slippers as accessories and they complement her look above all. I am not sure why the dagger is there as I have not seen the movie yet. Is she an assassin in disguise?

Chacha Asai's accessories

Points of articulation

This figure has about 30 points of articulation. So far I managed to capture some poses and it seemed good. It explains the plus points of a new Tru-Type body of Hot Toys line that allows various articulations as mentioned in her counterpart figure Goemon Ishikawa in Figures.com’s review. I wonder how is this type of figure better compared to the Hot Angels body from other figures.

Paint job

The paint job of this figure is commendable. Despite not 100% reflective of the prototype picture, her details still pack a punch that depicts realistic features of the actress Ryoko Hirosue. The skin tone and colour of her eyes, brows are great and her lips are stunning.

Note her lips

Cost

There is no doubt that this figure costs quite a fortune (RM 498) but the striking details depicted by this figure prove the figure's worth: realistic looks to the intricate designs of her dress and accessories. I must say that this figure is impressive and I cannot wait to see the movie.

Thanks for reading. I hope Hot Toys will be able to produce more impressive figures that capture the essence of Asian cultures. I am not entirely sure but it seems that Goemon is the first line of Hot Toys figures that features Asian aesthetics. More goodies to come.

FFXIII Elixir with Mini Trading Arts

2010-01-21T11:24:00.005+08:00

Here is my short review on the elixirs with its respective mini trading figures.

Packaging

This set is packed into a medium sized box that contains 6 small rectangular boxes with elixirs and trading figures in them; sealed. I suppose the unique feature of this packaging is that it prevents the cans (elixirs) and figures from damage during shipment. Each component (the cans and trading figures) is well-packed into small boxes. It feels like unwrapping a gift box (though Boxing Day is already over)

The elixirs and mini trading figures are fitted into 6 rectangular boxes as follows.

The arrangement of the cans and figures are depicted below.

Let us take a closer look at the 6 boxes.

As you can see, the design of the box is simple. You can view the prototype pictures of each figure from the left and right sides of the box. The front and back part of the box include the name and label.

FFXIII Elixirs

Here is a closer look at the can and mini trading figures box.

I have inspected the cans and they are all in good condition i.e., no dents (good packaging prevents dents). all the cans come with the same design i.e., a screen shot of Lightning and Snow. The cans contain soda but I could not find the expiry date except some description of the cans in Japanese and bar code. Well, I do not plan to drink it anyway...

FFXIII Trading Figures Mini

There are a total of 6 figures in this version of the elixirs. They are Lightning, Snow Villiers, Oerba Dia Vanille, Sazch Katzroy, Oerba Yun Fang and Hope Esthiem. The designs of the mini trading figures are just so-so only. It does not reflect on the spot details. Nevertheless, I think the idea behind this version of the FFXIII Elixirs is more to promote the game and also act as a follow up to FFXIII Elixir version one which features the elixirs in 16 different cans of various FFXIII character designs.

The contents of the small box:

As you can see, the packaging is similar to the ones produced by Square Enix previously.

Here is a closer look at the details of each character:

Lightning

Snow Villiers

Sazch Katzroy

Hope Esthiem

Oerba Dia Vanille

Oerba Yun Fang

As I have mentioned before, the designs of each character does not feature detailed designs especially facial features but there are no colour spills spotted. The height of each figure is approximately 8cm/3.2 inches.

After some minor fixing and tampering …. The result…

Above all, I think the FFXIII Elixir and Trading Arts Mini set is worth to keep as a collectors’ item with FFXIII Elixir version 1. I only purchased this set because it comes with mini trading figures. With this, I conclude my review of FFXIII Elixirs with Mini Trading Arts. I hope you enjoy reading my review.