What does one envision when they think of strength?  I would assume people would normally associate strength with muscles, power, Superman, etc.  But in Black Rock Shooter’s case, Strength comes in the form of a petite girl with massive mechanized arms.  How’s that for cool?!

I’ve been happy thus far with the BRS figures coming from Good Smile Company; in general, the figures are well made and lacks any significant flaws.  That is with the exception of BRS animated version, where the initial production batch was missing the star on the jacket.  GSC remedied that by issuing a sticker, but that was only for the domestic market as far as I know, those of us in the international community were SOL.

Strength is one of the supporting characters from the Black Rock Shooter OVA, which I still have yet to watch.  I even have the demo from the BRS Figma as well as the Blu-Ray movie which are just sitting on my shelf untouched.  I guess you can say the same for my BRS figure collection, they’re all just sitting in their boxes awaiting their reviews.  Strength is the first BRS figure that I have opened up and she just so happens to be the newest addition to my BRS collection.  I figure all the other BRS characters have been out for some time and have received many reviews already, so I might as well do something new and review Strength.

I can’t say I’m all that familiar with the BRS franchise, while I know what it is, I’m not intimate with the details nor the characters.  I’ve been thinking about this fact quite a bit lately, I realize I don’t really have any affinity towards most of the figures in my collection.  That, I think, allows me to review the figures as is and without bias.  But then again, sometimes this lack of connection to the characters will result in my failing to recognize unique elements that defines the figure from its original source.

All I know is that Strength is the alternate persona of the girl named Yuu and that she might end up being an opposition for BRS (or already is?).  Can’t say I’d be surprised if they fight and end up being allies in the end though, Strength doesn’t seem like an antagonist to me.  Either way, when I first saw the figure up for pre-order, I thought she had an interesting design that separated her from BRS, Dead Master and Black Gold Saw.  Alright, fine, I saw those massive mecha arms and thought they were pretty damn cool – and being the mecha fan that I am, I didn’t have any problems with justifying her in my collection.  Hey, I already have BRS, DM and BGS, so might as well get Strength  and complete the set.

Truly, when I think of strength, I would’ve never envisioned a little girl with such massive arms which are called Ogre Arms by the way.  For some reason I think this actually works and it has a little bit of that steampunk-ish feel to it.  Since Strength is an alternate persona, I assume the arms are a metaphor for her strength of character since her body is so petite.  But as I’ve said earlier, my lack of knowledge to the original source may be miscontruding my perception of the character.

When I showed Strength to a friend of mine, he asked me a bunch of questions I didn’t really have the answer to.  Note to self not to discuss figure collecting with my friends as I can’t even explain my obsession with these plastic things.

“Why aren’t the Ogre Arms attached directly to her arms?”  I guess it’s so she can rotate her arms more freely?

“Why a bracket then?  Why not some ball joints or servo?“  I guess it’s for the coolness / artistic design factor.

“Wait, is that a tail coming … “  Yes, okay, she’s an anime character – she doesn’t need to make any sense!  Moving on!

Strength is shrouded in a black hood which I think plays to her name’s advantage.  Her eyes are  somewhat emotionless here, which I usually find annoying in figures, but not in this case.  It works well with the rest of her appearance since you’re unable to gauge the expression on her face.  Her massive arms are probably what you notice first when you see her, thus you are left with the conceived notion that she is strong even with such a petite body.  Mix in that cold stare of hers, she is definitely intimidating!

The downside to this emotionless gaze is that you lose some context to her pose.  She is suspended in the air, almost like she’s jumping yet like she’s not.  You’re left wondering what exactly her body motion is telling you.  Normally, the “animated version” of BRS figures have a more dynamic pose – whereas Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master seem like they’re facing off each other, perhaps Strength will look like she’s jumping backwards when paired up with Black Gold Saw?  I actually haven’t tried that yet, so I can’t say for certain – I’ll update on this at a later date.

Speaking of petite, Strength definitely has the signature BRS look, a really slim body build and really flat chested.  I think Strength may be even flatter than BRS in this case.  ^_^’  Not that I have any qualms about it, but do you think she’s compensating in any way with those massive arms?

Her upper thighs have somewhat better definitions, particularly when viewed from her left side.  It’s nothing to write home about but I can appreciate the detailing here for what it’s worth.  But the dominant feature of Strength is her arms, of course, and I find them extremely well done.  The metallic paint work and “dry brush” effect on the edges make her large gauntlets look durable and used.  By used, I mean it doesn’t look all shiny and polished like it came straight from the factory.  The shading creates a nice weathered effect, though I think the surface could’ve received more “scratches” to make the pair look more battle-weary.  I have to give GSC credit here with the paint work, they could’ve used a flat colour and painted the entire arm one colour but they didn’t.

For the most part, the gauntlets (as I dub them) are fairly solid yet light weight.  You do have to pay careful attention to the thumbs though, as they are a separate piece and glued on to the rest of the hand via a little stub.  I can definitely see someone mishandling them and break off the thumb.  The attachment to the arms also need some attention, while the guantlets lock in place to the arms fairly securely (also via a little stub), her arms are quite thin.  If you’re going to take the gauntlet off for whatever reason, make sure to hold on to her arm with the other hand and lightly wiggle the gauntlet off.  For what it’s worth, both Ogre Arms clip in to the display base very securely and you won’t have any wobbling issues.

Strength rests on the display base via three points, her left foot and her two arms.  The base is your typical BRS style damaged “blocks”.  It’s certainly much more pleasing to the eyes than a standard disc or rectangle.  GSC didn’t cheap out on the details of this display base either, there are cracks and damages as well as careful shading of the paint work.  The base is sturdy and Strength is very well balanced on it, there’s no fear of her toppling over.

Now for that tail of hers, I’m not sure why it’s there nor why her designer even came up with the concept, but it’s there.  I actually didn’t even notice she had a tail until I got the figure; when I saw it, it reminded me of the tail from an alien from Aliens.  The tail is also reminiscent of the Borg Queen’s spine from Stre Trek – and ultimately I think that’s what it is.  It’s not really a tail but moreso a mechanized skeletal spine that helps Strength balance and move better.  I think I read that somewhere, but correct me if I’m wrong.  The “tail” is actually a separate piece which pegs into a little slot just behind (and above) her butt.  So you can optionally leave the tail off without fear of an unsightly hole dancing in front of your eyes.

Strength’s outfit is a one-piece suit with a very short “skirt” portion (writer’s block, can’t think of the correct term), as such her undergarment is rather exposed when you view her from just about any frontal angle.  Fans usually react negatively to the white underwear and I usually don’t give a damn, but in this case with the white so exposed in a midst of black, I found it a little distracting.  While it matches the black and white theme Strength has going on, I think a slightly darker shade (or even black) would have worked out better.  That is unless this was the intent - to arouse the little hentai in all of us?

Strength also has little white bow ties on the top of her stokings and her tail, I thought about taking detailed photos of them (as I normally do when I talk about the finer details) but ultimately decided to skip it in this set of photos.  I mean, they’re just white bow ties and nothing fancy!  ^_^’

If you’re a regular to my site, you may have noticed some difference in style with this review.  First and foremost, there are only 15 pictures as opposed to the usual 30+ that I take.  I didn’t take as many detailed macro shots as I didn’t feel it was necessary for this figure.  If you’re looking at Strength from section to section, she’s actually rather plain.  There’s not much pattern on her outfit and she doesn’t exactly scream colour.  But when you look at her as an entire package, she’s a very well polished figure.  Normally, I can find minute paint errors or production mistakes with the macro lens, but I’m rather surprised at how clean my Strength is.  She lacks mentionable flaws and I didn’t notice any unsightly seam lines.  The shading is very well done, even her outfit has a slight black-charcoal gradient thing going on.

For this photo set, I incorporated a bit more lighting work rather than post processing – I barely touched these photos at all.  Since I’ve been working on some other photo projects with my friends, they left their Speedlites and wireless tx/rx at my place - I took advantage of this and put our 580ex’s to good use.  =)  I normally just run a 580ex and modelling lamps – I’ve been meaning to get more strobes so perhaps this recent shoot can serve as a motivation for me.

Strength is rated at 1/8 scale, but given the size of the Ogre Arms, she looks larger than she actually is.  Head to toe, she is roughly 15cm, but if stretched out she’s actually 22cm.  So I guess 1/8 scale is somewhat accurate, for a little Asian girl anyway!  But hey, by now we all know size doesn’t matter right?  Strength can be defined in many different ways – mentally, physically, mechanically… but as long as you have a kick ass set of mecha arms, nothing else really matters.  Strength is definitely a figure worthy to be put on display, upskirt and all.  ^_^’

So after months and months of procrastinating, I finally got around to writing the review of this great figure. I’m sorry Saber, please don’t don’t kick my ass!

Here we have a figure that actually didn’t cost too much for me to get – Saber was released back in September of 2009, just a few months before I started collecting. She was still floating around with a decent price, although I can’t recall how much I paid or where I got her from. Recently, she’s going around for 20,000 JPY though, which is pretty pricey but not all that bad for a great figure that’s no longer in production.

Saber comes from Fate/unlimited codes, which was a PS2/PSP game based on Fate/stay night. I’ve never played the game but I did notice it in the Playstation Store a couple of nights ago while browsing for some games my PS3. I was going to download it but got lazy when I saw that it was only for the PSP.

Since this figure’s been out for awhile, there have been plenty of reviews and photos – one of my favourites has got to be the Winged Lily by radiantdreamer. But that’s getting ahead of myself a little, let’s take a few steps back and check out the – wait for it – box. I found that the design is rather unique and elegant, quite befitting of the figure. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the interior packaging – don’t get me wrong, the figure was VERY securely packaged and I appreciate that, but there were so many twisty ties and wrapping it was a little annoying.

Once I got Saber out of the package (which I’m never going to put her back in) I was greeted with a kick ass figure in a very striking pose. I like figures that are sculpted as if “caught in motion” or when their body language tells a story. This Saber is definitely one of those figures – she looks as if she’s just completed a slash or unsheathed her sword in an en garde position. Her facial expression also says quite a bit, I’m glad she wasn’t sculpted with a smiling face, that would’ve totally screwed with the pose. That’s one thing that I really dislike about Alter’s Selvaria Bles figure, that smile is completely unbefitting of her character – but I’ll save my bitching for that review later.

Speaking of facial expression, here’s a close-up Saber’s face – which I think the sculptor did a great job. I like the green eyes and blonde hair combo, in combination with her slightly peachy skin tone, I found it really brings out her eyes. The black hair ribbon adds a nice contrast to the lighter colours that’s prodominant on this figure. It also finishes the black “outlining” theme found throughout the figure.

I’m not too sure what kind of armour Saber wears, I guess you can call it a half-plate armour, if I recall the term correctly from my role-playing days. Actually, I still play RPGs, but never did get into the pen and paper stuff – I’ve always wondered what that was like. Was it really as stereotypical as TV always portrayed it to be? Ahem, what was I saying again? Oh yeah, the armour – I really like the design of Saber’s armour, it’s not all that protective, but it is definitely stylish. The inclusion of the dress-like skirt is a really nice touch – it blends Saber’s femininity to her warrior nature. I think I’ve always been a sucker for girls in plate mail – it’s like a medieval girl in uniform – uber hotness! <3

There is very little shading on the armour, I think a little more dry brushing on the paint work would’ve been cooler. Make the armour look a little more used and not just fresh from the smithy.

The skirt, on the other hand, receives a lot more attention to detail and shading. The white is mixed in with a peachy-pink offset with a very soft blending – at least on my figure anyway. The way the dress folds and wrinkles to Saber’s motion is well done, almost looks realistic especially with more dramatic lighting.

The plate boots are an interesting design, which I like – it exemplifies strength yet feminity via the high heels. Ever fight in high heels before? Never thought it was very practical but it’s definitely hot.

The base is well done as well, the marble-like flooring matches Saber’s colour theme and the “scarring” of the tiles makes the base more interesting. I only wish the base was larger and added some 3-dimensional aspects to liven things up. I pictured taking photos of Saber with large stone or marble pillars in the background, like in front of a castle or a grand hall. Unfortunately I didn’t have the props to get this set up, so I just made due with the white background. lol

Saber’s back is fairly exposed, the skin tone is smooth and subtlely shaded. The sculpt is also very nice, which reaps the benefits of being exposed. A lot of figures out there have nice back sculpts but are usually covered up by their long hairs. I guess if there’s a weak spot in Saber’s armour, then that’d be her back and her shoulders – guess you trade (practical) protection for mobility and sensuality. lol

I think you can say that I’m a fan of Saber’s upper body sculpt, particularly her armpit areas. I find it kind of sexy with her arms stretched out as it really defines her body form. You can almost feel the tension in her muscles as she prepare for her next move, what’s it gonna be? A parry or a strike?

Under the huge puffy skirt, GSC didn’t hold back on the details even if you can’t see anything unless you tip the figure over. There’s shading on the legs and the underwear, which may be a little heavy handed compared to Saber’s upper torso. The underwear is a deep white with a lot of “ink wash” effect, it looks out of place compared to the light white colour of Saber’s garter and the rest of her dress.

Another design I find really cool is her gauntlets, I just find it interesting that the outer part is armour while the palm side is cloth (or leather). It definitely beats a pure armoured gauntlet, I guess this goes along the rest of her armour set for added mobility. The left hand can be removed and replaced with one with a hole to attach the sheath. I think I prefer the one without the sheath though – as I’ve said, I think the gauntlet looks really cool with the soft palm. With the sheath, you lose this bit of detail.

Saber Lily comes with Caliburn, Excalibur and Avalon (the sheath) – you can sort of mix and match the setup to how you want it. I prefer just using Caliburn without the sheath, it looks a little more natural. Then again, it’s not like I have much choice, since Saber can’t seem to hold Excalibur at all. Well, she probably can if it forced it into her right hand, but that would definitely damage something (especially the paint).

This looks pretty stupid, doesn’t it? I wonder what GSC was thinking when they made Excalibur’s handle so thick and huge? Why couldn’t they have made it a little thinner like Caliburn’s so it would fit in Saber’s hand? Or perhaps give us another hand to fit Excalibur in – we already have an extra hand for the sheath, why not just give another one for the sword? I’ve seen photos from other people who have fit Excalibur in, but I really didn’t want to force it. If it doesn’t want to go in, it doesn’t want to go in. =P

Edit:  As some of you mentioned in the comments, I didn’t realize you could remove the pommel to make Excalibur’s handle slide into her hand.  D’uh!  That didn’t even dawn on me!  Thanks for the comments and info, folks!

I really adore this figure and it’s definitely one of my favourites in my collection. But for some reason I found it really hard to take proper pictures – perhaps it had to do with the fact I couldn’t set up the proper backdrop I wanted – so it was very un-inspirational. I also had a really difficult time writing this review, honestly I think it took me half a year just to get this far. I worked on this review on and off, lost my train of thought so many times, so this review is really fragmented.

I had a choice between this version or the limited Golden Caliburn version, I preferred this as Saber is adorned with armour. I guess I’m a sucker for armour and girl knights. I also thought the armour might’ve been a cast-off but I was wrong. lol

I later went back and took some additional photos of Saber Lily with a castle like backdrop (which I think I’ve over-used by now). The black and white photo below was inspired by one of the pics I took of Saber Maid (which I’ll be reviewing next). Hopefully it won’t take me another half a year to write that review! Anyway, I finally got this far and I’m tired of prolonging this so I’m just gonna hit the publish button that’s tempted me for the past six months and have this half-assed written review over and done with. Cheers! ^____^

It was awhile back when I saw the preview for the Canaan figure. At first it didn’t really grab at me and since I didn’t know who she was nor am familiar with the series, I didn’t bother looking into it further. There was also the fact that she’s suppose to match up with Alphard, which didn’t impress me as a figure, but I knew I had to get Alphard just to complete the set. I know, it’s a disorder of mine, but I just can’t have an incomplete collection! Eventually I gave in after looking at more of the promo photos and the display at WF. I really like dynamically posed figures, particularly girls with guns, so I placed my pre-order for Canaan (and reluctantly Alphard) with high expectations.

The figure was postponed for a few months, and fans awaited eagerly for Canaan’s release. I’m sure it’s safe to say that many fans were expecting a great quality figure, along the lines of Saber Lily (Distant Avalon), and truth be told I wasn’t expecting anything less of GSC as I believe them to be one of the better figure manufacturers out there. But as release date came, Hobby Search posted some rather concerning photos of a production Canaan. The photos showed horrible finishes, particularly the hair, with a lot of molding bits left unsmoothed. The paint work also seemed bland compared to the prototype, and shading seemed almost non-existent. There was quite an uproar within the community and bitter memories of the World is Mine Hatsune Miku started to surface. The quality of Canaan from the HobbySearch photos made her look as if she was a bootleg, no where close to the Canaan we saw in the promo photos.

I, for one, was nervous about the figure as well, as she wasn’t exactly cheap to begin with and I also have Alphard on order! Eventually some people started posting up their photos of Canaan, and we all got to let out a sigh of relief that the figure isn’t as bad as seen in the HobbySearch photos. There are still quality control issues, however, but I think for the most part it’s acceptable. There are still reports of scratch marks on the surface of some figures, incorrect paint applications and unclean surfaces prior to paint, but at least the Canaan I received didn’t suffer from these issues. Sure, my Canaan isn’t perfect, but at least it’s not bad! And you know what? The more I look at her, the more I like her.

I’m guessing it’s her pose that has captured me, her jumping through the air, cape flying off and shooting her Beretta Px4 (a la Chow Yun Fat in a John Woo film). I’ve said this many times, and I never get tired of it, but I love dynamic figures such as Canaan, especially (girls) with guns. Speaking of guns, one of the quality concerns of this figure is the positioning of her pistol. There were concerns that her pistol isn’t aimed properly on the production model and that Canaan’s eyes aren’t looking at her target. The concern once again stems from the horrible Canaan seen in the Hobby Search photos – seriously, did they take a photo of a bootlegged Canaan? Anyway, I can safely say that Canaan is looking down the barrel at her target, but due to the angle of her body, and the way her hands tilting the pistol slightly, it can look “off” depending on the angle you look at her.

One of the main concerns of this figure was her hair, the Hobby Search photos showed a poorly cleaned hair with a lot of artifacts and molding bits. The paint application was also bland and coarse, with the tips of her hair dull and rounded, which was quite the opposite of the pre-production model that we all saw. I’m not sure how the figure is for the other owners, but on mine the hair is alright. The paint is still a little coarse, but at least not a lot of molding bits nor heavy seam lines. It’s definitely passable.

Canaan is a fairly simple figure, actually, there aren’t that many details on her body. The red shirt and brown pants are plain, and accessory wise Canaan only has a necklace, bracelet and an arm guard. The necklace itself lacks detail and the arm guard doesn’t have any designs. The pistol, however, does receive some attention. When I first saw the pre-production model, I thought she was using a Glock 19 due to the rail and colour scheme of the lower frame. The pics weren’t as detailed so I couldn’t see the rear of the pistol (as it looks nothing like a Glock). On my Canaan, the only obvious finishing error is a scratch at the bottom of the pistol frame; luckily it’s not a visible area.

One peeve that usually bothers me is when a finger is placed on trigger – you don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you’re going to shoot. But in this case it’s perfectly fine since Canaan is in the middle of a duel and she’s about to open up a can of whoop-ass on Alphard.

The pants is painted decently, but nothing spectacular, at the very least it’s fully painted. By that I am referring back to the Hobby Search photos again, as the photos showed a lack of paint in the creases of the pants. The zipper could’ve been painted better as well, there’s a bit of overlap between the silver and the brown.

I know so far this review has been pretty critical, even on the smaller details that I normally let slide, I’m guessing that’s due to the high expectations of this figure. But there are redeeming qualities as well. Aside from the pose, Canaan’s back is very well sculpted and painted (thank goodness)! It’s quite reminiscent of Collet and Sora – love it when figures receive detailed sculpts such as this. If only the finish quality received such attention to detail…

The shading work is pretty good though, albeit a little coarse. But you won’t notice the graininess from normal viewing distances. The painter should’ve been a bit more careful with painting lines though as there are quite a bit of overlap. The boots also have detailed soles which look really heavy duty, they look like Belleville combat boots to me (but they’re not).

One last community complaint about the finish of this figure is the base. The pre-production model had really detailed paint work where the bricks/stones were painted individually. But on the finished version, everything looks airbrushed over without care to detail. The base, actually doesn’t bother me and I think it does look pretty good (from a distance anyway).

One enigma that did puzzle me for quite a number of minutes is the little peg that holds Canaan in the air. GSC didn’t include any instructions and the pictures on the box is of the pre-production model with a different peg. The peg can be placed in any direction and doesn’t have a clear front or back, nor an up or down. Depending on how you insert the peg, Canaan may be higher or lower, forward or backward in comparison to the cape. After playing around with the possible combinations I think I found the position that seems “right”. The short side of the peg goes into the base and the top angling forward; I took a picture in case anyone is curious (or is going through the same hell I did).

I tried to finish this review twoweeks ago, but kept procrastinating till now. I thought there would be more reviews of Canaan, but at the moment, I only see the photo review at Exelica Meteor and the review at PolyVinyl Crush. If there are others let me know!

Even with the amount of finishing flaws, I have to say the figure is still good. If you’re on the fence still, just get her anyway, you won’t be sorry. Her quality may not be the best, but she sure as hell take photos damn well! Canaan is a very photogenic figure, that much I can assure you! I tried to do some desert theme with smoke effects, didn’t exactly turned out the way I wanted though, but I guess not all that bad. Looking at this figure, I knew right away where I wanted to take a picture of her, the Badlands! I found it hard to stop taking pictures, even though the angles were getting redundant. Well, have a look see!

I first saw this Miku on Foo-Bar-Baz last December, at the time, I had no idea who she was or what the figure was about. All I knew was that I thought the figure looked pretty cool to have a “framed” display base that can be mounted on the wall. I haven’t started collecting figures yet at the time either, so I had zero clue about where she was from, who she was made by and where to get her. I just looked at the photos and thought, “that’s cool” and pointed it out to my wife who agreed with me (for once).

Fast forward a few weeks, I started collecting figures and started to familiarize myself with all the different companies and the culture. Well, lo and behold, I came across this Miku while randomly browsing eBay so I quickly snatched it up. I could’ve got it from HLJ, HobbyFan, TLC, etc. but since I was getting something from the same seller on eBay, I got this Miku at the same time (at the normal price).

This Miku is based upon a user illustration of the World is Mine song by supercell. I’ve never heard the song before (hell, I haven’t really heard any Miku songs before), so I thought I’d check it out while writing up this review. The song’s alright, but I’m not really into Japanime type music anymore so it doesn’t really do anything for me. I thought Miku’s voice was too pitchy for my taste – but I still like Miku’s character design.

Miku’s appearance portrayed here is quite different from the usual “concert outfit” Miku, the face, body structure and hair are also a little different – but you can still look at this figure and know it’s Miku. The general vibe I get from this Miku is somewhat gothic. Her hair, long black stockings and hair ribbons have this slightly dark feeling to it. Her pose also looks a little devious and sinister from certain angles, a lot like Mr. Burns (The Simpsons). Eeeeeeeeeexcellent. I do like this design and had a lot of fun taking her pictures under different lighting.

Her hand sculpt seems a little weird to me, especially her left hand. The hand looks unusually long to me, reminiscent of E.T.?! The ribbon/string thing on her shirt is painted cleanly on this figure with barely no overlap with the white. With such high contrast, any overlap in paint here would’ve ruined the figure completely, especially it’s the central part of the figure where your eyes will easily focus on. Well, that’s my opinion anyway and luckily for me my Miku was saved from this horrible abomination.

The bracelet, however, isn’t finished as well as other parts of the figure. The paint application here seem like a blob of black paint with a few coloured dots then a layer of massive gloss coating. But at least this isn’t as noticeable and doesn’t detract attention away from the figure as a whole.

One other aspect I like about this figure is the fact different finishes were used on the figure. There are gloss and matte coatings, depending on the “material” Miku’s wearing. Her one-piece dress, for example, is in a matte finish which looks more fabric like than her headphones, bracelet, stockings, etc. I’m not sure why stockings would be glossy though, but it does provide a nice contrast. On my figure, there’s a slight mold line on the left of the figure (right side if you’re looking straight at her), I’m not sure if it’s like this on others, but I assume it is. It’s not that as obvious when looking at it with the naked eye though.

I’m sorry to report, if you’re a pantsu fan, that her underwear is plain white. Yup, that’s right, no stripes! But at least there are some wrinkles and “stitch” lines, right? So all’s not lost for you!

Now, there seemed to be some controversy with the quality control of this figure. There are reports on MFC that some people have been getting this Miku with sub-par finish and bad quality finish. Reports ranges from mis-painted petals, mis-painted hair ribbons, scratches on the figure, scratches on the base, poor paint quality and badly constructed headphone. I really wouldn’t have known about these issues had I not been keeping track of GSC’s recent release of Canaan where people were talking about quality issues with their WIM Miku. There was quite an uproar about the finished quality of that figure and many were upset with GSC’s lack of quality control from one figure to another. But I’ll get into this more when I do my Canaan review. On my Miku, the one obvious flaw I can see is the headphone, it appears who ever put it together used too much glue, so there’s a blob of dried glue on headphone. I haven’t tried removing this yet, as it doesn’t bother me all that much as it’s not obvious – but I’ll probably give it a try when I have room to put this figure out for display.

My base is fairly clean without scratches or damages. The World is Mine text is clear and the petals are painted alright. I haven’t seen the pre-production sample so I can’t really compare, but I’m guessing the petals on that were painted with more care and probably done one by one unlike this mass production version. I really don’t have any complaints with this base / frame though as when you look at the whole package from a normal viewing distance you won’t notice these little details.

I have to say, this is one of my favourites in my collection and one of the figures that caught my attention before even getting into this hobby. And as I’ve said, this Miku was great to take photos of, you can take it from just about any angle and lighting and get some sort of emotional response. Even with the issues some people were reporting, I dont think that should deter anyone from getting this figure as it’s definitely one unique Miku!