.hack//SIGN Lovable Collection Review

First off I apologize for disappearing for a few days there, I wasn't home for a few days then had doctor appointments, etc.  Anyhow that's not important!  Today I am taking a look at some more figures from my collection.  I have had these two for many years, they were some of the first additions to my collection of figures.  Click on any of the images below to see larger versions open in new tabs.

Let me introduce to you the .hack//SIGN 'Lovable Collection' figures, Subaru and Mimiru:

These two are the only ones in the set, though there is a "Lovable Collection 2" set that has Blackrose and Subaru in a different pose.  Each figure was actually fairly cheap compared to the pricing I have seen on a lot of other figures.  This is both good and bad, of course.  It makes it easier to get your hands on them if you are a fan of the series or characters, but it is also reflected in the quality as well.  They are not the most well-made figures, though I have seen worse.  No assembly required here.

As you can see each character comes with her trademark weapon, Mimiru with her heavy blade and Subaru with her axe.  Only one hand on each figure is made to hold the weapon, with Mimiru's second hand ready to support the blade depending on how you choose to pose it.  It is fairly easy to get them to pose, though they do not have many joints.  Their heads turn and their arms move but that is the extent of movement for these two.  It would also appear that Subaru's skirt is removable, and yet I don't think that it actually is.  If so I have not been able to remove it simply and fear breaking the figure if I try to force it.  The skirt moves around loosely at her waist.

The level of detail is okay, I liked the shading on Subaru's hair and the bit of texture that they tried to put in the clothing and Subaru's wings.  It could be better, but it is acceptable.  Their faces don't really show any emotion in my opinion, the expressions are fairly flat but detailed enough to be easily seen.  Their skin was smoother than their clothes, a bit shiny as well.  I will admit that the quality of these figures is better in person.  As I mentioned the slight shininess to some of the paint and their skin, they did not photograph as well as other collectibles that I have.  I apologize for that, I also couldn't seem to get a good lighting that suited them.

Here are some close ups of the figures in a few poses:

I'll admit that for the price (I believe I got them on sale for around $6-7 each, and they usually go for something like $11-15 each) these are cute figures that represent the characters well enough.  Being a big .hack fan I noticed that it was hard to find collectibles of many characters aside from a few plushies, so I made sure to grab up these figures when I found them.  To be quite honest I would not recommend them unless you are also a fan of the series or the characters.  For someone who just enjoys collecting various anime figures, models, and things like that, you would likely be better off finding something in a higher quality. 

Looking at the second addition to this figure set, the one that I do not own, I felt a little disappointed.  Rather than a second Subaru why not showcase another character?  The .hack franchise has plenty of interesting characters to offer after all.  In the future I would love to see more characters made into figures.  Aside from the Lovable collections I know of a Haseo figure that came with the first GU game, and a small set of trading figures.  If anyone knows of any others feel free to let me know in the comments below!

Kuroshitsuji Prop Plus Petit Review

Hey there, guys~ Today I will be doing my first anime figure review on a set that I got a week or so ago. I hope you enjoy the photos I have taken as well as the review because this is a super cute set. Note that you can click on any of the photos below in order to see a larger image.

Let me introduce to you the Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) Prop Plus Petit Volume 1 figure set by Bandai:

I have to say that I am pretty happy with this set. I knew from the start that they were going to be a bit small, about 2 inches tall including the stand, but that works well with chibi-fied characters like these. Since Kuroshitsuji is one of my favorite series I was eager for this to arrive in the mail. Even more eager seeing as all I had to pay was shipping (Thank you to the Buyers Reward program at Justmanga.com). There is no assembly required other than attaching them to their stands.

As you can see this set comes with 3 Sebastians, 3 Ciels, Grell, William T. Spears, and Lau. Each also has a small accessory that doubles as a keychain (a very clever and cute idea). It also appears that each stand has a different phrase written on it in Japanese, but I cannot read Japanese so sadly I can't really give my thoughts there. I did smile at Grell's stand having a little star by the word "Death" written in English, though. That and the facial expressions they chose for the characters, those made me smile as well~

The figures themselves are made well enough considering their size in my opinion. Some of the faces look a little off to me, but then again that might also be the style of the little chibi faces, so it isn't a huge deal to me. The glasses on William and Grell also seemed a bit off, but meh. It looks like this set sells at various stores between $35 and $40. Seeing as you get 9 figures that isn't so bad, but they are also small as I said, so it really depends on how much you like the series and the figures themselves.

Here are some close ups of the figures:

We have 2 butler versions and 1 waiter version. Each Sebastian comes with a watch keychain~

Next up are 2 normal Ciels and 1 bettime Ciel~ These come with keychains of his precious ring.

William has a book, Grell has his chainsaw/death scythe, and Lau... a bong. xD

Alrighty then~ Now I want to say a few more things about this set before wrapping up here. It is definitely cute, but I had some personal pet peeves about it. The first thing I wondered was why we needed 3 of each for Sebastian and Ciel. I understand that if you were buying them as random trading figures that you'd have a better chance for the main characters, but I thought that 2 would be sufficient for that. Instead I would have included 2 other characters so that there was more varaiety in the set. (I would have went with Elizabeth and the Undertaker if it were up to me, because Volume 2 of this figure set still leaves them out.) Second was just a minor thing; I feel that it would have been cool if each Ciel and Sebastian came with a different keychain rather than the same ones. So, these pet peeves aside I'm still happy with the set and would reccomend it to fans of this series.

I leave you with this image of Grell being a creeper after his beloved Sebas-Chan~