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Figure Assembly: Dark Angel Olivia (Kotobukiya)

Tuesday, December 12, 2017 / No Comments
This post is about how to assemble Olivia and what you should look out for when assembling her. If you wish to get a review on the figure itself, please click here instead :)
The figure comes with an instruction sheet which gives a detailed explanation on how to put the figure together. The things which we have to put onto Olivia are her wings, weapon and the ring of beads around her waist.
First, here is everything that comes with the figure. As you can see, there are a lot of detachable parts that this figure comes with such as her wings and even her head and chest.

The first step is to push the sword hilt into Olivia's hand. You can refer to the box to tell which sword should go into which hand. You might have to wiggle the hilt a little to get it in but rest assured that it wouldn't cause much damage as the hand is a little flexible and can withstand the force at which you push the hilt in.
After pushing the hilt in (image above), adjust it such that you can insert the sword at the other side of her palm (image below). However, do note that it might be difficult to attach her to her lower body if you put the sword in at this stage, hence it might be better to just leave her with the hilt and join her body before placing in the sword blade part itself.
The image below shows how she should look (albeit headless) with one of her swords in place. However, do note that this image is just to show how the sword is supposed to fit. It is actually quite difficult to put the wings in with the sword in place so we'll take some steps back and do the step-by-step assembly properly.

First, you'll have to put the string of beads around her waist in place first. There is no other way it can fit in otherwise so be sure that you don't forget this step or it would be troublesome later.
The next step is to put the wings on. I chose to do this before placing Olivia's head on as I found that her hair obscured my vision and prevented my fat fingers from reaching the peg to secure it tightly into the peghole. Do note that if you do this the same way as I did, you would need to spend some effort knowing how the wings fit through the hair and you might even need to re-position the wings (especially her left wing) after putting the hair part in.

Also, you might prefer having the hair on first before inserting the wings.


Here's Olivia with her head and wings attached. I'll put a few pictures here to show how the wings should fit in between the hair strands and I hope that that would help you position the wings and her head better.

And last but not the least... It's the time to put her weapons in her hand.

I have already given a brief idea on how to do it, and this is how the final product looks like.

The swords do cross behind her and it is important to note whether the sharper side is facing up or down. Do refer to the box for a clearer depiction on which side the blade should be facing.

As I mentioned before in my review post, each product is actually slightly different so do not be too vexed if your copy doesn't fit in between the exact crystals as they should be positioned in the prototype. You could always just position her swords as you like.
And last but not the least, I placed the whole figure onto the base and done!

Of course, you can put her on the base and start building from there but I really appreciated not having the bulky base when I had to insert the wings in place. But each to his own!

Hope this helped!

Figure Unboxing and Review: Dark Angel Olivia Regular version (Kotobukiya)

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This figure has always been one which I wanted to get since the first time I saw it. I wasn't at all familiar with the source but the dynamics which made up this figure makes it something which I wanted to own. 

Sadly, her first release was in a bad month for me and by the time she was re-released, I had already known about the exorbitant shipping price that came with the figure and thus was too afraid to pre-order. Thankfully, I saw her in Suruga-ya's physical store in Japan when I was there and decided to bite the bullet and grab her. She was a pain to keep in the hotel and bring onto the plane but for scale figures of this caliber, I'll gladly do anything!

Now, let's take a look at her!

Packaging
Olivia's box is extremely huge as she has her wings that take up a lot of space. Likewise, she comes with some other accessories such as her swords and the crystals on the base which adds up to her weight as well.

She only has an exclusive version which has her hair in twintails and with a more pinkish gradient but I felt that this regular version matches my display more and hence I had always wanted the regular version more than the exclusive. Of course, this opinion might change if I knew the source material well... so I've steered clear of it ever since the exclusive version rose above 25k yen.
The sides of the box are more sturdy than most other Kotobukiya boxes, which is to be expected with the size and weight of this figure. The illustration printed on the side also helps to give a comparison to the source illustration which this figure was inspired from.
The back of the box has both the figure and the illustration side by side so you can compare them. Another purpose is for using the QR code on the box for the mobile game itself.
The other side of the box has the figure's mirrored view. I do find this strange and would personally prefer having the back view of the figure/illustration but I suppose that it might be difficult if this is from a card's art.
The top of the box also comes with a window.  But more importantly than that...
I love the inside of the box. The whole backdrop that they used for this figure really helps to increase the "fantasy" genre effect for this figure! It's very pretty if you ever do decide to display your figure with it too!
The figure is secured in quite a bit of plastic as well as blister packs. The whole thing is quite heavy so the blister might come loose during shipping, especially if your copy has been opened previously and the tape that holds the blister together is not as sticky as before.

Base
The base is both spectacular and yet missing something. I love how the crystals are positioned and help to add more dimensions to the base. However, the starry black base is taking the back seat as a result. If you look at the base from the front, the crystals really add to the figure. However, I feel that if you look at it from top down, like in the image above, you might feel that the base is lacking in some way.

Figure
The figure itself comes with a lot of difficult assembly work in the sense that the parts (like the wings) are heavy and you might have to move the parts a lot to get them into the right grooves.

I'll write a separate post about this and what to take note when assembling the figure.

Now, let's move on to reviewing the figure itself.
Olivia has a ton of intricate parts and I'll like to start from the top down. I'll like to bring attention to her bust armour and the tattoo on her right upper arm first. These parts have very intricate painting and the area which are painted are very small. Despite so, there are no paint spillage on my copy.
Another part which I really like about this figure is the flow of her hair when you see it from the back. It looks so neat and yet all the strands of hair actually have their own flow and movement. Given that this wasn't in the original illustration, Kotobukiya has really managed to get this down pat!

I also like how the shading is quite subtly done which brings out the ginger tones of her hair well. I would probably love it if a little more shading was made but with the sculpting done this way, the natural light actually brings out sufficient light and shadow to the figure.
The weapons which Olivia uses has a sophisticated yet Gothic look to them. The ends of the sword hilts are extremely sharp and it might be better to be wary of them rather than getting injured due to it.

The swords have different shades, shapes and textures especially at the hilt, making them breathtaking to admire on their own.
The sword blades are supposed to cross behind Olivia however there are no grooves for them to fit in. I tried placing them like they looked on the box however, as the swords are slightly flexible, not all copies might be able to match perfectly with the official pose.


Now, let's move on to the entirety of the figure itself, starting from top down. I love her horns but I'll have to admit that they look more like decoration pieces than actual horns. Despite that, I really like the regal look that they bring!

The dark pieces on her hair are really intricate as well and I wonder if they are actually painted on or are simply decals.
As I mentioned before, I do love her attire as well. The way in which the skin tight white piece flares out at the end adds a feminine touch to the figure, which is further enhanced by the lace patterns at the end of the white one piece.

The armour on her chest and around her neck also matches very well with her gauntlets which has a pattern from her elbow down to her wrists, as you can see from the image above.

This figure also has a lot of gold parts, which is contrasted with both black and reds. I especially love how her red belt  and beads around her waist seem to be floating, which makes it look like this figure captured her in mid-movement. 
Another point which I, as well as many others, love are her wings. Due to the wingspan, I will only focus on one wing for these few images. As you can see, it has a three-toned gradient from dark purple to amber. Despite purple and amber being quite different, this mix of colours actually do work very well in 3D.

Needless to say the translucency at the tip of the feathers is brilliant, as well as further enhanced due to the amber colour.
Her boots/stockings reach up to her thighs and have a cute effect at the very top of it. The gold plates around her knees are awesome to look at as well. I'll give a close-up later so we can take a closer look at the pattern on the plates.

Below, we will zoom in on several different views of the figure and I hope you can find something you love about this figure!


Her heels are really simple with a little bit of gold around the front and back. It adds a little detailing around the shoe area but isn't enough to take the attention away from the base and from the beautiful accessories around her torso.









Thank you for reading!

Figure Unboxing and Review: Goddess Madoka Awake version (Banpresto)

Monday, December 11, 2017 / No Comments
When we have Homura, we will have Madoka too. Picking these up at a deal on my trip to Japan and saving shipping costs is one of the better options when it comes to prize figures for me. Madoka is my favorite character in the series and I just had to have her :)
Similar to Homura, she comes in a 2 part-pack, with the base on one side and the figure on the other. She is also lying flat on the base and thus will have the same features as Homura did.
Firstly, her base in in a wing shape which is similar to Homura's base. Despite the shape of this base not matching with Madoka's own wings, it helps to bring the two separate base pieces together and make it into a full circle.

Just like Homura's base, it shows a wing printed on it, and this is the image of Madoka's own goddess wing. That being said, when Madoka lies on it, the pattern is also mostly hidden.

Now, let's take a look at Madoka's figure itself.
 Madoka's expression looks quite forlorn and the way she is looking away from Homura reminds me of the time when she still doesn't know about Homura going through all the different timelines for her.

I also like how her ponytails are splayed out but more importantly than that...
I love how the rest of her hair cascades to the base. It's a really pretty sight and the fact that her hair is pink makes all the different layers stand out more than Homura's flat black. Despite that there isn't much shading done by Banpresto, shadows cast by the normal lighting are more visible against light pink than black, thus Madoka's hair seems to have more dimension than Homura's did.
Madoka's outfit is very detailed as well. Her ribbons are large and puffy and her garments are adequately creased. I like the touch of red against the expanse of her white outfit as well as the frills and ruffles on her dress.
Unlike Homura, her dress only has a few layers and hence does not show that many levels of dynamism from the attire alone. What makes this attire great is that even the underside which is mostly hidden is painted--and painted well with purple and white dots as stars. This depicts the "universe" which Madoka now has under her care.

The wing accessories on her heels are really cute and eye-grabbing as well.
However despite all of these good points, one of the points which I dislike is the visible hair seam on Mdoka's head. Hair seams have never been something I fancied but since this is a prize figure, it can be overlooked.
Similar to Homura's figure from the same line, the underside of the figure is completely flat as well. Despite so, there are still details shown here with all the creases.
Placing the two figures together with their hands touching must be one of the most touching moments for any collector and fans of the series!