Elsa & Echidna【Re:Zero-Starting Life in Another World】Banpresto Relax Time Pre-Painted Figures

 Villainesses in the world of Re:Zero might not be as popular as the main trio of Emilia, Rem, and Ram, but both Elsa Granhiert and Echidna do have their own niche attraction when it comes to the pre-painted figure collection community. And between both villainesses, Elsa is a much rarer find than Echidna. The pre-painted figures shown below are from Banpresto's Relax Time series, which tends to portray anime characters in either casual or nighttime sleepwear. 

 Below are the two 'Unboxing and Review' videos of them that I had uploaded to my YouTube Channel FourEyedMonster Miniatures. You can watch them here by clicking their respective play buttons or visit my channel to see the videos there as well as other content.

 While the Relax Time color scheme for both Re:Zero villainesses are pretty dull with their almost all-back hues, the colors are nonetheless still true to the anime characters' onscreen colors. What I would've have preferred was more neutral colored trimmings such as gray to add details to an almost all-black ensemble. More details of the review can be gained from the videos above. Next up will be a pre-painted figure with much more cheerful colors. Stay tuned to find out who she is. Until then, as always my dear readers and viewers ... please be well and be happy.

Emilia & Beatrice【Re:Zero - Story To Be Continued | Ichiban Kuji】Bishoujo Prize Figures

 Beatrice finally joins my Re:Zero-Starting Life From Another World figure collection. More importantly she is clad in her iconic pink Lolita outfit. Prize figures of Beatrice in her Lolita outfit are rare to almost non-existent. Emilia is the other pre-painted prize figure, and she is similarly clad in her own iconic outfit of purple and white from the anime series. While not as rare, figures of Emilia in her purple and white outfit are still fairly hard to find, especially in the budget prize figure category.    

 Below are three Unboxing & Review videos of the Re:Zero pair of Emilia and Beatrice. 

 All the pre-painted figures above are from the Banpresto Re:Zero-Story To Be Continued Ichiban Kuji. For ratings of the figures, please do have a look at the videos above. Thanks for taking the time to read this blog update. Please do visit my YouTube Channel by clicking on the second banner below. If you like the content, please do subscribe. Take care for now, be happy and be well!

A trio of Taito Artist Masterpiece Pre-Painted Prize Figures | Albedo, Kitigawa Marin, and Rem

 For collectors who want to display figures with high quality paint jobs, there were usually two main routes to achieving this goal. One was to purchase expensive scale painted figures while the other was to paint the miniature figurines themselves. Up to now, I had either taken the latter route or made do with prize figures with lower quality paint jobs. But in the past few years, anime figure manufacturers have started to up their game, and produce prize figures with premium-like quality designs and paint jobs. One of those companies is Taito with their Artist Masterpiece figure lineup.

 Way back in 2021, Taito kick-started their Artist Masterpiece line with a popular anime figure in Rem from the Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World light novel/anime/manga series. Called the Winter Maid image version, this figure is huge for a prize figure with an approximate height of 27 cm from the bottom of the base to the top of he head (see video below).  

 An example of complexity in design for a prize figure done well is the Albedo from Overlord IV in the Taito Artist Masterpiece Plus (AMP+) line of figures. There is so much going on for a figure that is classified as belonging to the prize figure category. Taito more than makes up for the lack of paint shading on Albedo with both complexity in design as well as varied yet accurately textured parts.

 Another way Taito has made their prize figures more aesthetically pleasing is by adding a unique base as well as character-specific accessories. Similar to Albedo, this prize figure of Kitigawa Marin (in cosplay as Kuroe Shizuku) lacks paint shading but makes up for it via multi-textured and multi-layered parts that have excellent sculpted details. A key example of this can be seen on the cosplay dress that Marin is wearing. That dress she's wearing looks incredible despite a lack of paint shading.  

 Going forward I might plump for the more expensive upper-tier scale painted figures to add to my collection. But this I'll do sparingly because of my limited hobby budget. That means I'll still continue to paint miniature figures as well as opt to buy pre-painted prize figures as well as mid-tier painted figures. Slowly but surely, I hope to grow my figure collection despite budget constraints. Well that's it for this post. I hope to see you soon in my next hobby update. And until then, be well and be happy.

Emilia and Ram Prize Figures from the Re:Zero Dreaming Future Story Ichiban Kuji

 Emilia and Ram are the first prize figures in my collection that come from an Ichiban Kuji, specifically one called Re:Zero Dreaming Future Story. And while technically both are won via winning tickets i.e. Prize B for Emilia and Prize C for Ram, I didn't get them by playing the Ichiban Kuji. Instead, I had gotten them pre-owned or second hand from online third party resellers.

 Above is the Unboxing & Review video for the Ram figurine while below is the video for Emilia, both of whom are important characters in the Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World isekai anime. 

 So figure by figure, my pre-painted collection is growing slowly but surely. Eventually I'm hoping for some higher quality scale painted figures to join my collection. But those are pretty expensive, so most of my early pieces will be more budget friendly ones. Anyway, that's it for this week. I hope you'll take a look at the videos, and like it. Until next time, be well and be happy! 

Pre-Painted Figurines Begin Invasion Into My Collection

 There was a time when I would never have considered putting a pre-painted figurine up for display in my personal hobby collection. Misplaced pride and egotism meant I only displayed figurines I had painted myself. But with age comes the humility to accept that this self-imposed criteria is just that ... misplaced pride and egotism. With this in mind, I finally allowed myself the luxury of collecting pre-painted figurines. And in the interest of time, all unboxing and reviews of pre-painted figurines will be done via videos, which I'll upload to my YouTube Channel. Coincidentally Nami is my first ever pre-painted figurine review (see below) although she isn't the first one in my collcetion.

  Technically, Rem from the Re:Zero-Starting Life In Another Word anime is actually the first ever pre-painted figurine in my collection (discounting gasahpon figurines). Incidentally, Rem's own unboxing and review video was the second one I uploaded to my channel, and I've embedded it below for your ease of viewing. For more related content or other videos on either scale model kit or miniature painted builds, please visit FourEyedMonster Miniatures, my YouTube channel.

  However the miniature painter in me means it's inevitable that I'll be reviewing these pre-painted figurines with more of a critical eye e.g. pointing out what is lacking in a particular figurine's paint job. A pre-painted figurine's quality will vary from the budget-friendly prize figures to the larger and more expensive scale figures. Despite having these pre-painted figurines invade my collection, I'll definitely still be working on custom painted builds of my scale model kits and miniatures. After all I still love the hobby, and still have my health, which means I can still create.

  In fact, I've actually finished at least five scale model kit/figurine projects that I have yet to blog or vlog about. Somehow it seems harder to find the time to photograph/video and edit the resulting content. Hopefully I can figure thigns out eventually as I love this hobby, and love sharing the fun/happiness to be gained from it. And on that note dear reader ... stay happy and be well.

My First Ichiban Kuji Pull ..... a Failure?

 After finishing a rather time-consuming project (i.e a scale model kit of the Going Merry pirate ship), I have been guilty of taking it easy these past two weeks. Apart from checking out some budget-friendly pre-painted figurines to add to my collection, I didn't really do anything much on the hobby front. Usually I'll source both pre-owned as well as brand new pre-painted figurines from online shops based either in Japan or Malaysia. But occasionally I do visit local hobby shops if they're having promotions, and get such figurines from a bricks-and-mortar store. And it was in one of these rare visits that I decided to try my hand at an Ichiban Kuji pull to see if I could win a prize figurine.

 Above is a short video of my very first Ichiban Kuji pull. You might wonder what on earth is an Ichiban Kuji? Well, it's a lottery prize game operated by Banpresto, a Japanese toy company under the Namco Bandai Holdings umbrella. How it works is that you purchase a ticket, and then check what prize you have won with said ticket. Obviously Ichiban Kuji is not as widespread in Malaysia as it is in Japan. But if you look hard enough, you can still find them in local specialty hobby shops. Anyway, I should be getting back to the hobby worktable soon after this extended rest. All that's left to do is decide what exactly I want to work on as my next project. That'll be in my next post. For now, I thank you for taking the time to visit my humble blog, and wish that you be well and happy.