A Duo of Taito Coreful Pre-Painted Crane Prize Figures - Zero Two & Sakurajima Mai

 Despite being in the bottom-tier budget-friendly category, the Taito Coreful series of pre-painted figures tend to maintain a decent paint and sculpt quality for its low price point. That was certainly the case for the two Taito Coreful figures in the spotlight today, which are Zero Two from Darling in the Franxx and Sakurajima Mai from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Senpai.

 These particular Taito Coreful versions comprise Zero Two in a school uniform and Sakurajima Mai in a summer dress respectively. Below are the embedded YouTube videos of the respective figures.

 Despite inherent flaws due to their price point, which I discuss extensively in the review videos above, both the Taito Coreful pre-painted figures are ones I am happy to have in my collection, for sure. For those of you just starting out in your own figure collection journey, you mostly can't go wrong with Taito Coreful figures, at least that's the case for Zero Two and Sakurajima Mai here. Even for those of who out there who have graduated on to better pieces in the more expensive mid- and upper-tier category, you will always have space for a good quality figure from the lower-tiers. Anyway, that's it for this short and sweet update blog post. Please do visit my YouTube channel via the clickable banner below. Until next time, be well and be happy!

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.