tjhan noted that Alter’s August 2006 re-release of their Jo and Meg figures (RIUVA review) would mean that their ‘monetary value and rarity will… go down’ - well, he needn’t have worried too much. Almost 14 months later, Jo sells on ebay (via a Japanese reseller) for a whopping 80% premium over her release price (not inclusive of P&H). orz
This particular ball got rolling when I asked Stripey to pre-order Alter’s January 2008 release of El Cazador’s Nadie on my behalf. The Shima-Shima-Tailed One casually noted that Nadie would go well with Alter Revy whom I had acquired at the Akiba Kotobukiya shop. ‘Pity you didn’t get Alter Jo earlier,’ he said, ‘would had made a great team in a “girls with handguns” theme.’ And I knew it was The Truth. And so, off this Zaku went on another one of his mad online shopping rampages. Ah revenge (since Stripey blames me getting him started on figurine collecting) is indeed a dish best served cold. orz
Online pre-orders from the usual suspects do run the usual risks for damage during shipping. The Singaporean shops at Sunshine Plaza and China Square Central may not be able to secure sufficient stock of popular or rare items. But there’s always a risk that Ebay purchases may turn out to be low quality bootlegs.
I decided to take the risk anyway; some of my anxiety was, perhaps unreasonably, assuaged by the fact that the reseller was Japanese and based in Japan (who shipped, complete with EMS tracking number, to my address within five days). Thus I was unpleasantly surprised and even momentarily shocked by how obvious the cast lines where her arms joined her torso were. It’s not very clear in the photo but it’s really obvious to the naked eye. Did any other collectors see the same thing on their Alter Jo’s?
I also disliked how I had to stretch her left leg to fit the peg on her rather plain stand. And I wasn’t crazy about the strange angle of her neck joint - you need to remove her head and scarf to get her jacket on.
But overall, I have no doubts that this is the real deal (though this might be my strong powers of self-delusion and post-purchase justification talking) as in all other aspects, she matches up in quality with other figurines in my collection whose provenance is unquestioned. Plus you can’t see the cast lines once she puts her jacket on.
One of the reasons why I held back from buying Alter Jo during her first and second release was because I found the BakuTen / Burst Angel anime to be excruciating. But the prequel (Angel’s Adolescence) manga’s unabashed and even humorous depiction of Jo x Meg love love just made me fall in love with the characters as I never had before. Surprise surprise, I even saw copies available at the Ngee Ann City branch of Kinokuniya the last time I returned to our glorious democratic people’s island paradise republik.
I really like this figurine. She’s got a great, cool pose - arms crossed, bad ass pistols, and how the jacket and scarf convey the dynamism of being blown the wind (the ‘billowing cape’ effect). Well, it would have been nice if she could have had the same muscular definition as this official wallpaper but, ah well, you can’t have everything.
No problems at all with her sculpt or mould-cast. Probably the biggest problem here is my lack of photography skill and a rudimentary camera. Respect to Adun, super rats and others who are dedicated to the fine art of figurine photography!
Trying here with a white background as well as variations of flash and no flash as well as a really strong light source (which simulates full daylight - it’s for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder, don’t ask). Can’t seem to get rid of the shadow. Seems that my top-down light source wasn’t strong enough.
Her painting was also immaculate. From the fine lines on her guns or the details of her gloves, boot straps, holsters, belt buckle, legging rings. Particularly liked how the paint job added to the realism of the texture of her hair, and especially for the leather of her ammo belt and jacket.
Overall, really pleased with Alter Jo. Really captures the bad ass AWESOMENESS of a great character from a thoroughly enjoyable manga but who was largely wasted in the anime and OVA.
I have this figure, too. And the Meg that goes with it, which is really cool and empowered, as Meg shoots Big Ass Gun (TM) at Jo’s side. Thumbs up for the purchase. ;-)
Cheers,
Erica
Hungry for Yuri? Have some Okazu!
http://okazu.blogspot.com
Actually, there is a problem with the backflow of exported figures. The market in Japan is a really isolated one, so their prices are from different from what you will see outside Japan on the black market.
I possess a huge amount of figures which would sell for double the price of its original retail, if according to Japanese auction sites. Yet I can’t sell any here because the locals and non-Japanese people aren’t willing to pay for it.
When I was working at a figurine store here, it was during the re-release of Jo. I told the owner to order more Jos and he actually brought in 80 of them. But unfortunately, even selling them at 75% of the retail didn’t shift all of them from the shelves.
Figure economics are really uncertain and random.
Ahhh… revenge is sweet but far from being complete XD Gratz on her arrival bro! But come Nadie in Jan, your handgun babes would be spread over 3 locations over the globe. I look forward to their reunion and more pics when you return. :)
tjhan: Figure economics are indeed somewhat unpredictable but there are factors that drive demand and other retail factors that could lead to Jo choking up shelves. 80 is a big amount even if it’s a dynamic Alter sculpt. We need to remember that Burst Angel, the anime, tanked and many collectors only get figures of characters or anime they like. Unless you are talking about TnT in CSC who is a distributor else even the smaller players (though with established customer base) such as KKnM would refrain from such numbers. It’s just too risky. Of course there was the ex-urban attic whose rep wasn’t very good in the final months of business which is yet another example of retail factors coming into play.
I have to agree though that in Singapore the figure secondary market is pathetic. Yahoo auctions/ebay don’t cut it either unless we’re willing to pay to increase our product visibility. I put up my figures for 2 months on Yahoo auctions/ebay and got less than 10 hits per page. Remaining avenues include 1) Be a high-profile blogger (like yourself) and organise yearly clearance sales 2) set up flea market stall at CSC. I’m seriously considering Option 2 but I’m not optimistic about returns.
Zyl: Paiseh bro, hijack your post. Was just thinking your handgun beauties look great with my babes with blades :)
Erica, thanks. :) I *do* wish Meg was more kick ass in the anime/OVA instead of being the perpetual kidnap victim/damsel in distress. If there was a figurine based on the BakuTen Infinity DVD cover art, I’d be seriously interested.
tjhan, yeah, there’s the whole language barrier issue in separating the Japanese market from the rest of the world. Also the Japanese are more likely to be suspicious of figurines circulating outside Jp - and not without reason, other than HK bootlegs, there’s also the whole issue of lower QC for figures that are not made specifically for the Jp market.
re: Sg market. While I was going to quip that our fellow countrymen (including myself) want cheap, want pretty, want BB/DFC, the figurine market is still soooooo much more vibrant than here in Europe. London already better than most of the continental cities but pre-orders have to be online DIY and there’s no secondary market, even on ebay.
I love the Jo and Meg figures. :) They have a nice spot up front in my collection, because they look so badass together.
When you mentioned the cast lines on her arms, as soon as I got home I checked that. And yep, really obvious lines. She looks best with her jacket on, though, so no big loss. :D I also then realized why I never mess with her jacket… I nearly broke her head when I was trying to get it back on! ><
Enjoy your figure! :D
Yeah, I should be organising a clearance sale on my own blog after the exams. They are piling up way too much.
Thanks for confirming the bit about the cast lines, Mandy! Good to know that I was just being paranoid for a bit. :P And great to hear from a fellow Jo x Meg fan too - I’m enjoying this figurine very very much. :D
tjhan, maybe you could also get together with Stripey and other collectors who have figurines to sell - expand the economies of scale of your resale markets together!