A four-choose-two figure dilemma
I have a few rules for my figure indulgence and the one that I have the most difficulty adhering to is this "12 figures max yearly" purchase limit. Although it's February and my first 2007 figure hasn't come in yet, I already have 4 pre-orders, leaving me with only another 2 figure slots up to June. I have a problem. Looking forward to the May releases, I have painfully narrowed my choices to 4. (There were a few other fabulous sculpts but I had to draw a line.) And I thought why agonise alone when I can make everyone suffer with me tap on the expertise of the wider anime/figure community. Here's 4 figures I got my eye on of which I plan to acquire only 2 or less....
Pros: It's Rin. It's meido. I don't think I need to elaborate. It also comes with a interlockable base with Meido Saber which I have also pre-ordered. So if I get Rin, it would partially mitigate the silliness of the very 'extra' chair that comes with Saber Meido. The pose is dynamic and as Zyl says, very Rin.
Cons: I actually thought the meido costume was a little plain. Too much white. I'm a little concerned with the rendering of her eyes too. It's a little catty although it does look Rin.
Pros: This is the pure, unadulterated loliciousness. The string-ruffle tube bikini just screams moe. It doesn't help when Konomi is kneeling and pulling at her string top. The buoy and sandals are nice gimmicky additions too.
Cons: It's a 1/7. Meaning it might not fit in my mainly 1/8 collection. I also found her hair and eye colour a little too close in tone which may result in poor differentiation/contrast. Hopefully it's merely an issue of lighting in the pictures. Of course the biggest problem, I suspect, is she's TOO lolicious, thus making her a crime to display, both in my house and in my sunny island republic. Not to mentioned this blue version is a limited edition "Kotobukiya shop only" release. Getting my paws on her would probably require a premium.
Pros: I LOVE her pose (look at that flailing coat!) and that beauitful blade of hers. Great detailing and fantastic facial sculpt. Having a drawable dagger is an absolute plus.
Cons: She's missing the one element I require of ALL my figures, moe. She belongs to that class of cool figures like Alter's KOSMOS and Jo. But not quite at home with my moe-type collection. Her detailing is also a 2 edged sword. Due to the intricate folds at her waist/belt region, it could be a potential hotspot for poor craftsmanship. It also doesn't help that I don't know this character (thanks to my mild aversion for GONZO productions).
Pros: Mai chan! Hachimitsu kuma san! YES! It's a very Mai pose (the next best would be her eating a tako wiener) The sculpt's clean and not overly complicated. I like her facial sculpt too.
Cons: Ok, 'not overly complicated' is a nice way of saying boring. I thought the seifuku to be a little plain. Plus from certain angles, Mai's sword looks like a nail file. Well, again, it could be the photography. But overall, there's no WOW factor even though it's the lovely Mai.
Thoughts/insights to these figures (on their sculpts, colour schemes, anything) would be greatly appreciated and would surely help shape my decision for subsequent purchases.
Still waiting for that Shiori and mahou shoujo (shounen?) Jun figure.....
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February 9th, 2007 - 02:27
Just take meido Rin & loli Konomi.
February 9th, 2007 - 02:57
I would go for the Rin and Alice. So far the Kotobukiya range of Kanon figures just don’t seem that great to me. I already have Ayu but I have Nayuki on pre-order already. Though the Mai just doesn’t look that good,
February 9th, 2007 - 03:16
Although I don’t want any of them for myself, I too would go for Rin and Alice out of those four. Mai doesn’t look very good and Konomi is indeed criminal level loli- you probably go on an offender’s register just for ordering her.
February 9th, 2007 - 03:31
Gotta disagree with Karura. I try not to use the few bits of japanese I know, to keep a little bit of distance between being “normal” and an otaku. But when I saw Konomi, I had to say it. “KAWAII!”
I’d also go with Mai, but then I’m a Kanon fanboy above just about everything else…
February 9th, 2007 - 03:43
I’d go with Rin and Mai, personally. I have Mai pre-order (along with 5 others, UGH!). I agree that Mai lacks that “WOW” impression, but she’s a stoic character. Plus, doesn’t Mai come with the rabbit ears? My only complaint is the lame look sword. I’d say no with Konomi only because she’s not in a seifuku.
I’m not a huge Konomi fan, but if I were to get any figure of her, it would be the GSC one. As for Alice, I love the pose, but I’m not following Pumpkin Scissor, so I can’t really say much.
February 9th, 2007 - 04:59
I’m a big fan of Mai, but… that sculpt doesn’t do her justice. If you buy it, it wouldn’t really bring the ‘aura of Mai’ into your display.
Out of those four, I would go with Rin and Alice, because they managed to capture the essence of their characteristics, which is very important when it comes to figurines.
Cheers.
February 9th, 2007 - 05:34
The solution to this problem is to keep the 4s jpgs first while locking your $$ up. Aka, choose zero. Then wait for new year then review victim listing with the new quota again.
Assuming the above recommendation only results in impulsive bulk purchase, I guess I would vote for ms blue swimsuit n float, and, ms blade in orange suit cos they look more complex and interesting
February 9th, 2007 - 05:41
I’d choose Rin and Mai… but Konomi is a really nice figure too. Alice… the figure’s okay, but something about her just doesn’t seem to make her worthy of a purchase.
February 9th, 2007 - 06:18
I think meido Rin and Alice would give you the best satisfaction from your self-imposed limitations. Rin obviously fits in with the rest of your collection, and Saber. Alice because while you might not know the character a whole lot, it’ll look pretty cool to see every time you walk in to you room. Even after 9 months, I’m still impressed with the Alter KOSMOS I have. It stands out a little from the rest of my figures, and that only increases the positive attention on it. Nothing wrong with not sticking 100% with the moe theme!
February 9th, 2007 - 07:10
I’d say Konomi and Alice; I’m not much of a Rin fan, and while Mai is Mai, the sculpting doesn’t really do her justice. Perhaps we can just hope that another company (*cough*ALTER*cough*) will have a better sculpt.
February 9th, 2007 - 07:38
Damn, Rin and Alice looks so damn fine. I’m never going to quit buying figures at this rate.
February 9th, 2007 - 09:02
If it makes you feel better Stripey, I too have also pre-ordered meido Rin and Alice
Konomi isn’t bad either, but not enough for me to want it. Definitely not feeling the Mai figure, as others have mentioned, the sculpt doesn’t seem right nor do her justice.
February 9th, 2007 - 09:35
Stripey, for Mai I would urge you to wait.. don’t preorder it coz stocks for her are going to be plenty… all kotobukiya stuff are often reissued(except for the komaki sisters T_T sobz)… anyway, i am sure with kanon coming to an end and viewership for the show rising, goodsmile and the rest may come up with better scuplts… there are plenty of good looking kanon resins around that may have a chance to get PVCed ^^
February 9th, 2007 - 09:53
If you already have maid Saber on order, you might as well go for the maid Rin. They will make a nice pair together. I do agree with you on her eyes, but if you have them on a bookshelf or case, most of the time you won’t be close enough for that to matter. If she’ll be a desk ornament, then you might notice it more.
Two Heart figures always seem to be available, so you can probably wait on Konomi without a problem. Between Alice and Mai, I’d go with Alice personally since it is visually a more interesting figure.
February 9th, 2007 - 10:11
I say go with the Rin+Saber combo
By the way, I’m still waiting for my Alter Fate Testarossa. Apparently I ordered it just after a batch was sold out worldwide, and my Fate figurine was delivered just a few days ago
February 9th, 2007 - 10:48
I am going with the majority
Rin and Alice.
I am waiting for a Strapless Dress Mai wielding her sword.
I am hoping GSC will do a whole series of FSN Meido figures.
Meido Sabre
Meido Rin
Meido Rider
Meido Caster
Meido Sakura
Meido Illya
Flaskis: I just got my Fate yesterday.
February 9th, 2007 - 12:32
super rats : If you already have maid Saber on order, you might as well go for the maid Rin. They will make a nice pair together.
RIN X SABER 4TW!
February 9th, 2007 - 13:05
Out of those choices, I’d have to vote for Rin and Mai too…Konomi’s tempting, but I agree that having one 1:7 and the rest 1:8 would look kind of odd, like Konomi was on steroids.
Although more than any of the four choices, I’d get a Lafiel figure. I’m not sure if that’s even possible, given how long ago SnS came out, but as my favorite tsundere I’d buy her over Rin and Mai any day. It’s just as well I don’t have a figure collection, because if I started down the Dark Path, I think it’d be very hard to adhere to a self-imposed cap…
February 9th, 2007 - 17:27
…hmm…I actually like Rin’s maid uniform design…a plain and subdued outfit offers a counterpoint to her personality maybe(?)…actually I generally dislike those short, daring meidofukus that’s all frills, ruffles, and exposed skin…
…and I’m going to go out of character and suggest the Konomi…the Alice’s pose just looks so weird and clumsy…sure that blade rocks but the rest of her’s simply not worth it…and the Mai just doen’t do justice to my goddess…wait for a better figure…
…and if Konomi’s size is really an issue for…think about it…this is Konomi…she shouldn’t be displayed with the likes of Rin or Mai (or Alice)…she’s a whole different genre of character and would be out of place anyway…
February 9th, 2007 - 22:01
if i were in your situation:
1st – Alice Malvin: her pose is quite unique – but why go for this when theres a “dress version”?
2nd – Mai: her pose just suits her.
3rd – Konomi: cute and very nice! it seems that flotation devices are IN these days.
4th – Rin: i put her in last because somehow her head sculpt just doesn’t look right. i might not get her because of that as well.
February 9th, 2007 - 22:10
I pre-ordered the Kanon Mai as well (though I’m collecting the set and have Ayu+Nayuki as well).
I find it kind of interesting that you think of Konomi as ‘possibly a crime to display’ … the figure could pass for a character aged 20 as well as 14 (look at those hips) … boob size or lack thereof is not an age determinator.
That said.. there’s no way I could own Konomi without “wtf” smirks from the wife (who’s a bit lolicious herself imo… she cosplays as some variation of the Pangya character perky pirate goth Kooh every Halloween. I’m a sucker for twin tailed japanese cute).
The raciest thing I have is Etona from Disgaea and she’s just too cute to really get disturbed about.
The Alice figure is quite dynamic — I guess that’s what I like to see in a figure.
I’m not really much of a meido fan … though the Rin is pretty interesting (hey, and its not a black outfit).
Hmmm, unless you’re specifically collecting the Kanon figures — I’d suggest Meido Rin and Konami, damn the scale and full speed into danger territory
February 10th, 2007 - 03:49
Thanks ALL soo much for your inputs! Gathering from everyone’s feedback, I’ve decided to go ahead and preorder meido Rin and drop the purchase of Mai. While I’m still rather torn between Alice and Konomi, I also just found out from my very wonderful/reliable figure provider that blue version Konomi is gonna me an arm and I don’t quite like the pink version enough. So I’ll go with Alice first and re-evaluate pink Konomi when she hits the shelves. But just before I take the plunge for Alice, I think I will watch an ep of Pumpkin Scissor for some Alice vibes.
Thanks again for being so forthcoming with your thoughts. I’m looking forward too to a Sakura meido release
February 14th, 2007 - 09:51
Oh! I’m decided to pre-order the mai figure!! After seeing your post. haha.
I’ve already gotten the ayu one. Now I’m wondering if I should get the Nayuki to make it a set. But it doesn’t really look nice from the pictures I’ve seen so far.
February 14th, 2007 - 12:22
…it’s Ahaha…not haha…
…you fail…
…you fail at being TedFox…
…you are a TedFox failure…
February 14th, 2007 - 12:50
Tedfox: Oh I think you shd just get the whole set
Nayuki looks fine by me. I’m not grabbing her cos I just too distracted with so many figure releases. XD I hope the Shiori one would be good.
Zzz..: Sayuri FTW! And all Kanon fans are winners.. banzai! XD
February 15th, 2007 - 07:38
Zzz: Guys do not go ahaha -_-
@stripey: Where you getting your figurines ah?? I saw toyntoys (the one at CSC) doing pre-orders. For Rin at least. Which surprised me, since i never knew they did pre orders.
February 16th, 2007 - 12:51
Tedfox: You talking about Treasureland?
Yeah they do have pre-orders. I bought a couple of figures from them but I get mine now mostly from KKnM at Sunshine 
February 23rd, 2007 - 16:34
Gotta say, that Alice by far the best out of all of those. IMO get that and my inner Kanon says to get Mai =P
February 23rd, 2007 - 20:34
I’d go for Mizugi and Alice especially mizugi is so hawt its on my preorder list alraedy