It's been a while since I last took collection pics, so with my recent additions (including two new prizes courtesy of Tomopop) I figured it was time. I think I need to buy another shelf...























And I haven't even taken my new figmas out of their boxes yet. =_=

I'm just going to say it straight up at the beginning here - there is nothing bad about Gift's Saber Extra. At all. I couldn't find a single flaw on it. It immediately entered the ranks of my favorite figures, alongside Gift's Saber Lily and Real Image Yoko.

Now to the main attraction.





I quite like the box. The space is filled without being cluttered, giving us some nice close-up views of Saber. The windows also opt for a randomized geometric pattern on the front and top of the box, rather than the typical square or rectangle panel.


Here we have the lovely lady in her plastic prison. As you can see, the handle of her sword is affixed to her hand, which is interesting considering that most scale Saber figures have the sword removable.
You'll also notice that her base is (thankfully) significantly smaller than her Lily counterpart's. While Lily's base does complement the figure, it takes up a lot of space on a shelf for a base that could easily have been made as an oval.


Here's a better look at the base. Nothing fancy, a simple mirrored disk on a shallow black pedestal, like the others in the series. The two pegs are different sizes to more easily identify which foot goes where, as they're not actually center-aligned.


Most of the pics are going to be without the blade to get a better shot at the details.
As you can see, the figure has a lot of movement going on, showing off many different aspects of the figure. You'll even notice that her skirt is slightly translucent, which is a nice touch.




As you can see, her face is amazingly well done. I just really don't know what to say about it.
You'll also notice that all the paint lines are perfect, with no overlap or smudging anywhere.
Additionally, while I typically do prefer the DFCs, I think the way they did her chest actually looks really nice, particularly the attention to the little details like the buttons, and the wrinkles.


The back of the outfit is just as well done as the front, with all the same attention to detail and painting. I also like the contrast between the metallic outside of the coat with the matte of the inside as well as her hair ribbon.


The cut of her dress also gives a nice peek at her... 'assets'. XD


...and a look at what's underneath as well, since no review is complete without a panty shot. You'll notice that despite not being a castoff figure, they've still put a lot of detail into her undergarments, even including the relevant... creases. :3


Moving back outside the skirt, you can see just how much detail was put into the gold leaf around the edge of the skirt, consistent with the detailing on their Saber Lily.



And moving down, we have her greaves. They're pretty basic, but this IS armor we're talking about. They look really nice, but are clearly not the focus of the figure. You'll also notice that they actually made the ankle guards their own separate piece, which is a nice touch of authenticity (not considering how authentic high-heeled greaves really are).


Here you can see more of the detailing on the skirt, as well as the attention to detail on the hands. You'll notice that they've even given her painted nails, which is always nice to see, as it shows they really put their all into every part of the figure. The paint here is consistent with the quality shown throughout the rest of the figure.


And here she is with her distinctive Extra-style sword. The blade actually connects to the handle on an ordinary round peg, so you can have the blade angled however you like. The blade is painted with the same metallic sheen as Saber's coat, though in a lighter shade closer to orange than red. The black parts of the sword have been given a metallic coat as well. Unfortunately, the shading of the sword doesn't lend itself too well to photography, at least not with my 10MP point-and-shoot.



And here are my trio of Sabers on my display shelf (first image is with flash, second is without). My Saber Extra and Lily are both the Gift versions, but I opted for the Triumphant Excalibur classic Saber over Gift's rendition, as I didn't really like the face on it.

All in all, I can give no good reason to not buy this figure, other than possibly lack of funds. But in that case, you should go sell a kidney so you can buy her.

Yeah, you all recognize that little slip of paper. This be an Amiami package! I believe I've used up all my luck for the day, since this went out Saturday, and got here this morning, and didn't even get flagged by customs. AND I barely missed it being delayed by Japan's Golden Week holiday.


LOOKS LIKE TONS OF NEAT STUFF. LET'S LOOKIE.


Oh look, more card sleeves. Because I think I have some sort of sick compulsion. Seriously, I have a whole bag of unopened card sleeves in my closet. O_O


REVOLTECH ALPHONSE. I'm of the opinion that revoltech should only release figures who won't be hideously malformed by the joints. This means robots, suits of armor (like Alphonse here), and occasionally others that aren't too badly misshapen (like Woody and Yotsuba). The QB revos would have been so much better as figmas. /end_rant
Anyways, Alphonse is REALLY big. That's a pretty standard revo box, and he's pretty much filling it top to bottom. The certainly didn't skimp on this guy. I'd say volume-wise, he's probably double the size of most of the Gurren Lagann revos.


And here we have Gift's plush Rika from Boku wa Tomodachi. SO CUTE.



Sometimes Amiami will put really cool figures I know nothing about on sale. This was one of them. Apparently she's some vampire or something? I dunno, but she was half off and looks gorgeous.


Woo! Figma Kyoko! She comes with two loose pieces of pocky which I believe can sit in the box, or be inserted into the pocky-eating face, as well as a Kyubey who appears to be molded with abuse in mind.


Finally, after a jillion years delay, Ika Musume has come to invade the Figma ranks! As you can see, she comes with not only her short hair, but also BEER. WOO! You can also see the posable tentacles in the back; they look really long, so they should be good for all sorts of things. LIKE TENTACLE RAEP.


And finally, the grand prize. Released a full month ahead of schedule (take note of this GSC, and stop delaying my Mami!), is Gift's Saber Extra. And my god, she is gorgeous. I'll be doing up a full review on her later this evening. She's definitely the belle of the ball in this order.

And that's the lot. Now to wait for my May order to come due. XD

The first time Kurisu saw PVC was in the form of Kotobukiya's horribly plasticky looking version, which, while the execution was nice, the face and head was enough cause to pass on it.
So of course, I was thrilled when Goodsmile's take went up. And now here she is, in all her tsundere majesty.

The box is very nicely done, with the front emblazoned with Kurisu's Lab Member number. The sides and back are pretty standard GSC fare, with 360 images of the figure. The side windows seem more just for decoration as you can't actually see the figure through them.





She actually comes with two bases; a standard white disk with the Steins;Gate logo, as well as a very impressive set of steps. I WONDER WHICH ONE I'M USING. You'll also notice that they're reinforced with a metal pole to help support her, as she's balanced on one leg.




You can see right off the bat that GSC's Kurisu is far more dynamic than Koto's. I'd guess that Koto's was designed off the more stylized visual novel version, whereas GSC's was done off the more 'realistic' anime version.



I really love how the jacket is 'blowing'. You can see that they've got it hovering well off her back, rather than affixing it to her back as a lower quality figure probably would.





For me, the face is probably the most important part of the figure. If the rest of the figure is amazing, I'll still pass if the face is poorly done. You can see here that they got it spot on, with a lovely forlorn look that is very typical of her.


A couple little things I noticed that they could have done better though were the neck of the tie, and the shirt itself. You'll notice that the tie is kind of just stuck on there, rather than having it tucked in under the collar, and I'm rather disappointed that they didn't sculpt her shirt buttons. It's a pretty significant oversight, considering how prominent it is.




They did include other little details though, like the little star on her belt buckle, which was a nice touch.


The phone is also nicely detailed, and isn't actually sculpted into her hand, as you might have seen when she was in the box. It still sits in the hand very securely though, as its corner rests in a tiny groove to stop it from sliding out.


The hair is quite nicely done, and I couldn't find any paint flaws on the figure at all. However, there WERE a few slight casting flaws, specifically on one of the locks of hair, and the right arm. Other than that, I couldn't find any problems mechanically speaking. Even the belts on her arms are painted well. The seam on her hair is quite distinct, but that's pretty much to be expected with a figure with very little hair definition. I WAS hoping that they would use the same solid hair technique as with the new Sayaka figure, but no dice.





Of course, it wouldn't be a proper review without a Dat Ass shot. The back of her belt is really the only place where the paint is a slight bit squiggly, but it's not actually really off, or even really noticeable unless you look really close.


The shoes are pretty nifty as well. The zippers are painted on properly, and they're pretty spiffy on design alone.




Here's a few more shots showing the detail on her shirt pocket, as well as the lip of her pants. You'll notice that the pants aren't just a painted on seam, they're actually sculpted properly.




And what's this? She comes with a little Metal Upa as well! I can't seem to find any purpose for it; it doesn't fit in her hand, and there are no directions or images explaining it.


Also, here are a couple pics of Kurisu in her swimming garb. I actually had to bend out her arm to get the inner tube in there, which was concerning.



Also, the I Have Way Too Many Card Sleeves.


...And a hermit crab because it was on sale at Michaels. FEAR THE CRAB.

...and consists of very few things in a very large box.

And yet, still managed to incur an $84 customs fee. =_=

This month's order contains 7 different sets of card sleeves (two packs each), Figma Mami, BQ Kurisu, and the awesome new 1/8th Kurisu, who I will be reviewing later today.

But yeah. Customs and Card Sleeves... That will probably be the name of my autobiography.

Nendoroid Ika Musume and Jack Frost just went up for preorder! Grabbed mine already; I have a feeling Jack Frost in particular will sell very quickly.