Japanese Accessories

[Kaiten]

This thread is to discuss Japanese collectibles, toys, games, figures, accessories, etc. If you collect, want to collect or just want to post links to discuss something you saw somewhere around the internet, post here! If you find any truly WTF items post them here. And remember, as long it's from Japan it does not have to have any connection to anime or manga.

[Nami]

Just wondering, does any of you here collect figuries from series?
Let's talk about the figurines collection you have, or wanted to buy.

I am trying to shop for some nice figurines, but some of the designs look kind of strange.
Does any of you know of any good websites to recommend for buying figurines, and tips of what to look out for when buying an item without being *ahem* ripped off by some imitations?

[yal]

The only two trustworthy places that you can avoid fakes are HobbyLinkJapan and Hobby Search! Kid Nemo used to have AWESOME sales when they were starting out but now they're back to costly prices!

Also watch out for Kotobukiya aka KotoBUKKAKE figures because they are SUCKY! Don't let the lower prices fool you!

Alter is the bestest company because they make sexy MEGATEN.

But I think you should rather spend your money on AWESOME art books and not on figurines. And buy ROBOT/Apple/Flight!

[Agrias]

I'd love to collect figures..wish I had more money!
I only have a cheap SEGA Haruhi (the love of my life <3), and some gashapons and mini nendroids...

I bought Haruhi at hlj.com, Xophy always buys his there.....ah, I'll ask him to take a look at this thread. xD

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[funny_bunny]

HLJ has PROBLEMS with new figures these days though! Delays, delays compared to Hobby Search! But I do not know for POSITIVES meself, for I've yet to use Hobby Search.

But I think you should rather spend your money on AWESOME art books and not on figurines. And buy ROBOT/Apple/Flight!

Also, yiddish yal has NO IDEA what he's talking about because he is Metatron. Why, I hazard a guess that he knows NOTHING about the most exquisite beauty of PVC or the overpowering glory of megaten!

But artbooks are sexy too.

[Xophien]

HLJ has PROBLEMS with new figures these days though! Delays, delays compared to Hobby Search! But I do not know for POSITIVES meself, for I've yet to use Hobby Search.

Delays? I've never had any delays on a figure while ordering on HLJ, and I ordered there... err... *checks* 19 times. In 2008.

*cough*

Anyway, yeah, like Agri-chan mentioned earlier, I'm a huge fan of HLJ, I only order from there, so I can't really comment about other sites >.>; HLJ keeps the Japanese prices, is in english, and the staff is really nice (when they asked for feedback on something a few years ago, and I answered, jokingly asking for a discount as a reward, they gave me -10% on the figure of my choice). I've ordered maybe 80~90 times there, figures, t-shirts, artbooks, gunplas and random stuff, and I've never got a single problem with a package. So yeah, I highly recommend them

As for makers, I'll agree with yal, Alter's figures are the ultimate smex, and you can be sure with them that you'll get something worth what you paid. Max Factory and Good Smile Company are great as well, with most of their products being way above average. The quality of Kotobukiya figures isn't what I'd call sucky, but it's mostly irregular, there's both good and bad stuff, so I wouldn't order anything from them before studying pictures of the figure carefully (for example, I have this one and this one, and they're really good for the price). They're surprisingly good for non-anime stuff, though, like Star Wars figures. Mega House is about the same as Kotobukiya, irregular in quality, but they've had some nice ones out from time to time. The collaboration they have with Alter, called Alpha x Omega, has released smexy Geass and To-Love-Ru figures. I wasn't convinced much by Orchid Seed's PVC figures in the beginning, but the quality has increased lately and some of them are really gorgeous. Stay away from Atelier Sai at all cost. Wave is overall rather cheap, but still not justifying the low quality of the figures either. Sega might have the best ratio price/quality, actually, but that's only because their figures are stupidly cheap for a decent quality. They're probably the best choice when you can't afford figures from the big guys, and most of my first figures are from them, but I tend to avoid them now (paying more to get more is a better choice in my opinion ). Kaiyodo has had some great stuff in its BOME collection, though I haven't been impressed by their quality lately. Hmm, I think I have it pretty much covered... At least for those who release the most. There are a few smaller makers that release good stuff too (FREEing, Taki Corporation, Daiki Kogyo), and some other companies that aren't figures makers in the first place that release some (mostly crappy) stuff as well (Cospa, Konami, Banpresto), but my opinion is that as long as Alter, Good Smile and Max factory keep it up, I don't need anything else

And artbooks may be sexy, but most of the time they're just stupidly closed and stuck between their brothers in a shelf. That's why I prefer figures, I just have to look somewhere in my room to see some of them in their whole glory, and nothing can beat that

[eni]

I only own two figures, Shiki and Akira from TnC

But planning on buying more. Though, I prefer books over figures and therefor don't plan to start a huge collection. I find them very nice looking on my manga shelf as decoration in front of the fitting artbooks but wouldn't invest too much money in collecting 'special ones' and such

What I particularly dislike on those figures is the hair. It's the part that often looks the most ugly even if the rest of the figure is quite nice. I think I'm more a sucker for dolls with realistic hair and clothes like these guys (full body) and not so much for the full pvc figures, especially because I can picture myself to sew more and more clothes for them and play with their hair all the time, weeeh ^^;

[funny_bunny]

Delays? I've never had any delays on a figure while ordering on HLJ, and I ordered there... err... *checks* 19 times. In 2008.

Kino and Bridget! They were pushed back! But moi should CLARIFY...preorders are delayed in PUTTING THEM UP FOR ORDER! BY A WEEK! Which is FRIGHTENING to those who desire very popular characters such as Haruhi ones! In fact, rumor mill tells me those two were VASTLY late to HLJ? This is frequent occurrence amongst the popular ones?

But I know not! I have reserved all figure buying from now on to megaten and megaten alone. And must be PVC. Since resin is costly and not worth it. And I dream that anything with real hair will hack me apart as I slumber.

[Xophien]

Kino and Bridget! They were pushed back! But moi should CLARIFY...preorders are delayed in PUTTING THEM UP FOR ORDER! BY A WEEK! Which is FRIGHTENING to those who desire very popular characters such as Haruhi ones! In fact, rumor mill tells me those two were VASTLY late to HLJ? This is frequent occurrence amongst the popular ones?

Ah, that. Yeah, that's true to some extent. It's not so much that they're late at putting up preorders, actually, it's that they wait for the makers to tell them how many figures are going to be released before opening the preorders, so they don't get ahead of themselves. So yeah, that create a gap between the time the figures are announced on some websites and the time the preorders actually open. What I did for some stuff, like the Lucky Star petit nendoroids was refreshing the page every half an hour when I was in front of my computer, just in case. And I was right, as the preorders closed the day they opened Tiresome? Hell no, it's part of the fun

[yal]

And artbooks may be sexy, but most of the time they're just stupidly closed and stuck between their brothers in a shelf. That's why I prefer figures, I just have to look somewhere in my room to see some of them in their whole glory, and nothing can beat that

That's your own fault though! I browse through the few artbooks I possess frequently, even more frequently than I re-read my manga or the other books I own.

[Apollo]

Actually I don't really care much for figurines. But a week ago I saw one I absolutely had to buy. Thanks to you yal, I was finally able to preorder it from HLJ. All other shops I found didn't ship to europe, were way overpiced or only accepted credit cards.
I'm soooo happy right now xD.

[CBlitz]

so I pre-ordered this a while ago

feels good man, my first one

[baboysai]

So I take it you haven't received the deliver yet? what size is it btw?

I only have a few items, and taking pictures and uploading them is such a pain right now >.>

But I do have a shuriken. Looks pretty much like the real deal, except it isn't very sharp. But it can do some damage if I knew how to throw it. I went through a lot of trouble buying it in Japan and going through all the airport security (since it was pretty much real). They were looking for a shuriken. Good thing I bought another pea-sized shuriken keychain, and showed them that (the real one I kept under bundles of underwear lol) and they let me through \o/

[fullmoon]

I like many things come from Japan. They are so cute and meticulous: bento, chopsticks, a small mirror with a cat-shaped fabric cover... <3
Among them, I like the wind bells the most (those can be seen a lot in manga :3). Some ppl think its sound is creepy but I don't really think so, they are for purifying and protection so they must be good right?
Also the drawing and crystal make Japanese' wind bells the best >.<

[R4n]

i am collecting KHR yujin figure
They are of decent size and decent quality.