Unboxing: GSC Nendoroid 410 Fate/Stay Night Gilgamesh

Not sure if Saber is pleased or appalled. Most likely the latter.

I got Nendoroid Gilgamesh around early September and he instantly became a new favourite figure for two simple reasons:

1. Yours truly is a huge fan of Gilgamesh
2. I have always wanted a Nendoroid of Gilgamesh

I usually wait a day or two (sometimes longer) to unbox a figure because I'd always be busy doing non-figure related things, but for Gilgamesh I set aside those tasks to pay attention to him.

Now let's begin.

The figure

Nendoroid Gilgamesh is Nendoroid number 410. Nendoron and Kneadz K@Z sculpted him, and he is made of ABS and PVC. He is almost 4 inches tall (around 100mm) and he was released on August 20, 2014.

Obligatory photo of all sides of the box

When I pulled the blister pack out of the box, I already got a whiff of that 'new figure smell'.

Fresh out of the box

And once you take off the top blister plastic, you can completely smell that 'new figure smell' all you want until you get sick of it. 

The top blister (left) and the bottom blister pack (right)

Close-up of the figure and the other faceplate

Nendoroid Gilgamesh comes with all the props that he is notable for:

• Gate of Babylon (with some weapons)
• A gold goblet (which is attached to one of the extra hands)
• A gold wine jug
• Ea

I'm a bit sad that he only comes with one extra faceplate. I expected two extras, but nope. But that doesn't mean I love this figure any less. :p Hehe. 

Gilgamesh's head, hair, and faces

All Nendoroids have a leaflet where you can check out the parts of the figure and determine what they are or where you need to attach them. It does not exactly help when you need to attach the weapons to the Gate of Babylon. More on that later. 

The leaflet that comes with the figure

And here is Nendoroid Gilgamesh:

All sides of Nendoroid Gilgamesh

I am impressed with the details. Gilgamesh in Nendoroid form looks so cute to me.

Ea

His shoulder guards can come off, so you can easily detach the default arms and attach the arms that you want.

Ea is Gilgamesh's ultimate noble phantasm. It's easy to make him hold it. Get the appropriate hand, detach the handle from Ea, insert the handle into the hand, and then reattach the sword's main body on to the handle. Then, I attached the hand to Gilgamesh.

Close-up of Ea

Detached parts

And here's Nendoroid Gilgamesh with Ea.

He's miffed and going like, "Stop taking my pictures, mongrel!"

Gate of Babylon

This prop made me remember the toy shape puzzle, which one of my younger cousins used to have. It's that puzzle toy that's shaped like 3D octagon with holes shaped like a square, triangle, circle, star, etc., and you have to insert the appropriate block of shapes into those holes.

Ripples of the gate

The weapons

I took me a few minutes to assemble the Gate of Babylon. Instead of doing a trial and error with the weapons, I referred to the box to see which weapon goes where.

Tip: Save time and check out the box

It's ready!

You can place the Gate of Babylon on the peg that holds the figure. Not sure if it should look like this because I had a difficult time balancing it:

How the Gate of Babylon looks like from behind

And finally, here's the King of Heroes with his Gate of Babylon with some of his noble phantasms coming out of it:

Gate of Babylon

The Gate of Babylon slips off or becomes dislocated sometimes. At one point, I just had to make it lean against the background. I have yet to figure out how I can properly place it on the peg.

The wine jug and the goblet

It was silly of me to expect another goblet because of Bandai Chogokin Fate/Zero Gilgamesh, which came with three goblets. Nendoroid Gilgamesh had only one goblet and it's permanently attached to a hand.

A close-up of the goblet and the wine jug

It's not difficult to attach the hand to Gilgamesh. In fact, I had no difficulty attaching any of the extra arms to the King of Heroes.

Gilgamesh holding his wine goblet with the jug by his feet

Close-up

More pictures of Nendoroid Gilgamesh

And of course, I can't resist taking more photos of this cute version of the King of Heroes. Here are some of them:

Gilgamesh brunch with Saber

Unboxing: Good Smile Company Nendoroid 345 Misaka Mikoto

Nendoroid of Mikoto Misaka is from the series 'Toaru Kagaku no Railgun' (A Certain Scientific Railgun). I unboxed Good Smile Company Nendoroid 345 Misaka Mikoto around late January, so this is actually a really late post. :p

Obligatory photo of the box

Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto was sculpted by Nendoron and Udono Kazuyoshi. She was released on October 24, 2013. She stands approximately 3.9 inches tall (100mm), and she is made of PVC and ABS.

Obligatory photo of all sides of the box

The design of the Nendoroid boxes have been revamped. I actually like the new, minimalist packaging. The overall design doesn't look so busy without background print any more.

She comes with five extra arms, two extra faceplates, a bag, and a cellphone. There are also special effect accessories, which you can use to create that electricity effect.

In case you get confused, check out this piece of paper that comes with the figure

A closer look at the parts and other face plates

Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto comes with an extra ahoge (if that's the right term for it? XD). The basic ahoge can come off and you can replace it with this other ahoge with a cartoonish lightning attachment.

Biribiri

The box isn't the only one that was revamped. Check out the new construction of the faceplates and the neck joints:

I think this is a good improvement. The neck joints do not feel as flimsy as they were in older Nendoroids, and in case a joint breaks, I think it is already easier to fish it out from the head. An extra neck joint is included with newer Nendoroids, too. It is usually packaged with the base.
You can still use these faceplates with older Nendoroids, but it takes a little more effort because you need to assemble the neck and the joint with the back hair of an older Nendoroid.

A closer look at the cellphone

Mikoto's school bag

And finally, here is the figure:

When you first open her, there is plastic around her skirt. You need to disassemble the lower part of her body to get rid of it properly. I recommend against recklessly pulling the plastic off the figure, because it might leave bits or pieces of plastic and it can be messy. I just want to get rid of the plastic in one piece. :p Besides, you can also get a complete glimpse of her shorts underneath that skirt.

The Nendoroid is also wearing shorts 

Fully assembled and on her base

Here are more photos of Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto:

Ready to shoot!

Her Gekota cellphone is cute

Obligatory photo with my favourite Nendoroid Saber

Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto at Team Onii-chan's Figure Display
during Ozine Fest 2014 at SMX Convention Centre.
Nendoroid Kuroko Shirai belongs to my friend, Nami.

Final thoughts
Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto is a cutie patootie, but I feel like she lacks poses. I would have appreciated it if this Nendoroid came with extra legs, like one with a bent knee. I think she looks a bit stiff with that generic standing pose.

And that's it for the unboxing of Nendoroid Misaka Mikoto. :)

Unboxing & Quick Review of Two Banpresto Saber Prize Figures

There are two Saber prize figures that I thought I wouldn't buy soon: Banpresto SQ Fate/Stay Night Saber Lily and Banpresto DXF Fate/Zero Saber. SQ Saber Lily was released on November 2013, while DXF Saber was released on November 2012. I didn't buy DXF Saber at first because back then, I prioritized the other servants like Gilgamesh, Lancer, and Berserker. As for SQ Saber, I refused to buy her at first because the face looks off on pictures and overall, it just looked derpy.

And suddenly, I bought them on January 25 because I had time on my hands to roam around and then they're cheap. I got these two girls from Great Toys Online's store in Shoppesville, Greenhills.

You could probably say that I also bought these out of boredom

But before anything else, prize what?

If you're new to figure collecting or if you're not really into figure collecting at all but you're still here reading this and you're wondering what a prize figure is, I'll attempt to explain: They're called, "prize figures" because in Japan, you can win them from convenience store lotteries and crane games. If you're not very anal or obsessed with the details and the finest quality on the face, clothes, and overall construction of the figure, or if you want a figure of your favorite character but don't have enough money to afford a scale figure, then prize figures might suffice.

I'm from Manila, Philippines, and there's no such thing as winning prize figures from your friendly neighborhood convenience store. I'm not even sure if there are already crane games where you can fish out a prize figure of a character that isn't from Naruto or One Piece, so if I want to get a prize figure from a series like Kuroko no Basuke, Fate/Stay Night, or Neon Genesis Evangelion, I'd have to look elsewhere. Fortunately, there are reputable local figure stores that are selling authentic prize figures imported from Japan.

Banpresto makes some of the better prize figures around, and most of them are affordable, too. SQ and DXF are some of Banpresto's lines of prize figures.

Banpresto DXF Fate/Zero Saber

Again, an obligatory picture of all sides of the box

This figure is part of Banpresto DXF's line of figures featuring Fate/Zero servants. Two Sabers were released: an armored and non-armored one. The non-armored Saber was released on February 2013.

I also bought this figure because I pre-ordered Banpresto DXF Fate/Zero Kiritsugu Emiya (yep, Banpresto also released a Masters line of DXF figures, starting with Kayneth and Waver in 2013) and I thought he needed a servant to go with him.

DXF Saber was packaged neatly, with some parts packed individually. I think this is a great way to pack the figure to prevent scratches, paint transfer, and of course, to prevent fragile parts from breaking or snapping.

Banpresto DXF Saber is very easy to assemble. If you find yourself unable to make her hold Excalibur, check the palm of her right hand. There's a circular dent there where the pommel (or the topmost part of the sword's grip/handle) goes to be supported, so Excalibur won't slip off.

One problem I found with her: the back portion of her blue skirt had moisture stains on them. Even when she's packaged well, humidity can cause the figure to be sticky. I was able to get rid of the stains by wiping it off with a wet washcloth.

Banpresto SQ Fate/Stay Night Saber Lily

She doesn't look very nice on the photo

I didn't find her face that attractive on the photo of the box. I also checked out some user pictures of her from MyFigureCollection.Net and found her face derpy. When I inspected the figure myself, it looked much better in person than it did on the pictures.

Sides, back, and top of the box

Not really a box within a box

It looks like they just stuffed her inside the packaging, but she came with bubble wrap and the parts were individually wrapped.

From left to right: ahoge, Caliburn's grip, and  the rest of Caliburn

Nope, not broken. Just needs assembly

The base

AAAAAAH

Nope, this is not how the figure should be assembled

There's a reason why the sword comes in two parts: you need to make them connect inside Saber Lily's fist. It can be tricky, and you're probably lucky if you can get it right in one try. It took me three tries before I finally managed to make the parts connect, but before I show you the finished product, let me show you how Caliburn looks like once assembled:

It looks bent

And then I finally managed to make her hold Caliburn without making it look too bent:

The ahoge is easy to place on her head, so you shouldn't have any problems with that. Just be careful when making her stand on her base, and beware of paint transfer, which unfortunately happened in my case when one of her feet slipped from the peg:

Gerdemmet -_-'

More pictures

Banpresto DXF Saber with DXF Lancer and Gilgamesh (and Berserker behind Lancer)

Size comparison between Banpresto DXF Saber and SQ Saber Lily

Size comparison between Good Smile Company 1/7 Saber Lily Golden Caliburn and Banpresto SQ Saber Lily

Kinda rough on some parts, but hardly noticeable when you don't care about the details