A couple of weeks ago I snagged a Triad Vanity figure with only the hands, costume and sidearm. This is my first Otaku figure; I’ve haven’t bought one before now because I want base bodies with a little more articulation and a little less in the chest. The translucent resin the body is cast in looks a bit strange in certain light. It actually looks pretty good in pictures where I used the flash.

Well, here she is dressed up like a Jedi. She’s wearing Hasbro Anakin’s tunic and sash, a belt from the Triad Harley Chic set, and that’s SS Obi-Wan’s lightsaber. I don’t know if I’ll leave her like this or not.

(Cross-posted at MyVerse)

Behold:

This is Mattel’s contribution to Star Trek XI merchandising, Ken as nuSpock. There’s also Ken as nuKirk and Barbie as nuUhura. NuSpock turned up at my local Wal-Mart recently, banished to the action figure section. I was tempted to buy him, but my tastes in figures tends toward stuff that’s not so…doll-like. My little rant is about there not being high-end collector’s grade figures for this movie, or any part of the Trek franchise. Yes, Spockie up there will set you back about $40, but put him next to something from Hot Toys or Sideshow or McFarlane Toys and you’ll see what I mean. If Tonner did him, he’ll be 18” tall and cost $100 plus.

To tell the truth, ST figures have done well at the smaller niches, 3-3/4” and 6”. Diamond Select has been releasing retro versions of the TOS figures Mego did in the 70’s. Playmates stuff has been hit-and-miss, and their decision to make 9” figures instead of the standard 12” figures I still find puzzling. They did release 12” versions of the nuTrek crew, but I’m not particularly pleased with them.

The only way I see to get something I really want is to make them myself, or find somebody who can. That’s a nice chunk of change either way, but my heart still yearns to see the Five Captains looking back at me from their shelves.

I took advantage of Triad Toys’ 4th of July sale and picked up a few things:

Chosen One outfit, leather, female – don’t know what I’ll use it for
set of metal sais – ditto
female biker boots – two possible uses
I-Spy outfit, male – use the top for something
female gloved gun hands – I lost a hand under the nightstand, so this replaces it
female Hero-Type suit – all purpose thing, should always have one around for a quick bash
Harley Chic belt – might look good on my Westlander custom

I really need to get some base bodies, so that’s probably what I’ll focus on for the next purchase.

Which pretty much shuts the door on any more figures from anywhere, because who’s going to pick up a money loser?

I guess I can take down the countup clock now…

Some bling for my wizard:

The heapiece on the staff is a sterling plated bead set with two Swarovski crystals. (I’ll have better pics of it later.) The chain is…well, a chain, also sterling plated.

This caught my eye while I was at the Sideshow website to read today’s newsletter. Definitely didn’t expect this, but this is welcome news to customizers who have had to look high and low for them. The price is still a bit prohibitive for me; I really don’t have anything coming up that would need a True-Type. Now if they sold a female base body equal to the True-Type, then maybe I might be willing to fork over the cash.

Here’s the product page at the website: Hot Toys True-Type 12-inch Figure Body (Caucasian) – Special Edition

I was always afraid to put the wig on him. Now that it’s on, I think it doesn’t look quite as bad as I thought. Still needs a little work, though. Some hastily snapped pics:

I’m still stuck on his staff, and he’s finally wearing his boots, even though I went through hell to get them on.

Lothiar Westlander is a wizard from the same world that Rhianwyn comes from. I started working on him about the same time I started on Agent Prime. Historically, Lothiar has been giving me no end of fits. He needed a wig, so I got one. Guh. Also, the headsculpt on the Malcolm Parks figure I picked out for him kept throwing me for loops.

When I first got him, I wasn’t very happy. He didn’t quite look the way I had seen him on the website I bought him from. I guess it was the way he was lit that got me. No matter what kind of light I looked at him in, something was off. While stewing over the matter some time ago, I looked at him one more time in his then new duds, by lamp light. His folds, shadows and wrinkles really jumped out. Then I thought about his backstory, how every piece of clothing and everything he carries mean something. Why he looks the way he does. Things started coming together and a lot of the anxiety went away.

The hair, of course, is the major sticking point right now. Second would be his sword. I thought I knew what I wanted, but when I had something in hand, I changed my mind. Several times. These are some of ones I’ve bought:

The top one is Mononofu. The middle one is from a DiD samurai figure. The bottom is from Hot Toys Elizabeth Swann. I wanted something that fell between the swords Men in my world carry (your typical broadswords and hand-and-a-half swords) and what the Kindred, the “elf” incarnations, carry (curved swords with long hilts). For the first sword, the round hand guard sets it apart. The second’s curve I like, but I want to give it a longer hilt. The third one could work, looking exotic, but I really don’t like the very thin plastic blade. I think I’m spoiled by metal blades; Rhianwyn has one, and the first two swords in the pic are metal.

Maybe I might pick up something I’ve had my eye on for a while: a Mononofu samurai sword that comes unassembled with a full tang blade, so I can build whatever kind of hilt I want around it.