As you know on this blog we do explore the creative side of things from Digital Art, Youtube, 3D Art and much much more. One of these branches is making/creating figures – normally fantasy and Anime. In this vein here is some recommendations, reviews and recollections.
Most people’s experience of model building would be Lego or Boats & Planes from Airfix – hours spent trying to read a tiny instruction booklets whilst putting piece 76 to 12 whilst avoiding glueing your fingers together.
There are 2 different materials PVC and Resin and there are 2 finishes of model categories to the statues, pre-assembled & painted or in need of assembly & painting. There is a 3rd option which is create them yourselves but more about that in a bit….
So where do you get these figures from you may ask?
When we travelled through Asia last year, we were amazed by the sheer number of shops selling these figures—especially in Japan, where shops are packed with cabinets overflowing with figure from the iconic Godzilla of the 1950s to the characters of the newer – One Piece. We couldn’t resist – we brought a few home with us! If only our suitcases and luggage allowance had been more forgiving, we would have indulged even more.
In London, you can find these items at stores like Forbidden Planet or Animetal but their prices tend to be exorbitant plus there are a number of Warhammer and Games Workshop Stores for Gaming Figures, Instead, we choose to shop from a variety of online retailers where we get better deals.
Amazon, Aliexpress, Temu, Solaris and E2046 – There are more but these are just the ones we have used – you can of course use Etsy (but it’s expensive) or if you have the ability to use a 3D Resin Printer you can sculpt and make them yourself.
On Amazon the figures tend to be more expensive the ‘Official’ Comic Book affiliate versions, DC or Marvel franchises and/or the latest anime.
For the other stores, the cheapest option is definitely Temu, which usually has these ready-made and painted copies of the original PVC or Resin models and are named slightly off brand so instead of “Spy Family” which is unsearchable It may say “Anime Spy X Family Action Group” . These are available as Pre-painted versions or you can find loads of unpainted, 3D printed 28/32/56/70mm figures that are more for RPG games. There are some larger figures which can range up to life-size . We have found some varied and cute figures from the previously mentioned Yor and Anya Forger from Spy Family, to 2B of Nier Automata and loads of cute Ramyeon/Ramen Topper Anime females or the occasional male!
Next up on the chain is AliExpress, notoriously cheap and sometimes unpredictable in delivery, the site is a marketplace of vendors selling all manner of figures. Search for a specific character and you can find 10 sellers selling the same figure for £1 less than the last, sometimes the figure may by a different size or different quality resin. But overall each one we have got has been good, there are both fully finished or unassembled pieces on here that we have had fun painting. Do note the print quality can be a little suspect – they do leave the 3d supports still intact.
Sites like Solaris and Animetal are sometimes good – usually for finished, painted figures, but details can get lost in Translation, Ash thought he had finally found a version of the tortured Saber from Fate/Night on Solaris, when it arrived it was the Manga Comic with a tiny figure of Saber in a different garb and style.
The high-end figures from E2046 (Previously mentioned and reviewed here) are so beautifully crafted, they’ve got a fantastic range from all sorts of anime to films, mangas and games. Now while E2046 is based in China and ships worldwide, do keep in mind that the budget shipping option may take a bit longer (like monthsssss) to arrive. However, using the express DHL option ensures the package arrives safely, but you could end paying 4x as much as the model.
They even sell figures that haven’t even been sculpted yet. These are called ORI. This is where they try to gauge interest for potential new figures. For instance, the picture above of ‘Dusk’ is an example – notice it says in red letters “Pre Order!” At the bottom, you can see the “Order Progress: 1st batch open for pre-order” followed by a green bar that is only slightly filled. If you decide to buy this you’ll have to wait until 100 fellow fans pay too, before production even starts. That could take a long time, you could be waiting months, even years before you receive an email saying it is in production and then you can wait longer until your order is fulfilled – for some reason there is a hierarchy and international orders are the last to send.
E2046 is a site for professional and beginners alike, they have competitions and galleries for all members, if you buy a figure, paint it and post an image of the final piece, people will vote it up and you can get ‘Gallery of the Day’, something Ash got a couple of Years back for his ‘Yae Sakura in a Mandarin Gown on a Riverbank‘. There are also tons of promotions, big discounts, even buy the last figure in a batch and it could be 20% of the original cost. Save figures to a Wishlists and when the figure is in production be informed of it’s impending arrival, you just wait to receive it, hopefully not 4 years after ordering!
When it does arrive in its yellow box do expect tiny printed Chinese Instructions and extremely complex exploded diagrams with loads of arrows and number of where to put that tiny bit of plastic and to be baffled as to how the pieces do indeed go together to make a beautiful figure and then you have to paint it and that is a whole other stage.
The Role Play Games Figures from Warhammer and Games Workshop are more than just components for Table-Top Games; they are amazingly sculpted at just 28mm high, purchasing and painting them in bulk, even if they never get used in a game of 40k or D&D.
Of course there are numerous companies that make statues of all sorts, one of note is Nemesis Now, who have a distinctly Gothic and Fantasy aesthetic. Ash has had some of these for years, mostly Faerie figures, of various styles and they are beautifully made and loved.
Of course you could always go for collectables or hand crafted shops – where you can pay through the roof for a personally Blender sculpted figure but we are talking – expennnnsiiiivvveee!!
So there you go an updated version of where to buy your figures and collectables. Have we missed out on any? We will follow up with some painting recommendations and some products we use/have used.
Climbing Moss 