Since I almostgotscammed, I’m going to have to enforce some rules. These rules apply to all sales, whether listed here, in my MFC Shop, or elsewhere. They will be updated as necessary so please review before purchasing.
The following applies to all sales:
Additional photos are available upon request. Please be specific as to what you want pictures of.
Prices include PayPal fee.
Cash/local pickup (California, USA) preferred.
Sales are first-come, first-served EXCEPT: If you have not requested an invoice (or if you have requested an invoice and not made any payments within a reasonable amount of time), your offer to purchase may be superseded by a cash/local pickup offer (first priority) or a PayPal Friends & Family* offer (second priority).
Payment plans are available for higher-cost non-cash orders but deposits/payments are NON-REFUNDABLE.
Worldwide shipping available! Get a hold of me through PM, comment, etc., for shipping quote.
By buying from me you agree to and understand the following:
You must keep our message thread(s) intact (do not delete older messages).
You must request an invoice for payment.
You must be willing to communicate through the email associated with your PayPal account if requested.
Your purchase must be sent to your confirmed street address. Your signature may be required.
Police reports will be filed with the relevant authorities if you attempt to scam me.
*If you pay through PayPal with Friends & Family, you acknowledge that you bear the risk if things go sideways but I’ve been selling here, on MFC, and on eBay for over a decade with stellar feedback and a reputation to uphold if that eases your concerns.
[Too strict? Not strict enough? Feel free to comment!]
I know, I know, it’s been a million years since I’ve actually posted anything (sorry, lazy)! It’s been so long, in fact, that I have no idea where my watermarks are and the interface here is all different so this is prolly gonna look funky. I also don’t know the last time I did a figure review, let alone one on a figure from a non-Japanese maker or origin; maybe not since my Takaya Noriko/Gunbuster figure?!
Really? Mine contained disappointment.
Well, here’s a quick and dirty review for you! Can you believe that before there was Ariel, there was a Waifu #0? Her name is Kitty Pryde, also known by her X-Men codename Shadowcat! I’ve looked for a very long time for a figure that would do her justice in my eyes and never found one, until now! At least, that’s what I thought….
Manufacturer’s Product Image
This is what I was promised. She might not look like the Alan Davis/Paul Neary version I fell in love with so many years ago, but she’s super (heh) cute, wide-eyed, and exuberant — just how I remember her from her Excalibur days. I really wanted to love this figure. How much? I ordered it THREE TIMES! Not once could I get a decent copy of it.
First Copy’s Face and Gloves
The first copy I got had what looks like a chip right on her eyelashes as well as some missing paint on her lips/mouth. What’s the first thing you look at when you look at a figure? The face! I can’t believe Quantum Mechanix let this get by their quality control/assurance department. There’s also uneven paint application on her gloves which is annoying.
First Copy’s Base
Moving on to the base, there was some weirdness with the circled part of the destroyed Sentinel’s paint here as well. It looks like a layer of dust but it didn’t rub off so I don’t know what happened there. The black rim also had smudges and uneven paint.
Second Copy’s Body and Gloves
The second copy I got had a great face but the issues with the paintwork on the gloves persisted: overspray in some areas and not enough coverage in others. There was also a weird rough patch on the side of her body in addition to the obviously bad paint job. I didn’t take pictures of the front of her suit but there are random specks of paint which are small but totally noticeable against the solid yellow.
Second Copy’s Ponytail
Even if I wanted to hide the side of the figure with the weird rough patch, I wouldn’t be able to due to the random splotches of red in her hair on her right side! Even in this blurry pic (sorry OTL) you can see it; why didn’t QMx?
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the third copy I got because at that point I was so done that I didn’t even bother before I sent it back. The two major problems with that one was (1) Kitty had a splotch of paint on her left eye and (2) Lockheed’s left wing somehow wound up between his horns! He’d never be able to fly that way! If you look at the prototype, you’ll see that there’s no way that could’ve happened except during assembly at the factory.
So I guess my search for the perfect Kitty Pryde figure continues. What’s really disappointing is that based on the items that I’ve seen at various conventions, I had high hopes for Quantum Mechanix. Their items always looked top notch but it’s obvious now that they either put all their efforts into their prototypes or they just don’t care about the cheaper end of their catalog. I mean, sure, this is a $30 figure, but I’ve seen prize figures with better QC than what I got. If this is the kind of “quality” you can expect from Quantum Mechanix, no thanks!
Anyway, sorry for the prolonged radio silence; hopefully I’ll get around to reviving this blog as things open up once again so I can add to the backlog that I still haven’t gotten to lol. In the meantime, follow the blog (by clicking the “Resistance is Futile” button) or Like any of my Pages (jimsha, The Vault/Beginning Story, and agc pictures) on Facebook to be instantly notified of new adventures. See you again soon!
Sorry for the sporadic updates, but been super lazy busy promoting Looking for Miku! We made an appearance at Coast Con back in March and we’ll be at Ronin Expo (formerly Ninja-Con) this June!
Also, I played the Ultimate Game of Tetris recently, which literally took an entire weekend. ^^; After culling, organizing, and Tetrising all my remaining figures into these boxes, I had to Tetris the boxes themselves into my closet. (The “pillar” in the middle is where the closet doors overlap themselves, since this is a composite photo.) Call it Tetris-ception! And the winner of this game is… YOU! Look for new sales soon, featuring tons of newly unearthed figures!
Can’t wait? Be sure to look at my older sales — anything not marked as “SOLD” is still available! And if you’re looking for anything in particular, be sure to message me through my Fan Page on Facebook or through The Vault on Facebook! 😀
Actually got up early on a weekend (wut?) and decided to run around to some spots I hadn’t been to in ages on the west side (west of me, anyway)! I really need to do a better job of taking pictures of the outsides of these places, lol. (Sorry for the crap cell phone quality. OTL)
First stop on my adventure was Big Lou’s, a consignment shop/slot car raceway on Sepulveda, where you can find all sorts of interesting things for sale.
While I didn’t buy anything at Big Lou’s or Tokyo Central & Main, I did buy stuff at second-hand bookstore Book Off’s Del Amo and Gardena locations. I impulse bought the Nono action figure since I actually wound up liking Gunbuster 2: Diebuster the second time around and finally completed my (regular version) collection of the Japanese version of Your Lie in April — for much cheaper than what Kinokuniya was charging in-store or even at AX!
When I heard that the Tokyo Otaku Mode (TOM) Shop was pulling up stakes and heading up north, I cut out of work early to check out their moving sale! Not sure if they’ve ever opened their doors to the public before, but I order from them all the time online. They usually have some great promos and their loyalty program (in the form of TOM Points) is an added bonus — even though they’ve reworked some of their rules regarding the program.
Most of the items were unmarked so you had to bring them up for them to check the price online. What wasn’t so cool was that the Aniplex+ items were full price (as noted) — which meant they were actually more expensive than buying them on their site!
I’m not a gamer, but all non-figure merchandise was 40%!
Happened to run into Sojian-senpai while I was down there so we did some exploring and wound up grabbing noms at Hakata Ikkousha Ramen.
This was the only loot I wound up getting — a Nendoroid of Best Girl Funami Yui from YuruYuri and a free bag of a Japanese snack that wound up being pretty meh, lol. There were a few things that caught my eye but they seemed to be a bit on the pricey side, even with the discount.
These were taken on my fixed focus cell phone, so excuse the terrible quality. ^^;
I saw on Day 1 that Aniplex would be selling some of the Aniplex+ exclusive Kaori figures starting on Day 2 and my friend managed to get me the last one (like, the very last — it was the display copy!). They didn’t sell any of the other displays when they sold out, so I’m assuming this was their last batch of Kao-chans. Very happy to get one, especially since they sell for three-times MSRP now!
Was lucky my friend was already in line for Naoshi Arakawa-sensei’s panel because I had some problems finding it (thanks, AX! :p ). The panel was already underway by the time they let us in and we wound up in the very last row, but at least we got to see it! No pictures were allowed, but I still managed to sneak a couple of shots and also recorded audio of it. ^^
Later in the evening, I made my way back to con to complete a figure sale and managed to take some photos in the South Hall. I’m told this is from Monster Hunter. Would’ve been nice to get close enough to take pictures with it, but the whole area was cordoned off.
GSC didn’t allow photos of their upcoming Cardcaptor Sakura figure, but here’s one of the banner advertising it.
The Anisong World Matsuri ~Japan Super Live~ was actually this evening. Some of my friends went and enjoyed it.
West Hall had this banner for the free-to-play tactical RPG Phantom of the Kill. Apparently there was a special event for it that night also.
Day 2 loots! I got the Aniplex+ exclusive Kaori figure; three YLiA posters that came free with each purchase; and two sets of YLiA keychains.
Even though I spent most of the first day of Anime Expo running around chasing Your Lie in April stuff, I still had time to take in the rest of the con, even taking in a lecture.
It seems fitting that shortly after I celebrated the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future at Puente Hills Mall, I visited Universal CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood for the first time in ages. In fact, I’d probably walked through Universal Studios Orlando‘s version of CityWalk more recently!
This crashed spaceship and sign (way at the top) is actually from the old location of Things From Another World at the other end of CityWalk.
Things From Another World is a collector’s paradise for geeks of all stripes. They sell everything from comics to high-end collectibles.
So many cool Batman collectibles smooshed into this case!
I can’t even afford this awesome Star Trek phaser remote control. T_T
Didn’t catch the price on this Jetwing Optimus Prime statue, but I want it!
EDIT: It’s actually the Optimus Prime (Starscream Version) from Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys and will set you back $350! He doesn’t even transform!
For $500, I’d like to be able to go back in time and invest in Disney so I can buy this Back to the Future flux capacitor!
Dr. Doom is making sure you don’t walk off with the $25 bottle openers.
Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s worth stopping by TFAW just to ooh and aah over all cool stuff they have on display!
The final album from this year’sD23 Expo features some awesome cosplays as well as the new Photo Spots at this year’s con!
The Expo had set up Photo Spots featuring characters, props, and backdrops. From cut-outs to full sets, areas and characters you could pose with ran the entirety of the Disney universe. Disney Infinity version of Yoda? Or Clone Wars version? Or both?
Tons of people were taking pictures of the Guardians of the Galaxy spacepod, but no one was actually taking pictures with it, lol.
Since I was stuck in line for the bulk of con and trying to hunt goodies the rest of the time, I didn’t run into as many cosplayers as I would’ve liked. However, there were a few who were stuck in line with me, like this Black Widow, so I decided to take full advantage of the hours (literally) that we were trapped together to take a few photos.
This Mary Poppins family was super sweet!
I love this take on Ursula! She was out of character, though, since she was really nice!
Out in the Emporium I ran into another Black Widow, this time with Captain America!
This Cruella De Vil was so awesome; she stayed in character the whole time! When I asked for a photo she was like, “I suppose”, and then when I showed it to her, she said, “That’ll do”. At least, I hope she was in character. ^^;
The one thing that seemed to be missing was the PhotoPass system that is featured at the Disney Parks and which used to be at Expos of years past. Guess they finally caught on that most of us Disney nerds prefer to bring our own photomakers and to spend the 20 bucks on other things!
For everyone who celebrates it, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Apologies for not updating this weekend. Long-time readers know that I usually do one (or more) special update during the long weekend to highlight the figure-related Black Friday sales I run across, but this year the offerings were pretty lackluster so I decided not to bother.
Hobbylink Japan had some pathetic discounts; you could get the maximum discount of 17% (which kind of brought their prices in line with the every day prices you find at e-tailers such as Amiami and HobbySearch) if you spent 30,000yen and used PayPal’s Billing Agreement — which meant you automatically lost 3% by using PayPal’s craptastic currency conversion rate. Plus, you could only get the discount if you ordered and paid during the promotional period. Having bought from them before, I can tell you it takes them at least 2 or 3 days to bill you, so last-minute gifts are never a good idea during their “sales” lest your payment go through after the promotional period.
Still, I guess that’s better than what a lot of the domestic US retailers were offering. RACS had the same 15% off that they usually do on Friday, but most of their figures were over-priced to begin with; Toyslogic offered free shipping but not much else; and both Toylet and Hobbyfan didn’t announce any sales on their front pages and their Specials pages seemed to be largely unchanged from before the weekend.
Amid all these disappointments, the Epic Fail of the Year Award once again goes to Kotobukiya‘s US Store for how spectacularly they managed to bugger up their Cyber Monday Sale. I’ve had issues with them before, but this one takes the cake. It took them ten hours from the scheduled start of their sale to get their servers working properly, and even then I’m not sure if it’s because they finally got their act together or if people had just given up and stopped hammering their site. The lucky few who got through during the site’s intermittent up-time were greeted with full-priced items, already sold-out exclusives, and extremely slow checkouts that often resulted in items being removed from their carts. Hundreds of people from around the world took to their Facebook Page to blast them for their inability to learn from past mistakes as well as their lack of updates during the ordeal.
Anyway, stay tuned for my regular weekly update, coming later today!
Posted by agcpictures 
That Just Figures! 