The Mess I’ve Made

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Looks like I finally have a platform to show off my stuff and talk about it without feeling weird please forgive the ultra-long post, I had stories and opinions I wanted to share. You don't have to read them (I've spoiler-tagged them), there are pictures you can look at instead

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I guess I'll just rip off the band-aid to start. This is how my 1/6 scale collection looks as of a couple weeks ago (I know, it’s horrid… please bear with me ):

Spoiler: Backstory or something

Within the 1/6 scale scene, I am a casual collector with a variety of interests. I’m still fairly new, with only two years of scale figure-collecting experience, but I have learned quite a bit about the hobby.

I live in a fairly small flat next to the main house on my property, and with three other heads under the same roof, I don’t have very much room to work with, though the space I do have is manageable. When I started my collection, I had laid out a couple of guidelines and rules for myself to keep from splurging too much money on miniature celebrities:

1. Go for characters with firearms (they’re cooler ) (this is more of a preference thing than a rule),
2. Only one character from each piece of media you’re collecting from to represent that IP (e.g. only Rick Grimes for my Walking Dead collection, only Ada Wong to represent Resident Evil, etc.),
3. Only one example of a particular actor/actress, out of all of the roles they’ve played (e.g. if I have Arnie’s T-800, I can’t also pick up Dutch Schaefer from Predator),
4. Only one iteration of said character (e.g. if there are multiple Terminator figures, I would try to pick what I think is the best representation of the character (so for me, the undamaged T-800 model from T2)), and,
5. Human (or mostly human-looking) characters only.

I think I had other parameters, but I can’t remember at the moment Over time, some of these rules would be broken.

Also owing to my small workspace, I forwent displaying my figures with their included figure stands (if they had one). It helped to save a lot of room on my shelves, at the cost of everyone cramming together and overall looking a little crowded. I personally don’t mind the crowding - it's like a giant universal crossover I do plan on using the stands if I move to a spacier home

I had initially started with a hand-picked set of about four of my favourite characters (Rick Grimes, John Wick, Royce, Ellen Ripley), but as I went online shopping, I began to see other figures of interest. And thus started my spiral down the rabbit hole… and here I am now, with 30 figures, and counting.

The top shelf is where most of my film and TV characters sit. The colours are a little dirtier and less vibrant up there. The second shelf holds most of my video game characters, plus more film and TV figures. It wasn't intended, but that shelf has more of a red/warm motif (with the obvious exception of Chun-Li). The big space from Geralt onwards is to make room for the other figures I have on the way. Not sure what's going to happen next once that space is filled.

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The Collection​

Going through my collection one by one (in order of when I received them in the mail ), I have:

Rick Grimes (Season 7)

Brand: ThreeZero
Franchise: The Walking Dead
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

The Walking Dead is a series near and dear to me. I had a read of a few volumes of the comics when my sisters borrowed them from our local library. I specifically remember being affected by the scene in Volume 1 of Rick's horse being eaten in Atlanta. I felt so bad for the horse, and the gory details disturbed me, though I never really dropped the story. When the show was announced, I was quite impressed with how they had cast the characters I knew (and, embarrassingly, it was how I learned Glenn was Asian young me somehow didn't realise until then). Though not knowing where it was being broadcast on our network (we didn't have AMC here, as far as I was aware), I wasn't able to watch the show until the Season 2 finale, when my sister accidentally happened upon the channel it was showing on. I'd followed the franchise closely ever since.

My first figure, and the one that started me on my 1/6 journey, was actually the Season 1 version of Rick, which I preordered on PopCultcha. He’d been on display for quite a while until they announced the Season 7 version, which had his more recognisable visage (so I essentially broke my fourth rule when I bought him ). I wanted to keep some elements of his Season 1 figure, so I retained his hat and bag of guns while the rest of him went back in his box. I bought a custom jacket on eBay to complete his post-Season 4 appearance. He, of course, never wears this full outfit in the show, but I liked the somewhat neo-Western vibe it gave I guess this would technically make him my second kitbash figure (after Tifa Lockhart)...?

I am very interested in getting either Daryl (a brother in arms) or Negan (a mortal enemy) to pair him up with.

John Wick (Chapter 2)

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: John Wick (John Wick: Chapter 2)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

When I first heard the name "John Wick", I honestly got it confused with "Jonah Hex" and wasn't interested (nothing against Jonah Hex, it just wasn't something I was into at the time) It was either close to the release of the second film or my bout with PAYDAY 2 that I realised my mistake and got curious about John Wick. Watching the first film, while I enjoyed it a lot, it honestly felt like everything went by so quickly. I felt something was missing (typical of my first reactions to most things, I appreciate them more later) and had an itch for more. Each subsequent film, though, always got more exciting, more creative with kills, and I enjoyed the world-building.

John was my second figure, and one of the first I was genuinely interested in before I got into collecting. By the time I got to a point where I could afford him (i.e. I got a job ), I’d long missed his availability, but I found a listing for a new figure on eBay. He, like Rick, is due for replacement some time in the future, with his Chapter 4 iteration. I’m also thinking of getting Caine someday…

Plus, a fun bonus, with a duo I’ve dubbed “Wick & Rick” I like to imagine them fighting zombies together, like that one scene with Chris and Leon in Resident Evil: Vendetta.

Royce

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: Predator (Predators)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

Since the release of Peter Jackson's King Kong, Adrien Brody became one of my favourite actors (though I only know him for a few roles nowadays). Fresh into high school, I followed the development cycle of Predators, in the lead-up to its release. Hearing that Brody was cast in the lead (at the time, he, Danny Trejo and Topher Grace were the only names I recognised) was part of why I was excited for the film, since I'd get to see him in a full-blown action role. Predators was my first Predator film (I watched the original later), and has since remained one of my favourites to this day. The film also introduced me to the AA-12 shotgun, which at first looked to me like an oversized Tommy gun (like Brody had in King Kong).

Royce was my third figure, and my initial stopping point with 1/6 scale figures, back when I understood how expensive the hobby could be I was a big fan of his character, so this figure was a must-have, though like Wick, I could only find him on eBay, since his sale was long over. The figure I got had a broken neck joint, but I was able to make do with it. I just won’t be able to position his head in any extreme angles without it popping off (not that I’d need to, anyway). His vest also wasn't able to zip up all the way, but with all of the stitching and detail, you almost can't tell anyway.

Ellen Ripley

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: Alien
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

Some backstory to my interest in Aliens and Predators: I eased myself into the Alien/Predator franchises in around mid-late primary school (so, 5th to 7th grade), starting with Alien vs. Predator, which I guess is the tamest of the bunch. I was highly squeamish back in the day (chestburster scenes, even the brief one in AvP, were too much to handle), but more exposure to the franchise eventually desensitised me to the violence. This cycle helped get me through other horror franchises, like SAW.

The Newborn in Resurrection, however, was a different story - it was too uncanny for my liking. It didn't help that Resurrection was my last film before bed that night, so I laid awake for a while in an effort to erase the image from my mind. Many years later, something somewhat similar happened with Romulus' Offspring, but I was able to get over that one fairly quickly

Ripley was my first female figure, the first in my collection that didn't have a proper gun (though she has her flamer, so she still counted under my first rule ), and thus far the only female live-action character in my collection. Like Wick, she was one that I had seen online and had shown interest in before I was able to buy any figures. By the time I got around to getting her, she wasn't as easy to find as the others, and was, at the time, my most expensive figure (I won't say how much). I wanted to give Jonesy his spotlight as well, and the way he's posed made it easier for me to prop him up on his carrier. I really like the ye-olde classic look of Ripley (and Sigourney was very good-looking back in the day ), though if they one day announce a version of her from Aliens (like, an updated version of Hot Toys' Power Loader Ripley figure), it'll probably be an instant buy.

T-800

Brand: Hot Toys (DX10)
Franchise: Terminator (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I haven't had a lot of experience with the Terminator franchise, though I know the first two films are beloved. I did watch most of the films at least once or twice (films 1-3, bits of Salvation, I didn't watch Genisys, but I did see Dark Fate), and I had fun with what I saw.

Looking around online, I had found out about several T-800 figures floating around on the market. I wanted a heavy-hitter, so I looked to the DX10 version of Hot Toys' T-800. Arnie carrying his full arsenal (his shotgun's sitting in his minigun pack - you can see the barrel sticking out) gave me "one-man army" vibes This was also my first figure with the moveable eyes feature, back when it was exclusive to the DX line.

I had an unfortunate incident one day, where my shelf (back when it was sitting behind my computer desk) was bumped, and several figures, including Arnie, fell off the top shelf. His minigun's grip snapped off (I found a replacement on eBay), and, while trying to find his sunglasses, I accidentally stepped on them (I found a listing on OneSixthKit for his exact pair, but haven't gotten around to buying it yet).

Walter White

Brand: ThreeZero
Franchise: Breaking Bad
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

While watching The Walking Dead, I heard many good things about AMC's other big title, Breaking Bad. Crime dramas weren't a thing I was into back then, but after a while I decided to give it a try. I binged nearly the entire show in a few days, but then made the mistake of reading too far into the Breaking Bad wiki and spoiling very important plot points for myself, so I put off the second half of Season 5 for later in an effort to forget at least the smaller details. It wasn't until a few years later that I would pick the show back up, when my mother wanted to watch it as well, having had it recommended to her. We both sat through all five seasons, as well as El Camino, then she went ahead and binged all of Better Call Saul later on. I've still only seen the first four episodes of the latter, but I do want to continue it one day.

I believe it was shortly after getting the T-800 that I started actively searching for other characters to add to the collection, outside of the ones I had previously chosen. At this point, I trusted ThreeZero (though I only had one of their figures at the time), so I got their version of Walt, once again secondhand. He became my first case of a figure arriving with broken accessories - in this case, his eyeglasses, which had completely snapped in a few places. I couldn't find an exact replacement anywhere, but I found a pair of lensless metal frames on OneSixthKit, and bought two. I spray painted one pair silver (I believe he has gold frames, but I just used what I had), and that's what he now uses.

I had ideas of adding more to the figure, like giving him his bag to put all his money in (for now, I have the bundles sticking out of his pockets like a cartoon), some packs of Blue Sky (which he surprisingly doesn't come with), and giving him the correct gun that he uses in the show (which ThreeZero gave to their Jesse Pinkman figure while Walt got Jesse's gun, I guess as a subtle incentive to buy both figures ).

Plus, a bonus face-off between AMC's biggest stars:

John Rambo (First Blood)

Brand: ThreeZero
Franchise: Rambo (First Blood)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I haven't seen the Rambo films in full yet, but I've watched clips and in-depth reviews. I hear that the subsequent sequels from about the fourth film onward get increasingly violent, so that's pretty interesting

Found a listing for Rambo on PopCultcha's eBay page. Having already acquired an Arnie figure, I figured I should get his "rival" as well - kind of an "on a whim" purchase. I also thought it would make sense for both to be big gunners, and the M60's a nice counterpart to the M134. I don't remember his arms being this big in the first film, though Rambo is the first figure I got that hails from a franchise I personally have not touched on yet (outside of clips).

(I forgot to take a photo of him and Arnie together...)

Cpt. John Miller

Brand: DiD
Franchise: Saving Private Ryan
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I was introduced to Saving Private Ryan at a young age. We had a bootleg CD in our house, where the movie was burned onto a blank disc and the cover on the case was a slipped-in piece of paper with the DVD cover printed on it. However, the classification rating on the bottom left labelled it as a PG film (not sure how that happened). So I went in thinking, "okay, this should be fine." Not far into the D-Day landing scene, I walked out, with the last image burned into my brain being the soldier looking for his arm. Years later, I eventually had to watch the movie for an English assignment in high school (an analytical review, I believe). By then, I had seen the film a couple of times and was really captivated by the story.

While brainstorming who else I could find to collect, I was curious whether they had made figures of any wartime characters. I didn't recall having seen any Tom Hanks figures anywhere, and my interest in Saving Private Ryan was renewed after having watched the movie again, so after a bit of searching, I found this figure by DiD (I believe it's their second version of the character, with a more accurate likeness).

The figure was a bit older at this point, so it was hard to find, even on eBay. The most affordable (or rather, the only) listing I could find was held up for auction, which always makes me nervous, but I won the bid after a week of apprehension The figure's poseability options were somewhat limited for me - as far as I'm aware, neither the knees nor the upper thighs are capable of rotating, so they're always facing forward, though the ankles and shins rotate fine. This figure was the first one I had to put together myself - all of his accessories were packaged separately, giving a lot more flexibility with customisation.

Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley (Modern Warfare 2)

Brand: Flagset
Franchise: Call of Duty (COD: Modern Warfare 2)
Bought from: Black Ops Toys

Spoiler

I really enjoy the names that these companies give their figures (Modern Battlefield End War X Ghost). It's a copyright thing, right?

I forgot how I found out about this figure, but I knew I needed him despite the flak that Call of Duty gets nowadays, I do quite enjoy a lot of the games (I'm a campaign player, mostly). The Modern Warfare subseries is probably my favourite, as it is with a lot of other people, and Ghost is such an iconic figure in the franchise.

I didn't find very many, if any, listings on eBay, but my search for this figure did lead me to Black Ops Toys, where they had other pretty cool figures I probably otherwise wouldn't have found anywhere. This was another one of those figures that came with all of their accessories separate, but I had fun putting this one together (with some difficulties - his sunglasses came slightly bent in the box, so they don't quite sit flush with his face, and I accidentally broke off the little retainer piece on his handgun holster, thinking it was a moving piece). I'm one of those who likes their figures to hold as many of their included accessories as possible (without it looking silly, of course), to showcase the different options.

Lt. Vincent Hanna

Brand: Present Toys
Franchise: Heat
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

My first Present Toys figure Having played PAYDAY 2 for a few years, I became very interested in heist media, and really wanted to watch Heat after finding that it served as a heavy inspiration for the game. I had the chance to when my mother started watching the film one night, but I had to go somewhere at the time and missed the film (I could very easily put the film back on, but I haven't gotten around to it yet). Though having watched a few clips of the movie on YouTube, I was fascinated with the performances, especially between the two leads. The sound design, I think, is also stellar (yes, the gunfire ).

I learned about this figure while perusing, and got him from a UK listing on eBay. The first thing I noticed with the figure in hand was that the suit was very well-tailored - a thin and delicate material, but also feels professionally made. The weapons he came with were quite basic in construction. The seller recommended (and sold) to me the Colt pistol that came with the Knightmare Batman figure, to serve as a close-to-visually-accurate replacement of the handgun that came with the Hanna figure, though for the life of me, I couldn't find a replacement FN FNC anywhere. I did, however, give him a shotgun that came with one of the CCToys Grand Theft Auto V figures (he uses a Mossberg 590 in the film, and the pump shotgun in GTA V is apparently modelled after said Mossberg).

Cpt. Jack Sparrow

Brand: Hot Toys (DX15)
Franchise: Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC: Dead Men Tell No Tales)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

Pirates is one of those franchises that everyone knows and loves, but I've somehow not engaged with any of it. At some point in time, my mother got into a Johnny Depp phase, where she wanted to see all the movies that he starred in, the Pirates series included (even The Lone Ranger, which she enjoyed ). The movies would be playing in the background, and I'd tune in every now and then. But what I did catch from the Pirates series, it looked like a lot of fun. I still haven't watched the movies in full myself, but I have watched others watch them.

It was only sometime later that my curiosity got me searching for a Jack Sparrow figure, and I settled with Hot Toys' DX15 Cpt. Jack Sparrow. I now had a second figure with moveable eyes, but his were different in that they moved independently (which gave way to some goofy expressions very fitting, I think, for his character).

Lara Croft

Brand: Master Team Toys
Franchise: Tomb Raider (Survivor trilogy)
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

My first video game figure, and my second female figure overall. While I haven't played any Tomb Raider games myself, my brother has (at least the reboot series). I found her figure up for preorder on Sugo Toys (I believe it was a second wave of preorders), and had an order placed just days before it closed. She arrived just two months later Out of the box, it was glaringly apparent how much shorter she was than my other figures, which kinda put me off a bit. Eventually, I would acquire other figures of similar height, but at the time, she stuck out like a sore thumb, though I accepted it anyway. She's come to be one of my favourites now

Tifa Lockhart

Brand: VS Toys x YM Toys (body), Super Duck (head)
Franchise: Final Fantasy (Final Fantasy VII)
Bought from: Sugo Toys (body), eBay (head)

Spoiler

Firstly, I've personally never played any of the Final Fantasy games. Didn't really seem like my cup of tea, but I do like the character designs

Funny story behind this figure. Tifa was intended to be my first full kitbash figure - being unable to find a figure online that suited my tastes, I decided to put together my own. I had ordered the separate parts on eBay - the SDH032A head sculpt (I believe that's Super Duck?), an S10D TBLeague body, and Super Duck's Set055 outfit set - and just had to play the waiting game. The head and body arrived around the same time (the head looks better in person, but honestly looked best in the promo photos), but the outfit was taking its sweet time with being dispatched. It finally arrived almost two months later... but instead of the outfit, I got ONE beanie cap. Huh.

I didn't want to go through the trouble of disputing the purchase, sending that single piece back, etc. So I kept the beanie for later use and looked around for other options, and found the VS Toys x YM Toys "Goddess of Fantasy" figure up for grabs on Sugo Toys. It had good proportions (it appears to also be an S10D), the outfit looked nice, and it appeared to save me time on having to dress her myself, so I got one. My only concern was whether or not the head I bought would fit, which it thankfully did. I tweaked the appearance here and there (styled her hair a bit with a touch of water (which held it in place somehow), took the earring from the Goddess' figure and stuck it onto the SD head (which took a fraction of forever), and veeeeery carefully drew over her eyelashes (and I think her eyebrows, too) with a fine point art pen to make them pop a bit more).

She's now one of my favourite figures in my collection The head sculpt has grown on me, and she's also surprisingly stable on her feet (probably the Phicen's metal skeleton). Tifa's also my first figure without a firearm of any kind (so, the first to not follow my first rule). At the time I got her, she showed the most skin of all the figures in my collection, which made me a little nervous at first, considering I live with other family members, but I think she's decent enough. I did try to make an effort to pull the skirt down a little more, because it rides up her back pretty high. What you see is about as far down as I can get it

That S10D body that I got earlier now sits aside as a spare, maybe for another potential figure in the future. I also preordered GameToys' Tifa figure from GunDamit, but since my current figure has grown on me so much, I figured I'd pass the GT figure to my brother when/if it releases.

YorHa 2B

Brand: Super Duck (outfit + head), TBLeague (body)
Franchise: NieR: Automata
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

I've also never played the NieR games. But 2B is a very attractive android

I believe I was one of the last to buy the Super Duck Set064A set from Sugo Toys, because the listing sold out shortly after my purchase. The recommendation for the body was an S42A, which to my surprise when I received it, is much taller than an S10D. 2B's figure was the first one I had to properly dress myself. A lot of her outfit is form-fitting, which made putting it on somewhat difficult (her chest got in the way a few times, and I had to pretty much massage her feet to keep the S42A's toes from curling over while I put her boots on). The final product, however, was worth the trouble. The wired skirt also helps bring a flair to some poses, making them more dynamic.

Unfortunately, due to the structure of the S42A's feet, she couldn't stand up by herself, so she became the first figure I actually needed a stand for. I bought a generic ToysBox figure stand, and so far it's doing its job well. The outfit set also only came with one sword (Virtuous Contract), but I've been unable to find a suitable second sword thus far.

Tommy Shelby

Brand: Big Chief Studios
Franchise: Peaky Blinders
Bought from: PopCultcha

Spoiler

My only exposure to Peaky Blinders were the multitude of clips that were recommended to me on YouTube. Period gangster dramas are quite fascinating, and there were a lot of faces I recognised in the show. It really seems like something I'd love to invest time in, but I just need the time

I happened across Tommy's figure (up for preorder at the time) while searching through PopCultcha's catalogue. Of the three figures I preordered during that month, his was the first to arrive. He came with so many accessories... I initially displayed him with his lit cigarette before swapping it for his glass, though I still don't know which looks better. A Tommy gun was mentioned on the product page as being included as a special preorder bonus, though I ultimately missed out on it.

Boba Fett (Repaint Armour)

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: Star Wars (The Mandalorian)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I got into Star Wars very late, having only started getting somewhat invested in it after the release of The Force Awakens. Thus far, I've only watched the movies up to The Last Jedi, and I haven't caught up with any of the shows, live-action or otherwise. With some of the directions the franchise is going in nowadays, I'm not sure I want to continue, which is a shame, though I take solace in the thought that, had I continued to invest in the series, my room would probably be half full of stuff by now

I had initially vowed against collecting any Star Wars or Marvel characters specifically, for personal reasons. However, after watching Boba Fett's entrance scene in The Mandalorian on YouTube and being awed by the performances, I figured he would make a good representative for the Star Wars portion of my collection (of which he is the sole member ). I decided to go with his repaint armour appearance, because I liked the look of the rich colours of his armour against the black fabric (and the black cloth hanging from his waist looks cool, too).

King Leonidas

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: 300
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

300 is so chock full of testosterone watching the battle scenes and hearing their chants with the soundtrack booming in the background always gets me hyped up for action.

I was looking for figures to add to my wishlist when I found characters from 300: Rise of an Empire being sold on PopCultcha. It got me thinking of whether or not they sold one of Leonidas, and found out that Hot Toys did have a King Leonidas figure some time ago. It wasn't easy finding him anywhere, but I eventually found an unopened figure on eBay.

Unfortunately, Leonidas also fell victim to a couple of falls from my shelf, one of which snapped or bent a couple of the arrows embedded in his shield (when I had them displayed). Though this figure is quite durable, with his rubbery body and most of his other accessories being fairly rigid. I would've liked to display him with his spear up, but the way my shelves are set up didn't allow for a lot of head room (you can actually see the comb of his helmet touching the other shelf )...

Frank Castle/The Punisher

Brand: Hot Toys
Franchise: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Marvel's The Punisher)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I was on and off with the MCU. I started with Iron Man, like most others, and my interest hit a new peak after The Avengers (large-scale crossovers were a surreal concept to me at the time, though I didn't know that that's how Marvel operated). After that, I slowly fell out of interest until my brother started rewatching the series sometime around Civil War to catch up with the whole plot, and I decide to join him. For a few reasons, Endgame became my stopping point. After that, I felt that I had run my course with the franchise, though I still tuned in to Far From Home, No Way Home, Guardians 3 and Deadpool & Wolverine. We didn't watch the shows (too many to go through by now), but we did watch select scenes on YouTube.

Since I had a Star Wars figure, I figured "why not" and decided to get one character to represent the Marvel universe. I struggled to think of a suitable character that would fit the aesthetic of my collection (though Iron Man was strongly considered, since he's a Marvel staple, but the die-cast Mark III they were releasing was still a long way from release at the time), but I was then made aware of a figure of Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle. I liked his performance in the scenes I've watched, the figure looked awesome ("lots of guns..."), and I figured, since ThreeZero hadn't made a Shane Walsh figure to go with Rick, this was a nice alternative (it's not Shane, but it is Jon Bernthal ).

Plus, a bonus shot of the two together (a "reunion" of sorts). Imagine Shane with a minigun...

The Preacher

Brand: Sideshow Collectibles
Franchise: Pale Rider
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

My mother's a HUGE Western fan, to the point where I ran out of new films (or rather, old films she hasn't seen) to show her though I don't remember if she watched Pale Rider (I had the movie downloaded, though I don't remember playing it on the TV).

I came across a Dirty Harry figure on PopCultcha, which led me to find that there were several other Clint Eastwood figures up for sale (or presale). It was a tough choose between them - I nearly picked up Harry, but I already had a cop in my collection; I almost chose The Man With No Name (I didn't have any characters from Westerns, and he's pretty well known), but he was still at the preorder stage (I wasn't feeling patient then). I eventually settled with The Preacher, who I believe was also still up for preorder on PopCultcha, but I found a listing on eBay

Ada Wong

Brand: Damtoys x NAUTS
Franchise: Resident Evil (Resident Evil 2 (2019))
Bought from: PopCultcha

Spoiler

I wasn't much into the Resident Evil franchise until I started watching JackSepticEye's playthrough of the second game's remake. Ada was one of my three preorders last January, alongside Tommy Shelby and Bane (who is taking his sweet time arriving ). At the time, she was slated for an August release (at least, according to PopCultcha), but after a series of delays, she finally arrived the following May (so, seven months ago, as of writing this). She was worth the wait by the time I got her, though, her RE4 outfit was starting to grow on me, but the red dress still holds a special place in my heart.

During the waiting period, I'd heard of cases of figures (not this one) being released and not looking like how they were depicted in their promos. Ada was one character I really wanted to look right, and I'm quite happy with how she turned out. She's the second figure I absolutely needed a stand for, as the way her feet work didn't quite let her stand on her own, let alone in the pose I wanted to have her in. Her included stand was a bit big for my display (and made her tower slightly over my other figures), so I got another ToysBox stand to use instead. Not as pretty, but it's a space-saver.

Mai Shiranui

Brand: Tunshi Studio
Franchise: Fatal Fury/The King of Fighters (KOF '97)
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

I'd never played the Fatal Fury or King of Fighters games, or anything outside of Mortal Kombat (which I grew up with) for that matter. But I did know of Mai after spending a lot of time on the internet, though I initially thought she was a Street Fighter character. Goes to show how much I knew...

I forgot how I learned about this figure, but she was an easy find online, but not easy on the wallet. She's a little more stylised compared to my other figures, but she overall has a very appealing design. She also turned out to be one of my more well-balanced figures, or rather, has stronger ankles than some others, which I guess is essential for a fighter character to hold some more extreme poses. Her umbrella/parasol (which I didn't know her character had until getting this figure) has made positioning her without covering anyone else a bit of a challenge, though I refuse to remove it because it's unique. Her outfit is also quite revealing (I was aware before buying the figure), though no one in my family has said anything thus far (aside from telling me to stop spending too much), so I think I'm in the clear

Since the recent announcement of Verycool's Mai Shiranui figure, I've been very back-and-forth on whether I wanted to preorder that version. On the one hand, Verycool's figure ticks a lot of boxes for me On the other hand, I've already preordered Tunshi's Shermie figure to pair with my current Mai figure...

Scorpion

Brand: Pop Toys
Franchise: Mortal Kombat (Mortal Kombat (2021))
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

Mortal Kombat was a franchise I grew up with from an early age. I was exposed to it much earlier than I should've been My siblings and I owned the first three games on SEGA Genesis (or "Mega Drive" here in Australia), but the third game was my all-time favourite. I still remember a time where I was playing by myself against the AI opponent, and they performed Kabal's "scary face" Fatality on me, which spooked me out of the room for a while (it was the first time I'd seen that Fatality, and I wasn't ready for a screamer in that game). Good times

The recent live-action movie was a joy for me - I especially enjoyed the little nods they gave to players of the games, like the leg-sweeping scene with Lui Kang and Kano (brought back a lot of memories ). I found this figure on its second run of preorders on Sugo Toys. Along with it being movie Scorpion (whose scenes with Sub-Zero were the best), I figured this was also a good opportunity for me to acquire a Hiroyuki Sanada figure. It mostly looks like him - it has his general visage - but I would be displaying him with his mask on anyway, so it wasn't much of an issue. The most trouble I had with him was tying his wakizashi around his waist. It was kinda hard to get right.

Claire Redfield

Brand: Damtoys x NAUTS
Franchise: Resident Evil (Resident Evil 2 (2019))
Bought from: eBay

Spoiler

After having another look at Damtoys' Claire figure, she became a must-have for me. Claire's figure actually marks the first time I broke my second rule concerning 1/6 scale figures - I now had two characters from the same IP on my shelf. Claire came with a surplus of different accessories, which made it hard to pick the ones I wanted for her display. It would have been amusing if she came with her minigun. Her jacket is a bit thick, so trying to pop the collar out to make it not look like she was wearing a turtleneck took some effort. I also really like the face on her figure. Very pretty

Doc Holliday

Brand: Present Toys
Franchise: Tombstone
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

I can't remember if it was during my mother's Western phase or her general film phase, but at some point I recommended Tombstone to her. I hadn't seen the film in full at the time, but I did hear good things about it, so I actually took the time to sit through it. We both enjoyed it, my brother as well (who sat with us later on). Val Kilmer was a standout as Doc Holliday, and sometime down the line I started to look for a Doc Holliday figure to add to my collection.

At first, I was interested in the Redman Toys figure (RM052), though I put off buying it for a long while until one day, Sugo Toys had Present Toys' figure up at a discount. I juggled my options, but eventually went with the latter figure because A) it was local, so faster shipping, B) it was on sale, and C) I trusted Present Toys' product quality (though, once again, I only had one of their figures at the time).

One could never go wrong with how Present Toys tailors their suits. They've got a nice feel to them. Doc only came with one pistol, which was a bit of a bummer, but I was able to make it work with his double-barrel. There's something off about the likeness to the actor, but I can't exactly say what it is. He still looks good in-hand, though.

Chun-Li

Brand: Star Man
Franchise: Street Fighter
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

Again, I only grew up with Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter and other games of the like seemed kinda tame to me, since I was more used to the blood and gore of MK, though I appreciated the other games for what they were as icons in the gaming industry. That said, I was exposed to the SF characters through other means, mostly fan art. Chun-Li was one of the characters in the roster that I took an interest in.

Amidst all the announcements of Chun-Li figures that were coming out in the past year-ish, the Star Man figure looked the most appealing to me, mostly due to the more realistic face and proportions (though I know she's known for her thunder thighs ). She was almost instantly a preorder for me, back in August. It wouldn't be until around the next June before she arrived.

Her figure is also one of those with nice stability, standing very firm on her feet. I also find myself looking at her face a lot. Her head sculpt s is probably my favourite in the collection A lot of other people who'd received their figures opted to use her Street Fighter Alpha jumpsuit, though I'm one of those who decided to keep it classic (it also looks difficult to dress her up).

As a bonus, here's the two fighting icons together. There seems to be a stark difference in dress code Funny that Wikipedia mentions that they're both considered rival characters between the two games and companies. Me putting them together on my shelf was coincidental.

Joel Miller

Brand: Toys Era
Franchise: The Last of Us (The Last of Us (HBO))
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

Being a fan of post-apocalyptic media, I very much enjoyed The Last of Us. I didn't play it myself (I don't own a PlayStation), but I watched both Markiplier's and JackSepticEye's playthroughs of the game (as well as Jack's/Sean's playthrough of the second game). Being a cinematic game, just watching it is enough for me. The first game has such a beautiful story, great characters, great visuals, amazing music, and is overall a good time (depending on how you look at it ). The second game, while I'm divided on the story and characters, has a lot of the other good traits, too.

I've seen select scenes of the HBO show, and I'm quite impressed with how they adapted a lot of the story. There were some story beats from the game that were skipped over that I would have also liked to see, like the school adventure with Bill (although the Bill and Frank story was also very heartwarming and a welcome change).

I really wanted to add a Joel figure to my collection, but at the time, only CCToys had a figure made, which had long sold out by the time I got around to it. A surprise announcement for a figure of the HBO iteration of the character by Toys Era came up on Sugo Toys, and, seeing a chance to nab both Joel and Pedro Pascal in one figure, quickly put in an order. It took some time to arrive (including a delay where they updated the likeness to look more accurate), but I'm very happy with how the figure turned out. Maybe not perfect, but it looks enough like Pedro to me

Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley (Modern Warfare II)

Brand: General's Armoury
Franchise: Call of Duty (COD: Modern Warfare II (2022))
Bought from: Monkey Depot

Spoiler

Having already been a fan of the OG Modern Warfare series, the reboot series was an experience I was looking forward to. While I haven't played the latest games, I still enjoy watching the campaigns online, like movies. It was very interesting seeing how they adapted the legacy characters into a new timeline, and Ghost was no exception.

I found out too late about the existence of this figure - by the time I took notice, I could only find him on very pricey eBay listings. I did keep an eye on some of the cheaper ones, but others always got to them before I could. I put it off for a while, but did occasionally peruse the web for any other places I could possibly find him. Monkey Depot was a site I had visited before, but it didn't have anything I was particularly interested in at the time. By chance, I happened upon their listing for the GA Kill or Capture Ghost figure. I was one of the last to buy the figure there, and I received him a couple of weeks later.

This was another of those figures that came with all of their accessories separate from the main figure. The main hassle I had putting him together was threading all of the little straps through the MOLLE loops on his vest. Trying to get some clearance to see what I'm doing, while also keeping the straps from undoing themselves in the process was a chore (forceps would've helped, but I didn't have any), but the final look was worth the effort. With all of his gear, he looks menacing, and oh-so-tacticool He stands fairly well on his own, though I'm always cautious whenever a figure has footwear that curls up at the front - falling forward is always a concern.

I've always been a fan of full-black attire.

And here's a bonus comparison shot of both Simons, past and present:

Geralt of Rivia (Season 3)

Brand: ThreeZero
Franchise: The Witcher (The Witcher (Netflix))
Bought from: Sugo Toys

Spoiler

I've not played The Witcher, but my brother-in-law has and he enjoys the games (at least the third one, not sure if he's played the others).

I remember seeing online a post about "what if Henry Cavill played Geralt?" along with a Photoshop picture of him in full gear (I believe it was a BossLogic edit). Even while not knowing anything about the series, I thought the concept seemed pretty awesome, and having already been familiar with Henry Cavill through his role as Superman, my interest in him grew after finding out he's also an avid gamer hearing that he got the role was somewhat surreal news. Thus far, I've only seen one clip from the show, but I already enjoyed his portrayal of Geralt in the few minutes I watched.

I had bounced back and forth a bit between the BuzzToys and Soosootoys Geralt figures, but after ThreeZero announced their own figure, I decided to get that one since, in my experience, ThreeZero had a pretty decent track record with quality. Compared to the other Geralt figures, it's probably easy to say that ThreeZero's Geralt head sculpt looks the least like Henry Cavill that's not to say I don't like the figure, though. He's still pretty awesome.

Melina

Brand: Master Team Toys
Franchise: Elden Ring
Bought from: OneSixthKit

Spoiler

FromSoftware games aren't really my type of game. I don't like getting mad however, I do enjoy watching others play and rage.

I preordered Melina on OneSixthKit way back in last February. It was stated that the preorder window was already passed, but I was still able to place an order, so I figured I'd try. After that, for a few months short of two years, radio silence - even Kit had no news on it. I was starting to give up hope that the figure would ever arrive until just a few weeks ago, I received a notification saying that her remaining deposit was ready to be paid off. A shock, it was. She arrived about a week later, while I was writing this post (which is why she doesn't appear in the first photo).

After having her in hand for a while, she's not that bad. She doesn't come with many accessories, though I assume her character probably didn't have many to begin with. Being a Master Team figure, she's a little on the short side, but now that I have a few other shorter figures in the collection, she doesn't stand out that badly. The rooted hair is also a nice bonus. The way her boots are fitted, she has some limited ankle movements, but I don't really plan on putting her in any extreme poses, so it works for me.

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As of writing this, I have about five more figures on the way. I may keep this post updated I'm enjoying the hobby thus far!