Having successfully used my British credit card here in Japan, I caved and bought myself a new figure – Good Smile Company’s Kagamine Len. He cost me an impressively low ¥3387 with free shipping, a far cry from the £40 or so he would have cost me to import into the UK (and that’s without getting caught by customs). Another advantage is that I received him the day after placing the order, and I was given a tracking code even with Amazon’s free shipping service. I’ve been very impressed by the efficiency of the Japanese postal system in comparison to Royal Mail in the UK. What finally pushed me into ordering him though, aside from the ease of obtaining him, was actually that there was a volume of manga I really wanted to get, and it was convenient to buy enough to qualify for the free shipping, and I’d been so tempted to get him anyway that I gave in and just bought him in the end.
He looks great, as figure collectors have come to expect from Good Smile Company. He’s 1/8 scale and leaning forwards so he’s quite a small figure and wasn’t as expensive as some of their other offerings, but the quality is very good. He has a nice, dynamic sort of pose. I think the only downside is that the angle of his head is such that you can’t really get a good look at his face without crouching down, which is how I took all of these shots of him.
His expression is really cute and energetic. There’s lots of energy in his sculpt – his hair, the way his collar flaps up behind his head and the tie that falls over his keytar. The painting is all very good as well. The photos make it hard to see, but his hair, tie and shirt are shaded, as are his arm and leg warmers.
There’s plenty of detail in the figure. His instrument is carefully sculpted and painted, and there are lots of tiny details in his outfit that fit with his origin as a Vocaloid character. He even has yellow nail polish, which I thought was a neat little addition. It’s subtle because of the colour, so it’s not something I noticed right away.
A view from behind, showing more details along with the base. I like the base used – it’s simple and not over the top, and it’s grid pattern fits perfectly with his being a Vocaloid character. The similar figures of Miku and Rin have the same base, so that they can all be placed next to one another in one scene.
I’m really happy with the figure, and hopefully he’ll be joined by Rin and perhaps Miku by the time I leave Japan. I’m not so keen on Rin’s pose, but she looks to be just as high a quality figure, and having the twins as a set would be nice.
I was really satisfied with GSC’s Len figure when I received him back then. He’s a really cute figure and I’m impressed by the nice detail and work that was put into it, but that’s just as expected from GSC.
And I figured buying figures online (especially from Amazon) in Japan was cheap but maaan–is that cheap! You got a good bargain there; and even more with free shipping and tracking.
I, too, hope I’ll be able to get Rin and Miku later on to complete the set. I also hope GSC will make a Kaito figure in the near future.
Lovely review too, btw! :3
Thanks!
Amazon are really good for cheap figures – I’m probably going to use them for most of my figure buying in Japan because even the major figure sellers here often aren’t as cheap (or as flexible with cancellations etc). Some of the figures that are only available through the marketplace are very expensive, but for preorders they give good discounts and readily available released figures are often really cheap.