Back in December I checked to see if they had any second-hand figures for some anime series I follow. I found sets of game-prize figures for both Spy x Family and Lycoris Recoil. I had previously picked up a pair of figures for Lycoris Recoil earlier in the year, but this time I found some reasonably priced Luminasta figures of the girls in uniform.
Spy x Family is a popular spy thriller / comedy anime where Loid Forger, a master spy, receives a critical mission to infiltrate an elite school and get close to a powerful politician to prevent the next war. To succeed he must become the foster father to enroll a young girl named Anya at the academy. Unknown to him, Anya possesses telepathic abilities. He also needs a wife and ends up meeting and marrying Yor Briar who is a talented assassin known as the Thorn Princess. She agrees to marry him as she also needs a cover. Neither Loid or Yor know about each others real jobs, which allows for a many misunderstandings and hijinks to happen with some telepathy thrown in. As the family dynamic unfolds, secrets pile up. Loid juggles his spy
duties, Yor balances her assassin life, and Anya grapples with her
psychic powers—all while pretending to be a loving family. The stakes
rise as they navigate school events, social gatherings, and dangerous
missions. This fun show for the family with animated blood splashes has a ton of merchandise in Japan.
Lycoris Recoil is an original anime set in an alternate Tokyo where there is an agency that takes in orphaned girls and trains them to be assassins to keep the peace in the country. Chisato Nishikigi is an elite agent who doesn't kill (not a good fit for an assassin) and Takina Inoue is a crack agent who is partnered up with her as she "messed" up in a mission. They both have covers working as waitresses at LycoReco Cafe and become involved in a big plot to destabilize Japan and convert Chisato into a killer. It's a fun show with the interactions with the odd couple team up and it had a lot of heart overall. This was one of my favourite shows a few years ago (hard to believe it already years) and there isn't a lot of merchandise for it compared to something like Spy x Family.
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Big box from AmiAmi. They pack stuff pretty good and include a seasonal postcard as a freebie.
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Looking for "used" figures that cost less than $50 or $60 dollars or $20
to $30 game prize figures doesn't make me too nervous if I'm buying
them from a place like AmiAmi. They rate the figure and the condition
of the box and I'm mainly interested in the figure. I'll purchase any
of their A class figures if I want it. In my experience so far, A class often means that the figure is in an unopened box and it is pretty much mint in the case of prize catcher figures. For other types of figures, I'm not sure if they have been opened before.
These days, shipping is pretty
expensive now, so I don't order nearly as much as I used to, even if the
Japanese Yen is cheaper right now at 110.5 yen to the Canadian dollar.
Over the last 10 years, figures double or tripled in price and the yen
went up and now down, but shipping and price is still more expensive. I
think my golden age of anime figures is past now myself, but I still
like to get the odd figure here and there for shows I like.
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The figure boxes were tightly packed inside.
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Here are the five figures I orders. Total cost with shipping was about $150 Canadian, but if I were to try an purchase these on Amazon or from the USA, it would have been another $100 easy.
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Anya Forger on her dog Bond who can see the future.
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Loid Forger.
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Yor Forger in casual wear.
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Chisato on the left, Takina on the right. Both are armed.
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These figures are nicely finished and the detailing is good.
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These figures were cheaper than the Luminastas and not as detailed in painting, but they are nicely done with the natural colouration of the plastic in most places.
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Not too long ago I also learned something about plasticizers which are used to make the "plastic" PVC figures moldable. When PVC is in a hot climate or in contact with an air-tight surface, these plasticizers collect on the surface on the figure and leave an oily sheen which can wreck the paint job. If exposed to air, they can naturally aerosolize - e.g. that plastic smell. Figures in boxes covered in tight plastic will suffer from this type of oily film buildup. I had some figures that are ten or more years old in boxes and I did find an instance of this. Most were okay though and there were no issues with ones in boxes that were not airtight in my case. This is one of the things that prevents me from buying really expensive figures as there is a decay cycle I never really knew about.
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Closeup of the Forger family. They are pretty good for prize catchers.
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Closeup of the Lycoris main characters. The details were well done even if the uniforms and such are simpler.
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Anyhow, happy figure collecting. I'm looking at mine displayed by my computer right now and enjoying their presence!
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