I’ve FINALLY moved my blog to www.lovelyduckie.com! Please go there for any new posts! I’ve moved all my anime/manga/video game reviews over to the new blog, but I’m leaving all the old figure reviews and other posts on this blog! I’m hoping my figure reviews on the new blog will have better lighting due to my new equipment.

Ok, I said I was going to do my next post on my new Blog, but I lied! The new blog is just about done, I just need to transfer all my posts tonight after work. I’m just so disappointed with rising manga prices lately that I had to make a post! With so many companies selling their manga at over $10 these days I was happy that Viz was still around to hold down the affordability fort at $7.95 for Shonen Jump titles and $8.99 for Shojo Beat titles. Now I look at the pre-orders for the newest manga from Viz and they’re all at the new price of $9.99.

Viz still wins at being the cheapest but…I’ll be purchasing less of their manga at these prices (particularly Shonen Jump titles). There are some titles that I love so much that I’d pay $15 a volume for…but there aren’t many series I’m following that have earned THAT much love from me. So pretty much I’ll be less impulsive on which new series I pursue from Viz due to the new pricing.

Why will I buy less Shonen Jump manga specifically? Well in general I often enjoy Shonen more as anime anyway, so giving up the manga is not as big of a deal to me. Not to mention if the series is a Shonen Jump title it almost always has an anime associated with it…not so much with Shojo Beat titles. Plus the jump in price was too much for me, $7.95 to $9.99 is a large leap. To me, most Shonen manga series aren’t worth that. I will probably only continue collecting Claymore and One Piece at thath price.

BUT despite the rise in prices I still respect Viz as a manga company and think they’re really great. I recognize that the economy is in a sorry state and if this is what it takes to keep them afloat, then so be it. But I still need to watch out for myself, and as a result I’ll be buying a few less titles then I usually do.

But I have a burning question…would Viz have made this price jump if Tokyopop hadn’t raised their prices? Or if Yen Press come on the scene at $10.99? It also may be directly related to their Shojo Beat anthology folding.

I have some new posts all ready to go (a figure review and a Yahoo Japan/Proxy service use tutorial) but I really want to put them up as some of my debut posts on my blog when it becomes www.lovelyduckie.com . Especially since I think I’m really starting to nail the lighting on my figures, I want all my better figure reviews on the new site. So I’m going to hold off on posting this week until I get the new blog setup. Initially it’ll probably look similar to this one but I hope to make it much sexier looking since I can now freely manipulate more features. Also why Phoenix Wright images? Lately in my free time I’ve been chewing through Phoenix Wright: Justice For All…I have no idea why these games are so damn addicting for me! I just love them

Also it turns out I’m going to have a whole room to dedicate to JUST to displaying and containing my manga/figures/dolls. We have a spare bedroom and it was decided that I could fill it with all my stuff and keep the door closed so the pets don’t get in and cause trouble. This way I don’t have to wait for custom display cases! I can just deck out the whole room with beautiful glass shelving. The room needs to be painted first though…it’s currently purple! I’m starting this project either this weekend or next. I’m torn between painting this room or the guest bedroom first. The painting in every single room of our new house was complete ass when we moved in, and it’s taking forever for us to re-do every room. The only room that the previous owners painted without multiple colors and lots of splatter was in fact the purple room…DOH!

So expect my blog move to happen next week! I decided to favor the WordPress setup since I clearly currently can’t make time for the learning curve necessary to use anything else (ex: joomla). In the meantime I invite you all to be scared and horrified of my new Pullip. She is a Prunella with a different wig, eye chips, and an alternate body (obitsu). I think she is absolutely darling, but the boy toy just sees one of Satan’s little helpers when he looks at them. I should note that I have no intentions of turning my blog into a Pullip Blog, I’m just putting in some filler for this post. All my Pullip images will be available on a Flickr I’ll link to in my new “About” page.

I thought I should mention that HLJ is having another “Thank You” sale. I didn’t get to Part 1 in time to get anything I wanted but I was VERY pleased with my purchase from Part 2. This Belldandy figure for $37? HELL YA! I actually really wanted this figure but it was priced too high for my tastes so I skipped her. Pretty darn happy right now.

My last haul post was March 3, 2009…have I not been buying anything since then? AHAHAHAHAHA my bf wishes I wasn’t! Nope I’ve continued getting my pre-orders in and a few fun impulse figures on top of it (not to mention a few dolls not pictured here). I’ve even (very recently) become experienced at purchasing off Yahoo Japan to get an item. I forgot to take pictures of my newest Manga, I COULD skip the manga but I really want to talk a bit about the content of a few of the series I’ve purchased recently. I’ll just throw them onto the end of my next haul. Also who is my new buddy? It’s not Mokona, although he was a fun extra surprise! You’ll see at the end of my post. So here we are, about 3 months of goodies! I haven’t opened them yet because I’m still unpacking and moving into my house, I’m going to put up some nice shelving for them after I wash the walls (yes the walls REALLY do need to be washed…I’m not just OCD in this case).

As you can see my lighting setup arrived, I couldn’t seem to get a picture where none of the figure windows weren’t angled in a way that was reflective of the lighting. I probably had too many in one photo but I didn’t feel like taking pictures of the figures a few at a time. I still need to experiment with the lighting and umbrella placement, I haven’t decided which figure will be my next review! In this haul there is one TL shipment, 2 HLJ shipments, 1 Ebay item, and 1 Yahoo Japan item. I got the Vocaloid nendos on sale at HLJ (after I said I wouldn’t too). I realized I needed Kaito (yes NEEDED Kaito…don’t question my needs!) and that I may as well get the cute twins while I’m at it. So basically I’m going to go back to my original goal of collecting all the basic Vocaloid nendoroids. I’m actually glad I cancelled Rin and Len…it makes the HLJ sale seem like fate.

I’m just going to chat about a few items that I consider noteworthy. My Emma Duo above are probably the rarest catches in my haul, the Emma Max Factory Figure figure I bought off eBay, and the Emma Azone off Yahoo Japan. Am I a big Emma fan? Yes…but I prefer the way the story is told in the anime over the manga, although I really admire the beautiful art style in the manga. My boyfriend seems to think I have a maid fetish and I’m almost starting to think he might be right…I’ll be doing a maid post later. Anyway I paid $100 for the Azone on Yahoo Japan, that’s actually $40 less then retail price, so even after the proxy fees I consider it a good deal. I love opening everything I get, but I’m not sure I want to open this Azone, I think she really looks lovely displayed in that box. The MF Emma? I paid twice the original retail price, but I couldn’t find a single other one online at that time and decided to take the dive. I mean hell almost all worthwhile figures these days cost about that anyway just to pre-order, and I want this one more then any of those.

I didn’t own any anime T-Shirts, and one day I just woke up and decided I want one! So I bought a Haruhi one for myself (Men’s M) and a Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Movie one for the bf (Men’s XL). When buying shirts like these online please be aware that Japanese shirts run smaller then say US shirt sizes, so move up a size. I intend for my shirt to be a roomie work shirt for when I do chores around the house. I think seeing Haruhi’s fun loving self on my shirt will brighten my day by at least a bit despite the cleaning and yardwork. I had a hard time picking out a shirt for myself, I actually did want the TTGL shirt…but if I got that I’d have matching shirts with my bf and that’s just too much of a lovey dovey dopey thing for me to do. I also dislike black shirts, I look AWFUL in black, and most anime T-Shirts that are AWESOME (Jigoku Shoujo, Soul Eater, Black Lagoon) are black. But in the end I’m really glad I ended up with this Haruhi shirt, I’m pretty proud of it.

Why am I feauturing the Clayz Kagami and Konata? Because these will be the first of many many Lucky Star figures. I’m such a complete sucker for Lucky Star. I love that show, it gives me a lot of joy and I don’t think it’s one bit overrated. Clayz isn’t the highest quality figure company but they tend to get figures of the more beloved characters out quicker then other companies and I actually do enjoy their simplistic style. After all, I went back and hunted for that Clayz Saber of her in the corset style battle outfit.

Raquel is a pre-painted kit that I ordered from E2046, I haven’t assembled her yet, but from what I saw I’m pleased with the safe packaging. When images of this Raquel (and her darker version) were posted it was instant love with everything about her. But I stayed away from her due to the price tag and the fact that it was pre-painted, I had seen how some kits were being sold pre-painted on Hobbyfan and I wasn’t impressed with the quality. I didn’t think that the quality could match the beauty of the images posted. BUT a member of my forums ordered her and his pictures of his received Raquel were just as beautiful as the sample pictures they were announced with. I’ll have to do a review on her soon.

So…we have a new cat that we’ve taken into the house, this skin and bones little guy was peeking in from the deck one day. He ran as soon as he saw me but the way he ran away meowing and looking back at me made me think he wasn’t a mean stray. So I gave him some Meow Mix in a bowl, and as soon I was a safe distance away I saw him walk over to it and scarf it down. So I tried to lure him closer to me with the good stuff…some Fancy Feast, and as soon as he ate that he was all over me with affection. From that day on he started living on our deck and asking for meals twice a day. I had NO DESIRE to own another cat…but let me just say this cat is awesome, he has a really good and forgiving personality.

Not only do I collect anime figures but now I own 3 cats…thank god I’m not single anymore because I seem to be collecting more and more things that would give a relationship more baggage. What does my bf that loves dogs way more then cats think of this? It was his idea, he thinks this is the best damn cat ever. But with the addition of this cat I have to worry about if we should really try and take on a dog too…His name is Highjinks and we call him Jinks for short.

Does he get along with my cats? Even though he lived outdoors for a while and still has his claws, my cats beat him up a bit. They whack him every once in a while with their paws (they’re declawed) and he just moves back out of their range and doesn’t swipe them back. I kind of wish he would hit them back just once, they like to push him away from his food. Ami has come around and doesn’t really hiss at him much…but Rini still absolutely hates him.

Plot Summary
Humanity is facing extinction at the end of the 20th Century for reasons yet to be fully known/understood to the reader. In 1969 a group of boys created a symbol for their friendship and played games of world dominantion and war…however…28 years later the symbol they created is appearing in seemingly random places. These symbols slowly start to string together dark dealings and mysterious deaths of alarming severity. The main character Kenji was a member of this group of boys. Kenji is now an adult and he long ago gave up on all his dreams and currently runs a convenience store with his mother, and watches his missing sister’s child. When Kenji’s old friend is reported to have committed suicide he begins to get involved in a real life version of the game he played as a child.

Review Blurb
This manga…is awesome! I can hardly remember the last time I felt THIS confident about the merit of a manga series only 2 volumes in. Besides just my gut feeling, I expect it to continue to be awesome due to the fact that it’s already completed its run in Japan and has won the Kodansha, Japan Media Arts, and Shogakukan Manga awards. Not to mention that Naoki Urasawa is one of the rare and few manga artists in Japan that has the power and ability to pull off a series like this.

I read about this series a bit in Otaku USA and they talked about how he is one of the few manga artists that can state his own terms when he starts a new series. And a series of this complexity needs to be lengthy and well planned out. Do you think if a newbie manga artist sat down and said his series was going to be 22 volumes that people would immediately accomodate him? Probably not. Most manga artists are incredibly lucky to make it past 2 volumes, and as a result sometimes they put a lot more into the first few volumes in order to draw in the readers quicker. I think that if you build the foundation of a series too quickly the shakiness that existed in the beginning will be able to perceived as the series goes on, and overall it will be a lesser series as a result.

The first two volumes are jam packed with so many characters, memories, and stories you won’t be bored. I can’t believe how well this manga-ka strings together so much without confusing the reader. I had been getting into too much of a rut lately with the manga I read (typical shonen/shoujo titles) and this series was a perfect wakeup call. This is a series that is complex and deep and it’s not read to drool over bishies or to see gravity defying fight scenes (that I know of).

The art is realistic and detailed. The people all have depth, their weaknesses, strengths, and overall personalities that seem to correctly embody someone who might actually exist. I see these characters burdened by the same selfish and weak characteristics that I possess. When the main character is thrust into the position of trying to be the “hero” he played in his childhood games you’re fully aware of the fact that he is someone who has become an every day average joe as an adult. He doesn’t have any powers or connections…and he is going to be tasked with an undertaking so large that I’m anxious to see how the hell it can be done.

The way that the past stories of all these characters are portrayed makes you sympathize with them and begin to care for them. Urasawa shows their past memories and even though most are sad ones they pull on your heartsrings in a very real way, it’s not like it’s some past that some person threw together just to try and milk some tears out of the reader. I’m moved by this series and its characters and I anxiously watch them dance their story across each panel knowing that death is a very real possibility and I already get the clear impression from the manga-ka that ANYONE from this series has the potential to die. Oftentimes I’ll watch a series where characters go against death but…lets face it in the back of your mind you know they’re safe.

This series is going to be a masterpiece that falls together little piece by piece. I can’t help but admire series where almost every action has a meaning that plays in the background and eventually all these separate actions fall together to reveal a grand finale. I admire the intelligence of this series so much, to be honest I’m probably not good enough of a writer to be able to portray what this series is and what I expect it to become.

The only negative…the retail price is $12.99 whereas Monster (another series by the author) sold at $9.99 a volume. Once again, I suggest buying from Amazon because they sell it at less then retail and you get free shipping at the $25 mark. But like I said before, I pinch pennies when I can.

My next series will be Monster, I plan on devouring this series while I wait for more 20th Century Boys. I would buy it all right now if I could, but I need to wait.

Plot Summary
Hwang Hyemin is the most beautiful girl at her school, all the boys love her and every girl absolutely hates her. The girls go out of their way to pick on her and she never defends herself. Why? Because there is one boy that she has a crush on, and her true personality is violent and tempermental. She feels that if she showed that aspect of herself he wouldn’t like her, but of course one day she overhears a conversation where her crush states that he doesn’t like her and that there is probably a reason why she doesn’t have any friends…from that day on she stops pretending and acts herself. However, in the meantime a boy from another school named MaHa has begun pursuing her after seeing her at the front gates of her schoool.

Review
Ok why did I pick up this series? Well I wanted to find another shoujo series with a bit of a fire in its belly, something along the lines of a Skip Beat! substitute. PLUS I’m sick of all the shoujos where the heroine is perceived by everyone else as defect and flawed in some way that cripples her ability to date. I get it already inner beauty wins, I want something else. I chose this series specifically for the above 2 reasons AND because the first 3 volumes sell for dirt cheap on Amazon used. After you pay shipping it’s still half the retail price.

The art for this series is beautiful, I really like it. Although I admit the men are drawn a few too flowing hair strands too girlie for my typical tastes. Still nowhere near as bad as how girlie the male cast of Wallflower is drawn though. Also the volumes are printed very nicely with those nice couple first pages of color art that I love so much, each volume seems to have a lot of pages too.  

The hero of the series is Maha, how do they meet and stay together during the series? MaHa wants to start a conversation with Hyemin and ends up stealing her cell phone instead, he ends up breaking it and she makes him work at her cousin’s cafe at $1/hour to pay her back. Seems a bit of a stretch for a setup? I agree. Also after reading 6 volumes this manga is getting a lot less interesting, the pace of story is slow and to be honest nothing is going on. The initial charms of the series has worn off a bit. All its filled with is Hyemin and MaHa bumbling around in their “relationship” and a lot of fairy tale symbolism about how Hyemin is a pure fairy tale heroine that has one of two paths she can follow.

So the two paths I mentioned? She can face reality and the cruelty of the world and hope to find the bit of love out there. Or continue to live in her fantasy world where she and her ‘Oppa’ (her cousin) and his girlfriend make her feel at ease and happy. It also continues to have the typical unjust bullying that Hyemin faced before, although her former crush now befriends her and they get along great. I’m not getting a vibe off of him that he likes her as more then a friend and she seems to reciprocate that feeling now. I like the fact that Hyemin likes horror movies but her love of things horror seems to be progressing to the point where she reminds me too much of Sunako of Wallflower.

If this series were long I’d drop it here and now, but I’m on volume 7 of 9, so at this point I figure I should get to the end so I at least have a complete picture of the story. Plus I AM curious about the ending, but I’m getting the feeling it’s not going to be something unexpected and entertaining. Keep in mind this manga is not AWFUL but it’s not something that would pop into my mind for Manga or Manhwa reccommendations at this point in time.

Finishing up a paper on Crocs tonight (yes Crocs that plastic/foam shoe thing) and then I’m FREEEEEEEEEE! Well free from school, a girl’s gotta work to buy figures/anime/manga. I skip the Merry Christmas/Happy New Year/Happy V-Day posts most bloggers do…but you can be damn sure I’ll always celebrate the end of a semester with a post!!! I have a whole list of fun things I want to do this summer! Although if something else fun pops up naturally I go after it and ignore the list!

Does anyone else like making fun TO DO lists? Or am I the only one that likes organized FUN!?

TO DO: FIGURES
~Fix Roberta and Ryoko Figures
~Display at Least One Case of Figures in New Home
~Prune Figure Collection
(SALE!!)

TO DO: ANIME/MANGA
~Read Basara and I”s Manga
~Catch Up/Finish the Anime Series I’ve Started
(One Piece, Soul Eater, Paranoia Agent, Spice and Wolf, Toradora, Bleach, Naruto Shippudden, and Skip Beat!)
~Start Some New Anime Series
(FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and K-On!)

TO DO: VIDEO GAMES
~Finish Persona 3 and play the FES portion – PS2
~Finish Shadow of the Collossus – PS2
~Finish Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations – DS
~Start AR Tonelico 2 – PS2
~Buy a PS3
(I’m setting aside $25/week and should have one by the end of July)

TO DO: OTHER
~Get a Stray Kitten Fixed/Vaccinated
(I’m serious)
~See Star Trek Movie
(I’m not a Trekkie AT ALL…but this looks neat)
~Decorate Otaku Basement
(Gonna arrange the desks/bookcase and wall scrolls First)
~Watch The Tudors
(Its been highly recommended too often for me to ignore)
~Re-Wig and Customize 3 Dolls
(MORE PULLIPS!)

TO DO: BLOG
~Get Back Into Figure Review/Haul Posts
(The moving has really killed this)
~Move Over to a Fabulous Looking Lovelyduckie.com

PS – I love how I have all these Lucky Star frolicking summer pictures and I might not even make it to the beach once this year! That’s ok I’m happy outside gardening more then being at the beach.

I had noticed the figures that were being released from the series Princess Resurrection, and even bought the Happinet Reiri/Riza figure because I love vampire characters. But I didn’t go after experiencing the series for myself, and really didn’t have any plans to. The manga was a complete impulse buy because someone on my forums said they liked the series, I sort of liked the GSC Hime figure (and was debating buying it), and I had some spare cash. All that adds up to me buying the first volume of the manga followed by the next 4 in rapid succession.

I opened the manga to the first page and was absolutely smitten with the art, Hime really looks very beautiful in the manga. Now a manga series doesn’t HAVE to have a gorgeous art style (for me) but it sure doesn’t hurt. I’m probably more lenient on any plot shortcomings if the art makes me swoon. After seeing the first page of the manga I actually went onto ToysLogic immediately and bought the last GSC Hime figure, I’m very happy I started this series when I did, because if I had missed this figure I’d be very sad. It wasn’t just the art though, I was also moved by all the potential the plot had. The series opened with the protagonist dying and Hime choosing to revive him in the morgue, after which point he is bound by her blood to protect her from danger. The blood of royalty will revive a corpse and allow it immortality so long as they remain a servant to that royal.

I love stories with vampires, werewolves, and other creepy creatures so any tale that involve those things immediately gets a few extra points with me. I had started Rosario+Vampire because I love those kinds of creatures, but I felt a bit bored by the series by the 2nd volume. This series is pretty good (so far) with regard to introducing all the fun creepy characters that exist in western mythology. I like that a lot of the tales have a bit of a dark twist. There are a couple chapters I particularly like that are a short tales that seem straight out of what you might see in a horror movie.

I have been reading this series one volume at a time every once in a while when I’m in the mood. This isn’t really a series I’d care to sit down and read marathon style, I think this series is a bit better in bits and pieces then all at once (that’s how I feel about Mushishi too). It doesn’t have as much fanservice as Rosario+Vampire, you occasionally see Reiri’s underwear as she flies around, but that’s pretty much because she doesn’t care if they show. This fanservice doesn’t feel like a tacky tip of the hat to all the salvating panties loving otaku, so I don’t mind it at all. Plus black panties > white panties.

The manga series has an episodic nature to it, there is pretty much one bad guy that is out to kill Hime every few chapters, and as the chapters progress we learn little bits and pieces that are more relelvant to the plot that is moving this entire series. Also Hime has a new creepy weapon in each battle, I’m still not tired of seeing Hime in an awesome pose with her new weapon of choice in each battle. I thought that’d get old quick but I’m still enjoying it. I’m actually curious about what weapons are left for her to use, I’ve already seen her use almost every common weapon I know. All the characters personalities are pretty typical/cliche choices but it works for each of them without bothering me. Basically this series is better then your average series with absolutely gorgeous art, and as the story progresses I keep getting more and more curious about the veiled main plot that is moving everything. This series has the potential to turn out GREAT in my eyes, but I’ll need to follow it because it might also turn the other way and lose my attention. Stay tuned.

Also as a general tip don’t pay full price for a manga ever. I think the MSRP price on the back of Princess REsurrection is $10.99? You can order it off of a site that has it at a reduced price with free shipping. For example Amazon has free shipping orders at $25.00+ and each volume sells on their site at under $9.00. Although I might be so concerned with that stuff because if you buy as much manga as I do saving $2+ on a manga adds up damn quick. Amazon isn’t the only web site source out there of cheaper manga. I’ve used Otakufuel for manga before, and I believe friends on forums use RightStuf and JustManga.

So as many of you know I just moved to a house and can now have pets! So I took back the cats my parents bought my sister and I when I was in high school. They’re named Ami (above) and Rini (below). And if a few anime fans are scratching their heads right now at the familiarity of those names, the answer is yes…yes I did name the cats after anime characters. Can anyone guess which series? Anyway these little cuties are the reason I have absolutely no figures on display right now, and probably won’t have any on display until next fall. If you’re wondering what Ami is doing, it was actually just a big yawn I caught at just the right moment.

Amy is our pretty lady, she is the type of cat that walks around with a lot of dignity and poise, but she is very lovey dovey and not stuck up. She doesn’t fall for the old laser pointer trick but she likes feathery toys. She is also very territorial and is the alpha cat of the set. This cat is the one that’s considered mine, the other one takes more to my sister. We actually temporarily lost Ami within the first week of having her, the darn thing found a way into the ceiling and went exploring. This one is the “curious cat”.

And Rini has far too many toes, she is triple pawed, so she sort of has a makeshift thumb. Take that evolution! Cats are catching up to humans! This one can scoop things up, it’s funny to see her pick up marbles. Ever question my sanity over the amount of money I spend on anime and manga? This cat cost my family about what my collection of manga is valued at. That’s right it’s a $5,000 cat. I bet you’ve never seen a $5,000 cat before! She is technically our most valuable possession. Why is a tubby cat with too many toes worth so much? She likes to eat things she shouldn’t, and my parents paid for two $2500 surgeries to save her life. The darn thing still hasn’t learned either. She has already eaten my tank top, a sweatshirt, a window shade, and who knows what else. Well she didn’t eat the whole thing but she likes to cut the strings on all these items with her teeth. This one is the “sacredy cat” and is constantly running from every sound. Remember how I lost Ami in the ceiling? I lost this one for a whole day, turns out she was hiding in a closed drawer in the chest. She got into the closed drawer from the open one above it.

I wouldn’t say I’m a cat person, I’d say I’m a fan of any pet that has a good personality. I absolutely love dogs too. But I hate all pets that are stuck up. I have no idea what I’ll do if I ever get a pet where the only time they want anything to do with me is when I feed them.

Anyone guess the anime they’re named after?

So remember my grail list I posted ages ago? I said Revy (Alter) is the last older figure I wanted. I lied…there was another older figure I forgot to mention (yes besides Clayz Saber) and that figure is the Max Factory Emma. I saw her on eBay and I went for it, did I pay more then retail price for her? Sure did lol…how much more? I’m not telling! But I justified the price by telling myself that almost all decent figures these days seem to cost that much and I’d rather have this darling and classy Emma over a lot of the newer figures. Especially since it seems unlikely I’ll ever see another Emma figure released again.

So what’s this about a piercing? Well this figure is in new/unopened condition but I immediately noticed a manufacturing flaw with her. There is a dot just above her left nostril, the dot is the same color as her hair and it looks like a mole to me, and my bf thought it looked more like a nose piercing (which I found a lot more amusing considering it’s Emma). Now as figure collectors we’re supposed to accept small flaws on our mass manufactured figures. But I DO NOT tolerate flaws on the faces of the figures, that’s just asking for too much. If the dot had been on the other side of her nose then I actually might have accepted her as she is. But she is looking back in a way that really makes that little dot noticeable. It’s a bit hard to see the dot in the picture, had issues getting a clear picture of it through the packaging.

So now I’m in a dilemna, I can open her up and see if I can somehow remove the dot. But once I open her my chances of returning and exchanging her are very tiny. So I contacted the seller about a possible exchange (without much hope) but to the seller’s credit he said he’d see what he can do and submitted a request to find another Emma figure. If I can’t get another Emma figure though…I don’t think I can keep this figure and feel comfortable about the price I paid for her. I might keep her if I got a partial refund though (that’s right I want her that bad). But if that’s not possible I’ll have to kiss her goodbye and move her from my Figures Owned list to my Figures Wished For list

How tolerant are you of manufacturing flaws with your new figures?