Back in March, I bought a cheap bookshelf from Bunnings to store my manga collection, and to use the top shelf to display a selection of my figurine collection. These were the first few figurines I chose to display:
I had planned to change which figurines I display each month, but I couldn’t be bothered dusting each figurine, carefully putting them back in their boxes, carefully taking them out of their boxes, piecing them together, positioning them nicely, etc. But earlier this week, my pre-order of the Kotobukiya Leafa figurine was finally delivered. So I have decided to put my Sword Art Online figurines on display.
From left to right:
Griffon Enterprises Asuna (Titania)
Alphamax Asuna (ALO)
Kotobukiya Asuna (Aincrad)
Kotobukiya Leafa (Fairy Dance)
Toy’s Works Akira E. Ferrari
Yes, Akira is the odd one out. She’s not from Sword Art Online, she’s actually from Aria. But I don’t have a box for her so she will be permanently on display. The pictures were taken with my mobile phone. At night. So these pictures don’t really show off how gorgeous they are. A closer look at each figurine…
Griffon Enterprises Asuna (Titania)
I had heard that Griffon Enterprises had a reputation for producting stunningly beautiful prototypes, but the mass produced final figurine will not be as stunning. This is the very first figurine I have purchased from Griffon, and my verdict? The reputation has some merit. It’s still a lovely figurine, but it could have been better. I do like the way they have Asuna’s name printed on the base (this isn’t really visible in the photo >.<). Also, compared to the other Asuna figurines, this one is visibly smaller, despite all of them being “1/8 scale”.
Between the Griffon Enterprise’s Asuna (Titania/ALO version) and Alphamax’s one, I think the Alphamax one is prettier. But the face, I can’t help but be reminded of Aria from Seitokai Yakuindomo. I really like how light and airy the dress looks in this one. The pose makes me worry that over time, this figurine will start to warp downwards, but we’ll see…
This was amongst the first few Asuna figurines to be announced, so I pre-ordered it as soon as I could. Kotobukiya generally makes excellent figurines, so this was a no-brainer. I liked the interesting pose and the gold loops on the base. The way the hair flows on the right-hand side is a little odd though, and it looks even more odd when viewed from behind. But still, it is an overall lovely figurine.
Kotobukiya Leafa (Fairy Dance)
I had actually pre-ordered Griffon Enterprise’s Leafa figurine first, before Kotobukiya announced theirs. But when they did, I immediately cancelled my pre-order for Griffon’s Leafa, even though the Kotobukiya one was not available for pre-order yet. Asuna is my favourite character from Sword Art Online so I have no qualms about buying multiple figurines of her, but Leafa, I don’t like her enough to justify buying multiple figurines.
Anyway, what I love about Kotobukiya’s Leafa is the base with the tree trunk poking out of the water, it looks great on the blue table runner that I put on the shelf. Also, wings! Griffon’s Leafa didn’t have wings. The Kotobukiya one has wings which are semi-transparent with a gradient colour, unlike the wings on the Titania/ALO Asunas which are just a flat semi-transparent colour.
I also pre-ordered Good Smile Company’s Asuna (Knights of the Blood), but delivery was delayed again and again, now it’s expected to be delivered in June 2014. Maybe I will leave these figurines on display until the GSC Asuna is delivered to complete my Sword Art Online display.
My full figurine collection at MyFigureCollection.net