Why anime figures?.... (Part I)

I have recently become interested in the world of anime figures. Before, I couldn´t fathom why people would spend massive amounts of money on figures that would just *stand there* looking pretty and decorative. Well, decorative and otaku-ish. Or decorative, otaku-ish and perverted, depending on the figure. My friends and I have a longstanding joke about an anime figure at our local comic store that never gets old: the character is a scantily-clad girl whose "assets" are held up by her semi-tansparent side bangs in the shape of hands (yes, her bangs have large groping *hands* for goodness´ sake). Her name is "Melona". Which means "melons", as you have no doubt deduced. Yes, they are the equivalent size of melons. Don´t pretend you don´t know what "they" refers to. Why would anyone want to have that in their room and on display? You´d inevitably be branded as some sort of pervert with a wierd fetish by your friends.

However, a few months ago--oh, alright, half a year ago, a particular figure came to my notice. Now, I haven´t the foggiest idea what series this figure belonged to, except that it had to be samurai-related. What brought it to my attention? The fact that the figure´s plastic-or-resin-I-have-no-idea-what hakama actually had texture. It was so insanely detailed that it had resin looking like real cloth. It was then that I thought: "Hmmm, anime figures might have a bit more to them than I initially thought...". I mean, that´s some mad modeling/sculpting skills right there.


When I traveled to the Expo in Barcelona in late 2010, my fate was sealed: I saw one of my favorite characters of all time, and not just as a cheap plastic gashapon, but as a real, actual figurine. My wallet whipped out of my pocket so fast that I´m lucky it didn´t leave scorch marks as I shouted "I want THAT one!!!" while waving at the vendor frantically. I´m talking about this lovely bit of art:

 Sesshoumaru, a full Inu-youkai from the Inuyasha series. He´s Inuyasha´s half-brother.

He´s nowhere near as detailed as the one I saw that made me interested in figures in the first place (and about a third of the price), but the fact that it´s Sesshoumaru just makes it worth it to me.

Not happy with just that, I also went ahead and bought another figure, but this time something on the other end of the spectrum. I swear, the vendor looked at me strangely for being a girly girl but buying this:

It´s a Gundam Model Kit of Wing Gundam Zero Custom, from the series Gundam Wing.

Is it some sort of unwritten rule that only guys can buy model kits? The saleman made sure to repeat "but you have to build it yourself, are you sure?" not just once, but twice, while maintaining eye contact with me. Fortunately, I was too overjoyed at finding this hard-to-find gundam to make some sort of cheeky remark. Which he would have totally deserved, in my opinion.

Gundam Wing was my first Gundam series, and it will forever be my favorite Gundam-universe, not only  because it was absolutely plagued by cute anime-guys. Which look even better when cosplayed (or sadly, cross-played):

Aaaaah, what a shame that they´re all girl cosplayers.

The only catch to buying this second kind of figure? It´s a modeling kit. Which means that you actually have to build the thing yourself. Daaarrrrrn. Fudge, even. I bought it knowing this, but still....

When I got back home from Barcelona, my brother promised to build it with me (strangely enough, he looked excited. Go figure. Must be a guy thing. I´m only interested in the final product myself). He used to build Gundam model kits. Had the Deathscythe and Nataku, as well as Epyon and a few other Gundam chibis. They were lost somewhere when we moved.

Needless to say, six months later it is still in its box. I think I shall have to start pressuring him. I want it looking pretty and on display, darnit!