Had to repaint his torso a few times, the silver paint I bought was not too well suited for fine details.
I couldn't find any photographic evidence online of anyone else having actually put this thing together, I wonder if I'm the first person to ever upload a picture lol.
It came totally unpainted as some kind of garage figure kit? I know it wasn’t uncommon for figures back in the day to require that, and you did a pretty good job getting the paint looking neat.
Maybe there’s evidence on the Japanese web or defunct webpages? I’d be really curious to see.
It came totally unpainted as some kind of garage figure kit? I know it wasn’t uncommon for figures back in the day to require that, and you did a pretty good job getting the paint looking neat.
Maybe there’s evidence on the Japanese web or defunct webpages? I’d be really curious to see.
Yes, totally unpainted. Here's the Aerith one to give you an idea of what he looked like when I started
Even the eyes are little decals you have to attach very carefully, they're on that sheet on the bottom left. Both Cloud and Aerith have alternative poses suggested in the instructions that would require you to cut their arms and other parts apart with the model knife and then manually repose them with model clay or something. I'm not brave enough to try that, even though I think the alternate poses look cooler lol.
There's been quite a few new acquisitions I figured I'd share.
First, I now have a PAK of every main character party member of FFVII.
Got the Cid PAK with Cait Sith and put him on Red XIII's head AC style. However, the real grail prize... Is the Ragnarok spaceship in the front. That Kotobukiya model figure was released back in 1998 and was only available in Japan. You had to build it yourself from the 8 parts included in each of the first edition releases of the ARTFX FFVIII Guardian Force figures, which were Siren, Ifrit, Shiva, Cerberus, Odin, Gilgamesh, Diabolos, and Bahamut. Suffice to say, that was expensive and getting a fully built Ragnarok is expensive as fuck if you just try to find it on eBay. Thankfully... Yahoo Japan offered a much more affordable opportunity to acquire one of the most badass airships in FF and I took it!
Oh, and I got those FF Universal Studios Japan LED plates because there's no way I will ever get to experience that limited run amusement park collaboration ride, so I'll have to just content myself with rare swag souvenirs
Picked up an ARTFX Laguna, PAK Cid, and... The AC limited edition variant Vincent PAK. It was
a Japanese Square Enix e-store exclusive variant of the standard PAK released back in September of 2013. The US version of the S-E e-store didn't offer this one for sale since it was down from October 2012 to September 2013, making it pretty rare to find. I was going to eventually get a Dirge of Cerberus PAK but given the rarity and price I found this one, I had to get it. I love the alternate metallic shading it has, and it makes it stand out as a cool variant.
I posted a glimpse of this shelf to show how the FFVII-R Aerith PAK looked but this is the shelf in it's entirety. Ended up putting the Cloud and Sephiroth static arts together on the same shelf. Aerith works nicely behind Cloud with Zack next to her. Also got the FFVII Mechanical Arts Fenrir for a normal retail price. People try to jack that model up ridiculously.
Was able to snag an ARTFX Ultima Weapon from FFVIII for a huge steal, thanks to it not having the box but I didn't care. It was treated well, dusted and even the joints weren't loose. They took good care of this vintage figure. I like how the NieR crew figures are just posing, totally out of place among the weirdos around them
This is A Coca Cola FFVIII and FFVII promotional poster from the year 2000, from the Coca Cola x FF collaboration which gave us all those mini-FF figures you see on eBay all the time It's a pretty famous poster if you're familiar with the LTD of FFVII given who's included in the poster alongside Squall and Rinoa
I don't really care about all that, I just love how it looks and how it includes 2 of my favorite FFs in one. Finding a good condition vintage Japanese FFVII promotional poster from 1997 for a reasonable price is next to impossible. But I'll certainly be satisfied with this promotional poster instead, lol
Got the Cid PAK with Cait Sith and put him on Red XIII's head AC style. However, the real grail prize... Is the Ragnarok spaceship in the front. That Kotobukiya model figure was released back in 1998 and was only available in Japan. You had to build it yourself from the 8 parts included in each of the first edition releases of the ARTFX FFVIII Guardian Force figures, which were Siren, Ifrit, Shiva, Cerberus, Odin, Gilgamesh, Diabolos, and Bahamut. Suffice to say, that was expensive and getting a fully built Ragnarok is expensive as fuck if you just try to find it on eBay. Thankfully... Yahoo Japan offered a much more affordable opportunity to acquire one of the most badass airships in FF and I took it!
Oh, and I got those FF Universal Studios Japan LED plates because there's no way I will ever get to experience that limited run amusement park collaboration ride, so I'll have to just content myself with rare swag souvenirs
Picked up an ARTFX Laguna, PAK Cid, and... The AC limited edition variant Vincent PAK. It was
a Japanese Square Enix e-store exclusive variant of the standard PAK released back in September of 2013. The US version of the S-E e-store didn't offer this one for sale since it was down from October 2012 to September 2013, making it pretty rare to find. I was going to eventually get a Dirge of Cerberus PAK but given the rarity and price I found this one, I had to get it. I love the alternate metallic shading it has, and it makes it stand out as a cool variant.
I posted a glimpse of this shelf to show how the FFVII-R Aerith PAK looked but this is the shelf in it's entirety. Ended up putting the Cloud and Sephiroth static arts together on the same shelf. Aerith works nicely behind Cloud with Zack next to her. Also got the FFVII Mechanical Arts Fenrir for a normal retail price. People try to jack that model up ridiculously.
Was able to snag an ARTFX Ultima Weapon from FFVIII for a huge steal, thanks to it not having the box but I didn't care. It was treated well, dusted and even the joints weren't loose. They took good care of this vintage figure. I like how the NieR crew figures are just posing, totally out of place among the weirdos around them
This is A Coca Cola FFVIII and FFVII promotional poster from the year 2000, from the Coca Cola x FF collaboration which gave us all those mini-FF figures you see on eBay all the time It's a pretty famous poster if you're familiar with the LTD of FFVII given who's included in the poster alongside Squall and Rinoa
I don't really care about all that, I just love how it looks and how it includes 2 of my favorite FFs in one. Finding a good condition vintage Japanese FFVII promotional poster from 1997 for a reasonable price is next to impossible. But I'll certainly be satisfied with this promotional poster instead, lol
I made them - bought cheap planters at Ikea then printed out the reactor numbers on a sticker sheet and sealed them with a matte spray just in case of ink transfer. The plants are also artificial plants from Ikea.
That figure is stuck in its box as punishment for the crime of... existing. I'm hoping the Remake Rufus figure looks a bit better. If not, I guess I could pose Remake and AC Rufus so they're making out with one another and then you don't have to see their faces.
The only thing I've found it useful for was taking a "don't talk to me or my son ever again"-style picture:
I'm... so irrationally frustrated at missing out on being able to get one of the Final Fantasy Cold Cast collection pieces that were for sale for a non "fuck you" price.
The Cloud vs Sephiroth is unfortunately ridiculously overpriced, to absurdity. Yes, it's a premium product, but it has never sold for more than 1.5k yet people out there are trying to flip it to get 4x to 7x its price... With breaks, imperfections and missing parts. It's just absurd especially when it's not even individually numbered. I get rarity and vintage value, but reality matters too and dropping 4k on a broken piece doesn't make sense. So they just sit there in perpetuity on ebay and yahoo
Oh wellz.
One day... One day it'd be nice to round out my collection with that.
Oof the price of the cold casts is pretty yikes. I've seen the Cloud and Aerith in the forgotten city a lot... that one is also $$, tho a lot less than the duel. I've been hoping they re-visit some of their older products with Remake and make new or refreshed versions.
The coldcasts were mind bogglingly cheap back in the day when first released.
Their value just exponentially jumped with the passage of time and popularity. If only I were not a broke kid back in the day when they released, I could have seized destiny back then
The Cloud and Aerith Forgotten City cold cast is amazing but I've never tried to get it because a.) it's so depressing and b.) most of the ones on sale are broken due to the fragility of the trees. Unless it was a pristine one, I wouldn't want to buy one for its aftermarket price. It is beautiful though.
Another great example is the Aerith sculpture arts. That one was for sale for like, 250 bucks. It's now around 2k. I could have bought that when I bought my AC sculpture arts but I chose not to given the size and figuring I'd just get it later. Oh, how foolish I was back then
The Shinra Mako Tea set looks so cool. Damn, that sucks its sold out. Hopefully a set will come your way and you can get it @ph14basicbitch !
Adding another game to my collection, took me a while to find a copy that wasn't sold at ludicrous price, this old PS3 games are very rare to find in my region, having never received a re-release in newer consoles just added extra value to it.
Adding another game to my collection, took me a while to find a copy that wasn't sold at ludicrous price, this old PS3 games are very rare to find in my region, having never received a re-release in newer consoles just added extra value to it.
I keep trying to leave Play Arts Kai but it keeps pulling me back in... But to be fair? This was a pick up I was so lucky to snag at it's original retail price from Yahoo Japan.
This is one of the best and priciest PAKs from the Variant line up (I think the Kain coloration of the Dragoon Variant PAK is the most expensive of all), and thankfully I got Warrior of Light for a steal. Unopened and not just by himself but with other goodies like an Ace PAK mini and some keychains. Sadly there's simply no room to utilize Warrior of Light's accompanying stand and energy swords to recreate his Radiant Sword attack. But he's an incredible set piece all on his own.
Apparently I'm also addicted to collecting posters now.
Really love the artwork and framing of Yuffie and Sonon in this poster. It's a call back to the original FFVII key art of Yuffie on Mt. Da Chao and it manages to convey a multiple feelings with it's design.
And then I picked up this vintage goodie.
So back during the first release of FFVII in Japan, Banpresto held a "Battle" lottery for various individually numbered FFVII posters of each of the FFVII characters, either of their key CGI art or their 2D artwork. Basically, it was like the Ichiban Kuji that still exists today. And this is the one of Cloud. Managed to win this from a Yahoo auction and it was in great condition given it's age. Definitely a wonderful find!
Now I just need a Before Crisis poster and it'll be complete
