Hybrid Active Figure Saber by Azone

Yesterday I went to Osaka with another companion from the university.
I think I'm getting a reputation as a doujinshi freak, because she wanted to buy BL doujinshi and asked me to show her the way to K-Books.
Since is still Golden Week, yesterday DenDen was unusually crowded, even with the rain.

While she was doing her purchases, I went to Lashinbang because there were a couple of things that I wanted to buy. One of them, a telephone card featuring a fox-eared Illya, was already sold. I'm not a big fan of telephone cards, but I systematically buy all the TYPE-MOON ones that are in the 1,000 yen price range (not so many, because the usual price is 2,000 yen or more).

The other thing was 1/6 Hybrid Active Figure Saber by Azone.
It was released in early 2007 for 23,000 yen, but since it was so expensive and I'm not a fan of dolls, I let it go until now, that I found it for 11,000 yen.

The quality is really astonishing, so you can see why is so expensive.

Here displayed without the armor parts.
 

 The face was done by Ouzaka Miki (Cherry Blossom). Is not great, and with that pseudo-happy face it seems that is high on drugs or something...

 Every piece of armor is metal, even the armored parts of the boots and the hanging details in the robe.

Caliburn is also cast in heavy metal, so heavy that the doll arm is unable to hold it properly...

Since is the Fate/hollow ataraxia version, it includes the new outfit. 

 I don't want to change the clothes, so here's a pic with the casual clothes, from Azone webpage.

In the official Azone shop in Osaka I purchased a couple of stands, one for the newly acquired Saber and one for Shiki, 420 yen each.

Hoshii Miki by Max Factory and Ryougi Shiki by Azone

Lately I'm trying to stop purchasing merchandise that at first I'm not planning to buy because it's been six month since I came to Japan, and with the current exchange rate I'm spending more than I expected, but I found at Amazon.co.jp a couple of figures with a 56% discount... and I was unable to refrain myself:

1/8 Hoshii Miki Expectant New Face version by Max Factory.
This is one of the best Idolm@ster figures ever released (the best one is perhaps the limited Miura Azusa in wedding dress) but I decided to not purchase it when was released last September because Miki is not really one of my favorite characters.
The sculpt is by Tokunaga Hironuki, that I knew previously for his beautiful Asuka by Kotobukiya and Sakura from Fate/stay night Trading Figure Collection.

The shinny coat is glitter, so I must be extra careful to not detach it.

Also includes cat paws and nekomimi.
There's also available the Awakening version, with short undyed hair, but I prefer the blond version.


And 1/6 Hybrid Active Figure Ryougi Shiki by Azone.
I usually avoid articulated figures; the main charm is the poseability over the overall aspect, but I almost never move the few articulated figures that I own.

Azone is one of the most prestigious makers of ball joint dolls, and like Volks' dollfies, they have a creepy cult following. I don't dislike ball joint bodies if they have a nice face sculpt, but in most of the cases they have hideous, devilish Blythe-esque faces (I admit it, I have a childhood trauma with an Argentine ventriloquist puppet called Chirolita).
Hybrid Active Figure line are dolls but with a more figure-ish approach in their faces, that I really prefer.


The face sculpt is by the prolific Ohzaka Miki from circle Cherry Blossom. He's one of my favorite sculptors, but not always his sculpts are top notch. He is specialized mostly in Gainax characters, and the rest of the characters are hit or miss, and in the case of the characters from TYPE-MOON, sadly he's prone to miss (for example maid Saber by Good Smile Factory, unrecognizable if it were not for the haircut).
In the case of Shiki, her face is just average.

It contains an alternate, killer eyed face.

The detail of the clothes is very high, including mini zippers in the jacket.
It also came with a kimono with sleeves if you want to display her without the leather jacket (the normal one is sleeveless to fit the jacket), but I don't want to mess with the clothes.

Photogenic shot.

27 cm are imposing.

And professional photos from the maker webpage, to do justice to the doll: