Plastic Model Rambles 2025

What a year of plastic models, with me actually cementing, painting, and decaling, all while gritting my teeth in frustration at how they still come out looking nowhere as impressive as the pictures.

Finished a MSG Blitz Gunner Black ver. It's a decent build. You'll need to build a lot of parts twice or more since it's a fairly symmetrical build. Other than that, I would say I enjoyed it since there wasn't anything that required sanding and everything fits properly. The finished build is basically two giant floating machine guns with a control system in the middle where you can plop a figure in there, so of course, I put my Zundamon in there. She's a bit small so it's hard to get her to sit inside properly.

I built Plafire's Zundamon and Zundamon Lady a few months ago. This was my second time building a Zundamon. I lost a few parts during the build in the first one, so I learned the second time around. She is really small and some parts are so tiny that they actually went flying when I cut them from the runners. Make sure to work in a clean area and be careful when cutting. The build was fine. It's a little different joint wise and structure wise from MD, so it was a little strange. Her arms will fall out if you give her anything heavier than her props due to it being slotted in but there isn't anything to lock it in place. You can still work around this by posing her in a certain way or supporting the prop. I gave my Zundamon Lady a giant sniper rifle to match Zundamon and I put down a 30MM spider tank unit under the rifle to support it and it looks fine. She has a lot of silly expression sheets that I still need to apply on her blank faces and I also need to cement her since there's some small parts that will occasionally pop out and Zundamon Lady's lower half will fall out due to the connection parts under the skirt looking quite shallow and the skirt is heavy and bulky.

Megami Device Executioner Bride was oddly enough a little more fun when building than normal Executioner due to her insanely big sword and trying to attach the sheath to her back. I placed her two capes on her hips to make it look more like a dress. I had her bonus hair part and the teal looks much nicer than the black. She has bright orange eyes so it went fairly well with her and the white. It also makes her stand out from the rest of the Bullet Knights. She also came out really good despite me not sanding or cementing her which is a shock. I spent a little more time with her kit since I love the Bullet Knights.

Megami Device Buster Dolls....I don't really remember much from them. They're really easy to build and there's a lot of improvements to the runners and parts due to being Block 2 and I don't need to make note to cement anything together. Most of mines are the Darkness versions with exception of Tank. I do have to say, their weapons and parts are fugly. I know it's more modding and blah, but holy shit it's ugly. Tank is the only one that looks decent due to how she's a heavy artillery girl but Knight and Paladin look terrible besides the wing like parts on them and maybe their swords. Gunner doesn't look as ridiculous as the two but she's not as cool as Tank. I also had some bonus parts and I gave Tank one of the colored lower torsos since it's a bit silly to have her armored up on the top and leave her belly exposed. At least with the colored torso you can brush it off as kevlar or some other sorts of armor/nanomachines. I do enjoy the lack of frustration with the Buster Dolls during the build, but the final product was a little lackluster. Which is fine since it was the debut.

Moving onto Megami Device Puni Mofu, the second line using Block 2. They had the advantage of not having the strange looking weapons and armor with way too many holes and they are even more simple to build. Although, WHY DO THEY HAVE STICKERS. STICKERS. What is this, Bandai? The decals that you can buy do have some of the sticker designs but decals, but the parts that lack decals seem like they could have just done some color separation instead since all of them share that part anyways. They're pretty cute and I think I will use their eye decals for other projects. The skirt part that attaches to them and that whole area does fall off sometimes but you can get around it with some cementing. I leave it removable so I could take it off. If I ever manage to figure out how to sew 1/12 clothes, I will probably start with these guys first due to how bare they already are. I also want to make a male chest mod for Xiao. IDK, I default all pretty bird characters into being boys and girl birds must be more badass and boyish. See real life for examples. Overall, build was fine, the head parts were fun. I also need to see if anyone on Booth sells larger shoes or claw parts for the two larger Puni Mofus since the tiny feet does not fit them.

Megalomaria was a surprise with their Zekuu, which is pretty much what I would like with a model kit+birb. This was also my first time trying to customize as my Zekuu has a head using the SST wolf hair cut and some decals from the SST line. I need to cement all of it since I don't think I will be modding him any further.

Built my two actual 30MS kits with Shuremi and Sourai. Actually really easy and fun to build. They also look the most distinct of the 30MS girls and they actually also manage to hold up in terms of shelf presence vs my Kotobukiya kits. 30MS is definitely a line you should check out if you want easy kits, provided you can get one that you actually want because Bandai is a frustrating company to say the least. If you don't want to deal with Bandai, you can get a Block 2 Megami Device kit.

I did get a Bandai Metagross kit in a Hobbytown after somehow missing the only Pokemon kit I wanted on the shelf and one of my friends picked it up and then handed it to me. Much thanks. It was a legit snap kit in more ways than one, with how you don't even need a nipper for the runners! You actually snapped it off. There were some minimal nubs but it didn't need shaving off in most cases since some parts would go over the other part/be non visible. Fun kit! I would like a Natu or Xatu or them to start making plamo of the gym leaders and champions.

Now moving onto the kits I received for the backlog. Earnestcore Craft and Hemoxian really outdone themselves with Starflower Lily, who has an amazing design and almost every part is undergated! This does explain why almost everyone's straight builds looked so good. I also have Hemoxian's Jiulian who is up for preorder again although without her bonus human skin parts. I honestly don't seem myself using those parts but I'll need to build her and see first. Might mod to be a boy. These two also have giant boxes with Starflower being the larger of the two.

I only think Greed and Sloth of the Seven Deadly Sins line (forgot company name) have larger boxes than them and I don't actually have either since 1. I don't really like them 2. I'm not paying that much for shipping. And despite being related to the Seven Deadly Sins, they don't really have much with the theme with exception to Greed (pirate). Sloth used to have a more sloth like theme in her original artwork where she was a lazy gamer girl who hung out in her bear mech. If they kept that concept, I might have gotten her. I do commend the company for at least making a cute boy with Shen Hou although I missed out on him. Might be considering the alt colored Greed but she was an exclusive

I got some more MD kits. I really hope MD makes the AUV design of the other two in the line since I'm not a big fan of the regalia versions. Also got Brave Girl 2 because tan maid, SST Wolf because she's cool, bought Kelly Janet again because I sold off the first one, got Kongo, waiting on Izumo to arrive, and a few older MD releases. I'm still waiting on my Nov and Oct AmiAmi packages since I went by surface shipping due to the horror stories of using ECMS. I rather just wait 2-3 months. I've been waiting on them for a few months already, so what's the difference of a few more? I also have MD Raider for my Dec order and she seems like a massive girlfailure. I got my first resin kit, Gadeko 2.0 from Muscuto. I don't know what they use for their resin but it feels very strong. I need to figure out a setup for this kit since it's resin and even cutting into it is dangerous. Be careful when working with resin! A respirator and eye protection is required, not an option.

And that is it for my plamo roundup for 2025! Looking forward to what 2026 will bring.

Action Figure Rambles 2025

2025 was an interesting year for action figures, with them becoming increasingly more doll like, but I find myself not liking them as much as I thought I would. I'll go over my purchases and cancellations for this year.

Starting off with Hasuki, who is my favorite of the action figures due to them being very doll like and the use of fabric clothing. Their inset movable eyes really make them come to life. One thing I don't like is when you want to switch outfits, you have to practically disassemble the figure and put clothes on in such a convoluted way that I worry about damaging the figure. It's not like dolls where you just put it on and slip off and secure via velcro/snaps/buttons. Hasuki clothes do look really good since they don't need something to secure them but it just really sucks sometimes since I'm basically making a nugget out of Friede and then having to stuff her bust into the clothing and then rebuilding her from there. I do like Gloria for her having a more knightly and princely appearance and she also has some expressive plates. I keep her in her smiling plate even if that one has no inset eyes since it's my favorite plate of her. The staining of her socks is terrible though but I don't really care since I'm not removing her clothes. Hasuki did address this with Friede by putting a platic wrap around her leg so the sock won't stain it. I removed it since I prefer her without the sock. I'm waiting on the catgirl maid and she's been delayed for a bit. It's to be expected that this point but I rather have delays than quality issues. Hasuki figures articulate well and I like their jointing system and feel of their plastic.

Which I can't say the same about Snail Shell. I do have Snail Shell figures but over time I like them less than Hasuki. I don't know if it's me but their plastic quality feels worse and I notice that they are more prone to cracking especially Pumpkin Princess's pigtails. I have Ying, Pumpkin Princess, and the Three Monkeys. I also have a Lustia but the modding attempts ended up in a massive failure and she's just pieces [broken] in her box. I had a Muse but sold her after I didn't like her. I like Ying and Pumpkin and these two are relatively solid all things considered, other than the cracking on Pumpkin's ponytails. The monkeys are cute, but their head placement looks off and it appears that they are hunching over at all times since Snail Shell has a weird head-neck peg jointing system. It's also prone to stress and breaking if you take the head off a lot due to the weird structure but shouldn't develop stress marks in normal play. Another thing I don't like about Snail Shell is that the more recent figures is that they all have long legs but stubby arms while the older figures had a bit more variation body proportion wise. I had the Wonfes Sunkissed Aileen lounge version and the RA Maid Swimsuit ver on preorder but canceled them after handling my SS figures again since I know I won't like them and they'll probably get sold off. They're also a bit too coomery for me as of late (I know they were always a coomer figure company but recently it's been a bit much and I'm also aware Hasuki is also coomery but they mostly limit it to the ahegao expression plates and Friede's outfit is still fairly conservative compared to Snail Shell's). No shade to those who like the more coomery ones, but it's not for me. I'm waiting on their Cicada Girls which are very much like a MJD+real clothes+very cute and I like insects. I also do like the muscle girl body they showcased since it's actually muscular but I don't think I'll pick it up unless they offer a blank darker tan option (Oni girl seems to be tan but she's still a bit pale for what I would like which would be something close to tiger girl). I also want to see more of their Jiangshi girl since I like jiangshis, but if it has the same issues as their RPG and RA figures, I'll just pass on her.

And then there's Polynian. They are solid. Sometimes a bit overdesigned or the overall design is meh if they are a figure with sculpted clothes but they're good articulation wise and their giant ball joints make them feel less fragile when I take them apart to dress them. They have printed on eyes but it's not a deal breaker for me. I like that they are including more skin tones such as the tan flesh colored face plates with the grey Machaon. The figures get delayed quite often but it's not any worse than Hasuki. I would also prefer a delay than have something not get delayed and the quality suffers due to it. Machaon can also wear Friede's optional nun clothes so uh, there' that fact. Not the socks though since his legs are too thick for them. Bonus points for them that they actually make cute boy figures than just cute girls so there's that. Most of them are femboys but it's better than nothing at this point. I don't like it when something is all girls/boys and I like a variety of things so they do bring some variety to my action figures+girlpla section. I ordered a pre owned grey skin Shamrock and still waiting on him. I ordered a preowned Ivy figure and while I like her, I bet I'll probably sell her later on. I'm just starting to think maybe action figures aren't it for me.

Earnestcore craft is also really good and I like Sekiko and Seika. Seika's wings/cape and accessories are very unique. Trying to figure out what clothes would fit with her design. A dress? Sekiko is also cool and I put her with my MD Buster Dolls and Puni Mofus since they all have an animal theme to them. Overall solid line. I have seen their design for their other Rosado figures and I think I'll pass on Rose since she's basically Lily but lame and a giant harp.

I have a Cangtoys Long. She's good. Her tail is bulky and I never add it to her but it looks cool. Where's Anahita....I've been waiting a bit for her and they have released a colored prototype but please tell me where is she. She's so cute. They have released figures announced after her but snek girl is nowhere in sight. Maybe 2026? If they don't forget about her again. I don't think I'll be getting anything else from Cangtoys since I don't like any of their other designs and them changing Leo's design suddenly, not updating on the progress of Anahita, releasing later announced figures first, and pivoting to plastic models gives me a bad impression of the company.

But overall, I don't really think I'm going to get more figures outside of some that I'm already waiting and I've already canceled a lot of them. They feel so fragile and are too expensive for what they are. I know BJDs and similar dolls are expensive but at least they feel durable and are durable and have tons of modularity and dressability. I also like model kits because of the building+painting aspect of them and I get a figure from it and prefer them over normal figures. I just don't really think figures are for me but it's nice to see that companies are trying more features and designs.