A quick look into the quality of a prize figure.

Unboxing / Assembly / Review

Figure Review

EXQ Figure Special Version Rimuru Tempest info

I bought it here

Available at the Crunchyroll Store, Ukiyo Kumo, BBTS

Otaku Sinh’s collection

Price

For this order, I used a coupon code that gave me $15 off $100. With the shipping included, it still comes out to be around $26.99 for this figure.

Timeline

• Ordered 09/09/2021
• Shipped 05/18/2022
• Arrived 05/26/2022

Entertainment Earth (EE)

Please check out my blog post on this Ronin Warriors figure, where I go more in-depth about buying from EE.

EE used to send a lot of catalog codes that gave you $15 off $100, but with inflation, you’re not getting the same great deal as 2021 and prior. Still, EE is a great company with good customer service. They have great company policies that are absolute wins for the consumer like “Low Price Guarantee, Mint Condition Guarantee” and “Hassle-Free 90 Day Returns.” They are a great and trustworthy company if you are buying within the US.

Box

Was it hard to assemble?

This figure comes in quite a few pieces. I did not see a physical manual. The assembly itself is pretty self-explanatory coming from a dummy like myself. The only real difficult part was pushing the body and legs together. All I needed to do was squeeze the parts together against my chest to get enough force to fit it in. Other than that, putting the base, wings, head and sword into the hand was simple.

Aesthetics

Sculpting/ Pose / Design

Out of all of his variations, this EXQ Figure Special Version is the most impressive! I find the sculpted face being the most unexpectedly impressive part about this figure as it looks very accurate to the character. Sometimes scale figures can totally botch the face, which can be quite the bummer!

On the other versions of the base, it’s just your basic round base. On this one, you have a more dynamic look with the Rimuru Slime on the base. Adding the wings onto this figure was another good move as it really gives Rimuru a more complete look. The only real downside to the design is the base feels like one of those “rubber duckys” you put in the bath to let your kids play. Otherwise, this is a really amazing design for a prize figure. Honestly, if more prize figures come out like this Rimuru figure, I’d be open to collecting more of these. 

The sculpting itself did not come out that impressive, which is to be expected. The overall proportions does look natural. There are obvious blotchy areas that stick out all around the cape. You can see it right in the front of his right arm. The hair doesn’t have a really defined look. Even though the design of the base is really cool and creative, the quality of it is nowhere comparable to any other scales. For $26.99, this is probably as good as it gets and that’s okay.

Painting errors?

When it comes to the paint, it’s not actually that bad. By nature of Rimuru’s simplistic character design, there isn’t anything that is painted on that really stands out about the figure unless you’re looking underneath the cape—which I’m just going to completely dismiss any errors at that location. If you look up close to the face, there is this little dirty kind of smudge. I tried to wipe it clean, but couldn’t quite get it off.

There are some parts of the cape and legs where it can look like a combination of weird sculpting, paint and design meshed together that makes it look unnatural, especially the arms. The most egregious paint error is actually on the slime itself. I wish they would have messed this one up somewhere else, but again for $26.99, I’m still left more impressed than angry or disappointed. Out of all the issues that come about with prize figures, I am still pretty happy that I purchased this figure.

Why Buy Prize Figures?

Prize figures are generally cheaper with a weaker less dynamic design. There isn’t as much emphasis on the little details and will come with more sculpted and paint defects. You can end up paying up to maybe $40-50 range if you are buying a PUP.  Prize figures also give you the opportunity to buy more obscure and less popular characters from your favorite series.

If you look at Shibuya Scramble Figure’s $400 figure(left), although it’s really cool, dynamic and has very good details that scream high quality—are you really wanting to spend THAT much money for it?! That question boils down to your budget, space and how “serious” of a collector you are. Unless you absolutely love the design and quality of scales that are within your budget, by all means get those scale figures. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, no one is going to look down on you for having prize figures. When you can find some really good designed figures like this EXQ Special Version for $26.99, I think you’re coming away a winner!

Personally, I fall under that “higher-end-collecting-people-mold” because I do want something with higher quality. I want to feel like I have something special because I collect things that represent something significant to me. If it is a prize figure, I won’t treat it the same way I treat something that I would spent $300 for. Also, there’s that “store of value” aspect to high end figures with limited supply. It’s just very nice knowing that you can recoup most of what you spend on a figure or even make a little profit, if you are taking very good care of it. Tying something memorable and valuable to you into physical form like an anime figure is just something that is so cool and artistic to me. To have a large community of people that appreciate the culture and art of anime figures is another big reason why I enjoy this hobby!

Pictures

Last Thoughts

Do I recommend buying this figure? In general, yes! For $26.99, this is one of the more appealing prize figures that you can get. When it comes to scale figures of Rimuru, there isn’t one scale that I would deem, at least for myself, that I would absolutely have to get. There are many different kinds of “Scale Rimurus” out there that you can get right now or pre-order. Check out my 1/7 Scale F:Nex Rimuru Figure blog post, if you want my thoughts on that one. Otherwise, I don’t think you can lose with finding a decent prize figure and this EXQ Figure Special Version is one of them.

Preview