Hirasawa Yui's Date With Giita

Time for a long due post for a long due figure - the very one I have been lamenting & feeling hopeful about since April. Long story short turns out I have written an incomplete address and it has been "Returned to Sender," hence the awful delay. I had been so naive and was actually expecting it to arrive two weeks after I ordered it (yup, discounting the fact that it was Golden Week, that's how much faith I have in SAL). Poor Yui has been flying to and fro Japan due to a minor mistake on my part, so sorry Yui-chan TT

There were a few reasons I've decided to brave the eBay and order her:

1. It was really cheap - like less than $20... Let's not mention the shipping fee for now

2. I'm taking down the B2 Yui poster so this will be a "commemorative" figure to signify Yui will forever be in my heart (ok drama, but she's just so cuteee)

3. The guitar

4. This is the best version of her with a guitar (in my opinion)

5. To prove that eBay is safe & reliable (probably not smth my Mother would be delighted to hear, to know that her daughter is playing with money like that, but it's a fact that parents won't ever know 70% of what the kid did behind their back)

This is possibly one of the better Banpresto figures I have ever seen and am willing to own, and despite knowing the quality wouldn't be top-notch, I believed it was the right thing to do. The standard protocol before I purchase a figure is to run a thorough search for all the available variants of the desired character. Not only is it a sport in itself, seeing how sculptors depict a character in 3D, but it'll ensure I get the best out there (within budget, of course).

Fellow collectors who have hanged around long enough should know Banpresto's reputation as an affordable figure manufacturer, often at the price of compromising packaging and using mediocre material (e.g. cheaper PVC/resin). I would not complain about the plain black base here, since even the higher end of the figurine manufacturer would sometimes surprise you with their plain bases. However, they certainly did not cut back on their quality control here, as there were hardly any unwanted blotches or obvious discolourations. The only problem I have is with the guitar's amp cord that has a tendency to fall off, and the guitar strap that keeps slipping out on one side of the screw. However, there would only prose a problem when you're carrying and shifting it around, and since most of the time Yui is seated behind the glass cabinet, that is hardly a pressing issue.

For those who are curious, this was released way back in March 2012, under the SQ Figure series titled 'Winter Uniform Ver.' The reason they could maintain such competitive pricing is due to their smaller packaging and breaking up of the figure into several containable parts. LEGO has never been my forte, and I get really nervous and clumsy with build-yourself toys, partly from the fear of accidentally breaking a limp or leg, but mostly because I suck at it.

Well... With lack of motivation to travel far and severe lack of willpower to peel myself off the bed before 7AM, I settled with my good o' neighbourhood park, Bishan Park.

Hooray! Thanks to the carefree cumulus floating around the sky, Yui and I were spared from the scorching sunlight. Warning: series of dark photographs ahead! To capture the glorious sky view, I have to compromise on the exposure of Yui - I'm sick of plain white sky.

My Mother was ironing bed sheets beside me while I was uploading today's photos and when she saw this, she commented, "Don't anyhow go to dangerous places to take photographs." I lol-ed.

A lucky ray of sunlight slipping between the overcrowded clouds

I call this a path to success - that is to keeping walking!

Giita (The name of her guitar lol) really outshines her owner here

"I'm a rockstar who plays the low low note guitar, Yui!"

Loving the reflections here, to the point of breaking the illusion that I'm surrounded by all nature

Yui looking like she's waving to the tower of flats

A beautiful backdrop of purple flowers, celebrating Yui's music career

You can't go wrong with the Weeping Willow swaying behind you... Opps where's the guitar?

Ahh, here it is... A lame attempt at creating a 'cool guitar abandoned under the sun' vibe

So with the end of this post I've proved 2 things - the platform eBay is safe, it's the seller that changes the game, and unregistered SAL is safe too, just that you've got to have faith N patience. She took 3 weeks 1 day to arrive at my doorstep in pretty good condition, much to my relieve. The best thing was that the seller paid for the reshipping cost without any prompts or grumbles. As a show of appreciation of their good customer service, do check out japan-mslcom on eBay, they have a huge and random catalogue of figures and anime merchandise and who knows, you might just get lucky & find a long sold out figure!

xoxo