I’ve been putting this off for months, but have finally gotten some time to do a proper photoshoot (34 pix!), review, photoshop image, youtube video, and wallpaper for this well deserved resin statue from e2046. I didn’t want to do a half-decent job because this figure deserves more, and so does e2046. This is probably the biggest post I’ve ever done.
Here is an account of my experiences in dealing with e2046’s customer service, as well as an in-depth photoshoot, and photoshop pic after the jump.
My Raquel arrived beautifully. It was in the usual e2046 weird green shipping paper and bubble wrap, sporting a beautiful printed box cover and high gloss black box.
Incredibly well packed with laser foam cutouts, with foam filler pieces everywhere, this figure was NOT going to get damaged during transport. But much to my dismay, an unforeseen problem…
Raquel’s wings wouldn’t fit. The problem was that when they put her head on, the angle was wrong, causing the hair to get in the way of the wings. You can see the hair that is touching her elbow is too close.
A back view shows that the wing is unable to go into the socket because her ponytail is blocking it for the most part.
Essentially, for the wings to attach, the ponytail needed to be in the position shown above, which meant the head needed to be turned A LOT more.
Having dealt with absolutely horrible customer service from Play-Asia, order screw-ups from Toyslogic, and figure delays from Kid Nemo, I was not looking forward to dealing with customer service from e2046. However, I was very pleasantly surprised!
The customer service representative that assisted me, Isaac, was incredible. He was patient, and very responsive – always got back to me within the next business day. Throughout the whole process, he answered all my concerns, and followed through with all my requests very well. He puts customers first before policy, and understands that “policies” are in place only to deter customers from taking advantage of the system, not to provide excuses to not service. Play-asia did the exact opposite, so I’ll never buy from Play-Asia again.
I had to pay for return shipping, but was assured that if indeed it was the fault of theirs, they would make sure that it was worth my while and to my satisfaction. And I can tell you that it was.
My figure returned to me a lot faster than I had expected. The amount of time I spent procrastinating about posting this blog entry is longer than my whole time dealing with e2046!
One thing that I wished Gathering would do with their bases was put on rubber pads. It helps prevent the underside from getting scratched, as well as provide more stability on less even surfaces. I bought a pack of 24 at Daiso for $2.
Here’s a close-up of Raquel with her wings in-tact. You may notice that she looks surprisingly like Asuka on Motorcycle. That’s because she’s sculpted by Vispo! 😀
In the above pic, you’ll notice that her hair is no longer touching her elbow. In fact, it’s FAR away from it now. They turned her head quite a bit! I don’t know how they were able to take it apart without damaging it, but sure as heck I didn’t want to attempt it myself!
Raquel originally came in two different colors – A black one with this colored clock, and the one you see, but with a black clock. To fill customer requests, they came out with this third one, which is the one I have – beige clothes with white clock. The roman numerals aren’t very well painted, but it’s forgivable. I really like the style of it and how well it came out.
Profile view. She’s lookin’ at you, kid.
I don’t know why I decided to take shots of her right from my desk. I guess just to try different lighting?
Absolutely gorgeous… This is the same lighting I used for my photoshop image – you can see the flower on my monitor in the background.
The corset detail is amazing! And that perky little nose is so cute!
Very clean bottom. Very nice bottom. ^^;
The frills on her stockings are very nicely done as well. Quite an amazing cast if you ask me. They’re pearl colored stockings!
No loligoth is complete without a bonnet.
The shoes have cute straps and buckles on them! Glad the buckles are black. It would not have looked nice if it was silver.
A battle axe. The loligoth weapon of choice. Such a contrasting weapon. At least this one looks elegant and highly detailed I LIKE!
The painted nails are a nice touch. I like this angle cuz it’s like she’s showing them off to you. “Look at my pretty nails!”
This profile shot shows her flaws. This statue definitely looks good in very specific angles. Since this would be really considered “the back side” it’s not all that important.
After taking some more pix, I decided maybe I should try some more studio shots.
I’ve got so many loligoth style figures now, they don’t all fit into my lighting rig! I should do a shot of all my loligoth figures at some point. I LOVE FRILLIES!
The lighting looks substantially different, and reflects her features in a very different way. I’m wondering why I took those desk shots in the first place. =_=
Gorgeous display base. It’s so victorian, and so perfectly suitable.
Another shot of her mid-section. You can see the ruffles and creases a lot clearer in this shot.
I don’t know why, but I really like this angle. She looks a lot cuter, like she’s peering over a corner or something.
A nice close-up of her under this new lighting. You can’t see the wings as much, but it’s good emphasis on her facial features.
A good wallpaper composition?
That rose reminds me of the ones you see on cakes.
Full body shot.
Some shots from the back and of her wings.
The wings are absolutely amazing! The detail on them is incredible. It’s like her wings are made up of clock machinery, which goes really well with the display base.
Another shot of some frillies! You can never get enough frillies, and Raquel is in abundance of them.
So here’s my photoshop image of Raquel. I found the hibiscus an interesting choice because she could lean on it. I was originally going to put her and the clock base with battle axe in a flower garden, but it took a lot of attention away from Raquel. There’s a lot more focus on her in this one. I probably could do without the bottom half of the image to maintain a good balance, but I do like the dash of green.
For the first time ever, I decided to make a video documenting my photoshop work. Here it is!
[pro-player]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSIEBZ5VCc8[/pro-player]
You’ll notice that I’ve used the paintbrush tool with masking exclusively as opposed to my usual method in my tutorials. The reason for this is because DSLRs have a much greater range of aperture, and with that great a depth, the edges tend to blur. Using the lasso tool would have been too sharp in the cutting, and feathering a selection is only artificial at best. Using the brush, it’s a lot more accurate, though only slightly more time consuming.
To end this post, here’s a parting gift: a 1280×1024 wallpaper of Raquel. Enjoy!
That’s another post by your truly! In closing, I’d like to say that I’m very happy with this figure. It’s got the perfect blend of demure coupled with incredible detail. The paint and sculpt is flawless. Gathering did an amazing job. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to deal with e2046’s customer service, but it has been the best customer service I’ve ever gotten from an online store. If you’re considering buying a pre-painted resin statue, look no further, because e2046 should be the place to buy! (Please note, that I’m not in any way affiliated with e2046. The views expressed here are purely my own).
Subscribe to my RSS or twitter for more updates! Another BlazBlue fanart is next!
Read more!
Woah, this figure is just FANTASTIC, Nice work on putting the wings on her back, and excellent photoshop skills, congratz!!!
Thanks! Though it wasn’t much work putting the wings on her. More work doing the customer service part. ^^
Yes using the brush is very tiresome and much more time consuming than using the lasso or magnetic tool, but using a mouse instead of a graphics tablet with the brush tools its extremely hard to get those almost perfect cuts. My problem with these kind of digital works is manipulating the colors in word to match them with the background, I try using the levels, curves and any other layer to put them correct but it seems I can never get the colors right, either they stay too dark or too bright.
My knowledge of graphical work is very limited, everything I know today is from reading tutorials on the web and even so I can’t match the colors correctly 😛
Being an artist, I found using the brush more natural to me. But since I have a tablet, it’s a bit of a no-brainer. I find it more relaxing than clicking away with the lasso, and a good diversion from my regular work. I’ve forgotten how much fun it is to photoshop figures, since I haven’t done it since Christmas!
Manipulating the color requires just an eye for it. If you use enough adjustment layers, you can turn the layers on and off to see if you’re doing it right. Also, you can’t simply adjust the colors for the whole image. You sometimes HAVE to separate the elements and tune each element separately to get the look you want.
You’d be surprised on how much you can learn from the internet instead of books or school!
Very nice figure! And customer service too! I’ve only dealt with E2046 for the link exchange banner, so it’s good to hear they treat their customers right. They even got back to me about making the banner even though I haven’t got around to it. The second time they asked me an idea came and I gave it to them 3 hours after they asked me again XD Anyhoot….
That’s definitely a very good Photoshop work! Definitely different than what I do. I guess with different cameras we have to use different techniques. I doubt I’ll ever get a DSLR, but it’s still a nice technique to learn. Though I’m betting you use the tablet to do this, something I don’t have. I’ll stick with polygonal lasso for now, thank you very much 😛
e2046’s service was exceptional.
I actually found using the brush tool much more natural to me, but then again I use the tablet most often, so that may be why. Hard edges still look best using lasso of course, but yeah the DSLR gives really soft edges, which I like. It adds so much depth to the image.
her face look alot like this other Asuka figure you have http://radiantdreamer.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/asuka-langley-on-motorcycle/
the details are very nice tho, but I’m unfortunately not a fan of the face’s style ^^;
Yeah, I mentioned that in the post itself. It’s sculpted by Vispo, the same sculptor of Asuka on Motorcycle.
I quite like Vispo’s face style. It’s so much more dramatic than the typical anime figure, and has a great amount of sharp, exaggerated features compared to softer faces like Dollfies and figmas.
I found this one has a better face than that Asuka 🙂
I agree on that. I think it’s the eyes expression is more gentle.
glad to hear they have good customer service, not many hk based shop have good customer service 🙂
this figurine is pretty, especially the base 🙂
oh and please draw taokaka! :p
Very nice, I saw Raquel on e2046 and wanted to get her too though a bit too much for my blood with gathering lol. This version looks pretty nice, I personally wanted the black Raquel. Glad to know that e2046 has good customer service. I might eventually buy their garage kit figures and paint myself because some of their gk figures look awesome but probably won’t become a gathering figure. Watching your video reminds me of all the work I put into photoshopping too, though much faster lol.
Nice figure since it’s an original piece but prices there @ e2046 is just too much. Thinking about getting a figure there but probably won’t.
Absolutely beautiful figure there man, the detail is amazing. I am loving the intricate detail they put on the wing and axe. Nice photoshop work on the pic btw.
I bought quite a lot from PA since they are quite cheap due to free shipping to my country but fortunately I haven’t need to deal with their customer service yet. Some of my friend had to deal with PA customer service due to lost shipment, and their reply to my friend was “it’s not with us, it’s not with you, it’s somewhere”. We all /facepalm when we saw that reply.
ROFL! /facepalm indeed! That’s freakin “great” customer service XD
I don’t buy from Play Asia because they always get captured by customs here and taxed the hell out of it… So I don’t bother with them anymore.
The figure is quite nice. But I dont like the optical eyes – its too sharp instead of being round like in anime.
Wow, 2nd last photo is AMAZING! ^^ I wish I had those skills.
I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the Big E’s customer service. I’ve made a lot of requests from them in the past and they’ve always granted them without making a fuss. Not to mention they always respond within 24 hours.
Raquel’s gorgeous, but I decided to pass on her since I needed to crack down on the amount of figures I was getting. However, I do have two Gathering figures on pre-order: Euphemia and Rider (by Vispo!). Can’t wait to review those two when they get released.
@ron: Taokaka? You like her too eh? Don’t worry, I’m a fan of her as well. ^_^
@AS: Actually, the price came up to be just slightly over $126 USD after shipping. That’s an excellent deal for a prepainted resin figure of this caliber in my opinion. When I first saw the Black Raquel, I was interested in it too, but figured that the brighter look was also very beautiful.
@Samejima: Only $126 after shipping! That’s just $10 more than Saber Lily!
@Valho: You’re lucky that you never had to deal with PA customer service. They’re terrible. For me, they sent me the wrong sized T-shirt, and wouldn’t take it back.
@LS: Yeah, the tax bit also gets me. There’s a 50% chance I get taxed by PA, so forget it.
@6pack: yeah? I like it. 🙂
@G.K. Sil Kamina: I’m glad you had equally good customer service from e2046 as well! Understandable why you had to pass on Raquel. We all have to be more picky when we have a limit (in money and space!).
Euphemia looks awesome, but I had to pass on her. Something about her eyes doesn’t sit well with me. The dress looks incredible too! Vispo Rider is also awesome, but again, gotta pass due to lack of space (can’t de-throne Asuka!). Sweet orders man!
Try 100% taxed on all my PA orders… It’s a good thing they didn’t open my last order since it was very ecchi…
@LS: FFS, really?! Damn, why do you still buy from them?! Have you tried YesAsia or J-List?
I had three orders coming in… I had coupons on’em which is one reason why I kinda liked it, but the 100% chance of taxability just killed it. So yeah, now I only use YesAsia if it involves import video games. It may be more expensive, but it’s free shipping which adds up to the price.
IC IC… it’s really hard for hobbyists to import stuff when we keep getting taxed by the Canadian Government like that. Once the HST hits, it’s gonna be even worse!!
I didn’t know yesasia gives free shipping. I haven’t bought from YA or PA in a very long time. I don’t import games, is probably why.
YA does sell other things than just the games. They’re pretty much like Play-Asia, but they’re overpriced. I think you get free shipping if you order a certain amount whereas PA does not have that option at all.
ic… that works out to be pretty good – it’s like the shipping is included in the price already so to speak. Not to mention the lower chance of getting taxed already is savings right there.
I buy all my games from amazon.ca or locally. I rarely import because I don’t speak Japanese (even though I’ve finished quite a few Japanese RPGs before).
Figures, I use hobbysearch for my news, and e2046 for my PVC and resin needs. I use HLJ as a fallback in case e2046 can’t fill an order (so far, that’s only happened once in a dozen+ orders).
Hobbysearch opens their preorders sooner, but their EMS-only shipping is a real turn-off. Plus they’re usually priced higher than the others overall.
Hi,
i have a question. What picture ist this?
I like it so much °___°.
http://img1.myimg.de/picture14eb27.jpg
If you’re talking about the mini-poster, it’s Pepper. A Singaporean artist from Imaginary Friends created her, and she was part of a poster set from a 3D magazine.
this looks awesome! but I thought E2046 is like hobby fan, only sell recast kits, that’s why their prices are so low. but I maybe wrong , cause this just looks too good to be recast, either that or the painter did an amazing job on painting it that it somehow covers up all the flaws.
They’re definitely recasts. You’d be surprised at how impressive recasting technology has gotten. Especially when it comes to professional recasters like e2046. Since I can’t afford the real thing, have the patience to paint it myself, or even get access to some of these exclusive resin kits, this is the next best thing!
haha, I’m already surpriced with this finished kit here. looking at its face I can see no flaw whatsoever. And the how do they do the painting job? I mean, with this price, I can’t imagine they would go hand by hand to paint each kit..and the box actrully looks amazing to say least, and inside is just as unbelievable, how do they do all this and still manage to make profit?
It’s definitely hand painted. Even mass produced PVC figures are hand painted.
It definitely requires skill. In terms of profit, well, if they aren’t making money, they wouldn’t be doing it, I’m sure.
There is a lot of cheap labor in China, and a lot of people.
Wow I’m super late on this… ^^;
I remember seeing this on the newsletter, but didn’t think much of it in the beginning. Seeing it again in your review sure and I get to appreciate the art.
While I’ve never bought anything from e2046 so far, t’is good to hear that the customer service is good – they must be one of those who aim for very high standards. I’ve just been reading their FAQs right now, and they said that they’ll even contact the customs to get your package out should it ever get stuck in one.
Raquel surely is one unusual figure. With elegant clothings as well as the gothic like wings and the axe! It’s got a very interesting base to look at too~
Nah, it’s okay if you’re late in checking it out. ^^
When I first saw it in the newsletter, I was like “GET!”. I know good detail when I see it. 🙂
Seems a lot of people aren’t super fond of vispo’s style, but I really dig it. It’s definitely unique. I do like my standard anime figures, but this really adds a bit of spice to the mix.
I didn’t know they’d call up customs for you! That’s pretty awesome!
It’s strange, anytime I see a loligoth with a weapon, it’s usually a giant axe, or a cross. Rarely is it ever a sword or spear.
Wooh ! Amazing ! I’am so jealouse.. She is so beautiful ! And your last picture.. Hmm ! Great ! Congratulation for this reviews ^^
Your review of Raquel is AWESOME! So much better then mine! I’m jealous but very happy I found another fan of her 🙂 I like her so much I made her the banner for my blog.
Thanks! I remember seeing your blog once before!
Adding you to my blog roll. 🙂
I added you as well 🙂
Actually I’m having issues adding you…weird, will add you from my computer at home I guess. I keep putting you in and you keep disappearing.
Very interesting take for a photoshoot! Very nice.
Always a fan of mechanical body parts in figures/art, steampunkish for the win.
Also, yeah, from the profile shot, her nose and chin are a bit long 😉
Like the base. Love the axe, heh.
Yeah, the base and the axe are so totally awesome. She sits on a shelf that’s just the right height so that I can see the base when I stand, and the the whole dress when I’m sitting down.
That’s some crazy details, and what a beautiful figurine.
Yeah, very happy to own this one.