(Click on the thumbnails for the full-sized images)

Hey, Shishkabob!

Yes, my lady! By the way, my name is actually Ged- never mind.

The problem mostly lies with her shoulder joints. There are quite a few cases where Figma Drossel’s shoulder joints are incredibly stiff, leading to breakage. Posts on Figure.fm and 4chan.org’s /toy/ section also talk about Drossel’s problematic shoulders.

Stiff shoulder joint?

The first thing to remember is to gently test Figma Drossel’s shoulders first. If it moves freely without any significant force, you’re golden. Otherwise, don’t force it! In most cases, forcing it to move will just increase your chances of snapping the joint in half. If you do get a Drossel with stiff shoulders, here’s I did to loosen her shoulder joints.

Drossel prepares for a dip

1. Heat an ample amount of water and put it in a bowl or any container. It should be hot enough, but not boiling. Unless you want to burn your fingers, of course.

Since this involves water, you’ll want to do this in a place where no gadgets and electrical stuff are around. With your bowl of hot water ready, let’s move on to the next step.

No, not like that!

2. Next, pull apart or ‘pop’ the parts that won’t be needing a dip in the water. You can safely remove Drossel’s head and arms before dipping her in hot water.

Drossel without her head and arm

3. Dip the affected part (in this case, her shoulder) in the hot water and swish it around for about 5-10 seconds.

Like sushi in shoyu

The plastic will soften a bit so let it cool before you touch it, otherwise you’ll risk stripping the paint or deforming the part. Watch the video on how to loosen the shoulder joint:

It may take a few tries before it totally loosens so just give it a couple of dips if you don’t get it on the first try.

To explain how this works, the hot water makes the plastic more pliable and when you take it out of the heat, the rapid cooling loosens up the joints. You could get the same results with a hair dryer, but you’ll have to be careful not to melt the whole thing.

This trick isn’t exclusive to Figma, and you can use it on almost any figure that you’re having stiffness problems with.

Getting stiff yet?

Almost, Echidna. I hope other Figma Drossel owners would find something helpful from these tips.

In case you haven’t got a Figma Drossel yet, you can get her from the following stores:

• Figma Drossel at Play-Asia (pre-order)
• Figma Drossel at Otacute (pre-order)
• Figma Drossel at HobbyLink Japan (pre-order)

Otacute ♥ Me

Back in August, I was on a mad search for Figma and chanced upon an online seller called Otacute. They had a good selection of figures in stock, unlike stores like Play-Asia which sell out within minutes.

Otacute had Figma that I really wanted in stock, so I made a few orders (I’ve bought close to ten Figma from them as of writing). The prices were great and shipping was fast.

Anyway, I placed an order for Figma Yagami Hayate (Figma Fate T. Harlaown couldn’t be backordered pfft). In my excitement, I chose EMS shipping and after a couple of days, I got the package and started unboxing immediately.

It was then that I realized something was strange with my Figma Yagami Hayate.

1. Eyes – Hayate comes with a second face. Upon close inspection, mine had eyes that weren’t aligned. If you look closely, her left eye is lower than her right eye.

2. Paint Quality - Figmas, like any mass-produced figure, are subject to quality issues. The Figma Hayate I received had a slightly sloppy paint job.

3. Arm – I was just about ready to ignore the above problems, but having two right arms was just hard to swallow. Pictured are the right and left arms for comparison.

With Figma Nanoha for further comparison:

Figma elbow joints shouldn’t be exposed like that.

And it hit me – this could be a factory defect, or worse – one of the infamous bootleg Figmas. I immediately contacted Otacute. The problem being it was the Thursday before Silver Week in Japan and Otacute was going on a holiday.

The next week was spent wondering if they’d ever reply, or if I’d make the 10-day return deadline. I was resigned to the fact that I got a fluke… until I received an email from Otacute’s Yuhei.

Yuhei asked for pics and I obliged; in just a couple of emails, he told me that yes, the arm was definitely a defect, but the eyes on the faces were also the same. Then he said “Anyway, We will send you another Figma Hayate Yagami for free.”

I was floored. They even sent it via FedEx THE SAME DAY. You gotta love that kind of customer care. I was really happy. Yuhei also gave me instructions on how to contact Max Factory and inform them of the my first Figma Hayate’s defects, and so I did. I’m still waiting for them to reply, though.

The FedEx package arrived after a couple of days. They just gave me a free Figma. And then I opened the box.

What’s this?

They added a Hokuto no Ken Revolution Shin. For free. I’m speechless. Otacute (and Yuhei) – you guys are pretty swell.

And here she is. Figma Yagami Hayate side by side:

Figma Yagami Hayate is from the anime series Nanoha StrikerS.

Thank you, Otacute. You have one very satisfied customer in me.

(I wonder what I can do with my extra Hayate? Hmm…)