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Here's a little something on the rarer side, thanks to a transaction with a fellow board member.
Ghost in the Shell has taken somewhat of a beating lately. Like Dragon Ball, Ghost in the Shell is one of those series that even the most casual anime fan would have at least heard of... and much like Dragon Ball, its reputation got knocked down a peg or two due to a botched live action movie though, to be fair, was way, way better than Evolutions ever was.
I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember enough to know that the main character is Motoko Kusanagi, a human consciousness, or Ghost, that has been transferred to a humanoid body, or Shell. She's part of a special Police task force that, of course, handles all the fun missions. Through time, her look is updated somewhat but you're pretty much always guaranteed some sort of leather, and some sort of skin tight suit. Stand Alone Complex (or SAC) I believe was the first TV series, and as such I believe originated this classic look of hers.
Now, lets talk about what THIS figure is specifically. The answer is.. I really don't know. Kusanagi here is from the Yamato VMF line which appears to have died off after 4 releases or so. Roughly scaled to be 1/7, the figure retailed for 7,800 yen back in 2008. According to eBay, the aftermarket on this (and all the other VMF lines) are a wee bit higher than 7,800 yen.. like triple the amount.
Normally, this would be the end of the story, but as luck would have it, I was able to negotiate the release of this particular sample for effectively MSRP.
So here we go...
The figure set is in a giant box which is kind of sparse in terms of its contents, especially given the MSRP. Other than the main figure, the set comes with a set of bare shoulders (more on that later), a pistol, a machine gun, and a stand.. that's it. Compare that to the smaller but better geared out Figma, you can see why the larger action figure market kind of died out there for a while until PAK somehow managed to get it up and running again.
As I'm dealing with 2008 tech here, take everything I'm going to say with a grain of salt, but know that the age doesn't excuse everything.
Mentioned above, this figure is roughly in 1/7 in scale, and is the same size as the Yamato Neuromancer Yoko Littner that I picked up a month or so ago from that pawn store (spoiler alert). The 4 year gap between the two definitely shows as the overall sculpting of the Neuromancer is light years better than the VMF. Articulation gains between the two I believe are a functional waist, better upper torso movement range, and chest compress function. Overall, you're not going to get super deep range of motion like you'd expect from the skin tight suited Figma offerings.
The Neuromancer has ridiculously floppy joints, but the VMF wins the award for "figure most likely to fall apart if you look at it funny". Connected using a series of ball joints, I've had every singly possible limb come off the figure, though fortunately reassembly is relatively straight forward and the parts are quite solid. The VMF actually can stand up without its stand, which is something I can't really say for the Neuromancer.
While more mannequin in appearance in comparison to the Neuromancer, the VMF body itself does a decent job of portraying Kunsanagi, aided by a very good head sculpt, albeit with some dead eye stare issues. The gap between her thighs is very, very odd to look at, to say the least.
By default, Kusanagi is wearing her "leather" jacket, which effectively is a solid plastic shell. As a static piece it looks pretty good, but Lord forbid if you decide to actually pose her upper body in the jacket. Arm articulation is extremely limited while donning the jacket, and it's only after you "strip" her of her garment does her articulation truly shine, as it were. As much as I live to see the curves of my Waifus, it would be nice if she had the option of actually posing effectively with her garb on.
Paint work and detailing on the figure, surprisingly, hold up pretty well despite the 11 year gap between its release and now Not that there's much actual paint on the figure, but what is there is solid and honestly is no worse than what I'd expect to see on a good prize figure these days, meaning some flaws are pretty much gonna be there. As mentioned ,it really is the head sculpt and decal work there that sells this figure as being Motoko Kusanagi.
Because her hands cannot be swapped out, Kunsanagi is only capable of holding her weapon in her right hand, which is good and bad.. I suppose I'd do the right anyway, but an option to differentiate would have been nice. What IS annoying, however, is the fact that it appears you have to squeeze the weapon between her middle and ring fingers in order to actually have her hold the piece.
And there you have it.
I don't actually know why the aftermarket price for this figure is at levels to infinity and beyond.. of course, asking price is no indication of actual sold price, but I imagine it's only a matter of time of they're all at those prices.
For now, I can safely say that this figure is clearly a product of it's time and of Yamato quality, with some good aspects that made it into the products of today.
Anyone have a Figma they want to sell me?
Shells on green cartridge paper. I put a coloured piece of plastic in front of a torch to get the warm hues.
This is one of the many things I've been busy with in the last week or so... Canon has a crazy interesting Contest going right now. You take pictures in categories given and then Ron Howard is going to choose the final shots to make a short movie out of them! The project is called Imagin8ion. I will post here much of my submissions. There were 4 categories first which I liked best but I didn't realize the Contest people would vote the submissions down to a top 30 which was done immediately. None of mine made it for this first or the second contest part, but I really like most of what they chose.*
Shell Creek Road is famous in this county for its display of flowers in the spring. This year is no exception, but it is probably a little early for the best show (yet to come).
After eating clams we take the shells to the driveway and stomp away, making the driveway a beautiful white.
Activists hang under the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon, July 30, 2015, In an attempt to block the Shell leased icebreaker, MSV Fennica from passing under the bridge to join Shell's Arctic drilling fleet.
My hotel in Farasan Kebir Island. It entire wall his covered with shell (Coral hotel - Great Farasan)
Shell maakte half januari 2012 bekend dat er vanaf 1 april 2012 (1 april?) geen spaarzegeltjes meer verstrekt worden bij de aankoop van autobrandstof, alleen maar Air Miles. Shell begon met het verstrekken van zegeltjes in 1983. In 2008 ondernamen de Engelse olieboeren met het hoofdkantoor in Den Haag al een poging de zegelcultuur de nek om te draaien, maar de klanten pikten het niet en het plan verdween in de versnipperaar. Nu lokt Shell de klanten met extra Air Miles.
Vliegmijlen, het is het net niet.
Historical Shell service station with a white and red car. Lowell, Arizona, USA. 11 April 2017
2025-26: Crowd 82nd out of 3068 entries in Photocrowd 'Words and letters' in December 2025. Crowd 65th out of 2341 entries in Photocrowd 'Nostalgia' in January 2026. Crowd 80th out of 3087 entries in Photocrowd 'Old Cars' in March 2026.
2024-25: Judge merit award out of 2500 entries in Photocrowd 'Transport' competition in May 2025 Judge commended out of 1500 entries in Photocrowd 'Transport' in July 2025
2023-34: Expert commended out of 1135 entries in Photocrowd 'Old Cars' in October 2023 Judge merit award out of 3146 entries in Photocrowd 'Modes of Transports ' competition in November 2023. Judge merit award out of1000 entries in Photocrowd 'Classic American Passenger Vehicles' in March 2024. Judge highly commended out of 1000 entries in Photocrowd 'Old Vehicles from the Early Years' in July 2024 Expert commended out of 6252 entries in Photocrowd 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' in July 2024.
2022-23: Judge commended out of 2418 entries in Photocrowd 'Automotive' competition in February 2023. Crowd 7th out of 197 entries in Photocrowd 'Vehicles at Gas Stations' competition in April 2023. Judge highly commended out of 3097 entries in Photocrowd 'Cars' competition in May 2023.
2019-20 Crowd 11th and judge commended out of 329 entries in Photocrowd's 'The Gas Station' competition in October 2019.
2020-21: Judge commended out of 2710 entries in Photocrowd's 'Transport ' competition in June 2020. Expert commended out of 2351 entries in Photocrowd's 'Classic cars' competition in May 2021
2021-22: Crowd 6th and judge commended out of 535 entries in Photocrowd's 'Gas Stations' competition in December 2021. Expert commended out of 2776 entries in Photocrowd 'The Automobile' competition in July 2022
2022-23: Judge commended out of 2418 entries in Photocrowd 'Automotive' competition in February 2023.
Shell Cottage built in the sand dunes at Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire for the final Harry Potter film.
Shells holding onto the beach as they lie on the remains of their friends.
These were from the last weekend I had before heading back down south to university.
All were taken on the EOS 1ds with a 70-200mm canon lens. The tide was right out by the time I had finished surfing for the day and I had finished my book so this is the product of mild boredom and intense fascination with the ocean and beach.
Nicholas Dunning Photography
On June 1, 2018, students and alumni from University of Pittsburgh dropped a massive banner off the Smithfield St. Bridge in downtown Pittsburgh to encourage #Pittsburgh's Mayor Peduto to support the Paris Climate Agreement and to stand against the Shell Petrochemical Plant (ethane cracker). The banner reads:
PEDUTO,
Stand with Paris
Stand with PGH
Stand against the Shell Cracker Plant
#NoPetroPGH
All photos are licensed to the public domain by me, Mark Dixon, the photographer. That said, it will help me track how the videos are used around the Internet if you credit me, "Mark Dixon/Flickr".
My wife bought this kitschy shell lamp and I've reluctantly grown to like it. Don't tell her.
(Leica MP. 50mm Summilux. HP5 Plus0