Kurosaki Mea & Yami – To LOVEru Darkness (Max Factory / Pop Up Parade, 2022) – My Comment
Introduction
This time I decided to review two figures from the To LOVEru series because they were both released as Pop Up Parade and come from one – let’s call it a collection (swimsuits).
Workmanship
The Pop Up Parade figures are very popular due to their price. It’s often lower than those released as Prize. It should be obvious that at such a price range you will not get anything outstanding with detail, meticulously performed quality control or detailed painting. This series is also very uneven when it comes to the quality of the sculpt itself. There are some figures that are surprisingly well made considering their price, and others that are a far cry from even the cheap Chinese bootlegs sold on sites like Wish or Shopee. Usually I think twice whether to buy something from Pop Up Parade or not and I wait for the pictures taken by other the collectors. Even this often does not reflect the actual state, because such pictures are usually heavily processed (which I do myself, because the strongly saturated contrasting pictures of various objects are simply more pleasant to look at).
So how is it in this case? It is surprisingly fine. Mostly the Achilles heel of cheap figure series are the faces (which don’t necessarily reflect the original design of the figures), often looking hilarious when viewed from an angle. Here, both Mea and Yami do not deviate in design from the original, so that’s a plus. Of course, as I mentioned above, you can’t expect high quality painting for this kind of money. If you look closely, you’ll see a lot of imperfections, but these are things you can overlook in this price range. The quality of the hair itself (no cavities or bumps) also surprised me positively.
Other remarks and summary
The pictures presented on the website always show the state after being taken out of the box. They are not washed or polished in any way. Yes, some people do such things before a photo shoot), unless I’m dealing with used figures (I always wash them). Why am I mentioning this now? Because there was quite a bit of dust on both of them. It wasn’t permanent (yes, it does happen), but I still had to bathe them before putting them back on the shelf. With the naked eye it is hard to notice, but in the camera lens – especially in close-ups – it is quite visible.
How do I evaluate the purchase? Very positively. Both figures look great on the shelf next to each other and I will probably buy the rest of the heroines from this series in swimsuits. These are one of those fine products released under the Pop Up Parade brand.
Kurosaki Mea & Yami – To LOVEru Darkness (Max Factory / Pop Up Parade, 2022) – Photos
Kurosaki Mea
Box:
Figurine:
Yami
Box:
Figurine:
