Final Fantasy VIII Transcendent Artist's Collection: Rinoa & Siren

This post is very outdated as I actually got hold of the item in late October from a seller in Indonesia for Rp 3,500,000,-. Okay that's the way we write currency in Indonesia using comma instead of full stop. It is about $450 so more or less the same as what I budgeted it for. The figure is still undamaged, except for imperfections on the base. This figure is numbered 1317. Later on, I purchased another damaged figure of Rinoa & Siren because it was being sold with undamaged Squall & Bahamut which was the one that I actually wanted. That turned out to be a big disaster as I wrote here and here. The damaged figure is numbered 445. Actually the damaged Rinoa & Siren is quite common because the way Kotobukiya made the packaging. When the box is put lying down, instead of standing up, the weight of the figure presses on one flock of Siren's hair (wings?) so that flock of hair (wings?) always breaks. So I am glad that I managed to get one which is undamaged.

Okay moving on to the figure itself. The box is 37cm (H) x 29cm (L) x 20cm (W) and white is a bad choice of colour as it ages quite horribly. The statue itself is majestic. I never really like Siren or Rinoa in-game but I can't deny that this figure is simply the best out of the 5 in the series. Siren's massive hair (wings?) gives volume and imposing angel-like presence to the figure. The figure is about 18 inches tall, about the same as Seifer & Odin. The way the hair (wings?) is design is simply breathtaking in the details. The figure is sculpted by Kenji Ando who sculpted the fugly Quistis and Selphie. As expected, Rinoa is fugly too although Siren is surprisingly pretty here. And one thing which makes Rinoa & Siren unique as compared to the other statues is that Rinoa is not detachable from the main statue. Ironically, the statue is better paired with Seifer & Odin than with Squall & Bahamut. Seifer & Odin is as tall as Rinoa & Siren and Odin's horn looks from far like demon's wings, making it a good pair with Siren's angel-like hair (wings?). The only complaint I have with this statue is that Rinoa and Siren are facing different directions that it is difficult to determine the "front" side of the statue for displaying purpose.

Enough of words, it is picture time. As one statue is in Jakarta and the other is in Singapore, I am unable to take them side by side like what I did with Seifer & Odin. However, one noticeable difference is that the undamaged on has more yellowish hue rather than angelic white that the damaged on has. Funny..

Front side of the packing box

Back side of the packaging box

Top side of the packaging box

Serial card

The other side of the card

Unboxing.. The statue consists of 3 parts: Siren & Rinoa and 2 hair (wings?) extensions

The statue and the packaging box

 Some close-ups of the statue below.

Darn!! it's blur!!

Siren facing front

The subject to discussion up to now: What is the thing that Rinoa is holding?

Yes.. Heartilly is spelt as Heatilly here -_-

Next few pictures are taken with the statue at my house in Jakarta. This is taken in the balcony for better lighting from the sun. The figure definitely looks awesome under the sun.

Too much zoom destroys the image quality

 Okay, the sun is playing trick to the eyes here. The figure looks very yellowish here haha..

The base is damn chui!! Thanks to the sun it is easy to see the wooden base!

Update: I managed to sell the damaged one (serial no: 0445) in July 2016 for USD 600. Lucky me, a few weeks later I found an undamaged one for 36600 JPY (including shipping) from Mandarake. I don't think I will be taking photos of it. The serial number is 0935.