Note: After writing this for Anime Vice and then posting it to Comic Vine as well, I thought I may as well post it here too. Should be interesting to see how much/how little interest there is, but you guys might dig the Samus figure at least. Best viewed in blog form. Original post here.

Welcome to Featured Figures; a blog feature highlighting a handful of figures, my thoughts on them, the dents they'd leave in your wallet and maybe even links to sites you can buy them from. Let me know what you want to see from these blogs and I'll see what I can do.

Son Goku SSJ, 1/8th scale, Clear Hair Ver. (Medicos Entertainment)

This is easily one of the most bad-ass Dragon Ball Z figures I've seen, and boy has there been a lot of DBZ figures over the years. Not only does this Goku figure have really great looking clothes--all the folds and highlights look really great--but look at that hair. Dude has glass hair, well... I imagine it's really semi-transparent plastic, but it certainly looks the part.

This is version 2 of the figure, with the original featuring boring not-awesome hair, so clearly this is the version to get. The equally awesome Super Saiyan aura around Goku's feet is also a great touch.

What do you think? Is glass hair cool or weird?

Goku is listed at ¥9,200 on Amazon Japan (approx $112 or £71) and $117 on Hobbyfan but currently out of stock.

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Samus Aran, 1/8th scale, Zero Suit ver. (Max Factory)

I have a weird relationship with Metroid games. I acknowledge that they're great, in fact I think very highly of them, but I don't think I've ever finished any of them. Particularly whenever I take a crack at Metroid Prime, I just don't get on with it, not really sure why. Maybe I'll finish one eventually, in the meantime I'll just admire gorgeous figure renditions of Samus like this Metroid: Other M figure from Max Factory. If it's too hard to tell Samus is a woman with her power suit on, there's certainly no question when she takes it off.

I love how sleek this figure looks, I don't know if Samus normally looks as tall as she does here, but I guess I haven't played Other M so maybe one of you knows better than me. There's some nice detail on the gun, and the Metroid looks great too.

Samus can be pre-ordered for $103 on Hobbyfan (approx £65) or $130 on J-List (approx £82)

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Kobato Hasegawa & Maria Takayama, 1/7th scale (Max Factory)

Okay, I haven't watched Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai yet, but these figures are adorable. These are sold as two separate figures, but as you can tell they obviously go together, which is a classic trick to get twice as much of your hard-earned money from you.

I literally can't find fault with either of these figures. They're cute, the hair looks good (while not quite as glassy-looking as Goku's hair, it's similar) and their outfits look especially great. I appreciate it when sculptors put in extra effort to make the clothes look separate from the figure, you know, like actual clothes. Like the "Zero Suit" Samus is wearing, these playboy-style catgirl outfits are super glossy.

These figures can be pre-ordered for $88 each on Hobbyfan (approx £55) or $105 each on J-List (approx £66)

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Chifusa Manyuu, 1/4th scale (A+)

For those with more risqué tastes we have Chifusa Manyuu from Manyuu Hikenchou. The biggest figure in this selection at 1/4th scale making it more of a statue than a figurine. Chifusa comes with a katana and completely removable attire that already barely covers her expanding bust (in the show, the figure itself doesn't expand... that would be weird).

I'm not really sure why her hair is so blue, I'm pretty sure it was black in the anime, but I like how... soft she looks. That probably sounds weird, but it's easy for figures to look very solid since they're made of plastic, and this doesn't. If you're looking for something a little lighter on clothing and bigger in size, this may be the figure for you. With that sword it would probably make a pretty good letter-opener too I guess.

Chifusa can be pre-ordered for $210 on Hobbyfan (approx £132) with extra shipping fees.

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What do you think of these figures? Ready to order one? Or are you like me, preferring to appreciate them from afar instead?

— Daniel Newton is a moderator for Anime Vice and Screened. Follow him on twitter: @Daniel_Newton and @AnimeVicers

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