Today I’ll show you a some kind “historical” review of my very first figure. It was back in time when I was searching for Gundam model kit tutorials an coincidentially I discovered the blog of Dannychoo, then I noticed that there were also other nice things on his site, it was the first time that PVC figures ever met my eye and they instantly catched my interest.
A few weeks later I stumbled over a link which lead to a review of the figure UJ-14 at Happysoda.
I wasn’t to sure about getting a figure for myself but after looking at UJ-14 I knew that I wanted this figure. At that time I also didn’t know where to get these figures, so Google was my friend and luckily I found her for a very fair price at an US online store.
UJ-14 is a 1/8 scaled figure manufactured by Beagle, she is made of PVC and ABS, ber release date was in November 2006. Her origin is from the Range Murata‘s illustration book: FORM CODE.
It’s pretty obvious that the design of UJ-14 isn’t anime like at all, you can easily recognize the Range Murata style of this figure.
Hair & Face
UJ-14 has light purple hair with some detailed strands, she wears a white colored headset, with some copper colored antennas like objects at the sides of her head. The almond eyes as well as the nicely sculpted mouth are underlining her some timid and shy, yet cool face expression.
Outfit & Body
The outfit of UJ-14 looks very interesting it’s a smooth looking white body suit, it’s seam lines and folds emits a feeling of softness. She has a detailed backpack which is connected to her headset with the copper colored antennas,these electronical looking parts are very cool, other nice details are the belts and buckles which are holding her backpack in place.
The pose is also very well done it looks natural and shows a silent yet cool body. gesture,which fits perfectly to her face expression. Her left butt cheek is a little bit lifted up by her left boot which adds a little bit natural sexyness to UJ-14 without looking vulgar by any means. The heavy boots of her are also showing detailed highlights at the outside and the sole.
I also like this harmonic colorsetting of her: the skin tone, the light purple hair as well as the black and white of her clothes, everything fits together very well, additional to this the mix of matte and shiny colors is also very well done, while the colors of her body and clothes mainly consists of matte colors, her electronic devices are painted with shiny colors.
All these cleanly painted and very well sculpted details of UJ-14 are really great considering her age and of course the price of this figure, she was more than a fair deal.
In this review I took some of my new and some of my old pictures for the newer pics I wanted to create a some kind industrial setting. I used the bowels of an old transistor radio as background and an aluminium sheet for the ground . Next time I should clean the dust off more properly by using water, before taking the pictures I shortly wiped over the figure but after sighting the pics at the pc there was still some ugly dust left.
Final Words
I am really satisfied with this UJ-14 figure, she resembles the art of Range Murata very well. The pose of UJ-14 is very interesting, with her cool outfit and her facial expression this figure has a quite unique look, Beagle did a really good job with the very good quality of the sculpting and painting. Im happy to have her in my collection.
The review which made me buy this lovely figure is at
Sloth
I’m a big fan of Renge Murata but have always found the figure renditions of his work lacklustre in appearance for the price. With no knowledge in Beagle as a company and the fact that these figures were released when I was only beginning to think about figure collecting, these were easily overlooked.
Upon closer inspection of your pictures, this figure doesn’t look all that bad. If given the chance at a good price I’d probably consider picking up one or two of Beagle’s PSE line.
The background is very well chosen and makes the figure blend in effortlessly with her surroundings. Once again, I admire what you do with your photos, it’s exactly what I aim to achieve with my reviews once I start doing them.
wieselhead
Hi Sloth, thx for your elaborate comment
Well she’s my only Beagle figure so far.
I liked their Chris and CDB Chair figure,which are also Range Murata related too but for some reason I hadn’t bought them.
You can do nothing wrong with buying UJ-14( when you can still find her)
she looks good even in a less flashy surrounding.;D
thx for your compliment. =)
Im also very satisfied with the outcome of the pictures.
first I planned to use some gear wheels,but I couldn’t find them in my desired shape.
luckily the old radio electronics turned out as I expected.
softz
I don’t know much about UJ-14 or Range Murata. I’ve not been keeping up a lot with the anime world/illustrations. I learn most of them from you guys.
It’s a pretty cool idea to use electronic stuff/gadget as the background. I think she is somehow associated with electronic due to her headset antennas. Haven’t been paying attention on Beagle, probably I’ve not seen any nice figure from that that catch my eyes. This one looks pretty decent though.
She kinda remind me of Rei due to her suit and hair color. I know it’s kinda weird.. but.. that’s what I’m feeling 🙂
wieselhead
@softz:
Hi softz thx for commenting 😉
no problem when you don’t know about these two,I havent looked into her origin and only know her name.
Beagle is not as popular as GSC or Alter but I think in general they have a good quality.
No, no it isn’t weird thy have a similar face expression =)
samejima
I like this figure. Range Murata is an awesome designer, most of em are loli(s) though… the release was very expensive I think that was way back 2007..
wieselhead
@samejima:
thx for your visit samejima
haha yeah most of them are cute lolis ;D
She’s from 2006 , I think the price was around ¥4800 I paid 50$ including shipping.
Zai
Range Murata has long been a favourite of mine, I don’t own any figures of his designs though UJ-14 makes me wish I did! The soles of her shoes look really awesome. 😀
My favourite photo is Dsc (15).jpg and well, all of the back shots! The lighting looks so good. 😮
samejima
@wieselhead: I see.. I was still scared to buy stuffs amounting $50 that time as I was just started with collecting figures, trading figures that is.
wieselhead
@Zai:
Hi,thank you 😉
yeah she has indeed nice footwear,
this time I only used my beloved softbox and an exposure of 1/30
@samejima: .
Ah I see
I sticked to buy the expensive ones from the beginning 😉
Aya
very Interesting concept for this girl :D,and same with softz also got Rei’s impression.
by the way what kind of electronic stuff did you use as background ?
wieselhead
@Aya:
Yes isn’t it ;D
it was an old old transistor radio from around 1950, they look very cool inside with all the old and chunky electronic parts inside
I just had to take off the case to strip it.
radiant
She’s a good choice for your very first anime figure. I really like her, and she’s been pretty much a permanent figure on display for me.
I’ve taken a few photoshoots of her before, but nothing impressive.
I really love Range Murata figures. Did you get the one that came out after? The french maid one?
Tier
I’ve always liked this figure, I always wonder what she might be thinking about when I see pictures of her. I wish more of Range Murata’s art would get turned into figures; I used to really hope that Tatiana and Alis from Last Exile would be adapted, but I suppose there’s no chance of that.
wieselhead
@radiant:
hi radiant thx for your visit =)
No unfortunately not, UJ-14 is my only character from an Range Murata illustration.
@Tier:
Hi
Yeah she shows a quite interesting face expression.
you don’t see many figures with a rather serious face, nowadays most figures come out with moe expression and wide open mouth, or angry face expression with wide open mouth XD
I really wish for more figures with closed mouth next year.
Ah Alis my favorite girl in Last Exile would make a nice figure, but I don’t think any Company would pick her up now after the anime is 7 years old 🙁
Nopy
I didn’t know figures were so detailed back then. I especially like her backpack and the headset, they look cool.
Persocom
I’m kinda torn on her. I like everything about her aside from the head. I do love Range Murata art though :3
wieselhead
@Nopy:
Hi
in terms of look she comes more after such detailed movie sculptures than anime related figures 🙂
@Persocom:
Hello again
thx for being honest 😉
Is it her face expression that you don’t like or the things on her head?
anonymous_object
Oh, she has a very realistic beauty to her. Range Murata art has always fascinated me but strangely I’ve never purchased one of the figures derived from his art ^^;
wieselhead
hi, thx for your comment.
There are some nice Range Murata related figures but they they didn’t convinced me like UJ14 :;)