For Beginner Figure Collectors #06: Chibi-kyun Chara

By TReina - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - No Comments

To All,

It's still relatively cool in my area but these few days have been quite hot, scorching even, with random bursts of storms. It's really a difficult time to decide if I want to keep the fan on or the air-conditioner on at times.

For the tutorial this week, as well as for the next few sessions, I would like to move on from full scale figures back to smaller ones. I am convinces that most figure collectors who are starting out or are unsure or unwilling to invest in getting higher quality and much more expensive figures would prefer to collect from these smaller ones first.

These figures are much cheaper than those in my previous posts and there's still enjoyment from looking and playing with these smaller figures -- even for me, although I have been collecting for many years and can't be considered a "beginner collector" anymore!

Chibi-kyun Chara

Let's begin today's discussion with what we find around us all the time!

I'm pretty sure that anyone with even a slight interest in figures would have came across Chibi-kyun Chara (I'll call it Chibi-kyun for short) before. Actually, scratch that. I;m sure they have. And you, are probably not an exception.

So firstly, what are Chibi-kyun? Chibi-kyun are about 10cm in height (some might be a little smaller) and produced by a figure company called Banpresto. If you have read my post in this series on Prize Figures previously, you might find the name "Banpresto" familiar! Yes, they are indeed the same compnay!

Thus, it is commonly noted that Chibi-kyun is a type of Prize Figure. However, that's not to say that they aren't well made or cute! In fact, Chibi-kyun usually turn out to be extremely cute!

How do you get your hands on these amazing things called Chibi-kyun?

Well, Chibi-kyun are usually from lottery styled Ichiban Kuji, which is the more common kind available in Singapore currently. For the newer Ichiban Kuji that you may have set your sights on, they might only be available in Japan for a while, so let's examine the alternative methods to acquire them!

Similar to Prize Figures, you can get them from online retail stores, or Rakuten, or in second hand stores. Some shops in Singapore have the items shortly after the lottery ends too! They may have it as a Kuji of their own, or as individual items for sale. I think most stores in Plaza Singapura have a wide variety of Chibi-kyun available!

Moreover, the good point about Chibi-kyun is that many characters are produced in each lottery event, hence your character might be available in many poses and outfits. Also, they are usually readily available after each lottery event itself and you might be able to find your favorite character easier than if you were to search for the character's Nendoroid, Cu-Poche, or Chara-Forme!

Here's several pictures to show the different outfits the same character might have:

The bases of Chibi-kyun are usually circular with a pattern on it (I'm glad that they usually don't just leave it plain). The figure itself is fastened to the base with pegs at the foot of the figure, and an additional support rod that the back of the character's head would rest on. That's akin to double the amount of support and I'd say that Chibi-kyun do need that much since some of mine still fall despite all that support provided.

Some Chibi-kyun are also able to stand on their own (such as Latifa and Moffle from Amagi Brilliant Park) without the pegs and rods, and I generally prefer those. They are much simpler to take photographs of since I don't have to take an extra step to hide the supports.

Oh my, what would I give just for some God Eater Chibi-kyun?

Regarding the quality of Chibi-kyun, do note that it would probably be facing less quality control when you compare them to similar figures from the higher end. However, do not think that that is always the case. There are always exceptions!

The general problems faced with the quality of Chibi-kyun would be that their paint jobs are not that perfect, especially on the body -- which is understandable as Chibi-kyun have even smaller bodies that Nendoroids (Cu-Poche are even larger).

In fact, some of the Chibi-kyun I own, which are about 10cm in height, have bodies which are even smaller than that of Nendoroid Petites, which are only about 6cm tall.

Here's a few pictures for illustration purposes.

Chibi-kyun

Nendoroid Petite

Nendoroid

So, I would like to know if you'll get a Chibi-kyun after reading this article. Do you feel motivated to? If you already own one or more, which is your very first Chibi-kyun and how did you get it? Also, which is your favorite?

From Your Fellow Collector,

Reina-rin

Written by Reina-rin