For Beginner Figure Collectors #09: Charapuka, Instant Noodle Stopper and Ochatomo Series

By TReina - Friday, April 29, 2016 - No Comments

To All,

I came to the realization that I haven't covered some of the less popular chibi figures and today I would like to touch on them a bit more as an introduction to them. For today, the main types of figures what I would be introducing is as stated in the title, Charapuka, Instant Noodle Stopper and Ochatomo Series figures.

Do not that Ochatomo Series has became more popular and more people are now ordering sets of them than before! But firstly, let's start with the Charapuka series which many Free! fans might be familiar with!

Charapuka

From what I've noticed so far, all the figures from this line comes with a float and a tiny Bishounen figure resting on it. And from Bishounen, I mean Free! because I've never seen a Charapuka figure preceding this. And there are actually quite a few sets of Free! Charapuka sets out in the market already!

Seems like most of the exclusives are usually Rin. I wonder why?

My favorite character from Free! is Nanase Haruka, followed closely after by Tachibana Makoto (yay for the same family name as me though the kanji is different), then Matsuoka Rin! Though in any case, I have no complaints regarding this series as Free!, water and floats go so well together!

Instant Noodle Stoppper

As the name suggests, this line of figures exist to hold down the lid of your instant noodles as you painfully wait for the excruciatingly slow three minutes (or occasionally, two) of waiting for your instant noodle to cook.

But is that all? No, considering the origin and purpose of this figure, I wouldn't have thought that there would be this amount of detail and effort placed into the sculpt and painting of this line, but I was mistaken. Super Sonico could actually pass of as a normal scale figure for first glance (at least for me) and it seems like Furyu has not cut any corners when it comes to sculpting her swimsuit, curves, accessories (headphones) or even her soles! Even how her flesh juts out due to her bikini digging into her body is actually fully sculpted out and realistic!

Not only do Instant Noodle Stoppers provide you with visual appeal, they are detailed even though they are so small~

Or perhaps... not that small. These Instant Noodle Stoppers look almost as large as a cup of instant noodles in this picture. Maybe it's just the angle? Sadly, I'll probably never be able to get one to compare their sizes. Neither would let any of my figures go that close to a piping hot cup of instant noodles because as far as I'm concerned, PVC and heat don't match.

And for all of you others who are PVC and heat phobic like I am, Furyu has shown us that these trusty Instant Noodle Stoppers can be balanced on other surfaces such as acrylic stands, for display. A wiser choice, in my honest opinion since it looks better for display purposes. However, I wouldn't mind getting a cup of instant noodles to display this line, but only if I remember to eat it before it expires!

Ochatomo Series

If you are into displaying figures while propped on objects, but are more into chibi than full sized figures, why not leave the Instant Noodle Stopper line and move onto the Ochatomo line instead? I'm sure they would fit you better!

The Assasination Classroom (Ansatsu Kyoshitsu) set of Ochatomo Series could easily be my favorite set so far! By the way, these figures are meant to balance on the rim of glasses and I find that they look the best like that!

I did purchase some small glasses to display my Ochatomo sets in, and I recommend doing the same if you intend to display yours in a display cabinet as well!

From Your Fellow Collector,

Reina-rin