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Someone posted images of Raqel Version 1 and 2 on the forums, and I LOVED THEM! Initially I was more drawn to version 1 which had a black dress/hair and a blue rose, but I began to realize that it was the brown haired version 2 I favored most. Why? Because I love the brown hair/yellow dress combo, and I think all the beautiful details are more noticeable in version 2. I LOVE wings, gothic lolita dresses, and weapons in my figures…so this figure was instant win for me. I was very sad to see it was being sold as a kit through E2046 and I didn’t know much about them or trust them so I skipped the pre-order.


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Since skipping out on the initial pre-order I found a lot of positive reviews on the work of The Gathering from E2046 (Danny Choo and a few forum members). What put the nail in the coffin was a forum member sharing images of the very figure I wanted! Raqel version 2! And she was JUST as beautiful as the advertised pre-order images. I immediately bought her and I have to say that (so far) the experience has been very good! She is currently my favorite figure, I think all my figures are art but Raqel truly feels like a piece of art.

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Despite my initial worry over E2046 I certainly can’t complain about their packing, their packing was great, each foam piece looks like it was cut to especially conform to my Raqel. I only wish that my New Line Roberta was packed half as well as my Raqel was, then maybe she wouldn’t have broken. That putty stuff in the picture is something I just added on to my cart hoping it might be what I need to repair my lovely Roberta.

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Now you might be wondering what exactly this figure is? I believe she is a re-cast of a kit and is painted by a group on E2046 called The Gathering. Basically she isn’t something official, I’m not very knowledgeable on the subject of figure kits and their bootleg replicas that are sold by Hobbyfan and E2046. I ACTUALLY didn’t even realize that my Raqel was technically a bootleg until after it was announced that E2046 was being removed from Tsuki-Board. Although I’m pretty green on this subject Jem posted about re-cast kits and is more knowledgeable then me on the subject if you’d like to read up on the subject a bit more.

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The detail on this figure really amazes me, I absolutely love the antique looking clock stand and her corset style dress. That pink rose looks absolutely perfect on her, the contrast it provides is really lovely. But the best part of Raqel are those intricate looking bronze colored wings!! My only complaint is that the peg on her foot feels so small and delicate, I almost don’t trust it. I’ve been debating re-inforcing it with some super glue, letting it dry, and then putting her back on the stand.

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How much did I pay for her? I paid about $135 because she was in stock and the cheaper pre-order period had ended. But she was worth every penny, she is everything I want a figure to be. I actually have no idea what artist designed the character or if she is even from anything (i.e. – show, game, etc…). That’s unusual for me, I usually want a love of the character when I buy the figure.

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This photo shoot was my first one with my new lighting setup, some of the pictures turned out brighter and better then others and I’m pretty sure I know why. SO I bought a reflector and from here on out plan to use the 3 point lighting system as described on wikipedia. I want to try and use nothing but artificial lighting that I can completely control for figure shoots. We’ll see, I’ve definitely seen improvement I just need to gain a bit more experience (EXP!). If the three point system doesn’t end up working for me then I may finally break down and start using the light cube method.

More Raqel pictures on my Flickr

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