My Figures Story

How It All Began

A new discovery. For some reason, YouTube pointed me to these little miracles from Hong Kong vendor, Hot Toys! While the only static figures I had collected up to Summer 2025 were LEGO minifigures (and previously Funko Pop MCU figures and Disney Infinity figures), I noticed there were many people collecting Hot Toys 12" figures (and also from other vendors like INART), because of their spectacular, realistic (like a little human head), posable 1/6-scale recreations of iconic characters in their iconic movie and TV moments!

Showcasing my favorite figures. I decided I wanted to showcase these cool figures on the Cool Stuff page on my website, so I went through images of hundreds of figures that were released from 2020 forward in order to create a curated list of my favorites. This page did not last for very long before I started questioning why I was not collecting these mini-masterpieces!

Deciding on a new collection. After seeing so many spectacular figures when curating my Cool Stuff list, I quickly transitioned to wanting to own a few of the most realistic likenesses that brought new life to some of my favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy characters. I decided how much shelf space in my Hobby Room that I was willing to dedicate to this new hobby, and I was off to the races!

Curating a Collection

Developing collection criteria. Because I limited how much I would collect based on the freed up shelf space in my Hobby Room, I had to be discerning about which figures I chose. Not only was I sure that I wanted to focus on what attracted me most to these figures (i.e., realistic likenesses), but no matter how realistic a figure was, I decided I would only collect characters that I really loved (not just liked).

Assessing whether to collect posable figures or statues. As I began to contemplate collecting these figures, I evaluated if static statues - which often have the best rendition of the character - were the way to go instead of posable figures. But I soon realized that posing and re-posing a figure to my liking was much more enjoyable as a hobby than accepting a pre-defined pose and never being able to change it.

Posing really is an art. In general, it takes me 30 minutes to an hour to get each initial pose, and then when I appreciate them each night, if I see something not perfect (legs too close, angle is off, etc.), I tweak it - often taking multiple iterations over days. Considering the spectrum starting from the static museum pose (i.e., standing up straight, feet firmly on the ground, arms/hands to the sides, and looking straight ahead) all the way to the super dynamic stand-supported pose, my poses fall somewhere in-between, leaning more towards the dynamic side.

Striving for a dynamic signature pose. While I do not like using the stands (except as background scenery) nor the crotch/waist grabbers - both of which facilitate dynamic poses, I also don’t want a boring museum pose! Instead, I want a dynamic pose that is relatively unique to the character. Often I can find a starting point in the image gallery on Sideshow.com - a U.S. distributor for Hot Toys that is often the best place to buy these figures. But implementing a dynamic pose can get tricky without a supporting stand, especially when I desire an off-balance pose. In the end, I tap the shelf floor pretty hard to ensure that the pose is truly stable. Also, as often as possible, I try to not leave the eyes looking straight forward like a doll in preference of side-eyes, top-eyes, or bottom-eyes.

12-inch Figures Shelf 3 - Justice League

Choosing the best brand. I chose Hot Toys over other brands, because they really know what collectors need, and for some figures primarily in the Deluxe Versions and the Artisan Editions, they give collectors many options to showcase these figures in their collection:

Head/face sculpts that are so realistic, they appear like little human heads.
Remarkably realistic sculpted hair, while a few Artisan editions, come with even more realistic hand-applied synthetic hair.
Adjustable eyeball positions that allow you to change the direction of eye gaze with their tool.
Extra body parts (head, hands) with different sculpts to allow recreating different scenes and poses.
Specially wired capes and long coats to allow positioning the material in a dynamic action pose.
Incredibly detailed clothes and accessories, often including miniature functioning accessories.

12-inch Figures Shelf 4 - Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Focusing on realism. While Hot Toys has released hundreds of licensed characters from brands like Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Disney under their Movie Masterpiece Series as well as Television Masterpiece Series lines, in my opinion, only about 60 or so (although that it is increasing with each new release in 2025 and beyond) rise to the level of ultra-realistic likenesses like those in my collection. And only about half of those are among my favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy characters!

Frustrated with prototype photos vs. production reality

To stimulate and assess demand for a new figure months before it is mass produced, figure vendors (i.e., Hot Toys, Figuarts, Mafex, etc.) create a prototype, and use it for their marketing photos. However, after the figure is mass produced, they mostly never update the marketing photos! Thus, once a figure is released, buyers are often judging a potential purchase based on an idealized prototype rather than the mass-produced figure they will actually receive (Note: however, the possibility of differences is noted alongside the photos). While quality vendors often have minimal changes to the production figure from the prototype, there are many examples of significant differences for all vendors. So I eventually had to check YouTube for people reviewing production figures before buying!

Finding display space for a new hobby. I wanted to display these in my Hobby Room, so I had to work some magic to free up a lot of shelf space.

Freeing Up Hobby Room Shelf Display Space

Figuring out how to free up space. Since I had recently culled my robot and drone collections of items which I no longer interacted with, the Hobby Room shelves were now thinly occupied, but every shelf still had something. So if I wanted to clear 5 large shelves, I had to do major rearranging of my robots and drones, as well as finally removing my aberrant LEGO Avatar displays.
Determining shelf height. I determined that 15.75 inches high would safely cover all the figures I was interested in.
Determining shelf base level. I looked at my eye height and the height of an average figure (my main viewing focal point). Based on this, I would have ideally put the shelf base level at about 51" from the ground. However, because I needed to preserve shelf space above for robots and drones, and because of the shelving system’s fixed clip intervals, I determined that having the shelf base level at 47.75" from the ground worked best and still looked great.
Considering protective display cases. Even being within the shelving units, I considered cases for dust protection, since these are highly detailed figures with tailored clothing and sometimes real hair. But, I ended up opting for periodic dusting, being that the realism popped with no encasing, with my neutral matte olive-gray shelving color, and with my naturalistic light from the big overhead daylight LED fixture in my Hobby Room

Expanding to Kaiju Figures

Considering 6" Kaiju. While I love all the realistic characters I was able to collect with my primary figures collection (i.e., 1/6-scale Hot Toys figures), I was still craving collecting the giant monster (a.k.a, Kaiju) characters that I love so much from modern movies. And aside from mostly static highly accurate statues, no one has created pretty realistic articulated giant monster figures greater than around 6 inches. And while for giant creatures going down to this small scale can make it hard to appreciate their details, S.H.MonsterArts and Hiya Toys do incredible movie-accurate painted sculpts that have very good articulation for posing.

Deciding to move ahead. So I freed up another shelf in my Hobby Room to display a small collection of 6-inch scale Kaiju made by S.H.MonsterArts from some of my favorite modern Kaiju movies including those in the Legendary MonsterVerse and Godzilla Minus One. I chose S.H.MonsterArts over Hiya Toys, because they are part of the Bandai company (S.H.MonsterArts falls under its Tamashii Nations label) which has close ties to the Toho movie company and their 3D model assets, allowing them to create the most movie-accurate scaled-down painted sculpts! And to better frame them, I worked with ChatGPT and Gemini Nano Banana Pro to piece together a cool jungle diorama for the shelf.

Building a Kaiju Diorama

Deciding on a diorama. Unlike with the 12" and 6" action figures which are just displayed in a row (although in relatively dynamic signature poses), I wanted to leverage how the Kaiju figures looked better from slightly afar, so I decided that a cool diorama would be best suited to display them.
Deciding on 3 scenes. From the selection of figures that I chose, it made sense to split the diorama into 3 distinct scenes: Godzilla Minus One on his own, Godzilla (with Mothra) vs. Mechagodzilla (with Rodan), and Kong (with Shimo) vs. Skar King (with little Suko).
Deciding on one vast lush jungle. However, even with 3 distinct scenes, I wanted to make it all one expansive environment representing the lush fantastical jungle environments seen on Skull Island and Hollow Earth in the MonsterVerse movies. I would divide the scenes using bushes.
Deciding on 3D assets. I then focused on what size and kind of jungle plants, bushes, and trees I could buy, and quickly realized that miniatures created for war gaming terrains could do the trick - especially relative to the Kaijus' represented immense size. With ChatGPT's consultation, I ordered 5 different types of jungle items on Etsy:
1. 8x jungle bushy mounds from WarpaintFigures
2. 3x alien-looking trees from SmileyBadgers
3. 3x jungle bushes from BauedaDREAMSSTUDIO
4. 11x jungle smaller bushy mounds
Deciding background matte image was unnecessary. ChatGPT and I initially agreed a 2D background matte image was not necessary, because it may make the scene look too cheap, and the 3D scenery will take front and center anyway.
Deciding on floor mat. On the other hand, ChatGPT and I both felt that a 2D floor mat would be required as the base that tied together all the 3D trees/plants/bushes. And as such, ChatGPT suggested a war gaming terrain mat with a swamp motif. I ordered one with mousepad thickness, and while it was cool, it was way too dark for the naturalistic lighting I was going for in my Hobby Room. I then ordered a lighter colored lush jungle mat, but its vinyl cover for gaming was too reflective and covered in vinyl bumps - neither of which worked for a realistic diorama.
Re-evaluating background matte image. While working on the floor mat, the figures and many pieces had already come in, and while it was shaping up relatively nicely, my wife suggested that a background would really help make it more immersive. ChatGPT and I then agreed that a background matte image with a 3D perspective could really add to the value of the diorama. ChatGPT then recommended and generated an understated, vague, foggy-type background. ChatGPT also found me a local printer, inkDOTS, who ended up printing it on thick non-glossy photo paper that wrapped around the sides and the back of the cabinet shelf (14.5 in x 68.625 in) for a great price (around $50). However, while it mostly fit and looked great, it was too dark and dreary like the initial floor mat. So we changed gears to a more vibrant background like in the movies, and I researched images of Skull Island (and of the lush Vietnam jungles where it was filmed) and also of Hollow Earth. ChatGPT iteratively tried to use its image model to get us an A+ image of what we were envisioning, but we could not incrementally refine it the way we wanted. So instead, ChatGPT gave me prompt instructions for Gemini Nano Banana Pro which is much better at editing images. This yielded an awesome vibrant background printed on non-glossy photo paper (with a better fit once I reconsidered the shelf constraints after the first failed background image) by inkDOTS for around the same great price!
Re-evaluating floor mat. Then I realized that I was wasting my time on gaming mats for the floor mat, and instead, we similarly visualized and coordinated with Gemini Nano Banana Pro a matching vibrant jungle floor that inkDOTS cranked out!
Maybe still too flat. It was all coming together quite nicely, but when the jungle smaller bushy mounds came in, they had black plastic bases - really useful for a war gaming board, but not for a realistic diorama. These were supposed to add more elevation, so the diorama did not appear too flat. While without them it was still looking pretty good, we went ahead and ordered some cool rock hills from Betzbitzbox on Etsy to enhance it just a bit more, and this really did take it up a level (no pun intended)!

Expanding to Secondary Action Figures

A chance to collect more of my favorite characters. After getting an appreciation for what can be done at the 6-inch scale with my Kaiju display, I thought this could offer me an opportunity to have more complete collections for three of my favorite big properties: MCU Avengers, DCEU Justice League, and Star Wars; especially since my primary figures collection is limited to exceptional realism, and only includes a small subset of these figures. Of course at half the size, the realism would be far less, but S.H.Figuarts (like S.H.MonsterArts) have been able to sculpt some pretty impressive posable figures at this size!

No space to display. To support these three new groups (i.e., MCU Avengers, DCEU Justice League, and Star Wars) and other miscellaneous characters, I had to find new space in my Hobby Room.

Making New Shelf Display Space

Finding even more space. Since I had maxed out my main shelving units with the major space reallocated to my 12" figure displays, my display options were limited.
Trying lower shelves. At first, I thought I may be able to painfully free up 3 more shelves (with 7.5" heights). But when I tested it with my initial figures, these shelves would have to be below the 12" figure shelves, and I was looking down on the figures. This obviously would not work, and I needed that shelf space back anyway.
Considering a mobile display. Then I had the crazy thought of placing a rolling 3-or-4-sided display in the middle of the room, rolling it out of the way (or out of the room) when necessary. The shelves could be at eye level, and I could make the base have drawers/cabinets for their accessories. This was a logistical nightmare that I quickly abandoned.
Finally using the cubby corner. Finally, I turned to the one area not used in the room - the cubby corner where the entry door was. I had avoided this area, because when I considered adding bigger shelves like the ones I used on the other corner of the wall for LEGO displays, the entry into the room would become dangerously tight - I could see people uncomfortably coming in through the constrained entry and surely bumping into the displays. But now I realized if I installed 6-inch deep shelves and did not install them too close to the door, then the door can safely open more than enough, and the entry would be no more constrained than it is now.
Not enough light. The next challenge was that this cubby corner received limited light from the room's main big LED light fixture, since the corner was recessed and behind some LEGO shelves. I had to install a powerful but smaller LED diffused light to properly illuminate this area similar to how the main light naturally and evenly illuminated the rest of the room.
Three rows of new shelves. I decided on three rows of 6-inch-deep (and about 7.5" tall) clear acrylic shelves (to allow maximum light through) that cross the corner, covering 30 inches on each side with 2x12" shelves, 1x6" shelf, and another 2x12" shelves. I placed them so the average eye level of the middle row figures lined up close to my eye level.
Resolving a supplemental light source. I worked with ChatGPT to perform many calculations, tests, and measurements in order to access the size, type, and location of the new smaller LED light. Then, I hired an electrician to install it with a dimmer switch.

MCU Avengers display. Since through all the years of the MCU, there have been so many Avengers, I wanted to pick a representative set of the main characters prior to the many others who joined the fight in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. On the other hand, I found that the most iconic versions of the characters were released with the Avengers: Infinity War line, so I primarily grabbed figures from this line. I did make exceptions where a more iconic suit was from another line. And for their background, like for the remaining characters (other than DCEU Justice League and Star Wars), I chose a short red brick wall to add a little color to the display and hide the shelf screws.

DCEU Justice League display. Like the MCU Avengers, I wanted to display all the DCEU Justice League. Unfortunately, S.H.Figuarts left Cyborg and Aquaman out of their Justice League lineup, and they sculpted a poor likeness for Wonder Woman, so I instead used the S.H.Figuarts figure of Aquaman from Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, the S.H.Figuarts figure of Wonder Woman from WW84, and the Mafex figure of Cyborg from Justice League (one of my few brand deviations for any sub-collection). And for their background, I chose a Hall of Justice facade.

Star Wars display. I focused on the main characters from Star Wars: A New Hope. And for their background, I chose cool 3D Death Star panels. Along with other miscellaneous characters throughout, I also acquired The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Anakin and Boba Fett from this universe.

Rating the Figures

Different standards. From ultra-realistic 12-inch characters to pretty convincing 6-inch Kaiju to impressive 6-inch characters, I could not use the same standard to judge all 3 types of figures:

Type a12in - the premier 12-inch figures. From around 500 Hot Toys releases, I only found around 25 figures that met my ultimate criteria for realistic likenesses (i.e., not looking like a doll). So, ratings reflect my high standard of realism.
Type b6in - the secondary 6-inch action figures. At half the size and much lower price points, I do not apply the same criteria of realistic likenesses. So, while I still judge the face sculpt, hair sculpt, and paint, I am looking for the best likeness possible at this smaller size.
Type c6in - the 6-inch Kaiju figures. While b6in and c6in are both 6-inch figures, Kaiju are at a much smaller scale (i.e., around 1/700) compared to the b6in scale (i.e., 1/12). So the details in their faces (which you see zoomed in on movie screens) are quite indistinguishable at this scale. So, I am judging how much they look like the movie character from afar.

Enjoying the Collection

My Collection. See pics and my reviews for the dozen or so in my collection! 🧸 Details