New from Secret Base

 Secret Base dropped a few really nice releases today.

First up, the Skull Champagne Brain. This figure has so much going on. The inner head is clear vinyl with gold and white spray on the teeth, while the outer head is clear vinyl with multi-color glitter mixed in and white spray. Most of the white covers the protruding brain lobes/folds, making the head sculpt stand out in gorgeous defining relief and letting the clear glitter base vinyl provide the accents.

The arms are clear vinyl with shiny silver pipe cleaner inserts. This classic touch nicely complements the glitter head. The body looks like white base vinyl with black + gold spray and mask work. All in all, a nice color balance on a complex design.

More after the jump:

The level of quality in the figure brings to mind the Secreters, but I asked, and the figure isn't officially in the line. Semantics. My only complaint is I would have liked a slightly more subtle gold spray on the feet and teeth, and maybe a tad less white "frosting" on the head. Some gold spray on the hands might have also been interesting. But those are minor, and who knows how changes would affect the final result, so I'll leave it at saying it's a very fresh release and a fantastic way to start 2011!

More angles:

 And packaged shots:

Next up were a couple of full sized Hysteric Mini figures. I won't pretend to know much about these, but the split paint work is interesting, especially as one side is clear.

Here's the really interesting part about this release:

The sign says the figure is on sale to foreigners (ie, non-Japanese) only! Now there's a twist you don't see every day in Tokyo....

 More shots from the store:

This new figure is still available. This is the debut colorway.

All in all, this was my most enjoyable visit to the shop in a long while. I hope more Skull brains are on the horizon!