Figure Preferences: Posable or Non-Posable

[mobius017]

I thought it might be interesting to discuss which kinds of figures we prefer. If you purchase or think about purchasing figures of one kind or another, do you prefer ones that you can arrange into whatever pose you like, or ones that come sculpted into a fixed shape? Why?

My own preference has changed over the years. When I started my fairly small collection, I think I would've preferred posable figures in order to be able to arrange them as I pleased. But that would've been more an abstract choice than one dictated by experience. Over time, I've changed my mind. While I picked up a few posables, I found it difficult/frustrating to get them into the shapes I wanted in some cases, and in others I found that the joints largely went to waste and I was ok with just having them stand. I also purchased a few figures that weren't posable, and while it initially worried me a little, I ended up liking the poses the artists used and being happy that they were stably fixed in those. So now I'm more in the non-posable camp, since they end up being posed better than I could do myself and are more stable/easier to place than I experienced with my posable figures.

 

[sketchesofpayne]

I currently own mostly non-posable figures aside from three Nendoroids (MM 2018 Miku, Halloween Miku, and "if" version Miku). It's inevitable that I'll buy more Nendoroid figures in the future. And lately I've been sorely tempted to get a full set of the Snow Miku Figma figures.

My current collection. I also have 9 more on pre-order.​

I feel like a lot of the fun of posable figures is doing photography. Or at least having the figures in a place where other people will see them. That way you can put them in fun poses for other people to discover.

 

[Rylitah]

I'm not really the kind of person to do photoshoots with my figures; for the nendoroids I have I generally just put them in whatever pose I like most and keep them that way forever.

I think posable figures are pretty fun, especially if you do take lots of pictures of them! But for me since I pretty much just get them and immediately put them on display, only moving them when rearranging or cleaning up, I prefer nonposable figures.

 

[Ronny777]

I'd say it depends on the character and how big of a figure it is but, I prefer the way non-posable figures look on my shelves. Most of the time the joints look weird to me like how Squire Enix Miku's Hair looks. I still love her and her overall appearance makes up for it. I only have about 9 of them in my 200+ figure collection and most of those were gifts (like my snow princess Miku) or the only figure I could find of a character I really wanted (Dio, Raiden, Link, and Zelda).

 

[Blue Of Mind]

I mostly stick to non-poseable figures these days, but if I had more time for photography, I guess I would collect more poseable ones? Another issue I find with poseable figures is that any accessories attached to them tend to fall off, especially when I'm trying to dust them.

 

[hamano]

I prefer non-posable figures, although you can't directly compare them against each other as they're meant for different uses. Non-posable figures are purely display pieces, while posables have the benefit of changing poses, to some extent at the expense of displayability. As static display pieces the joints kind of bother me, and I'm not really into changing their poses or taking photos (my dollfie is a different story though, reposing her all the time is fun (reminds me it's been ages since I last took any photos of her))