So I found one of the knock-off fancy figures, and after playing a bit of 'spot the differences' (the pose of Remilia's outstretched hand is distinctly different, and it doesn't look like a pose-able figure, plus the painting work is a bit rougher and the colors aren't all spot on between them, though that -might- be due to camera variance) those pictures seem to be of the actual item (the listing I've hit first: OK knock off.) I did see another that looks to be absolutely identical to the original ( this one) but somehow I trust it less than one where I can see the cut corners.

Sadly for my taste, the black dress seems to be a limited edition that didn't get cut-rate knock-off love.

You aren't kidding about that shipping though, estimated arival window is a month wide, starting a month from now (insert 'slow boat from China' joke here.)

>Meiling's thing is that she's canonically the mansion's gatekeeper,
>which makes her one of the earliest level bosses the playable
>characters (who are assaulting the mansion on a mission of frankly
>dubious legitimacy*) encounter. Because that's the way the game is
>structured, not only does she have to lose, she has to be pretty easy
>to beat.
>
>This has led a legion of fan artists to portray her as
>completely useless, either because she can't fight her way out
>of a paper bag, or because she's so feckless, lazy, and/or stupid she
>doesn't even notice intruders are entering the mansion half the time.
>This synergizes with the "brutal Sakuya" trope and leads to a lot of
>gags where Sakuya catches her not doing her job and sticks her full of
>knives (which she survives because a) she's very tough and b) it's for
>comic effect). In those interpretations, Remilia usually keeps her on
>because she's a cruel mistress and she thinks that's entertaining, or
>possibly she just doesn't really care if the gate is actually guarded
>in the first place.
>

That seems deeply unfair. I have fought bosses in games that fit that well enough, but it was made obvious they were meant to be punching bags to warm up on, which it doesn't sound like that's the case here so much. Chalk up another rescue for the EPU shelter.

>I've only encountered it in other things that were riffing on it (like
>the aforementioned Touhou fan works, some of which explicitly claim
>that Sakuya is Dio Brando's estranged daughter). Like you say, it's
>kind of part of a certain corner of fandom's RNA now.

So I have seen precisely one episode of anything JoJo, and in that brief exposure it was quite clear that no blood relation of Dio Brando (or, indeed, Dio himself) could be a worthwhile human being. Setting Sakuya as his daughter is the act of someone who hates her, hates everyone in the same time zone as her, or both.

>* I mean they're right, SDM is the source of the
>disturbance affecting the local area, but as I read the synopsis, the
>playable characters have no evidence of this until after they've
>broken into the place and beaten up most of the staff, which is not
>how due process is meant to work, modern-day American policing
>notwithstanding.

That is some top quality murder-hoboing right there. Most of the D&D groups I've been involved with would approve at least.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "Kill first, ask questions via 'Speak With dead', it is the murder-hono way."